Any successful businessperson will tell you that their success is found in the system that runs their business. Without it, not only would they fail but chaos would ensue.
In the world of chiropractic, systems are a dime a dozen. I’ve seen systems that take chiropractors to seven-figure incomes and systems that don’t even cover personal expenses let alone business overhead.
Nevertheless, having an efficient system is paramount in today’s economy. There are just too many variables that can adversely affect your bottom line if you’re not paying attention. A proper system provides a solid foundation to grow any chiropractic practice into profitability. If you’d like to know my choice of system, please contact me and I’d be happy to share.
As more chiropractors turn to advanced technologies to run and manage their practices, one area I see many still struggle with is their appointment calendar. It doesn’t matter if they’ve purchased the most expensive office management software or downloaded it for free, chiropractic patients continue to miss their appointments while chiropractors struggle with follow-up.
As Trajan King, co-founder of Snirk.com, states, “10-30% of all appointments are missed in the professional services industry. What is the number 1 reason for missing appointments? No, it’s not because they are intentionally messing up your schedule or trying to aggravate you. They simply forget. The quick remedy to keeping these appointments: a simple text reminder. It has been shown that just by sending a text reminder to your client about their appointment your no-shows will decrease by over 75%.”
Did you catch that? A simple text reminder decreases no-shows by over 75%!
You do the math! If your no-shows decreased by that amount, what dollar amount would be added to your bottom line?
Obviously, it’d depend on what you charged per office visit but dollar-for-dollar, it’d be a significant amount when tallied up at the end of the year.
So, how do chiropractors remedy this age-old problem? Enter Snirk.
What is Snirk?
Snirk creates more appointments and money for your business with automatic text reminders, online scheduling and smart marketing.
Need a few examples? Here’s just a few — just imagine a chiropractic schedule instead of the one featured. 
Easy-to-use Online Calendar:
Online accessible price list for your services:
Add appointments on-the-fly:
Integrated marketing and built-in referral system:
I especially like the latter since it allows you to put your referral system on auto-pilot via email, Twitter, and Facebook. By providing over-the-top customer service, the raving fans you create will gladly spread the message through the aforementioned networks.
How much does it cost?
Currently, Snirk offers three pricing plans — a free Limited plan, a $19.95 per month Single plan, and a $39.95 per month Group plan.
Most chiropractors could easily get by with the Limited plan; however, I’d highly recommend paying for the Single plan because of the additional services like unlimited SMS text reminders and custom client reports just to name a few.
For more information, check out their pricing list.
To watch their intro video, click on the play button below.
In closing, a well-managed chiropractic appointment calendar is absolutely essential to the longevity of your chiropractic business. If you’re looking for an inexpensive way to cover all bases, check out Snirk. They may just solve the gaping hole in your appointment book! Plus, for $19.95 per month, you simply can’t go wrong from a business standpoint.
Question: Are you currently using a similar service? If so, what’s been your experience? Have you seen a dramatic decrease in no-shows as mentioned above?
If so, please leave your {comment} in the section below.
About Dr. Patrick MacNamara
We have been sending text message reminders everyday with Google Voice for about 1 month now, to patients who are coming in once a week or less. The response has been amazing so far. The patients love it. I thought they might get annoyed by receiving a reminder by text, but that has definitely not been the case. Google voice allows you to send a text message to 5 numbers at one time. We send a generic reminder without their appointment time. Since we only send it to patients coming in once a week or less, it doesn’t take much time.
Do you know how many text messages snirk will allow you to send with the free account? I couldn’t find a number on their site.
Yes, Google Voice has had this feature built-in since the beginning. Matter of fact, so has VoxOx. However, Snirk looks promising even though they’re still in beta. They don’t have too many bells and whistles that clutter the user’s experience and have a nice referral system built into their system.
To answer your question, the Limited plan, aka free account, doesn’t include text messaging. You’d have to sign up for the Single plan for $19.95 which includes unlimited text messaging.
As mentioned near the conclusion of this post, see their Pricing Plans for specifics.
Snirk.com is a very promising platform. I like the fact that one can embed it into the website using simple HMTL code. I signed up for a free account just to test drive it and found out about some limitations right away.
1. I only work 3 days a week from 10 am to 7 pm with a lunch brake from 1.30pm to 3.00pm. Snirk has set up time 9 am – 5pm s default setting 5 times a week
2. I have asked them several questions but to date no answers yet
3. They should let new costumers test drive a complete version for 30 days trial
I currently use EZBIS as my managing software. I am pretty happy with it. It is all in one package, including scheduling. All of my patients database is on my Google Email account – names, addresses, cell phones, emails and date of birth. This database is synched with my Iphone via Mobile exchange.
When I see that a patient runs 15 minutes late I send him/her a text massage from my cell phone. T-Mobile has unlimited texts, so text as much as you wish. Every patient has a cell phone now and it is very easy and convenient.
I will come back in a couple of months to check if they are out of Beta.
As Always Doc, Thumbs Up for a Great Post
Thanks, Dr. Burt. I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
And, please let us all know how things progress over the next few months. Since Snirk is in beta, I’m sure they’re going through major transition and growing pains. The fact that they haven’t responded quickly to your concerns is a good indication but alarming for a new startup. They should be on the ball and make customer service a top priority.
Nevertheless, their technology is innovative and fills a need for those chiropractors that simply don’t have a solid follow up plan toward rescheduling and recapturing patients at minimal cost.
Thanks again for contributing to the conversation!
Thank you for the great article Dr. MacNamara. I just came across it. I love your website as well. It’s got a lot of great information and valuable services. You definitely practice what you preach regarding social media.
I’m a co-founder of Snirk.com, so thank you everyone who posted and asked questions and gave feedback on how we can improve Snirk.com. Please feel free to contact me directly with your feedback and suggestions (http://www.snirk.com/contact/). I’m here to help your practice grow in any way I can.
Regards,
Trajan King
co-founder
Snirk.com
Thanks, Trajan, for taking the time to comment. It shows that you’re engaged with your community and are truly concerned about providing topnotch customer support. For that, I’m greatly.
Thanks again for the kind words and for stopping by the site.