In addressing this next principle on building a successful wellness practice, I should say up front that this principle is something that you could and should utilize in every part of your life. In my 16+ years in sales, I have observed that the people with the most successful practices set goals for themselves, and in fact, I have learned the power and importance of goal-setting in my own life and career.
Now, let me head off a possible objection right from the start. Some might say, "Well, Andy, I'm a care-giver. My mission in life is to make patients well, not to make a fortune as a business tycoon. So I don't need to set goals."
Well, okay. But wouldn't it be great if you could provide great care to more and more patients all the time and make a lot of money doing it? You wouldn't object to that would you? After all, you are in business to DO business. And to be in business you have to make money. And in order to make money, you have to sell yourself and your services. So whether you like it or not, you are a sales person, and you are in business. If you don't see yourself as a business person, then why are you in business?
Let me give you an example of one of my real-life clients who is doing a great job both on the care side of his practice, and on the business side.
Dr. Reed Kress in Evansville, IN is a GREAT doctor. He has often provided care for me and has been a God-send to my surgically devestated shoulder. I've known Dr. Kress for about ten years, and he and I have developed a close friendship. I have stayed in his home nearly every time I'm in the Evansville area, and early in our friendship I noticed that he had a dry-erase board in the room where I slept. On it were scribbled the various goals he wanted to accomplish, as well as a few motivational and inspirational quotes. Dr. Kress has always been a goal-setter.
Today, still at the tender age of 36 (hey, I'm 44, so 36 seems like a 'tender age' to me), Dr. Kress has one of the most successful chiropractic and wellness practices in town, employing two other chiropractors, 2 MDs, and a massage therapist. He is providing a full complement of great care to the community, and -- oh yeah -- it just so happens that the fringe benefit is that he makes a really good income! And he didn't have to compromise the quality of care that he is providing to do it. He just decided to offer care from other practitioners who specialize in things that he is not good at or doesn't have time to do so that he can focus on what he IS good at and enjoys the most. So he still sees patients at a reasonable pace, but is making residual income from his other employed doctors. And that didn't just happen. Dr. Kress has been setting very specific goals for ten years, and now he is reaping the benefits of seeing his desire in his mind's eye, writing down those visions, and then working toward making them happen.
Here's another example of the power of goal-setting on a much larger scale.
In the mid 1940’s war-torn Japan was in a state of devastation. In an effort to rebuild their decimated country, they set a goal in 1950 that they would be the number one producing country in the world of textiles in that decade. By 1959 they had achieved that objective. In 1960 Japan set another goal that they would become the number one nation in the world in the production of steel during the 1960's, in spite of the fact that there is no iron ore nor coal in Japan of any significance. In spite of those obstacles, they achieved that goal during the 1960’s. In 1970 they set yet another goal that during the 70’s Japan would become the number one nation in the world in the production of automobiles. This time they failed to make their goal within the time frame they had hoped, but they missed it by only one year, becoming the top producer of automobiles in the world in 1980. Japan has maintained their status of the number one producer of automobiles in the world ever since.
J.C. Penney, the founder of the department store chain bearing his name, said it best when he wrote, “Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I’ll give you a man who will make history. But give me a man without a goal, and I’ll give you a stock clerk.”
Tony Dungy, the former coach of the Indianapolis Colts football team wrote, "The first step toward creating an improved future is developing the ability to envision it. VISION will ignite the fire of passion that fuels our commitment to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to achieve excellence. Only VISION allows us to transform dreams of greatness into the reality of achievement through human action. VISION has no boundaries and knows no limits. Our VISION is what we become in life. "
I know that most of you reading this are left-brain, analytical kind of people. So let me give you some scientific evidence of the power of goal-setting.
A study conducted at Virginia Tech University found that people who wrote their goals (visions) down earned NINE TIMES as much as those who did not write their goals. When asked, “What are your goals for life,” the research revealed that:
-80% said they didn’t know
-16% said they have goals but they’ve never written them down
-Only 4% said they’ve written the goals, but have never gone back to look at them
-1% said they wrote their goals and they review them on a weekly basis
The researchers were diligent to point out that the one percent who wrote down their goals and reviewed them weekly were...
MILLIONAIRES!
So are you hoping to create a great wellness practice to take advantage of the next Trillion dollar industry, as Paul Zane Pilzar predicts that the wellness industry will be? Here's what you can do:
1. Write down your goals and review them daily. They should be SPECIFIC goals, not "I want to have a more successful wellness practice." Be specific. Put some numbers to your goals. How many patients would you like to see per week? How many wellness/nutritional consults would you like to do per week? How much residual income in supplement sales would you like to make per month? Write it down and review it daily.
2. Convert those goals into specific intermediary steps. In other words, what do you have to work on in order to make those dreams reality? Write that down, too, and review it daily, and WORK IT daily.
3. Assign Completion Dates. What is a challenging yet achievable period of time that it would take to accomplish your goals? Write that down, too. Just as Japan achieved incredible things in industry by setting specific goals and assigning dates for their completion, you too can achieve incredible things by following a similar goal-setting pattern.
Some who read this might say, "Well, Andy, you're just a lowly sales guy. I like you and all, but are you really the one I should be listening to when it comes to my practice? What in the world has goal-setting done for you?"
Good question.
I'll answer that by saying that Napolean Hill wasn't super wealthy when he wrote the book, "Think and Grow Rich." But that book came about as a result of him studying the lives of 500 of the world's richest people over a period of several years and then writing about the common practices of the world's super-rich. I wouldn't care if the messenger was Howdy Doody if he could give me a list of what the super-wealthy do to get super-wealthy. And, of course, studying and writing about those principles helped Napolean Hill to get wealthy himself, due in no small part to pehraps the most ground-breaking self-help book in modern history, Think and Grow Rich.
As for me, who am I to coach the likes of the sophisticated doctors I call on? I'm just giving you the common practices I have observed in successful wellness practices over the last 16 years. You can take it or leave it, but its what the successful people do. And I can tell you that goal-setting has done wonders for me personally, both in the business world and in my physical goals. Of course, I also believe that part of my success in business is due to me REALLY believing in the product I represent, sticking with it even through the ups and downs, and being a passionate devotee of the health principles I talk about every day. I live and breathe this stuff. And if you don't live and breathe what you do for a living, maybe you should consider switching careers to something that you ARE passionate about. As has been said, "Follow your passion, and the money will follow."
Maybe you could begin your goal-setting process with something small and simple. One day I sat down with a medical doctor who just wanted to crunch some numbers. So I suggested that if he could get just 30% of his patients on two foundational products, Multigenics and EPA DHA Complex, which would cost the patient about $35.00 per month, he would be shocked at what he could make just on those two formulas. So take the number of different patients you see in a month, and then determine the percentage of people that you think you could get started on just foundational nutritional support. Maybe for you a more do-able number would be 40 or 50%. I think 30% is challenging yet achievable for most docs. So if you could get 30% of your patients in the Month of June on those two products, and then keep them on it while you get a fresh batch of patients on those products the following month, the numbers compound, and now you are REALLY talking some serious revenue in the months following. (Getting patients on certain formulas and keeping them on for the long haul hinges upon patient education, but that is a subject for a different post.)
In closing this post, I like what the late, great Ronald Reagan said about goal-setting:
“My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose – somehow we win out.”
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By the way, a REALLY great book that provides a lot of great insight and instruction on goal-setting is Steven K. Scott's national bestseller, The Richest Man Who Ever Lived: King Solomon's Secrets to Success, Wealth, and Happiness.
