So you got a bad Yelp review, NOW what?

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. You've come across a patient that you just can't please.

And, guess what? They've gone and told the WHOLE world about it on your Yelp page.

The other acupuncturists warned you about them. But you NEVER thought it would happen to you!

You can feel the warmth of anger growing inside of you. Thoughts bombarding your brain. What else could I have done?

You wish your patient was in front of you at that moment, so you could tell them off. But they're not, so you think the next best thing is to yell at them through the computer by writing a nasty reply.

YES, that will show them.

STOP!

Slowly back away from your computer and splash some cold water on yourself. The worst thing you can do in this situation is to let your emotions get the best of you.

After you've had a chance to think it over, here are some tips to help you with the reply.

Be Timely

First, you'll want to respond in a timely fashion. The worst thing is to have a bad review sitting around where potential customers can read and form a poor impression of you and your business.

The quicker you can address the situation, the better.

Be Professional

Always be professional with your reply. Name calling is NEVER a good option. Getting into a screaming match online will only make you look childish. 

Remember, you're putting the reply out for all the internet to see. 

Be Honest

If after a fresh and honest look at the situation, you realize the customer was right, then apologize. Many people equate apologies as a sign of weakness, when in reality, they're a sign of strength. Don't over apologize. Use them when the situation warrants it.

If you feel the customer's complaints are baseless, craft a well thought out reply explaining the situation and circumstances. The best responses I've read have always been when the business explained their side of the story in a clear and succinct way.

Here's a good example of how to handle a bad Yelp review:

A bad review is not the end of the world. It's a great opportunity to engage with your patient and gain insight into your business's patient experience.

Questions? Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you.

Minto Tsai

Founder

P.S. If this helped you, please Like, Share, email... all the social network love you can give!

Can I email my acupuncture patients?

Have you ever had a situation where your patient asked you for a copy of their SOAP Note or Superbill? And, attaching it to an email and hitting send would be so easy.

Before sending that email, you might want to think twice!

Technology can sometimes be a double edged sword. On the one hand, it's enabled us to do things easier and quicker than before. But at the same time, it can also make things riskier and enable bad things to happen.

Let's talk about email security today.

Why is email insecure?

Email is inherently insecure because your email has to pass through many servers before getting to its destination. So, while, you might have written your email with GMail, which has SSL encryption. You're not guaranteed that the servers in between GMail and Yahoo Mail will have SSL encryption, which enables someone to easily see the data going through the network.

Here's a cool image I created, illustrating an acupuncturist emailing her acupuncture patient. The green arrows indicate that the data is encrypted and the red arrows show unencrypted information.

Also, since, the email passes through several servers, you don't know how these servers are storing the email. The best case scenario is the email is immediately relayed from one server to the next. 

However, often times, for performance reasons, a server will cache the data on the server by making a copy. The cache could live on the server indefinitely, allowing someone to see the email, if they had access to it.

Avoid Emailing PHI

The main thing to be careful of when sending emails to patients is the transfer of protected health information or PHI.

PHI is anything linking a patient to her health situation or treatment.

To be safe, avoid sending emails containing a patient's health history, ICD-10 codes, and CPT codes.

In conclusion, here's a motto about corresponding with patients through email, "When in doubt, don't send it out!"

One day email will become secure enough for us to send patient sensitive information. Until that day comes, it's best to avoid emailing PHI and be on the safe side!

Questions? Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you.

Minto Tsai

Founder

P.S. If this helped you, please Like, Share, email... all the social network love you can give!

3 Things Acupuncturists Can Learn From Elon Musk

I'll admit it. I'm a bit of a Elon Musk fanboy.

This week, we witnessed the unveil of the Tesla Model 3. The latest all electric car by Musk's company for the mass market. And the support was overwhelmingly positive.

Hundreds of people stood in line for hours to pay $1,000 for an opportunity to buy a car they've NEVER seen! On top of that, the delivery date won't be for another year and more. This blows my mind.

Longest line EVER #Model3https://t.co/EafMhK3BDC

— Tesla Motors (@TeslaMotors) March 31, 2016

The man is doing very hard things. From building an electric car company at Tesla to sending rockets into space at SpaceX, he's literally advancing the human civilization.

So what can acupuncturists learn from Elon Musk?

1. Focus on a passionate niche

The niche for Tesla is a small, very passionate set of electric car drivers.

By focusing on a niche, Tesla was able to easily get word of mouth and spend little to none on traditional marketing and advertising.


As an acupuncturist, what is your niche?

2. Differentiate your product

While every car manufacturer has their own version of an electric car, Tesla has differentiated itself in both mission and product.

Tesla’s mission is to 

accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

How many car companies' missions can you recall? I'm hard pressed to come up with one!

On top of an amazing mission, Tesla is delivering a spectacular car. Differentiating itself by building sleek and beautiful cars, all electric, and with cool technology like auto pilot.

In a market, where you, as an acupuncturist, are competing against not only tens of other acupuncturists in your area, but also, other healthcare modalities, how are you differentiating your product and services?

3. Focus on the customer experience

Relentlessly focusing on the customer experience is a hallmark of great companies. Think Apple.

With Tesla, you don't buy a car from a dealer. Why? Because, they want and need to control the customer experience.

Once, you inject a middleman like the dealer, you lose control of the customer experience. And we all know what it's like to deal with car dealers. It's one of the most dreaded human experiences, next to seeing the dentist.

How can you improve your patient's experience with you and your practice? From the second they walk in the door to the minute they leave the office, what are you doing to make them want to tell their friends and family about you?

So, to conclude, as an acupuncturist and business owner, the lessons we can learn from great companies like Tesla can be applied to our own businesses.

And just because, others are doing things a certain way, doesn't mean that you have to. Think outside the box. Innovate. Transform yourself. Transform the acupuncture profession.

Don't be afraid to do great things for yourself and your customers!

Questions? Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you.

Minto Tsai
Founder

P.S. If this helped you, please Like, Share, email... all the social network love you can give!