I travel in circles of entrepreneurs, and every day I’m learning about new sales and marketing applications of AI.

Have you put your toe in the AI water?

This is a very powerful tool. 

You can begin by opening a free Chat GPT account. 

Last week I was at a meeting absorbing a terror-inducing presentation about cybersecurity. Just for fun, I signed into Chat GPT and began this chat, “Please assume the identity of a financial advisor and write an article to clients about cybersecurity.”

Chat GPT generated a wonderful piece good enough to copy and paste and send to clients! 

As with any tool, AI needs to be managed in order to not do harm.

I got a cold text from a medical revenue manager who wanted my business. It was clearly generated by AI.

After a long rambling pitch it ended with, “Let me know your thoughts.”

I wrote back with this message: “This is spam. Please remove me from your list."

They replied (word for word), “Hello, Sir. We feel sorry if you are not comfortable with it. But [can] visit our pages/sites for more updates. We will ensure you everything would be according to HIPPA compliance.

Yes, there is no subject in the third sentence, HIPAA is misspelled and the language is stilted. 

I wrote back: “Great example of AI gone wrong.”


AI was going to have the last word. They shot back, “Sir, we are only doing marketing to expand out services. So that we may help physicians focus on patient treatment.”

Yikes!

I believe that AI will transform the way we attract, engage and serve our clients. 

Still, we need to use this tool with discernment. Spam is still spam. The message must still resonate. The call to action must still align with the level of trust built. 

What do you think?
 

To your success,
Dr. Vicki

​Like you, I have ideas about how I can help my clients achieve their goals. 

You’re most likely reading this email because you want to accelerate your practice growth by engaging and serving more doctor clients.

I divide the world into two sets of people: Suits and White Coats. 

Your prospect who is a Suit thinks and acts differently than a White Coat who sees patients.

My secret sauce is offering a bridge between the world of business and the world of medicine.

Since bridges accommodate traffic in both directions, I have two brands.

In my Thriving Doctors brand I serve physicians who want to build TrueWealth—which I define as the flip side of the coin as burnout. (I do not offer money management advice; rather I help physicians improve their relationship with money.) This experience gives me unique insights about what’s important to doctors. 

Through my Engaging Doctors brand, I help financial advisors like you understand what’s important to doctors, how they think and what inspires them to push the “buy button”

I found a marketing message that meets the moment and engages White Coats.

I created an offer to help financial advisors leverage this opportunity. 

Based on my perspective and experience, I projected that several hundred advisors would sign up.

Do you know how many of the thousands of advisors on my list took me up on this offer?

Four!

I thought I knew how my members of my financial advisor community would respond, and I blew it! 

As a financial advisor, you have ideas about marketing messages that will engage doctors—or any other group of prospects. You might be very excited about your message. You might think, “If this popped into my email, I would jump all over this!”

You might go all in and create craft a presentation.

However, your clients may respond differently than you expect. 

I promise you that a White Coat prospect will respond differently than a Suit will. 

Don’t guess when it comes to your marketing message. Test it. Tweak it. Masks sure it works before you go BIG.

 

What do you think?
 

My best,
Dr. Vicki

Hello,

When David Frisk Frick interviewed Paul McCartney for a Rolling Stone article, he asked the famed Beatle about the wealth the band created. 

Paul McCartney said, “Somebody said to me, ‘But the Beatles were anti-materialistic.’ That’s a huge myth. John and I literally used to sit down and say, ‘Now let’s write a swimming pool.’ We said it out of innocence. Out of normal, f*king working-class glee that we were able to write a ‘swimming pool.’ For the first time in our lives, we could actually do something and earn money.”

You want to drive revenue. 

What is your one activity that’s your version of “writing a swimming pool?”

I argue it’s building your list.

The single question financial advisors most frequently ask me is, “How do I get my message in front of more doctor prospects?” 

In the Cracking the Physician Code course--AKA "Medical Marketing School"-- we talk about three buckets of leads:
 
Family, Friends and Fans: people who already know, like and trust you.
 
Power Partners: people who have relationships with your ideal clients. You may call them centers of influence.  
 
Doctor Information Seekers: doctors looking for answers to their questions.

I am coaching a high-performing financial advisor on his way to breaking seven figures. My client told me, “I want to build an automated lead generation system so I can scale the business and have it generate income while I’m on vacation.”
 
We are implementing strategies and tactics to reach out to doctor information seekers—ie cold traffic. We’re filming video content for both organic social growth and paid ads.

Creating great content and crafting magnetic marketing messages does not happen overnight; we’ve made a significant investment into this campaign.

In the meanwhile, almost every week this advisor tells me about the wonderful new client he’s onboarding.
 
I regularly ask him, “How did that client find his way to you?” 
 
The answer is almost always the same. “It was a referral from an existing client.” Or, “It’s from the CPA who already sends me lots of clients.” Or, “It’s from someone in the audience at my recent presentation.”

And I regularly point out that the fastest, easiest an most effective lead generation system is this: invest to become the go-to guy or go-to gal among targeted groups of doctors who network together. 
 
Why?

The rate at which you build relationships with doctors is the rate at which you build trust.

Doctors are targets of financial predators; most doctors, including myself, have been victims in some way or another.

As you know, I’m a retired surgeon. How did I find my own financial advisor? I asked my physician buddy, who told me that his financial advisors did a good job for both his family and his wife’s nonprofit. 

Great! As far as I was concerned, I had chosen my financial advisor based on my trusted buddy’s recommendation.

Facebook ads may make complete sense for your practice. However, please take a breath and ask yourself some important questions: 

“Am I already reaching out to people who already know, like and trust me and letting them know I serve the doctors who serve our community?”
 
“Am I building relationships with the right Power Partners?”
 
“Do my existing clients know the broad scope of problems I solve?”

Cultivate a culture of introductions. Grow your list of prospects by addling links in your chain of trust by beginning with existing relationships you have nurtured. It's the fastest, easiest and most cost-effective way generate more revenue.

Build lists of your people. That’s where the magic begins.  That’s how you “write a pool.”
 

To your success,

Dr. Vicki

 

PS If you’re planning for accelerated business growth in 2025, list-building is your rocket fuel. Want more information about how to achieve epic growth of your lists? I’m hosting The List Building 5-day Challenge December 2 to 6, 2024 from 5 to 6 PM Pacific each day. We’ll open registration in a week. Hope you join us. And tell a friend!

A massive wave of physician retirement is approaching.

Today, about one out of four practicing physicians is age 65 or older.

Practicing medicine during the pandemic was no picnic. 

Surveys show that between 50% and 60% of physicians were burned out last year.

All this means that large numbers of physicians are on the cusp of retirement. 

What does this mean for you?

As a healthcare consumer, be warned that we are facing an impending shortage of healthcare professionals. If you plan to get sick, do it now!

As a financial services provider, you have an opportunity to reach out to physicians and dentists actively planning their retirement. 

Do you currently have any resources about retirement you can give away?
 
Do you have effective, engaging questions you ask doctors prospects and clients about retirement?
 
Can you create a SHORT—1 to 2 page-- special report about doctor retirement? Some possible titles include:

The 5 Retirement Mistakes Doctors Make- And You Can Avoid

The Secrets of Successfully Retired Physicians

Costly Retirement Myths Smart Doctors See Through

Could you package the same content as social posts, videos or blog posts?

Do you currently work with doctors who were trained outside of the US? This will be the likely healthcare labor supply to fill the gaps left by retiring doctors. 

I got inspired to create a quiz about Doctor’s Retirement Preparedness Score. 

What do you think? How can you engage doctors riding the wave of retirement?  
 

My best,
Dr. Vicki

Every year I host a webinar about what's actually working in your efforts to attract, engage and serve doctor clients.

You're invited to this webinar update Thursday, September 19 at 9 AM Pacific.

Click here to register.  You will take away:
 

• 5 Trends That Impact Doctors in 2024/ 2025
• Habits of High-Performing Advisors
• The Most Common Mistakes Advisors Make
• The Keys to Success in the Medical Market
• Take a “Forgotten” Step to Generate a Higher ROI.
• What You MUST Do To Acquire More Clients.

Look forward to seeing you there!

To Your Success,
Dr. Vicki
Vicki Rackner MD
Principal, Engaging Doctors  Helping financial advisors attract, engage and serve more doctor clients.

PS Click here to register.  

Today, about three out of four physicians are employed by:

• Health-system owned practices
• Corporate owned practices
• Physician shareholder owned practices.

The split between physicians who have an ownership stake in the practice and employed physicians has radically shifted.

I grew up in Minnesota, and I was surprised when I visited my aunt hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic. Why were the hospital walls not painted pink? For years I heard my physician relatives talk about that "pinko organization." Private practice was the default physician practice setting in the early 60's.

When I came out of residency in the 80's, three out of four physicians were self-employed in private practice.

Thirty years ago, with the demands of managed care, increasing numbers of physicians were willing to trade their autonomy for the security and work-life balance offered by employment. By 2000, it was a 50-50 split and it increased to 70-30 split by 2010.

Then COVID hit. Employed physicians did not have the security they thought they had. Physicians saw pay cuts. Many hospitals did not contribute to physicians' retirement plans in 2020 to 2022. Some physicians saw their hours cut. Others were laid off.

Over the past two years, we saw a reverse trend. Increasing numbers of physicians hung shingles and went out on their own.

Join us for a live webinar Tuesday, August 13th at 10 AM Pacific to hear me share the data I've collected about physicians employment trends in the post-COVID world. Barring technical challenges, those who sign up will have access to the replay. Click here to register.

To Your Success,
Dr. Vicki
Vicki Rackner MD
Principal, Engaging Doctors  Helping financial advisors attract, engage and serve more doctor clients.

PS You''re invited to a live webinar The Business of Medicine: Post-COVID Physician Employment Trends Tuesday, August 13th at 10 AM Pacific. I'll share the data I've collected about physician employment trends in the post-COVID world. Barring technical challenges, those who sign up will have access to the replay. Click here to register.

Long ago, the Ladies’ Home Journal ran a column,  “Can This Marriage Be Saved?” 

Today, I invite your thoughts on the question, “Can This Sale Be Saved?”

Here’s the story.

I was speaking with a financial advisor who created an amazing tax strategy for his doctor client that would legally and ethically cut the doctor’s tax bill by $100,000 in a single tax year.

The doctor seemed excited. He hated paying big tax bills.

His CPA blessed the plan. 

But the doctor kept dragging his feet and then told the financial advisor that the deal was off.

As my financial advisor told me the story, he threw up his hands and said, “What are you gonna do? It’s just another crazy doctor story.”

Is this the end of the story? What else could this advisor do? Can this sale be saved?

I said to the financial advisor, “Let me make sure I’ve got this right. The doctor is choosing between writing Uncle Sam a check for $60,000 or investing $20,000 to cut his tax bill by $100,000. That’s a net savings of $80,000. Plus he doesn’t write the IRS a $60,000 check.“

He said, "Correct.”

I asked , “This plan is above board? There’s no gray area?

He said, “I don’t work in gray areas.”

I said, “I don’t know this with absolute certainty, but there’s a high likelihood that this physician’s unmanaged human brain killed the deal. “

The human brain evolved to answer one question, “Am I safe?” Our hyper-focussed danger detectors gave us a survival advantage when we were living in caves and saber tooth tigers found us to be yummy meals.

Our human brains demonstrate exquisitely sensitivity to the threat of loss of life. Financial losses can feel like survival threats.

I bet in the end this doctor only saw the $20,000 investment, called it a loss and said no to the plan. 

I invited the financial advisor to consider a transparent conversation with his doctor client.

He could say something like, “It looks like your human brain is working overtime to keep you safe. I bet your focus right now is the $20,000 you need to invest to harvest the $100,000 tax savings. I wonder if you’re saying no to the plan you were so excited about just a few weeks ago because your human brain is telling you to avoid losing $20,000. Maybe you can replace the thought,’This plan means a $20,000 loss.’ With ‘I’m making an investment that will put $140,000 in my pocket.’ You might need to keep repeating the second sentence, because your human brain will bombard you with the first sentence.”

Human brains do what human brains do. 

However, biology is not destiny. 

This financial advisor is, in essence, inviting this clients to use his mind to manage his human brain.

What does it mean to use your mind to manage your brain? 

Imagine that you project part of yourself into the corner of the room and watch the reality show/sitcom you call your life unfold. You always have the option of saying, “Yup, that’s my human brain at work. I’m going to override my brain’s fear of loss because I’ve done the math and I’m going to focus on the $140,000 extra dollars in my pocket. “

Sometimes the first step in helping clients manage their money is a transparent conversation about how they manage their human brains.

 
What do you think?


My best,
Dr. Vicki

Are you observing that your doctor clients and prospects are not as happy as they were before the pandemic?

A recent Medscape report on lifestyle and happiness  reveals that many doctors are struggling to find the same level of contentment they enjoyed before the pandemic. You can sign up for a free Medscape account and view the entire report.

Among the surveyed doctors, about 80% said they were very or somewhat happy before the pandemic, and about 60% are happy today. 

How can this happiness gap be closed? This is where you have an opportunity!

First, though, here are some of the numbers from the Medscape survey.

During the height of the pandemic, doctors were increasingly ready to choose better work-life balance over pay. This year, 53% of physicians said they would earn less to enjoy life more, as compared to 40% of surveyed American workers.

The great majority of physicians are married or in a committed relationship. Female physicians stay unattached at greater rates than make physicians. About 80% of physicians describe their marriage as very good or good. 

About 20% of married physicians say they’re partnered to another physician, 25% are partnered to a non-physician in healthcare, and 55% say that their partner is either not working in healthcare or not working outside the home. 

Almost half of women physicians are conflicted about balancing parenting and professional responsibilities. Adding to that stress, female physicians often have a hard time talking about conflicts with their bosses.

About 80% of doctors kept vacation time less than 4 weeks.

Doctors’ workout routines remained consistent.

About 70% of physicians have spiritual or religious beliefs.

About half of doctors are trying to lose weight.

While Toyota, Honda and BMW raked as the top cars doctor drive, Tesla has gained popularity.

Why are doctors increasingly unhappy?

You might think, "Of course doctors are less happy than before the pandemic. They're asked to work more, they're catching up from COVID-related income losses and they're more stressed." 
 
However, here's a tidbit from Harvard psychiatrist Robert Waldinger and author of the recently released book The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study on Happiness. He says, "We can predict who’s going to be happy and live longer. It's the people who have the warmest relationships and the people who are most connected to other people in their lives are the people who stay healthier and live longer."

The COVID pandemic has disrupted relationships. Could this explain the numbers in this Medscape survey?

What does this mean for you?

As you meet with physicians, ask, “How content are you with your level of happiness as compared to before the pandemic?” 

Then ask, “What would need to happen for you to be happier?” If they say, “Take more vacation,” you can ask, “Would you like to explore how you can do that?” 

Explore whether your clients are managing stress with "retail therapy." Then you can explore alternative ways to respond to stress. 

Read Dr. Walinger's book The Good Life.  Consider buying it as a gift for your clients if you like it.

Remember that your clients have a relationship with YOU. Nurture them.

Remind physicians that wealth is the freedom to do what they want to do when they want to do it. TrueWealth is the ability to do this is a way that their calendars and their finances align with their calendars.

 ​
What do you think?

 

To your success,

Dr. Vicki

Vicki Rackner MD

The most effective way for you to attract and engage doctors is to serve them. You identify their challenges or problems and help solve them.

Doesn't it make sense to identify emerging trends among your prospects and clients?

Here's one.

Increasing numbers of physicians are involved with side gigs as a way to create an additional income stream or pursue a passion project. 

Medscape surveyed more than 2500 physicians, and here are some of the highlights.

In 2022, about 40% of physicians have a side gig.

Here are the 5 most popular clinical side gigs:

• Medical consulting (27% men; 17% women)
• Expert witness (25% men; 11% women)
• Chart review (20% men; 12% women)
• Medical moonlighting  (18% men; 17% women)
• Speaking (16% men; 13% women)
  
  Here are the 5 most popular nonclinical side gigs:
• Real estate (21%)
• Investing (19%)
• Consulting (12%)
• Teaching (11%)
• Writing (8%)

The goals of the side gigs include:

• Making money (48%)
• Having fun (12%)
• Beginning a second career for retirement (11%)
• Using or building skills (10%)
• Pursuing e a hobby (5%)

Here are the top five barriers to business growth that physicians identified:

• Not enough time (48%)
• Want a reasonable work-life balance (40%)
• Lack money to invest in growth (16%)
• Too much competition (13%)
• Wouldn’t enjoy it as much if they invested more time. (12%) 

Physicians earned on average $25K from their side gig in the past 12 months. Most physicians with side gigs expect their earnings to grow, but believe it’s unlikely they will replace their clinical income.

When physicians were asked if they would benefit from learning business skills, here’s what they said:

• A lot (33%)
• Some (38%)
• Not that much (20%)
• Not at all (9%)

Here's the number that surprised me the most:

Only 30% of physicians said that they harvested tax savings from their side gig! About 60% said they did not, and 10% did not know.

What does all of this mean for you?

This survey offers evidence that physicians want to put more money in their pockets. 

Can you help physicians by offering ways of taking home an additional $30 K without working more? You have simple and powerful ways of doing this, including:

• Harvesting tax saving
• Following up on rejected insurance claims
• Negotiating a raise.

​
Could you help physicians develop business skills? 
 
Could you create a podcast in which you interview physicians with successful side gigs?
 
Challenges and problems your clients face are opportunities for you to deliver more value and grow your own practice!



My best,

Dr. Vicki

Vicki Rackner MD

Hello,

I got an urgent request for a phone call from an advisor in the Power Prospecting Program. He wanted to speak with me about whether to invest $2400 in an ad in a magazine that has a high doctor subscription rate.

Here are the questions I generally ask advisors who inquire about marketing investments—and specifically paid advertising.

Why are you placing the ad?

Usually the answer is, “To generate doctor leads.”

Then I ask, “Why do you want to generate doctor leads?”

The answer is usually, “To get more doctor clients!”

Then I ask the question, “Why do you want more doctor clients?”

The answer is usually, “To generate more revenue!” 

Voila!  Now we can address the real question: Will placing the right ad in this publication lead to more revenue? 

This answer is not always immediately obvious. 

The magazine employee will tell you a story about how much you’ll benefit from getting your message in front of the eyeballs of this many doctor prospects. 

So will the employee selling advertising for medical associations.

They want you to believe that they represent your best interests.

Just to be clear, they are there to sell ads. At the end of the day, that’s what ’s important to them.

They often use urgency and scarcity as persuasion tools because they work!

Here are some questions to help you dig deeper to made an informed choice.

Who is the target reader for this publication?

My client told me that the person selling the magazine ads related that lots of doctors subscribe to this publication. 

I went on the publication web site and it looked like the magazine was NOT for the doctors to read—it was for doctors to put in their waiting rooms for their patients to read. 

My client said, “The ad salesperson said that doctors flip through the publication to see if they’re listed as a top doctor.” I  responded, “That may well be true; however, if the doctor is not reading the publication, what are the chances that that they’ll see your ad?”

Then I asked, “What do you think a patient would think about an ad telling doctors how they can build wealth? If a doctor saw that ad, would the magazine remain in the doctor’s waiting room?”

What kinds of responses have you gotten from similar ad campaigns you placed in the past? 

Paid ads can help you achieve your business results faster. You buy speed.

However, there are many moving parts in a successful paid ad campaign. 

Just like you need to get all of the right digits in the  right order to successfully place a phone call, so, too, you need to get all the ad elements right to see a return on your investment. 
 
You need the right ad copy and the right offer and the right images to see a ROI for your ad investment. 

This does not happen by accident and it rarely happens on the first try.

Most financial advisors NEVER get a single client from an ad. Their return on the investment is ZERO. 

Why?

The typical ad delivers the message, “Here’s who I am and what I do.” The advisors put themselves in the limelight.

However, ads that work put the prospect in the limelight. Your ad could say, “Doctor, have you ever wondered…? Get our free special report.” In other words, the ad promotes the value you’re sharing.

One of my clients—let’s call him Jim— paid for a banner ad in a weekly email a medical association distributes to its 4000 doctor members. Jim offered a free digital download of my book The 9 Money Mistakes Doctors Make. 

Then Jim forwarded the association’s email with his first ad.  The banner was about a third of the size as all the other ads in the email. You practically needed a microscope to read the copy.

I told Jim I would be surprised if ANY doctors signed up for the digital download. Unfortunately, four days after this email was sent, it looks like I'm right.

Then I made suggestions for how he could tweak the ad given the size of the banner. The president of the association is his client. I recommended that he ask her, “Hey what do you think about the 9 Money Mistakes book?” Most doctors say something like, “It’s great! EVERY DOCTOR should read this book!” 

I said, ”Jim, imagine a banner in which there’s a picture of the president, her quote, “EVERY DOCTOR should read this book!” An orange button could say, “Click Here to Get Your Complimentary Copy.” 

Before investing in an ad, optimize all of the elements. Gather evidence that you have an offer that works.

What else could you do with a marketing budget of $2400?

There are may ways to generate more revenue.

The highest ROI campaigns involve sidestepping the high cost of client acquisition. You can deliver more value to your existing clients and enjoy higher fees. 

The most effective way to generate doctor leads is to inspire doctors who know, like and trust you to talk about you.

Here are some concrete ways to invest a $2400 marketing budget.

Send thoughtful gifts. Yes, many advisors send holiday gifts. However a gift given on any random Tuesday has an even higher perceived value. 
 
Launch a conspiracy of service and distribute physical copies of The 9 Money Mistakes book.
 
Create a doctor advisory board.
 
Ask doctors you know, “How can we serve more doctors?
 
Do more of what’s already proven to work in your hands.
 
It may well be possible that placing this ad is a great choice. However, ad campaigns can and should be integrated into a more strategic practice-building plan.  

 
TIPS

1. Before investing in ads, find out who the target reader is. Is this your ideal client?
 

2. Call others who have advertised and ask them what kinds of results they got.
 

3. Don’t give into a false sense of urgency. Take your time to make a good choice for you.

As a financial services professional, you have a chance to help physicians take control of their financial destiny. You can enjoy many rewards when you help doctors make their dreams come true.


I'm here to support you if you do!

My best,
Dr. Vicki