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Conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson E. Franklin and Jim McDannald, DPM.
Look for new episodes every Monday morning.
You're listening to Podiatry Marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald.
Tyson E. Franklin:Hi. I'm Tyson Franklin, and welcome to this week's episode of Podiatry Marketing. With me as he is every week, my good friend, big Jim Mac. How are doing today, Jim? Tyson, I'm
Jim McDannald, DPM:doing well. Doing well. It's hard to believe it's getting to the last quarter of twenty twenty six. It's... And this is episode number two fifty.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Can you believe it?
Tyson E. Franklin:We've made it. We made it at two fifty. Hasn't it gone fast?
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah. It's crazy to think that we're a quarter of a way to a a millennia, a thousand episodes. So do you think we're gonna make it to to episode 1,000?
Tyson E. Franklin:That's a good question. How many years? How long has it taken us to get this far? How many years has that been?
Jim McDannald, DPM:It's a bit I think it's three and three quarters. We've been about... It's about three and three quarters. Yeah. So this will be the...
Jim McDannald, DPM:End of twenty six will be the... I think the fourth year if I'm Okay.
Tyson E. Franklin:So, yeah, when I'm around 70, we'll get to a thousand. So we just gotta come up with 750 more topics.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah. The way things... The world works, I'm sure it's gonna be no no problem at all.
Tyson E. Franklin:Well, that is the interesting part. I remember thinking way back the first time I think you spoke about... Or we spoke about chat GTP, like in its infancy. Yeah. And I think we were like one of the first podcasts, I think, to even talk about it.
Tyson E. Franklin:And now it's just... It's like so common that you spoke about it and people go, oh, yeah. I know all about that already.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah. It's crazy how fast things can change. But, yeah, things like AI and voice automated things. And I'm talking to my computer now a lot more than I'm even typing sometimes. So it's wild how things can change in a short amount of time.
Tyson E. Franklin:Well, I remember when I wrote the world's greatest podiatry business book, It's No Secret There's Money in Podiatry. And even when I wrote that day in one particular chapter, I'm talking about just Google in general, that ten years prior to that, I hadn't heard of Google, and then all of sudden Google was the search engine. And then you move ahead. And in the book I'm writing, what's next? What is coming up next?
Tyson E. Franklin:No idea that AI was gonna take off the way that it has.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah. I don't think anybody did. I think... Yeah. I kinda...
Jim McDannald, DPM:That didn't catch people by surprise, but it's just been a a pretty steep ramp up as far as it's... What it's done and where it's at now even compared to a year ago.
Tyson E. Franklin:And so just to let you know what is gonna happen in the next ten years. Doesn't matter what you predict or what you think, it's probably gonna be completely different, which is why we'll be doing episode 1,000 in about nine to bit years time, ten years Yeah,
Jim McDannald, DPM:for sure.
Tyson E. Franklin:Okay. So what are talking about today?
Jim McDannald, DPM:So today we're going to talk about the Deductible Season Playbook. So, you know, there's a group of patients who told you no in March and will tell you yes in November so in The U. S. You know there's these insurance deductibles maybe someone has a thousand dollars or $2,000 or more and they've a lot of people met those deductibles by the end of the year so it really has nothing to do with you know how bad their foot hurts A lot of people will just come see because now their deductibles met and they're ready to kind of receive care. So it can lead to kind of a busy time at the end of the calendar year for a lot of different specialties, including podiatry.
Tyson E. Franklin:So this is how it works in America. Yep. Is you might have insurance thing and you've got to spend $1,000 in just medical in general before you can then apply it to other areas.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah, a lot of people that are on if you don't have like an employer program or maybe they do have an employer program, but like, you know, in order to have a less expensive private health care plan, like the larger the deductible is like the less probably people have to pay per month, you know, whether they be self employed, or have to kind of buy their own health care. So and like what happens is that October through December is kind of that one stretch of the year where like that kind of people have met that a lot of people have met that deductible. So that money problem disappears and they're really eager to have their bunion taken care of or their hammer toe taken care of because they've met that deductible. Like I said, the bunion they deferred, you know, the orthotics they said that they would think about or the hammer toe correction. You know, it's the same recommendation from podiatrists, but it's completely different, out of pocket number for that patient.
Jim McDannald, DPM:And almost every practice runs, you know, Q4, like the fourth quarter of the year, exactly, it doesn't, you know, the doctor is doing the same like form of treatment that they didn't, you know, March or April, but just the patients ready to like, you know, to spend on these things because their insurance is going to cover it.
Tyson E. Franklin:Yes. Even though you have that in The States, I think Bermuda is works the same way. In Australia, it's different, but yet it's still that same time of the year when it can get extremely busy because we'll have our private health insurance and a lot of people may not use it, but we always used to say to our patients, use it or lose it. If you don't use your health cover this year, it doesn't carry over to next year. So if you've got $400 there that you can use towards orthotics and you've already had a pair previously, if you wanna get another pair, now is the time to do it because when it hits January 1, it's gone.
Tyson E. Franklin:So it's very similar. It's different, but similar. I understand the deductible thing a bit better now.
Jim McDannald, DPM:No, for sure. And today I'm gonna walk through kind of five pieces of, Deductible Season Playbook, the Math, the List, the Email, the Ad, and the Page. All of it's kind of small enough to have people kind of going into this fourth quarter kind of prepared to be ready for what's going to happen.
Tyson E. Franklin:Okay, let's get into it. Yeah, so the
Jim McDannald, DPM:first part is the deductible math that your patients never do themselves. And you know, it's like I talked about, it's the same bunny, the same surgeon, same practice. In March that patient is paying most of that $2,000 deductible out of pocket but in November if they have already met the deductible they're paying a fraction of that. So nothing about the surgery has changed like we talked about. Only the calendar changed and here's the thing nobody in your practice ever says that out loud.
Jim McDannald, DPM:You know, it's something that like people know that things are going to kind of like happen that way. So the patient kind of assumes the price is the price and they usually keep waiting. So if you can communicate to the patient in a way that they'll understand that, like, you know, being clear about, you know, that maybe their deductible has been met or using some verbiage and different forms of marketing or just getting the word out about that, it might lead to additional business and additional work for the clinic to stay busy during that fourth quarter of the year.
Tyson E. Franklin:You're saying you should be keeping track of this with the patient or you're reaching out to the patient saying, have you met your deductible yet? Now continue the treatment.
Jim McDannald, DPM:It's more like kind of a general message. It's not something you're going go like patient by patient and like ask them necessarily. But like, you know, if you if you know that there's been a list or like a significant amount of people that, you know they're putting off their bunny or a hammer toe because oh I haven't met my deductible or I haven't. It might make sense to consider some different marketing activations whether that be an email newsletter or advertising which we'll get into a little bit about that kind of stuff but just making patients aware that you are available to take care of them as you were earlier in the year. But now they might just need that little like, oh, it's that's right.
Jim McDannald, DPM:I have met my deductible. Oh, I can, you know, not have to spend as much to get my bunion fixed if I can get it done in this fourth quarter of the year. And what happens a lot of times is people, you know, they they wait until December, right? Or they wait until December or mid December and the doctor's either booked up or it's time for the holidays so they don't get there. You know, it can lead to like it can lead to like negative patient sentiment as well.
Jim McDannald, DPM:You know, like I called them in like on December 1 and they couldn't do the surgery for me, you know, three days later, what's wrong with this clinic? Where it's like, well, it's a little like you're rushing it, right? So, it's one of those things where a little bit of kind of reminding the patients a bit farther ahead of time can lead to a little less chaotic into the year.
Tyson E. Franklin:Yeah. So it's just a gentle reminder as you're progressing that last couple of months. So it's not just this massive inflow in December and therefore you can't do the work and then you end up with unhappy patients.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah, it's like setting expectations, right? Like, you know, it's kind of like adding a deadline. You know, we don't schedule surgeries on December 1, just like letting people know that as well. So it's not only trying to get more people in the door, but it's also trying to avoid negative publicity or negative Google reviews in the future. Right.
Jim McDannald, DPM:So like I said, sometimes these FSA like these flexible spending account medical accounts can expire with some plans, like you said. So getting orthotics or different over the counter things that might qualify could really help the patient, but also just like help your clinic in some ways that could be beneficial.
Tyson E. Franklin:And I take it knowing how confusing the American system can be sometimes. Every insurance company is different and everybody has different deductible amounts based on the coverage that they have, which is why it's not that you can keep track of it, but it's where you need to keep prompting the patients at certain times. And probably need to remind them more than just once, just setting up one thing in September might be okay for some people, but you need to do it again in October. Might need to do it twice in October so you don't get that big rush.
Jim McDannald, DPM:No, absolutely. Like you said, it's just making people aware is the biggest thing, right? Like they can choose. You're not like trying to put any kind of urgency about it, but you're just letting them know. So you're setting expectations so they don't get in a rush and feel this like, oh, they have to do it because they had their total knee done like six months ago and they've already met their deductible or something.
Jim McDannald, DPM:So of getting that kind of leads in the next part. And that's your best fourth quarter leads, and potential patients are already in your practice management system, right? So before you spend a dollar on advertising, in that quarter, pull a list, every patient, you know, from January through September who had heard a surgical recommendation and you recommended something for them, they said, let me think about it, right? So every orthotic quote that never got made, every hammer toe or ingrown consult that stalled, you know, in typical practice that's somewhere between, you know, 60 to maybe 200 names of people, they're sitting there kind of free within your EMR. So, you know, you can like, through HIPAA compliant ways, if you do have HIPAA compliant email or potentially there's some different types of recall software.
Jim McDannald, DPM:They can either make general messages or more targeted messages depending on whether you in The US, whether you have kind of HIPAA compliant ways of communicating with the patient that they've opted into. So yeah, there's kind of general ways of doing it, just making patients aware in different ways. Like I said, through lists, through general list of your patients, through email blasts, There's ways to get the word out there to provide great care, but also just making patients aware of this deductible.
Tyson E. Franklin:Yeah. And if you're thinking about it and this is like top of mind, when you're talking to a patient presenting a treatment, whether it's orthotics or some form of surgery and they say no, do you find most of them are saying, I haven't met my deductible yet. That's what they're waiting for. Do they actually say that?
Jim McDannald, DPM:I think some patients will tell you right? Like they you know, they have a 2,000 or sometimes I don't know if it's been a little while since I'm in practice, but I don't know if anyone has a, you know, like these these flexible spending accounts. So you can basically put sometimes what you can do is you can put money in tax free, tax free or get a, before, you know, some employers will have these flexible spending accounts. So instead of, you you put a $100 or $200 in a month into this account. Like the one that I had when I was employed was that it would not expire, but I guess maybe some do depending on the plan you have.
Jim McDannald, DPM:So just, it's almost a patient education thing, right? There's just so many ways that patients get confused these days. There's deductibles and co pays and things in The U. S. That just like feel like a foreign language to some people that either maybe they're, you know, they're not super, they haven't had to deal with a lot of these things.
Jim McDannald, DPM:So they don't understand why, you know, if they come for a bunion, maybe they do understand their deductible, like, so sometimes it's patient education is as much to like, to help them understand their options and so they can move forward in a way that works best for them.
Tyson E. Franklin:Yeah. Because I was thinking if you were presenting something and the patient says, no, need to think about it or for whatever reason. And you know they do have insurance, even if they don't mention the deductible, but you're thinking maybe that's what they're waiting on, that you would put something in in your your CRM, your patient management programme to make sure that you reach out to them at certain points in time. Because you know, throughout the year they may have reached it. And even if they haven't, it's still a reminder.
Tyson E. Franklin:This treat, yeah, we talked about getting this treatment done. Even if you haven't met your deductible, it might be something you still wanna get done this year
Jim McDannald, DPM:before the year ends. No, that's a perfect lead into the next one. It's like, you know, all it takes is one recall email. And it's really important that, you know, just send it out one time. And you know that this is one email, it's not a campaign.
Jim McDannald, DPM:It's not like a newsletter with like four or five different topics. It's not like a nine touch email nurture sequence. You're trying to get them to like consider it. You have the subject line that names the kind of the deadline of when you're like seeing patients until this date or scheduling surgery or procedures. Just to like give people heads up and communicate with them.
Jim McDannald, DPM:They have reasonable expectations. And like we talked about, it's just saying, talking about that there's some people that was considering certain things during the spring. Sometimes, you know, a deductible is going to reset January 1. Now here's a link to check-in with us and see how you're feeling. And, you know, we're open to, you know, revisiting, you know, how you're feeling with X, Y, Z diagnosis.
Jim McDannald, DPM:So sending that out something like the first week of October can be a great way to make sure that people feel informed and that you're kind of providing a service to make sure they don't miss out on that potential opportunity to have great care before their health plan kind of hits the reset button on January 1.
Tyson E. Franklin:So you're sending this out as like your one email, but you could also like if you had a monthly newsletter, always have that in your monthly newsletter, couldn't you just keep an eye on your, as the year progresses, make sure you keep an eye on your deductible and that would make sense to patients receiving it.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah, it could definitely be a topic. I think it seems like it's definitely becoming more top of mind people in the second half of the year. So I'm not sure really like it's... I would probably wouldn't put it in the first half of the year with a newsletter, but, maybe come July, August, some gentle reminders and then a dedicated message in early October is a great way to just reinforce that information. And so it's not getting kind of like blended together with other topics.
Jim McDannald, DPM:But I think, yeah, there can be some gentle reminders, I think, like I said, in maybe July, August when it comes to being a part of a a genuine kind of like monthly newsletter. We used to...
Tyson E. Franklin:When we had our thing, like, use it or lose it. And we used to... Sometimes we sent out somebody directly to the patients. And we would mention something along the lines of... And I think this would work with deductible people as well.
Tyson E. Franklin:Do you know that the CEOs and some of these insurance companies love it when you do not use your insurance. They they get big bonuses in overseas trips.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah. Yeah. You gotta be a little careful these days. You know, there was the the the CEO of the health care plan in New York City who was gunned down. Right?
Tyson E. Franklin:Oh, yes.
Jim McDannald, DPM:So so like, yeah, they're like, I don't know. I'm I'm a little hesitant to try to like drum up all the hate. Obviously, people have certain feelings.
Tyson E. Franklin:Not so much the hate,
Jim McDannald, DPM:but these private health hears.
Tyson E. Franklin:Yeah. I'm looking at that. We never should do it that you're drumming a hate, but it's more along the lines of insurance companies like it if you do not use it. Sure. They become they become far more profitable.
Tyson E. Franklin:If you... If nobody used their insurance, did make a claim, insurance companies would absolutely love it. And I think some bonuses would be handed out. I'm not gunning anybody down at any time, Jim. We're in Australia.
Tyson E. Franklin:We don't do that stuff over here.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah. You guys are much more civilized than us North Americans are, I guess.
Tyson E. Franklin:In Canada, well, they say laid back.
Jim McDannald, DPM:For sure. But I definitely would recommend, though, that if you do send that email out that, you know, make sure that your whoever's answering those emails is ready for it, because I think, you know, the phone's going to ring. You're going to get a lot of responses, I think, once that really clear message comes out about that availability. So just making sure that that person is trained and ready for that because that can be helpful thing. There are some EMR, electronic medical record systems in The US that people use that.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Maybe it's going to be a text message and maybe that's going to work as well. And maybe for a younger cohort of people that that's a great way as well. So emails, text messages, those are ways that you can send out this message.
Tyson E. Franklin:Great point, though, is being prepared for this because you could send out an amazing email that really hits the mark. And if all some patients can't get an appointment because it's been too popular, you have to be prepared. And especially like you said, the person who may be answering the phone, they need to be aware on how to answer the correct questions, give the correct information, or otherwise it's gonna reflect negatively on your business.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Absolutely. Like I said, it's a bit of a PR, like it's a management situation where you're like have to set certain expectations and let people know that you don't have unlimited availability in December, right? So like they realize that like, you know, it's like I said, we're not trying to like drive crazy urgency. You're just trying to be honest with them about what your capacity is. Because if you you set up expectations like, yeah, all welcome from now until December.
Jim McDannald, DPM:And it's like, you just get completely slammed and then there's going to be people upset. But if you set expectations at a reasonable level, then they're going to they'll be much they may not be happy, but they'll be much more understanding and you'll get those one star angry Google reviews in your future.
Tyson E. Franklin:Is that all that? So what's next?
Jim McDannald, DPM:So next is you want to change the message, but not the budget when it comes to your advertising. You know, most practices do one of two things in the fourth quarter. They do nothing or they shove more money into the same ads they've been running all summer. The lever really isn't the budget at this point. It's the way you write the copy of the ads, you know, or the marketing materials.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Your headlines move from kind of relief to more about the benefits, about the benefits resetting on January 1. The deadline is really, really important. Like I talked about and you want, like I said, you want to be totally upfront about what your capacity is if you can put it in your marketing, your ads, because, you know, if you just want to set expectations because, you know, and at some point probably by and you'd want to turn off some of that stuff probably by early to mid December, to be honest. Otherwise you're gonna get people that are, you know, you're running an ad on December 17 and you don't have availability. You know, once you run out of availability, it's time to shift those ads or to just pause the campaign for a period of time.
Tyson E. Franklin:Yeah. No. That makes total sense. So it's it's thinking about the the timing of when you're gonna do it. Yep.
Tyson E. Franklin:And... But the budget is pretty much staying the same. You're just moving it around.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah, it's just moving around a little bit and like maybe people have a good feel. Maybe, you know, people have been in practice for, you know, five or ten years know what that kind of general rush is like. Maybe you've done a little bit of something. So you might have a general sense of like, you know, if you advertise in a certain way or you put out some email messages or text messages to your patients, like what kind of demand to expect from that and just have, you know, instead of kind of going in blind, But I think that's it's really, really important component, like you said, is that just kind of setting those expectations in ways through your advertising and through your marketing that will meet the patient's needs as to the best of your abilities based on the capacity you have.
Tyson E. Franklin:What sort of budget are people normally putting aside to do all this?
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah, mean, it depends on how aggressive you want to be. Right. I think I would say, you know, most people's, you know, Google ads budget, people I work with is somewhere between, you know, a thousand or $2,000 a month is pretty normal for a smaller practice. Maybe you have, you know, four or five, six podiatrists, it could be double that. But really it depends on how the competitive the areas you're in as well.
Jim McDannald, DPM:You know, some people are paying a dollar 50 a click in very rural remote areas. And I have some clinics in metropolitan areas that are paying $12 to $15 for a click, and that's not necessarily for a scheduled patient. So, you know, your budget's going to kind of depend on the area you're in, but, you know, generally, like I talked about small one, two person practice are generally in that, you know, dollars 1,500 or $2,000 range a month.
Tyson E. Franklin:And this is where it probably differs, especially to Australia is you're saying they're marketing and advertising to the broader community. Have you used your deductible? Come in and see us, not just to their existing patients.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah, absolutely. I think it's one those things that this is I'm just talking about kind of Google like areas we serve page type ads, not additional things. You can also do, you know, Instagram and Facebook and kind of have that geographic targeting as well if that's something you want to do. But I think each, you know, and like if you already have an email, you know, provider that you send out your newsletters from, that's not necessarily like an extra expense more than your monthly newsletter. So yeah, it shouldn't be like I said, you don't have to ramp up the spend and maybe, you know, getting some familiarity with these other platforms beyond Google, whether it be Instagram ads or Facebook ads, those can be beneficial for sure.
Jim McDannald, DPM:But just kind of like, I would probably make sure you use other campaigns and you do other things before just turning it on for this one specific purpose.
Tyson E. Franklin:Yeah. No. I'm just thinking back to when we had the clinic and we were talking about the use it or lose it. Were always just... We were always talking to our patients, never marketing that to a broader community who hadn't even used it yet.
Tyson E. Franklin:Used this yet saying, hey, do you have cover for podiatry? Have you thought about if you haven't used it yet, you've still got three months to use it and they haven't chosen a podiatry clinic yet? So that just opened my mind up to a few different ideas.
Jim McDannald, DPM:No, for sure. And this kind of leads into the last point of today and like, you know, this is something that I've thought about doing. I haven't done it yet with some of the clinics I work with, but you know, you don't want people when they click on an ad or to click on something to end up on your homepage for this type of a campaign when it comes to utilizing advertising. Because your homepage is kind of about everything. You know, when it comes to a deductible, might, you might need to have a page about this kind of fourth quarter or, you know, I wouldn't call it deductible season for them, but like just letting them know about that kind of the end of the year.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Right. And explaining in plain language to people that have met their deductible, what that actually means, you know, what availability you have during those, the last three months of the year, and basically a form on that page. So people can like if they need help understanding what their benefits are. Sometimes it's not just like book your surgery today. It shouldn't be that, but it maybe it's helping people understand their health plan and their benefits in the staff at the clinic and walk through the patient before they get all hyped up about, oh yeah, I'm ready to do my buddy in surgery.
Jim McDannald, DPM:But they didn't realize that their deductible hadn't been met or it's higher than they thought or, you know, it has been met and they didn't realize it was. Providing additional information and service for your prospective patients or your current patients, I think is a nice service to add. And it really shows that you do care. You're helping them sometimes wade through these would feel like complicated, you know, financials and numbers game that they don't totally understand. And if you can be a resource for them, it can be showing that care and compassion that that makes you that person that they want to come in when they're ready to have a procedure or to to seek care.
Tyson E. Franklin:Yeah. And a lot of people do. They get confused. They don't understand how health insurance works or what they are covered for and what they're not covered for. So I think if you can send them to a page and then from there help guide them through that process and make them realise it's probably not as complicated as what they think.
Tyson E. Franklin:Because a lot of times when people think something's confusing, they just put their head in the sand and don't worry about it. It's easier not to worry about it. Whereas if they can be showing how it works and then once you've trained that person on how it works, they then can become a patient that may be coming back year after year for certain things.
Jim McDannald, DPM:No, absolutely. And this is a page that can can live on the website year round, but obviously there's a certain amount of time during the certain time of year when it's going to be most useful. But just having it there and providing good information for people, like I said, that no no two plans are the same or no new people's plans are the same. So you're not trying to like some basic learning. And if your staff does have the bandwidth to help them out, great.
Jim McDannald, DPM:If not, you know, just maybe give them some information so they can contact their insurance provider to get clear information through their insurance provider. But yeah, just like you talked about, so like making sure the math, you know, changes in Q4, even though, you know, your fee does not, nobody, like I said, nobody tells the patient, so you need to let them know, you know, kind of to kind of recap. The second thing is that, you know, your best kind of prospective patients are deferred patients that already know, like, and trust you that are in your practice management or your EMR. Three, like I was talking about just doing one recall email, maybe a few reminders and some previous newsletters can be helpful, but a clear recall email that names the deadline and lets them know that what your true capacity is so they can make a decision for themselves. I'd the fourth point is really change the ads message, not necessarily the budget and just kind of don't worry about loading up on spend.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Just make sure you explain that in a clear concise ad or marketing materials that you build out. And then last but not least, you know, send all of it to one purpose built page and not your home page when it comes to the advertising or to let people know the call in about their deductible, have a helpful page for them and maybe help them connect with their insurance providers to really get the clear information about this kind of what can be sometimes a stressful time for patients, a stressful time for doctors that they're trying to like balance providing great care, but running into some potential capacity issues in that last quarter of the year.
Tyson E. Franklin:When you're talking about the homepage or that that specific landing page that they're gonna go on, like I said, there's gonna be certain times a year where that a lot of people coming to that page. When the season sort of finishes, probably a good idea to go back to that page too and just reread it, tweak anything that you may be an extra question so that you just... You're always keeping that page live even though it may not get used a lot in that first six months of the year. But if you wait until six months before you tweak it again, you might forget all those questions that are being asked. So I think it's a good idea to go back to that page, tweak it as soon as the season finishes so that it's ready for the next one coming around.
Jim McDannald, DPM:I totally agree. Having that open line of communication with your staff to say what were the top five, 10, 20 questions that you guys were getting asked about this time of season when it comes to deductibles and having clear, like frequently answered questions, FAQ sections there. Not only will like Google potentially like that, but these are types of questions that people are typing into ChatGPT, into Claude, into all these, to Gemini, into these places where they want to get answers. And if your website is answering those questions for these patients, it's going to send more people to you and you're going to be seen as a valuable resource for lots of different people and maybe it's going to lead to additional traffic. So there's an additional benefit to building this page out potentially.
Jim McDannald, DPM:So I may start building this out with some of the clinics that I work with. So like I said, haven't started doing this yet, but I could see where it could lead to a lot of not only like help for the patient, but also help for people searching on these different platforms.
Tyson E. Franklin:Okay. So what should everybody, you know, they've listened to this episode. What should they be doing straight away?
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah, I think, you know, if people are listening to this, I'd say this week, you know, maybe pull that list of maybe you're good about knowing those, you know, fifty and two hundred people that said they were going to defer surgery or defer an orthotic, you know, somewhere between January and through September. Maybe you don't, that's okay. Like I said, don't write anything, don't build anything, just kind of get those names potentially and see how many you have. And then kind of like slowly go through those different steps like I talked about. Maybe there's building out a page on the website.
Jim McDannald, DPM:You know, maybe it's just, you know, changing the copy of the ad campaigns this year with the marketing provider you're working with. But that first step is just to, you know, either get that list of names. If you don't have that list of names, think about making a dedicated, just simple email that helps spell out the specifics around deductible season or the end of the year for your patients so they can, you're setting good expectations and that they can either receive great care in the last three months or understand where your capacity is so you... So they... You won't get those one star reviews from people that sometimes happens in that last quarter of the year.
Tyson E. Franklin:This has been absolutely fantastic information, Jim. I'm glad you're promoting it. Yeah. Are we promoting anything at the moment? I
Jim McDannald, DPM:don't... I mean, people can go obviously to podiatry.marketing and check out the practice visibility scorecard that's always available for any of our listeners that want to understand, you know, exactly. So
Tyson E. Franklin:I thought you were going to mention?
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah. So anyone who wants this is something that's free to all of our listeners. We really to help you understand how visible you are in your community. So this is a service that I think can be really beneficial. I got a lot of great feedback from people who received it.
Jim McDannald, DPM:So yeah, I would say just head over to podiatry. Marketing, you know, at the top of the page there, there's a link, fill out a little bit of information on the form and we're happy to send that your way so you can see how visible you are to those prospective patients in your area.
Tyson E. Franklin:Yeah. People ever wanna hunt you down. It's what podiatrygrowth.com? That's it, Tyson. And where are you at again?
Tyson E. Franklin:Tysonfranklin.com. Really easy to remember. Fantastic. Okay. Big Jim, this has been fun.
Tyson E. Franklin:I've learned a little bit more about the whole deductible season. Like I said, you hear about it. You watch American movies and they're always talking about, oh, I haven't met my deductible. I think... But I also think what you spoke about can be applied to other countries.
Tyson E. Franklin:Insurances might be different, but there's still a lot of points in there that made sense and should be used.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Yeah. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm glad you enjoyed a little education on the deductible.
Tyson E. Franklin:It's called the American episode. For sure. Okay, look forward to talking to you next week.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Sounds great, Tyson.
Tyson E. Franklin:Okay, see you. Bye now.
Jim McDannald, DPM:Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald. Subscribe and learn more at podiatry Marketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.