Why Visual Models Help with Compliance, Education and Sales

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 with my trusty co host, Tyson Franklin. Tyson, what's going on today?

I've had a fantastic I've had a relaxing day. Every now and then, I I just take a day off of doing nothing. Don't have any coaching calls. Don't have any commitments except the podcast today. So it was a relaxing morning.

Yeah. Go to the gym, go and kick some people in the morning, and then come home with something to eat, gonna do some weights, and then the rest of the day is mine. And There you go. This is one of the highlights of my week is doing this podcast.

Yeah. It's always fun. I I always learn something from you, whether it be podiatry related or other topics occasionally.

Somebody said to us, as soon as we get on, we should just press record and then release an episode of all the the the things that I say to you before we press record that you sort of go, oh, have you ever said that on an episode? You would get in trouble. But anyway, it's fun.

So what are we gonna hop into today?

Well, today, we're gonna talk about visual models or why visual models help with compliance education and sales. And there are some people who hear sales and go, oh, don't wanna talk about sales. Well, just don't use that word. But this also is related to, yeah, helping you market your business as well. Basically, when your brain when you hear something, your brain will draw it will draw on past experiences and your imagination, and it will try and put a picture in your head.

What is it that the patients or people, anyone that you talk to, it's pretty much what they refer to as your mind's eye. So when I actually say something to somebody, straight away in their head, they're trying to figure out what I'm saying. They're trying to recall certain things, and they're trying to imagine what it basically could be. If I give an example for you, Jim, if I say pink elephant, what do you see?

I see a large pink elephant in my head.

Okay. Most people won't see the words pink elephant. They'll have an image of an animal. Of what a what a pink elephant looks like. But the pink elephant could be a real elephant that is pink.

Like that, that's the elephant noise. Or it could be a cartoon elephant. What was yours? There's no right or wrong answer.

Mine was a real elephant because I had just recently been to a zoo, and I saw some elephants in the flesh and a little baby elephant. So mine was actually a pink little real baby elephant.

Okay. Fair enough. Once again, that's based on recollection and your imagination. So you've recalled an elephant from the past that you've seen recently, and then you've colored it pink. So then you've used your imagination to actually change it up.

But if you'd never seen an elephant before, say you'd just never seen one before, and I said, see a pink elephant? And you went, what the hell is that elephant? I could actually show you a photo and go, here's an elephant. So an elephant looks like. Now imagine it pink.

So you could easily do that because I've I've given you that particular image. If I say to you, what shockwave therapy, then you you know what shockwave therapy is because you've seen it performed, you may have used it. So straight away, if somebody said to me, oh, I'm thinking about getting shockwave therapy, that's not a problem. But for some people, if you say, you need shockwave therapy, first thing that pops into the head is the 1975 movie, One Flew Over the Cookies Nest, because that's their recollection and their imagination is they've recalled I remember what's in these psychiatric movies, and shock therapy is putting those electrodes on the head, a rubber thing in your in your mouth, and frothing everywhere. Sometimes when you might say to a patient, oh, I think you need shockwave therapy, and they give you a really, really concerned look or they just go, oh, you've gotten really busy at the moment.

It's because you've just terrified them. But once again, you could show them a picture. If you've got your unit there, you could say, oh, this is what the shock wave unit you need shock wave theory. This is what the unit looks like. Here's a, yeah, here's a video that you can actually watch on it, and this is how we apply it to your foot.

Plus, you could also say to them, get that image out of your head of one foot over the cookie's nest, and they'll be going, thanks for that. Yes. That's that's what I was thinking. But this applies to when you say to someone, oh, you need orthotics. When you say the word you need orthotics, what is the image that they're creating?

What you think an orthotic is and what they think an orthotic is could be two completely different things. They may have seen things at chemist shops. They might have had a friend who saw a podiatrist who had no idea what they're doing, and they modified it 15 times. It's this big chunky thing with red things glued to it and strapping tape put over and a bit of felt put on it then they've gone. And in their head, they go, there's no way that is gonna fit in the shoe that I'm wearing.

Laser therapy is the same thing. You talk about lasers, and they're thinking, yeah, space beams, things

coming down, which can blast a hole through their foot?

Yeah. Gonna yeah. They're gonna see this laser coming down. It's just gonna burn a big hole. But the the important part is in those sort of situations, you can say, how you need a flex, and this is what one looks like.

So once again, can live demo. So this is our laser thing, and this is how it works. So you can show them pictures. You can you can show them live demos. But but what if you can't show them a picture or a photo or a live demonstration?

This is where visual models come in. This is the purpose of visual models. And if the concept seems odd to you so if you if you're hearing me say visual models, you're what what do you mean by visual models? Because you can't visualize it. It's just think diagrams.

That's the a visual model is really just a diagram. So it's it's a simplified illustration that explains an idea, structures, or a process. And, some people use diagrams to show how things work or or how things relate to one another. Just think, when I'm saying visual models, think diagrams, but the idea is for you to create your own models. So when you're explaining things to patients, you're putting the right picture in the person's mind at the right time and in the right order.

So sometimes you might be explaining treatment to them and they're just totally confused over what you're talking about. But by using a visual model, you can sort of structure it really easily for them.

One of my friends and colleagues, Don Pelto, does what he calls patient presentations.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Has these yeah. So Don has these, like, different, almost like PowerPoint or Google Slides presentations that he kinda walks through with patients. So he's just not talking at them about the type of care he's providing or what the treatment is or what the cause of the problem is.

He can really kinda show them, you know, with diagrams, with images, what and just to kinda make it hit the point home a little bit more. Like you said, if you're just blasting people with tons of information, you know, they're gonna get pick up maybe 10 to 20% of it. Right? But if you can have some visual representation or some diagrams, they're gonna retain it much better and feel more informed to kind of agree or kinda go along with whatever type of treatment plan you're presenting.

Yeah. I know a lot of dentists use that. They'll say to the patient, I'm gonna put together a treatment plan for you. But they don't do it there and then. They always get them back.

And I know I know some people, they just explain it to me and it's on a piece of paper. And I know some dentists that actually do the same thing. They do, like, a ten minute presentation on a PowerPoint, on a screen, dot points, visual images of what it looks like now, what it's going to look like. And all the ones I know that put in that little bit of extra effort to to help put a picture in the person's person's mind has a far better success rate. So the idea of visual models is to support and influence the conversation or the explanation, especially a treatment plan.

Absolutely. It builds trust as well. Right? Because when they they feel informed and they kinda know what to expect as opposed to just, like, complete blind trust is not something that a lot of people feel comfortable with.

Well, I know I mentioned the orthopedic surgeon earlier on this year or late last year that I went and saw. And he told me, oh, yeah. You need to get this surgery done on your shoulder. But other than the whole appearance and everything about him was just sloppy, I'm thinking, if his operate operating skills are as good as his ironing skills and his shirt, then I'm not really too confident. But he didn't explain anything to me.

He just talked to me what he was gonna do, and I walked out of there with a with a card saying, okay. You need to bring this number to book in to the hospital pretty much to get the surgery done. And I was just not feeling comfortable with the whole process. But if he had taken his time and said, hey, here's an image of your shoulder. This is what we're going to be doing.

You think I'd be able to create some form of models to show me what the procedure is gonna be, what the outcome's gonna be, but, yeah, didn't do that. Now the reason why why this is important, there's this problem called aphantasia, a p h a n t a s I a. Reason I bring this up is it's a mental condition characterized by an inability to voluntary visualize mental images in the mind's eye. So there'll be certain people you will tell them something, and they cannot visualize what you're telling them. It's impossible.

Doesn't matter what you say to them, they can't see it. You can do an what they call an aphantasia test. So we're gonna do this on you, Jim.

Okay.

Now I want you to close your eyes, and I want you to picture an apple in your mind. So just picture let's go with a red apple. Anyone, if you're driving your car at the moment, please don't do this. Pull over. Picture a red apple.

Now what do you see? So when you get your eyes closed, Jim, what what do you actually see?

Like, I see a realistic like, a real red apple with a bite out of it.

Oh, cool. Love its detail.

It's got a little it's got a little stem as well. Like, it's not in the tree. It's, like, kind of just floating in space. It's not a it's not kind of there's no background, really.

Okay. I'm impressed. There's five levels to aphantasia. So aphantasia, like I said, it's a mental condition character, but the inability to visualize mental images. You don't have it, obviously.

So there's if you look at these five levels of being able to do this, the first level is perfectly realistic image as though the item is basically right in front of you. And that's pretty much what you described to me. It's like it was right there. The second level is it's realistic, but it's a it's a little bit vivid. It's not quite as as much detail.

The third level is what the class is moderately realistic where you can sort of see the apple, but it's not it's not there completely. The fourth level is it's dim and vague. It's almost just like an outline of an apple and nothing else. The fifth one is there's no image at all. It's just black.

You close your eyes, and it's black. And two for two to five percent of the population, that's what that's them. So that that is the true aphantasia where they close their eyes. You say, visualize an apple. You can hold the apple in front of you.

Visualize an apple. Close your eyes. No. Black. That's me.

That's I I

can't do it. Yeah. And so when I close my eyes, I know I'm thinking about an apple, but I can't see an apple. Just can't do it. And Yeah.

Remember they used to I've gone through along some business things, and I used just think, oh, maybe I can't concentrate. Is that my problem? And they say, oh, pretend you're walking on this path, and you're going up this hill, and all of there's an old there's a house there, you sit down on this bench, it goes through all this stuff. And there's an old guy sitting there, the old guy turns around, and it's an older version of you, and he says something to you. What did he say?

It's actually a really cool thing to do. I would close my eyes, see nothing. They could do in this whole description, see nothing, but I can feel the path under my feet. I can feel the the breeze. I can I feel there's a house?

I feel the inclination of the hill, and I feel the person in front of me. I still heard the words, but I couldn't see anything. I might as well be doing this in the dark. And what's interesting about it though is it doesn't affect your imagination or creativity. It's just a different way of thinking.

But when you know this five levels is where you could say to someone, oh, I'm gonna make this orthotic for you or I'm going to do this for you. And some people can just visualize it straight. You could even show it to them and then bang straight away. They can visualize it even when they're away, but there's all these different levels. If you got someone like me and you said, oh, we're gonna do this for you, I I can't.

I can't. I don't know. There's no picture in my head, especially if I close my eyes. If I close my eyes, it's black. But if I keep my eyes open, I I get the feel of it, if that makes any sense.

I said it it makes sense, and I think it's sometimes even better to be what you are, I think, because I I find myself that I can visualize things so well that I expect others to have that same ability. But, like, if I don't explain myself enough, like, I'm not being a good communicator to that person because they don't see things the same way as I do. But you on the other hand, like, since you don't have that ability, like, you know that how you need to communicate and explain something to someone. So I I think that that does make sense in in some different ways, and it's important to understand that that type of communication, that that way that you, you know, you see things or don't see things and how it affects the way you communicate with others.

Well, when I used to study, I used to draw boxes, and I would draw lines between those boxes. As long as my eyes are open, I can see those boxes. If I close my eyes, it's black. You know? And some people are, I'm trying to remember what's in there.

They close their eyes and then they remember what's there. I close my eyes with nothing. I gotta keep my eyes open so I can feel what what it was that I had actually drawn out. Why this is important is when you're talking to patients and you're giving them a treatment plan or you're trying to explain some other instructions to them, this is where you use a diagram or you use a visual model. And you can take the patient through the steps.

Can draw, hi. This is what we're gonna do, and here's the five steps we're do. You draw five boxes. Well, these are the three things you need to do, and you draw the three things. Now there'll be some people that can visualize stuff really easily, which is great.

They can look at that piece of paper, probably throw it away, I'll remember exactly what you wrote there. But other people, you need to take them slowly through that that process. And it was funny when I did my marketing workshop on the Gold Coast, I spoke about aphantasia. And it was surprising how many people said, no. No.

I can just I can see an apple without any problems at all. I was like, damn it. But there was another person in the room who couldn't. They said, no. I just see black.

I can't see anything either. When I explain, yeah, a thriving the thriving business model or a thriving career model, I have a five step program I run through. And if anyone's I think it's on my website. I've got these five steps that you go. Step one is like an ambitious student.

Step two is an optimistic graduate. Step three is the frustrated clinician. Step four is the happy podiatrist. And step five is the thriving career, whatever thriving means to you. And when I'm explaining this to people, then I'll show them, you can't jump from step three to step five.

And I'll draw an arrow that you can't jump from step three to step five. You must first become a happy podiatrist before you can ever have a thriving career. And because I step that out and I have it on diagrams, when I'm explaining that to someone, they go, oh, yeah. That makes sense. If someone's just listening to this, the audio of this at the moment, if they've seen my diagram before and they can recall that, then they'll be going there.

If you've never seen the diagram, I'll give you a copy of it, Jim, so you can put in the show notes so people will see what I mean. This is what a visual model actually looks like, and you can do the same thing with your patients. You can use it in team training. It's another thing. You just picture it.

You got some team members you go, but I've told them 10 times how to do it. It's not because they're thick. It's just they don't they're hearing it, but they can't visualize exactly what is it you want done.

Yeah. It's tough for some people to process those things. Right? Some people are more visual, but they need to actually see the thing. They need to have those interconnected steps like you talked about.

Just kinda like throwing a bunch of information at them won't necessarily provide that that understanding and that that clarity that they need those other kind of inputs or those other senses to be engaged.

Yeah. Well, when we would talk to a team member and I would have a new podiatrist out with him and say, okay. This is the process we go through with their patients. I've got I've got tons of visual models that I use. If anyone's ever been to one of my workshops, visual models are everywhere.

That's how I just explain things. And, also, it helps me remember what I'm explaining. I'll take them through that, you know, step one, initial consultation, and then we reappoint them for review. Step two is at the review, you're doing the the the diagnosis. So you've you you're coming up with what you think they should be doing.

Step three is you develop a treatment plan for them. So you're coming up with a prescription. What is it that you're actually gonna do for this for this patient? Then you explain the process, and then you review and tweak it as you need it. So so they're the five steps you'll basically take a patient through.

When I'm dealing with a coaching client, it's exactly the same thing. The initial consultation is a discovery call. You'll sit down and say, what is it? What do you need? What is it you're after?

The at the review or the diagnosis, that's where I'm figuring out, okay, what is your strategy? And then when you're developing a plan, the prescription, that's what tactics are we gonna do to make that strategy a a reality. And the process is basically the action steps. And at the end, I'm reviewing and tweaking things with coaching clients all the time. It's to tell you you would do the same thing with your clients.

You have a process that you would take them through.

Absolutely.

Do you use a visual model or a diagram?

Yeah. I definitely write out there's some different kind of visual things I'll use in kinda in that initial the discovery call, no. But when someone moves to do the kind of the the marketing audit, I try to do things that are visual so that they can really understand, you know, like, for example, like, their Google business profile. Like, if they're like, how are they ranking for podiatrist near me? I try not just to put, like, the numbers there.

There's some nice visual charts I can show them that, like, okay. It's like green and red. Right? So, like, green means that, like, you're in the top three or the the number one kind of in this you know, it's like a it's a map, but there's, like, you know, the different dots or the different kind of points Yeah. In that 20 mile radius.

I mean, it's red over here in the Southeast, but you're it's green in that, you know, 10 miles around your clinic or whatever. And it it is it's a better way, like you said, like, when I do these digital audits, you know, just kinda helping them understand where those opportunities are. And sometimes you can provide so much more information understanding by showing them the kind of that that type of image or diagram as opposed to, like, you know, throwing a bunch of text at them and, like, having them try to parse it out and see understand what it means.

Well, it's no different when somebody gives you a handout, and it's a 600 word handout. And, okay, and just read through this again if you need to be reminded on what to do. And you you read the first paragraph, and you go, I don't wanna read this. Could not be it's like terms and conditions. No one reads the terms and conditions.

But if they gave you something that was a visual model that you could quickly just look at and go, that's right. I'll go do this, and then I've gotta give them a call to say what's what's happening next. It's Yeah. This is the power models. And we used to explain our whole treatment journey visually using flowcharts.

So if a new receptionist started with us, we would explain the whole process and how a patient moved through our clinic just using one flowchart. Everybody ran off that same flowchart, the podiatrist. And I'd say the receptionist is an example. The podiatrist has seen a patient. They did this with them.

What's the next step? What's gonna happen next? And they go, oh, I look at the flowchart. Well, they're supposed to do this next. I said, exactly.

Did you notice that didn't happen? What happens when that doesn't happen? Oh, and that doesn't happen, follow the arrow. You go and talk to the podiatrist, find out why. Alright.

Okay. So everything was all mapped out for them. That and because they knew the process, they pretty much knew when a patient came out after this particular treatment, this is what the next thing was going to be. And if it wasn't, then the only other option was this other thing. If that's what happened, then that's okay.

So you can use it with patients. You can use it with training. You can use it to education, train yourself, and part of sales, use it as part of your marketing as well.

That's a great point. I think you break it down and you kinda make it visual, it makes those processes much more easier to kinda digest and explain and kind of whether it be team training or, like I said, with your coaching clients, it just simplifies things in a way that makes it much more understandable than just spewing a bunch of information to somebody.

Yeah. We mentioned saying to a team member, here's the diagram, and they do something that's not on the diagram. You go to so I noticed that you did this. Yeah. Where can you show me on the diagram that I've trained you on?

Where that is on the diagram? They go, well, no. It's not there. Therefore, what what does that mean? And that's how it means I made a mistake.

Exactly. It does it. It keeps everybody on track, and it keeps everybody just going in the same direction.

Yeah. It builds on consistency and the actions that team is taking, no one's going rogue or trying to be a cowboy or do something that doesn't you know, that's unproven that may be, you know, detrimental to the clinic or to your practice.

Man, don't need Mavericks. Okay. That was all I wanted to say on this. So if you've never used visual models before, not quite sure what to do, hey, reach out to me, send us an email, get in touch, and, yeah, help you where I can.

Sounds good, Tyson. Thanks for this.

Okay. Talk to again next week, Jim.

Bye now. Okay. See you. 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.