In the end, you’?re only as good as the quality of the products and services you provide. Great marketing, financing and hard work will only take you so far unless what you offer is of sufficient quality.

What defines a quality experience in an alternative health practice? Many consumers will equate quality with value. That is, they’?ll compare the complete experience they’?ve had in your practice against the dollar price they paid, and using an abstract formula unique to them, calculate the value. Was it worth it? Did they get more than they paid for? Less?

This internal mental formula that your patients use to calculate value is unique to each person, and unknown to everyone, including the client themselves. But rest assured, it exists. And while we can’t know the formula precisely, we do know some of the factors that affect quality, and as a result, value.

The Visit Experience

The client “experience”? with your practice is an amalgamation of a vast number of aspects of the visit. Here are a just a few:

Staff

• Was the staff pleasant? Effective?
• How was their phone manner?
• Were they informed, helpful?
• Did they seem to enjoy their job?
• Were they respectful?
• Did I feel they respected the rules of professional confidentiality?

The Office

• Was the office clean and uncluttered?
• Was it odorless, or at least pleasant smelling?
• Was it nicely decorated?
• Was the waiting area comfortable?

The Office Process

• Did the office seem to follow a procedure for dealing with patients?
• Were the waiting times short?
• Was the billing clear?
• Was it easy to pay?
• Was the next visit clearly specified and easy to book?
• Are the hours consistent, clear and convenient?

The best way to improve your visit experience is to note each time you find yourself having a good or bad experience in another business, and correcting your own practice accordingly.

The Relationship

The doctor-patient relationship can be an intimate one. This is particularly true of alternative health practices that tend to have a longer average visit time. The longer the visit, the more time the practitioner and client have to connect.

Time’?s not the only factor, however. A genuine interest in the well-being of your patients can compensate for very short visit times. The more your patients perceive their relationship with you as being unique and important, the more they’?ll perceive it as having high quality.

The Health Outcome

In the end, there will be no greater test of your value as a holistic practitioner than the health of your patients. Success in health care spreads like a brush fire, particularly within groups of people with common complaints.

Bringing your patients to a state of good health is the single best way to ensure that they return to your practice, and refer others. Combining that with the other aspects of quality will almost guarantee regular return visits and steady referrals.