Hi everyone. This is Rem Jackson, the CEO of Top Practices. I want to come to you today and just talk to you about the importance of your list. That group of people who know you, like you, and trust you. And why communicating to them on a very regular basis is so important. And why using a newsletter could be one of the keys that you could use to stay in touch with this incredibly important group of people.
So, let me tell you a story. Diane and I used to live in Pennsylvania, and the yard that we had was, it was great. It had so many different kinds of trees. We had, we actually had trees that were deciduous conifers, and I think there's only like four of those types of trees in the whole world. I could be wrong, but that's what somebody told me. Anyway, and they were very cool trees. And when we sold the house, you know, one of the problems that we have with the trees is that there were too many. People are like, yeah, that's too many trees. And I'm thinking, well, you just need a tree guy to take care of your trees. And you know, somebody come along and pick up the leaves whenever the time comes to get the leaves. Pretty much that's it.
Anyway, one day, Diane looks at me and she says, "Rem..." We had these Sugar Maples in the front of the house, and they were beautiful, but they had really grown enormously and you couldn't see the house anymore. Diane said, "Look, let's trim those up and get this under control." I said, "Fine."
So, I called a neighbor who had a landscaping company that I knew worked in the neighborhood and other places said, "Could you come by and trim these trees and other trees too, if you think we need that as well?" And he said, "Sure." Well, that was like in, let's see, that was probably like late September. So October, November, December, January, February, March, I'm waiting, waiting, kind of bugging about let's get these trees done. And then finding one day the crew came, trim the trees, did a fantastic job. And all was well. They did tell me though, that the cherry trees that we have around like a patio area in the back of the house had scale on them and needed to be sprayed, did I want them to do that. And I said, "No, I've got a guy." I have a tree guy that comes once a month. He sprays my trees. They're always healthy. He takes care of them. All is well.
And then shortly after that, my tree guy showed up. I saw I was out front. So I walked outside and I said, "Hey, I need to talk to you about something." And he stopped and he looked at me with his head of scans and he says, "I'm trying to decide if I'm going to divorce you." And I said, "I'm sorry." He goes, "I'm just trying to decide if I'm going to divorce you." And I said, "I don't know what's going on." And he said," I see you had your trees trimmed." And I said, "Yes, I did. In fact, that's why I want to talk to you because I've got some cherry trees out back that have scale on them. And the guys that trimmed the trees..." And I didn't get a chance to finish cause Ed looks at me and he says, "Well I trim trees." And I said, "Oh, I'm sorry Ed I didn't know that." And he goes, "Oh, come on." He said, "When I came out here..." and folks, it was like five or six years ago, "I came out with a truck with a bucket on it." Which apparently in tree guy means, I trim trees and you should remember that. And I said, "Well, I'm just so sorry about that. I didn't know.
And now I do know. And you know, what about the trees out back?" Well, Ed did not divorce me. Thank goodness, because Ed had become in my mind, just the guy that comes by and sprays stuff, probably really bad, dangerous stuff on my trees that keeps all the bugs away and keeps them healthy. I hadn't really thought about the rest of it and he did such a good job.
So he didn't, he didn't divorce me, over the whole thing, but he was really cross with me about this. And so the question I have for you is: The fact that I did not remember... You know it later I actually thought about it. And I thought, you know, I think maybe Ed did trim the trees here way back when. I just didn't remember that. Now, is that my fault or is that his fault? And I can tell you to this day. I'm sure he still thinks that that's my fault.
But let me ask you a question: How many times have people come into your office? You see, they've had surgery done, they've been a patient for years, so they've had surgery done since they saw you. And you say, "Geez, who did that work?" Well, and a lot of times they're like, "I don't really remember." or whatever. And then you say, "You know, I do surgery." And they say, "Oh, I didn't know that." And then you say something like, 'But I parked my truck out front and it has a bucket on it." Is it their fault that they don't know that you do surgery or might it be yours? And it's always, always my, it was not my fault, it was Ed's fault. And it's, in our case, I'll say it's our fault because we need to be communicating on a regular basis.
Think about this: What if Ed had sent me a newsletter say in January and said, "Hey, by the way, we want to tell you about what's going to be happening in your yard. The first trees that are going to budding will be this...", whatever. "And you know, we're going to be spraying these kinds of insecticides and we're going to be getting rid of these nasty little creatures that are going to eat your leaves and ruin your trees." You know, and I'm like, you know, put on more those things look terrible. All of that would have happened if I had just known. And if he'd have said, "By the way, very soon it's going to be the optimal time to do this tree trimming. Make sure you call us so we can get your tree trimming lined up." Because, then we won't have to push it back or wait. I would have called him in a minute cause I was having such a hard time getting the other guys come. It took an act of Congress to get them there. And he would have had that business, and it was a substantial amount of business because we got a lot of trees. Some of them are 80 feet high.
And so, the question is: Should we communicate on a regular basis with those people that know us and like us and trust us?
Because a) it's better for them. I'd have a healthier, better, more beautiful yard.
And b) it's so much better for your own business, your own bottom line.
Don't have people go see someone else for something that is core to what you do because you didn't tell them.
Nurture. Nurture. Nurture.
Send a newsletter out every single month electronically, and even better in print, but just make sure you do it. At Top Practices, we are experts at helping you get your newsletters done quickly. Professionally, we just take all the pain and suffering out of it and make it easy, very customized. It's very, very easy for you to do a newsletter, send it out electronically at a minimum, print also. But we can help you no matter how you go about it. This is something you want to get in the habit of doing now so that you don't have people say, I didn't know you did surgery. I didn't know you did this. I didn't know you worked with runners.
Whatever it is, you can call the number on the screen or you can send us an email at [email protected]. Come to the website. Just click on newsletter program. We'll help you in any way we can. All right, everybody stay safe and healthy. Think about getting ready for all of all of those patients that are coming to see you soon, and I'll talk to you soon. Stay safe.
This is truly one of the greatest “secrets” of practice marketing. The value of getting new patients to return and refer to you far outweighs the cost of marketing to them. This is why you should have a fully-functional database and something like our Top Practices Newsletter Program for your podiatry practice. We can help you get started so you can actually see the difference and return for yourself. Contact us by e-mailing [email protected] or by calling (717) 725-2679.
