Does Your Clinic Look Closed When It’s Open?

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 joined as always by my trusty cohost, Tyson Franklin. Tyson, how's it going today?

Fantastic. Hey, big Jim. Good to see you again. We've we've had... We had a couple of weeks off where we haven't spoken to each other because I was traveling.

And so so if people are wondering, yes, we do bank a few episodes up. And so it's been a couple of weeks, but I think we're we're pushing all the right buttons. We've got everything hooked up the right way, and it's all working, which is great. It's good to be home.

Yeah. And and we're both in one piece. You had your big trip back to The US that you go to every year. Hopefully, it was a successful and a fun trip at... From social media, looks like it was.

It was. It was great. Yeah. I went to Arizona for business black ops as I normally do, and then went up to Toronto. Well, didn't get into Toronto itself.

I went to Missus Argua area outside of... I probably said that completely wrong. When they say it, it just sounds really nice. When I say it, I sound like I can't speak English.

If if I didn't live in Canada, I probably wouldn't be able to say Mississauga, but

it is Mississauga. Mississauga, is it? Yeah. Mississauga. Because I shot a video and I said I was in Toronto.

And then when I asked where I was, it said, no. You're in miss... Mississauga. Is it? I apologize to all all their Canadian listeners that I'm butchering that up.

But I had a great trip, learnt heaps. And one of the things I'm gonna talk about today is what I picked up when I was in Arizona. The topic is... What I'm gonna mention today is does your clinic look closed when it's actually open?

Sounds good. I'm I'm excited to to listen to this one.

Okay. So how how this all came about? When I first got to Arizona, I checked into my hotel. And from my hotel window, I look across the car park. I don't know if you've been to Arizona, but it always looks empty.

These massive car parks with the whole, like, 250 cars and there's, like, five cars there. It looks like it's a ghost town. Every time I've been there, it's always the same. And it's because because of the heat, people just stay out of the sun. I'm in my hotel room.

I'm on the 6th Floor looking across, and I can see this business there called the lunch lounge. And I'm going, is that open or is it not open? I couldn't tell because there's a massive car park, couple of cars there, but I I couldn't tell from the outside. And I was getting towards the lunch and I'm thinking, do I just eat at the hotel or do I go across to this cafe? And I'm I'm thinking, is it open or is it open?

So I went to Google Business profile, typed in there, and it said that it was actually open. I went, okay. Well, I'll take a punt. I'll go down there. Even though they've chairs outside, there's no one sitting there.

It looks dead. So I walk across. And as I get closer and closer, it's got really dark tinted windows. Can't see in. I go to the doorway.

There's no hours or anything on the door. On the side, it said open from seven till two. So this is about maybe 01:00. And I'm thinking, still doesn't look open. I opened up the door and the place is packed.

Where these people came from, I have no idea, but the the place was was buzzing in there with people. So I ordered the Albuquerque turkey sandwich, and it was absolutely amazing. The staff were... Go put it. The food was amazing, but there was no hello when you come in.

There was just... Yeah. It wasn't very inviting, but obviously, people keep going back here because the food was so amazing. So it got me thinking that a lot of podiatry clinics create that... Can sometimes create that same uncertainty where from the outside, they have so much stuff on the windows or they have tinted windows and dark doorways that you just wonder, is that open or not?

And I always say a confused mind says no. So if somebody was going past that and they saw that and thinking, oh, should I? Shouldn't I go in? Or if I do go in, oh, what's gonna happen when I go in there? Is it...

Am I gonna walk in and there's gonna be, like, two headed podiatrist running around and and everyone's a little bit freaky? Which I have walked into some businesses and it has felt like that. So that's sort of what I'm... That's what I'm gonna discuss today is does your clinic look closed when it is actually open?

Yeah. That... That's a great point. I think how do you... You know, it's like the bit...

The the long line in front of a business always attracts more people to the line. Right? So how do you show that you're busy even if... Yeah. I think that's a great topic for today.

Yeah. So we... It's like any business. You see people piled out the door. You go, okay, it's obviously open.

But like a place like Arizona, if you're in an area where you've you've got the business closed up because of, like, air conditioning, sunlight shining in, then there'll be reasons why you have everything closed up or windows darkened. But... So I'm just gonna run through some things just so people could be aware of it and maybe give it a a little bit of thought. So the the first thing is... Oh, so this is so this is the first thing I wanna talk about is looking open when you're open is actually part of your marketing.

And you can spend a ton of money, whether it's online or offline, attracting the attention of everybody in your area. But in the end, if your premises does not feel comfortable and welcoming when someone approaches it, then that could be enough for them to to sort of turn away. So like I mentioned, darkened tinted windows, a blackened entrance, no visible activity to say whether you're whether you're shut, even if you are open. And like I said, I do understand that people would do this if they're in an area where there's a, yeah, the morning sun or afternoon sun is just pounding in on the business that they may be doing that for a particular reason. But if that's the case, there's things you gotta look at.

So some people may have a concern, and I've done this myself. I go up to a business and I'm like, because I can't see in, I'm hesitant. Should I... What am I in for when I walk in? Is there gonna be somebody there on the other side of the door that's just gonna grab me and pull me in when I really just wanted to to get a little bit of information?

I didn't really wanna be got. So... And that's what I say. Confused mind will often say, oh, you know what? Maybe I'll do it some some other time.

Yeah. Maybe I'll skip that place. I'm not really. There's an unease or uncertainty that leads when there's not, you know, that clarity of whether it's open or not. I I can definitely see that.

So I think the next thing you need to do is look at your clinic through the eyes of a a new patient. Someone that's never been to your business before. They know nothing about you. They may have seen some marketing. They're going, okay.

I'm gonna go there. And so is the entrance really obvious? Like, it might be obvious to you, but it may not be for someone who's turning it the first time. I I I have felt stupid a lot of times when I've gone up to the door. It seems to be at the front.

I'm going up, this has to be the entrance. And next thing, I'm shaking it. And within about two seconds, I've realized, this isn't the entrance. And then there's a little little little note there that says, please use side door. And I go, I feel like a complete idiot.

And and I know they can probably see me on the outside and they'll probably look at me go, oh, I've another one of them. Can't read the sign. Well, if the sign was bigger, they said, use the side entrance. I wanna use the side entrance. So it might be really obvious to you, but not for someone who's going for the first time.

With your own business, try approaching your business from different directions. Come from the left. Come from the right. Is it is it obvious where you go in? Drive past it or have a look at your business from across the street.

Can you straightaway quickly know that that business is open, ready to see somebody? And and be honest with yourself. If if you look at and go, oh, well... Yeah. Like, if it's between nine to five, self course are open.

Well, if it's Friday at 03:00, do you work Friday afternoons? I I don't know. Just basically be aware of it.

No. I think that's a great point. You gotta you gotta gotta step into your patient's shoes and try to approach your practice or your entrance from a totally different perspective. Obviously, maybe you come in through the back door and you haven't been through the front door in your clinic in years and you don't know what that experience is like. So I think it...

Is it important to step back and observe it from a different perspective?

Yeah. I even think it's... Is... Yeah. Even having signage just say you got car parking around the back because sometimes you might be a very busy street and people go, oh, I wanted to stop, but I can't find a park.

If you've got off street parking, have a massive sign that says off street parking so people straight away can go, yeah. Okay. Well, I can park straight in there, and then I'll I'll walk back around the front. You need to remove the need for people to guess. Displaying clear opening hours on your front door, I think, is a must.

So this... The lunch lounge, on the side, it had what the opening hours were, but on the front door, I'm pretty sure it didn't. Or if it did, it it was quite small. So just make it really obvious on the door and have a professional sign that actually... Whether it needs to glow that says open.

That would have been... Like, the lunch lounge, it was open from seven till two. If I had known at 07:00 when I got up there that was open, I probably would have gone there for breakfast and also gone back there for lunch because the lunch was so good. I was like, damn it. I wish I had gone there for breakfast and and tried something else.

One simple big open sign from my hotel looking down at it and seeing that that was open, I would have been straight in. So that's a sale they missed out on because there was a little bit of confusion in my mind. And plus, even when I went to Google and it said it was open, I went, okay. Well, Google says it open. It still looks closed.

And then, yeah, the next thing I did, I went to the reviews. I said, what was the latest review to find out? If it said three months ago, then I'm I'm probably... I'm not gonna make my way all the way down the bottom of the hotel, walk right across this big long car park to get to this other building to get there and find out it wasn't open. I looked at reviews and there was one from two days ago and it said, best breakfast I've ever had.

And I went, okay. This... It's definitely open there. That was only two days ago. The final thing I wanna say just on this particular part though is if people have to guess whether you're open, some will keep walking or they will just drive past.

And it goes back to the thing I said beforehand. A confused mind will say no because... And like I said, I've done it myself. I didn't have breakfast at that place because I thought it was closed. If I had known, I would've walked straight in and say, I just think you need to make it really obvious for people to just walk in.

Yeah, you're putting an obstacle in front of your ability to like, your patients and to people that are prospective patients, right? If you just, if plant that uncertainty in their mind and you create an obstacle for them, it's gonna be an obstacle. So you might as... There's easy ways to make that, you know, very clear. So you should take all the steps you need to to make sure that that's...

That obstacle is removed.

Yeah. And people gotta understand the patient experience, it starts way before someone gets to this reception counter. If they've... You know, they may have parked their car or they're walking past and they're unsure, all that doubt that they're going through, even when they walk through, this is still all going in on their mind that they may have a great experience once they're in there, but your marketing starts way before they get to that reception counter. So you need to be aware of that.

For sure.

The next part is make sure you're open online as well. Check your website. Check your Google business profile. Any voice mails that you have or physical signage shows consistent opening hours. I have rung businesses when...

Especially around public holidays when you're thinking, are they open or are they not open? And you go to their answering machine, or you get the answering machine message that says, oh, we're such and such. We'll be open again at 9AM on, yeah, the October 20. You go, oh, okay. And you go, well, it's the twenty first.

Why is someone not answering the phone? Because nobody's checked the messages. Well, one of those things just always just make sure website, Google profile, voicemail, any signage is consistent with when you are actually opening. Explain holiday closes and how patients can actually make an appointment if you happen to be closed. Make it really clear on what they can do and review up...

Outdated notices on your website. Because sometimes you might put some information on your website and that is passed. Make it really important that you're you're constantly looking at these things and updating them and making sure to make sense. And also review broken booking links on your website. I've gone to a lot of businesses where it's got click here to do whatever.

I click there and it goes... Is it the four zero four page or something or four zero Yeah. And you go... Four

zero four.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Great. Fantastic. Just what I needed.

All of that, all of those things that are a little bit different, they create uncertainty about whether you're actually still operating. And just because the business is open one day doesn't mean it's open the following week. And and that happens around us all the time. So you wanna you wanna take away that uncertainty and make people know we're open, big sign. If they happen to go online, it it sort of matches up to everything else you're saying about your opening hours.

Yeah. I think November and December is a great time to kinda, like, double check those things. Like you said, just try to figure out if you don't have it written down already, find out where your hours are listed. Obviously, like you said, website, Google Business Profile, there's other places either online or in your voicemail or in your clinic where it's not really clear about when you're going be open. And, you know, I work with multiple clinics and a lot of them have...

Some of them like to be open a lot kind of during those breaks. Some like to shut it down for like days or weeks at a time. So it's going to really vary between different clinics, but you need to know where those dates and those hours live because if you decide to make a half an hour change on one site, like you have to roll it out across all the four or five or six other places so you don't confuse people and get that patient like walking in when you're supposed to be shutting down and you have a staff or another doctor who's like I thought we were closed and like you know it's one of those things that pops up and it can lead to a one star review or negative word-of-mouth in ways that you did not intend to.

I think there's nothing worse when you phone a business and it'll say, oh, thank you for calling, yeah, ABC Podiatry. Office hours are 08:30 to 05:30, and you're bringing it ten past five. We are currently closed. You're gonna... It's ten past five.

You said you're open till 05:30. And straight away, that that little bit of confusion, you think, what... Why is the answering machine on now? So I think if something happens... I I think, especially your your answering machine or after hours messages, is something you really need to pay attention to.

If you have closed for an afternoon for whatever reason, just change the message Because that that one person that may be put off by that could have been the person who is gonna book himself in, their partner, their three kids, tell their friend... Yeah. There could have been, an ideal patient who was gonna bring tens of thousands of dollars to your business, yeah, over their lifetime, and they're they're walking away because of someone could be bothered changing the message. It was just too hard to actually do it.

Yeah. It's kind of part of that concept of like, you know, under promising and over delivering. If you like, if you over promise and you say something, don't stick true to it, then people kind of like, well, if they don't, they're not kind of being honest or like kind of being upfront with me about this thing, then what else aren't they going to be honest or upfront with not that it's not some malicious thing you're doing but like if you say you're open till 05:30 and like you said if they shut down the calls at at 05:10 it just sets up for not meeting that patient's expectations which can lead to like you said disappointed patients and then potential loss of, you know, additional clinic revenue.

Especially if you phoned and... Okay. So you have closed a little bit early, but at least give a message. Yeah. If we're not open, we have online bookings.

Here's our website. Go in there and make your appointment. If you don't direct them on what they need to do next and they're a bit confused, they're just gonna go to the next provider. And if they ring the next provider and they actually answer the phone, then that might be where they go. So I'm now on the home stretch here, Jim.

This is the sort of fifth point. I don't know if there was any actual numbers as I was going through this. Build an open for business check... Yeah. Sort of checklist in...

Build that into your daily routine. So assign one person in your business to check if you have entrance lighting. Signage is actually on, you know, where the access is. And, basically, check it every morning. But also, it's important, check it at different times during the day because at 9AM, based on lighting, your clinic may look like it's open.

It's great for business. But towards the afternoon, it might look like it's closed, which is even more important if you happen to do late afternoon or even evening sessions. You can have people who are driving home late at work. And if they see that your clinic's open late on a Thursday night, you want them to know that you're actually open for business, and they can just pop in there. And finally, ask your receptionist.

What questions do new patients ask about finding or getting inside your business? Because if you keep hearing the same thing, though, those questions may reveal something that that needs fixing. And the exercise I want everyone to do is something to think about is before spending any more money on marketing, stand outside your clinic and ask, would I know my business was open and would I feel comfortable just walking in off the street? Does it look really inviting? And I know this one podiatrist that I knew quite well, and I remember being at their clinic.

And I'd stand there from the outside looking at it, and the windows were tinted, was fine because I knew a lot of sun came in. But they had posters in there on the windows. Everything looks so cluttered. And I was standing outside going, I feel like just... It didn't feel inviting.

If I was someone walking past, I wouldn't just open that door and stick my head in because I'd be like like I said right at the start, I don't want someone just reaching and pulling me in because I I don't know what... What's on the other side of the door.

No. That totally makes sense. You wanna feel... It wants to feel inviting. You wanna feel people want to come into your practice for sure.

I think if you if you look at your clinic from the outside, you go, yeah. Actually, we really can't tell whether open or close, then get an open sign. Something that that flashes big and bright that says, we are open. And I love that when you go past the, especially when it's in Arizona because there's a lot of businesses that I noticed, not just the the lunch lounge. Because of the heat, everything's tinted windows, everything is closed up to keep air conditioning in.

Yeah. And the businesses that we went into when we were doing this food tour through Phoenix, the businesses that looked... When you did duck your head in them were busy were all the ones that had signs that said we were open. And there were other businesses next to them that were closed up the same but did not have that sign. And if I was somewhere from the outside, I'm hungry.

I want something to eat. I'm going straight to the one that says we are open because I know they're open. Whereas I don't wanna stand like a... Look like an idiot shaking a shaking a closed door.

It's a simple thing. Right? But it can be very effective.

That's all I wanted to say on this particular subject, and I hope everyone got something from that. And if you have any questions, please reach out to us. What's the best email address for us, Jim?

Yeah. So people can go to podiatry.marketing. There's a form people can fill out or they can obviously go to your website or get your email and find you there.

Yep. Just go to tysonfranklin.com and I have a newsletter as well. So if you wanna sign up for the newsletter, you can. But if you've any questions, please just send me an email t f tftysonfranklin dot com. Easy to remember.

All right, Tyson. That sounds great. Look forward to talking you on the next one.

Okay. Talk to you again soon.

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