We have an important concept in our chiropractic philosophy that says that if a principle is true in the perceptible realm, it is true in the imperceptible realm. The butterfly effect is part of that principle. You all know the idea. When a butterfly flaps its wings, it may “cause” or contribute to a hurricane on the other side of the world. There are many factors that contribute to meteorological changes and the imperceptible movement of the butterfly is one of them.
This principle can be applied to our practice members, their education and that part in building your practice. Granted, building a practice may not be the reason why you educate people, but it is an important effect of that. Here’s the question, what are we doing in the imperceptible realm to educate people? When you do a lay lecture and sign up five new practice members, that’s perceptible. If you give a new practice member orientation and the person goes home and on the next visit brings in the spouse and five kids, that too is perceptible. But what about all the imperceptible things we do in our office that help people to know more about chiropractic, become lifetime practice members and refer others. We may never know about the butterfly effect.
So, what about the things we could be doing but do not do because they seem to have perceptible results. For example, we produce a newsletter every month. I cannot recall ever having someone become a practice member because they read our newsletter. Nor have I ever had a practice member say, “I’m coming regularly because I read your newsletter every month.” There are lots of things like this, things we should be doing because they help educate the practice members of the community whether or not they seem like they will have a perceptible return. Do you have educational material in your office? Do you have videos or DVDs playing? Do you give out CDs or cassette tapes? Do you send recall cards? Do you talk to your practice members about chiropractic when they are in the office?
None of these things is going to bring in big numbers of people. In fact, they may all have an imperceptible result. But together they are bound to make a difference. You may not notice it at first. After all, what’s the effect of one little butterfly? But do enough things and do them long enough and it will make a difference. Who knows? It is worth a try. What’s more, you will go to bed at night knowing that you did all you could do to make a difference.