Oct. 3, 2022

A Nose That Can Hear

In this episode of Podiatry Marketing, Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald, DPM, discuss how being different and unconventional is a successful way to promote your practice and make an outsized impact.

"A nose that can hear is worth two that can smell," is a phrase coined by negotiator Herb Cohen.

Being different—unusual, weird, memoriable—can be more effective than being qualified. Let us tell to you what we mean. When patients consider making an appointment at a clinic, they Google and search the website of potential clinics. Most clinics opt for a generic, "we do everything" approach. But there are a few that either show personality or only try to appeal to a certain patient demographic.

And that’s the thing. Most patients have never seen a targeted podiatry clinic website that speaks directly to them. Patients are used to looking at boring clinic website after boring clinic website. Then your unique and very relevant website pops up. It makes no sense. It’s different. It’s strange. It’s a nose that can hear!


To learn more about how to grow your practice, check out more episodes of Podiatry Marketing at https://podiatry.marketing

Jim McDannald, DPM:

You're listening to podiatry marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

Welcome back to podiatry marketing. I'm your host, Jim McDannald. With me as always is my cohost Tyson Franklin. Tyson, what's going on today?

Tyson E. Franklin:

Good morning, big Jim. It is a fantastic day in Kansas as usual, other side of the world, and I just love technology and how you and I sounds like we're in the same room, which I which I think is great.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

Yeah. You're sounding pretty good today. So it's it's great to have you in my ear. And what are we gonna talk about today? That's definitely a little bit of a a different topic or a different kind of approach to today's show than normal.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Okay. So this particular episode, I'm going to title and I I did a talk recently, like, a couple of months back, and the talk was called A Nose That Can Hear Is Worth Two That Can Smell. It's a it's a yeah. It is strange. And when I've mentioned that phrase to people, and it was a phrase that was coined by a guy by the name of Herb Cullen, who is an author, a renowned author, and he had he's written a couple of negotiation books.

Tyson E. Franklin:

I think he was a professional negotiator with the government and and in business. And I've I've got it written down here what he when I normally ask people, what do you think that means? It's surprising what people say because there's there is really no right or wrong answer. I think in some of these you when you will see a we were watching TV the other night, and it was have you heard the same Bob's your uncle?

Jim McDannald, DPM:

No. That's not that hasn't made it up here yet.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Oh, you haven't heard that? Oh, okay. So there's this phrase called, oh, Bob's your uncle. Last night, it came up on the TV show. And whenever we hear a phrase like that, I'll say to my wife, wonder where that came from.

Tyson E. Franklin:

So we will go and check it out. So Bob's Uncle, it was it was a British thing, like, in 1897 or something like that. And there's a British prime minister called Robert, whatever his name was, and he got his nephew. He made his nephew the minister of something in in Britain. So everybody used to refer to because the prime minister Robert, whatever, shortened was Bob, they used to say to this guy, oh, yeah.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Bob's your uncle. So it was sort of like, if you wanna if you wanna get something done really if something's simple, yeah, Bob's your uncle. There you go. Yeah. There you go.

Tyson E. Franklin:

That's how it all came. So anyway, what this phrase was all about, a nose that can hear is worth two that can smell. Herb Cohen said, it's changing an item into something original or unusual against the norm can be as effective as having two of the original item.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

Interesting. So kind of a do doing maybe that's related to podiatry in some ways where you're changing things up a little bit. Or how how would how would you frame that in a podiatry marketing context?

Tyson E. Franklin:

Well, to give people an example of non podiatry first, it'd be you could have a pocket knife and the other you could compare a pocket knife to a Swiss army knife. So a Swiss army knife has got screwdriver, yeah, bottle top bottle top opener. It has got so many little gadgets, but it still really just fits in your pocket like a pocket knife. Might be a little bit bigger. So that is taking something that was that was normal and just making it a little bit more unusual.

Tyson E. Franklin:

But a Swiss army knife is worth a lot more in the right hands than 10 just normal pocket knives. So that's what the concept is basically looking at is a note. You know, can you give a nose that could smell like that? But imagine your nose figure, and you could also hear from it. That's a very valuable nose than one that can just smell and is and and is deaf.

Tyson E. Franklin:

In podiatry, it's really looking at what is everybody else doing. So in your community, you've got all your different competitors. Now to me, it doesn't matter how many noses are in your in the community. If they're all the same, the patients can't tell the difference. And some people think, oh, I've gotta be big.

Tyson E. Franklin:

You know? Like, if I'm big, people would notice me. But a big nose is no more valuable than a small nose. They do exactly the same thing. So what you have to do is you have what can you do in your business, especially when it comes around with marketing, that you can do different to what everybody else is doing?

Tyson E. Franklin:

And and I gave an example of someone said, you get up a clinic that's got six people in there that can cut toenails very, very well. We get up a clinic down the road and here's two podiatrists who cut toenails very, very well. What's the difference and who cares?

Jim McDannald, DPM:

I like that. That's really interesting. It's making me think about websites. Think the way certain podiatrists approach websites or the way people build websites, know, we're just gonna throw all this information about who the doctor is, every diagnosis, every treatment, and just put that up on a website and then patients will roll in, right? Yeah.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

But it's kind of like you're talking about those notes like the website isn't just about the information, it's about a way to interact with a clinic, whether it's you know make an appointment button, you know photos that show that expertise, those symbols of trust, maybe the local maybe the state or the national organization someone's a part of. But when you make your website a little bit different, more tailored to what you're doing, and just a little bit different from the norm, you set yourself apart and give yourself an opportunity to do more than just, like, broadcast at people that I am a podiatrist and I do ingrown toenails. Not that that stuff isn't important, but if you're just like everybody else, you're not gonna stand out.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Yeah. And I've gone on to people's websites, and I'll jokingly say them, go, so your website went live on the April 15, yeah, '2 thousand '19. And I went, yeah. How'd you know that? I said, because when I looked at it, there were four blog articles that came out that particular day.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Then a month later, there was another one. Then a month after that, there was one, and there hasn't been anything there for two and a half years. And then we're like, oh, yeah. So a lot of people, they'll do the the website with minimal amount of information because they just had to put something in. They'll throw it up there, and they wonder why the new person that comes into town kicks their butt, especially if they're really, really active on social media or just active in the community.

Tyson E. Franklin:

So always say it's not the it's not the big that eat the small, it's the fast that eat the slow. And and one of the I think one of the biggest problems with podiatry is what we call the gatekeepers, and they are a group of people between 45 to 65 who've been in the profession long enough to be stale and boring and don't want things to change. So if you're 45 or 65 and you're not boring, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to all the other boring ones, but they do. They're they're the people that are on all the boards.

Tyson E. Franklin:

They're the ones that are on all the associations. They're the ones that, a lot of times, put the association conferences together, and they are like a bottleneck and roadblock to things changing. You got these younger people coming through. They're the future of podiatry, and they're the ones that are doing things different. So if you're sitting there at the moment looking at these younger people coming through, embrace what they're doing and start making those changes as well.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Become a nose that can actually hear. Don't just be a nose.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

I think that's huge. I think the obviously, the younger generation has different forms and preferences when it comes to communication, Whether that's text messaging, utilizing bots or filling out an online form as opposed to making a phone call. Yeah. I think depending on what local area you are, who the patients you want to treat are, and where those opportunities are, you have to craft your message and craft your way of practicing and the communication you have to the needs of those people. And like we talked about previously right maybe you service an older population and maybe they still read the newspaper.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

Maybe they still look at magazines. Maybe they're still doing that. So just having some knowledge about who it is in your local area that you wanna treat and making sure that you're servicing them and being receptive to finding ways to be a little bit different than just everybody else locally.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Yeah. And when I said before about, you know, six people cutting toenails compared to two, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with doing general or routine podiatry care. But if people are looking at your businesses and you both look the same, they're just gonna go to the closest because you must all be the same. So you even if you're just doing routine podiatry care, you've still gotta do something that is going to make you stand out from the rest. When I'm talking about fast, you know, like the fast eating the slow, it's looking at new technology.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Yeah. It could be looking at different treatment modalities or services or even products that you supply to your patients, And a lot of podiatry clinics will do that. But and this is why, like, shoe companies like Nike might make a shoe that is fantastic, and everybody loves it. No matter how good that shoe is, it's not gonna be the same shoe in six months' time. They will change the color.

Tyson E. Franklin:

They'll move it move the tick somewhere. They'll do something to make that shoe look slightly different because people like novelty. They like change. I don't. Like, I do, but I don't, if it makes any sense.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Like, I think a male thing is, look, we have if we get a t shirt that we love, we'll wear it until it falls off our body. But in general, in life, people need novelty. They need to see change. They need to see things that are new and interesting. So and it may be the the idea is even with how you communicate with your professional referrals, with your patients, with the media.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Are you are you doing it in a fast way? Have you brought technology into your business that is different to what everybody else in your area is doing?

Jim McDannald, DPM:

I think that's really important. There's there's kind of different new technologies available out there. I know that's like like Swift for warts has been a big one recently that Yeah. A lot of clinics have taken on. And I think what I even when you have that device I think it's really important how you position that device in front of potential patients or prospective patients.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

I think it's one thing to you know flash it on the home screen on a slideshow showing that you have this like metal box with the with it on there. But it's really about those case studies. You know, if if you're living in an area where you can provide someone can provide testimonials that really highlight differentiators, you know, like it's like you said, right? Like you're just the same, you're providing the same care, the same service as the clinic that's closer to where the patient's at, then you're you're not gonna get their their business or they they won't, you know, go the extra mile to to seek your care. But if you're really connecting with even though it's not just novelty but you know a technology that does provide significant benefits over previous forms of treatment whether that's recovery time, less pain, more convenient you know people are always looking for ways to save time and have less pain right.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

So if you can really highlight those things and have not only you projecting that out there or marketing it but having patients who've had success or have enjoyed the type of care you provided. I think that's the thing I find a lot is that not enough podiatry clinics utilize testimonials and like I said it's not available to everyone. In The US you can do that I know sometimes in places like Australia and other places, can't just solicit Yeah.

Tyson E. Franklin:

UK, you can. Australia, you can't.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

Yes. But I think that that's a huge opportunity. There's other examples like that, like with reviews and other things that really will when you have that patient voice or that customer voice, it just speaks so much more loud more loudly than you just shilling yourself. But I think when those keywords are in Google reviews or it's out there and it's they're very specific and they're not just like great doc. It's like they have a pair they have a paragraph someone's gonna look at your Google reviews or somebody else and you have that differentiating fact it can be a huge opportunity for practice.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Going back to what you said about equipment, it's if you're introducing a swift machine or whatever piece of equipment is different to what other people in the community are are used to, all the other noses so you're you're now you've brought in some equipment, and your nose has now grown an ear. You're different. You you're gonna stand out. It's have a game plan in place before that piece of equipment even arrives. I've seen people spend $20.30, $4,050,000 dollars on a piece of equipment.

Tyson E. Franklin:

It arrives at the clinic. They look at it, and they go, now what? And I'm thinking, you should have, before you even ordered that, sat down and and mapped out like a sixty day game game plan leading up to it, have it all in place. Because this is what I used to do when I bought a laser for fungal nails. I put a game plan in place.

Tyson E. Franklin:

The day that equipment hit, we had about 25 patients already lined up, booked in, ready to go. We had doctors referring patients to us. This is all part of our plan. The laser cost us $30 at the time, and I paid it off in ninety days. And and it was only because I thought about it before ordering it.

Tyson E. Franklin:

When I put the order in, I put a game plan in place. This is all part of marketing. This is what younger podiatrists, I think, are doing compared to some of the older ones who think, oh, I need to get a swift machine now. But no thoughts going into well, one, do your patients want it? Do they need it?

Tyson E. Franklin:

And then if you are gonna get it, have you got a game plan in place?

Jim McDannald, DPM:

I think you said like that foresight and that planning before you jump in and do some of these things. And then after the fact just making sure you're you're selling the benefits or you're promoting the benefits of whatever you have and not necessarily like the metal box because like I I kind of laugh. I mean, maybe some clinics or some marketing folks that are doing marketing for clinics, like, don't realize that like a sliding image of a metal box, like, on a home page is not really like gonna draw people in to find out more. It's it is those clinical benefits or those lifestyle benefits of some of those different pieces of those equipment that really make make a difference.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Yeah. Well, the biggest tip I can give anybody, if you're bringing in a piece of equipment that is nobody else in your community has before it arrives, like I said, create a game plan, but part of the game plan should be the day it arrives and also know exactly where you're putting it in your business. Is it going to be a room that's a a multiuse room? So you yeah. Everyone's going over the top of each other to try and use that piece of equipment, or is it gonna be set up in in one particular room that everybody has access to it?

Tyson E. Franklin:

But once it's set up and it's looking great is contact your local media outlets. Because if you've got a piece of equipment, say, especially Swift that nobody in your area has, it's unique. It's newsworthy. And this is the type of stuff the type of information that TV, radio, newspaper, that's all old school, but that's the sort of information that they want. And when they do that, it always ends up online anyway.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

Yeah. When it ends up online, the videos or the written articles, and they link back to your website and link back to you, that can be a huge boost for your own website to gain more visibility in Google search. So those are kind of what we call like link building opportunities. And maybe that's a subject for another No. Show in the future.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

I don't if we've touched on link building enough, but but yeah. That that's a great point you made there.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Yeah. But I do think what you said earlier on about making sure the website's a good website, this is part of your game plan. I've seen people that will, you know, open up a podiatry business, and then they think about the website afterwards, and they think about their marketing afterwards. And it's even say business coaching. Somebody said to me recently, I I I will get a business coach.

Tyson E. Franklin:

When my business is making more money, I'll get a business coach. And to me, it's like, you know what? I'm gonna lose weight before I go to the gym. Yeah. I'm going I'll take up running when when I'm skinny.

Tyson E. Franklin:

It's sort of it the idea is nothing will ever be perfect. And if you if you keep putting things off, whether it's working on your website, I'll do it once my business is set up. I'll get a business coach once I'm making money. And you'll make money once you actually get your website done and you actually have a business coach. It's it's crazy.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

It's like that eighties song. I'm not sure if you're aware of it. It's one thing leads to another. I might be dating myself,

Tyson E. Franklin:

but One thing leads to another. Give sing us a sing us a verse.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

One thing leads to another. It's like, you know, you can't you know, like you said, you can't have it and

Tyson E. Franklin:

Well, probably hear that song and I'll go, Jim has sounded nothing like that. I'm I'm

Jim McDannald, DPM:

a professional singer, but it's in my head. Something you said there just triggered that song so that I would share with with the audience there. One topic I wanted to brief briefly bring about this differentiating fact that I think we've talked about briefly in the past, but something I see occasionally with clinics is that, you know, you have a great take on branding. You know, like, whether it's the the Polo T shirts that you wear, the the clinic branding, you know, the the signage, the things that are in the clinic. I think that's that's an area I find a lot of people that they don't allow themselves to be differentiated because maybe they had a rebrand five years ago or ten years ago, and they still have, like you can tell they had about three rebrands because they have three different logos and nothing is consistent.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

And that's a huge red flag, I think, to a lot of potential patients or even just other medical providers. If you don't look, it doesn't help you build a professional image. By having a consistent brain, it does kind of differentiate you and makes you recognizable in a way that as as medical professionals, we may always realize, but when you have a private practice where you want visibility, it has to be consistent.

Tyson E. Franklin:

It has to be and across the board, and and I think you've got to once you once you embrace whatever your brand is going to be, someone I was talking to recently as well, and they're about to open up a new clinic soon. And I said, oh, how long? And they said, oh, about three months time, it'll be open. I said, do you have uniforms yet? And they said, no.

Tyson E. Franklin:

I said, well, as soon as you and I said they said, oh, we're still working on a a logo. We're talking to this person about signage, this person about logos. I said, go and see yeah. Talk to my friend Leticia. I said, Leticia does all my graphic art.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Yeah. It does all my graphics. I said, have a talk to Leticia, and she will help you, yeah, come up with your concept and put this all together for you that you will then use everywhere. I said, then get your shirts done. I said, and then wear those shirts seven days a week for the next three months.

Tyson E. Franklin:

Everywhere you go, just wear your business shirt. That's because that will spark conversations, which is definitely gonna help you build yeah. When you open your doors, you will already have bookings. It won't be something that everyone goes, oh, who are you? So it's yeah.

Tyson E. Franklin:

I don't know. It's a lot of this stuff sounds really simple. There's probably people that may listen and go, well, yeah, I do have a business shirt. But do you wear it seven days a week when you're opening up your practice? I used to.

Tyson E. Franklin:

When I opened up a clinic in Cairns and had my, you know, ProArch podiatry shirt on, I wore it seven days a week. Didn't matter where I went, I had the shirt on. Committed. That is commitment. Well, the thing I used to look at it, if I was going down to the hardware store on a Sunday and I had my podiatry shirt on, it wasn't that it it was a like, it looked like it was a work shirt.

Tyson E. Franklin:

It was a polo shirt that I used to wear. I could wear the same polo shirt that had a Nike tick on it. That wouldn't spark a conversation. People don't look at my shirt and go, oh, nice Nike tick. Do you work for Nike?

Tyson E. Franklin:

But you got ProArch podiatry on there and people go, oh, are you a podiatrist? Yes. I am. My feet get sore when I'm standing up all day. So it was just a conversation starter.

Tyson E. Franklin:

And then once my business got busy, then I only wore it six days a week. There you go. There you go. That's all I have to say. There's a lot I could talk about on the subject about a nose that can hear is worth two that can smell.

Tyson E. Franklin:

So everybody needs to become or their business needs to become not just a nose, but a nose that can actually hear.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

I like it. I like it. I like the the theme of today's conversations.

Tyson E. Franklin:

It's a little bit different, but Jim, you and I are a little bit different, which is why people like to work with us. We're not boring. We don't have you I've never seen you in a tie, and you probably won't not see me in a tie very often either. We're not we're not the I always say, I'm definitely not the 30, you know, with the well groomed, awesome looking beard, the sports jacket tie, acting really slick, telling you how you're gonna do stuff. I'm just I'm just me.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

Yeah. I'm just a podiatrist now that helps my my colleagues with all this stuff. So, yeah, no no dog and pony shit with

Tyson E. Franklin:

me whatsoever. Okay, Jim. I look forward to talking to you next week.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

Sounds great, Tyson. Bye now. Okay. See you. Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDaniel.

Jim McDannald, DPM:

Subscribe and learn more at Podiatry Marketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.