One of the most common objections doctors give as to why they can’t stop performing circumcision is that they would lose patients and money to other practices. Many anti-circumcision activists will also tell you that this issue is about the money, and that doctors keep doing circumcisions because they keep making money on them.
I’m not sure that’s the case, but let’s pretend for a minute that this issue is just about money. That means for doctors to say NO to circumcision, they need an economic solution, not a moral one. If doctors can find a way to make money by giving up circumcision, they will.
So – how can doctors make massive amounts of money by saying NO to circumcision?
The Persuasive Power Of Doctors
Doctors forget that the massive amounts of persuasive power they have with their patients. The definitive book on persuasion, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini, lists “authority” as one of the six key methods of influence. For better or worse, doctors still have a large amount of cultural authority. When someone comes into your practice, they are literally paying you for your opinion as a medical professional. They’ve come to you as their doctor, because they believe you are the expert, and they want to know what you have to say.
As a doctor, the persuasive power is on your side.
In marketing and persuasion, you always want to draw your audiences attention to what you have, not what you don’t. Right now, doctors who refuse to perform circumcision draw their patients attention to what they don’t offer. This frames the doctor as offering less than what another practice does. Doctors rightly fear that if they frame their practice as offering less, they will lose clients to other practices which offer all the same things plus circumcision.
So by refusing to do circumcision, what do you offer that other practices do not?
The answer is the highest standard of ethical care.
The Highest Standard of Ethical Care
Imagine if instead of saying “we don’t do circumcision” you said this:
At this practice, we offer the highest standard of ethical care. Although in the past, some doctors have performed circumcision, we now know from the latest information that circumcision is unnecessary and may actually be harmful to your child. Although I could make a significant amount of money by offering circumcision, it would go against my oath as a doctor, and I’m not willing to sell my integrity for your pocketbook.
Now, you could go to another practice in town and they’ll gladly remove the most sensitive protective part of your child’s body. There are a lot of doctors who would be glad to part you with your money for their profit. But at this practice, we sit on the side of the patient, and we only do what is in the best interests of the parents and children who walk into our office, even if it goes against our own financial gain. I understand if you want to go somewhere else, but I think if you stay at this practice you’ll always get what’s in the best interests of your child.
Wow! Wouldn’t you want your child to see a doctor like that? Isn’t that a more compelling narrative than asking “would you like your child circumcised?” and then using the high pressure sales tactics typical of many American hospitals? If your doctor said “I won’t do this, even though I could make money on it” wouldn’t you trust every other decision he or she made?
After you’ve said this you can go into the reasons why you don’t do circumcision. You can talk about the functions of the foreskin, how much easier it is to care for an intact child (only clean what is seen), and maybe even recommend them a film on the subject. But after that frame, they will be a patient for life.
This statement positions you as offering the highest standard of ethical care, while all of your competition are just salesmen out to part patients with their money.
Differentiate Yourself In The Market
One doctor told me he was reluctant to use this method because he was afraid other doctors would be mad at him. Yeah – mad because you’re stealing all their clients. This is a possibility, but if you’re worried that this strategy will make other doctors angry with you because you took all their money, then don’t tell me you can’t give up circumcision because you’ll lose money. If you’re worried about the opinion of your competition, the real concern is conformity and wanting the approval of your peers, not money. That’s a separate article. This one is about money.
So let’s look at how you’d use this strategy to steal the business of every other doctor in town.
By framing your practice as offering the highest standard of ethical care, you’re differentiating yourself from other practices by offering something they don’t. The implication is that every other practice in town just takes your money for whatever they’re trying to sell. You’re different. You’re trusted. You have a monopoly on something unique your practice offers that others do not.
Look at the flipside – how would you feel as a parents feel if your doctor did a circumcision, and then you found out about the information your doctor didn’t tell them? Would you feel betrayed? Would you trust information that doctor gave you in the future? Might you consider a lawsuit?
Now, imagine a parent learns this information, and then they hear about another doctor in town who refuses to do circumcisions because they offer the highest standard of ethical care and sit on the side of their patients. Who would they go to?
Oh, and the best part of this strategy – it works even better if you’re the only one using it.
If you’re the only one doing it, you’re the only one in your market. But don’t worry if other doctors start trying to copy you, or even stop doing circumcisions to keep up. Now you can say you’re the first doctor in your area to offer the highest standard of ethical care around this issue, and you’ve got the social proof of others joining your standard.
Tactics To Build A Monopoly On Patients In Your Town
Once you know what makes you different in the market, you plug that at every turn.
Here are a few specific tactics to market this aspect of your practice:
- Bring up what makes your practice different in other contexts. Talk about how you sit on patients side on other issues. This will act as pre-suasion for any conversation you want to have with your patients about circumcision later.
- Get your pitch down with parents. I’ve written a script above, but a/b test variations on it. Different parents may need to hear different things. Your region of the country may have certain concerns that are more common that others.
- Have literature on-hand you can give them. Have a pamphlet or card they can take home and do more research. I made an award-winning feature-length film on circumcision you could also direct people to. This let’s parents know they aren’t alone in their decision, and adds both social-proof and authority to your persuasion.
- Set an appointment to follow-up with them. Let them know they can do their own research, and encourage them to look at the information you have provided. Make sure they have an excuse to come back to your practice.
- Talk about how the majority of today children are not circumcised and left intact. Let parent’s know they aren’t alone in this decision and adds social-proof to what they are doing.
Here is a more aggressive tactic you could use if you’re feeling bold:
- Record a video or write an article for your website or social media explaining why you don’t do circumcisions anymore. Talk about what makes your practice different, and how you sit on the side of the patient. Run this as an ad on social media platforms. You could even target the demographic of your competition’s patients, or target expectant parents specifically in your town.
- Record a video or write an article specifically about another doctor in your town. Use his name in the headline so it shows up in his search results. “Why I Disagree with [Doctor So-And-So] About Circumcision.” Run it as an ad on social media against his clients. Explain how your practice is different because you offer the highest standard of care.
These are the kind of things local radio and newspapers would be very interested in, especially if you live in a small area. Now you have a unique marketing angle. Every person who hears your message, does the research, and learns what you say is true will come to your practice over your competition.
There are undoubtably other tactics you could use. Some haven’t been discovered yet. If you use these successfully, me and the other organizations involved on this issue want to hear your story. Contact me me at film AT circumcisionmovie DOT com with the subject “ethical doctor”. Let me know what worked for you and what didn’t. There are an entire network of parent and activist groups who would love to promote a practice that does this.
One Caveat – You Have To Actually Be Ethical
If you’re going to brand yourself as an ethical doctor, you have to actually be ethical.
This doesn’t mean perfect. I think you could brand yourself this way, and even if you’ve done circumcisions in the past. If someone asks you about that, say “yes, I was following what I was taught. Then I learned new information, and changed my mind. That’s how science works, and that’s how being a good human being works.” You don’t have to know everything, but when you learn something new, update your practice. This branding actually gives you room to grow and evolve as a healer.
That said – don’t brand yourself as the ethical doctor if you do things you know are wrong. Don’t push pills you know have bad side effects. Don’t charge patients for procedures you know they don’t need. Don’t abuse anymore. Be the best person you can be.
Long-Term Financial Gain
I believe doctors who claim circumcision will make them money are only looking at the short-term. Yes, you could collect some cash that day by performing the procedure, but we live in an information age. You can’t keep the truth from people. Your patients will find out if every decision you made was in their best interests or in the interests of your short-term financial gain.
When you make decisions that benefit others at your short-term expense, you build long-term trust. Trust is knowing that someone else will act in your best interests. Clients that trust you will come back to you. They will take your advice. And they definitely won’t leave your practice for some guy who just wants to take their money.
If you want to learn more about the circumcision debate, watch my award-winning feature-length documentary American Circumcision. Watch the film here, because you want to offer the highest standard of care to your patients.
