Last week I was navigating an unfamiliar highway with the help of Google Maps. Exit in 0.5 miles. When I entered the ramp I was faced with a fork in the road (reminds me of Robert Frosts' poem!). Split to the left to another local highway. Split to the right to the road less travelled. Not an issue, since for the most part Google knows which path to take.

Well, Google did know which way to go but as I approached the fork, a SPAM MARKETING CALL came in and made it impossible for me to see the map. As recently as 3 days ago I was getting anywhere from 3 to 5 spam calls every day. Of course I don't answer calls from numbers I don't recognize but still, the interruptions are well, just that. Interruptions.

With enough new patient flow you can enjoy a pretty comfortable living, even if your management style isn't well, running on all cylinders at once. Not ideal. But it's a fact that a robust new patient flow can make up for moderate deficiencies elsewhere (to be clear, I'm not recommending poor practice management, just pointing out the powerful impact of new patient flow on your revenue).

I'm often asked by my Gems Family members, if I could only choose one thing for marketing, what should I do? To which I respond with two answers. First answer is that the number "one" in marketing is a very dangerous (foolish) number. Even if your one marketing strategy is going gangbusters, if (when) it eventually craps out, the financial risk to your practice is unnecessarily severe. Fact is you should be deploying at least 6 or 8 marketing strategies simultaneously and consistently throughout the year.

Second answer... is that there was one thing... if you could only choose one thing. But with the recent shift (they've changed the rules entirely) is it still the place you should invest your marketing dollars?

The Holy Grail. How to systematically REDUCE NO-SHOWS and Last-Minute Cancellations, AND get paid for the services you render... minimal hassles... AND virtually eliminate the need to bill anyone ever. Tall order? Not really. It comes down to training your team to consistently deploy proven-effective business systems. Period.

Elizabeth and I have been thrilled to see how much our Gems Family members have been using the Members' forum to pose questions to each other and share ideas. Keep it up!! Over the last few days there have been at least a dozen posts by as many members, all about how to reduce no-show, last-minute cancellations, and, how to get patients to pay what they owe.

I distinctly remember last week telling my wife, Elizabeth the Engineer, "We're almost in March... looks like we're going to get away without any significant snow this winter!" If you're in the Northeast and you were hit by the blizzard the wee morning hours yesterday, I guess you could blame it on me! Perhaps if I hadn't said anything there might not have been a storm?

Can't tell you how many people live in New England and complain about the cold and the snow. Hmmm. I look at it (very) differently. I've lectured in 48 states and four countries around the world and have seen some beautiful parts of the world. But there is little that compares to the beauty of this next photo I shot this morning with my phone from my living room...