5 Tips for Small Podiatry Clinics to Look Bigger from Day One

You're listening to Podiatry Marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald. Welcome back to Podiatry Marketing. I'm your host, Jim McDannald. Join us always my trusted co host, Tyson Franklin. Franklin.

Tyson, how's it going today?

Fantastic. Big Jim, good to be here. Another another podiatry topic to blow everybody's mind.

That's we're in the business of. We're in the business of blowing people's minds,

It is amazing. Like 200 and something episodes, and we can still come up with topics that not not only that I think the people listening to the podcast find interesting, but we actually find interesting putting the show notes together to actually do it. It's endless.

Absolutely. I'm I'm excited to to jump into today's topic and but yeah. Just it's been well over 200, but we just keep on going.

Okay. Well, I'm gonna dive straight in so people don't have to get weather reports or anything like that from us. But in case you're wondering, no, I won't. I'll just dive straight. So today's topic is five tips for small podiatry clinics to look bigger from day one.

Now if you've already got an existing podiatry clinic, you've been around for a while, but it's pretty dodgy looking, or still looks small, this is going to help you. And the reason this came up on a recent trip when I went to the Gold Coast, my mother went to a podiatry clinic. Oh, she actually, we'll go back a bit. My mother was referred to see a podiatrist because I live 1,800 kilometers away. And I said, mom, I hate to go with podiatrist.

She goes, well, I walked in there, saw the place, and I just walked out. I said, do mean? She goes, I walked there, there was no reception. It was small, it was pokey, you know, different colored chairs. I could see in the room and all there was was a a bench there, some of it had instruments.

There was no tool, no tech. Nothing about it, she said, looked appealing. It looked like it had just been slapped together. Then the podiatrist sort of came out, and she said she just looked at me and went, no, I don't think so. And she walked out.

And I went, okay. So then I I shot a video about it. I posted it on Facebook for people to to have a listen to because I I think there's there's things that even a small solo practice can do to make themselves look bigger and better than they are without pretending. You're not you don't have to spend a lot of money to do this, but you're also you're not lying or or pretending that you're something that you're not. You just a few simple things can just portray yourself as being bigger than what you actually are.

Or you're not saying it. You're just letting the patient's perception is everything.

Absolutely. I think you like we talked about it before, you know, not only is there like online obviously, a trust getting trust is kind of the currency when it comes to, you know, working with patients, whether it be online or offline. People have to feel like that you are that professional, that you are that local expert. So I'm I'm excited to jump in today because I'm I'm curious to hear what you think those those five ways that they can look more professional and kind of put out that positive image for our patients or prospective patients to kind of, you know, be attracted to the to their practice.

Yeah. Well, I could have gone 15, but I've gone five. It's I tell you, there's a lot of things, but I think these are the

It'd be a marathon.

These are the five yeah. Know. It'll also be a four hour podcast episode. So the first one is look like a system, not a solo act. So big clinics, they usually feel organized, where small clinics, they will sometimes wear it like a badge and we're oh, we're we're very personalized.

We give that personal touch. But sometimes, when patients are coming in for the first time, they like systems. They like things to actually seem really organized. And it's just something as simple as consistent uniforms and color palettes for your clinics. Everything matches.

I have looked at a lot of podiatry clinics over the years. Whenever I'm in a town, I usually will hunt down podiatry clinics and go and, you know, peek through the window whether they're open or closed. And sometimes you'll see these chairs there, but the color of the chairs don't match anything else that's in the clinic. The reception desk is one of those ones that's been purchased from, you know, one of those retailers and just slid into this looks like the best position to have a reception counter. Nothing matches.

There's pictures of Yep. Sailing ships on the wall. Why? I do not know. And the next photo might be a painting of flowers in a pot.

Why? And all they've done is really just slapped things together because this is what they had available. And then they come walking out, and the receptionist if they have a receptionist, they might be wearing one thing. The podiatrist is just wearing just a a normal shirt with no logo or anything on there. There's nothing uniform about it.

Patients notice this. Straight away, they can see that and go, wow. This is a small rinky dink operation, which is what my mom said. Rinky dink operation. Second thing is bigger businesses, the staff usually have roles.

They just don't have names. Oh, this is this is Mandy or this is Mary. They usually have this is this might be Mandy, the practice manager or the senior receptionist. They actually have roles that they they play. And when they're talking to different people, whether they're talking to Podos or talking about their team, it's not just talking about I.

I will do this or I will do that or I will get this sent to you. It's we will get this sent to you. They're always they're talking about about many. So simple upgrades that podiatrists can do straight away is making sure if they're wearing polo shirts or scrubs, make sure they all match. Make sure they got a logo on there.

If they have it, if an email is going out from the the clinic, if it's going out from the front receptionist, make sure it's got the receptionist name and then what their title is underneath. It's not really hard. Give them a title. Just make one up. A title is better than just coming from Mary.

And on your website is have a meet the team page. Even if there's only three people that's in the business, is make sure there's some information about each of those team members because patients trust systems. And because they trust systems, they also trust some of those other things that I've actually spoken about.

Oh, that's a great point. I think you really need to make put that stuff upfront and visible to people because, you know, if if they don't have that and there's not the consistency either online or in the clinic, like you said, like, the confused mind is gonna like just it says no. Right? So It does. Like and when you see different colors, different logos, it's Pam, instead of Pam, the medical assistant, or, you know, it's it's it's I, and it's it's it feels very informal.

Like, people have been to enough doctor's appointments or to enough hospitals, and you can have a little bit more personnel. You have to be cold and sterile, but you have to have a level of consistency and professionalism both on your online and offline channels to make sure that you do have an opportunity to build that trust.

Yeah. And I always think it's easy. If you equate what we do to any other business or other things that we just experience ourselves outside of podiatry, you could go to like, I I love Asian food, especially Thai food. Really like it. You can go into some Thai restaurant, and they got plastic chairs that don't match.

It's an old looking floor with funny colored tiles, ding you know, Thai things dangling from the ceiling. And you can see it's really rinky dink. Doesn't mean the food doesn't taste fantastic. Sometimes, it does taste great, which is why you keep going back. But if you had two restaurants right next door to each other or across the road from each other, one was looked extremely professional, and the other one was a bit rinky dink, and they were charging the same, and the food quality was the same, and you had friends and you're gonna go for dinner, which one would you go to?

Nicer one.

Yeah. If a friend said to you, hey. I I love Thai food. Can you recommend a restaurant? Which one would you recommend it to?

Everything being equal other than how they look. You would send her to the better looking one. The patients are doing exactly the same thing with with your clinic.

That's a great point. Yeah. You have to keep it at that level that that that's gonna build that trust for sure.

So the second thing is you need to control the first thirty seconds. When people arrive in your clinic and the first few things that actually come out of your mouth are really, really important. So big clinics, usually, they feel confident before anything clinical ever happens. Small clinics, and this is I know this happens they will often start with apologies, explanations, awkward pauses, because if if they're running a bit behind, they're, oh, I'm their voice just seemed a little bit hesitant. And I know this because it's not just podiatry.

I've gone to physio clinics that have been not the most professional. I've been in massage places that aren't the most professional. Legit massage. I'm not talking anything dodgy. If And people are watching the just listening to the audio, Jim was, like, giving me a really weird look, so I thought I'd better explain that.

So those first those first thirty seconds are the most important. And what professional clinics do better, patients usually, when they walk in, they know exactly where they're supposed to stand. They know exactly where they're supposed to sit. They know where they're supposed to go to next. It's usually very clear on what's to happen.

They're greeted usually the same way. The person at the front counter, no matter who's at the front counter, we'll only greet them and gather the same information. And no one looks surprised when they arrive. You're all gonna hello, Tyson. How are doing?

Come on in. It seems pretty clear. And simple ways to upgrade this instantly in your podiatry clinic, if you're very small and you will look like one of the bigger guys, just have a small sign that says welcome. Please take a seat. We'll be with you shortly.

At least when people walk in, straight away, they know what they're supposed to do. They don't have to get to the counter and and wonder and, yeah, if somebody might be out the back and there's nobody at the front counter, that sign will let them know. Grab a seat. We'll be with you shortly. And also, when your receptionist is at the front, is have a consistent greeting.

You want everybody, no matter who's at the front, to just greet your patients when they arrive exactly the same way. And never, do not ever say sorry, and then make up some crappy excuse afterwards. Patients don't care about excuses. They they just want professionalism. So here here's two openings that you could compare and you see if you hear the difference, Jim.

Hi. Sorry. We're running a bit behind. The patient's really kept, like, okay. You're running behind.

Just well, I don't think anyone should ever run behind, but that's just me. Yep. Systems in place to stop that. Or you can say, hi, Tyson. Welcome.

We've got you checked in. Please take a seat. Now if I have to sit there for five or ten minutes, most people just expect that. But to be greeted, I'm sorry, but we're we're running a bit behind, is not really the best greeting. What are your thoughts on that, Jim?

Yeah. I think you're you're kinda setting yourself up for a negative experience if you you kind of talk to a patient that way. Right? Apologizing. You're already kinda like, you know, like you said, the patients have a certain expectation as long as they're not gonna be waiting there for, you know, twenty or thirty minutes in your waiting room or the maybe at that point in time, they would need the explanation.

But you just want to show that you're confident not only like in the care you provide, but you're confident about the patient experience and that confidence will transfer over to the patient itself. Right? So, you know, when you when you kind of come out of the gates like kind of apologizing, it's it's it's a bit of a sign of weakness and like kind of unprofessionalism like you said. So I think it it is important to show that you're like, you're a clinic that's done this, you're an experienced clinic, and then you can have kinda give them the path to walk down with you, and they're gonna be willing to do that when you're when you show that level of confidence.

And especially if, like, if you're a solo practitioner and you do not have a receptionist, I would much rather if I was going to business, have that person walk out and go, hey. Hi, Tyson. How are doing? Just take a seat. I'll be with you shortly.

It sounds like a fair thing. I'll go take a seat. They're gonna be with me shortly. But if they came and said, sorry. I'm running about five or ten minutes late.

I'm I'm like, okay. I hope people understand the difference of what we're saying here. It's not that you can't run late. It's not that you shouldn't be apologizing, but it's it's when you do it. So I I went to a doctor's surgery the other day.

They always run late. My doctor. She's a great doctor, but I don't mind that she runs late. I walked in, very professional setup, walked in. Hey, Tyson.

How are doing? Just grab your seat, yeah, over to the left, and, yeah, doctor Sacha will be with you shortly. Not a problem. I took it. Now, I know she wasn't gonna be with me shortly, that's why I brought a book.

So I brought a book, which I was looking forward to reading. I'm I'm into the book. And probably about ten minutes later, they came and said, oh, Titus, just apologized. She's running a little bit behind today. And there was a coffee shop next door.

They said, you wanna go and grab a coffee, you have plenty of time to go and do that and come back in. No, I didn't. I was reading my book. And I said to him, this is why I brought my book, and you should be running behind. But I still feel that whole way they did it was very professional.

Instead of just walking in and telling me, oh, I'm sorry, thing is running late. I think it can be dumb dumb better.

No. I I agree with you. It's it's having that confidence in in in kinda giving the patient the next step as opposed to just like an apology off the bat.

Yeah. And why this makes clinics feel bigger is large organizations, they expect people to arrive. And they control the flow, and they don't explain themselves. They know ahead of time who's walking through that front door, and and usually, it's going to be the patient who's due next. Small clinics often react, they over apologize, and they over explain stuff unnecessarily.

They don't need to tell them exactly why you're running behind. It's just and and the more you talk, the more it can make the person feel uncomfortable. So patients don't want friendliness when they first walk in. They just wanna know certainty. They'll know they come in, they've never met you before, don't be over the top friendly.

Just give them certainty, and then the friendly side of you can basically come next. So that's just the tip. Certainly first, friendliness second.

That's a good approach. Where do we go next from here?

So the third thing is about borrowing credibility, but I think we have spoken about this before in a previous episode. Established clinics, the ones I've been around for a while, they've usually grown through association by relating themselves with other businesses, other referral partners, different organizations. So ways to look bigger fast is to mention referral partners that you have. If there's big GP clinics that you actually work with or large physios or bigger clubs, there's no problems with that being mentioned at different times. Show logos of organizations that you might work with.

So it could be sporting organizations, it might be a charity that you've done work with, it might be a disability service, or a veteran service. If you work with these big organizations, make sure people are aware that you actually work with them. And if you have if you've had some, say, famous players or famous sports people in your clinic, if you can get testimonials from them and display them now we know in Australia, we can't do this. So this is for the rest of the world. Not Australia.

We can't use testimonials. But if you can use testimonials and I had someone on the Podiatry Legends podcast not too long ago. They had a famous soccer player did a video testimonial for him. One of the best videos I've ever seen, and I did say to them, this was done professionally, and they went, yes. It was it was so good.

But they've used that. They could've been a one man band, but having that person and that video, if you were a soccer player at the time, you would definitely be going in there. So for podiatrists, you you could easily say, yeah, you're the podiatrist for, and you could mention places, or proudly supporting certain clubs or or different organizations. Straight away, can list logos of teams or organizations that you work with, but just the ones that matter. If you're the member of such and such marbles club, you know, maybe that doesn't need to need to be on there.

But ones that you know will make you will give you the impact. The patient that could be going to your website or some other area, when they see that straight away, they go, well, they wouldn't work with just anybody. So therefore, that is gonna be so you're you're what you're doing is your the general rule is if patients trust them and they and you can borrow the trust from those people, then it's gonna put you in a better light.

That's a great point. Whenever I'm building a website for for people, you know, it's a little bit different than what you're talking about. But, you know, if people are part of associations or have certain certifications like board certification for surgery or for medicine or for, you know, biomechanics, if you can have those badges of trust on places on your both on your online presence and your in your offline real world, it's gonna make people feel more at ease. Right? They're gonna see you that, oh, you're board certified.

You know, these types of things do matter to people as far as, you know, trusting you and kind of building that reputation in the way that is some some sometimes visual and more emotional than it is like a real thing. Obviously, in in reality, they probably don't care about, but that seal of approval or that testimonial from a famous athlete can go a long way to to kind of borrowing some of that trust.

I have a question that I actually don't know the answer, but are you allowed to work in America as a podiatrist if you're not board certified?

Yeah. You can be board qualified and still do surgery and things. You know? You don't necessarily have to be board board certified. At least when I was in practice, that was

Yeah.

You know, a while ago. But and there's a certain amount of time when people are, you know, getting enough cases in order to to go into their boards at both kind of in forefoot and rearfoot surgery in The US.

Okay. Just it was just a side question in case people were wondering. I hear the term all the time board certified, and I see that on websites, board certified and yeah. Anyway, so the fourth thing is design the experience, not just the room. So let's just think about your consultation room or the reception room, is think about the overall experience that the patient is gonna receive when they go through it.

So large clinics do this well. And one of the other advantages with large clinics like, I know when I had my first clinic, it was a little bit rinky dink. It was a bit small. But as time went on, as we became a large clinic, one of the main things we did was we really focused on patient flow. When a patient walked through that front door to go into the reception, to work in the way through the room, to other services in the clinic, and then leaving again, it was all very well thought out.

Going back before about colors and all that type of thing, we had professionals come in to help us do this. So you have to think okay. You may not have the money to have a professional person help you do this, but you really gotta think about the patient experience from the time they walk in to the time they walk out. Big clinics, they're usually quiet. It's usually predictable.

It's reassuring to the patient when they walk in. Smaller clinics are often busy. They're apologetic. They're sometimes scrambling from one room to another room and zipping across from different places, or if there is a couple of podiots, they're to share a room and they're waiting for the next person to get out before the next person can come in, they're crossing paths. It just looks a little bit disorganized, which is what you don't want.

I think you brought it up in a previous podcast you know it's from the time they you know show up in your parking lot until the time they leave to go back to their car you know it's one of those things where it's really really important to understand that patient journey inside your clinic because you know you might have a general sense of what it's like you you come in through the back door you know you have a general sense of maybe how people are flowing through your clinic but until you really spend some time about how your staff is interacting in that space with the patient, those things are really, really important. So getting a handle on them and understanding them are something that really people need to spend time on and kind of plan, either by themselves or with an expert.

Yeah. So some of the low cost things that people could do straight away is make sure there's clear signage and directions wherever wherever you want people to go. Make sure there's no clutter behind the reception desk. You're walking to some of these smaller clinics, and you look behind the reception, and the reception got crap everywhere. And you just look at it, and you sort of go it it looks disorganized.

It does not instill confidence in the person. And then, like I said, work on having a a welcome script that every time the patient arrives or whenever they're answering their telephone is make sure there's a script that they're following, and they're following it and they're doing it the way that you want it done, not how they want it done. And the thing with big big clinics have a certain energy. They never feel rushed. Nothing feels accidental.

Everything seems planned out. Look at what they do and just copy it. That's the easiest easiest way of doing it, even though you're doing it on a on a smaller scale.

I think it's a great point. There's definitely things you can take away from those bigger clinics to to make it feel more familiar for the patients so that trust can begin and and grow throughout their visit.

And number five, and you're gonna love this one, Jim, is because this is what you harp on about all the time, and harp when I say harp, I mean that in a good way. Sound confident I do. Confident online before they ever meet you. Your website and your Google profile are your biggest rooms. Before anyone's ever came in come in and see you, you gotta you gotta look established.

You gotta look like you you know what you're doing. One clear core message, not the Gatty website, and there's a million different things on there which looks really confusing. What is it that you wanna do more of? What's the most important thing to you if if you're only ever gonna see one patient time and time again? What is the main thing you'd like to see?

Make sure that that's the core message on your website. Have photos that show people, not just empty rooms. Because I've seen some clinics, but there are some fantastic photos. Not a single person in there. Reception counter, no one behind it.

Reception area, no one there. Consultation room, no one in it. It's just it's like a ghost town. I just keep waiting for this tumbleweed to go

Right.

Across the across the page. And they have educational content that teaches people. It's not just about trying to sell certain things. And most important, explain it's really easy to just explain problems better than how your competitors are doing it. You might have someone who's got a big clinic, but if they're not thinking about the website, they're not looking at the Google business page, they're not continually trying to educate the patients and explain problems better, then that is a real advantage you have.

And if patients think people don't under if if a patient can think that they look out of your website or they're looking at your Google profile, and they go, I I really think this patient understands the problem that I have, you've already won them. 100%. They're they're yours.

Great point. Like I talked about, you know, your Google Business profile and your website are just that extension of your clinic into the online world. And, you know, that's where you can build trust or you can lose trust right away. So it's one of these things where you wanna make sure that that kind of handoff between the online world and your rural clinic has is is something that makes sense and that it's it's not a jolt. Right?

It's like, okay. I had a great online experience, and it's gonna be great in clinic experience. And like you said, when people see themselves on your website, you know, you can write, you know, walls of text, but people are gonna look you know, we are us humans, we look at things, and we make judgments, we make you know, we get information from from photos and imagery. And if there's a patient, you know, in a chair or an athlete that's being treated by a doctor that is one of the doctors in the practice, that means so much more than, wow, you went to the best residency and you had this amazing training and all that kind of stuff back on your bio page, which is like, you know, three clicks away. Your home page has to speak to your ideal patient in ways that that they feel first, and obviously, they're gonna do some exploring, but it has to connect with them in a visual way.

Because like you said, like, otherwise, if it's like every other website, it's just a bunch of mismatch of, like, you know, clip art and, you know, stock images that doesn't connect with them, they're gonna go somewhere else, or they're not gonna be teed up for the great kind of care you can provide. They're gonna have low expectations coming in. So you wanna make sure that you can deliver great care by the kind of the way you're presenting yourself and building trust with the patient.

Yeah. I remember going to someone's website once, and I actually asked them the question. I said, is routine for care the number one thing that you wanna attract in your business? And their answer was, yes. It is.

So I went, okay. That's good.

Okay.

I said, you had a photo of someone getting their toenails clipped, bang, front and center as soon as you went to it. I said, do you sterilize your instruments by any chance? Do you clean them at at all? And they were, yeah. Well, of course, I do.

I said, the pair of clippers in your photo look like they've been dragged behind your car for about 10 kilometers. They were scratched. They were beaten up. It had it was like a spring thing. Some of the springs looked a little bit rusty.

These instruments looked old. I went, I don't have a problem with that photo if that's what you want more of. I said, but at least go and buy a brand new pair of clippers and go and redo that photo. I said, because that will then when people look at it, they go, wow. Those instruments look like a million bucks.

They look like they really look at they look after their instruments that well, how well are gonna look after my feet? Whereas they said, that pair of clippings you got on there, I wouldn't let you cut my dog's toenails with them.

Tetanus waiting to happen.

Oh, they they just look dreadful. And what was funny, there was just a photo they took and they get, they never thought about it. They didn't look at it at that much detail. So So anyway, so just to revise the top five things that you need to do if you're a small clinic and you wanna look a little bit bigger than what you are. First one is look like you're following a system, not a solo act and just making things up as you go.

Control the first thirty seconds. Clarity comes before the the friendship. Third thing is borrow credibility from wherever you can get it. Other people have got credibility. People trust them.

You wanna borrow borrow that trust. Fourth thing is design the patient experience, not just the room. So it's great to have the room, but make sure everything flows and it is very well organized. And the last thing we just spoke about is sound confident online before they ever meet you. And I've made tons of decisions based on what I've seen online from business before I've ever gotten in there.

And I'd say 90% of the times, nine out of 10, they've always lived up to that online experience. Rarely do I see someone that's awesome online that they ever let me down.

There's a there's a lot of good points there. I think, like you said, it's just a matter of taking it one step at a time. I think these five lessons are gonna be really helpful for people that are maybe in the in the small clinic now, and they're they're hoping to build and, you know, gain that level of professionalism within the community and be seen as that go to expert. So I think it's a great topic today, Tyson.

No. I enjoyed this one. Okay. So I thank my mom for prompting this one. And I'll

thank your mom as well.

Okay, Big Jim. I look forward to talking to next week.

Sounds great, Tyson.

Okay. See you.

Bye. Bye now. Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDaniel. Subscribe and learn more at Podiatry Marketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.