Social Networking and Doctors

I have read several discussions lately about doctors using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. There are several people who feel this is crossing a line. They do not think doctors and patients should be linked on social networking sites. They worry about the patient being exposed to too much personal information from their doctor.

There is a simple solution to this problem, if you feel it is a problem. If you are a doctor and you want to build a social media presence you can have two accounts. One account can be for patients and networking, while your other account will remain for personal use.

This stops the fears that a patient will learn too much personal information about their doctor. They will not have access to family pictures and messages to friends. In today's world social networking sites are becoming a must for doctors. When a potential new patient searches for a new doctor on Google they want to be able to research all they can about the doctor.

If you have social networking profiles it will make the research easier for the potential patient. Having a better web presence means the chances are going to be higher that you will bring in new patients. So don't let fears of social networking sites keep you from cashing in on new business.

New! Marketing 4 U All in One Marketing for Chiropractors

I don't often take blog space to promote my business, but we've finally got the resources on hand to launch an all in one, done for you, completely painless marketing program using all forms of marketing (including social media) for our clientele. That means that we can help our businesses get a boost every which way they could possibly think of.

Imagine, the power of having a full time marketing and PR expert at your disposal 24/7 for a fraction of the cost of hiring your own marketing team. All the resources your business needs to succeed in one place. And someone standing by to answer your questions and guide your marketing efforts from point A to point B. That was my dream when I first launched Catchfire Coaching Services, and now, thanks to the power of the web and the great team I've got standing behind me, I'm making it happen.

Check it out and come celebrate with me by visiting www.CatchfireCoaching.com!

How a Coach Can Help You Get Funding for Your Practice

It's hard to justify the need for a coach in a chiropractic practice, since all you're going to be doing is catering to your patients' chiropractic needs-right? Wrong. Yes, you want to take care of patients, but in order to have patients to take care of you have to first let them know who you are, where you are and what you can do. For that, you can benefit from a coach's expertise.

Many lenders want to know you have a coach in your corner before they give you the funding for your practice. For them, it's something of a guarantee. Since coaches know how to build a chiropractic practice there's a very good chance you'll be able to lure in patients and actually make enough money to pay them back for their investment. And when you get right down to it, that's all a lender really wants-to know they're going to get back that little bit more than they put in.

The Benefits of Coaching

Before you close this page, this is not a shameless SPAM for my coaching services. I just wanted to get that out of the way from the very beginning! A lot of the doctors, chiropractors and nurse practitioners I work with don't understand what working with a marketing coach is going to do for their practice, and I can't say I blame them. It didn't really click for me either until the first time I set what I'd learned in motion!

So this is a story from me, to you, about the benefits of coaching and how I wish I'd learned that a whole lot sooner.

First and foremost, let's talk patient volume. You can't run a successful practice if you don't have patients, but without effective marketing your patients are never going to know you're there. We all dream of becoming "that" doctor that patients are clamoring months in advance to see, but without working with "that" doctor how are you ever going to learn what it takes to get from here to there?

Secondly, what are you going to do when you retire? Are you going to sell your practice? Fade out of the picture? Work until you have a heart attack on the floor? No one wants to work for the rest of their lives. Coaching services can help you build up the value of your practice so you can retire in style and let some young whipper snapper fresh out of med school pick up the reins.

Finally, let's talk financing. It costs money to start a new practice, and banks like to know that they have a good chance of seeing a return on their investment-especially during these economic times, when new businesses (including practices) are going under as fast as they're popping up. Banks see an experienced coach as a guarantee of sorts, because they know you're working with someone who knows how to get the results they want to see.

Wherever you are, I've been there. Whether you're burnt out and exhausted from trying to build your practice up singlehandedly, watching it turn a small profit or even watching it grow at an amazing rate I'm telling you, I've been there. And wherever you are, a coaching service can help make it that much better.