Just NO
There is a disease among professional practices that has transmitted throughout their population since the Internet started with text-based websites. It has a nearly 100 percent transmission rate, making it the single most infectious disease in the history of, well… everything. The symptoms can be so harsh that they fill professional services ICUs across the country.
Too Much Information is such a hidden and prolific pandemic that professionals think it is the only way to do things. Cluttered websites are treated as free information sources. This disease causes professionals to actually do a disservice to their potential clients by not getting them face to face for the help that matters.
The disease even has transmission sources in the form of consultants and agencies that professionals pay for because they think it is good to be sick like everyone else.
In my practice as a consultant, I see this disease on EVERY professional’s digital presence. It is normalized to their detriment. Those advising them, continue to use concepts that have ancestry back to the days of the Yellow Pages despite a dramatic shift in how people respond to information in just the last five years alone.
In case you weren’t aware, we have this little world changing thing called a pandemic happening. Well, this world changing thing has also changed the way people interact, respond, feel, and perceive value. TMI disease has become even more detrimental because of the pandemic. I guess mixing two diseases makes everything worse?
May this horrible disease burn in Hell.
The Problem with TMI
Professionals often see digital TMI as a way to impress potential clients with their vast amounts of knowledge and professionalism. They believe that if they say or convey more information people will think, “Wow. He knows what he is talking about. Let’s use him.” Clearly this disease has a detrimental effect on the frontal lobe.
No one really cares what you know. They care that your presence conveys that you know and you get things done to their benefit. It matters that they see that you’re their personal fit. Don’t forget, you live in a country where many people vote for the politician that is “just like me” not is “way smarter than me”. That potential client on your website read maybe two sentences of the TMI and then subconsciously judged you based on the look and feel of your presence. If you have been diagnosed with TMI disease, that means almost no presence that matters.
Here is the simple truth. You are not a non-profit that dispenses free information on the Internet.
Here is another truth. It’s better to let your competition be the non-profits providing free, general information online while you provide paid for and tailored information to clients in your office. Information that actually benefits someone.
Your TMI disease is probably driving clients away. It is a presence that utilizes the psychology of the new consumer information digestion and decision making that draws clients to you.
Why would you provide something online that deprives you the opportunity of speaking to a human being that needs your help and should be in your office today? Is it to save you five minutes down the road? Well, you probably just saved someone else five minutes instead.
Imagine this very common scenario. Medical providers often provide a way for potential patients to check if their insurance is accepted on their websites. The potential patient wasn’t even cruising the websites of providers for the purpose of checking if their insurance was accepted. They didn’t ask for that information. What they wanted to see was that the practitioner could help them. That they weren’t encouraged to call and check if their insurance was accepted is an absolute sin, insomuch as I only apply the word sin to really bad business practices. To save a few minutes of having the office manager or receptionist confirm that an insurance provider was accepted at that practice cost the practice a discussion that could have resulted in an appointment.
“Cool. They take my insurance. Let me check if this other doctor does too.” Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
I am going online later to find a psychologist that can help address my gag reflex every time I see an invitation to check one’s insurance online. It is guaranteed that wondering whether my insurance will be accepted by this professional is nowhere near the top of my mind.
When a criminal defense attorney has tips on his website for what to do when stopped by the police, do you wonder if people take off running down the alley so they have enough time to find the website and read that advice? All that information does is tell potential clients needing him now what they should have done then. That is actual information that people will take the time read and then feel stupid for not knowing it before. That’s TMI disease at its most lethal.
Ahhhhh zen
So, What Works?
My common response is elegance. I’m not talking Armani but, rather, simplicity. Simplicity is elegance. In 2021 and forward, elegance creates potential client interactions, elevates client quality, improves client / patient follow through, and fosters growth for your practice. Others are busy throwing up non-productive information while you’re providing your amazing service to more and more people that need you because they could actually see you instead of unnecessary noise.
When working with a practice, I scale everything back to essentials and create a feeling. It is that feeling and the presence of the practice that creates new clients / patients. The feeling is centered around approachability and excitement for a solution. A warm, fuzzy little voice is whispering, “She will get me. My problem will be solved. I better call now.” Now make that act of calling as easy as possible. If your mobile website and Facebook page don’t have easy and prominent “call now” buttons, fix that now!
Queue Bob Ross and some happy little clouds.
Should you question the notion of creating a feeling, go onto Facebook right now. Find a news article posted by your local newspaper and read the comments after you have read the article. How many people obviously did not read the article? Despite most never having read it, they are all fired up, aren’t they? Six or seven words gave them the feeling they wanted and the facts that took time to read were totally irrelevant to them. The US devolved from watching cat videos on social media to misinterpreting the titles of news articles. Yes, devolved from watching cat videos! Welcome to the 2020’s and the post factual world.
Okay, back to that feeling thing you just doubted until my amazing example. Once the proper feeling is created and conveyed, the next step is to tailor the entire digital presence to fit the psychology around it. Never once did it matter if you looked really smart. What mattered is if someone felt like taking the time to call, email, or stop by because they felt something and trusted you.
Lastly, I must mention that elegance creates a higher quality perception and justifies a higher price point. Information fosters no perception of quality whatsoever. Why is this? Everyone else is conveying the same information to the point it is valueless but no one else is conveying the feeling or practicing the simplicity that you do now. Your client or patient will speak to your quality and professionalism to everyone she meets because she immediately perceived you that way and you followed through.
Here’s the steps to tape to your screen:
1. Focus on elegance.
2. Strip information to a minimum. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.
3. The only job of your digital presence is to create and convey a feeling that will result in action, trust, and satisfaction.
4. Make action as easy as possible.
5. Always remember, everything has changed in how people digest information in the 2020’s and most don’t even know it yet. You do now.
6. And never, ever, ever waste your practice’s money on people that try to tell you how to do things that worked five years ago but don’t now.
FYI. Just in case it is important to you to feel smart right away, I think you’re really smart for reading this to the end.
Brian McKay, MBA consults with professional practices on marketing, finance, operations, and strategy. His company is Private Practice Consulting Northwest (ppcnw.com) He also has the gag reflex when he sees pages and pages of words that no one will ever read. Psychological treatment has so far been ineffective.
