Med Spa Trends: Through the Years

 

Is your med spa struggling to keep up in an industry that’s constantly evolving? With shifting patient expectations, tighter regulations, and rising competition, staying ahead is more important than ever.

In this episode of Shorr Solutions: The Podcast, award-winning host Jay Shorr and Client Success Manager Nanette Maddox explore the latest trends shaping med spas today. Drawing from their extensive firsthand experience, they reveal what works, what doesn’t, and how to overcome the biggest challenges facing med spa owners. From adapting to the rise of non-invasive treatments to staying compliant and training your team to provide exceptional service, this is a can’t miss episode.

Schedule your free consult with our expert, Jay Shorr, here!

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00:00:01:20 – 00:00:54:23
Jay Shorr
Welcome to Shorr Solutions, the podcast. And I’m your host, Jay Shorr. CEO and founder. Of Shorr Solutions. We are a team of national and award-winning practice management consultants with experience running a multimillion-dollar cosmetic, dermatology, and plastic surgery practice. We’re here to share strategies and insights that will help you grow your practice viciously and profitably. In each episode, we will explore the steps and actionable insights to guide you through your journey to increase efficiency, boost revenue, and decrease costs. Tune in and discover how to improve your patient experience and take your aesthetic practice to the next level.

00:00:54:26 – 00:01:50:23
Jay Shorr
Well, greetings everybody, and welcome to another episode of Shorr Solutions, the podcast, and I’m your host, Jay Shorr. Today I have a very special guest with me today and it’s one of my own family members, not blood family, but La Familia and our business. It’s Nan Maddox, and Nan is a client success manager with Shorr Solutions and has been with us for a little bit of time now. And Nan has plenty of experience, and I always have to make a shout-out. After 23 years, Nan retired from the United States Air Force as the most senior-level airman in the military. I always make that mistake. I made the mistake of calling her a soldier, and she so politely corrected me, saying that in the Air Force or Airman, airman airwoman. So welcome, Nan, and thanks for being a part of our podcast today.

00:01:50:25 – 00:01:53:12
Nan Maddox
Thank you. I look forward to it.

00:01:53:14 – 00:04:01:09
Jay Shorr
So today we’re going to be speaking about med spa trends, the evolution of med spy trends. Now, I’ve been in this industry for some time, and I have really seen the transformation of so many different ways from the original day spa. And then they started introducing medical type of procedures. And now med spa’s are the hottest things going today, many of them owned by a physician assistants. They’re owned by nurse practitioners. They can be owned by doctors in certain states where the corporate practice of medicine does exist, non physicians can be owners. Some states there has to be bilateral, meaning that there can be a combination of doctors and ancillary providers. And then in some states commonwealths it can only be a physician. That’s not the purpose of that. Today we’ve had other guests and legal teams on for our podcast. I’ve explained the differences. So, we’re going to talk about what the historical roots of medicine sports are today. I recall when I first got into this industry, there where the days spas, was then there were the days spas that handled medical procedures. And now it’s one of the biggest things out there today. Early in the 1990s, the Med Spa started to merge in with medical clinic services and the FDA approvals of lasers basically enabled non-surgical wrinkle and hair reduction, whether it was lasers or radio frequency. And over time, med spas have expanded with safer and more advanced treatments because they have integral externally outside of the traditional medical practice owned by the doctor. Now, Nan has been an owner in Florida and in Florida, you don’t have to be a doctor to own a medical spa. You do, however, need a medical director to oversee it. So we’re going to get into part of this, then how have consumer expectations changed over the years in what we remember the med spa to be to where it is today?

00:04:01:09 – 00:04:20:21
Nan Maddox
Oh, they’re really focusing on the non-surgical options. They want something that’s minimally invasive procedures like Botox, fillers, and laser treatments, but shorter recovery times and less risk involved. And the industry is actually answering that by having neurotoxins and fillers that last longer now.

00:04:20:21 – 00:04:57:07
Jay Shorr
So what the transformation of so many med spa’s coming up now? They have them not only in traditional doctor’s offices, but now the Pas is the NPS. Even institutions are owning them. They’re in strip malls. They’re in regular shopping malls. And I’ve even seen them now in airports. And you and I have had a conversation about why this happens. And you mentioned to me it was about convenience. Let’s talk about that for a second. Why would somebody go to these one-off non-physician owner-related practices and go to an airport even?

00:04:57:09 – 00:05:30:20
Nan Maddox
Well probably because they have lots of time from all the flights being delayed lately. They have extra time in airports to go check things out. But it’s really just a matter of convenience. People want things now. They don’t want to have to wait. And sometimes they do sacrifice quality over being able to get something quickly. And so if it’s right around the corner and you have some time and you’re in the mirror and you’re looking and saying, oh, I could use a little Botox, run in and get it.

00:05:30:22 – 00:06:18:15
Jay Shorr
I try not to look in the mirror as much, because every time I look in the mirror, I almost kind of think I need something else. So consumer focus. How has that changed over the years? I remember the consumer focus used to traditionally be all female. All right. And now big transformation. Yes, included. Me included. I’ve never met a neuromodulator modulator needle that I didn’t fall in love with. Right. So, and that’s from the male perspective. So let’s talk about the shift in consumer focus, a gender nonsurgical versus the traditional surgical, the demographics, and holistic approaches to that.

00:06:18:15 – 00:07:21:14
Nan Maddox
Yes. I mean, the non-surgical options were created for people as an alternative to surgery. People were looking for less downtime and less risk. And now there are there’s an increase in the male clientele. Men are also seeking medical services, particularly treatments like neurotoxins and facial rejuvenation, and that really expands your customer base. There’s the younger demographics, the millennials and Gen Z’s. They’re embracing the aesthetic treatments. You can’t turn on Instagram or TikTok without a social media influencer talking to you about a beauty product and makeup tips and what’s going on in the industry. So there’s lots of different aspects of a med spa that didn’t used to be there. When I owned a med spa, I went to the local high school. You know, I was looking for the most popular person to talk about coming to the spa and getting a pedicure. You know, there’s just different avenues of customers right now and different things that they’re they’re looking for in their treatments.

00:07:21:17 – 00:08:34:15
Jay Shorr
Great point. So let’s dive into that a little bit deeper, because I remember in my former practice of which was dermatology, plastic surgery, and the med spa, it used to just be neurotoxins and dermal fillers, maybe a little bit of RF. I remember the days of weight loss where it was HCG. All right. And then I mean, it’s almost going back to like Myspace. All right. Social media. Right. But now the holistic approach became very popular with bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, commonly known as the different types of weight losses with tears at the time. And you have those big and semaglutide, all the different ones. I don’t want to get into the chemical compound names and then wow, that IV therapy really come in. And there is such a wave of I.V. therapy in my day. If you needed an IV, you were sick, right? You’re in the hospital now. You go to the corner med spa and get an IV for nutrition. Let’s talk about that. How has that really changed the consumer focus?

00:08:34:15 – 00:09:17:14
Nan Maddox
A spa can’t just have neurotoxins and fillers anymore. You really have to be diverse in the types of treatments that you provide. And a lot of people are looking for that holistic approach. They’re wanting to be able to get their bioidentical hormones, their testosterone injections. They’re wanting to be able to get their skin care. They’re wanting to get body contouring. They’re wanting to get skin rejuvenation. They’re wanting to get IV therapy for a variety of reasons. There’s menus, just in IV therapy. So people are looking a lot now for the one-stop shop or wanting to be able to get everything taken care of in one place.

00:09:17:21 – 00:10:31:11
Jay Shorr
So now what I’ve noticed is a big shift in regulatory changes in industry standards, not federally, but state and Commonwealth, because there are federal laws. However, the state law really takes precedent over who can do what. All right, in what state or Commonwealth licensing, for example, the safety protocols, ownership rules, and supervisions that have to vary widely, whether it’s a nurse practitioner that’s allowed to open up a med spot on his or her own, whereas before nurse practitioners were not allowed to have their self, created autonomy. And then the increased scrutiny of legal challenges, because there’ve been recent incidents and lawsuits spotlight that medical spa’s and the practices have compliance issues. And lastly, the compliance and oversight focus, where the emphasis on training medical directors agreements and emergency protocols let’s talk about in your day more than when you owned your medicine spa. Until now, what do you think that you’ve seen as far as regulatory changes in industry standards from where it was to where it is today?

00:10:31:14 – 00:11:23:12
Nan Maddox
I think it’s a lot more strict and there’s a lot more focus being put on it now because of the things that you mentioned earlier of spas popping up in airports and strip malls and not following that regulatory guidance. So the medical boards are really starting to dig deep and looking into your processes and your protocols and your OSHA training and your HIPAA. It’s all very important to have all of that in place, because med spots are very vulnerable to lawsuits, for false advertising, for trademark infringements or, you know, a variety of different, even marketing restrictions that are out there. There are a lot of different regulatory requirements. Med spa owners really need to make sure that they’re aware of their state regulations and requirements, and that they have those processes and procedures in place.

00:11:23:14 – 00:11:47:22
Jay Shorr
That’s a really good point. Now, to shift in the segue about the importance of staff training and expertise in the midst by industry, because as consultants, that’s a lot of what we do. We help to train staff in the hiring of the staff team and training them on the different procedures. On the onboarding, we lecture at major conferences. Let’s talk about how important is staff training and expertise in the med spot industry.

00:11:47:22 – 00:12:55:15
Nan Maddox
It’s of utmost importance. Everyone is wanting that Ritz-Carlton experience and your director of First Impressions, or your front desk employee is the first person that a customer is going to talk to. So you want to truly focus on not just hiring the first person that you know happens to walk in the door and interview for the job. You’re wanting someone that has good communication skills, that has a personal lady that can smile on the phone, and you want to provide them with the right tools and training. A lot of times the training goes into the sales team and they forget about the front desk person that’s answering the phone and providing them the right tools with scripting and credentialing and teaching them about treatment plans. There’s just a lot of training that needs to go into those positions and not just your sales team, which of course is also important. So that’s what we’re seeing, especially when we’re listening to phone calls, what the different practices we’re seeing that the front desk people are not as well equipped as they really should be.

00:12:55:15 – 00:13:34:29
Jay Shorr
So, you know, everybody talks about sales and everybody talks about leads and everybody talks about marketing. I’m all for it. But you know what they don’t talk about? They don’t talk about what happens in showing the patient the love, instead of just coming in and doing your jam and trying to collect the almighty dollar. Can you just expand a little bit about what goes into showing our patient the love to keep them wanting to come back for more, even though we may perform the most efficacious procedures, they may not want to come back.

00:13:35:01 – 00:14:11:04
Nan Maddox
It all just boils down to the customer service experience, that Ritz-Carlton experience, standing up when your patient walks in the door verbally greeting them, making eye contact with them, welcoming them, and then making sure they’re attended to throughout the entire process. Don’t leave them waiting in your waiting room, and don’t leave them waiting in a treatment room and talk them through the procedure and bring them out to have a proper checkout. It’s all just the whole cycle and just making them feel important and making them feel like they’re a part of your family and not just there to give you money.

00:14:11:06 – 00:14:54:26
Jay Shorr
You know, I always relay our industry and you may have heard me say this in prior podcasts to the restaurant and the hotel industry, and it’s like going into a Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons, and the person behind the desk after they get your credit card, just like, throws the key on the counter and tells you the elevators over there, your room is. Or did you ever go into? I laugh about this one. You go into a nice restaurant and they throw the check on the table before you’re even done asking for another cup of coffee or a dessert. So, you know, let’s talk about how the person in the office really can destroy the experience.

00:14:54:28 – 00:15:57:29
Nan Maddox
Yes, they can. I mean, we have exposure to that quite often when we are listening to the phone calls of the practices and we hear someone calling and saying, how much is your Botox? And the person answering the phone says, $12 a unit. And the person calling says, okay, thank you and hangs up. You know, there’s just not that extra step that the desk is making with phone calls in order to convert that person that’s calling the patient, walks in to the front door, and they’re not greeted. There are so many things that are overlooked in the day-to-day practice that are. You really need to pay attention to the fine details and to how your coffee table looks. And do you have offer something for them to drink? Do you have coffee available? Water available? Just the little things can go a long way with creating that Ritz-Carlton experience for your patients.

00:17:08:29 – 00:18:08:28

Jay Shorr
So let’s talk about the trends now. Advancement in noninvasive and minimally invasive procedures about all the new technologies that were out, that are out now, that weren’t out when we first started, like RF and Microneedling. And let’s talk about that for a second.

00:17:08:29 – 00:18:08:28
Nan Maddox
In, yes, there are new things coming out on the market every day with different and newer technologies, innovative treatments, advanced laser treatments. I mean, there are so many things that you can do, in lieu of surgery now that it’s just incredible how far it’s come. When I own my spa, I had a hair removal laser and an IPL, and at that time that was top of the line. You know, I didn’t know that down the road there would be machines that would call your skin, you know, and, and take little pieces out of it so that the skin would close and it would make your skin tighter without having an actual facelift. But there are so many different innovations and advancements in these treatments with RF microneedling with injectables that have longer lasting effects. These are things that are going to attract clients who want results without the risk and recovery time associated with surgery.

00:18:09:02 – 00:18:56:25
Jay Shorr
What do you think about in the last several years? All the robotics now have you want hair removal like hair transplantation. Now you need a tech to run the robot. But everything is now you know, a robot who knows where it’s going to go, right? So Telehealth and virtual. This was a nothing burger as Mr. Wonderful from the Shark Tank uses that claim. All right. I think this became really big during Covid. Yes. All right. Let’s talk about Telehealtht and virtual conversations. That and consultations that we have with people to expand our client base. You know, we’re able to shorten, I think, the length of the consultation and physically meet the people and actually see more people. Let’s talk about that for a second. Yeah.

00:18:56:26 – 00:20:12:25
Nan Maddox
So a lot of patients, are wanting that virtual capability. I hear that more and more on phone calls of the patients. So and do you offer virtual consultations? I’m not sure. With med Spa. As if that is the right way to go with an initial consultation, but it certainly is an alternative because it’s a little bit different than with surgery. When you do a virtual consultation, you’re not expecting them to get surgery that day, but then a lot of med spa treatments, especially with injectables, when they’re coming in for the consultations, a lot of times that treatment time is built in and you have them there and you talk them into the treatment and they get the treatment while they’re there. But it’s still a good opportunity for follow up treatments. If someone does have a procedure, they may be willing to drive longer to your practice. If they know they can come in and get it done, and then their follow up treatments would be virtual. So I think it’s a great thing to offer and a great avenue to have to do the follow ups and even the post-treatment care. And it can essentially expand your client base beyond your local geography and also increases the likelihood of repeat visits through easier follow up care.

00:20:12:25 – 00:21:49:00
Jay Shorr
No, I like that because many people don’t really even speak about that. You are correct. Surgical. The consultations virtually is much more prevalent than the med spa because at the time. But once the treatments performed many times for me example, you know, getting Botox or Dysport or Ruvo or Am and I want to be fair to everybody, I really don’t need a follow-up unless I feel that the results are a little bit deficient. And I, instead of having to travel 30 minutes or 20 minutes to my provider, I would rather get on Zoom or teams or whatever it spends five minutes and say doc or Pas or NP or whatever it was. Here’s my results. I’m very happy. Thank you. All right. And that saves the patient time. And that’s a great service to offer. And it also saves the provider time. And like we said time is money. Because if you book in the consultation time, Telehealth wise that could be a 5 or 10 minutes versus having the patient come in and you’re booking it out for 15 minutes to a half hour. Now, you may be missing the upsell, all right, but you have to know your patient. And you might say, well, I don’t want to Telehealth visit all that. Please come back in. All right. So I know we had a different, our prior podcast was on marketing, but then this is going to be a different twist. And the trends of marketing to speak about the different trends that we have right now, there’s like the six different types that we have. Let’s let’s talk about targeted marketing for a second.

00:21:49:02 – 00:22:14:03
Nan Maddox
Yes. With, tailoring your marketing messages to specific demographic groups and individual preferences, it really helps to target a particular audience with a particular device that you have with the particular service that you’re offering. And so it just is a better way sometimes to spend your marketing dollars when you’re segmenting a smaller group of people.

00:22:14:05 – 00:23:11:04
Jay Shorr
People really don’t understand the difference between SEO and CRM when we’re talking about SEO, search engine optimization, and the SEM search engine marketing, we talk about two different ways to do it, and I really request that unless you’re going to have a full-time person in your office, don’t try to do this haphazardly. Hire a professional company for your SEO, your search engine optimization. I have to tell you, that is what brings you from page three, four, and five of Google to pages one and two, and even up higher when the search engine optimization is really organic and your search engine marketing can be pay-per-click, for example. Now I know in our company we do email target marketing, maybe once, sometimes twice a week if we have something to promote. Let’s talk about email marketing for a second and your feelings about that.

00:23:11:07 – 00:23:49:12
Nan Maddox
I think email marketing is crucial. The automated email campaigns can nurture your lead. If you have a CRM that can send automated messages, it keeps the patient engaged or the potential patient engaged. You can offer promotions, but you also want to personalize it because whenever you personalize the email and it doesn’t just look like an automated email, those are important too. But the personalized emails can actually increase engagement rates. And that’s really what you’re wanting with an email. You’re wanting people to actually open them, read them, and click through to whatever it is that you’re talking about.

00:23:49:15 – 00:24:54:24
Jay Shorr
That’s great. Now let’s talk about for a second selling versus educating. I like to educate the recipient of that email, because I’m a firm believer that when you educate people, they will buy. All right. So a lot of times I get e-blasts and it’s always about selling something. They’re trying to hawk and get my money. And I appreciate what they’re trying to do. However, when we send out our e-blasts, it really is about education. For example, most of them, I want to say eight out of ten of our e-blasts will have a podcast associated with it. And by our podcast, we’re not trying to sell you anything; we’re trying to reengage you. It’s an educational podcast now. Yes, you can go to our website and see it, but most people aren’t going to go to our website and just pull out episode number 121 with Jay. And then so we send it to you, and then once you’re on to our website, then you can see what else we have. And that’s the subliminal way of selling, right. So let’s talk about education versus sale.

00:24:54:26 – 00:25:55:22
Nan Maddox
Yeah. So you want to be able to educate your patient on the procedures that you’re, that you have that you’re offering. You can do that through, like you were mentioning with the podcast,with blogs, with workshops you can do lunch and learn such your practice. Those are usually really popular. Talking about a new procedure that you’re doing or a new machine or device that you have. And also it’s important to provide your front desk or the person that’s answering your phone with education about the procedures as well. So they’re able to talk to them and talk to the patient about what things really entail. Clients are really wanting to get that information. They’re wanting full transparency with what you’re offering, with pricing, with all that goes with it. So education is very important. It is important to mix it up. You want to have fun with your content, but you also want to educate.

00:25:55:24 – 00:26:14:12
Jay Shorr
Wow. Let’s talk about social media for med spa trends. It wasn’t a trend back then, and now you’ve got every type of influencers out there. So let’s talk about influencers, the content that you want to put on social media, and the user-generated content.

00:26:14:14 – 00:27:00:07
Nan Maddox
Yes, collaborating with influencers of course wasn’t around when I had a med spa, and I actually find it interesting. I just saw on TV yesterday and said that they’re now offering college and university courses to teach you how to be an influencer, because that is what a lot of the young people are wanting to do and how they want to make their money these days. So there were a lot of pros and cons discussed about that, but I found that that was very interesting in light of talking about this topic today. So you want to try to collaborate with an influencer, look for somebody that is, like I said, maybe in your high school or in the business community that can talk about your services.

00:27:00:09 – 00:27:07:21
Jay Shorr
So is this person going to have a bachelor or a master’s in influencer management? Is that like a new degree or something?

00:27:07:24 – 00:27:11:04
Nan Maddox
It may be, I think it is coming to that honestly.

00:27:11:06 – 00:27:36:25
Jay Shorr
Well, I think collaborating with influencers or local beauty and wellness figures, can help increase brand awareness and credibility because you have micro-influencers in particular that are very effective in their niche marketing and often have a more engaged, targeted audience. Right? So, you know, what kind of content should we put in there and what kind of content, really, man, should we stay away from?

00:27:36:25 – 00:27:42:22
Nan Maddox
You want to mix up your content? There’s so many different platforms out there you’re wanting to.

00:27:42:23 – 00:27:43:20
Jay Shorr
What are they?

00:27:43:23 – 00:28:57:14
Nan Maddox
Instagram, which is typically your most popular TikTok, is also very popular. You have Facebook, you have YouTube. Now there’s threads that just came about off of Instagram. I mean, it seems like there’s something new every day as far as the social media avenue, you kind of have to figure out where your targeted audience is and then maybe focus on that particular social media avenue or post across all of them. But you want to mix up your content. You want to have educational content. You want to have treatment demonstrations. If you get a new piece of equipment, show how that treatment works. So the before and after pictures, have client testimonials, have live streaming of events that can foster a real time engagement. So there are lots of different things that you can do with social media. You just have to understand that it takes time. And now there’s a new trend called Instagrammable treatments. So everything now is just really, really all about social media and how you promote it. It’s not it’s no longer an option. It’s something that you have to do.

00:28:57:17 – 00:28:59:13
Jay Shorr
Yeah. And who do you get to do it?

00:28:59:14 – 00:29:39:10
Nan Maddox
It’s best if you have someone in-house that can do that for you. Whether it’s the aesthetician, I know when I hired aestheticians, one of the questions that I asked was, how savvy are you with social media? How many followers do you have? Are you comfortable on camera? Can you make videos? Those were all important things that were part of that role. They can’t just come in and do skincare anymore, they have to be comfortable on camera. The same thing with the injectors. And you want someone that is comfortable being on social media and someone that can actually do those videos and can edit the content and knows how to navigate the different avenues.

00:29:39:12 – 00:29:42:16
Jay Shorr
Maybe they’ll have that. And that’s aesthetician PA school, right?

00:29:42:18 – 00:29:49:19
Nan Maddox
They need to add that as a separate chapter. And the training of how to do all of that.

00:29:49:22 – 00:30:43:20
Jay Shorr
You know what I’ve noticed lately, too? User generated content which actually encourages clients to share their experiences and results on social media and not only builds community but also acts as an authentic testimonial. Think about it when you see a real patient versus a model and they’re sharing their results and they’re talking to you through social media, it makes you feel like it’s more real. And Med Spas can incentivize this by featuring clients’ stories or offering discounts for shared posts. However, I want to make very clear that that is a marketing payment and it’s not in lieu of that type of treatment because we have to ensure by state regulation that we’re not incentivizing people for the referral of different client base. So be very, very careful about that.

00:30:43:23 – 00:30:58:15
Jay Shorr
Now, we talked in another episode about loyalty programs and memberships that wasn’t an option years ago, and we have to worry about encouraging repeat visits and fostering a long-term relationship with clients. Can you speak on that?

00:30:58:15 – 00:31:09:15
Nan Maddox
Yes. I think membership programs are very important. You want something that keeps them coming back. You want to give them a deal on things. Everybody is always looking for a deal.

00:31:09:15 – 00:33:02:09
Jay Shorr
You know, offering loyalty programs or membership options I believe can encourage repeat visits and foster long-term relationships with a client, because marketing campaigns really highlight the benefits of these programs. Now, don’t you believe that that has been a reason why people go back to specific airlines? Why people go back to specific hotels? Yes, it is their brand of choice and even restaurants. Let me give you an example. They have a membership and I love going to certain restaurants. And after you give them your phone number and they put it in their system, and after four visits, you might get $20 or $25 off of your next dinner or a free dinner up to $20-$25. You know, don’t think for one second that I may not go to that restaurant just so I can make that to get my fifth one so that my next one is free. Don’t think for one second that I’m not going to travel on this specific airline, because all I need is 1 or 2 more flights, and my wife can fly free for the next year. Without naming the airline, you’ll all know who that is. Don’t think for one second that I don’t want to stay at a hotel another 1 or 2 nights because it bumps me up this gold or diamond. And with that, I’m now able to get free drinks and or check out at 5:00 at night in the hotel. These things all mean something to me. And it’s they’re thanking me for my loyalty. And it’s not a whole lot different than we as a med spa owner, have to have somebody that when they have the membership, they pay X amount of dollars, but they’re getting something back in excess of if they had paid a la carte. So any other thoughts on that?

00:33:02:09 – 00:33:17:21
Nan Maddox
No, I think you hit the nail on the head with that. It just encourages repeat visits. It fosters long-term relationships, and just don’t forget to have your marketing. Also, highlight the benefits of these programs that you’re offering within your business.

00:33:17:21 – 00:33:35:11
Jay Shorr
All right. And the last thing I want you to expand on, because this wasn’t anything when you and I both had our practices. Let’s talk about customer reviews and testimonials. First, we know how much they can help us, but let’s talk about how much they can hurt us.

00:33:35:13 – 00:33:41:06
Nan Maddox
That is very true. Does this mean we’re old Jay. That none of these things existed when we had our business?

00:33:41:12 – 00:33:46:05
Jay Shorr
I think I try to classify it is it’s we’re more mature.

00:33:46:07 – 00:33:46:23
Nan Maddox
Okay.

00:33:46:24 – 00:33:50:05
Jay Shorr
Or how about this. It’s when I used to have hair.

00:33:50:07 – 00:34:34:18
Nan Maddox
Okay. All right. Online reviews, I mean, I read them, and I think I’m no different than anyone else. If I’m going to a restaurant, if I’m going anywhere, I’m going to look at reviews. So, online reviews and word-of-mouth referrals are just invaluable. So you want to make sure within your practice, you have avenues to request those from your patients. Don’t be afraid to ask for a review of a happy patient or a client testimonial. It’s important to talk about that, how to go about it, and then just understand the importance of having those on your website and being able to provide growth. And in this competitive market, you have to have online reviews.

00:34:34:20 – 00:35:29:09
Jay Shorr
So I had a conversation yesterday with a prospective client, and the reason that he called me is because he freaked out that he got a negative review. He told me that he has 325 star reviews out of 320 reviews, and somebody gave him a negative review. And the reasoning doesn’t matter because, you know, a patient client doesn’t need a reason to give you a negative review. They can and because they can, it can happen. So can you make the audience feel a little bit better about somebody that has 300 plus five-star reviews? What is the mindset of a professional like us? What should you tell the audience about a negative review versus all five stars?

00:35:29:09 – 00:36:05:14
Nan Maddox
I mean, as a consumer, are you really going to look at a 4.8 or a 4.9 and go, oh, I’m not going to go to this business? It really, really doesn’t impact the overall view of someone looking at your practice. It’s almost expected. And if there aren’t any negative reviews out of so many, it almost kind of looks suspicious in the other way because everyone’s human. Everyone has a bad day, and it’s okay. One negative review is not going to hurt your business.

00:36:05:14 – 00:36:57:06
Jay Shorr
One thing that people really have to be mindful of about reviews is when you’re giving somebody an option of 0 to 5 or 1 to 10, but whatever, you want to do that. But in our world, that’s like a five is the best you can get in the review market. You know, there are certain people and I could be one of them that in order for me to give you a five. Now, if you’re asking me a series of questions, I may if, like, let’s say there’s five questions, I may give you four fives and a four. All right. And unless it’s an overall review, because to me five means perfect, kind of like an employee review. I very rarely give fives. I’ll give a lot of fours, all right, because you’ve exceeded expectations. But nobody is perfect.

00:36:57:13 – 00:37:38:22
Nan Maddox
I think it’s also important to answer your reviews, and respond to them. Thank the person for the review. Don’t get overly sensitive or defensive. I guess this is the word that I’m looking for. Certainly don’t talk negatively about the person that’s leaving the review in a clandestine way. Acknowledge it and provide an answer to it, and make sure that you’re doing that for all of your reviews. It’s important, and just do the best that you can and ask your happy patients for those reviews so that it keeps those ratings high and it keeps that algorithm going. Also on Google.

00:37:38:24 – 00:38:52:10
Jay Shorr
Excellent point. People read the provider reviews and I’ll share with you that if I see the provider barking back at the person who wrote the review negatively, I may get the feeling that that’s the way they’re going to treat me. If I have something to say that didn’t meet their fancy, for example. All right. I always believe in responding, you know, thank you for your review. And I apologize for x, y, z. And, you know, please allow us the opportunity to make it better. Let the recipient or other people that are reading it feel all that. Maybe it was the other person that created the issue and not necessarily the provider, and that they’re willing to give the provider a second chance. I don’t necessarily read positive reviews when I want to buy something like a retail product. I want to know what might possibly be wrong with that product. So I want to read the negative reviews. And if I find that the negative reviews weren’t an issue, to me personally, that’s not going to bother me.

00:38:52:10 – 00:39:51:15

All right, so ladies and gentlemen, that now concludes episode number 121, The Evolution of Meds by Trends. Please allow me to thank our colleague Nan Maddox, our client success manager. Until then see you for episode number 122. Good luck. God bless. Don’t go anywhere just yet. If you enjoyed today’s episode, make sure to subscribe so you never miss the latest insights! New episodes are released every two weeks for more valuable information and resources to elevate your practice. Sign up for our newsletter, you’ll get the latest industry updates, expert tips, and exclusive strategies straight to your inbox. Also, don’t forget to follow us on social media at Shorr Solutions. If you’re ready to take your practice to the next level, schedule a free consult with our team today. Thank you for joining us on Shorr Solutions, the podcast.

 

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