Is your upper cervical practice missing this simple tool that helps solve that problem?

Dear Upper Cervical Doctor,

I know what it’s like to be different from other chiropractors in your community, and that fact just does not seem to get through to your patients. 

I know what it’s like to try time and again to “educate” your patients that you’re not a run-of-the-mill chiropractor, you’re an expert in the most important aspect of their health.

You’re an upper cervical chiropractor, a brain stem specialist, an atlas doctor, you’re not a “bone cruncher,” or a “rackem-n-crackem” doctor, and you do not “crack necks or backs.”

I know how hard it is to get across to your patients that you’re the chiropractic equivalent to a skilled surgeon, precise, meticulous, an engineer.  You’ve had extensive post graduate education, you’ve found the probable cause of their problems, and why other doctors have not been able to help them.

I know how old it gets to explain why you’re focusing on a patient’s neck when “Doc, it hurts over here.”

The problem is knowledge.  You’re patients are, frankly, ignorant about what you do, unless they have been educated by you. 

Unfortunately this is an ongoing process, never ending, perpetual.  You have to educate and re-educate every single visit.

And maybe you’re fine with that, maybe you’ve accepted that it’s just part of your job to constantly remind your patients of who you are and what you do.

But there is an incredibly powerful tool, that pounds home to your patients, and prospective patients, what sets you apart from other chiropractors.

This tool reminds your patients, why they need you, versus any and every other health care professional available to them.

It is an easy and painless solution to keeping you in constant contact with your patients so that whenever they have a health issue, they think of you first.


They will trust you more, and have confidence in you, and will refer their family and friends to you, so that you can help them too.

And the icing on the cake is it will work even when you’re at home spending time with your family, or out on the lake fishing.

Let me quickly tell you a little story.

In the second half of 2003 I bought a successful upper cervical practice, and I did OK keeping things status quo, but I struggled with all of the issues that I previously mentioned.

I knew there had to be a better way to deal with this problem.  So in November of 2004 I started a patient newsletter.

In this letter I kept patients abreast of the latest news about health, and wellness, all from the perspective of an upper cervical doctor’s point of view.

And an astonishing thing happened.

The patients loved the newsletter, I got all kinds of compliments.  Patients started telling me, “I just read your newsletter, and I didn’t know that the atlas being out of alignment could affect blood pressure,” even though they had been told many times before.

Something about seeing it in print changed things, and they started to refer their friends and family more frequently.

They would also pass the newsletter along to their family and friends after reading it themselves, and this would translate into indirect referrals. 

At times I would have a 3 week waiting list for new patients.

All wanting to get their atlas checked.

And something else happened ...

I saw a 30% increase in clinic revenue after the first year of sending out the newsletter, and the next year I saw another 30% increase and the year after that... and so on.

Sending out that upper cervical patient newsletter every month was the most powerful thing I ever did for my clinic.  If you send out a monthly upper cervical patient newsletter, then you know what I’m talking about, and if you don’t send one out, every month, then I hope I can convince you of the absolute necessity of utilizing this practice-power-tool by the end of this letter.

The Importance of Keeping in Constant Contact With Your Patients

Dan Kennedy, one of todays most respected marketers has said, in regards to what a business (or practice) can do to increase their business:

    “My single biggest recommendation is the use of a monthly customer (patient) newsletter.”

A publication called “Bank Marketing” said in one of their issues:
       

And that’s coming from a bank, about as conservative an organization as you can get. 

Now imagine if you were sending your patients a monthly upper cervical newsletter, what kind of an effect do you think that would have on your practice?

Here are some benefits to sending your upper cervical patients a newsletter every month:

• Newsletters help you keep patients

• Newsletters help you get new patients

• Newsletters are a brand-builder

• Newsletters are a credibility builder

Let’s look at each of these points in some detail. 


If you’re like most upper cervical doctors, then about the only time you have interaction with your patients is when they are in your office for an adjustment.  This can make you appear one dimensional, or shallow to your patient.  They will only associate you with the adjustment, or the result of the adjustment. 

For instance, if your patient started coming to see you for headaches, and the atlas adjustment got rid of their headaches, then they will probably only think of you when they have a headache. 

When they have a backache, they may decide to go see someone else, not even thinking that their atlas may need to be corrected. 

This is probably happening more than you know, because if a patient doesn’t associate you with a solution to their problem, then they probably aren’t going to tell you about that problem.


It presents situations and ailments related to a primary atlas subluxation (in simple language that your patients understand) that your patients probably never consider.

A monthly newsletter acts like a fence around your patients protecting them from being swayed by outside influences.  It builds their trust in you. 

They won’t just think of you as their atlas chiropractor, who fixes their atlas subluxations, but they’ll think of you as their doctor.  Their primary go-to expert whom they rely on first whenever they have a question about themselves, or their family’s health, regardless of what’s bothering them.

It acts as a constant reminder to your patients: “Here I am, don’t forget, if your having any health issues, then it pays to make sure your atlas is in adjustment first!”
Nothing is more convenient and simple than a monthly patient newsletter doing this for you.


A newsletter looks like an unassuming piece of correspondence with your existing patients, providing news, entertainment and relationship-building information, but it is really an irresistible piece of marketing that your patients will pass along to their friends and family, introducing you to them in a pleasant and welcome manner.

It's also a great idea to send your upper cervical patient newsletter directly to prospective patients whose contact information you have.

What an incredibly simple, pressure-free way of introducing yourself to prospective new patients and building your relationship with them before they ever decide to become a patient.  It makes their decision to become a patient much easier if they already trust you, and already feel as if they have a relationship with you and your office.


When you send your upper cervical patient newsletter to your patients, and prospective patients, you are effectively positioning yourself as the expert in the upper cervical area. 

Readers of your newsletter are constantly reminded that you are not just an everyday run-of-the-mill chiropractor, but a specialist.  Everyone wants to know that they are being treated by a specialist. 

I know that in many states you can’t claim to be different from other chiropractors in your state, but an upper cervical patient newsletter makes this statement without ever actually making this statement.

This is especially effective if you send your newsletter to other doctors in your area.  It is a great way of letting other professionals become familiar with you, and learn what makes you different, and why they should trust you with their referrals.


Your upper cervical patient newsletter gives you the opportunity to tell your readers why what you do works.  You can tell stories, and even include testimonials showing how an atlas adjustment has a powerful impact on an individuals health. 
As you can see, sending out a monthly upper cervical patient newsletter has many benefits to both your practice, your practice growth, your patients, your status and ultimately your bottom line.


Putting the whole thing together takes a ton of time. 

When I was practicing full time, it was time I really didn’t have to spare with a busy practice, and a growing young family.

First of all, I had to sit down and write the darn thing.  That could sometimes take 20 hours out of the month.

Then I had to take it to the printer, and wait for them to print it, then there was the folding and stuffing and sealing and tabbing and labeling and sorting.

Then I would take it to the Post Office business mail center, and send it off.


And that was on top of seeing patients, and being a husband and father.

But, after seeing the impact that a newsletter had on my practice, there was no way I could go back to not doing one.

Sure I could have just bought a ready-made newsletter to send to my patients, but I looked at several, and they were all too general, and more often than not were obviously written for the non-upper cervical doctor’s patients.  I couldn’t risk sending out a newsletter like that.  After all, I wanted to differentiate myself from the rest of the chiropractors in town, not confuse the people receiving my newsletter.

And this is why I am writing you today. 

I understand how busy you are, so I want to write your patient newsletter for you.

For the first time upper cervical chiropractors have a choice about sending a ready-made newsletter to their patients. 

You can send out a canned newsletter written for the general chiropractor, or you can send out a newsletter written with the upper cervical patient in mind.

This is a newsletter, done for you, that you can be proud to send to your patients, prospective patients and professional contacts that sets you apart from other chiropractors in your area, and positions you as an expert.

It looks professional, but it also looks as if you actually spent the time to put the newsletter together yourself.

When your patient sees the newsletter in their mail box every month, it is seen as a welcome guest, not as an annoying pest.

It will serve to:

• Inform

• Educate

• Instruct

• And Entertain them

At the same time it will compel them to remember you, and drive patients through your door.

So how does it all work? 

And how much will it cost?

You have several options, if you decide to use the newsletter.

• STANDARD PLAN: I will write the newsletter for you every month, including all personalization (Clinic name, address, new patient list, optional offer) and send you the electronic file (PDF format) by email by the 10th of the month prior to when it would go out.  It is written in a simple booklet format consisting of an 11x17 sheet which should then be folded in half.  You have the option of including an offer to your patients on the back page of the newsletter opposite the mailing panel, or an enticing current article related to upper cervical. You may then send it to your printer, and then have your assistant take care of the folding and tabbing, or you can probably have your printer do that as well, and all your assistant will have to do is print off and apply address labels. The fee for this service is $130.00 per month.

• PREMIUM PLAN: This is a completely turn-key option where I do absolutely everything for you!  You don’t have to worry about a thing.  I will write the monthly newsletter, including the optional back page offer or article, print it, fold it, tab it, address it and mail it all for you.  All you have to do is make sure that I have all of the pertinent information every month to make it happen (i.e. new patient’s list, address additions, monthly offer etc.) Every month, you can be sure that your patient’s are receiving a personal touch from you, without you having to lift so much as a finger.  The fee for this service is $200.00 per month, + $0.65 per newsletter to cover the printing, processing and postage.

I recommend that you send your newsletter to no more than 300 of your most recently active patients as this is where you will see the greatest return on investment.  So each month, if you send out 300 newsletters, your entire cost will be $395 per month.

You may either pay monthly by credit card, or I can invoice you every month.

When you decide to pay for a year in advance, I will discount your writing service by two months.  For example, if you want to pay for the Premium plan for an entire year in advance, your cost would only be $2000 ($400 savings), and you would just be billed monthly for the printing, processing and postage ($0.65 per newsletter per month).

I sincerely hope that you see the importance of sending out a monthly patient newsletter.  If you have any questions, if you would like any details cleared up, or if you would like to start the service, please give me a call at

417-839-9988, or you can email me at drhambrick@gmail.com. 

Just put in the subject line “Upper Cervical Patient Newsletter” leave me your contact information, and I will be happy to get you started.  If you would like to see an example of the newsletter, I would be happy to send that to you as well.

Sincerely yours,


Paul Hambrick

PS: A monthly newsletter is the most important tool that any practice has at its disposal.  It will set you apart from other chiropractors, show that you are the expert in your area, educate your patients about what you do 24/7, and increase your number of new patients and referrals.  Stop putting it off, and start sending your upper cervical patients a newsletter today. 

PPS:


Above is a picture of the USS Monitor & the CSS Virginia known as the "Merrimac".  I bet you're wondering why I've included the above picture.

I've done this for two reasons:

1. I wanted to get your attention.
2. These two ships have something in common with my guarantee to you.

They are all "Ironclad."

My Ironclad Guarantee! Guarantee: If you are ever unhappy with the newsletter service, you may cancel at any time, and I will politely and immediately stop your service, and refund the months you have left over if you have paid in advance. I either deliver a top quality product for you to send to your upper cervical patients every single month or you can cancel no questions asked. All Of The Risk Is On Me