Dr. Marie Williams has been a podiatrist for twelve years, and had been in practice for four of those years before she came upon Sterling.
“In December of 1988, a friend of mine told me about Sterling. He said that my business could really improve. Well, at that time I knew I didn’t know how to manage but I really wasn’t experiencing any symptoms that I could see–actually I wasn’t up to the point of seeing things that were wrong.
“But what impressed me,” recalls Dr. Williams, “is that my friend was doing so well utilizing Sterling. I figured if he could do so well with it, that I should take a look at it.
“And there was the central point I got when I went to a their practice management seminar: that you could and should control your business.”
“When I did my training in Glendale I got material I could use right away. I used the emotional tone scale, which made tons of sense, right away. And the idea that people should pay for their service was important, too, and I put it to use immediately.
“Of course the production increased, rapidly going up 20-30%. My patient load and my income went up on a good, controlled upward trend.
“You know,” says Dr. Williams, “the way I operate using the Hubbard system is absolutely different from the way I used to operate. I have the definite concept of exchange and the technology of the conditions down, cold.
“By exchange I mean you want to be paid. You’ve given the patient an excellent product, and you want to be given payment in exchange. I realized that getting people to pay me keeps them coming!
“And too many podiatrists think something else. We’re made to think we’re absolutely the lowest, that we should be thankful that we’re getting 40 cents a month, because if we don’t accept that we might be getting nothing. And I think that’s a pretty sick trick!
“It’s sick because it is accepting less than we deserve. Some guy will have a contract, and if you get on a plan, you don’t get what you deserve, even though you’re trying to raise a family; but if you’re not on a plan, you don’t get the patients, it seems. Sterling has given me the tools to get above that game. I still have to work at it, but I have the tools.
“Anyway, I think that’s central. Lots of podiatrists have a combination of staffing problems with the insurance problems, but it’s the exchange thing that you have to beat. When you get somebody who gets you on a contract, and you’re taking so little for your treatment, you’re going into agreement with the guys who are stealing from you.
“To stay ahead of all of this I manage by statistics, and I pay a lot of attention to my communication with doctors–Sterling helped me realize how important communication is and how to improve my communication skills.
“The other part of this is that so many podiatrists feel funny about promoting themselves. After Sterling I feel good about promoting myself. You get this false notion in Podiatry schools, that promoting is bad, that it is associated with doctors who do bad medicine. And that is absolutely not true.
“Promotion is absolutely necessary to deliver the amount of good medicine you want to and get the exchange you deserve. And Sterling can help you with that.”
