What Else Does the Market Want?

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, I'm my trusty co host, Tyson Franklin. Tyson, how are doing today?

I am fantastic. Very big. Jim, how are you doing?

You know, just getting settled in. It might be the studio might look a little bit different for those watching the video. And, yeah, hopefully, we sound just as good as normal, but, yeah, getting settled here in Eugene, Oregon.

Yeah. Well, we have the same microphones all set up. So we should sound as sexy as ever. However, the Internet, where you are at the moment, we're not quite sure about. So if there's a couple of glitches, if anyone's listening to this episode and they go, oh, that seemed a little bit glitchy than normal, please bear with us.

Be kind.

Yeah. Hopefully so.

But with our amazing editing prowess, we will we will make it sound good. So I'm gonna dive because I'm not quite sure how the internet is gonna go. I'm dive straight into today's topic, which is what else does the market want?

Yeah. Definitely looking forward to this one to hear what your thoughts are.

Okay. And what I mean by this is when a competitor brings something new into the market, into your community, into your area, it might be something that has never been in your community before, and you go, no one's ever seen this before. I always reckon don't get overly concerned about it. It's one of those things that you can panic, but don't. Don't sort of see what a competitor does and go, oh, didn't I think of that?

Because the big reason is is you can do it as well. As soon as they bring it into the market and they're using it, if it's just arrived and before they've got the opportunity to get out there and market it and make it something that's super special, if you can get hold of it yourself and introduce it into your own business, if it looks like something that is gonna be very, very worthwhile.

Do you have any specific examples of something in your practice where you sit saw this occasion that this kinda occur?

Okay. Yeah. I'll I'll use my own practice as an example and what the other podiatrist in town didn't do. It was the mistakes that they actually made. So going way back, I was the first clinic in Cairns to set up a treadmill and video camera.

Now that's not flash equipment these days. Every podiatry clinic has one. But in my area of Cairns, Regional Queensland, at the time, there may have been maybe two or three other podiatry clinics. Nobody else had one. So I thought, okay.

I'm gonna set up a treadmill, set up the video cameras, recorded everything, played it back to patients, and we used that in our marketing. It was probably two or three years before the next podiatrist set one up. And I I just sat there shaking my head going, why are you waiting so long to just embrace something that we know other podiatrists have? We know this is something our patients want. We know it's a useful tool, but you're sitting on your hands not doing anything about it.

And like I said, what else does the market want, which I'm gonna get to? This this leads on to something else. But I just think you gotta be one of those people that just don't be a late starter. When you see somebody else introduce something, like I said, don't sit in your hands and then don't do the whole this is gonna sound weird, the Me Too movement, but a different type of Me Too movement. Not the one that most people hear about, but if somebody else has a piece of equipment, they've been marketing it really well and they own that market.

Everybody knows that that clinic has that piece of equipment. Don't turn around later, yeah, Two, three years, I'll go, yeah. We've got it too. Me too. Look at us.

Yeah. By then, it's actually too late. They they will be known for that piece of equipment. And we did that with the treadmill and video. We did the same thing with Shockwave.

We had Shockwave in cans probably five years before the next person got one. Laser for fungal nails probably five or six years before the next podiatry clinic eventually got one. And when we set up the milling machines, we could make our own orthotics on-site. We could make them the same day if we wanted to, but usually, we did it within twenty four hours. Still nobody in Cairns is doing that.

We started that when I had the clinic probably go back now. I well, over twelve, fourteen years ago.

Oh, it's surprising that I've done that so far.

I think it was such a unique marketing tool that we have. By having that, not only was a great service for our patients, sped up the service of of providing an orthotic for patients. They didn't have to wait two weeks, but nobody else was doing it. It just became part of our actual marketing, and it just shook my head. And I was talking to someone only today, and I said, how long do your patients have to wait to get orthotics?

And they said, two weeks. And I went, do you know that I graduated in 1988? And in 1988, patients had to wait two weeks to get their orthotics. Okay. That is no longer acceptable.

I I don't care what anyone says. Two weeks is no longer acceptable. And everybody should be looking at ways to speed up their service. Someone's in pain, basically speed it up.

No. Absolutely. I mean, in this day and age of, you know, instant video, Amazon Prime, people expect things to be there, you know, as soon as possible. And the fact that, you know, very few people are gonna wait two weeks. So if you have that service where you're providing it in, you know, twenty four hours or even forty eight hours, it's a something that's gonna really resonate with local patients and help them, you know, get on track faster to be, you know, less have less pain and kinda get back to their activities.

Yeah. And even if somebody does come in and bring in something new, yeah, way before you heard it, can can you do something similar but different? So they might have a certain type of shock wave. Can you bring in say, be a shock wave as an example. They have a particular shock wave that they might be marking.

Can you bring in something similar to shock wave but slightly different? And therefore, you're marking it so you're not doing exactly oh, me too. Unless you bring it in very quickly after they introduce it. So they haven't had a chance yet to really get hold of the market. Or can you do something similar but better?

Yeah. They might buy a a piece of equipment some equipment that, yes, you might get something that is different, but you might buy some equipment that is similar to what they have, but it is a far better quality for the than what they have. And you can use that in your marketing and your competitors or other people in the market or other podiatrists, they will know. My god. You just bought the same thing we had, but the best one.

We bought the second or third best one because that's all we actually had, yeah, in a budget. Or the question you should be asking, this is what this episode is all about. Think about what else does the market need? What else in your community do they need? And I I used I was always searching for what's next.

What's next? Even though we had the treadmill, we had the shockwave, we had the laser, we had the on-site milling machine, I was sort of going, what's next? What what are they using overseas that we don't have in Australia? Or what have I heard a podiatrist is using in Brisbane, Sydney, or Melbourne that we don't have in cans yet, but I know that there seems to be a want and need for it. So then I'd go searching for that stuff.

Yeah. I think that really emphasizes the point of, you know, going to meetings, talking with colleagues, just kinda staying on top of the latest and the greatest to see, you know, if some of those things are the right fit for the type of patients you're treating in your clinic or the type of patients that, you know, you want to treat. You know, listening to your patients is huge as well and just being, you know, insightful about what type of patients are coming your way and are there better ways to treat them? I think that's a that's a huge point there.

Yeah. I think you hit the nail on the head then. That's the benefit of going to conferences is when you've got all the supplies there. And I went to the the Australian Podiatric Conference last year, and and I'll probably go to the next one even though I'm not a member. I still don't mind going to these things because it's surprising when the suppliers have got stuff there.

You haven't got all the usual toys that you're used to seeing, but there's always something new. There's always something that makes you go, oh, haven't seen that before. And you can see the excitement on people, but it's also when you're looking at that new equipment and you're thinking, okay, that's good, but and then you're talking to other people that may have something similar and they go, oh, this is how we use it. You know, ah, okay. Now I can see how I could actually use it in my business.

So I think that's a really good point, Jim, is get to the you need to get to places where suppliers are gonna be so you can look at what they've got there, touch and feel, and actually ask them a lot of questions.

Yeah. Absolutely. You know, getting the information straight from the source at those conferences is huge. And also just, you know, some people are now presenting papers or they're doing case studies, you know, with some of this instrumentation. Obviously, sometimes it seems a bit biased.

Some of these, you know, studies of one, you sometimes see associated with different types of modalities. But at the same time, some of these things can be hugely valuable. So if you can be on the cutting edge by talking to these experts and going to the conferences, you'll be a step ahead of the competition potentially.

Yeah. And I just wanna get back a step too is to remind everyone, in on episode a 40, it was told no one owns the whole market. And I think it's important to remember that that if somebody does have something that's new, they've introduced it. Say you were lazy and you sat in your hands too long and and you eventually did buy that piece of equipment, something that was gonna weigh on your patience a little bit. Just be aware.

They don't own the whole market. So don't think, oh, yeah. Now it's too late. I won't worry about it. If it's still something that you know your patients need, you know, that they want it, it's it's it's gonna fill the desire that your patients can help with treatment, then still get it because, like I said, they don't own the whole market.

You will still be able to eat into that, but you never know. You might be better at using whatever that is than the next person. You might be able to get hold of that service of treadmill and video. You may be able to market that better. You might be able to extract information from it that they're not quite sure.

If they're just using it very superficial, you might go deeper with it. So don't be don't be afraid to introduce it if you if you have been a little bit late because nobody will actually own that whole market. But the important part is whatever piece of equipment you're looking at is and whatever you're gonna offer your patients, you must look at your patient base and go, okay. Can they use it? Yes.

But can have they got the money to pay for it? Because if you've got a very budget minded patient base and they do not have the money, then don't waste your time because they won't use it.

No. It's a great point. Like you said, you just have to know your patients and what their needs are and what they're able to do, and it has to be that right fit for each modality or each type of treatment you bring into the practice.

The last thing I just wanted to touch on is when you're looking at the total market, just realize what whatever service you're bringing in and whatever problem you're gonna treat, there's two parts to to the community. There's a group of people who are aware that they have a problem. And when you identify them, it's very easy to market that new service to them. Then there's gonna be a whole group of people who are totally unaware that they've even got a problem. They've got it.

They just don't know they've got it. And that is a lot more work to try and get that message across to. So if you're bringing in something new, look at who in the market understands they've got a problem and is looking for a solution and then go and only market to them. Don't just try and market to everybody because it costs a lot more money to try and educate people if they're not actually searching for the information.

I think we've touched base on this on a few different podcasts, but you bring up a good point there is that, you know, sometimes someone gets a new piece of equipment or modality, and they know that they have it. They don't know how to kind of communicate that they have this. You know, maybe it's faster. Maybe it's less painful modality. You have to find the right messaging on in the right medium in order to get more patients in the door to help, you know, facilitate and pay for this, you know, the modality you have.

So and it and if you're successful, then obviously it's gonna pay for itself and and even more. But you just have to make sure that the message and the medium you're using to get the word out about, like you said, some people don't know that, you know, the difference between, you know, different types of wart treatment or something. Right? So they don't know what a SWIFT is. So you have to sometimes really speak in the language of the patient and let them be know that you have it.

Otherwise, if you're not speaking the language of the patient, you're gonna get nowhere potentially with some of these, you know, higher cost modalities you bring into your practice.

Yeah. And so just to wrap up on this, I just the idea of this episode was to get you thinking that when you see a competitor bringing something new, straight away make a decision. Is that something we we could use? Will my patients need it? Can they afford it?

Will they pay for it? If the answer is yes, don't sit on your hands too long. Jump on board. Either use it and own that market with them or get something different and be a direct competitor to whatever it is that they're using, but also think of what does my patient need next. What what do they what else does the does the market want?

And be the person try and be the person that that starts it first. Don't always be sitting there. And this is what everybody did in Cairns. When I had my clinic and I was building it up, every other podiatrist sat on their ass because they they were lazy, and a lot of the ones in Cairns still are lazy. They still just sit there.

And they look at what everybody else is doing, and then they do it. I think sometimes you've just gotta take the punt and be first. What else did my patients and you ask your patients. Talk to them about what what else could they could possibly use, and then be the first person to introduce it into the market. Now, obviously, who came second in the hundred meters at the in the Olympics?

Nobody remembers, but they usually remember who came first. And that's why when you think about what do my patients need, you get it. You introduce it first. Usually, you can you can own that market before the next person gets older because no one remembers who came second.

That's a good point.

Okay, Jim. That's all I want to say on this particular topic. And as I said at the beginning of this episode, that the Internet has not been the best today. So if it's been a little bit glitchy, if it sounds like Jim hasn't said much in this particular episode, he may have said a lot. It may just not have come through.

Because when I was looking at him, I saw his lips moving a lot, but not every word came through. So we will edit this, and we'll and by the end of it, I'm sure you've sort of gone, I'm glad I listened to this episode. So so, Jim, I look forward to talking to you again next week. You can just give me a wave or you can try and say goodbye.

Alright. I'll see you later, Tyson. Have a good week.

Okay. See you. 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.