Dr. Brian Capra: Hey everybody, this is Dr. Brian Capra from the UAC Best Practices Podcast. We’re super excited to have you guys join us today. Best Practices, we try to give you a little nugget that you can add to your practice today, learn today, and that you can implement tomorrow. Here also with Dr. Allen Miner. Doc?
Dr. Allen Miner: Hey, guys, welcome. And we’ve got Dr. Dan Cox with us today. Dr. Dan is out of Buffalo, New York. And my kids were just up there for a dance competition and saw Niagara Falls in like, you know, 30-degree blowing sideways rain kind of conditions.
Dr. Allen Miner: But Dan, I’ve always been fascinated, you’re like so many people in UAC where you’ve built this great clinic. You have multiple clinics we’ll talk about. And then you also have another project, which is great because you don’t have to be in it regularly. You have a partner called Crash Metrics where you guys, I think, help attorneys with litigation… Not maybe litigation, but testifying, right? In accidents? So, please, Dan, just give everybody a little insight about that, about what your practice is, and then let’s talk about a best practice that you’re using in the practice.
Dr. Dan Cox: Okay. Well, thanks for having me, guys. And yeah, being in Buffalo, there’s not a lot of time outside in the sun so we could really focus on our practices for sure.
Dr. Dan Cox: I had four offices at one time. And as time grew, as the practices grew, it became pretty chaotic, so I learned the importance of systems. And we implemented an entrepreneurial operating system and it helped because with owning another company called Crash Metrics, where we do accident reconstruction, where we get hired by an attorney or an insurance company to figure out what happened. And very often we could just write a report and things can be resolved. But it also requires being able to testify and give a very intelligent opinion as to what happened. With all this going on, I just had to make sure that things were very systematized. And just like other chiropractors, the most important thing is having good systems for patient education to increase compliance and to have a high PVA so patients stick around long enough to get the great results that chiropractic can offer. In doing that, we came up with an idea that, I’m sure I stole it from somebody else, but I’d like to believe it was an original idea, of having what we call a patient concierge. We have a lady in our office who her personality type, her Enneagram, or her personality type, she was born for this position.
Dr. Dan Cox: She’s outgoing, she builds rapport, and she just adds a significant value to every single new patient coming into the practice. So, it’s all about value. People do things based on value. And if a new patient comes in or even existing patient and we’re no longer delivering value as they perceive it, they’re out and they’ll leave. They vote with their feet. So, what Michelle does is the system is, on day one she greets the patient and the relationship starts right then and there. She brings them back to the room. I come in and I do the day one procedure. I push a little button. She comes back. We have what we call a release procedure. And then she schedules them for their day two or their report of findings. She takes care of setting up all of the imaging. We don’t do X-ray in our building. We refer out and she facilitates that. And then when they come back for day two, they’re met by that familiar smiling face, and we do the same thing. And once the report of finding is complete, she schedules them out for six or eight weeks and the patient walks away having a Ritz-Carlton like experience. And it’s made a huge difference in our branding, in our community. And it’s, I can’t say enough about the benefits of it.
Dr. Allen Miner: That’s awesome.
Dr. Brian Capra: I just had a… Yeah. It’s really cool. I just realized that I got that when I went to the dentist [chuckle] recently and they had that experience. And it does make a huge difference where I knew somebody was, there was somebody… Obviously there’s a doctor who’s got to do the doctor stuff, but there was somebody looking out for me making sure I never was just floating around wondering what’s the next step, waiting at the front desk or anything. They were just focused on me and whatever the money was, it was what it was, but I liked her, and I trusted this place now and yeah. I shelled out a bunch of money, but with no questions.
Dr. Dan Cox: I think…
Dr. Brian Capra: Really awesome idea. I didn’t realize I got it done to me until you just mentioned it.
[laughter]
Dr. Dan Cox: I just think that when you… You know, this is an old Tony Robbins thing, but when you understand the six human needs and the need for certainty. When a patient comes in, and they’re going to be spending some money, in order to spend it they have to be comfortable and see the value. So, you have certainty, variety, significance, love and connection, contribution and growth. Those are the six human needs. Some people have them in a different hierarchy. However, if you could check two or three of those boxes, that patient walks away with… As a raving fan, which builds your brand and they’re going to want to please the doctor. So, their compliance goes up and they just see the value.
Dr. Brian Capra: Yeah. I would bet that…
Dr. Allen Miner: That’s awesome.
Dr. Brian Capra: In those needs, too, I would bet that when you’re a patient whatever your hierarchy might be might change where certainty rises up to a higher level for everybody. And that process or that experience that you give is awesome.
Dr. Allen Miner: Yeah.
Dr. Brian Capra: Really awesome.
Dr. Allen Miner: And EOS was…
Dr. Dan Cox: It served us.
Dr. Allen Miner: You mentioned it, entrepreneurial operating system, but that is the book, Traction. Correct, Dan?
Dr. Dan Cox: Absolutely.
Dr. Allen Miner: Yeah. That’s the book, it’s interesting how many different UAC people, and even some of our coaches…
Dr. Brian Capra: Oh, you’ve gotten some use out of that, though.
Dr. Allen Miner: We have so many coaches at UAC…
Dr. Dan Cox: The Bible.
Dr. Allen Miner: How many of them have based their systems off of Traction? It’s just a solid system.
Dr. Brian Capra: We use it. We use it in Genesis a lot. A lot.
Dr. Allen Miner: Yeah.
Dr. Dan Cox: Yeah.
Dr. Allen Miner: Awesome. Dan. Well…
Dr. Dan Cox: Just, they’re universal principles that come from the book and yeah, that’s… I’m grateful to have been introduced to it.
Dr. Allen Miner: And Dan, how long have you been in practice in Buffalo?
Dr. Dan Cox: Thirty-three years. I’m in my…
Dr. Brian Capra: Congratulations.
Dr. Dan Cox: Thirty-third year. Thank you.
Dr. Brian Capra: That’s…
Dr. Allen Miner: That’s awesome. How, so I’m curious from somebody that’s been in it for 33 years, what do you do for marketing these days? Is it all internal and referral? Do you still do marketing? Or what’s your take on the front door?
Dr. Dan Cox: Yeah, we really don’t market a whole lot. We see probably about 60 new patients a month on average. It could be 50 to 70.
Dr. Brian Capra: Yeah.
Dr. Dan Cox: It’s pretty much referral. We have a lot of primary care docs and ortho, neuros that we work with. Even though I do accident reconstruction work, I would say the personal injury demographic of our patient base is probably only about 20%-25%. We are… I have some young associates that are going to probably come in as partners, so they want to, and I welcome it, their ideas, to start using social media. But at this point thankfully, we have lots of momentum and it’s just chugging along nicely.
Dr. Allen Miner: That’s awesome, man. Well, Dan, it’s always a pleasure when you’re in the room and your insights and wisdom and thanks for everything you’re doing. Do you see yourself retiring any time soon?
Dr. Dan Cox: I have a five-year plan and I was talking to Brian earlier; I got my… I didn’t take the boards in Florida, and I coach chiropractors too, so I’m coaching a guy that has a hospital-based practice in the Advent Hospital system.
Dr. Allen Miner: Awesome.
Dan Cox: So, I’m probably just going to join them and be more of an administrator and just continue to consult in five years.
Dr. Brian Capra: Going to make it to Florida?
Dr. Brian Capra: Way to go, brother.
Dr. Dan Cox: Absolutely.
Dr. Brian Capra: [laughter] That’s right.
Dr. Dan Cox: I’m getting out of here as soon as I can.
Dr. Brian Capra: [laughter] Well, I can’t wait to see you.
Dr. Allen Miner: You know we came from New Mexico to Texas this last year and it’s funny, the migration into Florida and Texas and… [chuckle]
Dr. Brian Capra: Yeah.
Dr. Allen Miner: And out of the other states.
Dr. Dan Cox: And it’s not just the weather that is driving me out of here.
Dr. Allen Miner: Yeah.
Dr. Dan Cox: But that’s another conversation.
Dr. Brian Capra: Yeah. I get you. I get you. I hear you.
Dr. Dan Cox: Yeah.
Dr. Allen Miner: Awesome, Dan. Well, we love you, we appreciate you. And thanks for the nuggets of wisdom.
Dr. Brian Capra: Appreciate you, man. Love you, man.
Dr. Dan Cox: Alright. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
Dr. Allen Miner: Have a good one. See you. Goodbye.
Dr. Dan Cox: Okay. Bye-bye.
