Use these practice-location guidelines to save you from making expensive and practice-limiting mistakes

How important is location? Determining an ideal practice location that fits your chiropractic philosophy is the first important step you take when starting your practice. Location is an important consideration no matter what type of business you intend to practice. If you plan to service airplanes then it is logical you’d want to be in a location that has exposure and access to airplanes. The same thinking is applicable for a chiropractic practice.

First decide the type of practice you choose to build. It will be a determining factor in how you market your brand of chiropractic service.

Demographics. Since we are in the business of providing services to people, it will enhance the growth of our practices when we locate our practice in an area that has a reasonable volume of potential patients passing our practices.

Therefore, chiropractors should be in a location where there is a great deal of commuter traffic. Use demographics to determine these locations. When considering an area in which to practice, check with the local chamber of commerce, the local cable company (they have detailed demographic studies), or any company or group that sells to the general population. The US Census Bureau can provide you with detailed reports about your intended market.

There are other avenues to investigate when trying to determine the suitable demographics for your proposed practice.

When checking out a community, find one with a ratio of no more than one chiropractor to every 8,000 people. My choice eventually came down to two communities separated by a small mountain range. After checking both populations, I settled in the community with a 1:10,000 ratio. The ratio determination proved to be a solid rule. Later, I discovered that the new DCs in the other town were having difficulty building up their practices despite being in a more wealthy community.

Check out the chiropractors currently practicing in the vicinity of your intended location. Before personally contacting them, find out how long they have been practicing in the area. This can be accomplished by visiting with businesspeople near the chiropractor in question.

Visit the chiropractors you have identified as being in your marketing area. Most DCs will be courteous and helpful, especially if they have been established for a period of time.

Check to see if the market is growing, static, or perhaps even reducing. Find out the business vacancy rates for the past several years. A warning bell should go off if the numbers are declining. Again, the chamber of commerce, local commercial realty office, or conversations with businesspeople will give you an impression of your market’s growth potential.

Patient convenience. An important aspect to consider is the makeup of your intended market area and when clients would likely to visit your office.

For example, we know that in many young couples both persons will both jobs. If they have young children, the parents will drop their children off somewhere in the morning and pick them up at the end of the day.

The only times parents might be able to visit you is early in the morning, lunchtime, or late at night, unless you can make it convenient for parents to visit your office with their children.

Two ideas that will make it easier for parents to visit your office is to make a special area in your office for children to play while parents are getting their adjustments or make arrangements with a part-time person to watch the children in your office while the parents are being adjusted.

For the retired population, consider setting aside special daytime appointments for their convenience.

There are also areas that have industries working 24-hour shifts. If the market is large enough, a chiropractor who wants to carve a niche in this area can arrange special hours for shift workers.

As you can see, making it easy for patients to visit your office is one of your prime considerations. That is why before you commit to a location, check the available demographics to see if it is compatible with the type of practice you envision.

Friends and Neighbors
When looking around for a possible location, talk to the retailers and their employees and, if possible, customers. Most people will talk to you about their community, especially if you tell them you are thinking about opening a business in their community.

When I was checking locations for my first office, I visited the local chiropractors. Most were friendly and informative. One, however, did not want to talk to a competing chiropractor and almost threw me out of his office. That was the exception. The information I received from the friendly DCs helped me set up my new practice.

Back when Jim Parker, DC, was presenting his seminars, he said something that I have always remembered: work where you live. If you do this, there are several immediate benefits.

Convenience. The time it will take to get to work will be much shorter with less chance of getting stuck in the weather or a traffic jam. Typically, the majority of your patients will be drawn from a 3- to 6-mile radius around your office. How far will you be driving to open it up? You are going to find that having just a 10 to 15 minute drive from home to office is a tremendous convenience. The short drive becomes even more valuable if you intend to be available for emergencies.

Marketing. It is much eaiser to get the attention of the locals when you are a local businessperson. I found it easier to develop a relationship with the bank as a local. Relationships with other business people were enhanced especially if you patronize their restaurants, gas stations, and businesses.

For example, we made it a point to patronize several different restaurants in town. Along with a generous tip, we left a business card with a note about the excellent service. If possible, we located the owner or manager and complimented them on their good food, service, or whatever. After doing this several times, the people in the restaurant would recognize us as “those nice chiropractors.”

We also developed relationships with an optometrist and dentist. We would send cross-promotion letters to our respective patient bases.

Clubs/Meetings. When you live and work in the same community, attending service club meetings will be easier, especially on your off days. Plus, it will be easier to become involved in a local project.

Initially, I became involved with our local Kiwanis club. After several productive years of working my way through the various committees up to president, it was time to move on.

I was asked to join Rotary and also worked my way up to president. The idea is not how far one can advance but how much meaningful contribution you can offer to your service club. The committee chairs and presidency is their way of saying thanks for your willingness to participate.

I have been asked about belonging to the local chamber of commerce. My opinion is that from a social standpoint and for an opportunity to meet other businesspeople, it is a fun way to meet new people. As a way to show the community that you are interested in being a contributing neighbor, belonging and truly participating in a service club is the best route to take.

Choosing Your Building
Whether you are leasing a space or buying a building, making the right choice for your practice will translate directly to its growth and profitability. By now, you should have considered the obvious items, such as building condition, adequacy of street lighting, consistency and amount of traffic passing your location, visibility of the signage, lighting, heating and ventilation, lease terms, and improvement costs or allowances.

An important consideration for a location is the emotional warmth of that site. Although it is not always feasible, if you have a choice between locations, take the sunniest location. A building looks more inviting and when there is sun shining on the front. The colors are brighter and it stands out from more shaded buildings.

Check out the proposed location to see how prior businesses fared. Did they fail; do well then move on; or some other story? If the prior businesses were having problems, it would be smart to find out why. Sometimes a poor location is not evident until you dig into the reasons for the turnovers. If they are moving to better locations and those locations are out of the area, this can be a clue as to the direction your potential market is heading.

Doing the research to determine the above will not cost much, but it is time-consuming. The only tools you’ll need is patience plus a willingness to approach and talk to the local businesspeople.

There are many ways to make your approach. I used the same introduction which seemed to work well for me. I would introduce myself by saying, “Hello, my name is Ivan Delman and I’m planning on opening a chiropractic office here in town. Do you think this is a good town to open a new practice?” Most will be able to spend a few minutes to give you their opinion.

Later, when I tallied all the comments, I found that most were remarkably honest with me regarding the state of small business in that town.

The types of businesses I interviewed were varied. I placed special emphasis on the local banks, commercial brokers, and professionals. That is, were they expanding, merging, or leaving town?

If you have already decided what niche of the market you will be approaching, then another consideration would be to see if it is of sufficient size to support your practice. Perhaps, you should think of several parallel niches to approach to ensure better practice growth.

When evaluating the size of your clinic, there is more than one way to look at it. Of course, your main consideration will be to determine your space needs for now and the foreseeable future. For example, for my style of practice, I used as the rule of thumb 1,100 square feet per DC. My plan was to grow until it was time to move into a larger space, which I eventually accomplished.

If you plan to have associates, rent out space to a noncompeting professional, or become involved in work requiring more space than needed for adjusting, keep that in mind when planning the size of your office.

I would recommend the larger office and rent out space that would allow me to grow without having to move the practice somewhere down the line.

Another consideration is to evaluate your space as another source of income, such as leasing. Before you decide to lease a space big enough to split, make arrangements with another professional to sublet some of your building space. Your arrangement should be contingent on you being able to include a sublease clause in your own lease arrangement.

Usually, the bigger the space leased, the more likely there will be room for negotiation on the square-footage costs and tenant improvements. You have to cut a good enough deal for the entire space so that you can charge a competitive price for your sublease space and still make a profit.

Before selecting a building for your practice, drive away from the proposed site then return as a patient. Some of the amenities to check are:

1. Parking. See if there is sufficient space not only for your office, but also other businesses sharing the parking area.
2. Walkway. Check the condition of the walkway to the door of your proposed office. Is it maintained so that there is minimal chance of tripping? Are there any level changes or stairs that might prove difficult for your elderly patients?
3. Lighting. If you plan to be open after dark, is the lighting sufficient for walking and safety?
4. Unlimited access to your office. This is important for not only emergency calls but for your evening lectures.
5. Room for sufficient signage. Your signage should be able to notify traffic that you are in that building. It also should help guide people right to your office.

When looking over an area to locate your practice, think about your staff. The closer your employees live to your office, the more beneficial it is to you and them. Some of those employee benefits are that it costs less to travel to and from work and fewer hours are spent driving.

Locals will know other locals. Therefore, your staff can help you spread the word about your clinic to their friends and other locals in the area.

All that being said, it is important to check the strength of the labor market around your proposed site. The chamber of commerce, local newspapers, and talking to other businesspeople should give you a sense of the labor market’s strength.

Locating your practice is not the same as spinning a bottle then going in the direction it stops. The process of locating your practice should be examined from many angles. CP

Ivan Delman, DC, is the author of The Business of Chiropractic: How to Prosper After Startup and has degrees in both business and chiropractic. After working 20 years in each field, he retired to write and travel. Delman’s free Chiro-Biz newsletter and other articles can be found at: www.businessofchiropractic.com. He can be reached via email: ivan@businessofchiropractic.com.