EPISODE 486: The Principles of Influence

Hey, chiropractors. We're ready for another Modern Chiropractic Mastery Show with Dr. Kevin Christie, where we discuss the latest in marketing strategies, contact marketing, direct response marketing, and business development with some of the leading experts in the industry.

[00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Modern Chiropractic Mastery. This is your host, Dr. Kevin Christie, and today I am bringing you a solo episode. And what we're gonna talk about today is influence, and basically, uh, Robert Cialdini's work. He, he's had some great books, uh, Pre-Suasion, uh, Influence was a book. And we just had, um, our East Mastermind group, and we had the Scheduling Institute come in Talking about, uh, certain things like, uh, you know, sa- ethical sales, front desk, things like that.

But, uh, they kinda work through some of Cialdini's work with the seven principles of influence. And so I'm gonna kinda run through that, uh, with you today. Uh, before I do, uh, the East Mastermind for 2027 is filled. It's kinda been filled over the last few years. In the West, we do have, uh, openings for six new members for 2027, if you are interested.

Uh, [00:01:00] we have quite a lineup. I'm really excited about that. Uh, we'll be in, uh, Palm Springs, California, in February, and, uh, that'll be, uh, Jason Home talking about the team approach to care. And then we will be in, um, uh, in May, we'll be in Austin, Texas, with Molly Cahill, all things marketing. And then we'll be in Hood River, Oregon, uh, in the summer, in August of next year, and that'll be me talking about business principles.

And then we have our East West Mastermind in Chicago next year with Strategic Coach teaching you how to have a self-managing company. Each of the weekends are a day and a half, Friday, all day Friday and Saturday morning of working together. The guest presenter's only in the mornings on Friday, and then the rest of the weekend, we really tackle a lot of things, basically anything business-wise.

Uh, and it's just, uh, the group really over the years, 2022, we started the East, 2024, we started the West, the return rate of the clients is, like, in the 90% each year. And we have people from our-- the beginning, and it [00:02:00] just becomes part of their routine each year to get away from the business, work on the business, uh, and, and really work with others that have, uh, really good practices, and it's just been such a ROI for these members.

That's why they keep coming back. I- and, and there's no doubt it's a, it's a commitment. And if I could just... The ones-- The people that are on the fence and have good practices already and wanna get even better, if I could just, uh, you know, get, get them to understand how awesome the Mastermind has been for people, it would make their decision a lot easier.

And so, uh, we do have limited. We, we cap it at 25 members each, each group because we want it to be a true Mastermind. It's not, it's not something where we just call it a Mastermind, but it's really a conference or a seminar. It's actually a Mastermind, and we work together. And so check that out. Go to modernchiropracticmastery.com.

You'll see a tab on the top for the Mastermind. You'll see 2027 West. Uh, you can submit a [00:03:00] form there. We'd love to have you. If you wanna have a conversation around that, we can do that as well All right, so let's dive in. Um, principle one, again, this is Robert Cialdini, uh, his book Influence, and then he, uh, he had had six principles in Influence, and then he added the seventh, uh, in the book Pre-Suasion.

That book, Pre-Suasion, came out in 2016. Influence is kinda his, his big, big book that was years ago and, and quite of a kinda cult hit for sure. So the first one is reciprocity, and the way he talks about it is people feel obligated to return favors, gifts, or concessions given to them. Give first, even if something small and unsolicited, and others feel a psychological pull to give back.

And there's been studies, and it was funny when we talked about this in the mastermind. My family and I went out to dinner, and they gave us a, um- Little, you know, the chef's little treat before even meal starts, a little small little [00:04:00] palate thing there, and that's a form of a gift. And they showed research that when restaurants do that, tipping increases, and even ordering of drinks and food increases, right?

So, um, when we were looking at this framework of these seven, it was how does this... How do you apply this to the patient experience? And how do you do it ethically, right? Like d- this, you know, our goal as doctors is to influence our patients to get better, right? I mean, make better decisions, and part of that is continuing care, feeling good about what they're receiving in their clinic.

And so we have to have a level of influence, um, a-and we wanna do it in an ethical and elegant way and, and, uh, the book really outlines that. So, uh, what could you do in that patient experience, right? Maybe it is a, a small little gift. We, uh, some things that were talked about was a, uh, I'm not gonna get too much into it, but would be like a, [00:05:00] a comfort menu, right?

Like, what kind of coffee or tea do you like? We have a client that is able to, um, navigate the music, like what kind of genre of music they like in the room, the treatment room they're in, uh, certain things like that. Uh, we have a gift basket where we have like hats and shirts and, and stop pain product and c- small coffee gift cards and things like that.

You could have that in there, and that could be gifted early on. Um, so that's, uh, that's the reciprocity one there. So moving on to two is commitment and consistency. He talks about, uh, once people commit to something, especially in writing or publicly, they feel internal and social pressure to act consistently with that commitment.

Small initial yeses make bigger future yeses more likely. Uh, this could be something like one thing we've changed recently in when we, um, you know, w-we have mostly cash patients, and we sell a package maybe of two times a week for three [00:06:00] weeks or maybe eight to 10 visits, whatever it is. We had... We now put together a sheet where we go through the whole process with them, and they, uh, they get it in writing, and they...

We kinda go through each step and, uh, y-you know, report our findings, get yeses from them, just like, "Do you understand, uh, what condition you have going on? You understand what your goals are?" And so you get them in agreement with you, and they make that commitment. And if they can, uh, the other level of commitment here that I highly recommend is that your new patients and reactivations schedule their treatment plan out in advance.

So if you're gonna see them two times a week for three weeks or whatever, they get those on the books. That is a level of commitment that they are making, okay? Number three is social proof. People look to the actions and behaviors of others, especially similar others, to determine correct behavior, particularly in uncertain situations.

Everyone else is doing it is a powerful [00:07:00] shortcut. This is where you're gonna have testimonials and Google reviews and things like that. And one of the things that I kinda thought about, it'd be a little bit of a heavy lift, but not terrible. But imagine if, you know, let's say there's 20 treatment or conditions you commonly treat.

What if you got really good testimonial videos from patients that had success with those, right? You got a testimonial video pla- from plantar fasciitis. You got a testimonial video from headaches. You got one from carpal tunnel, whatever. You, you go to list. And then, um, when you have that patient, y- and, and you have some follow-up after that new patient exam, what if you sent them a testimonial video of a previous patient who also was dealing with plantar fasciitis?

So that's something that you could consider. Uh, fourth is authority, right? People defer to credible, knowledgeable experts and legitimate authority figures. Signals like titles, credentials, uniforms or, or, or demonstrated expertise increases persuasive power, often automatically without much scrutiny. [00:08:00] They kinda talked about the impact of, you know, the diploma for the doctor, um, the way the, the doctor dresses or certain things.

Um, one of the things that we talked about was, you know, we have our interns do the history and consultation, um, with the patient and, um, having that intern kinda talk up the doctors in a way, and that would be really good. Um, and then the other thing is, frankly, with authority is the more content you're creating, the more education-based content you're creating and getting out in the community is going to, um, really help with your authority in the community.

And that is the whole point of what we teach our chiropractors on marketing, is to be the authority in your community. And so when they come in, they're kinda pre-sold, and that's a great place to be in Number five is liking. Uh, people are more easily persuaded by those they like. Cialdini Identify specific drivers of liking.

[00:09:00] Um, and this just is a reality of the fact of physical attractiveness, similarity, compliments, familiarity and, uh, and cooperation towards shared goals. That's why some people with, like, great bedside manner, right? I mean, we know doctors with great bedside manner and communication and humor and certain things like real- you know, emotional intelligence, all those, like, just really increase this like factor.

And we know that that is a huge driver of business for chiropractors. It's such a hands-on, kinda close, you know, type of profession, and you get to know these folks over a period of time, and the likability factor is huge, right? And if you just struggle with that, like not everybody is gifted with it, you gotta come up with ways to, to really connect with those folks and, and ask questions about them and get to know them.

I think, you know, one of the things we learned this weekend was just getting to know the person, not the condition. You know, you, you gotta know the condition too, but some people just... You just go full bore in the condition. [00:10:00] That's where, like, a lot of times orthopedists struggle, right? They're so cut and dry, and it's all about the condition, and there, there's really not a lot of bedside manner there, or, or let's call it liking, as far as what Cialdini talks about.

So that's a big one, and you gotta definitely continue to work on that. Um, six is scarcity, right? People value things more when they perceived, uh, when they are perceived as rare, limited, or at risk of being unavailable. Um, potential loss looms larger than potential gain, hence limited time and limited quantity framing.

That's, you know, a lot of times in marketing you're gonna see the scarcity. In a chiropractic clinic, uh, yeah, you c- you know, you could have p- you could have packages with prompt payment discounts that definitely expire, right? If they, if they buy the package, um, that day or this, or visit two, they get the prompt payment discount.

Obviously, follow guidelines of, and rules and regulations around that, but that would be a level of scarcity. I think another level of scarcity is if you just offer a great service and [00:11:00] product and, and patient experience and, and you have certain things like Shockwave and laser, whatever it may be, you can be...

You can separate yourself from everybody else in the community and become one of one. And if you do that, then people will realize that they're not gonna get this at other places. So there's a scarcity there of like, "Wow, this is the place to be. They have all this, and they got great techniques and great doctors.

I'm not gonna find this anywhere else." So that's another way of im-improving the scarcity. And then seven, again, this was added. Um, so if you read the book Influence, it'll be six principles, and then there's a book he wrote called Pre-Suasion. He adds a seventh one, and that is unity. Um, he-- So he added this later, and it's distinct fr- from mere liking.

Unity is about shared identity, we-ness rather than similarity. It's Persuasion based on the perception that you and the [00:12:00] others, the other person belong to the same group, family, tribe, team, category of people, rather than just having things in common. Cialdini argues that this is the deepest and most powerful of the seven because it taps into identity itself, not just preference.

And I think some things here that stick out to me, this isn't the most easy one to recreate, but, you know, y- you'll see some chiropractors that are big into, uh, it used to be CrossFit, maybe now it's HYROX, um, or they're in the running community or the triathlon community or the golf and like there becomes this unity around that.

Like, uh, he or she, the chiropractor, is one of us, right? And you're able to dominate that particular niche and, uh, that's something that, um, kind of resonated with me on that. So, uh, the seven are reciprocity, community, uh, sorry, commitment/consistency, social proof, authority, liking, scarcity, and unity. I [00:13:00] challenge you, is one thing that we're working on and working with our clients, is how do we improve our influence e- ethically and elegantly, uh, utilizing these principles and making sure that our patient experience is as best as it can be.

Hope that's helpful, and definitely recommend the book Influence. It's a great read. It's kind of the Bible of influence, and it's, uh, it'll help you with understanding how you can be more effective in influencing people to take action.