Martin and Trish Resnick opened their chiropractic clinic in May 2001. Fresh out of grad school and eager to build their practice, they began on a tight budget – too tight for support staff. They moved from Hayward, California where they earned their doctorates to Alexandria, Virginia where they opened their clinic. Their mission was to promote health and wellness through natural, non-invasive techniques.

Dr. Martin and Dr. Trish took patients on alternate days. While one attended to patients, the other took care of administrative issues, answered the phones, assisted in X-Ray, and marketed their business. "For the first three months or so, it was really exciting. Then, we began to realize that answering our own phones and doing everything ourselves hurt our public images as professionals," recalled Trish.

"We were just starting out. We were juggling our lease and advertising payments and counting every penny. We started shopping for an answering service to take over our calls and were really surprised by what was available," said Martin.

At first, the Resnicks turned over all calls during the day to the answering service. "Then one night, we got a call from one of our regular patients. It was about 11 o’clock, we were both at home, getting ready for bed. The patient was in pain, and wanted Martin to perform an adjustment. Of course, he did, but it really taught us a lesson. We added after-hours coverage to our plan the next day," said Trish. They also added emergency dispatching and alternated being on call.

What happened next, they hadn't planned for. They began offering regular appointments from 5 to 9 o’clock Wednesday nights. "It was really amazing. We'd been working really hard to establish a core group of patients. But, once we added evening hours, things really took off. We had all kinds of working adults making appointments. Every Wednesday night was full. About a month later, we started offering evening hours Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays," said Martin.

The evening appointmetns, all coordinated by the answering service, allowed Martin and Trish to work together as they chose, but also gave them each a special niche. Martin took most of the day shifts while Trish took most of the evening shifts. The split work made it possible for them to grow their practice and work together as health care professionals, but still allowed them each to pursue their own interests and their own time.

"I can't see how we ever would have grown as quickly and successfully as we did without an answering service. The strain was really wearing us both out and putting an extra burden on our partnership," said Trish. "I don't think we would have seen some of the more creative ways to utilize the answering service if it hadn't been for their customer service representative. She knew what worked for their other clients and made many helpful suggestions. It freed us up to give our patient's the one-on-one attention they deserve. That's the part of this job I love - helping people stay well."

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