How to Incentivize Your Staff to Increase Patient Reviews

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

Hi. I'm Tyson Franklin, and welcome back to this week's episode of podiatry marketing. With me as he is every week, and he has become extremely famous, it is Big Jim Mac. How are doing today, Jim?

Tyson, I'm doing well. It sounds like there's a high demand for Big Jim Mac in The UK, but I wasn't there with you to enjoy conference and the the the tours of the different football slash soccer stadium. So it's like you had quite quite the trip, but I'm glad that the word, at least about our podcast, is getting out there.

Yeah. No. It's fun. That well, that was a couple of weeks ago now that I was there. But, yes, there were a number of people who came up to me and they said, oh, we listened to the show with you and Big Jim Mac.

They said, yeah, we really enjoy it. I said, that's good to know. Better better than saying, oh, we listen to it show and it's not good.

Or we listen to it before we go to bed so we can fall asleep. So

Yeah. But then and then I sent you the video of that couple who I got got to say a big shout out to you. And yeah. So I said to him, I said, you you were having bit of a laugh about that.

No. It definitely made my day to to get that video. It was nice.

Just to know you're being talked about. So what are we what are we touching on today?

Yeah. So in the past, we talked about, you know, patient reviews and some different aspects of patient reviews. But today, we're gonna talk about how you can incentivize your staff to increase patient reviews. You know, I think I've heard a lot of different ways that people have considered doing that.

And Yeah.

You know, what's the right way? Is there any things to avoid? But it's an interesting topic because, obviously, the reviews are are super, super important.

What is the first part, like, you need to explain to your staff, like, why they're actually important?

Yeah. I think, obviously, the if you listen to people listen to this podcast enough, they kind of know they can listen back to some old episodes about what in great detail why they are important. But it is important to take that knowledge you gained from those previous podcasts and explain to your staff. Right? The importance, you know, they you know, just because you're gonna incentivize them to do something doesn't necessarily mean that they're gonna be all that motivated.

Maybe, you know, it's gonna be some some dollars and those things. But, you know, what is the real reason you're trying to go out and gather these reviews? And if they understand that, you know, they can impact your clinic's reputation, Also, you know, helping patients learn and basically trust your clinic and your staff before they even come in the door. Mhmm. And also from a visibility standpoint.

Right? If the more reviews you have, the more likely your clinic is gonna be seen. So if your staff knows these things, then they'll, you know, they're they're busy doing their task and their jobs and they may not have that kind of 40,000 foot view of like what it takes to kind of, you know, project a positive, you know, outstanding reputation in your local community. So if you can kind of, you know, walk through with them about the fact that you're building a reputation, you're trying to earn trust and be more visible to local patients so they make appointments at your clinic, think it'll give them some basis to understand about, you know, why these reviews are important in the first place.

Yeah. And it is. It's one of those things when you can tell a staff member, have you ever chosen a restaurant based on a review? Most of time, people have gone yes. Have you ever chosen a hotel based on a review?

And most people go, yeah. Yeah. I've done that as well. They go, this is why we need to encourage our patients to do reviews or encourage our staff to encourage our patients to also do the reviews because other patients are gonna look at those reviews and they're decide which podiatrist they're gonna go to.

No. Absolutely. You know, it it speaks volume. Right? Like, we can you can tell everybody you're the best podiatrist in the world and you have all this training and your, you know, the bio on your bio page on your website looks amazing.

So you're awesome. You know?

Yeah. Exactly. So you're bigger than Big Jim Mac. That's how big you are.

I'm not sure that's possible, but

I don't think so either.

You know, it means so much more than someone else that's not necessarily motivated to do that. Right? Like, you know, to to leave a review for you or to talk to you about their friends. That's the kind of that word-of-mouth or the digital word-of-mouth through patient reviews can be very, very powerful. What's also powerful about reviews is that, it's another channel for feedback from patients, a way for them to communicate with the clinic.

Maybe they're more of a shy person or they're not necessarily that confident to speak about both maybe the positive or the negative aspects of your clinic. But, you know, giving them a chance to leave a review is a way to kinda get that out there. You know, like you talked about in the in the past, like, you know, there's certain keywords that'll help you rank better in Google to signal to Google if you have, you know you know, some people will try to get as many reviews as possible and you'll get that five star with with zero write up and that's not what you want. You'd rather have a four star with someone that really expresses, you know, in written text about the way that you presented yourself in clinic, the way that they received great care, how great the staff was. So those written reviews are super, super important, but these reviews can also benefit the staff.

Right? Like, they don't always get that feedback from the patient as well. Maybe they're doing different types of tasks. Maybe they do have some good communication with the patient both maybe before and after, they don't know what really happens during the visit, but they can make a real impact on the type of care that is received at a clinic. If there's a nice message in the review saying, oh, the front desk staff was amazing.

The person that brought me into the room and told me about the doctor was fantastic. It can sometimes help kind of increase the morale and kind of, you know, highlight the excellent care that not only you're providing, but also your staff is. So I think it's important to realize that reviews can have that kind of power as well.

Yeah. And I've read reviews when someone might be might be a motel or could be a restaurant or a health care And the review is talking about the staff that work there. Oh, the people at the front counter were so friendly and helpful. Or at the end of our visit, when we did when we did this, all these people went out of the way to actually help us. And you sort of know well, I know that I feel that when I see staff put that much care and attention into something, that usually come from the top down.

Staff don't care that much if the if the leader of the business doesn't care. So you know that if the staff are gonna help you that much, you know the overall business is probably that's just their culture.

No. Absolutely. And it's like we talked about in the past, you know, like, before any marketing happens, right, you your the expectation and the standard is to provide excellent care. Right? But it's that that bridge kind of before before the appointment and after the appointment and kind of that that bridge between kind of them hearing about your clinic, coming into your clinic, receiving that care, and then leaving, you know, whether they're coming back or those kind of things.

But it's that, you know, that the kind of soft skills that you help develop in your staff, and you reinforce that behavior in your staff in different ways. You know, and that kinda leads into, like, you know, why why does it make sense to maybe incentivize gathering some of these reviews. But that's, you know, that that's kind of you know, like you talked about it. You know, it kinda comes from the top down. And, you know, first and foremost, you will need to design kind of an effective incentive program for kind of gathering some of these reviews.

You know, probably what I think is the best and then I'd like I'd love to hear from the listeners and see if they're doing it different ways, but generally, the best way is is kind of a general kind of a bonus structure. Okay. You know, every you know, each patient review is maybe worth $10. So let's say, you know, during a month you get hundred reviews, that's a thousand dollars that kinda goes into a pool, kinda shared amongst all the patient facing staff. So, you know, you wanna make sure that they know when to ask for the reviews.

I usually recommend that's after they receive the course of care, they've received excellent care, and that's kinda the person that's ready to kind of be teed up for a review. Not that person that came on their first day or someone still kind of midway through their course of treatment. But, you know, this kind of pooled aspect of the bonus structure leads to kind of a better overall feeling amongst all the staff. Right? Because maybe it's the the front desk person that asked and received that review that kind of made them, you know, say okay, but it's it's it's the behavior and the way that the rest of the staff that's patient facing has treated that patient that will lead to, you know, whether they're gonna accept that kind of invitation for review in the first place.

Well, it's true, though, because anyone that's at that front counter, it is really a team effort to make sure everything's running well. So even though one person may be having more of an interaction with the patient, may be suggesting the review, how everyone behaves behind the scenes there that can still be in eye shot actually that's gonna that's gonna influence a review. So if you had someone that was eating a pie or eating a hamburger just behind the reception counter and scratching their bum, that's probably not gonna you're probably not gonna get good review for that. So if people are not doing that, they should be incentivized.

No. No. Absolutely. I think it's a yeah. Definitely, no bum scratchers should should be maybe on beyond the the bonus structure.

I think

Can I just tell you something as a side note here? This is somebody said in The UK. They went, you can tell when we're on the podcast every now and then where you try to derail Jim's thinking with a silly comment.

That's probably a good thing. I get a little too serious sometimes.

I said, hey. I did my best. Every now and then, you'd be surprised some of the things I say or do. And, anyway, sorry. Back on the back on the topic.

No. It's all good. You know, it's one the things too. Right? Like, where maybe, you know, if you have certain goals, you know, maybe, you know, you know how many kind of generally before you institute this kind of incentive program, maybe you have a general sense of how many reviews you receive each month.

And and maybe you set certain goals that can not only be shared by the patient facing staff, but maybe there's, you know, people that are just, you know, kinda handling your call center. Maybe they're doing marketing tasks. Maybe they're kinda more back of office. If maybe if the staff hits a certain number that that kind of some of that, there could be an additional bonus for those folks as well. Because you wanna make sure that the worst thing that could happen is that this becomes a divisive, you know, factor if you're incentivizing and putting bounties on for the person.

You know? For example, whenever had the the the cable company, you know, installed some fiber Internet at my house, the person was very specific about, please leave my name, you know, in the review because then I'll know I'll get a bonus for it. Right? Or I'll I'll be notified or be recognized. But I think in certain services, that makes sense.

When it's a more of a you know, unless you have just, like, one person that's patient facing, you really should maybe kinda share it with the team. So you don't want this to turn into, like, a, you know, a comp kind of a negative way to kinda deteriorate the culture in your clinic because it definitely could be that if you're you're you're kind of putting those bounties on an individual basis, but it definitely is something that to be aware of. And if someone's not kinda doing their full share, it's definitely definitely more of a teachable moment than kinda, like I said, you know, turning this into a contest between employees.

Yeah. I think a shared pool is a really good idea because you might have someone who dealt with a particular patient two or three times when they came in, and then you get that one person that sees them on that last visit and may bring up the reviews, and that has been a team effort. And it's also may have come from the podiatrist at the back as well. The other podiatrist that they saw may have really influenced that, and then the people at the front can have actually finished it off. So I think pooling it amongst everybody at the front is is the is the fairest way of doing it.

And and they all know too that if if somebody's being a slacker and isn't lifting their way and that everyone knows someone will eventually tell them, yeah, don't you feel bad getting part of this bonus considering you sat on your bum, did nothing?

Would Scratching your bum.

Scratching your bum, eating eating bloody hamburgers at the back there. We all saw you.

No. But I will say that, you know, even though, like, I sometimes see some of the negative reads at least happens sometimes when there's kind of disputes over billing, for example. So, you know, sometimes when people have a a good billing experience. Right? You know, there's good communication, you know, when they receive the bill or, you know, kinda follow-up when it comes to the bill.

You know, you know, we're not always gonna have happy campers around that, you know, when it comes to patients, but they're an important part of that kind of whole kind of, like, spectrum as far as the the the patient pathway, the patient journey going from not knowing you and then kind of becoming a, you know, promoter for practice. So, you know, when you hit certain goals and you make certain goals, it makes sense to communicate kind of the distribution details openly to make sure there's transparency and you kinda maintain fairness around it. Obviously, there's kinda legal and ethical considerations around here. Obviously, we're probably speaking to some folks that, you know, can't have reviews or can't solicit reviews regarding medical services, which isn't the case in North America. But at the same time, you know, just making sure if you are in The US or in other places that you're, you know, kinda being compliant with the different health care regulations.

In The US, that would be HIPAA. You wanna make sure you're avoiding, you know, pressuring patients. Like we talked in previous podcasts, generally, you wanna have a system set up. So, you know, maybe it's fifteen minutes or an hour or maybe during your lunch break or at the end of the day, you're sending out these review request for reviews. You don't wanna, you know, force an iPad into somebody's hands and make them do a quick five star and feel kinda like they're just trying to get a review out of you.

You wanna give

them an opportunity to just

leave you. Yeah. Exactly. Nobody wants that. So Mhmm.

Or you don't get the token to get out of the car park.

But I I

I read somewhere once. I don't know if it's still the case. But if you have an iPad or something set up, and it's running through your IP address, and all your reviews are coming from that, then Google doesn't necessarily like it as much.

That would make sense.

Yeah. Because they're looking at it's just it's the same everything's coming from the same place even though they might be logging in differently. It's still all coming from the same place. Whereas if you have, like, a QR code that that has a link to your Google review page, and they're doing it on their phone and not doing it through your Wi Fi, then that is actually looked upon more favorably.

Yeah. I can see that that that being the case for

sure. So what's next?

So next is about kind of empowering the whole team. You know, we talked about the kind of the power of the incentives. Maybe it's $10 a review. But when it comes down to it, you need to make sure that the staff has the ability to kind of have the knowledge and training they need to make sure they can communicate with the patients. Right?

You know, sometimes you have, you know, fantastic really people people persons, you know, staff members that are really easily speaking with the patients and have a you know, develop kind of a warm rapport right away. But there's also people that, for whatever reason, they just, you know, they they they don't do quite as well there. So maybe it takes a little bit of chance, you know, a little bit of time, a little bit of training to, you know, you kind of provide the staff with some simple, polite ways to kinda ask for these reviews, you know, kind of developing a script. You know, know, missus Johnson, we understand you've had you know, you're feeling much better after, you know, know, four visits with us. You know, would you be open to, you know, leaving an online review to let other people in, you know, in cans know how great the care they received, you know, at ProArch Podiatry, would that be possible?

So it's one of those things where, you know, helping your staff and empowering them to make sure they have the ability to kinda ask, you know, they know when the right time is and they have the ability to do that.

Oh, yeah. I think the timing is very important. Really give that at at the right moment. And I think that's where if the script is written at a particular time in that that patient journey, I think you're more successful getting it.

No. Absolutely. Like you talked about, like, finding that time when they've had a great experience, they've kind of resolved or are almost all the way to resolving their issue, and they feel a a certain sense of genuine gratitude over and they'd be happy to do so as opposed to, like, they came into your clinic off the streets. The first visit, you throw an iPad at them, and then you kind of this high pressure feeling that feels a little bit odd, and they're gonna feel just a little bit different about your clinic as opposed to, like, someone a little bit for the down. Yeah.

Dirty and pressured and just kinda like, what? They don't wanna be doing it most likely. I know I wouldn't wanna do it on the first visit, so they probably wouldn't either.

I've had that where I have dealt with a company just the once, and I haven't even resolved I haven't really even started or resolved anything. And I'll get emails from them straight away saying, would you like to give us a review on your experience? And I'm like, no. In fact, I'm actually really annoyed, so I'm probably not the best time to be writing a review. And I've had that that's happened a lot.

It's just they've got their timing wrong.

No. I mean, life's all about timing. Right? You can be super prepared or everything, but the timing's not right. It's not right.

Okay. What else?

I would say also, you know, take some time, you know, and talk with your your staff. Right? Like may like you talked about previously, maybe it's it's not only patient facing staff the day of the appointment. Right? Maybe you have some people that field calls or, do patient reminders or people that answer the phone whenever a patient's making an appointment.

They're super important to this process as well. If they have a horrible experience and they come into your clinic with a bad mood, what do you think the likelihood of them having a great outcome in your clinic is? So and then also on the other end of things. So talking to your staff about what do they think that they contribute to the overall patient satisfaction in your clinic. Maybe it's the biller or some back office duties.

Just either talking with them or just thinking through the ways they can really have an impact on the way that these patient reviews can be facilitated and then also contributing to positive ones. So I think that's really, really important. So know, maybe it makes sense to include them either in some of these remote war pools or maybe there's some separate incentives that can help incentivize them in some ways to make sure that they're not feeling kind of left out from the rest of the staff. You know, just trying to find that right balance about, you know, finding some incentives for that back office staff.

I think actually involving them all together as a as a team effort. Yeah. You might have your podiatry team, and then you have the front and back office team. Because it is the the front and back office are so important that they actually work together. Because if the back office people if they're treating patients poorly, it doesn't matter how good they work at the front, the reviews aren't gonna come through, or they're not gonna be positive reviews.

So I think it's it's really important that both groups front and back are actually doing doing the job. I think they should just be pulled together.

Yeah. I think that makes sense. I did I was gonna kind of vary between the different practice sizes, but, yeah, if you have a small enough practice that I think it definitely it's it's it's not gonna hurt. Right? It's gonna it's gonna be a way to kind of everyone kinda feels on equal footing, and they're they're excited to to make that happen.

So Yeah.

You can make it you can make up to the really important people by giving them better Christmas presents.

There you go. There you go.

Yeah. The people that you you notice that are probably putting in more, you can give them that little bit extra.

That makes sense.

What's next?

Yeah. Yeah. So next, I would say is, like, you know, what are some best practices in avoiding, you know, some of the pitfalls, so it's with incentivizing your staff is like, you know, when you're talking to your staff, you really wanna focus on quality of review over quantity. You know, maybe, you know, you you have someone on your staff that sees the $10 out there and like, well, if I just do 10 a week or 20 a week, and then me and the staff are gonna make this much money. I think that's that's the wrong way to look at it, so you're make sure that you really wanna emphasize that it's about, you know, getting patients not only to leave reviews, but also well written ones.

So these are the ways you can kinda help facilitate that. Super, super important. You wanna make sure they're encouraging, kind of authentic feedback. You know, obviously, sometimes if getting more reviews, you're more likely probably gonna get a few more negative ones as well. And I think it's important to use that, those negative reviews as ways to, you know, constructively address certain issues or certain things that came up, you know, during the clinic visit or, you know, sometimes bad things are just gonna happen and there's nothing to be done about it, but sometimes you can learn from these things.

It's important to let the staff know that they can expect maybe there'll be some more negative reviews coming along the way there as well. Like we talked about previously, you know, make sure that your staff is on board as far as you don't wanna kinda over solicit. You wanna make sure that, you know, you're not kind of making patients uncomfortable with it. You know, most patients will be more than happy if they're receiving great care and you're to approach them at the right time with the right message. They're going to be more than happy to share that great experience with you online.

I think it's really, really important that, you know, you kinda focus on that. And then there's the kind of the things around team morale. Right? You wanna celebrate the success, you know, maintain the kind of open communication and to prevent any kind of, you know, jealousy or kind of confusion about when the payouts are gonna happen or how it's structured. You know, if you're you know, if you need to adjust, make sure that the staff is aware of that and kind of they can have their 2¢ as well kinda put in have a little bit of input when it comes to that.

So you wanna track and report these things. Obviously, you know, if you're using something like Gather Up or Google reviews, you can see the reviews and and count them each month. That's not very hard to do. You know, I would say probably do this on a monthly basis. I don't think it's worth doing weekly.

I mean, if you want you want to, you know, if you wanna have maybe maybe your staff is motivated by numbers, wanna show a number for each week. That's something you could do, but I think initially just kinda like leaving it monthly and see how the uptake is with the staff. And then you wanna really kinda focus and reinforce the positive outcomes. You know, when you do have, you know, people saying positive things about the staff or staff members in those reviews, you know, bring that up in in different meetings. You know, maybe it's a part of your monthly staff meeting.

You you talk about the number of views, but not only the number of views, but the types of reviews you've received so the so the staff knows kinda what you're going for. Right? You read that paragraph or two paragraph review about how they love the staff, the great care, you know, they they can't wait to tell their friends and family about it. That's gonna be a huge morale booster for you and your staff. So definitely don't be shy about bringing those things up at staff meetings.

Yeah. And I think it like you said, it reinforces everyone's doing a good job. So if there's been five reviews that week and you're having a weekly staff meeting, I think bring it up. Let the staff know because more than likely, they're not gonna be checking it. But as the business owner, you you will always be sort of keeping an eye, especially because you always gotta keep an eye out for negative reviews.

But if you have if it's a Google review and you've got a Gmail account set up, you're gonna get a message every time a review comes through anyway. So you may be informed, and the staff may not. So I I think it's a good idea to just share the good news. And also, if you do get a negative review, share share that as well. Make sure the staff knows about it because a negative review really is just an opportunity to improve.

Totally. So what's next?

Yeah. I'd say kinda like, you know, wrapping things up, you know, to kinda go over a few kinda key takeaways from what I talked about today. I think it's really, really important that, you know, your your your staff is aware the patient reviews are a powerful tool to to grow the clinic. Right? And kind of overall improve the the patient experience.

So that's kind of the key before they even getting into the incentives. They need to know why we're doing it. We're trying to grow the clinic, and these these reviews will help do that, but also wanna improve the type of care we're providing and the patient experience. So that's really the outcomes of why we're asking you to kind of, you know, get these patient reviews. It's not that it's not for other reasons.

These are the kind of the main kind of kinda guideposts or what we're looking to do with it. You wanna make sure you have an incentive plan that, you know, fosters teamwork kind of aligns the staff's goals with your goals of what I just talked about there, kind of across the clinic, whether it be patient facing or non patient facing. You know, there's kind of some steps you can take. Right? So, you know, you can roll out kind of a pilot incentive program, you know, starting, like I said, around $10 review maybe and see how that goes.

You know, you know, at the next staff meeting you have or the next team meeting you have, you know, kind of, you know, make sure you're addressing any concerns people have about how to ask for review. And if they need some training or some some help, you know, they're, you know, partnering them with someone else on your staff or working with them individually to make that stuff happen. You know, kinda collect and analyze the reviews and see, you know, are you getting the kind of reviews in that that makes sense? You know, just like I said, you just don't want these five star no written reviews. You wanna make sure that you're asking for it at right time, and and they're kind of showing their gratitude for the care that are received in the clinic in those reviews.

So, you know, really final thoughts kinda come to, you know, encourage, you know everyone, all the kind of podiatrists and staff members listen to this clinic that, you know, work on kind of an implement your own review strategy. I think it can be hugely beneficial for your practice. Obviously, if you have feedback, you know, like, about how it's working or not working in your clinic, you know, let us know. We're happy to, you know, discuss that with you. But, you know, when you invite, you know, patients to give you feedback and reviews, you know, it's something that can be really, really beneficial for your clinic.

And, you know, it's gonna lead to, you know, potential growth for your clinic, you know, a better patient experience. So, you know, obviously, we'll kind of maybe touching you know, if I get enough emails or we get some comments from some listeners, maybe we can discuss this even in more depth in the future. But, you know, definitely, if you have more questions or ideas around getting patient reviews, you know, this is definitely, I think, really important topic for anybody that's associated with the podiatry clinic. So definitely let us know.

And if you've listened this far and you have not sat down and got, oh, I should do a review of this podcast, then that would be a good idea. We would love you to do a review on the Podiatry Marketing Podcast.

That would be fantastic whether.

Yeah. Whatever podcast platform you're on. Spotify. Yep. Just get on there.

They'll just follow the links. It's really not that hard. If a 10 year old can figure it out, you can figure it out. But if you don't like the show, don't leave a review. Just keep your opinion to yourself.

But I think if you've got this far, and we've done a number of shows talking about reviews, that I always think it's one of those things. It's really funny. The more you give, the more you get. So if you're not getting patient reviews in your clinic, more than likely, you're not giving reviews either for certain places. And I think if you get in the habit of actually doing reviews yourself, you'll find you'll be more in a habit talking to patients about it.

You'll be more in a habit of talking to your staff about it, and you will get more reviews.

I like that idea.

Okay. Big Jim. That was a great topic as usual.

That was fun.

Okay. So I was very flat, Jim. That that was fun. Come on. On.

Where's your excitement, buddy? Come on, Jim.

It was fun.

It was fun. Okay. I will talk to you next week.

Sounds good, Tyson.

Okay. See you. Bye. Bye, Dan.

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