Fix Your Messaging

Dr. T  0:00  
Owners of a direct care practice are more likely to experience higher job satisfaction than the insurance based practice. And it's no wonder why direct care is independent of insurance. Patients pay the doctor directly for their expertise, the doctor gets full autonomy in how they care for patients and how they get paid. They have chosen this path with a love of medicine. This is the direct care way. 

Dr. T  0:24  
By listening to this podcast, you may even start to believe that you too can have a successful direct care practice. Come listen with an open mind as I share my personal journey and how I pivoted from an insurance based practice to direct care right in the middle of the pandemic. And the valuable lessons along the way. This podcast may be the very thing you need to revitalize your medical practice. I'm your host, owner of a direct care podiatry practice Dr. Tea Nguyen.

Dr. T  0:52  
I got really excited and inspired to share this episode with you. I put this together right after I met with my business group on the topic of how to create and craft your message so that you attract the right people into your practice I had previously spoke on about knowing what your why is before you even start your direct care practice, because that is going to anchor you in some of the hardships we're going to experience as a business owner. But there's more to that I lecture that Simon Sinek had given there's a link in the show notes, it's free, check it out. He talks about the power of starting with your why before you sell, because people will always buy into your why into your story before they even buy your stuff. So this gives me inspiration to redo my 32nd elevator pitch that I do for my local networking business club. And I'm going to share that with you. So you're going to hear version 1.0. And then the modified version, the 2.0 of my messaging that I now use because of this lecture. So my version 1.0 of my 32nd Elevator Pitch sounded something like this. 

Dr. T  2:04  
Hi, I'm Dr. Tea Nguyen, owner of Pacific Point podiatry, and I help people maintain healthy feet through a holistic and functional approach. What's unique about my practice is that I don't bill insurance, which allows me to spend more time with patients and offer lasting results. I specialize in minimally invasive surgery and regenerative therapies to support a body to heal. 

Dr. T  2:27  
So lots of words in there doesn't mean a whole lot. I don't know, let's compare it to version 2.0. I am Dr. Tea Nguyen, owner of Pacific plant podiatry, and I left the conventional insurance based practice seeking sustainable results. That is beyond short visits, in personal interactions, over cooking, and over prescribing pain medicines, that is typical of conventional options. I help people maintain healthy feet through a holistic and functional approach. I specialize in minimally invasive techniques and regenerative therapies that support the body to heal lots of words, 30 seconds, those were my two pitches. 

Dr. T  3:02  
So you now you've seen where I started from. And you're seeing the evolution of how I'm working on my messaging so that it can resonate with the right people who want my services, there's a different tone, when you start telling people what it is that you do know you're a doctor, you have the service versus the story behind that on why you chose this path. Why did you choose to open your own practice, instead of working for somebody else, or working for a corporate medicine, and so on. So this is what you want to be able to convey in your messaging, so that it connects with the right people into your practice. And frankly, what I've discovered along the way, is that nobody really cares why you as a physician, as a business owner opted out to them, they see that as a disadvantage, because they're always thinking about themselves. 

Dr. T  3:52  
Once you tell somebody that you opted out, they're going to say, Oh, I can't afford your services, then I've had people call my office and say, I have Medicare. And I can't afford to pay anything more than $0. They haven't even heard my price point yet. They don't even understand what my value proposition is. And they've already made the conclusion. They can't afford my services. That's how much people are into their own head. So you kind of want to interrupt that. And you can do that by starting with a story about why you opted out. And so I shared with you those two examples that I'm working with, and I hope you can kind of see the different tone in each of those messages and apply it to your own situation. How do you do this? You really want to touch on the current pain points your ideal person has, what is the current problem that we have in our medical system that are making people look for different options. 

Dr. T  4:48  
Why is direct care growing so much is because we have a laundry list of problems that patients are really sick and tired of. And once you figure out a way to articulate that you interact Other people's thinking processes in a way to get their attention. The example that Simon uses was, okay, you're hearing background noise because I'm recording this at work. I was just really excited to record this for you. But the example that Simon uses was the Apple iPhone, Apple mix computer, right? But so does IBM and Microsoft. But what does Apple do to stand out? They are selling a lifestyle or a purpose or a cause or belief that is also associated with their product. They're answering the question, why should anyone care about them or their product? They do that with a story. They're doing that in a way that's inspiring. So how do they inspire? They say that we believe in challenging the status quo in thinking differently. How do they do that? They do that through making their products look beautiful, and simple. And then finally, they sell the iPhone, that is the order in which they produce their marketing messages, that helps inspire and eventually sell their product. But people who purchase Apple products buy into this, they like challenging the status quo, they'd like to think differently. They like beautiful things. And so even their products are at a different price point. Because of those technologies. That's what is inevitably happening. And that's why Apple is so huge. 

Dr. T  6:18  
Now they have sold a story. For those of us who also agree, we also want to be different. Now let's revisit in the way of your direct care practice, you are a doctor, you want to make money. But so does everybody else. What most people will do in the way that they market just screen anybody on Instagram. What are they saying? They're saying things like, we treat feet, we offer Shockwave, minimally invasive surgery, non invasive technology and so on. Schedule an appointment, right? It's very linear. It's straightforward. It's to the point. But it's also really uninspiring because that's how everybody else is selling their product or their services as well. And now we just become really average and comparable to in network options. People won't know that their insurance doesn't cover these things, people won't always know what their insurance will cover or not cover. 

Dr. T  7:12  
So it takes another layer of information for people to even ask if your stuff is covered by insurance, because for the most part, people think insurance covers everything. But we know that it does not. And so when you start introducing technology, you sell the technology first, then you're just kind of a product pusher do get what I'm saying, You're selling technology that anybody can buy. But when you sell a story that is your own, that you crafted, you're giving them a reason to pay attention to you. And you're giving them a little bit of an inspiration to learn more about you. So instead, let's have you think about your own messaging. What is the inspiring belief that you have, that you want people to get? What is your purpose in your business? And why should anyone care about what you have to say, or what you're offering. So it might be in this example, I left conventional medicine seeking sustaining results, that is beyond short visits, impersonal interactions, over booking, and over prescribing pain medications, that is typical, conventional options. This highlights the pain points that my ideal patients are having, and why they should choose me. And happily out of pocket. I am showing them that I'm different. And it's not by the technology that I purchase. But the story that I tell why my business even exists, why there was a need for my business to exist in my community, people will always resonate with a story. 

Dr. T  8:41  
So I encourage you to think deeply about your story. What's pissing you off from the interest based practices and put it in the perspective of the patient what is pissing off the patients as well, patients have long wait, they take weeks to months to even be seen when they're seeing the visits are short, doctors are just staring at the computer. And they're they only look at the patient for a minute. And then they quickly prescribe or narcotic or send them off for another referral. Or they're getting these massive bills. What part of that frustration Do you want to put into your messaging and create your story? Now we're all here to make money. We're all here to use our skill to practice medicine without the frustration of insurance. But none of these messages really hit the mark as to converting somebody who needs your services into paying patients. 

Dr. T  9:35  
So I hope that this episode gets you thinking about how you can craft your own message in a way that will resonate with the people that you want to attract into your practice and so that you can start loving practicing medicine again, if this was an episode that you enjoy, please share it with a friend and tell them about my course and my coaching program so I can help you further in your direct care journey. And all this information is listed at in the shownotes so I hope that you stay inspired by friends. Take care, and I'll see you next time. 

Dr. T  10:06  
Thank you so much for being here with me. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please like, share and subscribe so more people like you can have access to another way of practicing medicine, that direct care way. Let's connect find my info in the show notes and send me your questions. That might be the topic for future episodes. 

Dr. T  10:25  
And lastly, if you remember nothing else, remember this be the energy you want to attract. See you next time.