Begin the process of choosing the optimum office location by asking yourself five simple questions:

1. Where do I want to practice? 

2. Am I drawn to the mountains, ocean, or a small, medium, or large town?

3. What are my hobbies and recreational activities?

4. What do I really enjoy doing?

5. What type of practice do I want to have?

Once you have the answers, you can start to look for a location. Some items of consideration include demographics, site location, and traffic patterns.

Demographics

On the surface, demographic data can appear boring, but it can enlighten you on aspects of life not found elsewhere. You should research population statistics and determine whether the region of your choice makes sense for your practice. Given your profession and specialty, do you want to target men, women, young or old, blue or white collar?

Newspapers, chambers of commerce, and local city and state governments in each region often have demographic information provided on their Web sites. Another excellent source is the Census Bureau’s Web site.

These sites will tell you about household incomes, household ownership, age distribution, percentage of females (55 percent desirable), blue collar vs. white collar, race and ethnicity, education, etc.

Once you select a few locations, map them by areas in the cities or towns you are considering, then determine which are growing or shrinking. What is the growth projection for the next five years? What industry is coming or leaving town? If you are going to be billing insurance, find out what companies pay for chiropractic care.

Another thing to do is check the chiropractor to population ratio for the specific areas in which you are interested (you want to target an area of 3,000 to one or better), and also see where your colleagues are located. How aggressive is their marketing? What kinds of marketing do they do and how effective is it?

Do your own psychographics study, also known as the IAO Variables (Interest, Attitudes & Opinions). This gives you an excellent opportunity to discuss chiropractic and get their opinions and attitudes about your profession.

Where do you start? At your chamber of commerce, banks, service stations, auto dealers, or any place where there are people.

Site location

Your number one priority is your patient, so be sure you choose an area of town that is consistent with the image you are looking for and it is convenient.

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