Why Your Reception Area Might Be Killing Your Marketing

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. Join as always my trusted co host, Tyson Franklin. Tyson, how's it going today?

I am fantastic today, Big Jim, and this week is your birthday. So everybody who's listening to the podcast in the week that it's released, big happy birthday to Big Jim.

Yeah. I'm enjoying my last couple weeks here in Oregon before heading back to lovely Montreal, but thank you for the birthday wishes, Tyson. I appreciate that.

So when when do you officially arrive back in Montreal?

Early July. So, yeah, just in a couple weeks from now.

Okay. You looking forward to it?

Yeah. It'll be good to be home. I as much as I enjoy my original home country of America and and being on the West Coast here in Oregon, it'll be nice to be kinda back amongst some friends and family back in the great the great white North of Canada there in Montreal.

So And you get to speak French again. Oui oui. Magnific oh, no. It's a different I was about to go off in a different language. Anyway, so let's get on to today's topic, which is why your reception area might be killing your marketing.

I like this topic because it's one the things a lot of times when we think of marketing, we're always thinking about what we're doing in the online and and offline world, like, through our through our advertising, could be a social media post, email, and mail campaigns. It's like hard copy mail, that type of thing. Some people still do that, and it works really well because hardly anyone's doing it. Going to networking events and all that, but one of the most powerful marketing tools is basically right inside your clinic, and that that is your reception area.

No. I mean, that's kind of the person that they see when they walk in the clinic. Right? So if you're if you have a someone that's not a people person or someone that is a bit of a grump, it's gonna have a certain impact and effect on the the rest of clinic clinic visit. Right?

So Yeah. And that reception area is really just it's that's what's sending the message to the person or the patient when they walk in your clinic. And all the hard work. You could be busting your butt, creating this amazing marketing and bringing people into your clinic, and they walk through the door, and it is all undone. And back on recent episode one seventy eight it was, It was titled from visit to a raving fan, how to weigh all your patients.

And we're talking about the reception area in that, but we only sort of touched on it briefly, whereas this one was sort of going to dig into it just a little bit deeper.

I think it's a great idea. Like I said, you know, they set the tone for your entire clinic. And if it's, you know, if they're, you know, on the phone or they're like I know that I had a recent experience where I took my son to urgent care, and, like, they're on the phone. They weren't really, like, receptive to me coming in. It's like, okay.

Do I just sit down here? Do I stand up? Are they almost off the phone? It it kinda leads to, like, not necessarily, like I didn't have a horrible experience there because I'm a little bit more understanding now that I kinda like I've been in that position before, I But but, yeah, definitely, if someone's wanting to be seen in an urgent setting, you think, you know, this is relatively urgent. You're gonna be talking to someone right away.

So, yeah, that that front desk person can have a huge impact.

Yeah. The funny part about it, we've I think we've all been to places where we've experienced just normal service. Nothing has really stood out. You come, you go. We've all been to places where we've had exceptional service.

And if you sit back and think about what made that whole experience exceptional, then you should be noting that down. I I don't think I walk into a business now where I don't while I'm there, I'm looking around. I'm looking at the staff. There's so many things that can create a positive experience for the person who's sitting there, and it only takes a couple of things to unravel, basically, all that hard work. A patient walking into your clinic, before they've ever met the podiatrist, what happens in that reception area could set the tone for the visit.

That's what we touched on 178 where the podiatrist might have the patient come in, and sometimes you just get the feeling that the patient doesn't like you. And it could have been something that's happened before they've walked in that room with you. And then you've gotta almost work twice as hard as a podiatrist to sort of undo all that all the damage that's been done.

Yeah. Sometimes they'll have that digital online impression. Right? Like, maybe you have an amazing website and they come and there was, you talked about, like, you know, we've talked about previously, like, there's garbage in the in the parking lot Yeah. Or, you know, that the the door is squeaky or they they can't open it's not easy to open up the door and then, you know, all this kinda, like, the great website you have is kinda, like, in the in clinic experience, and that's where that front desk staff is hugely important as well.

It's like, is there a kind of a normal trade off between what their expectations were coming into your clinic, and are you meeting or exceeding those expectations kind of during their journey into your clinic?

Some of things like your waiting area or your reception area, some of the things it tells patients straight away is, yeah, do do they feel safe when they're actually there? When they're sitting there, does it feel like a a safe environment? Is the clinic professional and modern? That's another thing it'll say. It'll also say, is it tired, cluttered, and outdated?

And we've all been to businesses where you sat there and you've gone, oh my god. You just you look you look at some of the furnishings and you go, okay. Yeah. Obviously inherited this from someone

Back in the seventies.

Yeah. Back in the seventies, that plush carpet would have looked really good. But now that big hole that you've worn through the middle of it, yeah, it's sort looking a bit, yeah, looking a bit tired. And, yeah, do they do they just pay attention to the detail of the clinic, or does it actually just look disorganized? I've been to places where you would just you'll see desks, and there's just there's stuff everywhere, and then you'll see the patient yeah.

Someone will walk out, ask the one of the team members a question. Oh, do you have such an oh, hang on a sec. And they're shuffling here. Sound effects. They're shuffling things around on their desk, and it just it looks like nobody knows where anything is, and you go, jeez.

I hope my records are being looked after better than than what they're doing. And I must admit, I've been to places where, this happened recently, where we've required some paperwork for someone. They can't find it. Yet when I think back to their business, I'm going, I also recall everything being quite cluttered and disorganized, so I don't think about why they actually lost my paperwork. And you'll realize when people are sitting in that space, if things are just they're not not feeling safe, everything's disorganized, it's cluttered, they're gonna be thinking, are they gonna take care of me the same way they look after that particular reception area?

And I think people, even when they come into doctor's offices, obviously, you and I being in clinicians, you know, we're just used to being in a doctor's office. It's not a big deal for us. Like, it's it doesn't we don't get into kind of the flight or, you know, fight or flight kind of mentality. But I think some people just are uncomfortable in medical offices. And if you kind of lead them down the path where it's disorganized, if they feel uncomfortable being there, it, you know, doesn't feel like a a warm, caring space.

When they come into the the treatment room with you, they could be they could have a defense up. They could have their guard up. They could be having a bad experience already before you even jump in the door. So I I definitely, you know, we sometimes don't realize that, you know, maybe someone's in pain as well, right, when they come and see you. So Yeah.

They're not necessarily their best self already when they're coming in the door. And if there's ways that you can kind of kinda you know, with the music you're playing, with the way that your clinic looks, the organization of the clinic to help calm their and kinda put them at ease can be a huge component of, you know, providing great care for them.

Yeah. Well, you're jumping ahead of me on a few things here, but that's okay. We will get to the some of them and more. Now I

haven't looked at I haven't looked at list. I'm just you're you're making my mind's running wild right now.

No. I did that to you all the time. You'll be talking about something. And then we we have we're just we're gonna tell a secret here to everybody. Jim and I do have notes that we tend to follow.

Well, we try to follow. We don't we don't always do a great job, and we give each other copy of the notes, but we don't always study the notes exactly. We use them as a bit of a bit of a guideline. So staying on track of the notes that I have written down here, Jim. The other part that patients will notice in the reception area is if everybody is respectful to each other.

How does the staff interact? I've been in places where you'll see the business owner treat the other staff poorly, like they talk down to them, or I've seen a more senior reception person talk down to the junior reception person, and it never looks good. To me, it just there shouldn't be any disrespect amongst team members. And it's also, what what the mood? Because if they're talking to each other like that I've seen where there's been staff together, and, obviously, they've had an an altercation earlier on, and you can just you can cut the air.

You just and the patients the patients can read the room. They're they're not stupid. They can tell when people don't get along. Will you pass me that? And they just look at each other.

You know? No. You shouldn't be doing that. And, also, the patients, when they're sitting there, they wanna know that their records are gonna be confidential, that nobody's gonna know about anything about their particular problem. Are the receptionists or the people in that front area, are they talking about patients in earshot of other patients?

Oh, Mary was in here the other day. Oh, what a total bitch she is. You can't say that. And I've been in doctor surgeries when I've heard them. A patient's been that they've left, and they have called them a cow after that person's left.

And I'm going, you are kidding me. Then it makes me, what do they say about me when I leave? Like, goddamn. He's a top bloke. I wish he'd come more often.

He's a legend.

Oh, I I can never stress it enough. In that front reception area, every single thing that you say is being heard by your patients. And they can hear even if you're whispering, if you're saying she was a cow, they will still hear that. If any of the things that I've just spoken about then is actually happened or is happening, all your marketing could be a failure from that point. You've done all that hard work and you've basically lost the door.

Yeah. There's no there's no form of marketing, no amount of marketing that can cover that stuff up.

So The next thing I wanna talk about is that your reception area is a branding touch point. We've talked about touch points before. Might have been a one seventy eight as well. So and your brand isn't just your logo. It's it's how the patient feels about your clinic.

And I've said previously, if you don't define your brand, what you stand for, what you're all about, then your patients will define it for you. You know, they'll be the ones who will walk in and tell everybody what your clinic is actually all about. So therefore, your reception area needs to really reflect what your brand is all about. So visually, if you think about your visual branding, is what are your corporate colors? Do you know what they are?

Do you actually know the numbers of your corporate colors? Like, I don't mind. Everything that I do, I actually have them down in my brain book. I write them at the beginning of my brain book every year, and then I just transfer it across. So I always make sure my red is a c two b three seven, and the gray is five five five six five b.

And if people don't know what I'm talking about, then you don't know what your branding colors are. So it's just everything in your reception, if you're using same corporate colors in brochures and everything, you need to know what your corporate colors are. They can't be close enough. They've they've gotta be spot on. And it's also, do you have corporate fonts?

So your signage, your brochures when I had the podiatry code, we had a certain font that we use for everything. I still do with most of the logos that that I use. I have the same font that I'm using in different variations.

Yeah. It's it's huge it's hugely important to keep it consistent. Right? I think, you know, if you're changing your colors and trying to change your your fonts, people are gonna get lost. They're gonna get confused, and the confused mind says no.

Right? So you have to

I've heard that before.

For sure.

But it's true. Like, I've seen companies where the logo may have slightly changed over a period of time. Instead of just getting rid of everything, it's having a nice fresh look throughout the clinic. Their website will have one logo. Inside the clinic's got another logo.

Then they're wearing a shirt that was like a different one again, but the color of the shirt is the color of their old corporate image that they used to have, and it is it is just a mess. And and people people notice these things. So your design choices, everything you're doing should be consistent with your website and all your other marketing material. So when people have been on your website, may have made a booking, and they walk in your clinic, there should be someone they go, I know I'm in the right place because it just sorta it flows on. And patients are looking for consistency.

Even if they're not saying, I've come here today because I'm looking for consistency. Internally, that's just just what they actually need to see.

Yeah. It's bit of a subconscious thing. Right? Like, you can't sometimes you can't put your finger on it if you're actually having to, like, stop and think about it, but you just, like, you can just tell something feels off if there's not that consistency in the brand.

Yeah. Well, and that's why sometimes you'll see a business where it's all modern, but the website's out of date. Or you see the website's nice and modern, but you walk into the business and it's out of date. And straight away, people will will pick up on that. The other part is just the your brand voice.

Is if your brand or about your clinic is actually saying that you're friendly and fun, then your receptionist should feel should be feel inviting. It should be warm. Everyone's friendly when they're greeted. It shouldn't be really cold and clinical. But if your brand is cold and clinical, if that's what you're saying, then then then that's

come to practice.

Yeah. If people come to your website and they go, goddamn, that's one cold clinical website. But if that's what the website is and they still decide to come to you, then it's okay for it to be that way. But if it's a really cold and clinical website and they turn up, if you got someone playing bagpipes in the reception area, then they're they're probably gonna wasn't wasn't expecting that. So so we we our clinic our big thing, we we promoted superheroes through my clinic because I was a big kid.

We had fun. It was a friendly environment. And I've mentioned how we used to use superheroes right through our clinic. It was it was also part of our branding. The other part with your brand is your it's the promise to your patients.

So if you promise that you provide modern care, then your environment should actually reflect that. Think about and you've mentioned this before too about having a digital sign in, or you might have an area, a station where people can charge their phones, or you might have iPads set up where people can go and check things, or computers where they can check while while they're waiting. So if if you're modern, try and show that you're modern in the reception area.

Yeah. I think I think that's a perfect example. If you're if you claim to be modern, you're not. Or if you claim to be anything and you don't kinda provide that in that kinda real world clinical experience, it's assigned to patients that you're not you don't follow through or you're not necessarily trustworthy.

Yeah. And the good part is you will attract the patients that you want. So if you're a fun, friendly clinic, miserable bastards will stay away. It's just the way it is because there's some people that they just love misery, and if they see there's a business that's having too much just enjoying life, and it's not being fun to the point of being stupid, but just it's a nice, happy environment, you will repel angry people because it's not what they're after. They want cold and clinical.

Just give me the facts. So I'm gonna go over some common mistakes that undermine, basically, all your marketing related to your reception. And one could be for any signage that's faded. So this sends a message that you do not refresh or update anything, which you should be very aware of. Unprofessional looking posters.

So if you've got I've seen clinics that are quite nice, and then they've got posters stuck up on the front of the reception counter with Blu Tack. Oh, yeah. And the Blu Tack has been sitting there along the Blu Tack. Their oils from it have seeped through.

So they're little dots. You see

these on posters? And the and it's got all dog eared. So to me, if you're putting up posters or any signage in reception, frame it at a minimum. Have it at least laminated and have it up straight. Nothing worse walking in a place and seeing pictures crooked on the wall.

That's why this picture behind me forever having to fix it up because when I close the door, it moves slightly. Yeah. It just bugs me. I said this before about, yeah, cluttered counters, you look disorganized and unprofessional. Another one that I think people that think about sometimes, bins, especially if they're full or if it's an open bin.

Because this goes back to, is it a safe environment? And and do you do you care and and pay attention to detail? And if you've got a clinic where people come in with little kids and you've got a garbage bin sitting in the reception area, we've had another patient blow their nose or cough or throw a tissue into it into it, and then kicking up with their hand into it, something you just gotta be aware of. It should be a sort of bin that when something goes in there, nobody else can go and stick their arm down there and and go and grab it.

But that's not good. I mean, us North Americans in our trash cans or garbage cans. Right? Like, you definitely don't have that the opportunity for that kid to reach in and grab something gross.

Yeah. I was just at a I was at a health professional clinic the other day, and they have an open bin. And I'm like, oh, okay. It just it just doesn't it just didn't seem right. And anyway, and even though it was only for drink containers, but there I could see there were tissues in there, and there were other things.

And I've seen this clinic where they do have a little little kids. That's why this one popped into my head. Unfriendly staff interactions, not making the patient feel special or wanted. You said that earlier on. If a person walks in and you're not greeted with a smile, or you're standing there waiting and they're busy doing other stuff or not paying any attention to you, it's just just not good.

Yep. A a friendly greeting and a smile go a long way to making someone feel welcome in your clinic.

It's so hard. You know, I I like it when I go for a walk, you know, a couple of times a week with a dog. If you're walking past people, I always say I say hello to everybody, which might surprise people. No matter who it is, I will say hello to them. And it's surprising not everybody says hello back with a smile.

Some people just look at me like I'm a weirdo. Others don't even make eye contact with me. They will not even make eye contact with me. And they will just look away, and and even if I say hello, actually, I don't I don't say hello to people who aren't making eye contact with me because that is a bit weird. But, anyway, next thing.

Outdated decor and furniture we talked about before, it hurts your trust. And you might say that you're cutting edge, and we really care about our patients. And then your your seating, your reception area, everything just looks outdated back to the orange plush carpet. No clear branding elements is another mistake. We spoke about with the branding.

It's a missed opportunity to reinforce what your brand is actually all about. And another thing is important, Mitch. Just if you have a TV set, you wanna make sure that you are controlling the TV set. You don't just have normal TV playing because it could be political things up there that upset people. It could be movies playing that are inappropriate.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned on this podcast about reception area once where it had a a movie playing, midday movie, and it's and I'll admit, this was in my clinic. I walked out. I'm like, oh my god. It was a Reese Reese Witherspoon movie. She's sitting on top of this guy, half nude, the boobs hanging out, stabbing this guy in the chest.

And I walked out, and I looked at the 12 year old boy there with a big grin on his face. And I looked at the mother and I said, I apologize about that. I didn't realize that's what they had on because they weren't supposed to have the TV playing. And from that point onwards, we took total control over the TV. 12 year old kids still had a big smile on his face, he thought it was fantastic.

So just just be aware of that. Be very careful.

There's a lot of tools you can use out there. I know that recent clinic I talked with used Canva to make a, I think, a twelve to fifteen minute, basically, kinda slideshow that can basically be put on repeat, you know, in their clinic, in the waiting room so they can just show all the different types of care they provide, and it's been a real helpful tool to help educate patients in the waiting room.

Okay. Once again, Jim has not read my notes. Just kidding. So how to turn your reception area into a marketing asset? You just jumped on to number two, which was play your own video content or slideshows on a screen.

That's what we ended up doing. After that happened, we went we need to take total control of this. We had an area built into the wall where we could have a you know, the cables hooked up. We could run through the computers. We could change what was actually being played.

So that's what we sort of did, just had it on a loop, playing all the time. And it was promoting our own stuff. Some of it was educational, some of it was entertaining. The only time we differed from that is every now and then we used to play mister bean. And I tell you, we had to turn off mister Bean because the laughter that was coming from the reception area, someone was so loud.

The receptionists were complaining they couldn't hear people on the phone because people were laughing too much.

It's a good show.

Yeah. But in your reception, you just make sure if you wanna turn it into a marketing asset, consistent colors and signage, and make sure it sort of if the people have seen your website when they walk in your reception area, it sort of looks like it it actually all fits. Keep the reception area spotless and uncluttered. Keep it calm. Think about if you're gonna have background music.

Just think about that. I can't stand water running, you know, that like, fountain water noise and whales. Oh. I'm like, goddamn. I'm not at the ocean.

I'm in your reception area. But if you love that and your patients love that, by all means, that could be part of your branding. You might be big blue whale podiatry or something like that. But you're gonna have to Google that one.

Copyright. There might be a copyright for that, Tyson. Like, gotta

be careful. I know. Gotta be careful what we say about podiatry clinics. But, yeah, I've but I've walked in I've gone into massage clinics, for example. You walk in, and it smells of musk, you know, that alternative sort of smell.

They got incense burning, and you hear the noise in the background, and and you're getting a massage, all I wanna do is have a pee after about ten minutes because you can hear that water running in the background. So that's personally for me, doesn't work. But for other clinics, it might be exactly what they want. And and you can feature reviews and testimonials whether it's on the wall, you can have it on screens, on the TV. This was was talking about before.

Said this would be part of your internal marketing. In Australia, you're not supposed to use reviews in your marketing, but you could put it on a TV inside your clinic because it's to me, that's what you're doing internally. What you do internally, I think, is nobody else's business. Yeah. Have you got anything to to add to that, Jim?

No. I like I think the the piece of as far as, you know, marketing and advertising within your clinic is super important because I think we sometimes we get into that false understanding that we know all the things we wanna do for for patients. We know what we're trained to do, what we're great at doing. But, you know, they came in for an ingrown toenail. They don't know we they don't know we do orthotics.

We they came for orthotics. They don't know we do surgery. So the more the more you can really help educate patients about, you know, not only the care you provide, but he said, like, sometimes a bit of personality, a little bit of, you know, how you're involved with the community. Those things can go a long way to to continue to build that trust when you have a great patient experience in your clinic.

Yeah. And that's why you can promote the different services in that reception area about what you do. And a perfect story that only happened two days ago was we take our cars to this particular service station mechanic who services our cars. And we have done for for years. It's just really reliable.

It gets it done fast. Books us in whenever we wanna get booked in. Using for, I reckon, well over probably twelve years. My wife's car the other day takes it in there, and it rings this ready to pick up. Not a problem.

She goes, it's silly. You you need new tires. You need four new tires. And she goes, yeah. I know.

I've been I've just noticed that myself. And he goes, well, yeah, we'll get that sorted out when I pick it up. He goes, oh, we we do tires. And I said to my since when have they done tires? We've doing tires for ages.

I said, how many tires we over the years, we have had it serviced there, and we've gone and got tires somewhere else over the last twelve years. Totally unaware. Oh, you guess, oh, yeah. We own the tire place next door. Did not know that.

Didn't even know there was a tire place next door. Hadn't paid that much attention to it. So how much business has he lost by not just saying to his clients, oh, by the way, do you know we do tires? Yeah. Somebody be aware of is your clientele do not know every service that you do.

So use your reception area to actually educate them. In conclusion, your reception area is often your impression, possibly the only chance to turn a new patient into a loyal one. They're in there. They love you. They love the reception.

They love the service. They're gonna keep coming back because it was a great experience. I didn't know if you had a comment there or not. Jim would have said that. The part, just to conclude, is just make sure you don't let any outdated or or or don't let the reception become an uninspired space that just kills the momentum of your marketing.

And make it a place that really, really reflects your brand, calms your patience, and supports the message that you're actually trying to put out to the world pretty much. And if you want help with any of this, reach out to Jim or myself. We're that's what we do. We are here to help you with your marketing.

Yeah. We're ready to get rid of the all the uninspiring stuff and help you inspire your local community and the people coming into your clinic for sure.

Yeah. So if you wanna get hold of Jim, Jim, what's the best email for you?

Jim@podiatrygrowth.com.

And mine is tf@tysonfranklin.com. Really easy to remember. Okay, Jim. That wraps up this episode for me. Have you got anything else you wanna add?

No. I thought that was solid. I I definitely lots of great stuff here for people that that need that kind of motivation to look and see, you know, the next time they walk into their their front front of their office. You know, maybe there's coming through the back, and they're just mostly looking at the clinical areas. You know, look at that that your front desk, your front office, and, you know, get an idea of what patients are experiencing and what are ways that you can improve it.

I think too great was a today was a great recap of that, and, it'll inspire some people to to make some positive changes in that area.

I hope it does too. And before I finish up, happy birthday again, Jim. I hope you have a fantastic day.

Thanks so much, Tyson.

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.