How Important is Your Online Reputation? Does it Matter?

However, in the real world, we can't possibly please Everyone, all of the time.  But, what we can do is make a sincere effort to publicly and privately address any concerns or dissatisfaction a particular patient may have had with you and/or the services, you rendered to them. Doing so is worth far more than what it's costing you, in lost Revenue & Profitability.

In Short, Your Reputation is the Single Most Pertinent Aspect of Your Practice, in this Digital Age …And More So, Than Ever!!!

Simply, because your Online Reputation Matters!

NOTE: We will refrain from revealing any real names, for the sake of privacy. The names used in this story are fictitious, with the exception of the Reviews, which are public.

Ashley wanted to see an OB-GYN close to her home.  As she searched online, she discovered that the reviews of the closest Clinic primarily consisted of 5-star and 1-star reviews with only a couple of 3-star reviews. Meaning, on the surface, either patients absolutely loved the service or hated the service of this practice.  This pattern of reviews,  which was brought to our attention, appeared to be quite strange.

Ashley was reluctant to have an experience with this Clinic, after reading the negative reviews. However, we encouraged her to at least give them a chance and see for herself how they interact with her, since they were only a 10-minute walk away, from her home. 

So, she did...  The Clinic scheduled her appointment for 2 PM.  She wanted to arrive a bit early because she knew she would have to fill out some paperwork since this was her first visit with them. Well, the moment she arrived, which was approximately 20 minutes before her appointment, heavy rains ensued. Instead of the receptionist inviting her to come inside, out of the rain, to sit in the lobby, the receptionist told her that the Clinic was closed for launch and to come back at 2 pm.

She returned at 2 pm and they gave her paperwork to complete. While she was completing the paperwork, she noticed that while the receptionist and assistant were sitting at the front desk talking, the phone rang. The receptionist answered the phone and told the caller to hold, and decided to continue her  personal conversation with the assistant, for a few minutes longer, before attending to the caller.

Ashley mentioned that her encounter, with the physician, was pleasant. It was the other two incidents that didn't sit well with her, which gave a bad impression of the clinic.

When this was brought to our attention, we called the Clinic to speak with the Head Physician, Dr. B******. We called out of concern, for the practice owner, with the intent to offer our insight, by making him aware of some of the things that were going on and harming his practice. Besides, that's what our firm does, and has been doing, since 1990. We provide business solutions, to help Practice Owners, perform better on the business side of their practice. We help them solve problems that could be blocking their full potential, as practice owners.

A day later the Physician, Dr. P******* who attended Ashley was the one who returned our call and explained that the Head Physician, Dr. B******* her partner, was off, but she could help with our concerns. We shared with her what Ashley shared with us, and she seemed to just take in the information nonchalantly, which had our jaws drop.

We explained to her that we are a consulting firm and that her reviews and the one she was about to receive, from Ashley are and will negatively affect her and Dr. B****** practice. Her response was that they were doing just fine and that they already have someone handling their Reputation Management. We simply informed her, in so many words, that whoever they are paying, to manage their reputation, clearly has been doing a very poor job of Managing the Reputation of their Clinic, according to the Reputation Grade and Report, we pulled, on their Practice. She gave no response.

We further mentioned that her "We are doing just fine" response doesn't address  Ashley's concerns, nor will it help to rectify the review, she intends to leave. Again, no response.

The call ended with her asking if there were any other concerns we had.

Here's our Take on this matter: We were previously involved in the Secret Shopper Industry, where business owners would hire us to come into their place of business and pose as a customer. Then we would follow up by providing them with a complete report and our suggestions, along with a video recording of our encounter, with their establishment. 

Well, according to Ashley, this particular Practice would have received a "D" grade. The only thing that prevented them from receiving an "F" grade was that the attending physician, according to Ashley, was pleasant to her, during her visit.

We are sorry that Ashley had to experience that encounter, with that OB-GYN Clinic. We are in the business of helping certain practice owners elevate their practice to higher levels of performance, which equates to more revenue and profit, for them.  

Coincidently: This particular practice generated a "D" Grade on their Reputation Report, which is generated by Ai analytics. 

We will allow you to surmise where this practice went wrong and what they could do to better their practice ethics and reputation, from the receptionist to the physician.

In Conclusion: We shared an example of a Medical Practice that THINKS they are doing just fine, as Dr. P******* seems to believe, but, analytics proves otherwise. In reality, in the digital landscape of today and according to data analysis, along with their reviews, they are not, and far from it..  This Practice is losing a lot of potential revenue and has no idea that they are. Reviews do not go away, but they can be managed.

Oh, and speaking of Managing Reviews, whoever this OB-GYN CLINIC is using for their Reputation Management seems to be creating fake reviews for this practice, based on our analysis. Statistics indicate that more and more businesses are hiring companies to provide them with FAKE REVIEWS. YOU WILL WANT TO BE CAREFUL OF THAT. The FTC is beginning to crack down on that sort of misleading activity.

HERE ARE SOME TIDBITS to NIBBLE ON...

The More Reviews you have within the last 90 days, the merrier.  The majority  of Consumers really only care about reviews posted in the last 3 months.

Simply put, reputation marketing and your online reputation matters!

96% of customers look for negative reviews, specifically.

13% of consumers will contemplate using a company with a rating of 2 stars or less.

93% of Facebook account holders are suspicious of fake reviews on the FB platform.

Up to 30% of online reviews are fake and most consumers can't tell the difference.

"It’s very difficult for the average consumer to look at a review in isolation and tell that it’s a fake,” said Kay Dean, founder of Fake Review Watch." (https://fakereviewwatch.com/)

***Next, read some of the reviews this OB-GYN Clinic received, below, and note our comments. 

NOTE: Out of the 15 Negative Reviews, in the past year, only two (2) were rated 3 stars.  All the rest were rated 1 star.  We are randomly selecting the reviews we're sharing here.

We have featured only the negative reviews because 96% of consumers specifically search for negative reviews, first, before making a decision.

Again,  Dr. P******* who we spoke with seems to believe that their practice is doing just fine. What do you think?

This is a prime example of how you do not want your practice to appear and be represented, online. Negative reviews DO NOT disappear!

 
07-17-2023

Avoid this facility. My girlfriend notified this facility that she had lost pieces of her mucus plug, and they did not do a vaginal exam and told her everything was fine. She went into labor 2 weeks later at 21 weeks. Had they checked her she could have had her cervix stitched to prolong the pregnancy. The main reason we went to this office is because the staff and the OBGYN is black but they do not have the patients best interest at heart. 

04-07-2023

Was very disappointed in how my appointment was rushed was not able to find anything out about my baby I got a prescription just thrown in my face I will never return nor recommend anyone to go to this doctors office.

 04-07-2023

Horrible customer service. Not knowledgeable about test results. I gave birth early and my baby died. It could have been prevented. Also, I was given horrible medical advice from practitioners. My gut been told me to switch doctors and I ignored it. Don’t be like me. Take your health serious. These folks don’t.

 05-07-2023

Horrible customer service experience. Dr. B****** has never been on time for any of my appointments. Don’t walk run to another OBGYN!!!

 02-07-2023

If I could I’d give it zero stars the nurse practitioners don’t really care and I’ve never meet the doctors during my first appointment she was more worried about what birth control I would get and I didn’t even have the baby yet. They lost my blood so I had to get blood drawn again. They have a mask rule with no visitors but I’ve seen staff without a mask and they had a kid with them with no mask. They scheduled 5 other patients to have ultrasounds during my appointment and I had to wait 2 hours while having to pay for parking. The ultrasound tech spent 10 minutes doing my anatomy scan and gave me false information about my baby. They gave me a chromosome scan and couldn’t give clarity on the results I had to wait for the specialist to actually get answers basically proving everything they did was incorrect and unprofessional. Please save your experience and do not come here. I’m also looking to switch doctors and they are making the process of getting my records very difficult.

 
12-07-2022

Confused how they even have 4.7 stars smh this place is literally terrible, front desk has smart mouths, i was here for my pregnancy journey at first it started out okay until you actually need them to do their job, needed medicine that NEVER got filled here even though i called multiples times to get it sent over to my pharmacist i ended up having to go to urgent care to get it take care of in time … i was literally in so much pain… secondly, the dr. Disclosed information without speaking to me first to my partner which i also thought was very unusal and unprofessional…. Lastly when i tried to get a transfer they kept dragging it out and giving me the run around when Dr. B******would be in office to sign the paperwork . My partner had to get out of character and complain and go off to the whole staff (the same day as my last appointment there) and then an hour later they called me stating my transfer paperwork had been sent over… even though Dr. B****** was still out of office? So apparently he isnt the ONLY Dr. That can do the transfer (how they were trying to make it seem he was)…. They do things on their own time and its sad, i was initially excited to support and be apart of this center but they changed my perspective by my third appointment with them… also when it came time for my anatomy scan i arrived , after driving 45 min to my appt, and the dr wasnt even there, i ended up having to wait an additional 30-40 min for the Dr because she was running late before being seen for a 15-20 min ANATOMY SCAN that should have taken an HOUR minimum!!! Dr, didnt even go over the details regarding anything and then sent us on our way , i ended up going to a specialist later on who did a CORRECT scan and found that my baby had calcium build up in her heart(thankfully it wasnt anything serious) … i would NEVER recommend this place to anyone not even my worst enemy! TAKE YOUR MONEY, YOUR INSURANCE, YOUR PEACE OF MIND ELSEWHERE!!

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If you really want to know how effective your Reputation Management Company is, if you're currentlyusing one, just look at your Reputation Report. It will tell you all that you need to know, moving forward...  We are in the Digital Age and Ai is growing exponentially stronger, by the day. The data presented on your report is factual data.