I'm never eating before a massage again!

Episode 113
I’m Never Eating Before A Massage Again!

Listen to Podcast

Transcript - Read Along Here 👉🏼

Podcast Transcription - I'm Never Eating Before A Massage Again! 

Hello and welcome along to another episode of the business of hearing podcast and before we get into this, just a little warning. If you've got kids with you, if you're super, super sensitive, this episode is probably not for you. There's nothing too bad in here, I must warn but similarly, I'd rather be careful than just maybe throw some of the words that will be coming in the next 15, 20 minutes at you without a pre warning but there's going to be some key lessons here that I learned from a very awkward massage that I think are very applicable to a big opportunity right now. Let's jump in.   

Welcome to the Business of Hearing podcast with me, Oli Luke, the podcast for entrepreneurial private practice hearing care clinic leaders, the ones who set benchmarks of excellence, build wildly successful businesses, grow their impact and navigate the choppy waters to spearhead the future of private practice hearing care. Thank you so much for joining us. Pour yourself a cup of tea and let's get stuck into this week's episode. 

I think there's a little bit of me in this episode, probably a little too much of me as you're about to hear but something that ties quite beautifully to what I see as a big, big opportunity right now as I'll explain so boggle me your ears for just a moment and let me tell you a little story. Now, one thing that I've realized as I've grown a little older and I'm at the grand old age of 32 right now and I feel late twenty’s or at least from my experience, right? Late 20s, early thirty’s is where you really start to learn who you are, I'd say I've learned who I are and who I am in maybe the last several years and I don't want to do what other people do. Kind of happy to do what I want to do and maybe you're listening to this like jeez, Oli, grow up. I learned that 2030 years ago. Maybe I'm just a late bloomer, right? And one thing I've realized is I really love massages. It's my favorite thing to do like, a massage is like the ultimate way to relax, to escape, to get headspace, to think, to ponder, to reflect, to rejuvenate, all that kind of fun stuff and over the past several years, every time I'm staying in a nice hotel, every time I get an opportunity or some downtime and there's somewhere nice, I'll try to book a massage.  It's almost on my list of things to do when traveling and it's resulted in some awkward experiences if I'm honest, depending on where you are in the world and the reason I'm sharing this with you is very fresh in mind because I had a massage yesterday. One thing I've started doing is trying to be much more brutally resilient with my time because I found that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday can all kind of flow into one day.  I'm doing calls here, then I'm jumping into this and I'm trying to get this project done, then I need to give some headspace for how we're going to achieve a certain outcome for our members, et cetera and I've realized that there's actually significant power in block scheduling. Now, this isn't revolutionary, but it's come at a nice reminder, which has been helpful right now which means that three days of the week I am not available for calls, I'm not available for interruption. I have a quick stand-up meeting with the team in the morning and then it is the get stuff done day. It's what are the big things that are going to move the needle the most? Spend your focus on achieving them, and only when you've done them can you move on to other things. It's a day of getting my head down and getting the work done that's actually going to make a difference and move us closer to our goals, our objectives, our deliverables, our promises and then one day a week, which is dedicated to calls. That day is actually today. As I'm recording this, which is a Wednesday and from 09:00 a.m. till 09:30 p.m.  I'm pretty much back-to-back with calls. I've got a two-hour gap right now which is my only gap in the day so I'm recording this. It's a day of talking. It's a day of focus. It's a day of trying to be mentally sharp so makes sense to group this in with it but trying to be resilient that way around but part of that is half a day every week I'll have some me time, some ollie time to reflect, rejuvenate, to plan, to think and I think thinking time is majorly underrated. As the busy leaders that we are, we've always got things we can be doing. We've got a to do list we'll never ever finish but that time to reflect, think, plan, problem solve, and actually give consideration to the things that are going to make a difference, I think is super, super valuable. I had that yesterday and that was where I went for a massage at a nice hotel local to me. Spent some time in the gym, the spa.  Pretty beautiful and brought back a bunch of new ideas and things that I now want to implement so back to the story. Now, I had my first massage when I was 14 years old.  That massage was in a country called Turkey which are pretty famous for like Turkish massages. It's a pretty unique massage format and let me just say, a 14-year-old being touched by an attractive adult at that time could result in a certain outcome and you guessed it and that happened. I won't go into too much detail because we're borderlining talking about illegal activity here but yeah, it was probably the most embarrassing moment of my life and for a long time, I thought I'm never having a massage again. I've got so much anxiety built up about ever having a massage.  But when I got to my mid-20s, massages were back on the cards and I remember the first one being almost a you're mentally scared by something, so putting yourself in  the same environment, you get the idea. It was like, focus. It was like the most stress massage I've ever had and where I'm getting to here is in 2022, I visited Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates. I went for the Formula one there. It was a great time. We stayed at a nice hotel and on the final day, I thought, I've got time to burn. I'm going to just book the longest massage that they've got so I went ahead, I called up like what's the longest we can do? Well, we can do a 90 minutes massage. Perfect. Let's book that in for like 11:00 a.m. I just had my breakfast. I was ready to go, went for this massage and about 5 minutes into the massage, I realized my stomach was not right and this was off the back of four or five days of watching the Formula 1, drinking an ungodly amount of Heineken, not eating correctly. I think I had a curry the night before and this was just an incredibly awkward situation so when you're having your lower back massage, when you're having your stomach even massage, I will add about that massage. This was what was awkward about it is she was the first massage I've ever had which kind of told you that you need to take all your clothes off. Now, I don't know what's normal to most people, but that is alien. I'd never experienced that before and it was incredibly awkward, the fact that there was just no consideration. I don't know if it's a cultural thing.  I don't know if she was just having a laugh with me that day but almost a case of like yeah, we'll just whip the towel off, no issues, no judgment here. It was a very, very awkward encounter but back to the story, really awkward, because I spent the first 40 minutes of that massage going, I need to tell her that I need the toilet, I need to tell her I need the toilet, I need to tell her I need the toilet. It was so, so uncomfortable to the point that wait a minute, everything is white in this room, and I am in a world of pain right now, which seems to only have one outcome if this continues. I kind of got over the hurdle after a lot of mental power and that the massage completed and it was okay, the final kind of 50 minutes but the first 40 minutes were brutal so when I was going towards my massage yesterday, I was like, it still sticks in my mind as like, this real pain point where I've got anxiety like, I lie down and I'm like oh God, my stomach. Am I going to be okay? Is everything going to be all right here? And I feel that built up. You have a bad experience, therefore you've got so many reasons to not do it again. I feel there's a lesson to be learned in here that we can apply to kind of our world of hearing care, because I see one thing that's going to change and happen over the next decade, especially, is people that have bad experiences and then potentially come to you with a lot of resistance, a lot of pain that is no fault of your own and you're going to be on this back foot situation. We look at manufacturer owned chains, we look at this big, big push of more dispenser-based models that are happening where there isn't the patient care that we, as private practice are so passionate about. I think we're going to have more people who spent $7,000 didn't get the outcome that they wanted and then will potentially come to you but with that same dread that I have about having a massage right now, it's like my experience was terrible last time. Now I've got anxiety about it.  I feel awkward about it. I'm almost scared of it. I think we're going to have more and more of that and the question that I want you to be considering here is not anything about massages, not anything about my guts or terrible, my terrible experiences. I've shared quite a lot. This has been quite an open episode. It's like a counseling session but I want you to be considering if a patient comes to you that is in a situation where they've had a negative experience before firstly, how do we know about that and catch it, and then how do we give them reassurance on that was wrong and this is going to be right? Because I think this is increasingly important and I do believe right now there's a big, big opportunity for two things.

Number one is for you to capture second sale so people that have purchased elsewhere realize the experience is bad, have devices they don't enjoy using or are not using, and how can you help them to get a better outcome? So we've got quite a few of our inner circle members that have things like an adoption plan or come for this one off consultation, one off appointment where we'll reevaluate your hearing, we'll reprogram your devices, we'll clean and check and essentially take you from here to here over the course of 60, 90 minutes for a one off fee and help you get these things working.  Like what is your offer to people that have made a poor buying decision initially but now realize that and need services like yours?

And secondly, when you're looking to bring someone through the door who has purchased bad devices in the past and they're coming to you because they now want to do it correctly, how can you have experience of what they've been through before, prior to the appointment? Because I do believe the way they're approached, knowing that they're going to come with all this anxiety of I've made a bad buying decision in the past or hearing aids don't work for me based on previous experience, how can you get ahead of that? So is there a pre initial appointment questionnaire, survey, et cetera, where you understand a little more about them, their story, what they're looking to achieve, any previous experience to ensure you're best prepared for that initial appointment and similarly, when they do come for their first appointment, what is a story that you tell them that you wouldn't tell other patients? And I believe you need a story in place.  And that story for new patients who have never had hearing aids is going to be dramatically different to what it would be for people that have had a bad experience in the past.  Because you could use a simple analogy or like bridge. That is, if you ever been for like a bad meal at a steak restaurant, it would be like many people do that in hearing care, have a bad meal and then just come to the conclusion that all steaks or all meat is terrible and they never want to go near it again where the truth is, it was just a bad restaurant that served that steak. There's actually many other restaurants like us that serve really good steak and do it in the highest possible standards and ways and I feel like just a story like that in order to meet them where they're at, let them know and acknowledge they've had a bad experience, let them know it's different what they're going to get from you and it's not a case of hearing devices let them down.  It's not a case that they've done anything wrong. It is a case of, it was circumstance, it was a bad situation but now you're in the right place and I feel that is going to be increasingly important, giving consideration to that, because I do believe the market, as we know, with baby boomers coming along, is going to be significantly larger and many of them are going  to make initial knee jerk buying decisions and you've got  an opportunity to mop them up, but you need to do it in the right way. You need an offering towards them to make it easy to transition services to you or come to you without feeling awkward about it because imagine you were looking for a dentist because you wanted some cosmetic dentistry and you went with one dentist and they did an awful job. They really mess your teeth up. You'd feel almost a little awkward going to the dentist you didn't choose who also does cosmetic dentistry to say, hey, can you fix this? Because I didn't buy you initially because I wanted to save a few hundred dollars, that's awkward.  Yet if that cosmetic dentist had almost second appointment or an adoption plan, like if you've gone elsewhere, not the experience you wanted and now want to come and come and be one of our patients then here's a way to do it. Here's how it works, here's how much it costs. There's an offering that speaks to you, that allows you to go okay, that's for me and you don't have to walk in with your tail between your legs because  there's something that directly speaks to you so these are the things I'd be considering, but there will be more people that have had a bad initial experience and carry that anxiety with them which is going  to put more pressure on you or put you on  the back foot, unless you front foot this, which is what I'm getting at, I could have just probably jumped  to that rather than telling you about my awkward massage  experiences, but I thought that'd be a little more fun, maybe because I didn't shit myself in Abu Dhabi on a massage table, fortunately but every time I do go for a massage now, I'm very conscious of what I eat the night before, let's just put it that way but hopefully that just little consideration as we go forward of how you help your stall for existing hearing aid wearers or people have made a poor initial buying decision and do the work prior to the appointment and do the work on the appointment to be prepared to have the story straight I think is super, super key so hopefully that's helpful. Little takeaway on this Thursday and if you're listening to this as the podcast came out on a Thursday and once again, appreciate your ears, appreciate your being my little counselor as I share my anxiety around massages but just how much I love them and I'll speak to you again soon.

And there we have it but before you head off to skip to the next episode or eagerly await for next week's, I have three things for you. First of all, if you've enjoyed what you've heard today and want to learn more about our exclusive inner circle to discover how 60 plus clinics are setting benchmarks of excellence in private practice, benefitting from a mastermind of North America's most successful practice owners and having an industry leading marketing team driving gold standard implementation, then go to www.orange-gray.com. That's orange-gray. There's not only a video there detailing how you can win in the next two decades in private practice but it also shares a downloadable PDF with no ask for email address or anything like that, that will explain exactly what becoming a member looks like. Second of all, I strongly feel that private practice is in a very challenging spot right now where we're the David fighting against Goliaths, made up of large groups, manufacturer owned chains, Costco's and whatever the next heavily funded Whizbang online direct response consumer model will be. I'm a strong believer in a rising tide lifts all boats and the more private practice can fight back at scale, the bigger impact will make so please consider a friend, a colleague, or even a Facebook group, a LinkedIn group, etc. where you can spread the word about this podcast and third and finally, it may be a little thing but a five-star review hitting subscribe will ensure you automatically download all future episodes and help the algorithm to grow the impact of this podcast and at the very least, it will certainly put a smile on my face when I go and look at the numbers so I look forward to talking to you again next week. 

Thank you for your ears and I'll speak to you soon. 

accompanying article to podcast

Get The Latest Updates About Podcast, Articles and Book Club Releases Straight to Your Inbox Every Week!

Yes, I like to overshare the details…

And this podcast is no different…

Today I’m going to share with you a very awkward interaction I encountered during the Formula 1 weekend in Dubai at a massage parlour, and rather interestingly, how my bad/awkward experience has provided me with some big lessons that you could take from this and apply to your practice.

I’m foreseeing plenty of opportunities for you to acquire patients from competitors that may have also had a bad/awkward experience (or been rubbed up the wrong way – get it?!) – there is some quick lessons you can take from this episode to attract more opportunities, and help them to put their bad memories behind them.

Oh, and if you’re easily offended or would prefer not to hear about the time I got awkwardly stripped naked by a Thai massage therapist – then this is not for you.

Enjoy!

Are you eager to learn more?

You can find some amazing tips and tricks of our members in 2023, head over to  www.23of23.com 👈🏼 to find out more.

Want to learn more? 👀 ⬇️

If you want to learn more about the Inner Circle to discover how 60+ clinics are setting benchmarks of excellence in private practice, benefiting from a mastermind of North America’s most successful practice owners, and having an industry-leading marketing team driving gold-standard implementation, then visit www.orange-gray.com.

Listen To More:

Free (No Opt-In) PDF Download:
23 of The Best (and Most Original) Ideas Implemented by Private Practice Hearing Care Clinics in 2023

Includes:

📈 A clinic that has launched a premium monthly subscription program that includes community perks, benefits and annual upgrades (yes, ANNUAL upgrades) ... yet earns them industry-high margins!

📹 How one clinic has bought themselves 6+ hours back on the schedule each week by implementing a series of helpful patient videos (that is also winning them patients from competitors

🔎 How two clinics have built industry-first programs to attract existing hearing aid wearers that are either unsatisfied with their existing provider, or new to the area (and turn this into a profit-center for their business)

Leading the Change Training Guide Cover

Looking for something specific? Search here

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share This

Share this post with your friends!

× Drop Oli Luke a Message