What Makes a Practice Memorable? Ep 98

Your next referral won’t come from a prettier website. It’ll come from the moment a client thinks, “my friend needs to come here”. We dig into what makes a practitioner genuinely memorable in 2026, when the market is shifting back to old-school reputation, trust, and consistent outcomes rather than loud branding and constant posting.

We talk about why memorable practices are built over years, not overnight, and why integrity is one of the fastest ways to build real trust. I share how being honest, even when it means losing a client or a sale, can create the kind of respect that clients remember and repeat. We also break down the myth that “memorable” equals flashy, premium, or expensive, and look at the small behaviours that shape client experience, from starting on time to listening properly.

Then we discuss why your client journey is so important right now, and how every touch point is an opportunity to build your practice.  

We finish with practical ideas for tiny moments that create emotional memory, plus follow-up systems that support client retention, strengthen Google reviews, and grow referral marketing over time.

If you want more word of mouth, better client loyalty, and a practice people actually talk about, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a practitioner mate, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Hi everyone, welcome. Thanks for joining me today on the podcast. It's great to have you back. Today I want to start with a question for you. My question is this. I want you to think about the last time someone recommended something to you like a practitioner. So last time somebody recommended some sort of service. Maybe it was a practitioner, maybe it was a massage therapist, maybe it was a butcher in my life. Lately it was a butcher. So think about the last time that somebody recommended something like that to you. And what I wonder is, what did they actually say to you when they were recommending that person? What were the words that they said? I would bet my bottom dollar that it probably was not, ooh, they have a great website. They've got a fantastic social media profile. Gee, the header on their Facebook page is fantastic. Okay, they wouldn't have

Word Of Mouth Beats Branding

SPEAKER_00 1:59

said any of those things. What they probably would have said is, you have to see them. They're a great practitioner or they're great at whatever they do. Or I've heard so many great things about this person. What they said to recommend a person to you had nothing to do with their marketing, had nothing to do with their brand, had nothing to do with their website. It had everything to do with a personal experience, okay? Which is why we need to start thinking about this. What makes a practice memorable? What makes a practitioner memorable? Why would somebody keep you top of mind and be able to recommend you over somebody else? What makes people talk about one practitioner but never mention another? Okay, today it's not about branding and it's not about marketing. It's about becoming the practitioner that people remember because that's the person that they will recommend. I find it really interesting when we start to talk around this topic because a lot of practitioners' first thoughts go to their website, and oh, being memorable is all about having a great hero statement or a fantastic image in my header. None of those things are actually true. And let's be frank, for a lot of practitioners right now, you guys struggling with traffic. You're struggling to get people onto your website. So if no one's actually there, it doesn't matter how fantastic your hero message is, does it? So the first point I want to talk about is memorable practices. And we need to start understanding and accepting the fact that memorable practices aren't built overnight. And we're back to the good old days where it takes time to build a brand. I know that we had a few years post-COVID where online brands seemed to take off out of nowhere, and I absolutely saw that happen myself with many people's businesses and brands. Before that, though, we were old school. We were old school because reputation was earned. And it's something that came over consistency, over years, over repeated positive experiences. That's what we're going back to. And that's why so many practitioners are struggling right now because you're still trying to get your business found and build your business like it's 2023. It's not. It's 2026. The rules are completely different.

Reputation Takes Years

SPEAKER_00 4:33

So memorable practices, they're all about reputation, and reputation is earned. So, how do we create that reputation? It's by being consistent, it's by delivering great outcomes consistently. Now, that doesn't mean you will always give somebody a great experience or great outcome. It's not possible to do that 100% of the time. And case in point, in my practice this week, I had to be honest with the particular client who I was trying to help, but I just cannot help her due to a number of different things. Um, and I can't speak of that because of confidentiality. But she needed to go a different way, at least in the beginning. And I was honest with her and said, look, you need to go this way. And round table back with me in four months, six months, a year, when you've gotten some clarity on those things, and then we'll see what we can do if it feels aligned. I said, but if it doesn't, that's fine as well. You know, it's been a pleasure helping you. She was ready to buy a 500mm bottle of herbs and keep going, even though it wasn't really working. And I knew that for her to get the traction she's looking for, she needs to work on some other pieces, particularly things like mental health, and I can't do that for hers. I was honest and I lost the sale because she was ready, willing, and able to buy a 500mm bottle of herbs. And I said to her, look, I could give you that. I absolutely could, but I don't think it's in your best interest. But if you really want it, I'm happy to give it to you. Now, what's actually happened there though is that's building reputation. This is a client that I know. I did see her back in 2019, and she's come back around now, and um so obviously there's reputation there because she's come back a second time, hasn't she? But what's actually going to come from that is respect because I was honest with her, and she can trust my integrity and my purpose, and that's something that will grow. That's something that she will be able to tell other people about. So right now she might not be very happy that I've said I can't help her right now, but this is part of what building a reputation is about. For all of the years that I've been in practice, integrity and honesty have been my cornerstones, and that has always come first. So memorable practices, they aren't built overnight, and we have to really consider how this comes into being over a number of years. We're going to talk about reputation, we're going to talk about consistency, we're going to talk about positive experiences, and we're going to talk about how we could create some trust. So reputation being earned, it's not about being right, accurate, getting fantastic results for every client that walks through your door because that's just not possible. But it's about showing up in the same way. So, regardless of the outcomes that clients are getting, and my by and large, they're going to get great outcomes, but underneath that, okay, who are you as a practitioner? You're honest, you have integrity, you're skilled, you're certified. All of these things blend into the reputation that is created for you. And I've always said, look back on these other episodes, that I think you're very well wise to create your own reputation. Work out what that is, put it on paper. Who do you want to be seen as? Because then everything aligns with that. If you want to be seen as she's responsive, she gets back to me, she talks to me and helps me in between my consults, that's what you put into your systems. You put ways that people can reach out to you between their calls. You make sure that you respond to them in a timely manner. Consistency. Consistency happens over years, and that's how reputation is built. You cannot come out as a brand new prackey and have a month in the game and expect to have a good reputation. You're not known well enough yet to have any reputation, probably. So it's about being consistent over years. I know it's very easy to think, oh, things that might be in a bit of a downturn. Gee, I should change, I might go work in health food shop, but it's consistency, staying the game, staying long term, okay, is what's going to help you build a more memorable practice. And if you can try to be in the same location for all of those years, even better. And that's something that I am struggling with now that I've reopened and I've moved to a new location, I'm surprised that people are finding that difficult, that they liked me where I was, that liked the old practice. Yes, my new clients are loving the new practice, and everyone who comes in are loving what I've done with the place. But the amount of people are going, oh, it's a shame. I really like the old place. That's been a bit of a surprise. So try and stay consistent in your location if you can. It's also about repeated positive experiences. It's delivering the same over and over again. It's being that safe space for them to be able to come to, to share with, to understand what's going on with their health. Repeated positive experiences. So repeated positive experiences. Not everyone is going to have a great outcome. We can't get results for everybody. But we can deliver the same standard of good quality, compassionate, thought-centered, heart-centered care that we give everybody. And that is part of what builds that memorable practice that you want to have. That gives you that reputation, doesn't it? And it's also about creating trust. Trust is not something that creates overnight, and you know that. It's like starting a friendship. And you might meet somebody and you think, oh, they seem really nice. They seem like my kind of person. And it takes some time to create that trust and that sort of familiar sort of feeling. And then eventually one of you might say, Hey, do you want to go out for coffee? But trust is not something you do straight away. You don't meet somebody brand new generally and go, Hey, you seem really great. Do you want to go out for lunch? Okay, sometimes that's a little bit creepy, isn't it? So thinking about your reputation, being consistent, positive experiences, and how you can create trust. All of that builds into a memorable practice. Some ways this might appear is the same practitioner for 15 years. We've been around for a long, long time. People know us, people see us. You might be in a town, maybe a smaller town, that knows your practice. They see it, they drive past it every day. That makes sense. Also, the person who always shows up. You know, maybe you're the person that shows up at all the community events, all the fundraisers, when there's a volunteering something or other happening, you're always there, boots on the ground. They're great ways to get known and to be able to show what your reputation is all about, what you stand for. Good thing to remember here is people do not recommend the practitioner they just saw once. If they've only seen you once or twice and they disappear, that's never a recommendation going to happen because they haven't stayed long enough to get results anyway. They will recommend the one that they've come to trust. That's why in practice you end up, you start with one person, and then it might be a woman who then brings her husband or brings her children, and then you see her parents, then you see his parents, and then you end up with the grandparents, and you end up with this multi-generational thing happening, which is fabulous because you've built the reputation. Okay, second point I want to make about memorable is memorable does not mean flashy. So many times we think to be memorable we need a flashy catchphrase or we need a bright, vibrant logo, or all these other things. That's not it at all. It's not about tooting some horn going, hey, look at me, look at me. It's not about having an expensive fit out. It's not about having a fancy logo. It's not about having a beautiful Instagram spread. It's not even about having a gorgeous website. None of those things really matter. It's about the little things. It's remembering your clients' names, okay? It's remembering what's going on with them. It's about following up and not following up just to get a repeat appointment. It's following up because you care and you want to know how they're going and you haven't seen them for a while. It's about starting your consultations on time. It's about ending your consultations on time. How many people don't do that? Yep. It's about them saying what you're going to do and doing it.

Memorable Does Not Mean Flashy

SPEAKER_00 12:39

It's about listening. Listening more than you talk. And I know a lot of practitioners get stuck in this. We feel like we have to educate. And that might be part of what we do. But I also think in a lot of ways we tend to over-explain things. What people want more than anything is to be heard, and they want to know that you're listening to put the pieces together. So give them those cues, those active listening cues. And then explain clearly. Don't over-explain things, but explain it clearly so they understand. Just think about this for a second. If you ever left a really beautiful clinic or a space or a day spa, something like that, and even though it was gorgeous, you thought, ooh, that was a little bit average. I don't think I'll go back there again. Yeah. I know I have. There's a day spa near my house, and I've seen it for the years since we've lived here, and I thought, oh, it looks really good. I wish I could find time. And it's a beautiful little space. Well, from the outside, okay. Gorgeous little space. And um I finally went. Finally went, got a gift voucher for a birthday the other year and went. And it was a bit of a letdown. It was a bit of a letdown. The massage was fine, the practitioner was lovely. The practitioner didn't shut up. It's very hard to relax during a massage when the massage therapist doesn't want to shut up. That was a bit tricky. And I had to say to her, look, I said, I'm finding it really hard to answer you with my face face down in this table, so can we, you know, excuse me if I don't answer you for a little while. She was like, Oh yeah, fair enough. And then she finally did go quiet until I flipped over onto my back and then she started talking again because all of a sudden I could talk back. Then when I left the room and, you know, that treatment was over, it was just one upsell after another. You come out and walk into this one room and they've got all of these, they're lovely products, don't get me wrong, but you're looking at cleansers starting at $300 and you've just spent $600 on a massage. Um, and then after that you went into this, you came through that little gift shoppy area. It felt really felt like, you know, when you leave a theme park and you have to walk through the gift shop to get out, it felt like that. And then the final little space you walk through, you have to look at all these forms of do you want to sign up for one one a month or two a month or this package or that package? You've just had a massage. You're off with the fairies, you're half asleep, and they're trying to upsell you on the way out. So as much as the clinic was absolutely gorgeous, I've never been back, and I'm not going to be going back. You know, and compare that with somebody else and just thinking massage therapist for a minute. The best massage therapist I ever had, and I loved this lady, and I saw her for a number of years, and I used to go once a month, she worked from home. And in the beginning, she worked from the back room of a house, which is absolutely fine. Love someone who works from home. And then she built this little what do we call the machine shed, something like that out the back. This gorgeous little, I don't know, very French-looking, you know, whitewashed cabin. And she worked from there, and it was absolutely gorgeous. I went there every month, once a month, for about five years consistently until she moved. I left feeling amazing, I got a fantastic treatment. How different, hey? And she was cheaper, absolutely cheaper, because she's working from home. But have a think about that. In the experience that you're giving, memorable doesn't have to be flashy, it doesn't have to be prestige, it doesn't have to be the best of of all the mod cons. You can have a memorable experience by keeping things simple and real. The next point I want to bring up, point number three, is I want you to understand that the experience begins before the consult. So the experience of becoming memorable starts long before anybody's ever set foot in your clinic. It's about understanding the client journey. Where do they come from? How do they find you? How do they go from being somebody who doesn't know about you to being somebody who's booked in and having an appointment? And that might look like Google. Most people start there, they don't know that your Google search. We're looking for something. And that Google search leads them to your website, which leads them to a booking form. That booking then leads to a confirmation email, then leads to a follow-up email with directions on how to get there, where to park, what to bring. It then leads to them arriving into your reception area, whatever that looks like, or meeting you online. And it might be about if you're in a physical clinic, that reception area, the waiting room, what does that experience

Map The Client Journey

SPEAKER_00 17:19

look like? If you're online and people are coming onto Zoom, very, very different and hard to get a good experience because the minute you're late, people are watching the clock. If you're one minute late, you're late. And there's nothing to occupy them or distract them if you're running a little bit late. So you have to be very on the ball with your online consults if that's what you're doing. Then after consultations are done, it's about the follow-up, isn't it? Most of the practitioners I've ever worked with when I start working with them, it's like their clients don't exist between appointments. And they only remember them when they walk in the room. But for me, follow-up in between has always been a big part of what I do because I think that's where healing happens. Yes, I've given them the plan, but they've got to go home and activate this in their own space, in the midst of their own lives, in the midst of everything else that's conflicting and bothering them and all the other responsibilities. So how do you follow up in between? If you don't, consider doing some of that. Then it's about, you know, reviewing. Where do you go next? What happens next? What happens for the client next? If your client is having appointment after appointment that look exactly the same and all you're doing is tweaking a herbal prescription, you will quickly lose that client. Think about that journey. What can we be doing different to make it a pathway, to make it a journey? It might be that in week four you do some different diagnostics, maybe it's zinc telly test time. Um, maybe in week eight, you know, you get them to do another two-week diet journal. There can be different things you do right along that client journey that help them stay engaged for that 12 weeks that you generally need them for to be able to get them well. And then it's about the next booking. And we know you always book that client before they leave, but if they haven't booked, what systems do you have to make sure you're following up to help them make that booking? What I want you to understand is that pathway that I just described is called a client journey. And every single element within there is a touch point, and every single touch point shapes their perception of your business. Every single touch point. So thinking about that, if we are Googling, Googling our issue, Googling our symptoms, whatever we're Googling, and you don't come up at all, well then there's no touch points to be had, client lost before it even begun. Yep. But if we are Googling and we end up on your website, what is that experience like? If I have to click a button and send an email and ask for information about how to book, I'm never booking in. I want to book while the thoughts are alive in my mind, while the issue is clear in my mind. You need an online booking system of some description and you need to make it easy. Don't give them 14 different things to choose between. Make it simple. If they've come to your website looking for information, look at where they're coming from. You know, if they're landed on a blog about something, maybe the right next step is a lead magnet or a guide or a meal plan, something they can download. If they've actually ended up, though, on a consultation page, the next right step is make a booking. And don't give them 14 different buttons of here's 15 different types of consults and there's a discovery call and there's all this other stuff. It's a booking button. This is where you book. Make the process easy. Once booked, make sure it's streamlined. The confirmation emails make sense. Interesting point, I just, as you know, I went away and I had a cat sitter come and take care of the cats. She came every day while we were gone. She used to run a catering and she stopped that and now she's doing cat sitting. As a customer, gosh, it was confusing because 24 hours before we're due to leave and I thought everything was sorted, I get an email from her that says, We're looking forward to seeing your two cats tomorrow at the catery. This is when you can book them in, this is when you can pick them up when you get back. And I'm thinking, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't book a catererie, I booked an in-home service, and there was no email address to be able to hit it and go, hey, you know, it was a no-reply sort of thing. So I couldn't respond to that. There was no information on what my actual booking was. And I ended up popping on what WhatsApp and messaging her through there and said, Oh, I just got this, what's going on? And her answer was, oh yeah, I just keep it there because it's got all the terms and conditions, but no, the caterer is closed. I'm just doing in-house setting now. How confusing is that for a client? The day before I'm about to take an international trip, I freak out thinking, oh my gosh, I've booked the wrong thing for my cats. That is a terrible customer experience. I know you guys aren't doing anything that terrible, but I just want you to be aware of how much turmoil it can cause for your clients. So even if you're sending a confirmation and maybe you've got a stock standard one that just says this is your appointment, etc., it might not be enough. Think about what they want to know. What do I need to bring? Should I bring all the supplements I've got in my cupboard that are useful? Maybe they're not useful. I don't know. Should I bring them? Should I have been writing down what I eat for the last week? Um, I've had clients over the years that showed up in active wear and brought like a robe because they thought I was going to put them in a gown. So sometimes people don't really understand what to expect. So great idea to put that into your follow-up emails. What I recommend is take a minute to look at your client journey right now, from how do people find you, how do we book, etc., etc. Write that down. And then for every one of those steps, I want you to think about the experience that you're delivering. Is it the experience you want to deliver? Does it match with what you're trying to deliver as an entire business? So if you're trying to be, let's say, a high end pre Premium practice, does your booking system actually back that up? Are you using a quality system or are you using some cheap free booking system? If you're charging $500 for an appointment but you're using a free system, it doesn't look good. So think about that entire experience at every single step and how you can improve it. Now the fourth point I want to make here is that tiny moments can create very lasting impressions. And it's sometimes the small things you don't even think about that add to what's happening, that adds to that whole memorability that you're building. I just made a word, memorability. Okay, I made that up. We'll go with it. Some ideas here. How can we create some tiny moments that make lasting impressions? Some ideas are remembering their kids' names. Okay, the mum that comes in and brings her two kids. Remember the kids' names. Hey Charlie, how's school going? Yep. A little handwritten card. Thank you, you've been a client for three months and it's been amazing helping you. And I just wanted to send a little thank you. Checking in after their session. And you can set that up so easily in a lot of your booking software platforms to automatically just send an email that says it's been great to see you in clinic. If you need anything, this is how you can reach out to me, or you can simply click

Tiny Moments That Stick

SPEAKER_00 24:19

reply and send me a message. Remembering things that they're doing like their holidays. Oh, you just got back from going to Italy. How was it? Did you have a great time? Yep, that warm welcome's really good. Now, I think some of the things that you can do in a physical clinic too are fantastic. And you lose a lot of this when you're running an online practice. But that really warm welcome. Is there someone there to greet them? If there's no one at reception, how can you make that person feel welcome? Well, let's make sure there's a sign there that says, right now I'm helping another client, but please take a seat, help yourself to a glass of water in a magazine, I'll be with you soon. That alone can make a really big difference because people aren't sitting there going, oh, what am I supposed to do? Should I ring the bell? Should I knock on the door? Give them the next steps. Great thing that I used to do in my practice was I had a tea menu. I have hips of dried herbs. I used to keep a tea menu. It would offer an English breakfast tea, peppermint, chamomile, just a few basics, and they could select the one that they wanted, and I would give each of them a a little individual pot of tea and a mug, and they would have that sitting on the desk while we did our console. It's a beautiful thing to do if you do and have time. Your clinic thinking too when you walk in. Those little moments that create lasting impressions. Does it smell nice? Have you got an oil burner on that's got a lovely scent and a lovely fragrance? Does it look nice? Even if it is a small space, tiny space, your home space, it's got to have a presentation, doesn't it? And the other thing that you can do that creates a really good impression is you don't be rushed. Even if you are run off your feet, even if you are running late, take a breath take a minute, ground yourself, because that person deserves all of you to be present. So show up for that person without being rushed. Now, interesting thing is none of these things I've just said are going to cost you much, if anything, are they? They're all simple things to do that are just adding a little bit more. But what they do do is create an emotional memory. Create an emotional memory. And it's interesting thinking about the tea menu. Um I actually did have a few people ask over the years as we got busier and we didn't have the tea menu out. I had a few people come in going, oh, my friend so-and-so recommended I come here. And I thought she said that you guys had a T menu. And when that happened, we're like, yeah, we do actually. And we just go, oh, here it is. What would you like? And get them the tea. But it was interesting to me that people that I'd seen once upon a time remembered the herbal tea menu. And the people coming in to see me for the first time is something very top of mind that they remembered and wanted as well. Point number five, I want to talk about follow-up. And I did say that a little bit before, but I just want to hammer this home. Follow-up is memorable, follow-up is important. It's about saying I remembered you, that I care enough about your health journey to check in, that I don't forget you between appointments. You mean something to me, you mean something to my practice, and I've got you. I've got you every step of the way. So it's about checking in progress, reminding them to re-book. Maybe it's about sending an educational email. Perhaps they came in about thyroid problems and you've got a little e-book on that. It wouldn't take two seconds to send that over to them going, I thought this might be of value to you. An email on their birthday. It might be an email asking them for a review, you know, would you mind taking a minute to do this? But even a review request, and I know a lot of people feel funny about asking, it's actually a nice thing to do. If you've taken the time to ask somebody to give a review request, that tells them that you care enough about their opinion, that you

Follow-Up That Builds Trust

SPEAKER_00 27:59

respect them enough as a person. The interesting thing is people will rarely remember the treatment protocols you gave them or the supplements you had them on, but they're going to remember how they felt. I felt really good when I came there. I felt seen, I felt heard. It was the first time I actually felt heard with my health problem. Those are the things that people remember. What I think is important in all of these things I've discussed today is to remember that your reputation is something that compounds. It's like compound interest, okay, but in a business sense. It's the Google reviews, it's the word of mouth, it's the other things you might do like speaking, podcasts, workshops, it's your website, it's the blogs you write, it's the community that you create. Everything adds together and creates a reputation that over time compounds. You don't build a reputation from one amazing month that was pumping full of clients. You build it piece by piece over hundreds of interactions, hundreds of touch points, hundreds of experiences that all add together and equal that memorable reputation that you're looking for. So it's a matter of starting now where you're at and starting to make positive changes that are going to build that memorable reputation that you're looking for. You want to be a memorable practice. You want to be the one that people recommend. So you've got to start that work now. And interesting, to close up today, I I want to ask you something and I want to put something in your mind that might help you to get this really concrete and start moving forward. Instead of asking yourself, gee, what should I post today? I'm looking at my social media, what should I post today? How about we forget that for a second? Forget that question. What if you ask yourself, what would make someone tell a friend about me? If you're going to post some something today, what is the thing that would make somebody tell a friend about me? If it's scrolled past, they would think, oh, I've got to tell so-and-so about that. That's a much better marketing question. Not what should I post, because then you're just filling time for the sake of it. You're adding to the clutter that's online. But what is going to make someone tell a friend about me? What can I share? So to finish off, today we talked about what makes a practice memorable. Because in this market, we're seeing a turnaround to old school marketing values and old school marketing tactics, and referrals

A Better Question For Marketing

SPEAKER_00 30:22

and reputation is a big part of that. So we need to know what makes our practice memorable. We talked about some of the ways and means that we can make our practice more memorable. And I talked about the fact that memorable practices, they aren't built overnight, that it's about reputation and consistency and repeated experiences and building that trust. We talked about the fact that memorable doesn't mean flashy. It's not about expensive fit outs or flashy logos. It's about being that practitioner that did things that made people feel welcome, make them feel special. We then talked about how the experience begins long before the consult ever happens. So if we're not thinking back that far, we're missing crucial parts in the journey. This is where we talked about client journey and you were going to go and delve into your client journey and how you can improve it. Everything from how they search to find you right through to providing the consult and ongoing care. Then we talked about those tiny moments that can create lasting impressions and really add to your clinic being memorable. How can you do that? I would suggest you brainstorm that because even if you're online, there's lots of little ways and little moments you can add that are going to build that impression. And the last point I made was about the fact that follow up is really, really important. Don't forget your clients in between sessions. Make sure you've got a follow-up process and how over time all of this is going to compound. Compound interest of building a reputation. All right, friends, so thanks so much for joining me. It's great to have you here, and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Have a great week.