Ep. 246: Meet the Pros: Search & Surprising Playlists With Susan

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All right. Welcome back to Walkins. Welcome. So we have another. This is my favorite series. It's Meet the Pros. So, which what does that actually mean? Meet the people that make it happen. And so I have on today one of our other CSMs, Susan. She has been with us now for actually, you actually did an annual review today. So did a full year with us already. you've been deep into the urgent care space here. you know, how when he was on, he does urgent care and some others.

other industries, but you know, urgent care is what you focus on here, which is fantastic. So Susan, so glad to have you on today. And just like I ask every guest, what's one thing about you that nobody knows? Ooh, good question, Michael. I think one thing that surprises people, I I love all kinds of music, but one of my favorite, you know, newer artists is I like Glorilla. But then I also like Morgan Wallen. Like it's I I just have a variety of tastes and like that is something that typically surprises people. So

You definitely surprised me on the gorilla part because I remember because it was so funny. We were in Slack about something. I don't even know how it came up. you might remember, but it was brought up that you love Glorilla and like, Susan? I know. It does yes, yeah. And the reason why you would why I'm saying like this is interesting because Susan, you're very professional, very like just clean, straight to the point. Couche. But then I'm just imagining driving your white SUV

Rocking out the gorilla. It's true. It's true. Guilty. Larely going to soccer practice or lacrosse practice. Yeah, it's true. You have to turn on the music, you know, when you yeah, you arrive to your destination. I love it. Yep. So, all right. So now that we know a little bit. So here's what people know now that you love gorilla and that you're professional. Yes. Yes. We all have two sides, right? Everybody's got two sides, and it's just really entertaining. But kind of tell us a little bit about your background. Cause I know like you've been

You've lived in quite a few places. Like, you know, we're in Birmingham now, but you've been to multiple states over the years. So what kind of moving like background do you have? yeah, definitely kind of had the experience of, you know, moving all over the southeast. We've lived in, you know, outside of Charlotte, Dallas Fort Worth area, Louisiana, Alex Alexandria, Louisiana, which is a smaller town. Yeah. let's see, Columbus, Georgia. We've lived there. Montgomery.

And I'm actually from Atlanta originally. Went to Auburn and met my husband there. And his job moved us around the southeast. So that was fun relocating every two years. So that's fun. But we're in Birmingham now. We've been here almost five years. Okay. I know time has gone by really, really fast. That's kind of crazy. Yeah. but initially, you know, right out of college, I was an account manager for Southeastern Freight Lines for six years, outside sales, you know, very similar to what I'm doing now.

but you know, I was in the field every day. Yeah. so definitely thankful for this job and I can work remotely, which is fantastic. after that, you know, did a little, you know, with the moving around. even did a preschool teacher stunt for the I was a music teacher for preschool for two years. So I'm curious about that 'cause that seems like such a departure.

Yes, yes. It it definitely is. Yes. From like corporate to, you know, toddlers in in preschool. they're but they're crying on both sides, right? They're always they always got their little issues. Everyone's whining on both sides. So, but that that was great and it I was happy I could, you know, able to see my kids and everything more. so that was nice. and then got got back into e commerce. and, you know, an online retailer using Shopify. and it's interesting the marketing for that company was more

you know, all meta ads. Yeah. We didn't do a lot of Google ads. It was strictly like meta ads. and and that was a a company, almost worked there six years as well. so that that that was really fun. And then found you guys and yeah thankful to be here. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I mean your back your background's just fun to me because it's it's touched marketing a good bit. Then you took a hard left into the preschool world. I have to ask like so you're in music

Preschoolers so what what age group would that mean? Like four year olds, five year olds? Yeah, all the way up to like pre K. So like the oldest was probably six, the youngest was you know, a little under two years old. So did you have to have like a little musical thing for the parents? Like Yes, it was fun. Like we had to do like a spring performance and like graduation, a Christmas performance. Those are always my favorites 'cause they could like, you know, organize. We have like props and like

Did you have any is there like very one memorable thing from that where like that one performance with that one kid and you're like, I can't believe that just happened or 'cause like for me, so so I'll let you think on it for a second. But Addy, my child who is now six, when she had her musical spring performance when she was three, I think it was three, you know, this is like a Mother's Day Out program and all that stuff.

You're like, this will be fine. But you as a parent, we're like, we're nervous. We're watching him go up on stage. Like, please don't mess up. Please don't mess up. So she's doing good, doing good. But then she had an itch. And she was gonna find that itch out. And we're sitting there recording them and you hear Courtney go, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do it. Don't do And then she aimed for the itch. And it was so funny to watch. And it was just one of those, like, you know, I

Most of the parents didn't even realize what was going on 'cause they're watching their child. That's the thing I remember too. Like we cared about what Addie was doing. I wasn't looking at what all the other kids were doing too. That's true. And it and it was so I'd always get so stressed out 'cause, you know, you want them to be perfect on stage, but nobody cares. Like they can get all the words wrong or not. They just want some photos. Yes, yes. they just want to see their I think one was actually my son, messing around with him and another boy with a Kleenex. Like they were like

kind of tossing it back and forth and then like ripping it at one time. And like Will was still singing, but yeah, that that was fun because I was like and but he continued to do that. So I love it. I love it. Yeah. But it had fun times. Fun times. So awesome. So yeah, so that was your departure in the in the school world. But ever since then, sounds like marketing, sales related type B2B type stuff, honestly. Definitely for the most part. Maybe the e com was a little different.

But anyway, so you've seen a lot, right? You've you've had all these interactions with business owners and just different levels of that. And then you come over to us. And so like here we are, and honestly, you probably didn't know much about urgent care probably when you first came on, right? And I mean we're we're still learning today because even ourselves, we're still learning things. But so it's brand new to the space. I'm just curious, so you know, a year ago wasn't too long, but

What was what's been like the most surprising thing you've learned about urgent care that you had no idea was even a thing in urgent care at all? Where like I didn't realize that was even a like an option or whatever. Is there anything that comes to mind that you're like that's how they do this? Or yeah. one service that has surprised me and it's very few urgent cares that have this is ultrasound. Okay. I did not ever know because I have used many ultrasounds in the past because we're accident prone family. of course, you know. Yes, I did. Yes.

But I was surprised that some urgent cares do offer ultrasounds, which I think is great. Yep. and then also I think it's surprised me as well how important the front desk is and answering the phone and who's picking up the phone. to me that's really the most important. I know that's something that we we stress as a company as well. But it is so important, especially when you don't feel good. Like if you get a front desk person that like could care less and like you already don't feel good, that's not a good impression. You don't want to go there for your care. so th those two things have have surprised me the most. Like how

important that is. It makes total sense. But yeah. yeah, the front desk stuff I I mean, if any if anybody's listened to like two of our episodes, we probably touch on front desk at some point because it's such a like you said, such a big impact. Yeah. And you've seen it with your accounts. Like the ones that have a really good front desk, they tend to be a healthier, more successful company. 100%. And that's what's interesting. One of our clients, he actually hired people from like the four seasons concierge that already had that customer service. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

background like you know going above and beyond to answer his front desk. He pays him very well and he has really great success because you know he's got a wonderful staff and you know very friendly front desk. now and he has he already did he already do all that before he came to us like that was already in place. Yeah that that was something he saw as a business owner and took it upon himself to go ahead and and implement. So well I think you know because you go in, you listen to phone calls, you hear all the things. If you were gonna sum up

What what are some key things like a front desk person, like a good front desk person that you tend to hear the most out of? Like what's that like a that's a gonna be a good one because of these type of how they answer or whatever, what do you tend to hear that seems be really good? I appreciate a friendly tone. you know, you can hear like the smile in your in their voice, you know, that that's definitely appreciated. as well as like a greeting, you know, thank you for calling ABC Urgent Care. This is Susan, how may I help you? Yep. the greeting's important and obviously the care, not

doing the the phone triage on the phone, just saying, you know, these people want to get booked and say, hey, l let's have you, you know, come in, we'll get a provider to look at you. And then, you know, let's get you scheduled. Definitely that's the other part to getting that appointment, asking for that appointment. that's definitely something, you know, yeah that is so essential. And it's it feels simple, but it's just it is simple, but it's not done a lot. It's just rarely done. And it's not necessarily a I think against the front desk people. It's more of they weren't told to do that. They were told to

Answer the phone and be customer service first. And like we understand, but there's more to it. But it's really cool that you actually have a client that says, No, no, no, this is a problem. And the fact they went after like we said four seasons. Yep. So like six years. Yep. He is like, I'm gonna go after people that know how to take care of people. Let's figure this out and then here we go. A hundred percent. That's awesome. Yeah, and they they're doing very well. He actually just opened a new location and they're it's thriving already and it's it's you know, brand new.

That's awesome. That's what that's what you want to hear. Hundred percent. Yes. That's what we want. And that's the other thing I wish people would understand too. Like when we give advice, like we want everybody to win. Like we want your urgent care to be full. We want you to have tons of patience. You know, that's our goal. It's not not just, you know, trying to sell our services. We want to fill up your waiting room. We want to have, you know, have you guys have a lot of patients. Yeah, because when they have more patients, then they may open at next location and then they may 'cause

We all we also know too when we talk to these urgent cares, like yes, they want to build an urgent care because they're trying to build something for their family, like from a legacy standpoint. And then also they're done with the corporate hospital world and they want to get away from it. And then we recognize, you know, with urgent care, like a single location urgent care can do so much. But when you add that second or third or fourth, now you're building something that can grow beyond just you. Yeah. but like you said, we we care about the growth. Yeah. Like

If you're if you're getting thirty to forty patients per day and making good money, we're happy. If you're staying in the teens or the single digits per day, we want to do more for you if we can. Yep. And then and then but like you said, but at the same time, we do all these things and your front desk could could toss it away. Yeah. Yes, it could. And it's so sad to hear those calls. Like, you know, I've heard so many, like, my gosh, I need to come in for sports physical and then like the front desk will say, we don't do that or they don't get that appointment and then it just

It falls apart. Like we're human beings. We need to make that commitment. You know, the appointment over the phone. So Yeah. I'm actually going through some front desk module building right now. And I've had a couple of conversations with urgent cares about hard no's. And what the concept, because if you talk to urgent care owner or the provider, we'll see anybody is the usual mindset. Right. We'll see them. We'll figure it out. We'll evaluate. But the front desk is like seeking out.

I don't know if we can see you or not. That seems kind of iffy. Let me go check. and so I was having a conversation with one of them, and I said, What are your hard noses? And it was so funny because I got response. I was asking like five people at one time, and the top person of the company's like, There are no hard no's. We'll take anything. And then the person like that was that sees more day days like, Hey, actually, we probably don't want to see these type people. So, like it's that mindset, like,

The owner or whoever's like in charge, like making sure there's profit and all things like, we'll see a patient. Like, don't tell me, don't say you won't see a patient. And then like I had a conversation months ago with an owner and we were going over calls and I said, Hey, this guy kept saying no to anything under two years old. He's like, Why? And I was like, I don't you know, they just said they wouldn't do it. Yeah. And then he's talking to the front desk manager and she said, Yeah, I don't know why they say he said, Well, I'm gonna knock his hours off.

And I used like in me, like I'm not letting him be a provider right now because he's not honoring what our policy is. So it's real fascinating, right? Because sometimes it's not the front desk. Sometimes it's the provider kind of like dictate it. Say, I don't want to do that. That's true. And then the manager doesn't actually follow up and see what's the provider telling our people. Yeah. And all the layers that go with it. That that's a very good point. Yeah. Yep. So all right, so that's front desk. We could talk about all day 'cause it's it's a pain point for us, it's a pain point for the urgent care industry.

and there's they are solutions, right? Go hire high-end people from other industries and bring them in and they'll figure it out for you. but let's switch gears a little bit. So talking about marketing in general, you've now interacted with tons of urgent cares all across the country. If you were gonna sum up the best qualities of a good urgent care in terms of us interacting with them from a marketing standpoint, what they're doing, what they're not doing.

And what do you see? Like, if I had if every single client did these things, they would all be better. We'd all have a great time. There's a certain like what are the qualities that you think should be there? Ooh, qualities of of like the perfect urgent care. The perfect urgent care client. Probably, you know, somebody that that listens to us, because the advice that the advice that we give, even if it's a budget increase on ads, and just we don't make any money on that, just so everybody knows. Yeah, yeah, we we don't have a commission base, like we're a flat fee.

And it doesn't matter how much ad spin you're throwing in there, which we technically start losing at some point because a lot of work there. But yeah, if you go from a thousand dollars to twenty thousand, our fee doesn't actually change. Yeah. so that's one thing. And you know, we always recommend a budget increase if the campaigns are optimized. You know, we've gotten a zip code list, all the things. so that's always our last resort because we we are, you know, we we're looking out for the ROI or, you know, the urgent cares.

so you know, definitely somebody that listens to us, takes our advice, answers the phone, you know, tries to get appointments you know, with the front desk over the phone. also having providers that are cooperative and have a great bedside manner. Bedside manner. Yeah, having that is very important. it shows up in the reviews, though. Yes, it does. That's gonna be my next thing, you know. in urgent care that asks for reviews, you know, after a visit. Obviously, you know, you want to ask the people that have had a great experience to share that great experience online.

so that that's another one and then also one that provides us pictures. And you know, pictures are very important. I mean, you know, we're we're human beings, we're visual people. So when we see a Google ad, we need those those image assets, we need those pictures of of your providers, of your exterior. Yeah, we don't need a picture from ten years ago of your location. That that's a very good point, Michael. Yeah. We need the updated pictures and like, you know, everybody likes to see, you know, who they're gonna who the providers are, who who's the front desk staff, who's the nurses, you know, all the things like

so yeah, pictures, listening to us, you know, cooperative with, you know, on an ad spin within reason, of course, and then a front desk. yeah, and then just getting us the information that we need, like pictures or, you know, certain things that we need for the Google business profile. you know, like handicap ac accessibility, that sort of thing. so basically just, you know, being a great partner and working with us and just knowing that we are coming from a good place.

We are trying to, you know, fill your waiting room, have you, you know, get to that patient per day goal. we have the best of intentions. You know, we're not just trying to like do smoke and mirrors marketing here. Like we're trying to get you guys results. and if everybody, you know, if everyone would listen to us, we we can make that happen, you know? so yeah, I mean and I I I think the things that you described, like the things that we need to help them win, right? Help us help you mindset. Yeah. but the things you describe, like these are things where

the public sees like the photos, the reviews, accessibility, you know, all these things. This is what your the patient that's not a patient yet sees. Yeah. And so like if they see an like put some reasoning, right? So if they see outdated photos that haven't been updated in 10 years. if they see a bun and like a good example right now, if you have lobby photos that just still shows COVID spacing in the lobby, like, but that's not there anymore, right? There's this joke,

one of the one of the major players in urgent care, he the posted this joke about the checkout area of an urgent care is like a glass window with a little cubby for the you know to talk through and it's co coded in all these papers of like warnings this that we don't collect this bill or we do that like all this like it's very uninviting, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so

And then of we're saying, hey, but you need to ask for that review. You need to make it super easy. I know we always like to send zappy cards to our clients when it makes sense to. but you know, because the review game is important. One, it's it's it is a game of volume, right? In the urgent care space, you need a thousand reviews because it your competitors already have a thousand reviews. Like it's a uphill battle for new urgent cares, but they can get to it. Cause you know, if they're doing a couple hundred patients a month, why can't you get

Half of those is reviews, right? Yeah. Conceptually. You know? and so like there's that piece of the puzzle. And then also what you were describing was intentionality. Let's be intentional with this stuff and not just let it happen. Yeah. And I think that's just like common business one-on-one stuff. Like anything that you put focus on will grow and expand and be better. And things that you ignore will fall at a wayside. Very true. Yeah. That's very true. Because I know like from our standpoint, if we have a client, and this is a tough one, right? Where a client doesn't communicate.

doesn't communicate and then complains. Yeah. Yeah. And right that's a challenge. Right. It's a challenge because we want to one, we want to hear what's going on. Yep. We can only see so much. You gotta tell us a client, like what's actually happening? How's your numbers? and then were you offering new are yes on new services? Cause like, you know, in the urgent care space, everything is seasonal. Right. Like let's talk about what things are you offering seasonally and stuff like that. So let's just say it's like classic, just

Give us what we ask for and then we're not asking just to ask. Exactly. That's the thing. I think like a lot of people think, that's maybe too much. I know everybody's very, very busy, but we are trying to help and you know, help you make your goals. And like that's why we're asking. We're not trying to be annoying. but it it will help you win as well. Yeah. So all right. So we know had the best qualities. If you were gonna name one thing that I wish an urgent care client would never do, ever do, please don't do this ever.

You'll save yourself time and headache and yourself a headache. What's one thing you wish no urgent care would do? be very like when you have a negative review, because that happens, you know, just it is what it is. It makes your your business look real and that that's totally fine. be very intentional about your response and think about that. I wouldn't respond immediately. Think about it, but you know, always just say something like, Please contact the office. Let's not start an argument and a you know

A ping pong match back and forth, you know. Don't argue. You get one shot. Yeah. And then and from a HIPAA standpoint, don't talk about if they mention a broken leg or whatever, don't say, Yeah, you did have a broken leg. Yeah, this was your diagnosis. Yeah, don't do that. Yeah, actually it was a brook, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah. Works against you. But definitely, you know, just be careful replying. You've you've got to reply to the negative reviews, but do it in a very intentional

Like don't even I've had I've seen some from even our clients and sometimes, you know, they're frustrated and they're passive aggressive because we know people can be difficult. Yeah. But you know, definitely want to reply very professionally and just maybe a simple, you know, please give us a you know, please reach out at this number so we can discuss further. You know, sorry you had that experience or yada yada. so I I think that that's one thing I would definitely Yeah. So it it's the please respond, but don't

Get emotional about it. Yes, yes. Like remove the emotion. It is business. There are emotions in business. Like that's true. Yeah. But you get one shot to respond. You might as well make it a good one. Yeah. Cause it's out there on the, you know, on Google. Like for everyone to see. And everyone that's the thing. Like I said, everyone to see. So people who are considering because that's the thing we know about urgent care is patients aren't necessarily loyal. They'll go wherever they need that's convenient. Right. Like

Right now, if I pull it up, I'm looking for it needs to be at least a four-star better average, is my mindset. And do I can I schedule online so I don't have to talk to anybody or maybe I do need to call And then but then I also if I'm like teetering between two of them and go look at the reviews, are they responding to these reviews? Are they being kind of hateful about it? Yeah. have the reviews shifted where they used to be really positive, now they're really negative, or vice versa? You know, things like that. Because like I've we've seen we've actually seen

all sorts of stuff. But we've seen clients where they've taken over a business profile that had a previous provider or whatever it was, 'cause they bought the business or whatnot. And it's like, my goodness, those are terrible reviews. It's like, hey, you gotta fix this. You gotta up those reviews requests right now because you got a lot of uphill battle for you. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Yeah. Agreed. Yep. Well, very good. All right. So we're coming toward the end right now. So you've been here a year.

And it's like you said, it's like a time warp. Yes. It felt like. Just like, wow, we're a year already, you know, that type of thing. What has been in this in this indust, not just urgent care, but digital marketing in general, who we are as a company, all things. What's been like the most like, huh? I had no idea that was a thing in this industry at all. Or I didn't realize that was a big deal. Or we do something very different than I thought anybody else would do. And then it comes to mind, it's like, huh, didn't think that was gonna be a thing, but here we are.

Hmm, that's a great question, Michael. I had to think on this one. And just as a side note, like this is where I I I give them no prep. Yes. I literally say, Hey, you want to go do this? 'Cause we need to get you on the list here. And here we are. But I the but the I'll let you think on the question, so I'll keep going. It's just think about the idea, like, hey, you came from e com, you came from all these different things, and now you've entered lead generation. Like that's where we are as a company. Like we care about actual ROI, not

vanity metrics and all the things that may go with it. Or like, hey, there are a bunch of clicks. Like, we really don't care about the clicks. I I think it goes back to the Google business profile. Like I did not realize the power. Yes. It is so important. I don't scary powerful. And I don't even know if all of our clients realize how essential and important that Google business profile is. Yes. so that that's definitely one thing that that I learned and it makes total sense. As well as and like I knew, you know,

the groundwork of SEO, but it is interesting how there's so much technical on the back end that helps us SEO. Like I always think of SEO as like, you know, the Wizard of Oz, like the things going on behind the curtain. You know, 'cause like you can't see it necessarily. But there's a lot of stuff going on. there's no there's no real visuals happening. Yeah. And that's the hardest part with SEO 'cause it's like there's so much technical stuff, which you know from the website world. there's so much going on on the back end, that we can't see. But yeah, definitely, you know, those two, like,

The technicalities of the website and SEO, like the schemas, all the things. Yeah. and then the Google business profile, the power that it has. Google has a unhealthy power with our profile. It is that and I don't think like they were meaning it for that to happen. It just kind of happened over time where right, where it's like, people are using our search engine a ton. Well, I think businesses should show up, but

if they're gonna show everybody maybe we need they need something to lend on. I don't want them to go to their website, I want them to stay on Google. And now we have the bus Google My Business, now Google Business Profile. how that all of that has shifted over the years. But it's right, it's one of those things 'cause if your profile gets suspended, gosh. Your business is affected. Yes. And yes, it it's not good. No, and even so like we had a recent a startup with us and his pro like he just opened a few days ago.

And his profile has some weird AI overview. Yeah. It like we can't even control it. Cause I I cause I looked in because it's A AI is always changing, especially on Google. And it was one of those, I hey, we can't replicate it. we can replicate only on our phones, which is great. And then when I looked into the support of it, they said, well, if you replace the Google business profile with a real description, it will replace it. Like, yeah, we already did that. It didn't get rid of it. And so we had to go submit a support ticket. But it was like a real thing because that

Dumb AI overview under business profile said this is not a legitimate urgent care yet. Yeah. And we're like, why would it say that? And and the reason why? Because it pulled stuff that said they weren't open yet, but they are open and you know they're open. Why are you reporting? I even had an argument with Jim and I and 'cause I said, but it is open. Here's their link. And it did the classic AI thing. You're right. really? It did.

Gosh. But of course it's not gonna go update anything. It's just gonna say, You're right, you can book online with these people because it kept saying like you have to go somewhere you have to go to a competitor to book online. I'm like, No. Yeah, I'm gonna say the booking link is right here. The in the link's active. Yeah. See, that just proves right there AI cannot do everything. It can't do your marketing, it can't do all No, it it can do things, do lots of things. But when the common sense needs to happen.

It it it usually falls on its face. And I and like, yes, we're an agency, we do use AI quite a bit. Yep. But we also realize we have a lot of people on staff too that are in control of AI and say, like AI's good, but that's not right. Yeah. definitely. And like you've got to have that, those boundaries, you know, and that control. but yeah, that's that that's one thing that definitely surprised me. So if we can say it's our urgent cares right now, if there's one piece of advice is

Don't ignore your business profile. Yes. Get those reviews, reply to them. and yes. And find them. And then we learned from a recent client as well. If you plan to move your business or buy or change your business, if you could take your profile with you, you can take a lot of advantage of that. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. yeah, yeah, definitely. It is I honestly we even had a a client that he was really good at like buying businesses and and turning them into his urgent cares and stuff like that.

And we told him, hey, in your contract, you need to explicitly say you take ownership of that business profile. Cause if it goes dead suspended and had like two thousand reviews on it, you you lost. Like that's a huge asset. That's worth more than the building that you just bought, honestly. Yeah. Cause they could produce so much more money for you. That's true. It's a real thing. Well, Susan, thanks for coming on today. I hope it was fun. Yes, this was fun. Much better than having to read off a teleprompter. No, no, no. Like we're just having a good time here.

And you and you've had a long day today. I was leaving I didn't know if you were able to do this or not. So I'm glad you have to come on today. I know our audience is gonna enjoy this in the few next few months. Of course. There you go. But thank you, Susan, for coming on. Thanks. Thanks for having me, Michael. Appreciate it. Love it. All right, guys. We'll see you on the next one.