Offending No One & Satisfying Everyone is Boring

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

Welcome to podiatry marketing. I'm your host, Jim McDannald joined by always Tyson Franklin. Tyson, how's it going today?

I'm good, Jim. How are you doing? Well, actually, well, was a bit flat, wasn't it? Good morning, big Jim.

That's more like it. It's a little bit more energy. You know, we know we record this, what's it, 10:30 your time or around 11:00 and it's, you know, close to 10PM our our time here on the East Coast. So, yeah, it's it's a good time to change a little energy, exchange a little energy.

It is too because usually well, at the moment, it's 11:30 in the morning my time. So by this time of the day, you've got up, you've done a pile of things in the morning, may have gone to the gym or done something, and you're starting to I I find around 11:30, I need to eat. This is this is my eating time.

So I just fill just fill your brain, your stomach full of knowledge, and you're just full for the rest of your day. Right?

That is it. No. No. Usually, as soon as we finish here, when we talk, because we usually talk on Wednesday, Tuesday night your time is yeah. We do the talking here, and then when we finish, I'm one hungry lad, and I bolt off and get something to eat.

So today's topic. You ready for it?

Yeah. I'm I'm hungry for that topic.

Hungry for that topic. Okay. It is. Well, the title is offending no one and satisfying everyone is boring. Alright.

Yeah. I know. And you're thinking, oh, that sounds very, very exciting, Tyson. Now what are you talking about? Okay.

This is the basis of it. So when you when you're marketing your podiatry business in whichever way you're basically doing it, you wanna attract a certain type of patient, and you're also, at the same time, you wanna repel others, but in a respectful way. So you're not saying, oh, don't treat this because I don't like you. That's being disrespectful. But you you talk in a certain way and you market in a certain way that when people see your marketing in whatever form, they go, oh, he's talking to me.

And other groups of people go, oh, no. That he's definitely definitely not talking to me. So that's sort of what it's about. Yeah. But if you try try to satisfy absolutely everybody, your ad advertising, your marketing gets extremely boring, really beige, and you really don't don't tick any boxes for anyone that's actually looking at what you're doing.

No. I think that makes a lot of sense. It's I think we've touched on this topic a little bit in the past, but it's really about, you know, like like you said, you know, showing who you're for, kind of what you do, what your kind of specialty is within podiatry. And that's on your website, that's in your marketing, that's in your advertising. It's the way you talk to your patients.

And it's also important to show what you aren't gonna do. Right? And like you said, this is where, you know, you maybe can partner know, if you don't wanna cut nails anymore for example. Right? Maybe there's a clinic down the street that loves to do that and you can kind of develop a a symbiotic relationship.

But I think that's a huge point to, you know, offend people in a respectful way. It makes a lot

of sense. If I to know it and the thing is it's not really offending people, but you want people to see what you're doing and and just say, that's not for me. I find that slightly repulsive, but not but not even repulsive in a bad way. And this is goes back to when we did the topic of the episode on creating headlines, you know, to attract the right podiatry patients. Even putting a simple word in premium compared to budget, and and everything else in the headline can be can be exactly the same, has a completely different meaning.

And somebody who is very budget conscious watches every penny, and they sound really weird saying penny, considering we don't have pennies in Australia anymore.

Well, I think they're getting rid of them in in The US.

Oh, jeez. Wish would too.

In Canada either.

I really wish they would because every time I go to America, I end up coming back, and I have a plastic bag full of coins that I'm that I'm never gonna use. They just I usually, when I leave, I I leave a pile of them in my motel room because I don't wanna take them with me. And then you guarantee you're at a vending machine, you go, oh, bloody hell. I'm on quarter short. You know that pile in the room.

So somebody who watches their money, when they see the word premium straight, they go, oh, no. That's not for me because I don't want a premium service on a budget service. And somebody else who is after a premium service will see budget and go, well, I'm not really wanting the cheapest. I want the best. No.

What's a really boring word? It's not budget, not premium. Okay.

Budget.

Well, you can say, are you after a budget,

low cost?

Yeah. But low cost would be yeah. If you're after a budget, low cost, it's sort of saying the same thing. But if thinking, if you're after a good podiatry service, then wear the podiatry clinic for you. That is offending no one and satisfying everyone and really not ticking any boxes.

But even just saying if you're after a premium podiatry service says one thing, budget says the other, good in the middle is very beige.

Makes sense.

But give you an example. In Australia, there's and this will sound really weird talking to you because you're an American podiatrist. But when I'm in America and if I said, oh, my name is doctor Tyson Franklin. I'm a podiatrist. No one bats an eyelid.

No one even thinks about it. You're a podiatrist. Because in America, all podiatrists are called doctor. When I'm with a group of friends who are over here who are dentists, and if for some reason someone referred me as doctor Tyson Franklin, nobody bads an eyelid because all the dentists call themselves doctor. My brother used to say to me, how come podiatrists don't call themselves doctor?

And I went, I don't know. We're not allowed. That's what it was in the old days. These days, you're allowed to. So in Australia, a podiatrist can call themselves doctor.

But there's some podiatrists who use that term and use it with pride and and and a fine. But there's other people who say, if you call yourself doctor, you're a wanker. And I'm thinking, wow. Isn't that really funny? And, you know, and the funny part is on my website, you click on it, tysonfranklin.com, and it says doctor Tyson Franklin.

And the reason I use it is because I know it annoys people. And I know that if somebody saw that and went, oh, he is a total doctor. He's a wanker. I probably couldn't work with him anyway. So I'm deliberately trying to repel people.

But there's other people who see that on my website and go, oh, you know what? I use the title too, and I think we should for whatever reason. And they are attracted to what I basically do.

Now it's interesting that that way in Australia. I think there's some debate recently in some of the literature and some of the the news podiatry providers here. There's a question whether are we a podiatrist? Are you a foot and ankle doctor? Are you a foot surgeon?

Because a lot of people use a different terminology. And even when I'm, you know, on purpose, I utilize, you know, Jim McDaniel, you know, comma, DPM because when I'm on LinkedIn or Twitter or other place, I'm proud to be a podiatrist, you know, and I just wanna kinda signal that to show people that I am, you know, I went to school. I went through residency. I was in practice. But it is a way to like signal to people maybe maybe that turns off someone like an orthopedic surgeon or a dentist from wanting to work with me, which is totally fine because I only

work In case.

Mostly with podiatrists anyways. So it's a way to signal to people that you have had some shared experiences and then you kind of know what they're going through. So it it's interesting that there's kind of a a similar but different trade off there in Australia.

Yeah. But I I think the same thing in Australia. Like, I would never walk up to somebody or to another podiatrist or anybody else I know and say, hi. I'm doctor Tyson Franklin. If I'd feel like if I did them again, well, I'd be exactly the same.

If a general practitioner walked up to me and said, hi. I'm doctor John Smith, I'd go, hello, John. How are doing? If he said, no. It's doctor John Smith, I'd be going, we're gonna have we're gonna have issues, John.

Because I would not introduce myself the way I but when it came comes to websites, if I had a podiatry clinic and you're dealing with patients, the amount of patients that we just refer to you as doctor anyway because they see you as as somebody who is very knowledgeable in their area of feet, biomechanics, the whole medical side of things. So they actually hold you at high esteem. So I think in your marketing, if you have the ability to use the title, then you should. And, yes, there's gonna be certain people that will repel. Who cares?

They're not your patients, but there'll be other people that'll actually attract. And one of the other reasons I put it on my website going way back was I was at a business event with some people in Cairns here, and somebody read something. They went, hey, Tyson. We were reading something about, you know, podiatry, whatever. Do you know that you're actually allowed to use the doctor title?

I said, yeah. I know. I said, how come you don't use it? Well, I haven't thought about it, actually. It just hasn't crossed my mind.

And then I went, bloody hell. If we could use it, we would use it. And I said, out of curiosity, why would you use it? And when they told me, I went, and that's how it ended up on my website. So it was just it it's all about attracting and repelling.

But if you try to be really beige, then, yeah, it doesn't really do you it doesn't do you any good.

Yeah. You just you just blend into the background and just kinda look like everybody else's. How do you stand out kind of in a crowded, you know, field or in a kind of a crowded location if there's a lot of podiatrists in that area? You wanna make sure that you're putting your your kind of best foot forward and kind of shining a light on the ways that you're different from other people.

Yeah. And I know and I'm sure there's some people who are listening to this now and listening to me talk who are never gonna come back to this podcast. I apologize, Jim, because I use the title doctor, and that's gonna offend them. But I know there's other coaching groups that all the podiatrists that are involved in it would never use the title. And the reason they wouldn't use it because they deal with so many different professions, they would be scared to death of actually using it because they go, oh, no.

I might offend somebody. And I actually think when you're trying to not offend anybody and trying to satisfy everyone, it really is a compromise of what it is that you actually do and who you really wanna work with. Because I don't wanna work with everybody. I'm sure you don't wanna work with everybody as well.

Now you have to be selective who you work with. Right? You have to find kind of those people that are, you know, the right fit. And I think it's like you mentioned as well, you know, we use that title. It's it's it's a way to kind of show confidence in your training and what you do for your patients.

It's not necessarily boastful. It's it's something that you've earned. So, you know, using it in the right context, we're not gonna be, you know, making a make an asset of yourself kind of in a social situation. But like you said, it does project a certain level of education and and skills for patients to trust you and to really kind of buy into what you're providing them.

Yeah. And I like it when people say, oh, yeah, but you're not a real doctor. I go, oh, okay. Give me your definition of a real doctor. And I and I totally agree.

Yeah. If you have a PhD, then that that is called a doctorate for a particular reason. But even general practitioners here in Australia, it's still a courtesy title. They do a bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery. It's a courtesy title, and that's just what it is in Australia.

But I reckon when when you're trying to compromise, one, it leads to boredom. It's yeah. All your marketing becomes becomes boring. And a practice that's boring and no fun also finds it really, really hard to attract particular team members. Because if if everything you're doing is extremely beige, you're so concerned about what other people will think.

And if that's why even when podiatrists are writing a blog article, a lot of times they're writing the blog article thinking, if another podiatrist read this, what are they gonna think? It doesn't matter. What you gotta write is who who is it you want in your business? What do you want to attract? Write around that particular subject.

Really give your opinion on what you would do and what you think. And and by doing that, your whole business becomes more fun, and you will attract the right type of employees as well.

I think that's hugely important in these days this day and age. There's a lot of clinics that are struggling to find

Oh, yeah.

High high quality team members to join their staff, you know, whether it's just kind of the amount of rate wage increases that have happened in other areas of the job market. But, you know, finding attracting and retaining high quality employees is definitely something that every clinic, you know, if there's a cheat code, think every clinic would be on board to learn what that cheat code is.

Yeah. And that was a webinar that I did on the February 1 was how to attract and retain podiatry talent. And it's surprising the amount of podiatrists I've heard say, oh, we're finding it really hard to find podiatrists, and and they don't know what to do. And this is like every Facebook group, every podiatrist I talk to is always complaining about it. Yet you put that webinar on, and you get 50 people registered for it.

And you go, you can't complain that you cannot attract podiatrists if there's a a webinar that says how to attract podiatrists, and you don't register for it. That to me, that doesn't make any sense. I'm getting very particular here now. You're getting a shit.

You gotta you gotta you gotta show up. Right? You gotta show up if you wanna have the results. That's the most important. That's the first step to do anything in life is showing up.

So

Yeah. And it's so it's if if you my advice to anyone, if you see a webinar or something like that, it's just jump on board. Register for it. Even if you can't make it, if you register, at least you'll get access to the replay. If you just sit back and do nothing, you're never gonna get the information.

But getting back on to to this particular subject, it's it's one of those things too. If if you think about the type of patients that you wanna see and the type of business that you eventually wanna have, and and if you're a solo practitioner, you can only see a certain amount of patients per day. And because you can only see a certain amount of patients today, do you wanna fill it with really beige, boring patients? Not really enjoying what you're doing because you didn't want to offend anybody and you want to satisfy everybody, so you're getting everything coming in. But if you really strategically think about the type of marketing, who you wanna talk to, the words you're using, the headlines, so many different aspects, then you can fill the clinic up with more of the type of patients that you really wanna see.

And like I said, you only have a certain amount of appointments. No different to you and I, Jim, when I said that I know that using the doctor title will repel certain amount of podiatrists. It's great because I only have a certain amount of time per week to work with people who don't get offended. Because I don't like handing out tissues to people. I find it really uncomfortable that, oh, did I offend you?

I'm sorry. Here's a tissue.

I mean, it's only it's only happened to me a couple of times. So I I keep coming back every week to chat with you. So

I know. I know. It's one it's just I don't know. It's one of those things that I think so many podiatrists try so hard to just please everybody. And I think one of the the person that you should be trying to please the most is yourself.

So if you choose not to use the title doctor for whatever reason, as long as you're choosing it because you choose not to use it, and it's not because, oh, you think someone's gonna look at you funny if you use it or or these people who do use it are stupid for doing it. If you've got your own reasons for not using, then that's perfectly fine. But it comes back to all your your marketing and everything you're doing is it you have to make yourself happy first. It's not about trying to make your patients happy or make your team happy. Concentrate on what you want, make yourself happy, and then and then build on it basically from there.

Yeah. You've gotta have a certain level of job satisfaction and professional satisfaction in the work you're doing every day. And to get out of bed, to go to work, to see, you know, between twenty and thirty patients a day, You just can't walk, you know, can't kinda go through the motions with that. You have to feel empowered by your situation. And I think, like you mentioned, by kind of attracting more ideal patients, you're gonna have that that motivation and that professional satisfaction.

So, you know, if if that requires, you know you know, repelling or kind of putting up a few people that don't kind of aren't right fit patients for your practice, that's totally okay. There's someone else in the community that can take care of those folks. But when you when you're deliberate about the type of patients you wanna see and you make efforts to kind of move in that direction, you know, like I said, that that's gonna lead to more kind of professional satisfaction and make your job and the people you're working with feel more satisfied and more excited to come to work each day.

Yeah. And it even refers to your location where you work from. When I had my podiatry clinic, we went to so much we we put so much time and effort into making sure the podiatry clinic looked great. And that if there was somebody who was very budget conscious, they would walk past their clinic, maybe open the door and start to walk in and go, no. This is not the place for me because they just looked too nice.

And they they might walk out or they just go past. Whereas I know other podiatrists, I've walked in there and I've gone, oh my god. The carpet's worn. They got these old looking chairs. The walls were painted thirty five years ago, and it just looks like back in the day when people were allowed to smoke inside, and it looks like there's smoke stains on the ceiling.

And you sort of just go, this clinic attracts a certain type of patient. And maybe they're doing the right thing. They are repelling certain people, so they're they're not trying to satisfy everyone. So I think if if you want to attract a certain type of patient, it's it's all your marketing, but how your business looks is also part of your marketing, what your business what it looks like when you walk in, what it smells like, what can people hear. There's this all the senses for patients are actually going off when they first walk into your clinic.

Yeah. It's it's really important to make that first impression in real world. Whether it be online or in the real world, you know, a positive one. So

Well, I think I've either attracted or repelled enough people today, Jim.

I get I guess we'll find out once we get the download numbers. Right? I know.

We get we get the downloads and all of sudden, this is massive just plummet. And you go, yeah. Good one, Tyson. That that worked really well. We'll delete this episode, and it'll go, yeah, 60 something sick blank, and then it'll just keep going from there.

We'll we'll learn from our mistakes. It's it's it's all good.

Well, it's a story of my life. I and that's what and that's why I think it's really important to just constantly be testing different things all the time.

For sure.

Is if you worry that I if I do this, what will the result be? Well, you don't know. If you'd never try it, you'll never know. So if you're not sure, try it with a small pool of people. But I know we we've spoken about this subject on other podcasts, on the podiatrist legends podcast.

I've spoken about it, and I've got very few complaints sent to me. So if anyone's listening to this and they have any complaints, please send a email to Jim.

I I can take it. I can take it. So

And Jim will pass it on to me. So okay, Jim. I've I've worn myself out on this one.

Alright. Now, this has been a good one, and we'll see, you know, we'll see how much my inbox fills up. Yeah. Hopefully, not too much, but and, you know, until then, hopefully, we'll talk to you soon.

Okay. Talk to you next week. Bye.

Bye. 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.