Creative Strategies For Practice Growth Thinking Outside The Box

Host: Hello everyone, welcome to the veterinary business podcast, your ultimate resource for developing a successful veterinary practice and career. I'm Ryan Davies, Digital Marketing Advisor of Equal Marketing, and one of the co-hosts of the veterinary business podcast. On this podcast, we bring you insights and expertise from industry-leading doctors, experts, and thought leaders. We cover a wide range of topics including practice management, marketing strategies, leadership development, HR, best practices, and much more. Whether you're a practicing veterinarian, a practice owner, practice manager, or a student studying to become a veterinarian.

Host: This podcast is tailored to help you navigate unique challenges and opportunities in the business of veterinary medicine. Every listener of this podcast is welcome to visit www.metronarybusinessinstitute.com for additional resources and tools to help support your growth. And remember, you can subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, and other popular podcast platforms. Today, I'm very excited to talk to Narend Al-Ru-Raja, the founder of the veterinary business podcast and CEO of Equal Marketing. On how to make 2024 your best year, yet with powerful marketing. So let's jump in.

Host: Narend, thanks so much for being here, and as we get kicked off, how would you tell us a little bit about yourself and take a minute about to tell us your story? Thank you, Ryan. Of course, I love having you interview me because, yes, it's a fun person to talk to, when you always bring the best in me, so I appreciate you for that. I'm really looking forward to this conversation, but before I jump in, I know many of you know me. I started the veterinary business institute, the veterinary business podcast. We currently have quite a number of co-hosts, quite a number of listeners all across the US and Canada.

Host: We all know after COVID, the veterinary profession had an explosion in demand, right? Everybody became a pet on it, I guess, thanks to COVID. But of course, now things are getting back to normal, people are getting back to their travels. Like, you know, who likes to be cooped up in a house like we were for a long time during COVID. So now doing the same things that worked during COVID doesn't work as much anymore. So how do we compete like everybody else every other business? Of course, during COVID, veterinary practices had a tiny advantage because you can't travel, you can't go out to a restaurant, you can't spend money on pretty much anything other than

Host: on Amazon or on your pet, so that those days are gone. So what we have noticed is there are things that the successful practices are doing that are very, very different from some of the mistakes that the other ones are making. So hopefully we'll be able to shed some light on it. So I have worked in the veterinary profession for 15 plus years. We still have our client from more than a decade ago. So what we do is for those who are curious, we help practice on us attract new high quality you know, clients, pet owners to become lifelong, you know, clients. So that's kind of what we do, we are a digital marketing company, we have 250 plus people.

Host: The metric I'm most proud of is 95% of our clients, namely us. So it's something that I really enjoy. I love what I do. I'm at the stage in my career where I'm, you know, my kids all grown up, but I love what I do. So this is my hobby. So I love helping practice on us and even the veterinary business institute and the podcast is our way of kind of saying thank you, giving back. And I know you are part of that as well, you do hosting, you do a bunch of other things for us.

Host: So thank you for everything you do Ryan. I absolutely love it. This is an area that's again, near and dear to me, as you know, I've got my two dogs. And it was three recently, doubted two, that's okay. But yeah, it was the way those things, you know, through the pandemic, I mean, they sure got a lot of extra treats ordered from Amazon a lot more time, a lot more anything else, right? So I absolutely love this space. And I think it's such an incredible thing that the veterinarians do and the services they provide.

Host: So I thank you again for allowing me to co-host here with you. And again, have a great episode together. Let's talk a little bit about, like you said, you know, looking ahead to 2024, but I always, you know me well enough to know you can't know where you're going unless you know where you are now. So let's, let's take a look like it 2023 and let me know kind of the key reasons why veterinary practices didn't do well in 2023, where regards new patient flow. Absolutely. I think the whole podcast is about looking at five reasons why the ones who struggled and hopefully, if it can unpack those, and if you are making any one of those five mistakes,

Host: all five or two or five, then perhaps you could do something differently in 2024. This podcast is getting published early on in the years. So hopefully you have a whole year to work on it. So let me first rattle them off Ryan and then we can, you know, in depth into each one. Yeah. The very first mistake that veterinary practice owners are making is not understanding the veterinary bias journey, you know, the pet owners journey. And in other words, how does a pet owner go about selecting a veterinary practice to call their permanent home? What's that journey like?

Host: So when you don't understand it, you can't win the game, right? If you don't understand the game, how do you win that game? You don't understand. Second mistake they make is 95% of the practices don't do well with SEO. That's not your fault. That's the way Google likes it and being in that 95%. So if you are in that 95% that gets literally no traffic, almost no traffic, like literally the bottom of the pile, remember it's like, are you got into that top veterinary school? You didn't, right? So if you're in that 95% who didn't get into the top veterinary school, perhaps you have

Host: to pursue a different degree or different career, you're life-owned be as good as the one who did end up getting into that top veterinary school. So how do we not continue to be there? Of course, the beauty of this is this is not like you can't change goals. You can, right? Pretty quickly, you can get into the top 5% of dental practices that are dominating Google and having an unfair advantage. So of course the opposite of the mistake is how do you now get into the top 5%. The third one is I still see this to this day, most practices, unfortunately, spend tons and tons of money on Google ads.

Host: Why do they do that? Do attract new patients. Unfortunately, it's a very easy way to lose a lot of money. Like I've seen practices lose tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then they come back and tell me, you know what, I think I just wasted all this money. Of course, I'm not saying Google ads doesn't work, but it's a very precise science and it's a very precise, expensive science. So if you don't get the accuracy right and I'm going to give you some tips on how you can avoid this. So don't waste money on Google ads, especially the ones who don't know what they're doing.

Host: And the next mistake that I see people making is they don't even know the phrase called conversions. All conversion is the percentage of callers who end up becoming new clients, new petona clients. So if you don't even know whether your call conversion is, let's say, 80% meaning 80% of the people, new clients who are calling you are becoming new clients versus 20% only 20% of the people who are calling you are booking appointments and becoming new clients, that's a 404x 400% opportunity, right, which you are not capitalizing on. Most practices, 90% of you have no idea what your call conversion rate is. So that's a big, big mistake, right, if you don't know something, how do you improve it?

Host: Finally, the good practices do something that I have noticed consistently, they have a morning crunch. Whether they're literally prepared for the day, get together, five minutes, really talk about the problems that might happen and then proactively come up with solutions to make their day awesome. If you have a set of awesome days, you have an awesome week, if you have a set of awesome weeks, you have an awesome month. So it's a great way for you to have amazing days, weeks, mountaineers. So those are the five mistakes, right, that veterinary practices are making that we want to go in depth and cover in today's conversation.

Host: I love it. I can't wait to kind of dive through all of these and I know both of us have a lot of opinions about this, a lot of thoughts that we like to put into it in terms of what's important and why. And I think you really nailed it by naming the first one first. So talking about the veterinary buyer's journey, because without that, it really the rest of it's going to fall anyways. So you need to make sure you understand that. So explain for our audience here a little bit about what that is and maybe some of the mistakes and some of the common best practices you're seeing in that.

Host: Yeah, see, if you don't know, if you have the wrong map, 100% guaranteed you're going to get lost. I don't need to sugarcored it, like I mean, if I give you a map of Chicago and say, hey, Ryan, no cell phone, no iPhone, nothing, this is the map, navigate New York and I'm giving you a map of Chicago. You will be going in circles, right, like you're looking at a map of Chicago and I thought after stage trade comes this and now I see something else, what's going on and maybe finally it'll dawn on you, maybe the map is wrong, even though it says New York, it really is a map of Chicago. So that's the key, right, so if you don't understand the values journey, it's like

Host: you don't have the right map to navigate the world of attracting new clients. So I want to kind of talk about the map that we used to have, right? So I'm going day myself, 1999, Google was a year old. In those days, if you wanted to find the veterinary practice, you know, you call your book, call the yellow pages, right? It was next to your phone, you go flip through it and there's a section for veterinary practices and then you flip through it and there's a huge ad and then maybe there are two half page ads, you shall read through the full page ad and maybe you don't like it, maybe you read through two more ads and then if you're one of those picky people, you might even call the, you know, the local veterinary association to kind of make sure that the doctors

Host: you're looking at are decent doctors and then you go to the office, that's simple, right? Information was not, you know, fingertips in those days, so information is so limited. Of course, a few of you entrepreneurial might have a billboard, may run an ad on TV on radio, so this is how the world worked in 1999. Today, 8.5 billion people start their, you know, searches, whether it's looking for a car, looking for a veterinarian, looking for a restaurant or helping their kid with homework on Google. So we do that as a habit. Why? Google gives us precise information in less than a second.

Host: Before you can even finish the sentence, it knows what you're thinking, they'll give you the answers and then it doesn't give you a single answer, it gives you ten answers. So you can go through two, three, four, pick the one you like, then you're done, right? It's so different. So the, what Google fundamentally did is to change the game. So today that veterinary bias journey starts on Google, I go to Google, I type something in and really there are two options for you to be part of that veterinary bias journey in 2024. One, you can buy Google ads next to those keywords. So, you know, pet, you know, dog veterinarian near me because I think people who can

Host: treat dogs cannot treat cats, I'm just saying, right, or whatever keyword I type and somebody might even type in a breed, or type in a name of a shot, like whatever they're typing in, you can show up as an ad or you can show up organically, that's step number one. Step number two, if I click on an ad, I'll give you 15 seconds, if I click on the organic result, I'll give you 90 seconds. Why do I give you 90 seconds when I click on the organic free result? Or is this, why do I give you 15 seconds when I click on an ad? Maybe that's something we can talk about later, but I'll just park it for now, just think about it. Now, let's say I click on your link, whether it's organic, just let's give ourselves a benefit

Host: of the doubt, you're crushing Google, you're crushing at CEO, you are showing up and you clicked on your organic link, and I get 90 seconds. In those 90 seconds, step two happens. In step two, I have to be convinced as the pet owner, as the pet mom dad, that you are the right practice for my pet, right, how do I determine that? I want to make sure you're an expert, maybe you're an expert in treating my type of breeds, or maybe you're an expert in that particular vaccine or that particular issue that I think my pet has. Whatever it is that I'm looking for in terms of expertise, you showcase to me that you are the expert.

Host: Second, I have to like you. So we do so wonderful, say, hey, welcome to my page on dot dot dot, I have so many years of experience in dot dot dot, check out the cases or check out whatever information just you can be descriptive. I would love to help you, me and my team would love to help you, please call our office on number as this 45 seconds, you know, camera, the simple smiling, no, no makeup, no nothing fancy, no, no professional camera man just using a smartphone, put it on that page. Google that thing that I thought I need and you come to me on on that web page and you talk to me directly about that particular thing that I was looking for.

Host: And now, now I like you, you're easy to talk to, you seem like somebody who I can understand. It's key, right, because why would we go take our pet to a doctor who we feel our practice, where we feel, we can't even communicate, they won't even listen to us. And the last one is reviews, right, so make sure those pages have those reviews. So let's say for that particular service, go and grab the related reviews on Google, put it on that page. So I know you're an expert, I know I like you and I know you're somebody who's trusted by everybody else as well. So what's happening, my phone rings, now go to step three. Step three is a answer to the call.

Host: You cannot believe the number of practices that missed 30, 40 percent. I know you know this Ryan, because you look at this very closely of phone calls. Imagine you have a new, new client calling you and you don't answer, what does that new client do? Go and call the next person on there, let's search list on Google. They're not leaving a voicemail. Maybe they did pre-google, but now there is Google, they can get a second, the third of fourth, the fifth option, right? So why does they need to wait two days? They need something and they need it right now.

Host: The next thing that they miss in terms of phone calls is like I talked about conversion rate, right? And no, if they are converting all the patients or not, sorry, if they are converting all those patients into appointments or not, they don't even know they can't improve on it. So those are the three steps, show up on Google, ideally through a CEO, step one, step two, optimize the page, the person ends up on so that they are much more likely to pick up the phone and call you, step three, optimize the phone experience. So they are like, yeah, I was right, I mean, that I call and now they become a new patient of you, a new client of yours.

Host: I think, you know, we would break that down even a little further because you just mentioned it right there, right, that if you can't get found, people can't choose you. It doesn't matter. I always like to say, you could be the world's greatest artist and I say, oh, yeah, where's your art? And you say, it's in my basement. Well, it's really hard to appreciate how great of an artist you are or an approaches your art. If it's in your own basement, it's got to be on displays of people can appreciate it. And 95% of practices do really poorly with this.

Host: They aren't able to get found and put everything that they do, so great on display. So we know that as SEO, maybe you can explain that a little bit as well for our listeners and the audience here about why 95% of practices kind of fail in this area. Yeah, so that's the second mistake, right, like, and that's why design is not your fault. Google has designed it. So 95% of you will fail. Why that 95% who Google will give Google money in terms of ads. And just to put this in context, we don't have the 2023 numbers yet because Google hasn't released it yet, but in 2022, it made $224 billion. Most of us cannot comprehend what $224 billion is.

Host: We just have never seen it. We don't know what it is like, but so that you understand it, there are 150 countries in the world that make less than $224 billion in a year. So the country has 100 million human beings. The entire GDP, meaning what all those people produce is less than $224 billion. And that's how much money Google makes from Google ads, right? So if I'm Google, I have to fail you because if I don't, you won't give me money for ads. And if I don't get money for ads, my revenue from Google ads won't go up every single year, like it had for the last 25 years. So that's kind of designed.

Host: So I guess the flip question is how do I get into the top five percent? It's really simple. The two guys who started Google met at Stanford, and they like how Stanford admissions work, right? You have to ace your essays, you have to ace US-A-Ts, you have to ace your interviews, you have to ace your GPA, you have to ace pretty much five or six things. If you ace every single one of those things, that is maybe a 10% chance you'll get in the Stanford. So Google said, well, we're going to have a paid school and a free score. If you ace everything, six things we're going to look at, six buckets, actually there

Host: are 200 things, organized into six buckets. If you ace these six buckets of things, then you will be in the top five percent. If you don't, oh, we have a Stanford B school or a paid Stanford, where you give us tons of money and we'll give you the results you're looking for, which is, you know, we'll show you next to the ads. I mean, I don't blame them. We live in a, you know, democracy, capitalistic world, and it totally is legal and totally everything they do is totally fine. So, you know, that's the key. But if you are able to get into the top five percent, you have an unfair advantage.

Host: Your cost of acquiring a new patient would be a fraction, a new client would be a fraction of the cost of acquiring a new client through Google ads. Now, in my experience by end of year one, that will be a five-ex difference. So, you spend $10 acquiring a client through a CEO, you have to spend $50 by end of year two that cost from a CEO will go down further, so it becomes a 10-ex difference. So, what happens is those who are in the top five percent have an unfair advantage. Once you have an unfair advantage, now you can use the extra money you saved in technology in paying your people better, taking that money home in terms of profits. So, that and done over to one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, 10, 20 years is in the millions of dollars.

Host: So, it's a huge unfair advantage that gives you capabilities and things that you want to have otherwise. So, that's really, you know, how to think about it. Now, what are the six things Google cares about? NAP. Why don't I flip this on you? My voice is getting tired. You have, you know, helped practice on us, understand how they're doing. So, you tell me, I'm going to put you on the spot. Okay, absolutely.

Host: I mean, when it comes down to a Google's looking at a few key categories, like you said, there's six things that are the most heavily weighted when it comes to where you're ranking. And again, building up that where Google's pre-vetted it to say, look, this is exactly what you're looking for, the site has what you're looking for, they're trusted, they're likeable, right? So, that falls under six things. One of them is something called your Google Lighthouse score. So, Google Lighthouse, I like to call it like the IRS for the internet, right? It audits every page in that moment of how it's performing.

Host: So, from a technical standpoint, how well does it perform? Is it fast? Does everything load properly when I end up on a mobile website, which is now, again, you know, most of us are doing our searches well over half, almost 70, 75% searching for things on our phones and tablets, not going to a desktop and looking it up, is everything laid out, right? Is it clickable? Is it fully accessible under the American Disabilities Act? So, videos are able to be closed captioned, is it enabled for a screen reader? All of those types of things, is it enabled for SEO, is it, you know, is it falling

Host: the best practices from a service and security standpoint? That is a big one. So, you get this report part of every page has its own. So, we've got 30 pages again, your home page, your services page, your about us page, your, you know, whatever it is, every single one has to be monitored for that. So, incredibly important to look at that, you mentioned NAP, so your name, address, and phone number standard. Is it exactly the same everywhere you appear from Google to your website to Facebook, to Yelp, to all the third party and local content aggregators and hotel reservations, self-sites, and all that sort of stuff.

Host: Are you, are you the same everywhere from that standpoint? So, are you unit 1, 2, 3 at 100, Main Street, are you, number 100, are you sweet 100, STE, 100, is it Main Street, Main ST, you know, all of those types of things that all come into play, and then again, with the name of your practice, is it the same everywhere that it appears? So, it's not like, you know, the veterinary clinic and then one place is just the doctor's name and one place is it. It's got to be a uniform, whatever you choose, that's got to be the same everywhere from that standpoint. You had mentioned, you know, Google E to before, we've talked about this, that is an acronym

Host: that means, you know, your experience and expertise, your authority and your trustworthiness. So, do you have all of those factors on the page? Do you showcase your experience and your expertise and what you're talking about? Are you showing your authority and credentials for what you do that you can speak to it? And then, for trustworthiness, again, as you mentioned, the reviews and all of those great things that want to be positioned on the page, that's going to raise your score as well from that perspective. Do you have original content on every page? Right? So, again, don't make it a Wikipedia page where you cut and paste information about a certain

Host: thing, right? So, if you've got a thing about hip dysplasia on dogs and what that means and, you know, the tree events and things like that, I don't want to land on your page and end up as just a Wikipedia information that's been copied from somewhere else. It needs to be original content speaking about why you're an expert in it. What it means to you, the cases that you've diagnosed and treated it in that. So, again, Google can showcase that coming here, you get something original and unique and we're showcasing that for you, your Google reviews and your other reviews, as you mentioned, the Google are kind of like the king queen of this one, however you want to position it, right?

Host: They're the leaders. So, you're getting a high quantity quality and velocity of Google reviews, are you getting them often? Are you getting them more for their love letter style reviews where people are talking about the treatment and all the positive sentiment and all the reasons they love you to that extent, right? And are they coming often? So, again, you're not getting 10 at the start of a month and you're leaving it until the next quarter and getting another 10. It's a consistent, you know, growth on your reviews.

Host: They track this. They see, you know, more people are coming here and more people are liking it here and people say great things. And again, when people search, you know, again, I've got to hit displays with my dog. Perfect. If I search that and there's a review that speaks to how you treated my, you know, my German shepherd with hip dysplasia and I put these great things that you said, now when people search that you become more relevant, again, you raise up in the rankings from that standpoint. So, you know, recapping, I think that's kind of your, again, your Google, your original

Host: content, your nap score, your, what else am I missing here? And I'm going back again, your Google lighthouse scores. The best thing they should do is, if anyone is curious how they're doing with Google, they should book a marketing strategy meeting with you, because I know, yes, pan six hours researching and then literally going through all of that with them in, like, you know, in a very lengthy meeting. The thing is, it's very easy for us to talk about generally, but yes, I think what makes sense is for doctor to find out specifically where they are at with regards to nap and lighthouse score and so forth. That's exactly it.

Host: What does it mean to you, right? So, number six is our other one. There's is making sure you've got high quality, white hat, you know, high, high number of those back links to make sure that those are all there. So, what's the link to book a meeting with you Ryan, I just wanted to throw it out because this came up for sure, absolutely. So, if you go to veterinary business institute dot com slash msm for marketing strategy meeting, slash Ryan, so my first name are y a and you go there and you can click a time in the calendar. We sit down for an hour or so and we really, again, you and I have a conversation about

Host: what is granular about you, right? So, we really take all of these grand great theories, everything we're talking about, and we really apply them to your practice, how you're actually doing on it today and put a plan in place for how to improve each of those strategies moving forward. So, definitely, you know, take advantage of that if, if you didn't get it down for veterinary businesses to dot com slash msm slash Ryan, I'm also available on phone or by text at 204-898-0528 and it's just that easy, you can call or text me, you can click the calendar link, let's have a conversation and really, you know, put this into, into reality for you from that standpoint because we want to make sure you're doing well with SEO and that's what you need to do to tell if you're doing really well in this place.

Host: So, you know, I think maybe that's a great segue into finding out again, like you mentioned about Google AdWords, why and how veterinary practices are wasting and spending so much money on it instead of focusing on SEO where the ROI is so much better. Yeah, I mean, if you're in the 95% and you need new clients, you have no choice, right? You have to get new clients. I mean, you can't just shut down your business or, you know, like, how do you business shrink? It's a rough force to watch the next best option after SEO, Google Ads, so you have forced to spend money on Google Ads. The challenges with Google Ads is going back until by the way, it's already expensive,

Host: but that's, you know, forget about that for a minute. Because you're willing to spend five to 10 times a more money than SEO because you don't have a choice and if that's the only choice and it's still cheap with any other option, even though it's five to 10 times more expensive, well, you'll pick that choice, fine, right? because it's so expensive and see if you better be perfect in the way you do it. Like are you using negative keywords? So I see a lot of practices getting a lot of traffic. So somebody might type in some hospital that sounds like your hospital. And the person clicks through you pay three bucks. And the person's first question is are you dot dot dot hospital?

Host: And of course it's something else. And they're like now click three bucks gone. And multiply that times, you know, hundred, you know, that's three hundred dollars just gone. And multiply that by 12 months. That's like three thousand six hundred dollars gone. And in the example is they type in a keyword, they go to your page. The landing page is not impressive. It doesn't have the videos. It doesn't have all the things I talked about. So you are, you know, missing out on all those people because what are they doing?

Host: They're not calling you. Remember they clicked on an ad. So they only are giving you 15 seconds. Why they're number one question is what's the catch? They're looking for a reason to leave your site. And if you're not unbelievably amazing in convincing them on that page in 15 seconds. Remember with SEO, you can convince them in 90 second. But here you're to convince them in 15 seconds. Then you could be facing a lot of money. So I've seen practice owners based tens of thousands of dollars because.

Host: They're only doing it because they don't have a choice because they see your sucks. But beyond that, you know, they're not doing all the other things you need to do to get results from Google ads. So they're easily wasting like I had an actual client who's spending $6,000 on Google ads. She, she owned a clinic. And I started showing them many of these people are typing in keywords that are for your competition. And, and you've been played the call for and said, okay, as soon as they said, you are not them. They're hanging up. So why are we wasting time? Then I started showing, okay, how many people go to that page? But phone never rings.

Host: So your page is a useless. So why are we spending $6,000? Of course that particular client said, I want to do SEO because I know it's a friend. You know, because I know it's a fraction of a cost. Today, she does SEO. And then she spends $500, you know, once in a while for certain things. So her budget been down from like 6,000 to like 12, 50 a month. And she's getting actually doubled the number of clients for 12, 50. When in the past, she had to spend 6,000 and she got half. So it's crazy like how much money can be, you know, wasted with Google ads and any other type of paid ads.

Host: Yeah. And I think with that, a lot of times people look at the Google ads words and have been taught. And kind of have this theory of what's the shortcut, right? Because that's again, that's how Google wants to position it. Well, you don't need to spend time on SEO. You can just buy an ad and buy your VIP parking at the front door. But like you said, that's great. But if your message isn't right, if you don't have still the great content, if you don't have a reason for them to be there, if you're showing up in competitor, he words and stuff like, here it's just it's burning good money, right?

Host: It's throwing good money at that idea. So yeah, the other thing I want to point out is, yeah, you're going out once in a while and you're buying that 30 dollar VIP value parking fine. But if you're doing it five times a day and you buy 30 dollar VIP value parking five times a day, you're going to not do too well, right? So like, remember, you need, it is a lifeblood. This is how you get new clients. So if you're going to every click every day, you know, 30 days a month for the rest of the year is five times more expensive. 10 times more expensive.

Host: So eventually, the guy with SEO will have an unfair advantage. He can do better things. He can have by better technology, like because he has extra money in his bank account. So that's what I mean by unfair advantage. You want to be the one with unfair advantage, not your competition. I think it's actually perfect. It really gives you that kind of breakdown from that side of things. And you talked about now, you know, loaded in there a little bit, right? You're getting these phone calls. Some of them may be great, some of them may not be ideal,

Host: but we talked to so many, and I know both of us do this. We talked to so many practice and clinic owners. And we talk about call conversion, what's your percentage and what kind of call, and they, you know, no idea, right? And they're not even sure what that means. And yeah, I think I'm, how many times do I think I'm doing pretty good? And that's kind of the answer you get is I think I'm doing okay. It's like, well, it's hard to be able to do that. Data and analytics is really really important in this area. You know, talk to us a little bit more.

Host: What, what are, what is it, what call conversions, what, what are they? And, you know, what's the problem that exists in that area? Yeah, absolutely. Persona, that really had a lot of influence in me. He passed away. His name is Chet Holmes. And he's a sales trainer, CEO of a company. And he had a few quotes. And one of the quotes that kind of stood out for me is successful. People do 10 things, 10,000 times.

Host: You know, successful people do 10 things, 10,000 times. Marketing is one of those things. That's successful veterinary practice owners do. Which one of those 10 things? And that is a formula, a method to the madness. Step one dominate Google. Get into the top 5% that has an unfair advantage. How do you know you are dominating Google? How do you know you are in the top 5%? You will rank for 100 or more keywords on page one of Google.

Host: Meaning, if I type any one of those 100 keywords, you're going to show up in the top 10 results. That's step one. Step two of this marketing puzzle is, keep working on your landing pages. So more and more people are calling you. Again, track use numbers to see if it's actually happening or not. Step three is the way your phone is handle. Right? And if there is a leak in any one of these steps.

Host: Let's say USC obviously key or your landing pages are not optimal. The phone is not optimized. You're going to miss out a lot. Like, I have practices that miss 35% of the calls. They don't even answer it. And then I have practices that are converting 25% of the new patient calls into appointments. So how can you be exceptional when you don't do those 10 things exceptionally well? Right?

Host: That's what Chat Home said. The best companies, the best businesses are doing 10 things exceptionally well. So this is the formula guys. I'm just giving it to you. Of course now, work with a bunch of people or teams or others to make it happen. So the way we do it for our clients is we track everything. We track every phone call and using artificial intelligence. We can tell them how many calls they're missing,

Host: how many are booking appointments, how many are not. So now if this is your problem, you can fix it. Because otherwise, let's say your marketing is working well. But you're not converting these people into new patients. Who cares how much? Like, it's like, I can send 10,000 new patients. Or you're marketing and send 10,000 new patients. But if you only converting 10%, who cares that you're getting 10,000 new patients? In our, I mean, so find the problem and fix it and continue to improve it. Continue to improve it.

Host: So if you only converting 70% don't stop there, go to 75. 75 don't stop there, go to 80. I know there'll be a cap, whatever that cap is for your practice. But definitely get yourself to that cap and then keep that. Keep yourself there. You're going to see, all right? At the end of year one, our clients are ranking 400 keywords. We have clients, veterinary practices that are ranking for 400 keywords. At end of year four. Well, don't stop, keep going, keep going, keep getting better.

Host: You know, just improve those 10 things and marketing is one of those 10 things. Absolutely. And, you know, I think finally you, you talked at the start about the important, you know, there's different names for whether it's, you know, the morning crunch, the morning stand up to go the day meeting, whatever you want to call it. But let's talk about why those are so important and kind of the value behind them. So what do you really want to focus on in those in that 510 minutes that you've got? Yeah, I mean, I have seen this Vira Natore 150 person company. Either you have a team that is committed and dedicated and that works well together, or you don't, right?

Host: There's no like kind of sort of. So the beauty of the morning crunch, morning, hard or whatever you want to call it, is in 10, 5 to 10 minutes, everyone gets together, troubleshoots, what needs to be troubleshoots, right? And they are setting their mindset to be going to crush it today, right? And then that becomes a great day. So maybe at the beginning of the day, they only had half the slots, all 80% of the slots for it. But now they call that extra, you know, pet pair and who wanted to come in, but you couldn't fix because there was somebody cancel,

Host: though you do whatever it takes to get those people and whatever it takes to, you know, provide additional services. Now, every day, you know, if you start below, you're finishing at 110%. So imagine having 5 days a week when you have great days. And that's how you stack up great weeks. And that's how you stack up great months. And then you have an awesome practice. You have a practice that you're excited to go to, your team is incentivized, okay,

Host: by the way, also give the part of the rewards to your team, you know, give bonus them, reward them for results, reward them for success. And that morning crunch, morning, hard, is the methodology through which everyone comes together and change the lives of your pets and of course, pet parents. So the idea is, okay, how, what kind of a difference can we make today? And to do that, you have to troubleshoot and you have to work as a team. I always love saying in there too, going back to our SEO conversation that we had, right?

Host: If you've got a Google review, if you've got something positive or negative that's happened, especially with the positive ones, right? Make sure you're updating that in those reviews. There are in those stand-up meetings in those morning huddles that you're having that conversation and say, hey, hey, here's something great that happened yesterday. Let's build on that today. And again, it's just all about motivation, awareness, empowering your team.

Host: And I think it's just a great way to start the day. And like you said, that's what turns, like, you know, the great day into the great week into the great month, into the great practice. I love how you just said that there. So I think that's a wonderful takeaway for those now who are wondering, right? They want to turn the page. Just 20, 24. We all have our new year's resolutions. The hard part is, is that most of us drop them way too quickly.

Host: And then, you know, everything falls apart here, but from a business owner standpoint, we know everybody listening here wants to have their best year yet. So increasing new patient flow, taking better care of our current patients, letting people know about the things that we do that they maybe didn't know. How do people get started? What's the way that they can get help? Yeah. I feel like the first step in any transformation is the most important step. If you don't take the first step, you will never take the second step.

Host: You will never take the first step. So the first step is to find out where you are. Okay. If you are in the top 5% confirm it, so still, you know, book a marketing strategy meeting and find out if you are ranking for 100 keywords. And if you are still doing extremely well in all the six things Google cares about. But if you are not in the top 5% still find out, okay, I'm getting a C here, I'm getting a B for nap, I'm getting a D for lighthouse go. It's better to know, right?

Host: Once you know it, it doesn't have controller with you. Like the minute you have information, even if it's negative information, now you also get a plan with it. I think that Ryan does beautifully. And I'm just talking, you know, for Ryan here, like, you know, he will not only tell you how well you are doing in the six things Google cares about, but it'll also give you a plan. Same thing with the bias journey. Like, do you have those amazing landing pages? He's going to give you data.

Host: He's going to give you facts. And he's going to tell you, here are the things you need to do differently. So one thing that we promised our client by the way, 95% of our clients and they will leave us because every year for them gets better, is we will not only give you, you know, a plan, but we guarantee that by end of year one, you're going to get 100 new calls to 20% of which a new patient calls. You're going to rank 400 keywords or more. So those are things that we have done, because we've been doing this for 17 years for regular practices.

Host: We know absolutely we can deliver for you. So if you're ranking 400 keywords or more, you are in the top 5% for 100 keywords or more, you're going to have an unfair advantage. And that creates a positive snowball. In fact, where it builds and builds and builds and your business, that unfair advantage grows and grows and grows. So book that marketing strategy meeting. And I know the link is amount full. Why don't you give the link and possibly your phone number in case somebody wants to just call and book it?

Host: Yeah, absolutely. So it is at veterinarybusinessinstitute.com slash MSM slash Ryan. So you can go there. That's the calendar. You can click in and find a time that works for you. If it's easier again, call text at 2-0-4-8-9-8-0-5-2-8. All you have to say is heard you on the podcast, but love to book a time to chat and then I will set up that time for you. So definitely take advantage, like you said, you can't figure out where you're going unless you know where you are.

Host: So many people, you know, again, I want to get to Times Square in New York. I want to get to the top of Google. Whatever it's, you know, we're talking about here. If you don't know where you are now, I can't give you the root, right? So that's where it all starts as being able to do that and then understanding the map and navigating it with somebody. So that's really what I do is I enjoy those conversations so much.

Host: So yeah, do me a favor. Be sure to book a time. My calendar. Let's talk about that and make 20-24 your best year yet. Absolutely. So with that and Ryan, any closing comments, any closing thoughts you wanted to make before we sign off here for this amazing episode? Yeah, I think listen to this episode twice. Play it in your team meeting. If you're making any one of those five mistakes,

Host: stop making those mistakes in 2024. And I promise you, you will thank me. You'll come and talk to me or send me an email. Isn't Ryan? I remember you said this the beginning of 2024. I followed your advice. I did these two things and thank you so much. I mean, I'm not doing it to get praise, but I have seen practice on us for, you know, for, you know, 17 years.

Host: So I know what works. I know what hurts the ones who are struggling. So like, this is my gift to you. So hopefully you benefit from it. You'll make my day. And if you send me an email saying yes, I took your advice and it worked. I know for a fact how many of those you get and how many practices and lives you've changed for it for the better. So, Ryan, thank you so much for joining us here today. And just another selfless thing you do to be able to help make 20-24 your best year yet with powerful marketing.

Host: What a great episode. We appreciate it very much. And thank you. So with that, I will take a moment here to thank our listeners. We appreciate each and every one of you. Of course we cannot do what we do without you. So if you like our podcast, kindly share it with your colleagues, your friends on social media. Don't forget to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. It's your reviews that help other doctors and practice owners find us and be able to provide them the value that they're looking for.

Host: So until next time, keep striving for excellence, making a positive impact in the lives of your patients and pet parents, wishing you all an amazing week ahead. Thanks everybody and take care.