How to choose a chiropractic business coach

I get asked this on almost every call: "How do I know which coach is right for me?" It is a fair question, and it gets a straight answer here.

There are a lot of good chiropractic coaching companies out there. Some are big, with huge video libraries and big events. Some are one doctor with a phone. Some are built for new grads, some for multi-office owners, some for cash practices, some for corrective care. The coach who is perfect for your friend down the road might be the wrong coach for you.

So here are the ten questions I would ask before signing with anyone. Ask them of every coach you are considering. Ask them of me too.

1. Who is this coach built for?

Every coaching company has a doctor in mind. Read their site, then ask them directly: who do you do your best work with?

If you run a spinal-correction practice and their whole system is built around visit-by-visit care, you will spend months fighting the advice. If you are two years out of school and they mostly coach multi-office owners, you will feel lost in the room. Look for a match on three things: your type of practice, your technique, and your stage.

2. Who will I actually talk to?

Some programs are led by the founder and delivered by a team of coaches. That can work very well. Just know it going in.

Ask three things. Who is my coach? How often do we talk? How do I reach them between calls? If the name on the website is the reason you are signing, ask how much time you get with that person.

3. Do they coach new patients, conversion, retention, or all of it?

Most coaching sells new-patient flow. More new patients is great. But if patients leave as soon as the pain goes away, you are pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it.

Ask where they start. A good coach looks at the whole path: how patients find you, how they say yes to a plan, how long they stay, and whether their families come in.

4. Do they train my team, or only me?

You cannot be the only person in the building who knows the system. Ask whether the program includes your front desk and your associates: scripts they can use, huddles they can run, training that works without you in the room.

If everything in the coaching runs through you, everything in your practice will keep running through you too.

If the coaching runs through you, the practice still runs through you.

5. What tools come with it?

Ask to see them before you sign. Scripts. A team manual. Office forms. A way to track your numbers every week.

Tools are how the coaching keeps working on the days you are not on a call. A program with great calls and no tools leaves you rebuilding everything from your notes.

6. How do they measure progress?

Ask which numbers they will look at with you, and how often. Weekly beats monthly, because you catch a problem while you can still fix it.

If they cannot tell you which numbers matter for your kind of practice, that tells you something.

7. How do they teach the money conversation?

Some coaches teach hard closes. Some avoid the topic. Ask them to show you how they teach the financial talk with a patient.

You want something clear, honest, and calm. Something you would be comfortable saying to your own family. If it sounds like a used car lot, it will feel like one to your patients too.

8. What does it cost, and what am I committing to?

Some programs publish their prices. Many, including mine, price by application because practices are different sizes. Either way, get the full picture before you sign:

• The monthly cost and how long you are committing.
• What happens if you want to stop.
• What costs extra: events, travel, team seats, software.

A good coach answers all of this plainly. And be careful with anyone who promises you a specific income number. Nobody honest can guarantee that. Results depend on your practice, your market, your team, and what you do with the coaching.

9. Can I talk to doctors they coach?

Real conversations beat testimonials on a sales page. Ask for two or three doctors whose practices look like yours, and call them.

Ask what changed, what did not change, and what they wish they had known before they started.

10. Does their way of leading match yours?

This is the question people skip, and it matters most.

Some coaches are loud and collections-first. Some are lifestyle-first. Some lead with faith. None of those is wrong. But you are going to hear this person's voice in your head every day for a year. You are going to repeat what they say to your team. Pick someone whose values you would be glad to see your team copy.

Where I fit, and where I do not

I will be straight with you, since I just told you to ask.

I coach CBP doctors and spinal-correction practices of any technique, and purpose-driven doctors who want a practice they can hand down one day. I focus on retention and the team, not only new patients. I lead with faith, and I say so. You work with me directly, 1:1, plus two live bootcamps in Salt Lake City and the same tools my coached offices use: the Script Book, the Team Manual, and the Metrics Tracker.

If you want the lowest monthly price, a giant video library, or a software-first system, there are good companies built for exactly that, and you should look at them. If you want clinical technique training, get it from your technique community. My coaching sits next to that training, not in place of it.

The right coach is the one who fits your practice. Ask the ten questions. Then book calls with the coaches who pass.

More from Dr. Fred: 7 Signs Your Practice Is Running You. All articles: Articles.