Chiropractors: Why You Should Hire An Associate Sooner Than You Think

For too many chiropractors, their experience with hiring associates is like doing weed in college.  Yeah I tried that once (or maybe more than once but you get the idea) but I quit that years ago.  Just like any relationship, sometimes associates don’t work out but if you are a chiropractor who wants to take your practice to the next level, then you need an associate to help you get there.  In most cases, you need an associate sooner than you think.

The challenge for most chiropractors is that they wait until they need another chiropractor.  If you wait that long to hire help, it may be too late.  The reason you wait is because you want the perfect scenario to hire another doctor.  You want your practice to be at 100% capacity.  You want to have XX amount of dollars in the bank.  etc etc.

Waiting until you are really busy to bring someone else on is tough.  When you get really busy, you don’t have a lot of time to do the other things in your practice that’s important, especially hiring.  How many of you have made a bad hire because you didn’t have the time to screen for the right candidate?  Besides we are talking about an associate, this is a position that’s going to take some time to hire for and do it right.   If you are waiting for the ideal scenario to hire an associate, that scenario will never come.

Let’s get into the true reason why you need an associate in your practice.  There are four areas outside adjusting patients that bring max value to your business.

Those areas are:

• System and processes.
• Relationship Development.  (Hiring would fall into this.)
• Idea Generation.
• Marketing.

If your schedule is completely full and you are working at max capacity, chances are that you aren’t working on the above four items like you should.  I have consulted with more than one doctor who has told me that they just don’t have time to do the above activities.  The reason they don’t have time is always because they have a full adjusting schedule.

To create maximum value in your business, you have to coach and train the people on your team.  You need to consistent marketing and you need to continue to improve the way your practice delivers value to your patients.  An associate frees up your time to do all those things.

You may know that deep down an associate makes sense for your practice but the same recurring doubts keep coming up.  “Can I afford it?  Am I ready?  I don’t know how to hire an associate or put together an agreement for one.” Maybe you have talked to your colleagues and they have told you how terrible it was.  Done right, hiring an associate makes a lot of sense.

For those of you docs who are looking to take your practice to the next level, is an associate part of your plans? Are you holding yourself back due to uncertainty?  If so, we have a tool for that.  Check out my business assessment tool and let’s assess where your practice is at and talk about how to take your practice to the next level.  You can take the assessment here.