Storytelling Adds Value to Your Podiatry Practice

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. Joining me as always, Tyson Franklin. Tyson, what's shaking there in Australia?

What is shaking? Just myself. There's what's that song? There's a lot of I have. I've had a fair few coffees today, and I think I've I'm at my limit.

Even when you just have the you've had enough coffees you get. If I have any more, I'm just not gonna start feeling well, whereas coffee's supposed to pick you up. But, you know, you see those those ads was it Red Bull? It gives you wings.

Mhmm.

I'm yet to ever have a Red Bull and sort of go, oh, yeah. I feel fantastic now. Or even a coffee. Caffeine just doesn't seem that just have that effect on me. Where some people will say, oh, if I have a coffee, I just all of a sudden or I can't get going until I've had a coffee.

Yeah. I get a little bit of little more focus when I have coffee, but I I agree with you sometimes if you're it can sometimes make other people a bit more anxious. I think you were before I cut you off, you're talking about Jerry Lee Lewis. A whole lot of shaking going on.

A whole lot of shaking going on. He only died just not too long ago. Passed away.

Yeah. Yep. Just a little while ago. But before we get into like death and Jerry Lee Lewis and great balls of fire Jeez.

We go off, shall we?

How about we jump into today's topic? What are we gonna be chatting about today?

Today's topic is about storytelling adds value or adds value to your podiatry business, add value it adds value to pretty much everything you do. So I'm gonna tell a story, if if you don't mind, and I've written this down so I so I don't miss anything. And this was a story that somebody told me probably about six months ago. I was on a webinar, and I I overheard someone tell this story, and I went, jeez, that just makes sense to why storytelling adds value to a particular business. And I might not have the story exactly right, but even with the way I tell it, I still think it makes sense.

So let's see how we go. There was a a tofu company. Sounds sounds exciting already, doesn't it? There was a tofu company in Japan, and there was all this pressure. So they so they made the tofu, and they gave it to different people who then on sold it to customers.

So anyway, their particular customers, the wholesalers, were putting all this pressure on them about we want you to cut your prices and make cheaper tofu. Because there were other places where they could get it from, and all these other people were starting to drop their prices because there was a big tofu battle on of all things. Who would have thought? We're all sleeping at night, there's a tofu battle going on. So so this left them a couple of options on what they could do.

They could buckle to the pressure of, like, their wholesalers, and they could cut their prices and therefore cut their profits as well. Basically, what they would have been doing is cutting their prices down so that they could supply tofu to their, say, wholesalers who would then probably supply it to fast food outlets. And that's how it was gonna become fast food tofu. And we've all had had that before. They could try and fight and try and justify.

So the second option was really, no. We're always gonna keep our prices as they are, and we're just gonna try and fight and justify why we need to, yeah, charge higher prices because their quality is better. And it's so easy for businesses to say, oh, we're we're better. Yeah. We're we're not gonna charge we're gonna drop our prices because we're better.

Or the third option, which is what they did, is they tell a better story. What was it that made their tofu so special? And they went on and they talked about the farm and the location and the and the climate that they actually grew the soybeans in and what what made it really, really unique to that particular area of Japan. And then they talked about the people that worked on the farm and the number of generations who have worked there generation after generation and how they've put all these systems in place and how they cared about the plant and the attention and love that that went into this particular tofu, which what is what made it so much more superior than any other tofu that was on the market. And by telling that story, they didn't need to compete on price anymore.

Instead, they they they got paid what their tofu was worth, and therefore, they were picked up as they were the one of the best tofu companies around, and didn't need to sort of cut their prices, and their profits were still there. That's where storytelling adds value to any particular business.

I think that makes a lot of sense. I think communication skills are really, really important, not only when you're describing what you provide to your patients, but like you said, what makes you different? What's a differentiator with you versus the podiatrist down the street? By storytelling, you can kind of communicate those differences and kind of show it in a genuine way to a potential patient.

Who would have thought tofu would be so exciting? But there was another story I heard once where there was a lady who walked into a, like, a jewelry place that sold estate jewelry. And she walked in there and said to the band, oh, this is my mom's brooch. I wanna sell it, please. And he went, oh, what can you tell me about it?

And she said, that's my mom's broach. And he goes, no. No. No. No.

What can you tell me about the broach? He goes, he goes, where where did your mom get the broach from? She goes, oh, my mom got it from my grandmother. Oh, where did your grandmother get it from? Oh, she got it from my husband.

Alright. Okay. So when when did he buy it for? Oh, in in whatever year. And he says, oh, it would've been just before the war.

Did he fight in the war? She went, oh, yeah. But I think he may have just been like a cook or or something like that. He goes, no problem. So all of a sudden, they told this whole story about this broach as, you know, the this guy bought it for his the love of his life before he went off to fight in the war, and she cherished this broach, held onto it for four years while he fought in battle.

And then he came home to her, and this heirloom had been passed down from generation to generation, and now we have it on for for self to you. So the person buying that broach will pay more money for a broach that they can then tell their friends at a dinner party, oh, yeah. I got this broach. Well, let me tell you a story of this broach that is worth more than just saying, oh, here's a broach. I bought it at a secondhand place.

And that's the the value of putting some meaning behind everything that it is that you do.

Yeah. I think that makes a ton of sense. Like you said, we're human beings. We're kinda like preprogrammed to want to have, you know, discern meaning or, you know, understand what's happening, whether it be an object or an event. We like to have something that kind of, you know, fits our kind of view of the world.

And sometimes when these stories are told, it endears us to an item or to an event or to people.

Well, what's funny, people might be listening to this episode and, okay, Tyson, is great, but how the hell does this relate to podiatry? What what is storytelling or how can I add it? And to give two more examples, there used to be an ad here in Australia for beer. And they and there's one particular ad that said, our beer is chill filtered. Fair enough.

That became their big slogan. But then we figured out later on that all beer was chill filtered, pretty much. And when you hear a car company said, we have a 65 safety check on our cars, we probably find 64 of them are required by law to be out there. But so it's whoever tells that story first. So if if a podiatrist go, okay.

Well, how does this apply to me? How are your orthotics made compared to everybody else's in your area? Do you use a different material? Is your material does it come from overseas? Is it is it from Germany?

Is it from a small town in Germany? Is there something about how your orthotic device or any any other product or something that you use in your business that is unique that maybe nobody else is using in your area, or is there a story behind that product that you can slightly embellish?

And I think that's a great point. I think one of the things I've learned along the way is that, you know, for example, let's say you're the podiatrist for a sports team. Yeah. Sometimes the story around how you became that podiatrist and how you work with those athletes, and it not only does it really kind of, like, make things interesting for the person you're treating you know, maybe it's maybe they're not a sports fan, but for a certain number of people, and it's something that you can kind of put out there, having those stories around, you know, why the, you know, Philadelphia Phillies trust you to make their orthotics or something. It tells a story about you that they, like, decide to associate with you.

It can be, like, a huge aspect of, like, you know, adding to the own story of your practice, how you treat your patients, you know, maybe even allow you to charge a little bit more since you have these other people that, trust and see you as this kind of outstanding expert in the field, whether it be orthotics or surgery or something. So there's a lot of ways that storytelling can, you know, just honestly show people in your local area the great care that you provide.

Yeah. Well, there was a physiotherapist, not that I used to see, that I see here in Cairns at different times. I remember when he was in his other practice, and I saw something sitting down on the floor, and I made a comment. He goes, oh, yeah. When I when I was a physiotherapist for the Melbourne Storm.

So the Melbourne Storm is sort of like being the podiatrist for the Dallas Cowboys. That's the prestige that we probably have in that particular sport. I went, how long did do that for? He said, about ten years. I went, holy.

I said, so you got all this memorabilia behind this cupboard thing there? Said, yes. Why is it not up on the walls? I went, oh, just yeah. Didn't know.

I thought big noting myself. I went, but that is like for you to be a physiotherapist for that particular club, I mean, they don't they only work with the best. So straight away, that just gives you all this street cred. And then we're going through and he showed me all this stuff, I went, have you been to Olympics? He said, oh, yeah.

I've been to five. My god. So now in his new clinic, he's got memorabilia everywhere, all around his whole in his reception area, down the hoist, every team he's been part of. And he just said and I said, wow, that looks really, really good. He said, yeah.

Some really, really smart podiatrist told me I should put it up, and my god, it's made a difference to my business.

Because Funny you mentioned that.

It's incredible.

Whenever I was first seeing a podiatrist for some of my foot and ankle issues, I was treated by the the podiatrist who treated Sebastian Coe like a gold medalist Yes. Runner Yeah. From The Great from Great Britain and The UK. And I just remember thinking that, like, I am being seen by the person. And I would occasionally get a little story about Sebastian Ville from Obviously not medical information.

No HIPAA violations were were done, but it just, it made it more relatable. You know, like to know that this person had a story associated with this athlete, you know, put me at ease and built, you know, trust in the care that he would provide. So, yeah, sports are huge vehicles for storytelling. It's something that a lot of patients will be able to relate to, you, the health care provider, the podiatrist, on a more human level when you have that that that connection.

Yeah. And it's it's all those stories. Every story that you can put together and in another episode, I wanna talk about micro storytelling, which is a is a different beast altogether. So I'm not gonna get into it on this episode, maybe in a couple of weeks time. But I think all your life experiences that you have that you can adapt into a story that can relate to how it's helped your career or improved your career in some way or made you connected in some way is something that you I think you need to work on.

I think all podiatrists need to become better storytellers. And you don't have to be an expert at anything in particular to be a good storyteller as well.

No. I think that's a great point. I think, you know, stories are kind of what we tell ourselves about why we're in a position we're in. Right? Like, why did we get into podiatry in the first place?

That's kind of a story in and of itself that helps you lead to maybe some of those other stories about how you practice or why you practice a certain way. And then finding those, like you said, those connections with your patients or with your ideal patients to understand what they would like to hear and how you have genuine stories that help endear them to you and the care you provide. All those things just cement that doctor, podiatrist, and patient relationship in a way that is very fulfilling for both sides of that relationship.

Yeah. And it's in our DNA to enjoy listening to stories. We're we're we're it's in us to tell stories. It's in us to listen to stories. And a friend Dave Fries, who said it best once at this event, he said, you're going way back to your caveman days.

He said, and they told stories by writing things up on the wall, yeah, on on the caves. So they did paintings. He said, and they'd be standing there telling a particular story about, oh, what you make sure, when you go over that hill, don't don't don't go to the left. There's a big bloody saber toothed tiger that's gonna eat you. So all of sudden, everyone who listened to their story went right and they lived.

Everyone that didn't listen to the story went left and got eaten. Thank God. So their gene pool disappeared. So it's it's in our DNA to listen to stories, share stories, and I think there's nothing better than you're at an event and someone's talking, and they're telling a story about something. And you can see everybody in the room just sort of really start to tune in, unless it drags on too long.

Then they sort of start looking at their phone and looking at their watch and going, my god. This is this is dragging my but if there's a a brief story that has a point to the topic, I think it's really important. So I think every podiatrist is listening to this. Just go through your life. Go through all your experiences, things you've done, people you've met, and start noting these down and sort of thinking, if I was gonna talk to someone about this or a patient, how could I use this in a story that relates to, you know, maybe their treatment?

Or it's just sometimes it's just some fantastic polite conversation.

I think that's a great point there. You just really wanna focus on, you know, being relevant to that specific patient and something that's gonna provide value to them. And if you do those two things, it'll help grow that relationship, build trust, you know, obviously, along with a great care you're providing, just kind of creating that human connection is something that's really, really important. Because we, when we work with patients, we work with ways, you know, we see sometimes patients in the worst times, you know, like they're not coming to the podiatrist or to the doctor when things are great and they're feeling amazing. But by, you know, connecting with them, providing stories, providing great care, it makes that experience something that is beneficial to them, not only from a physical standpoint, but like I said, from a mental standpoint and something where, you know, it's that great experience they have with you will translate to other patients down the road because these things are kind of, you know, can spread virally or just kind of around by word-of-mouth by connecting with patients on that human level.

Yeah. And I think when you're sharing a story with the patient, whether it's about your experiences or, yeah, the development of your career, I think when you share something with the patient that may not be on your website or well known to the to the rest of the world, they feel like they can trust you that little bit more. And if they feel that they can trust you, then I I think they open up a little bit more as well. And they will tell you probably a little bit more than what they normally wouldn't say. And the amount of and I don't I don't know.

I people have probably already picked up. I don't mind having a chat, which is which is why I do the podcast. But I used to get patients that would just tell me things, and they'd say, oh, I've never told anybody this before, and they would just start telling me all this stuff. And it's because I could tell a good story, and therefore, it allowed them to tell me a good story. And some of these patients that we we shared stories, and some of them were war stories.

Not that I was in the war, but, you know, just the battles and things we've gone through that made us the people that we were, I was so much closer to them.

I think that's a great point. I think sometimes in the days we have to you know, the the way that health care is provided now, people have thirty, thirty five patients on their agenda or on their schedule, and it can be hard just to not see a patient as a diagnosis or a treatment. And when you treat them like a human being, like you said, it delivers a different type of connection and different opportunity by taking that extra two minutes to listen to their story, to be a good listener, to tell them some things that relate directly to them in ways that they feel good about and can understand. And sometimes, you know, telling some ways and things of a story, it just makes it more relatable and really kinda can cut through some of that disconnect or the kind of the sterility that a lot of people associate with health care or with medicine.

And so we've sort of moved on from storytelling adding value to more like, we've I think we switched over to communication. But to flick back to the storytelling adding value, it's just think about everything you're doing in your business. And if you wanna put your fees up, don't not put your fees up because you don't think you can. If you're going to put your fees up, don't just justify why you're putting the fee up. Is tell the story behind why the fee may have increased.

This extra skill that you have or you you have something that other people don't have, and really give it some thought that what can you talk to your patients about that are gonna separate you? Because when they leave your clinic, I always say, when a patient walks out of your clinic, they go to a number of places. They'll go and see some friends. They'll go and see family. They'll go and see another health professional, or they'll go to their lawyer.

So you wanna know that when they're going to talk to somebody else or that could be work colleagues. When they're talking to somebody else other than the lawyer, what is it that they're saying about you? Are they gonna go and say, oh, I saw this podiatrist today and, yeah, dug a corner out of my foot? Or are they gonna say, oh, I had this corner foot, and I saw this podiatrist today, and did you know that? Boom.

Boom. And they're gonna tell they're gonna retell your story or or part of it or, yeah, why your your clinic is the best clinic going around because of these different things that you do.

I think that's really important point.

Because you've seen those. Have you ever had anyone say to you, oh, I see a substance use. He's the number one brain surgeon in America. And as far as I know, they don't have the Olympics for brain surgeons, but they all get in a room and they all hand out a gold, silver, and bronze medal. I'm thinking part of the way that that person became the number one brain surgeon in all of America is because he told the story of what he's done, his achievements, places he's gone, people he's spoken to, events that he's attended.

And the patients have put those little pieces together, part of their story, and have have pushed him up the rankings of where he should be. Therefore, when he's charging $10,000 for an operation and the other guy down the road only charges 7, he can charge 3,000 more because he's the number one brain surgeon in America. And I think podiatrists can do it as well. I used to tell all my patients I was the number one podiatrist in Cairns. There you go.

And and then I'd bump into people, they say, oh, here, you're the number one podiatrist in Cairns. I go, that is the rumor, and I should know because I started it. So I think I've just about I've covered that topic. And like I said, in a couple weeks' time, I wanna talk about micro storytelling, which is taking parts of a story and breaking it up over a period of time, which is is really important. It's it's sort of like a carry on from this.

No. That makes a lot of sense to to follow-up with that micro storytelling. Thanks a lot for sharing all these these pearls of storytelling. You are my number one cohost of all time

for any podcast. Yes. Oh, that's

it. Ever done?

Fantastic. And I know about tofu.

I mean, that was some interesting stuff. I'm not a huge tofu guy, but at the same time, if you're gonna have tofu, you might as well have the best, right, with the best stories.

Yeah. And you may as well

for sure.

Well, the next time you're eating tofu, you can share that story or an abbreviation of it or some embellishment of that particular story. And you will keep everyone entertained at the dinner table.

Sounds like a plan, Tyson.

Okay. Talk to you next week. Time. Okay. Bye.

Bye now.

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