138 - Day One Done Right: Creating Connection That Leads to Retention

[00:00:00] How much talking am I doing versus how much listening am I doing, right? So we usually say like the mark we're trying to hit is that the patient should actually be talking 80% of the time and you should be listening 80% of the time. And so I think a lot of people who struggle with day one have that reversed, right? They're doing a lot of talking. They're already trying to change the paradigm all in one visit.

[00:00:23] If you're doing 80% of the talking and they feel like it's a preach session, they're not coming back for day two because nobody wants to be preached at in a healthcare setting. They want to be loved and taken care of. Hello and welcome to Build Your Remarkable Practice Podcast. This Podcast is dedicated to chiropractors who are in the seasons of launching and building their practice.

[00:00:53] Join myself, Dr. Lona and my co-host, Dr. Bobby, as we have conversations each week as it relates to building the practice of your dreams. And remember, you can have a remarkable practice as part of a remarkable life, not instead of one. We are here to lead you on the way. All right, welcome back to the Build Your Remarkable Practice podcast. We're back together. Welcome back, Andrew. How are you doing this week?

[00:01:21] I'm good. The sun is out in Australia. And, you know, it's probably we've we've swapped roles now. It's getting cold where you are. And I'm just in a T-shirt. Yeah, it is. It's chilly in the morning. It's beautiful, though. The like leaves are changing. Flying back from TRP. I had a like two hour drive and the sun was out and the leaves are like totally gorgeous right now. So it's pretty good here right now, but it is getting cold. Yeah.

[00:01:46] And you don't live in like an ugly part of America. Like it's, you know, it's beautiful. I've been there. It's nice. Yeah, it is. It's just cold. So, yeah, they come from basically like October and then skip basically November, January, November, December, January, February, probably March, then come back in April. Yeah. I have like a hard rule that I typically won't leave Australia in anywhere from like October to April. Yeah.

[00:02:14] When it doesn't rain in Perth and it's beautiful weather. I'm not going anywhere. And then in around that I'm trying to escape. But well, when I came out there, I thought it was pretty nice. So you guys are you have pretty good weather most of the time. Well, I'm spoiled, but enough about the weather. Let's dive in because this is like a very hot topic and I think that everyone's going to be excited about this. Do you want to tell everyone what we're going to be talking about over the next three episodes?

[00:02:41] Yes. We are going to get you back at the beginning of the patient journey where we're meeting people where they're at day one and then we're going to progress through day two and day three. So we're going to do a deep dive on starting people on the journey in a strong way and having it feel connected and really focused because it is something where sometimes there's learning and relearning and unlearning in order to, I think, do day one and day two and day three well.

[00:03:09] And it's its own art form. Right, Andrew? That's what we were talking about offline. Yeah. And I've come to a realization with a lot of coaching clients that this is the stuff that everybody needs to nail. Yeah. And if we nail this, I say to my staff all the time, we attract to convert, we convert to retain and we're after long-term patient relationships because that's where people get the best results.

[00:03:36] And that starts day one. Actually, it kind of starts when the CAs have first contact. Yeah, it starts with even your marketing that's out there. If it's aligned, we were talking about this offline too, is just having aligned marketing and marketing that's going to move the needle and also be a match for what they're actually going to experience when they come into your clinic. I do think it starts before they hit the actual front doors of your clinic, but that's a different podcast.

[00:04:04] Yeah. I actually, I want to give everyone like a very hot tip on this, right? Because we started to do this in response to having a lot of Meta and Google new patients, no show to their initial appointment. I think we had a shocking week one time where, you know, despite our confirmation procedures, that kind of stuff, we had like 50% of new patients coming from digital marketing, no show for their appointment.

[00:04:30] And I had to go to the drawing board and I had to go to the drawing board and be like, okay, what's, you know, what are we going to do to change this? Right. And everyone that I've shared this tip with is like, oh my God. So I'm just going to like, I'm just going to give it to everyone for free. Right. I'm excited. Okay. Okay. We have, with the understanding that the highest priority that we get from day one is that we have a connection with them leaving.

[00:05:00] Mm-hmm.

[00:05:30] Patricia has referred you in. I'm really excited to get to know you and see how we can help you on your journey. Or if they've filled in the form, we're going through the form and we're going, oh, okay, they're coming in for sciatic pain. I'm really excited to see how we can help you with sciatic pain. So I'm looking forward to catching up with you at 8.30 tomorrow. Right.

[00:05:59] So until our new patient and day two no-show rates, they plummeted. And people came into the practice already knowing exactly who they're supposed to be looking for. They already knew that we'd like paid enough attention to them to know that they were coming in and that we were ready for them to come in. And we even had people like reply. We have people replying to those videos being like, oh, my God, thank you. I'm really excited to come in. That's awesome. So, and we're talking about a 20-second video.

[00:06:28] If you're doing three, we're talking about two minutes of work between like putting their number in, sending them the video, maybe retaking it because you're not happy with it. But this tip, you guys start instituting that. I think that you're going to see much, much better connection. And remember, conversion happens at the speed of trust. You've like put that trust foot forward and showed that you care before they've even come into the practice.

[00:06:56] And then, bam, when we get to day two, the video looks like we're bringing up their goals again. We're saying, hey, I'm looking forward to chatting with you about how we can get you to sleep through the night. I'll be it without, you know, waking up with sciatic pain or something like that. And they already know that we remember who they are, what their goals are, and that we're going to be talking about a plan to get them to where they want to go. So that has been a real game changer for our staff. And there you go, guys.

[00:07:25] Like that's awesome. That's a great tip. And I love that you just do it in your pre or post shift tunnel, right? Yeah. It's significantly changed the game in terms of new patient connection for when they come in. Okay. And if you and owners, if you've got associates that struggle to get in front of a camera comfortably for social media videos, there's a phenomenal little training exercise for them because they might be pumping out 10 videos a week talking on camera.

[00:07:54] And all of a sudden they can start to talk on camera for social media and there you go. Oh, that's great. Super good. And I'm like, okay, I'm already thinking, how do we put that into place? So we've got to get to day one now. Let's look. Okay. Well, that's teeing us up. So they're showing up for day one, which is huge. And we need to know that metric too, because otherwise, you know, this whole journey that we're taking people on, part of why we want metrics for it too, is so that we know where we need to do some different things.

[00:08:21] Like Andrew being like, hey, we got to fix this because we're doing all this work marketing and then they're not showing up. Right? Yeah. We got to know where the chink in the armor is and that's why we've got the metrics. Yeah. Okay. So they've walked in the front door. What is like the main theme of day one? When we really think about like, what are we trying to accomplish on day one? Let's start at the top, at the beginning, at the vision for like, what are we doing on day one? Like we talked about offline, the whole process is a story, right?

[00:08:51] And where, you know, we have the opportunity through day two and day three to write their future story. But day one, we're really trying to get their past story. What made them walk into the practice? What made them interact with your ad? What made them, when one of your patients was talking about how great you are, think I've got to come in and see that person? So that's one of my favorite lead questions is, and I actually stole this off Dr. Pete because he's great with his day ones.

[00:09:20] Even if he's full coach mode now, but he knows his way around a good day one, but is to sit down and say, you know, say they're a meta lead. I'm curious, what about our ads made you decide that you needed to come in? How often do you get somebody sit down with you and you go, this only just started yesterday? It's very rare, right? It's, oh, look, I've had this for 18 months to two years to whatever.

[00:09:48] So you want to know, like, and this is the pro tip on, because we want to get the story of why they've decided to come in, because that's the key to their life effect. I'm curious, what made you act now? I can see on our paperwork, this has been a problem for five years. Why did you decide to do something about it now?

[00:10:06] Now, the answer to that will be the underlying linked in their story of, well, you know, and I've got this awesome patient who I know his wife had been trying to get him in for ages. And I looked after his wife since she was 14. And now she's like 26 with a kid.

[00:10:26] And she's been, he's had a numb leg for, or he had, got the job done, a numb leg since he was a teenager, right? Like we're talking about a guy who's 27. He's had a numb leg since he was 14. So 13 years, he's done everything. And I said to him, okay, I know that your wife has been trying to get you in for a long time, because we've been talking about you.

[00:10:55] I'm curious, what made you decide, all right, I'm going to give in and I'm going to come in and get checked? And he said, well, you know, we had a baby recently and I can only hold him for about five minutes before I have to give him off because my leg is too numb for me to handle it. Bam. I've just got, there's the life effect. In that one question, there's the goal. The goal is just the inverse of the story of the life effect. Okay.

[00:11:23] So you want to be able to hold your son without having a numb leg? Yeah, I do. All right. Let's write that down because that's his story. That's the story that we're trying to write. I love that. And I love how simple you just made that because I think sometimes we make it too complex if we're not doing that piece of like really listening and then asking that question of like, yeah, why today? Or what is it really about? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:11:52] It's such a great question to just really like, what made you act now? What about what they said just made you go, oh, okay, like I've got to come in and see this guy because that's what they really want out of your service. Well, that's, you know, that's the underlying story there. Yeah. I had a new patient somewhere in the last month that he was not, he wasn't a talkative guy, right? And definitely had some significant things going on.

[00:12:22] He had like radiculopathy in his arms and had a history of like back surgery. And I said, you know, he had a lot going on. And I've said, if we could do one thing for you, like what is that thing that would mean the most? You know, if the outcome of your chiropractic care, he's like, I want to feel my hands again. I was like, that's a pretty big deal. I would want to feel my hands again too. You know, like. You take it for granted, don't you? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[00:12:49] I just busted up my ankle last week and I like took for granted. Like I am on the patient journey right now. And I can, you think about when your body's functioning well, all the opportunities you have, right? Versus like when something's really bugging you, how it zaps your energy, it zaps your focus, all that. So I don't want to overlook that either because I do think when people come in with substantial dis-ease or symptoms happening,

[00:13:15] like sometimes it's tough to, for us to just sit and listen and realize like this is really major for this person right now. Like what is going on in their body? They're not thinking about all the things they could be doing because it's so intense for them right now too. You know, we get a wide array of how people come into our offices. And I think that's one of the like really cool parts about chiropractic, but also one of the more challenging things is you're meeting them where they're at. And some people are in poor health.

[00:13:44] Some people have already been on a chiropractic journey. They're doing pretty well. They already have the paradigm. You're just their new chiropractor potentially and you're meeting them where they're at. And you've got people that have already like embraced the holistic model of like how they do their healthcare. And then you have people who are like, you're my last resort, but I know nothing about what I'm getting myself into, right?

[00:14:05] So like just recognizing there's an art form to trying to read the room and read the person and know who do I think I'm speaking with right now? Where are they at in this journey? Where is their paradigm? And what are they telling me? And what are they not telling me? Right? Yeah. You know, again, we talked about this offline is like, we've got scripts on the DC Academy and, you know, step-by-step processes on how to do this.

[00:14:34] And I would say, you know, like if we're looking at kind of like a D kind of ranking day one, we're talking about like someone who's just going through the motions, doesn't know what they're doing. A C kind of ranking is somebody who is following a loose concept of what they want to do. B, they're following the like the scripts and the process like rigidly.

[00:14:59] But A, A class is you are reading that person and you are going, okay, this is the appropriate conversation to have at this moment. And you're still, you know, you're still getting to the destination with them. But again, like you said, you've got to feel where they're at. They're there in front of you going through, you know, especially if they're their last resort.

[00:15:22] They've been through this medical system where they feel in Australia is term fobbed off, which is just kind of like, yeah, whatever. Like here's some painkillers, shut up, get out. The value of day one done well is, you know, I went through this with a bunch of associates with a coaching client who were shifting from always adjusting on day one to not adjusting on day one at all.

[00:15:48] And the first thing they needed to understand was sitting down with you to actually have a connection and discuss what their story looks like is actually incredibly highly valuable. And they get that from no other place. They're not getting that from their GP. They're not getting that from an orthopedic surgeon or a neurologist. They don't care about the story. It's whack up the MRI. And that's what we're cutting out.

[00:16:14] If you're doing a day one properly, there is nobody doing what you do at day one. And I don't just mean like a proper exam, but I mean even just taking the time to sit with them, hear their story and connect with them. Nobody's doing that.

[00:16:32] And so if you have problems charging properly for day one, you have disconnected with the value that you are providing and disconnected with the reality that that is incredibly unique in healthcare now, which is a shame. But that's the reality. That's a really good point, Andrew. True. Yeah.

[00:16:51] I think when you look at some of the Google reviews you get, so much of it is generally about how the doctors care or the staff cares or how you made the person feel, which is a lot of what day one is about. I know we just trained on this when we were at the immersion, but how the conversion is an emotional thing. They have to know you care and they have to trust that they're in the right place, which comes from connection. Yeah.

[00:17:17] And, you know, guys, if you're really struggling with your day one to day two show rate, I would go back and I would evaluate how well are you connecting with somebody? How well do they feel like, gosh, I want to come back and sit down with them on day two because I really felt heard and seen and taken care of, even though they didn't do anything other than take a history and do an exam.

[00:17:45] Damn, they I'm seen here and I'm taken care of. That's the that's the high value of day one. And that's what gets people to show up for day two because they want that experience again. Yeah. And, you know, and the other thing to ask yourself when you're like, yeah, how am I doing on the scale of connection? Do I feel like I'm doing that well? The other thing to ask you is, like, how much talking am I doing versus how much listening am I doing? Right.

[00:18:11] So we we usually say, like, the patient should actually be talking 80 percent of the time and you should be listening 80 percent of the time. And so I think a lot of people who struggle with day one have that reversed. Right. They're doing a lot of talking. They're already trying to change the paradigm all in one visit because they're so excited. We're all so excited about chiropractic.

[00:18:31] But, you know, it's the conversion retention last year, the conversion retention immersion, where we were talking about titration, which is just, you know, the way that the chemical compound changes is trip at a time. And if you try and change it too aggressively, you know, it's it doesn't go so well. It explodes, blows up in your face.

[00:18:55] Right. So you're 100 percent on this one is like if you're doing 80 percent of the talking and they feel like it's a preach session, they're not coming back for day two because nobody wants to be preached at in a health care setting. They want to be loved and taken care of. Yep. Yep.

[00:19:11] Yep. Yeah. So just kind of wrapping up this beginning conversation is to think about, you know, if I could be doing active listening better, go back and listen to this and think about, yeah, how how well am I doing at really understanding why that person is really here today? And then, you know, where can I be a little more restrained? I'm excited about chiropractic, but I don't have to tell them everything on day one.

[00:19:34] I can just listen and probably do a little less on day one, knowing that I'll have my opportunity to change their paradigm over time. And certainly day two is the beginning of that, usually getting to share really like what is this path forward going to look like, which we'll do our next episode on. So if we put this in storyboard context, day one, the highest priority is to get their story about how they landed in here. And the A to Z technique that we talk about is this is where you are. This is where you want to get to.

[00:20:04] I actually call it the Google Maps technique. Google Maps needs two things. It needs to know where you are right now. That's what we want to figure out today. And the other thing I want to figure out with you is where do you want to go? And then in between now and your next appointment, I'm going to plot a course for us to go to together to get you to that. That's good. I'm an analogy guy. It's my thing. Analogies are so helpful. Relate this to something they already understand. Yeah.

[00:20:34] And I'll pull that one out if somebody if I'm having trouble getting their goals. You know, I just want the pain going on. Listen, I need to know the exact destination you want to get to. Otherwise, I can't make a plan that reflects the destination that you want to get to. And this is going to take a plan. You've given us some gold today. The video show up for day one. The Google Maps as an analogy of getting the goals, plugging that in. That's good.

[00:21:02] Imagine like a full weekend of this kind of stuff. There's a great plug for the Australian immersion coming up. Look, the loan has just come hot off the press from the US one. And we've got ours in just a bit over a month. Yeah, it's going to be great. It's going to be in Radelaide. And we're going to have a lot of fun. What did you call the city? Radelaide. That's what, you know, Adelaide's kind of like a boring city in Australia.

[00:21:31] Sorry for the Adelaide listeners. You know, it's true. So we always try and jazz it up by calling it Radelaide. I was like, what is that? Okay, Radelaide it is. Radelaide. All right. And reach out to Andrew if you want to get on the guest list, right? Yeah. Don't be shy to send me a request. I'll see if I can wrangle a golden ticket up for you. Hit me up on Instagram, Facebook. Doesn't matter. Let's get you to the immersion. Right on. All right. Well, you have a great night. I'll have a great day.

[00:22:02] Yeah. Enjoy what's left of the sunshine. Yeah. Thanks. I will. Hey, everyone. Please listen in for this next bonus interview of one of our remarkable success partners. They all help us help more people find the benefits of chiropractic. So listen on. All right, everyone. So Dr. P here. I'm in the studio today with Dr. Amy Spolstra. I'm so excited for her to be here, for you guys to hear from her.

[00:22:29] If you haven't listened or know what she's up to, guys, it's incredible. I think all of us as chiropractors, I'm going to put my chiropractor hat on right now. We fell in love with chiropractic because we saw the amazing life-changing benefits that can happen, the power of the adjustment, and just being able to set people free and give them their health and their life back. Dr. Amy is just like that. And now she has taken it to a whole nother level. So I'm excited to have her. She's one of our awesome, remarkable success partners, her Focus Academy.

[00:22:57] And I'm excited to interview her and just have her as a guest and just jam with you today. And you all are going to learn so much. So Dr. Amy, why don't you just take a minute and introduce yourself to our amazing audience and the listeners here today so they have an understanding of who it is that they're listening to because you truly are an expert. You are a thought leader. You're an innovator, and you're doing huge things in our profession right now. Well, thank you for all of that. You make me blush a little bit. So thanks, Dr. Pete.

[00:23:22] I really like the remarkable practice community because I have found this is what brought me here is I have found the Focus Academy and the Brain Blossom Program share so many core values with this organization, which is why I pursued you guys to go like, hey, how do we work together? Because you guys are great and your doctors are great and you're led by your core values. So I just I'm honored to be here and be a part of this group. And so who I am? I'm Dr. Amy Spolstra.

[00:23:46] I have been in practice almost 20 years and I have a background before chiropractic in behavioral learning, socialization, neurodevelopmental disorders from a neurooptometric lens. And so I created a framework or system within my very principled chiropractic practice to bring all of these other things in,

[00:24:09] but keep it very principled and the foundation being chiropractic and the nervous system to help specifically with these challenges that we're seeing in just massive numbers right now with kids, with behavior learning and socialization challenges and families out there that are struggling. So the challenge that I see with chiropractors is that, you know, we like have these big hearts. Like you said, we want to help, but we oftentimes are like looking at all of these different tools

[00:24:34] and we're losing way of how to really put an appropriate protocol and system together to help these kids and to stay grounded in our principles and chiropractic being the foundation. And so in the Focus Academy, in all these years of practice, I created this system for myself. And then I started to have chiropractors be like, hey, can you teach us how to do that? And reluctantly, I was like, okay, and I'll share a little bit with my friends. And then we started seeing it work in other practices.

[00:25:00] And that's where the Focus Academy certification series and training came from to help chiropractors put these pieces together simply in their practices to get better results, have better confidence and all of that with this demographic. And then we created a neurocognitive game and exercise system for them to use as a tool called the Brain Blossom Program that people can use in their practices after they get certified in the Focus Academy. So long story short, that's what we do.

[00:25:27] We help chiropractors by training them, but keeping them grounded in chiropractic, but giving them these other tools in this system to use. So I love this. And first of all, thank you for the work that you do and for saying yes to it because you could have easily said, no, I'm just going to keep this to myself and for myself because you easily could have because you have a family. You've got a lot going on and you're experiencing success yourself. But so I love your heart, the heart that you have to help serve. It takes a lot.

[00:25:53] And nobody knows the behind the scenes, time, energy, focus on money you've invested, the nights you've lost of sleep, just the hours and hours of travel and everything else that you do. So first of all, thank you for that. Thank you. You're welcome. So I think we know, Doc, that every business exists to solve a problem and you've kind of just talked a little bit about it. But I want you to talk about it because you're in it with chiros and you're also in it as a chiro. Yep.

[00:26:19] Every business exists to solve a problem by you launching the Focus Academy, not just doing your own thing and having your successful practice and living your life and doing whatever. You said, no, I'm going to bring this into our profession. So can you speak specifically, and you kind of did, but just a little bit more about how, if I'm a chiropractor listening today, I'm like, okay, why would I need the Focus Academy? Why should I even consider going through their system, integrating their system into my practice?

[00:26:45] Why should I consider going into the Brain Blossom Program and being trained in bringing in these brain-based exercises into my practice? Like, talk to me about that. And by answering this question, I think you're going to answer two questions. How are you helping the patient, but also how are you helping the doctor? Can you talk about that? Yeah. I mean, the first piece of that is just, I think if you're in family practice now, like, listen, if your model is to be a chiropractor that helps people with back pain and musculoskeletal conditions, like, great.

[00:27:14] I'm actually not here to say don't do that or against that at all. I'm like, there are people that need help with that. Absolutely. But if you're a family practice chiropractor or you even have a portion of your practice that you're about, you know, working with kids and working with families, you know, you really can't avoid this demographic. You have these kids and adults in your practice already.

[00:27:42] They're already there with behavior, learning, socialization, developmental, mental health challenges. They're there. You may, they may not have a diagnosis. It may not be super obvious without the untrained eye of learning a little more about the developmental hierarchies, which we teach, but they're already there. They're coming into your practice. Maybe when their parent gets adjusted and they're sitting there and you're like, oh, I know I can help this kid.

[00:28:07] I just don't know how to connect the dots with the parent or they're the kid that, you know, they come in and the parents are like, I kind of heard that maybe chiropractic, we've tried everything else. And I heard that maybe chiropractic could help my child with their behavior or their learning challenges or their bedwetting or whatever, their anxiety. And you're like, okay, I, we say know how to ask and answer question one, which is assessing and correcting subluxation. And you're really, really great at that.

[00:28:32] And then you're hoping that this is one of those cases where those symptoms go away or get better, which we know everybody is better when they're unsubluxated, right? Of course. But there's this second question, which is connecting the subluxation and the impact of subluxation and dysregulation on the nervous system to the developing brain and the actual impact on neuroplasticity and the impact on the developing brain.

[00:28:54] And especially when we have kids that are five and older or school aged and older, we know that they have embedded neurological patterns that need to be addressed with other neurocognitive tools as well. Even after, almost all the time, even after we address the subluxation, it does not devalue the correcting subluxation or chiropractic, but the reality is there has been an impact on the developing brain. There's been a neuroplastic change as a result of altered input processing output.

[00:29:24] And this is where the frustration comes with chiropractors when we are only looking at question one and not what I call question two, the impact on the brain. And then how do we address that with chiropractic being the foundation? The frustration is we're hoping that they get better. We become very mechanistic. If the symptom does not get better with our chiropractic care, we often shift into this mechanistic lane as chiropractors, which is a contradiction to our philosophy. And we do it sometimes without even knowing.

[00:29:53] I call this the chiropractic dilemma. And we start going, well, maybe do this primitive reflex exercise or this eye movement exercise, or maybe this supplement or this nutrition, or maybe I just need to adjust you more or less. And maybe all of those things are necessary, or maybe one of those things is the right thing to do.

[00:30:09] But the thing is, is you're making a choice from a mechanistic standpoint of trying to extinguish the symptom as opposed to understanding what you're seeing, why you're seeing it, and what's the next best thing to do to impact that brain while keeping chiropractic at the foundation. This is one of the biggest challenges that we see with, one, families out there with these kids. They're like going from thing to thing going, well, this modality or this therapy or this approach help.

[00:30:37] And they're using chiropractic in the same way because we oftentimes are not able to educate them on really what we do and then have the tools to address the neuroplastic changes that happened in development and do it simply. So here's the deal. These kids are already in your practice. They're definitely in your community. They're on super long wait lists. They're having families that have tried all of the things.

[00:31:02] They're looking for somebody to lead with the brain to make the case for what we do and how we can help them. We just need to know who they are, how they think these parents, how they're impacted by what I call stress neurology because it's not just the same low-hanging fruit of people that are coming to us in this demographic now. I call this the new family practice concept. It's not just the people that share our worldview of natural first and then other things second.

[00:31:31] It's people that have this big problem. My kid is struggling. And they're open to new ideas. But we have to know who they are, how they think, what's going on with their stress neurology, and how to make the case for chiropractic and the developing brain and the tools that we have. And then we have to know how to simply bring that to them, which is what our focus system and framework is all about. It's about we have a very simplistic system. It's not simple.

[00:32:00] The concepts are not simple, but the system that we bring it through is simple. The communication is simple. I call it simplicity on the far side of complexity. And that's really key because we have to be able to understand things a little deeper, solve these big challenges, not go into this mechanistic realm, and not have it ruin our practice, right? And make it like this thing where it's like I can only see one person every three hours because that's not the model for most chiropractors, right?

[00:32:29] We have to be able to have a system that works inside our practices to help these people. And so that's what the Focus Academy system and the Brain Blossom Neurocognitive system does. And that's what we've been developing in our own practice. I mean, I developed it for my own practice. And then it's just now seeing it in over 300 offices around the world now, seeing it work is really something. So again, I'm just nodding my head and saying yes, yes.

[00:32:56] One of the things that really jumped out to me was one of your last points you made, which was you're able to attract people that are maybe not originally like be seeking out chiropractic. Maybe don't share our worldview, but what they're seeking out is answers. And they're willing to do or go and try other things that will be different, whereas they never would have even considered picking up the phone and calling a chiropractor. They're now going to be looking for somebody who's a specialist who's so big. It's so big because he talks about in marketing, we talk about marketing as messaging.

[00:33:26] You're the messenger and marketing hits three things. It hits the person who's thinking about something specifically. And you're like, wow, you're talking to me about that thing that I'm thinking about. And right now I need to do something about those three things come together. That's when someone picks up the phone and calls. That's when they take action. When you're talking to me, I feel it about something. The thing that actually is the thing, meaning let's say my kid. And I got to do something right now because we're about to start school and I need to.

[00:33:54] I can't have them not be able to enroll or whatever the issues might be. And that is that. And so huge. And to be a chiropractor myself and to know that I'm that chiropractor who's one and doesn't answer question two as much. Okay. I'll just say. Yeah. So most are. Yeah. So then, okay. So then it's like, okay, but I'm not screwed. I'm not like, oh, good luck. Or I can't help them. It's like, no, you can. You can actually be trained.

[00:34:23] You can be, you can have this support and training. And there's a system. I like the word simplistic on the far side of complexity because it is on the far side of complexity, but it's a simplistic system. Yes. Systems are huge. Yes. PRP, you know, we, we, and again, we share, we align, like you said, in so many short core values. One of them is systems. And so we share that same conviction and we understand that, you know what, the only way we're going to be able to do it successfully long-term is it has to be systematized. Yes. But it's also individualized and personalized.

[00:34:52] Because I know, because I've talked to doctors who are trained in your, the program that actually it's each individual is being cared for uniquely. Can you talk about that then? The ROI? Because as a business owner, you know, I'm thinking about, okay, what does it look like for us to get certified or one of my associates or to, to have, be a brain blossom office or a focus certified institute or institution or however you guys, you know, kind of tag and organize it. Can you talk about that?

[00:35:19] Because obviously it's an investment of time, energy, focus, and money to go through this process. Can you talk about that? And then on the other side, what does that enable you to do in your marketplace where you're positioning yourself as an expert and authority and leader and being able to ultimately grow your business as a result of that? I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on that.

[00:35:36] Yeah, well, the ROI, like just the foundation of it is having the depth of knowledge of that second question and just knowing like what it is and how to speak to that and how to put an exam together that then actually connects this to those parents out there that the ones that do share a worldview.

[00:36:00] And even more importantly, I think the ones that do not, it allows you to actually, this whole concept of certainty and confidence is like kind of overplayed sometimes I think, but it's real. It's like, Hey, when you can lead, I say we lead with the brain.

[00:36:16] When you learn this, you can lead with the brain and make the case for question one, as opposed to trying to convince somebody on question one, which is chiropractic that you can, this can help them with their main concern. You are meeting them with their main concern. Like let's talk about why your child is having this struggle they're having.

[00:36:37] And then let's talk about what assessments and tools we would use to impact that developing brain and therefore the tools that your child has that they're using to engage and connect and learn from their, in their world. That flip is like all the ROI you need. That's what you learn in just the basic intro system of the certification series.

[00:36:56] If that's all you take and you don't even use the brain blossom neurocognitive system, that's a game changer right there because that allows you to unlock these people in your community that are literally looking for somebody to say, why is my child having this struggle? What is the reason for their behavior?

[00:37:14] The number one thing I hear over the 20, almost 20 years I've been lecturing in my community and around the world now, the number one thing I hear when I lecture in front of parents and I do workshops with parents or I talk to parents is I will have a, I will have a room of parents and I will, I will deliver the workshop that I teach you to deliver in the certification series. Like you can do this in your community after just the intro. Parents say you'll have a handful of parents.

[00:37:43] They have all different kids, all struggling with different things. They will say, you described my kid to a T and this is the first time I've understood why they're struggling in the way that they're struggling. Like why? Like why is my child doing that verbal STEM? Why are they having this abstract symbol processing challenge? Like, and I'm not saying we are treating those things. I'm saying we're looking at the developing brain.

[00:38:05] We're looking at the tools that come at different stages of development and we're understanding what the specific behaviors and windows to the brain are telling us about where we're active, where we're not, et cetera. So that's step one. Why? And then we're getting those parents that go like, okay, I understand this now. And then you're saying, and here's what we want to assess and do about it. Here's the tools we want to use to impact that brain. And we can make the case for that. And chiropractic is the first one because we're looking at input processing output into and from the brain.

[00:38:35] And then if you choose to use the brain blossom, be a brain blossom provider and use the neurocognitive gamut exercise system, that's another tool that you get to use simply within your practice. And so the ROI is, I mean, it's just, it's right there. It's like it unlocks an entirely different group of people to be able to hear your message. I have a quick story on this. I just thought about this a few years ago, but this might've been like five years ago. I was on a school board.

[00:39:05] I was asked to be on a school board and for a local school. And I was just on the school board and one of the teachers, the special education teacher would come to the school board meetings. And after, after a few months, she asked me, she's like, Hey, I, I see that you do something with the brain. And, you know, I want to know more about this because my, the kids I teach and also my own child is struggling and I've done all these things.

[00:39:28] And this is a parent that, and teacher that like not sharing our worldview thought chiropractors are nuts, holistic stuff. Nope. Like does not share our worldview at all. Very nice person doesn't share our worldview. And so she's like, I heard you do something with the brain. And I was like, yes. And I would love to invite you. She's like, I want to know more about that. I was like, great. Come to a community lecture. I think we'll have some great conversations after that. At this point, she doesn't even still know that I'm talking about chiropractic. I'm not hiding that, but I'm, she's like, you're the brain development lady.

[00:39:57] And then she comes and I lead with the brain. And then I make the case for chiropractic. She is a huge advocate. She actually moved to a different state. She has, she, her whole family goes to chiropractor. They know this is the foundation of their healthcare team now. And she has recruited so many chiropractors over the years to the Folks Academy to get trained. And she's, she's brought so many parents and educators to chiropractors because of this.

[00:40:25] So the key is we were able to lead with the brain and her main pain point as just a person who doesn't share our paradigm and bring them into the chiropractic lifestyle, because we just talked about what we know, not tried to convince her on chiropractic first. So good. I love that you went to that story because it answered a lot of the questions for a lot of the docs we're listening to, because the, the value of this is exponential. Cause once the word gets out, you get a couple of advocates in your community. It's game changer, right?

[00:40:54] So let's last question I want to ask you is about the future. And I always ask this because as I'm listening, CEOs are listening in and we always organize our, our businesses and what's important now, what's important next and what's important ultimately. So doc, if you could look out the next five to 10 years and you said, this is where the world is going, it's where health is going. This is where chiropractic is going that I see it. What do you see? And how do you see what we're talking about today?

[00:41:22] What you're describing, what, where does this fit in? Right. And why do, why is this important for doctors as they prepare for the future of their practice, of their business? Yeah, that's a great question. And there's a couple of big things there. And the first is, unfortunately, this is just the beginning of the tsunami that we're seeing with these kids and adults that are struggling with processing themselves and the world around

[00:41:49] themselves with behavior, learning, socialization challenges. Like it's the statistics are unreal. They're getting worse. And okay. Statistics. Just go ask a teacher who's been teaching more than 10 years. The difference between her class 10 years ago or 20 years ago and now, and pre COVID and now, and before COVID, this was a massive, massive issue and it was rising. And now, I mean, we, we know this, right? This is something that's not going away.

[00:42:15] Unfortunately, when I first started doing this work, we would see the more profoundly impacted kids. Like we would see the people that were attracted to us were, and that were like, we've tried everything and we're still looking for things. We're the more profoundly impacted kids. And that's one thing that sometimes doctors think, oh, I don't want to do this work because I, I'm intimidated by those kids. One, we help you know how to make it do work with them simply, right? Not that it's simple work, but work with them simply.

[00:42:43] And the thing now though, is that we are seeing so many, the, the large percentage of kids that our brain blossom providers and our focus docs, and we are seeing in our practice. It's actually what I call the fly under the radar kids, the kids that maybe don't even have a diagnosis, but the parents are getting calls home from school all the time, or the kids that are refusing to go to school or that are super quiet and have anxiety and doing fine in school, but have a lot of stomach aches and, you know, on the weekends and not making social connections.

[00:43:11] It's these kids and these kids, these numbers are just going crazy. And so, like I said, these kids are already in your practice and in your community. And unfortunately the problem is getting bigger. And if you don't get on top of this, you are, it's kind of like, if you don't get on top of learning how to use AI in business, like you're behind, right? If it's the same thing here. And so you don't really have the option of just being like, I don't know, that demographic is intimidating to me. This is the demographic, right?

[00:43:40] And we have to know how to work with them in all these different capacities. And so that's important. And so that's really the thing that I'm always trying to help chiropractors and providers understand. That's one. And the second part is everybody's talking about the nervous system. Now the school secretary is talking about the nervous system. The Pilates teacher is talking about regulating the nervous system. Other people are talking about the nervous system.

[00:44:05] And so if you're not owning what we do, yes, with the nervous system and our chiropractic philosophy and the impact on the developing brain and what that really means and what sets you apart from everybody else who's saying they regulate the nervous system, we're losing it. We are losing our unique thing, chiropractic and subluxation and our impact on the nervous system.

[00:44:32] And we have to be able to make the case by leading with the brain to make the case for what we do and differentiate our work. Well said, doc. Thank you for the work you do again. And like you said, it's unfortunate, but it's the brutal facts. And when you look at the brutal facts, which is where we are now, and you look ahead where we're going next and ultimately, and you see that this trend is only going to increase the

[00:44:58] relevance to become the relevant doctor, to have a clinic that's the go-to place in your community. It's unquestionable that this is something that we can do as a profession and we should do. So thank you for all the work that you are doing. Thank you for being an incredible partner with us and for us and for an advocate for chiropractic and chiropractors who are serving in their community. What's the simplest way for docs to learn more, get in contact with you, take a next step, anything? Yeah. What do you got?

[00:45:27] We'll put some links in here. You can go to gofocusacademy.com. We have our certification series. The one we're doing in a couple of weeks in Denver is sold out. We've sold out the last, I think, six of these or last four or five years. We've sold out every time, which is awesome. But also we're limited. I'm a mom and I have a practice and all the things. And so the next one we have is March 5th and 6th, I think, in Spokane, Washington. And we'll put a link.

[00:45:56] We'll give you guys a link to that. So you can jump on that early if you'd like. That's our next one. That's the certification series. We also are going to be putting together a cohort that's going to be by invitation only for Fast Track to Brain Blossom because typically you have to go through the certification series, which is only offered once, sometimes twice a year. And then you have an opportunity to join as a Brain Blossom provider. And we're putting together a very small cohort invitation only for doctors who are like, I want to have this neurocognitive system. I want to be trained.

[00:46:26] I want to offer it. I want to go. Let's go. So and so that is something where we train you in the system and we onboard you and White Glove get you fast tracked into getting it going in your practice. And so if you're interested in that, you can also contact me personally. You can email us. We'll make sure you have that there. And you can tell us that you're interested in that and we can have a conversation and see if it's a good fit. Wonderful. Doc, thanks again for being here today. Thank you for sharing.

[00:46:53] Thank you for giving us just a little glimpse into what you're up to. Thank you for the great work you're doing. And for all of our docs who are listening, thank you for being a listener to the Remarkable Podcasts. And Dr. Amy, thank you for what you're up to. And we'll hopefully see you soon. I know we're all running all around this country doing great work, but thank you for what you're doing. Thanks, Dr. Pete. You're welcome. Thanks for listening to this episode of Build Your Remarkable Practice Podcast.

[00:47:24] Remember, what the world needs now is chiropractic and what chiropractic needs now is more successful chiropractors. If you like the podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and leave us a review. And if you'd like to connect with us personally, please click the links in the show notes to schedule a call.