Building A Chiropractic Practice
Dr. Duke was was a retired chiropractor who decided to return to practice to help his daughter, who had just received her license, open her first clinic.
The Pain:
Starting a new business has its challenges. The clinic needed patients so Dr. Duke had been running an ad in the local newspaper offering to give prospects a $300 stress test for just $75. He ran this ad every Wednesday in the Living Section. Each ad, which was just 3 inches wide and 2 inches deep, cost $270. After running the ad for weeks, he had become discouraged. Only four people drove to the clinic to take advantage of his offer.
The Solution:
Dr. Duke needed a complete rewrite of his ad. The new add copy, written on a napkin over lunch in his office, had to be short and sweet since there was so little room. There were no pictures since there wasn't the space. He didn't even want to mention this was a chiropractic office.
The New Ad Said:
$75 Stress Test. Same One Used By Physicians Nationwide. FREE To The First 50 Callers As Part Of A Daring Medical Experiment.
When meeting with the sales representative from the newspaper a two and half hour argument broke out. He was sure the ad wouldn't work. It was mentioned his ad wasn't working either. But, he won the argument and he persuaded Dr. Duke NOT to run the new ad.
However, we knew the ad would work. We believed in the system. So a partner of ours took his rent money and gave the newspaper $500, paying to run the ad himself.
The Result:
Dr. Duke called Thursday morning after the ad ran. His daughter's clinic opened at 9 a.m. that Wednesday. By 10:30 -just 90 minutes later- the clinic had received 90 phone calls. Everyone who worked in the clinic - three chiropractors, a massage therapist, and a secretary - spent the entire day answering the telephone. They couldn't work with any patients because they were too busy answering the phone!
Dr. Duke paid to run the ad again. In two weeks he received 600 responses. These two ads brought in enough prospects to build a new practice. The clinic's goal was to see 70 patients a day. They were now doing that. Two ads launched a new company in two weeks.
He then needed help setting up a referral system. Six months later, we discovered each patient was referring an average of 11 people.
By the way, Dr. Duke reimbursed our partner for the ad but refused to pay our fee for writing it. He said it was too easy!
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