Patients are secretly begging to be led

Many moons ago a friend gave me a book on marketing by a famous, wealthy marketeer and in it was a line that really stuck in my brain.

We can think about this in many contexts, from clothes/fashion to clinic to the C19 pandemic.

During the lockdowns, I chose not to wear a mask whenever possible in public places.

I chose that because I had read the research done over the last 20 years in places like Japan with masks and stopping the spread of flu.

They do not work for stopping airborne viruses, they do work for stopping droplets.

That is why surgeons wear them.

But fundamentally, we are in a room together breathing other people’s air in and out.

My pants don’t keep my farts in, anymore than masks keep viruses in or out.

Plus, the pantomime of walking into a pub/restaurant with a mask on, then taking it off to eat and talk is just too embarrassing.

There is nothing about following “the science” on that.

Deep down, I do not think people are quite the free thinkers they think they are.

This is the same in clinic, I have noticed that patients are now being given lots of options by surgeons about what they could do.

Which is definitely better than one option, take it or leave it, but equally, many are actually looking for guidance.

In a neuro-mechanical setting, you are the expert and they are paying you for your opinion.

So, these days I will give them the most easy to understand diagnosis I can (I attract some very complex cases) and a recommendation for care which includes a pre-booked section of appointments and a reassessment.

Plus a rough timeline of pain relief, lifestyle and tissue healing.

People do want a practitioner who speaks with certainty, just like they want a politician to do the same.

Patients also get decision fatigue, and are scared.

Give them the answers they are paying you for.

Check out this newsletter from June 2019

Are you (and your patients) suffering from decision fatigue?

This then moves us onto the part of “selling” that many practitioners really are uncomfortable with.

Selling themselves or more specifically results from care or from supplements.

Remember people are secretly begging to be told what to do, they want your opinion, not an endless pick and mix to choose from.

I will give them options and, if needed/wanted I will also tell them what I would do personally and what I would recommend if they were my parent/family member.

We need to be an authentic leader in our own clinic.

For me, that comes with experience and being honest with results.

Getting all pumped up at seminars with fluffy gurus, talking jazzy theories and their miracle success cases, will fill you up with a faux certainty.

But it will fade as reality slowly breaches your wall of certainty made of sand.

You need to get good, take on hard cases where others have failed and then your certainty will be genuine and obvious.

You can’t, despite what gurus tell you, learn certainty at a seminar.

It is hard earned through hard clinical work, being honest with your results & expanding your comfort zone.

Back in the day in the early 2000’s, if I saw a patient with fibromyalgia on the history form, a little bit of my heart would sink.

Oh how they complain, the pain, the fatigue, the mental health issues, the insomnia and on and on.

These days, I am all over it.

I know these peeps have high levels of neuro-inflammation, terrible mitochondrial function and woeful nutritional status.

But by going past my comfort zone and being honest with results, I grew as a clinician and I made lots of mistakes and I learnt.

Try this one thing, give out 2 g (2000 mg) of acetyl L carnitine.

LAC = L Acetyl Carnitine

Are they magically cured with a silver bullet supplement?

No.

FM patients are more complex than that, they are a complex jigsaw to complete, but I can tell you the pieces are pretty predictable.

The good news is I have just commissioned a supplement with 2g of carnitine plus 2 other crucial anti-oxidants that are going to give you patients mitochondria that run smoooooooth.

I am so excited about this combination of nutrients, all based on the extensive research I have done for the CCCN course.

People are scared of buying the wrong supplement, they want a recommendation.

You want your patients to get better, for that some of them will need supplements.

Give them the answers they need, by giving a recommendation.

You can sell supplements in clinic and earn a profit or sell at trade for the love.

Or in 2023 you will be able to send your patients to our jazzy new website (launching anytime now) and they can register under your name/clinic, then buy at retail prices.

You then, for life, earn a 20% commission on all products they buy.

No need to hold stock or if you are uncomfortable “selling” to patients.

We were due to re-open the doors for the CCCN course, but the recording took longer than I thought, so if you thought you missed it, you didn’t.

We will go again in Jan 2023, V3, easier to learn than ever.

Results not theory