Over the next few days, I’m sharing insights on what you need to do to set your practice up for success in 2021.
I hope you had a stellar Thanksgiving holiday and are ready to plow through the end of 2020 with a vengeance.
Last week, I emailed you about how to look at your marketing like a playbook rather than a roadmap.
(If you missed that post, check it out here)
On that note, let’s talk about the plays you must have in your playbook to dominate next year.
We’ll also look at ways to develop your players so they can execute your plays like Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill combining for 742-ish touchdowns.
Today we’ll get into the Testimonial Flood Play.
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You (hopefully) already know the power of testimonials and reviews.
This is nothing new. Marketers and salespeople have been using testimonials to sell for centuries.
And this can range from celebrity endorsements (Hello, Payton Manning – who is in almost every single commercial during an NFL game) to happy customer Jane down the street.
I argue that testimonials are more important than ever before for a couple of reasons:
1. People are more skeptical of marketing than any other time in history. We are inundated with thousands of ads all day long. Which means your prospects’ “marketing radars” are highly sensitive.
Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t market. But you want to do what you can do to convey your value proposition without activating your prospects’ Marketing Radars. And testimonials are the perfect Trojan Horse for exactly that.
2. The state of modern media is such that reviews and testimonials can be taken and amplified easier than ever before. For example, someone can leave a phenomenal review on Google, which is seen by thousands of prospects over coming months and years.
And you can also take that review and turn it into an ad, a social media post, a story to tell, a poster on the wall in your office, and a website blog feature. (more on this concept below)
Now, it’s great to have testimonials and 5-star reviews “out there” for people to find. But the focus of the Testimonial Flood Play is to strategically place those reviews in front of prospects throughout the patient journey.
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How does the Testimonial Flood Play work?
I won’t go into all the details, but high-level, you want to get as many reviews and testimonials in front of your prospects as humanly possible.
All this social proof is like adding turbo boosters to your sales process. It helps you move the patient along in building the trust and clarity needed to say “yes” to your offer.
So how do you do it?
– Get new 5-star Google reviews every single week
– Place reviews and testimonial videos on your social channels every week
– Use testimonials in your ads and all over your website
– Include testimonial stories in your follow-up communications (emails, text) to prospects – those who convert to a consult and those who do not
– Tell at least one short patient story on the phone and in the consult – a story that relates to the prospects’ pain (don’t use patients names or identifiers unless you have permission)
– Use screenshots of reviews as screensavers on the computers around your office
– Read at least 1 happy patient review to your team at your daily huddles/meetings (build a culture of celebrating your patients’ successes – another blog entirely) You literally want to overwhelm prospects with social proof. This should be done on purpose – and systematically – as part of the patient journey.
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One final note – while glowing testimonials in general are good, the content of the testimonial is what determines its potency.
And this is where a lot of practices fall short – they offer up testimonials that are little jabs instead of right hooks.
The litmus test for this – is a testimonial relatable or not.
“I love my results and strongly recommend these guys.” <<< That’s solid, but it’s not relatable. It sounds great, nice jab. But it’s not nearly as persuasive as it could be.
vs.
“Before I came here, I couldn’t see 3 feet in front of me without my contacts… my kids always wondered why mom couldn’t splash around in the pool, never understanding that if I lost a contact (and couldn’t see them as a result), it created a potentially life-and-death situation. But now that’s all changed thanks to the vision correction treatment I had at XYZ laser center…” <<< This is relatable. This is a right hook. This is gold.
Unleash the Testimonial Flood Play and ride the wave of social proof to more consults and booked surgeries.
That’s all I have for you today. Enjoy your Monday.
– Troy “Testimonials Trump All” Cole