Episode 753: Do THIS To Reach 500 Reviews

 Tiff and Dana talk about an undervalued approach to boosting your practice’s marketing: having team members ask for Google reviews. They both give insight on benchmarks to look for, using third parties, personalizing the request, the easiest ways to ask, and more.

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Transcript:

Tiffanie (00:01.506)

Good morning, Dana. How are you this morning? What's your world like today?

 

Dana (00:06.354)

It's good, sun shining. I'm happy to be here. It's a great day.

 

Tiffanie (00:10.542)

Good. Same, I was hoping for some clouds. There's like some looming clouds over in the distance there, but you know, as always, I think it's just gonna go right around Phoenix. I'll probably pop right over me and go south to you and you'll be seeing it in a few hours. So it's still pretty early in the day. I'm so excited to be here with you today. I really, really truly love podcasting with you guys. And I love that we record them like by video now because this new like social media thing, you're like.

 

Dana (00:24.154)

again.

 

Tiffanie (00:39.354)

Oh, let's do YouTube all over again is what it feels like. You know how we go like forward and then we go backwards, like whatever. That's what it feels like. But then I love it because I get to see you and it's like we get to just chat for, you know, 30 minutes or whatever and become best friends even more than we already are. So today I have a fun one for you today, mostly because it's wrapped around marketing.

 

in internal marketing and something, I mean, you could do internal or external on this, I guess, but something that really I think is undervalued by team members. I think doctors sometimes get it and they want this piece to be more prevalent in their practice. But I really truly feel like team members undervalue this piece a lot. I've got a practice that I'm working really closely with right now in Georgia. She's right outside of Atlanta.

 

And she is seriously struggling to get reviews asked for by her team. And there's so many things that come up, so many excuses that come up around it. But the reality is something is holding them back. And it's probably something that they're not truly speaking. But with that, I'm really pushing, I'm really pushing her to push the team and I'm really pushing the team. Otherwise we're really going to push swell.

 

which is a fantastic company, you guys, that helps get the reviews. They're really fantastic. We affiliate with them. So let them know we sent you and see what they can do for you. But today I really wanted to talk about the benchmarks because something that I think teams don't really realize, and sometimes doctors don't know the information either, but Google specifically, Google specifically is where everybody goes for all of the information, right? They just kind of took over and people are like, Bing, what does that even mean?

 

Uh, Yahoo, like who is that? Right. Like Google just did it right. And they, they really took over that scene. Um, they've become an adjective now and you Google things, right. You, I'm just going to Google it. So Google has certain parameters wrapped around the rating of your presence on the internet, right. And so one of those that's super controllable outside of your SEO on your website and those pieces is.

 

Tiffanie (02:58.546)

your Google reviews. And there are so many practices out there that don't realize this. And they've got like five, 20, 100 reviews and they're like pounding these SEO companies asking them, why can't you get my rating higher? Why am I not one of the first places when somebody Googles dentist in my area? I've even had dental practices, Dana.

 

that they're like the only dentist in that area, but they're not the first one that pops up because someone 20 miles away has a better Google rating behind the scenes than their practice did because they're small town and have like 25 reviews. So I wanted to talk about that today and those benchmarks. So one of the biggest benchmarks for our larger practices specifically, but really you guys, anyone can get here is that.

 

Dana (03:24.101)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (03:46.402)

500 mark. So 500 and always making sure like they're five stars, you guys like do your due diligence, do the right thing for your patients, and they're going to give you a five star. But really getting that benchmark of 500 really exponentially increases your SEO on line. So I feel like that's the information and like push for that get to their set your benchmarks. I have a practice in Utah I've worked with for years.

 

that we've been pushing for this and every year we just increase his goal. So the first goal was a hundred. The second year it was two 50. Next time it's going to be three 50, then it's going to be 500. So I incrementally have been moving him to get to that 500 mark and he will get there. He's well on his way already. Um, but Dana, I think like there's the information we have. So, okay, cool. Tiff, like I understand I need to get to 500. That's awesome.

 

What do we need to do to get to 500? And I think verbiage is really easy for you. Um, I think it just kind of like flies off your tongue. You do this all day with teams. Um, I know you work with a lot of clients, uh, one-on-one and you do a lot of this Raptor on reviews and referrals. So they understand they get it to, if I understand the SEO, I hear you, I need to get to 500, what do I do? So what do you feel like? What are some awesome tips that you have? I would say one.

 

on talking to the team about it. How do they approach their team in saying like, this is a team effort. And then two, how do they ask for their reviews? What are some suggestions you have?

 

Dana (05:22.75)

Yeah. So I think really it is that Google reviews are one of the things, right? Besides referrals, reviews are one of the things that the team can really have an impact on. And I think that it's important for them to know that they have an impact on it and that truly a practice needs new patience to keep growing and moving forward. And one of the ways that they can impact that is by reviews. And I think oftentimes team members...

 

Tiffanie (05:38.407)

Mm-hmm.

 

Tiffanie (05:43.468)

Yeah.

 

Dana (05:49.642)

that's uncomfortable, right? Like they feel like it has to be an uncomfortable ask and they don't realize that it really can be easy and be part of natural organic conversation with our patients throughout their visit. It doesn't even have to be saved for the end, right? It doesn't have to be like this specific time where this is now I've got to ask for a review, right? And the other thing I think it's important for them to know is we can, there are fantastic companies out there and I know you plug swell and they really are great at what they do.

 

Tiffanie (06:04.575)

Yeah.

 

Dana (06:18.99)

Personal asks though will always add on to that, right? Those are great services, absolutely. But when we do that personal ask, patients are more likely to do the thing. They may do it from the reminder that Swell sends them, right, and I think it's you partner with that. So even if you have something like Swell or Podium or those companies that do that, personal asking is still going to push your investment further.

 

Tiffanie (06:46.914)

Totally. I'm going to jump in real quick because I have, this reminded me, and it's so relevant for today. I love this. I got my teeth cleaning yesterday. I went to my dentist here in town, my local dentist, and I went and got my cleaning. And I know my hygienist personally. She's a personal friend of my group of friends. And so I know her. And

 

thinking the whole time about reviews because I know that it's very important. I know the manager, I know the doctor, I know this whole facility, right? So I know it's important to them. No one said anything to me, especially even knowing that I'm a consultant. But then hours later, probably, gosh, it was probably like 7 p.m. last night. So it's like five hours later, I got a text and it was like, thank you so much for coming today. We'd love to hear your feedback. Please leave us a review. And I'm gonna be honest, I didn't like...

 

really think like, oh, because she didn't ask me, I'm not leaving it, but I didn't leave a review. I deleted the text message because I was like, meh, I'm in the middle of stuff, right? So I literally deleted the text message, but had she asked me or the check, had any of the people that I had communicated with yesterday asked me personally for that review, I would have felt tied to having said yes, and I would have felt guilty.

 

not leaving the review last night. So I love that you mentioned that even if you're using an outside company, it just gives a really good crutch, I think, to the team to be like, hey, you're going to get a text and I'd love to hear back. But I love that you said that because it literally happened to me yesterday and I know how important these reviews are. So I should, you would think in theory, I would be the one that's like, no, oh, for sure, I'll leave a review because I know how it's important. But literally, I was just like a normal human being and said, no, I don't really have time for that right now. And I deleted the text message. I love that.

 

Dana (08:35.89)

Yeah. And I love that you pointed out that like, Hey, it wasn't because she didn't ask, but it was also because it wasn't made clear to you that it's important to them. And so I think that's where that personal ask comes into play. And so I think letting the team know that, yeah, like maybe we do have some automatic efforts. And oftentimes that's kind of another barrier for teams. Team members will throw those barriers out when it's something that's uncomfortable.

 

Tiffanie (08:45.23)

correct.

 

Tiffanie (08:49.762)

Thank you.

 

Tiffanie (09:00.774)

For sure.

 

Dana (09:01.81)

And I think that's always another barrier that's thrown at us. Well, some of it, we already have a company that does that or, or we already send out auto requests and that's great. And truly use that as a talking point too. Like that's an easy way to have that conversation is, Hey, tip, when you get home, you're going to get, um, a request for a review and we'd really love if you would share so other people know that we're here, right? So I think utilize that as a talking point. Um, and I think one of the easiest ways for team members to

 

Tiffanie (09:12.162)

for sure.

 

Dana (09:30.226)

ask for those reviews is to ask for feedback from our patients. Right? As a hygienist, when you're sitting up that patient, hey, how was that? Everything okay? Did anywhere feel uncomfortable? How comfortable was that for you? Asking for that feedback. And then when you get positive feedback, take it one step further. Right? Thank them for it. Let them know how much you appreciate it. And then how much you would appreciate it if they shared it. Right? And the goal is either, hey, I love that you always say, I want to make a bigger impact. We're looking to make a bigger

 

Tiffanie (09:33.855)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (09:47.106)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dana (09:59.458)

farther reach into our community. Patients don't always know that, right? Sitting in your chair, they're probably not thinking about how, man, if I just shared about this dental office, it would surely make a bigger impact for them, for the community. Patients don't always think that way. And so I think letting them know that, or saying, hey, we just want people to know that we're here. We just wanna serve in any way that we can. That's how you make it part of natural conversation versus a, hey, here's a card for a review.

 

Tiffanie (10:19.313)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dana (10:28.298)

Right? Like, that's awkward for sure. No.

 

Tiffanie (10:29.018)

Yeah. I love the saying, it's only awkward if you make it awkward. I say that all the time to people. And they're like, oh, my sister, my sister comes in, I was like, I'm really awkward person. Like, well, you're only awkward because you make it awkward. Like if you didn't say I'm really awkward or make it awkward, like it wouldn't be awkward. So just don't do that thing that makes it awkward. And I think that's one of the pieces where it's like, I just, I feel like I'm

 

for something. I get that from teens a lot. Like I feel like I'm begging, like we need it. I'm like you do need it. You absolutely need it and you need to help more people. That's why we're here. So what inspires you as a human? Majority of the time we are inspired as human beings to help other human beings. We are put on this earth to serve others and in the dental community, especially, we are here to serve others and

 

just so you guys know your patients are thinking of you like a static, a static doctor's office or a hospital or that health care professional that's like you're here no matter what. That ain't the case guys. You're not here no matter what. You are here to make a difference on the community that you're a part of and if you don't continue getting new patients and getting this higher SEO rating so that happens, like you're not here no matter what. You're not getting

 

supply your building with the things that you need, you need the patient base in order to continue building and growing and helping more people. And I think, Dana, you hit on so many good points within that, what you were saying, and the words, the verbiage that they can use, because that's what inspires the team to get over those hurdles. I remember my dentist would go wild, and I was young, and I was like, calm down. I'm like, why is this such a big deal?

 

reviews and referrals, reviews and referrals. If he says it to me one more time, I'm gonna freak out. Well, he never, to us, it was a grasping. It was a we need to hit these financial goals. We need to do this. And I'm watching all these pieces, but it was never translated to our team in a way that truly is the reason behind it, which is to help more people, to serve our community, to do more for the people who are patients already.

 

Tiffanie (12:46.962)

we, if we're making money and we're making profits, we can reinvest into the company and the business and do more for patients who aren't here yet and the patients who are. I think a lot of times teams get wrapped up in like, what about the people who are already here? Why are we just thinking about new patients? That's not the case, but we forget to talk about that. We forget to mention it to people. So then when we come in and we're like, hey guys, we're at 80 reviews, we need to get to 500.

 

we're like they're like okay you're crazy it took us five years to get 80 reviews and so we don't understand the intentionality behind it so I love what you said there and really just honing in on that um but let's break down a little bit about those goals because I do think there's a lot of practices that have 80 or 120 or 25 and we're like get 500 like that feels daunting so I think

 

Dana (13:20.334)

Whoosh whoosh

 

Tiffanie (13:41.026)

breaking that down a little bit. And like I did for my client out in Utah, I really looked at this is where you wanna be in five years. So based on the average that you've done without work, let's ramp that up 10, 20% and see where we can get you by the end of the year. And then let's duplicate those efforts year over year to get you to 500. You guys, you're not gonna get 420 reviews this year. That's just not gonna happen, okay?

 

So be realistic and create goals just like you do for anything else. You didn't open your practice and say, I'm going to make $5 million this year. You opened your practice and you said, I really want to make 500,000. I really want to make 800,000. And then you said 1.2, 1.8, 2.2. Now you're growing and you're getting there. Use your, right? Like get up there.

 

Use your reviews in the same way and break them down to really see what can you accomplish and let's push for that. Dana, what do you think, how granular I guess should they break that down and what are you doing with your clients to really get those reviews in place?

 

Dana (14:55.55)

Yeah, absolutely. And I think you break it down all the way to individual team member. Because if we're just going to say, hey, let's get another 100 reviews, team members don't know how much of the like how much they need to impact that. So then we don't generally get the effort that's needed to get there from team members. And that's not necessarily on purpose. It's just that we didn't break it down to say, Hey, your role in this is to ask x amount of times, right? So I think knowing what your goal is, and then also knowing that like

 

Tiffanie (15:00.203)

Yeah.

 

Tiffanie (15:20.191)

Yeah.

 

Dana (15:24.298)

Statistics say for every four asks, we usually get one, right? So knowing that then, break it down to how many asks do each team member need to do each day?

 

Tiffanie (15:36.778)

Yeah, I love that.

 

Dana (15:37.502)

and then build in some sort of accountability piece so that we know our team members are asking. So whether you have them identify who they're gonna ask in morning huddle, or we do colored beads in a jar, that's one of my favorites, colored beads in a jar, and then whoever's asked for the most, right, get something really fun. But build in an accountability piece to it too so that we know really team members are day in and day out doing those asks, holding themselves accountable, and pushing towards that goal.

 

Tiffanie (15:40.18)

Mm-hmm.

 

Tiffanie (15:49.527)

It's my favorite.

 

Tiffanie (16:05.882)

I love it. I love it. So breaking it down super granular. Like you said, you got to ask for three to four times the amount that you're trying to get to, making sure we're asking for them, having that accountability piece. And then I think the lead in the lag measure piece as well, right. So our lead measure is how many are we trying to get our lag measure is what have we gotten? What have we received? And then what do we do with that information? Because I'm thinking well,

 

If we break it down and this month we say we need to get 20 and we get 10. And then next month we're like, we need to get 20 and then 20. And then by the time we get to the end of the year, we're like, dang, we didn't meet our mark. It's the same thing as your production. If you're low in production this month and you don't tack it onto somewhere else in the year, you're not going to reach your yearly goal. So watching those lead and lag measures. So the accountability piece is going to be how many did you ask for four to get one?

 

So how many were you supposed to ask for and did you and make it fun. You guys don't make it like micromanage. Like how many reviews, how many reviews, make it fun. That's why I love Dana's bead idea. I saw her do it in a practice live one day and I was like, Dana, this is brilliant. It's gorgeous. These beads are so much fun. I ran and got the supplies and it was just so much fun watching you do that with the team in person. That was one of your, that in-office visit was just so fun to watch and it was just so cool to be there with you.

 

So I think do something fun like that. I've seen game boards where it's like football season, right? And so they'll do like move the little football and you're getting to the touchdown or whatever, whatever needs to happen, make those goals fun. So break them down super granular, get as small as you possibly can, make sure you're doing the lead and lag measures. And then you guys ask your team for help with this and really work through the verbiage.

 

Here is our pro tip. This is something that Dental A team does, I think, differently than a lot of other companies, and I think we do it really freaking well. We work with you side by side. We don't come in and say, this is the way. We come in and say, hey, I've got some ideas. This is the verbiage that I like, but let's work on it for you. So you guys, doctors out there, office managers, if you're listening and you're like, I'm gonna take everything they said and I'm gonna go tell my team this is what we're doing.

 

Tiffanie (18:27.454)

work with your team, break down the barriers with your team, find out what's holding them back from leaving or for asking for those reviews, and then work through the verbiage that will work for your team. And that means individual team members too. Sally Jo may not say it the same as Peggy Sue down in front office, like back office and front office, they may be doing it very differently and that's okay.

 

Dana (18:41.872)

Mm-hmm.

 

Tiffanie (18:53.75)

the result is what you're after. So if you're getting the result, that's what matters. How you get there can be very individualized. So set your benchmarks, break down your goals, start right away, talk to your team, and then you guys give them the verbiage and work through the verbiage with them. Um, and then I love Dana, I wrote this note down, you guys, don't forget, ask for a review, even if you have the crutch of an outside company, because again, remember Tiff, the dental team consultant.

 

just last night, I didn't even save the text. I was just like, yeah, delete, because I don't want unknown number text messages in there. I literally deleted the text. I am a consultant. I'm talking to you about this today. You guys, they're less likely to leave a review. If you haven't asked, they're more likely to leave it if you have. And if you have never left a review in your life, please do so. You can do it right here, right now. You can drop a five-star review below.

 

Tell us how we did. Tell us how much you loved this. But you guys, if you think of The Last Restaurant or a store, wherever that you've been, that you really enjoyed the service, hop on Google Maps, find them, and leave a review. You guys need to know how simple it is, because that's a barrier. People say it's just that unknown. They don't know how to leave a review. So asking for a review is difficult. So go leave a review. Have your team pull out their phone. Have everyone leave a review at the last place.

 

I've done that in office with multiple practices, working on reviews and honestly, I've had some aha moments from some team members that were like, holy cow, that was way easier than I thought it was gonna be. I'm like, I know, I know. So set your benchmarks, break it down, ask your team for help, work through the verbiage with them. Dana, is there anything else you can think of to help them get to those 500 five-star reviews? I think so too, it was a lot. It was more than I thought it was going to be, you guys.

 

Dana (20:42.35)

I think we covered it.

 

Tiffanie (20:47.874)

I love it. Awesome. Dana, thank you for being here with me today. I love these power sessions. I love hearing you speak and all of the wisdom that comes through it. So thank you so much, so much for giving me your time today. Guys, that's a wrap. Go leave us a review. Do it. Find out how simple it is. Five star below. Dental A Team is on Google too. We don't use that very often, but if you want to see how

 

easy it is on Google, go utilize that. But drop us a five star review here. Let us know how you, how you enjoyed this so that other people in our community and outside of our community can really see what we're all about and see the impact that we're making on not only the dental community, but businesses and lives as well. And as always, if you need help, if you have questions, if you're like Tiff, I just don't know how to do this. Dana, I need your verbiage. Reach out to us. Hello at

 

Tiffanie (21:40.346)

And a lot of the time it is a consultant that's answering that. It gets filtered through our admin team and they send them to us and we answer them. Also silent plug here or small plug your newsletters you guys are getting, or if you're not getting them, go subscribe. We write those you guys. So this information you're getting today is also coming. A lot of that is coming by newsletter. We just deeper dive on these podcasts. So if you're not getting the newsletters yet, go subscribe. We literally the consultants, Dana.

 

Myself and Danae are writing. Brit has written a ton, but we finally exited her from writing them. But we're writing all of those newsletters you guys, so you are getting actual consultants on there. So leave us a review, reach out to us if you need us, and go subscribe to our newsletters. Dana, I can't wait to podcast with you again. Thank you.