Avoid Being the Single Point of Failure

With over 25+ years of experience in go-to-market, business development, and healthcare marketing, Angela Rose is a business consultant and advisor who helps clients achieve significant results, raise brand awareness, and connect with their customers. She has a Mergers and Acquisitions certification from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor's degree in Marketing and International Business from Marquette University.

In this episode of TechTalk Podcast, Brad Cost, Dr. Jay Greenstein, DC, and Angela Rose sit down to discuss:

• Why Angela was led to serving the chiropractic profession.

• The importance of relationships and culture in the professional world.

• All things exit strategies when it comes to your chiropractic businesses.

SHOW NOTES:

6:09 – Diving into the chiropractic space. “Like most, I went to a chiropractor! I was in high school, playing volleyball, and my low back hurt. I asked my dad what to do, and he said I just needed to go to the chiropractor. Most of my family went - my grandpa, both of my parents, most of my brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, and my kids. It's just in our family. One of my best friends, who was my matron of honor, is a chiropractor. Her dad was my first chiropractor and she's third generation DC. I then needed a job over the summer between freshman and sophomore year in college and she let me work there with her. Within two weeks, I went to a Parker seminar. I loved that, when I walked in, everyone greeted me with a hug. Everyone. I had all these people walking up to me, loving me, giving me hugs and welcoming me from day one. That was it.”

8:03 – Considering chiropractic schooling prior to post-grad. “I consulted my oldest brother, who I consult with on most big life decisions, and he told me I was crazy. He's the only one that doesn't go to a chiropractor, by the way. I also consulted my now best friend, Rhonda. I asked her what it was like, and she responded, ‘well, you graduate from college and then you go to school 7:00-5:30 every day for four more years.’ I was out on that. I then asked her what the one thing was that she didn't learn in chiropractic college that you wish you would have, and she said business. Well, that sounded fun. Anything but sales, so I ended up in marketing. My first job came from meeting Patrick at a Parker seminar in Chicago. I happened to be standing next to Patrick at some point and he asked me what I did. I told him I was in marketing, about to graduate. He then asked me what I wanted to do. I wanted to market chiropractic on a worldwide basis. He gave me his card, I followed up with him, he gave me a job, and the rest is history.”

10:04 – Working in sales. “It was sales. No one else was hiring and anyone will hire a college-aged person right out of school to be a salesperson. They're cheap and don't have any experience. I moved to New Jersey and learned a lot about the Northeast that I wasn't ready for. My territory was New Jersey and New York, so I spent almost three years there doing all the seminars. I was all around that area, selling the subluxation station. It was great. I just thought this is such an awesome profession. Everyone's so successful.”

11:45 – Biggest lesson learned in chiropractic sales. “I learned that you have to believe what you're selling. I didn’t know anything about Patrick, chiropractic or the subluxation station and I struggled. I sucked wind a lot in sales in my first year. I mean, I really did. But then I met a bunch of the New York docs that really just took me under my wing. After a philosophy night one night, I had coffee with one of them and we were talking about my struggle with selling the subluxation station. He told me I have to believe in what I was selling. It just clicked and the rest is history.”

16:07 – The growth of ChiroTouch. “I got the new job and went to ChiroTouch. I was employee 29 there and we only had 400 clients when I started. I started in sales, which I told both you I hated, but that's what I knew. Selling EHR didn't seem like it was going to be hard for me because I knew the struggles that an office had. Front desk, the doctor, I already knew it. I started at 400 and left at 12,000 clients. It was quite a ride.”

17: 48 – Relationships and culture matter. “The top two things I learned about being at ChiroTouch is one, relationships matter. At some point, I had my daughter and that just didn’t work well in sales, so Robert moved me over to being in charge of our affiliates. My role was to have all of the high-end relationships with all the industry leaders and speakers. It really became clear to me how important relationships are, so I just poured in and met a ton of great people. Culture was number two. It's remarkable when you can be a part of a company that creates a culture that was like our culture. It was fun. We really cared about the profession. We tried to give back. We tried to just really be involved, and it was great. They used to send me Christmas cards, birthday cards, even a baby gift when I had my kids. Just things that really matter as an employee. Those little touches that really matter. We wanted to remind people like we loved and cared about them.”

23:27 – Exit strategies are important! “Chiropractors aren't alone. The group that I got the certification from, the Exit Planning Institute, does an owner readiness state survey every year. How ready are the owners and how many of them actually sell? Statistically, only 70-80% of privately held businesses that go to market won't even sell. That's not including the ones that just close the doors. I see posts every day where people are auctioning off their equipment because they couldn't sell their practice.”

24:54 – An unsophisticated seller causes trouble. “The number one issue for acquiring a chiropractic clinic is an unsophisticated seller because they don't have their business in order in terms of their financials, agreements, knowing all their KPIs. They don't even know how much any of it. There are three key components to thinking about selling your business. One is personal, which is what are you going to do after you sell your business? 75% of business owners, in general, regret selling within the first year because they haven't done a good job of planning for what's next. One is financial, where they've not done a good job of getting their financial house in order, meaning they haven't accumulated enough wealth so that they can have the life they want to live without the sale of the business. Most of these small business owners rely on the sale of their business in order to fund their retirement. That's great as long as you're part of the 20-30% where your business will sell. If it doesn't, then that really changes the whole thing. The third is what happens to your business after you leave. In a chiropractic office, if the transition is not done well and I buy your clinic, statistically and from a revenue perspective, that will drop 20-50% once the transition is complete. The problem is that these docs haven't done a good job of mapping all of this out and thinking about it. There are three phases of chiropractic business. Create or join a practice and grow it. Maintain it over time. Think about what's next. How am I going to transition this business? The question is never if it's going to happen, but when. Maybe they sell it, maybe they pass it to a child or a family member. Just start planning three to five years ahead of time, because it takes time to put all that in order.”

28:54 – Business is worth less than they think. “Always. It's so sad in this profession because the actual value is very, very low. They've done a great job of creating an excellent business for themselves and their family for their whole life, but not a business that holds transferable value to a new buyer. That's really the key in order to move forward.”

34:50 – Single Point of Failure and the Four Cs. “When I talk to doctors and they're telling me how successful their business is, how great things are going, and how wonderful life is, I tell them they are the single point of failure. If something happens to them tomorrow, their revenue will dry up within three weeks if they don't have anyone in the clinic. 80% of the the value in a business is intellectual value. When I talk to docs, I've learned the Four Cs: human capital, customer capital, structural capital, and social capital. Human capital. Who do you have on the team? Are they in the right position? Customer capital. How are you taking care of your patients? Do you deliver a great service? What's their experience like in the clinic? Structural capital. Process and procedure? Social capital. What is the culture of your staff, patients, or business in general? How is your business branded? That 80% is intangible value. From the doctor's perspective, they have to look at their business and recognize that they have to de-risk their business first. How can I not be the single point of failure in my clinic? That's a critical first step.”

37:44 – Where to start. “Get your financial house in order. Get all your profit and loss statements together, your annualized stuff, and start tracking your numbers. Start documenting your process and procedures, all those things. Doctors can always opt to get a business valuation. It still amazes me that the doctors I talk to every day don't even know their stats. It really does matter and it just all takes time. You can't do this in two-weeks or even in a couple months. It takes time to be well done. That's what I recommend. There's a lot of options that didn't exist 10 years ago and that's really exciting for doctors. They don't have to do it alone anymore.”

39:14 – Do what you love and what you’re best at. “Consolidation is right for the profession, but not as a whole. There are still leaders in the profession - doctors that are doing fantastic in running their clinic. Keep doing that! There is a large segment of the profession that could really benefit from letting someone else do all those other things, like marketing, SEO, billing, collections, legal, compliance. I genuinely think the doctor should be allowed to be the doctor. The greatest thing a chiropractor can deliver, in my opinion, is an excellent adjustment with great patient care. As a patient, that's what I want. I want my doctor to be an amazing doctor. In a consolidation model that's done well, it makes sense for everyone because then we all get to do what we love and what we're best at.”

CONTACT ANGELA 

Angela’s Email

Angela’s Website

Angela’s Facebook

Angela’s LinkedIn