Referrals, Philanthropy, and Video Marketing: Practice Growth Strategies Revealed by Ross Bernstein

Summary

Podcast Summary: Power Hour Optometry Episode: Referrals, Philanthropy, and Video Marketing: Practice Growth Strategies Revealed by Ross Bernstein
Release Date: December 11, 2024
Host: Eugene Shotsman
Guest: Ross Bernstein, Best-Selling Author and Peak Performance Business Speaker

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of Power Hour Optometry, host Eugene Shotsman welcomes Ross Bernstein, a multifaceted individual renowned for his expertise in peak performance and business growth strategies. Ross, a best-selling author of nearly 50 sports books and a seasoned keynote speaker, shares his extensive experience in helping professionals across various industries, including optometry, to enhance their practices through innovative strategies.

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Ross Bernstein's Background

Ross Bernstein begins by recounting his unconventional journey from aspiring hockey player to influential business speaker.

Ross Bernstein [02:55]: “I was a walk-on to play hockey at the University of Minnesota. I lasted about 10 minutes and wound up becoming the team mascot, Goldie the Gopher. That inspired my first book when I was 21.”

Despite initial skepticism from his Ivy League MBA brothers, Ross pursued his passion for sports writing, leading to a prolific career that now spans over 25 years. His work involves interviewing thousands of professional athletes and coaches, extracting the principles that make them exceptional, and applying these insights to the business world.

Eugene Shotsman [04:27]: “You've had some really impressive keynotes. I think there are common trends you see in business and sports.”

Ross emphasizes the universality of leadership and performance principles, making his advice highly relevant to optometry professionals aiming to grow their practices.

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Referral Strategies

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on effective referral strategies. Ross introduces the concept of "abundant generosity," a mindset that prioritizes giving over receiving, which fosters a strong network of referral partners.

Ross Bernstein [05:09]: “We don’t want to fight over a little piece of pie. We say, let's work together to make the whole damn pie bigger.”

Ross explains how being genuinely generous—referring colleagues without expecting immediate returns—builds trust and reciprocity. He shares his method of authentic, non-salesy communication to refer peers, leading to a substantial increase in referrals through word-of-mouth.

Ross Bernstein [09:41]: “I send out hundreds [of referrals] every year, and they're booked on January 5th, but I bet my buddy Ross is available. He's great.”

Eugene highlights the importance of recognizing opportunities within patient interactions to expand referral networks effectively.

Eugene Shotsman [11:02]: “If all I'm doing is seeing patients every single day and I fail to recognize the opportunity... What can I do to give you more value for your customers?”

Ross reinforces the necessity of aligning referral partners with your practice’s brand and target audience, ensuring that the referrals generated are of high quality and relevance.

Ross Bernstein [13:05]: “You need to find, recruit, and groom good referral partners. People in your price range, people in your proximity...”

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Leveraging Philanthropy for Practice Growth

Ross delves into the strategic use of philanthropy as a differentiator for business growth. By aligning charitable efforts with the core values and branding of a practice, optometrists can enhance their community presence and attract both clients and top talent.

Ross Bernstein [23:02]: “Consider creating a charitable foundation for your practice... gamify it. This is how you attract young talent and retain them.”

He exemplifies this strategy through his involvement with the Herb Brooks Foundation and Starkey Hearing, showcasing how meaningful philanthropic initiatives can strengthen brand loyalty and community engagement.

Ross advises practices to:

1. Choose On-Brand Charities: Select causes that resonate with your practice’s mission and values to ensure authenticity.
2. Create Unique Experiences: Host events that not only give back but also provide memorable experiences for participants.
3. Utilize Social Media: Promote philanthropic efforts to build a positive reputation and attract like-minded clients and employees.

Ross Bernstein [28:49]: “Philanthropy can be that real go-between. It’s something everyone has in common. You attract, recruit people the right way.”

Eugene adds that integrating philanthropy can also aid in staff recruitment by appealing to individuals seeking purposeful work environments.

Eugene Shotsman [35:32]: “Putting cause-related initiatives behind it will help from a standpoint of attracting and retaining top talent...”

Ross cautions against potential pitfalls, such as aligning with causes that might alienate portions of your client base, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful selection.

Ross Bernstein [35:32]: “Be careful to find something appropriate and on brand...”

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Event Strategies

Ross shares innovative approaches to leveraging events for business growth. By creating unique, value-driven events, practices can position themselves as thought leaders and trusted advisors within their communities.

Ross Bernstein [37:06]: “For every gig I speak at, I find a couple more gigs. That’s how it works.”

He describes hosting events where he provides valuable content without overtly selling, fostering an environment where attendees perceive him—and by extension, the practice—as valuable resources.

Key tactics include:

• Creative Event Planning: Organize events that offer genuine value, such as happy hours with insightful presentations.
• Networking Opportunities: Engage with attendees post-event to cultivate relationships that lead to referrals.
• Swag and Follow-Ups: Provide meaningful giveaways and maintain contact to ensure ongoing engagement.

Ross recounts a specific example where a creatively hosted event led to significant business gains without direct sales pitches.

Ross Bernstein [41:05]: “From those 14, I did the math. That led to another 14, and so on... more than a million and a half dollars of new business.”

Eugene relates this to the optometry field, suggesting practices can host similar events tailored to their services, such as educational seminars on specialized vision care.

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LinkedIn and Video Marketing

Ross emphasizes the critical role of LinkedIn and video marketing in modern business growth strategies. He advocates for leveraging LinkedIn to build professional relationships and using video to showcase testimonials and authentic experiences.

Ross Bernstein [48:03]: “If you're going to spend any marketing dollars this year, do it on video.”

He outlines a dual approach:

1. LinkedIn Strategy:
   • Acknowledge and Thank Others: Regularly recognize clients and partners to build a positive online presence.
   • Targeted Networking: Use analytics to identify potential referral partners and engage them strategically.

Ross Bernstein [20:15]: “I use LinkedIn to honor, acknowledge, and thank others. It’s a wonderful tool to build reputation.”

2. Video Marketing:
   • Long-Form Testimonials: Create comprehensive video testimonials that highlight client satisfaction and success stories.
   • Short Sizzle Reels: Develop engaging, concise videos for platforms like TikTok and YouTube to attract a broader audience.
   • Story Rooms: Implement dedicated spaces within the practice for patients to share their transformational experiences on camera.

Eugene provides a case study of a LASIK surgeon who successfully implemented a "story room," resulting in a surge of authentic patient testimonials that enhanced his marketing efforts.

Eugene Shotsman [50:20]: “They didn't call it a production studio, they called it a story room... It created a really interesting opportunity.”

Ross advises practices to focus on their strengths and consider hiring skilled individuals to manage their social media and video content, ensuring professional and effective execution.

Ross Bernstein [51:45]: “Doctors are great doctors... Focus on the stuff that you’re good at.”

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Final Insights and Conclusion

In wrapping up the conversation, Ross Bernstein reinforces the importance of creativity, authenticity, and strategic networking in growing a practice. By integrating referral strategies, philanthropy, event planning, and modern marketing techniques, optometrists can position themselves as trusted advisors and attract a loyal client base.

Ross Bernstein [55:23]: “You just do your thing and then it leads to a bunch of new stuff and here you are.”

Eugene concludes by appreciating Ross's universal business truths and encouraging listeners to adapt these strategies to their own practices for substantial growth and success.

Eugene Shotsman [56:08]: “Just think of ways to adapt it...”

Ross extends his well-wishes, and the episode closes with Eugene promoting a special offer for listeners to obtain a Practice Profitability Audit.

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Notable Quotes

• Ross Bernstein [05:09]:
  “We don’t want to fight over a little piece of pie. We say, let's work together to make the whole damn pie bigger.”

• Eugene Shotsman [11:02]:
  “What can I do to give you more value for your customers?”

• Ross Bernstein [23:02]:
  “Philanthropy can be that real go-between. It’s something everyone has in common.”

• Ross Bernstein [37:06]:
  “For every gig I speak at, I find a couple more gigs. That’s how it works.”

• Ross Bernstein [48:03]:
  “If you're going to spend any marketing dollars this year, do it on video.”

• Ross Bernstein [55:23]:
  “You just do your thing and then it leads to a bunch of new stuff and here you are.”

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Conclusion

This episode of Power Hour Optometry offers a treasure trove of actionable strategies for optometry professionals aiming to expand their practices. Ross Bernstein's insights into referral networks, philanthropic initiatives, event-based growth, and effective use of LinkedIn and video marketing provide a comprehensive framework for sustainable business growth. By adopting an abundant generosity mindset and leveraging modern marketing tools, optometrists can significantly enhance their practice's reach and profitability.

Transcript

[Eugene Shotsman]

Foreign welcome to the Power Hour. I'm your host, Eugene Shotsman. Thank you for making this optometry's largest and longest running show. Our audience is truly amazing. I absolutely love the questions, the interactions and the follow ups that I get to these shows. And really this is what I love doing, is being a resource for industry. And today's guest by request is from outside of our industry. In fact, this guy may be the most multi industry individual that you can possibly imagine. It's not every day that you get to hear a guy talk who's helping financial advisors sell more one day, inspiring coaches and athletic directors the next day and speaking to high performing business groups about business mindsets the third day. So I am thrilled to welcome our guest today, Ross Bernstein. He is the best selling author of nearly 50 sports books. He has made a career of studying what makes the great truly great and applying that to business. So that's why he's a peak performance business speaker. He is in the speaker hall of fame. He's keynoted conferences in all seven continents. Ask him about Antarctica. Right? He's been featured on cnn, CBS Morning, msnbc, espn, Fox News, N, as well as some major periodicals like Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today. This guy is the real deal and he certainly has had an impact on the world of business. So when I talk to Ross today, we talk about practical business advice to grow your practice. We cover referral strategies, we cover how you leverage philanthropy. We talk about events, testimonials, LinkedIn strategy video. We covered a lot in the show. And the challenge I have for you, and I think Ross does as well, is to listen to this episode and to think differently. How can we adapt it? How can we take some of these ideas that have helped people become wildly successful and apply them to what we're doing today and next month and next year. So I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Please reach out to me. I definitely can't wait for the conversations after the show. You can reach me at the Power Hour website or on Eugene Schottzman.com Again, that's Eugene Shotsman.com and I look forward to your feedback. Of course, if you subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts, you'll get notified every time we drop an episode. And okay, let's go to today's show. All right, Ross, welcome to the Power Hour. Excited to have you on the show.

[Ross Bernstein]

Great to see you again, Eugene. Thanks for having me.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Yeah, so I mean, you have a really unique background and usually we don't go into backgrounds for a number of reasons on the show, but this is actually one of the most interesting backgrounds that I have heard and kind of how you transitioned from what you did before to what you do now is a fascinating story and has some lessons in and itself. So why don't you give us a little bit of the overview, Ross?

[Ross Bernstein]

Sure. So I, I'm a sports author. I've written about 50 sports books and my claim to fame is I was a walk on to play hockey at the University of Minnesota. I lasted about 10 minutes and I wound up becoming the team mascot, Goldie the Gopher. And that inspired my first book. I was 21 years old. I was a senior in college. I had brothers with Ivy League MBAs working on Wall Street. And I told mom and dad I wanted to, I want to work in the world of sports. And they were convinced it was going to be a disaster. But I, I dove in. I wrote this book called Gopher Hockey by the Hockey Gopher. And like I said, 50 books later, I somehow made a career out of it. And I've been a working member of the media for the past 25 years. So I get to work with teams, I get to be in the locker room, the press box, the dugout, the sideline. And it's just taken me on this journey. I've been able to interview thousands of professional athletes and coaches and I study just what it is that makes the great one and then I apply that back to business. So I work as a full time professional speaker, keynote about 130 conferences a year, do a lot of work in the healthcare space and different touch points that touch the periphery of your industry in the vision world. But I talk about athletes and coaches and what makes them unique as it applies to leadership and sales. And then I talk about great companies who I work with and how they overcome disruption, how they hire and keep people, how they do things differently. So today we're going to share a lot of ideas that I learned along the way that will hopefully help your vision industry professionals think a little bit differently to grow their business and give them a few nuggets of wisdom.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Yeah. And you know, Ross, what I appreciate about the background so much is that you really, you know, the fact that you chose to learn from what makes the great ones great in the, in the world of sports and have adapted it to business. And I mean, you've had some really impressive keynotes. I mean, you've taught some really impressive organizations how to be even more impressive. And so, you know, I'm sure I can get into your accolades later in the show, but I think that there are some common trends that you see in business and also that you see in the world of sports. And, you know, so that's what I wanted to make the show about today. So let's apply some of those. Where do you want to start? Maybe referral strategies. Is that. Is that a good one?

[Ross Bernstein]

That sounds great. Yeah. Yeah. I get probably. You know, I get probably half my business from my direct competitors, believe it or not. I'm a member of a group called the National Speakers Association. I'm sure your audience has. They're all members of an association, and it's all professional speakers, so it's kind of a freak show. You go there and there's all the quadriplegics and paraplegics and army generals and professional athletes and Olympians and sole survivors of plane crashes. And, you know, what we do is we all have a story. We all want to help people to be better. But we have a national day called National Speakers Day. We have it on March 14th because it's what we call PI Day. And that would be from math, the pie, 3.14. So March 14th. But we call it PI Day because even though we're all competitors and we're all fighting for the same, to speak at the same gigs, we all want to work together to make the whole pie bigger. So we don't want to fight up a little piece of pie. We say, let's work together to make the whole damn pie bigger. And we have a term called abundant generosity, which means we just want to give. I mean, whenever I speak at a conference, I know there to be three truths. There's going to be a conference next year. There's going to be a keynote speaker. It's probably not going to be me, which makes it very easy for me to recommend and refer my colleagues. Maybe next year they want a woman, maybe a person of color, maybe an inspirational speaker. I know them all, happy to recommend them, and I have a referral process. So. And I. You know, and when I get a. When I get a friend, a gig, what I get in return is not money. It's. It's usually beer. Right? I don't want money. I want karma. I want to share with them, and I want them to share with me. And I've created this. This abundant mindset of generosity mentality where I'm just always giving, sharing, you know, And I do it really, really. I try and be very authentic. So, for instance, you and I met at an event in Cleveland and, you know, so the next year I want to recommend some different speakers to that group. So I might say, you know, hey, Blair, you know, great to see you. Great to speak at your conference. Had a blast. Hey, per our conversation, I would love to recommend a really good friend and colleague of mine, Janet. You know, Janet talks about artificial intelligence. She's, you know, she's amazing. Talks about sales, whatever. She's got a new book out. I'm sure she'd love to send you a copy. I've seen her on this email in the hopes you two can connect. And I've included a contact information below. I know your group would love her. Hey, I'd love to stay in touch. Happy holidays. Cheers. Ross. Nothing salesy, just a simple paragraph. You know, I talk the way I talk in real life, the way I email. It's not super professional. I try and keep it a little more folksy. Conversation, fun, less formal. That's just me. And then, you know, Janet knows right away. Hey, reply all. Ross, love you, brother. You're the best, you know, thank you so much for the warm introduction. Hey, Blair, Ross told me how much fun he had at your event. I'd love to learn more. Do you have a date set? Can I send you my new book? I'd love to jump into Zoom or just be a great resource for you to help you find a great speaker. That's it. I'm out now. If she books the gig. Hey, beer's on you. And every time I check my email, it's like the lottery. I'm getting tons of referrals. I send out hundreds every year, and they're like, you know, I'm booked on January 5th, but I bet my buddy Ross is available. He's great. You'd love him. So I have this. This mindset of giving and serving my competitors and colleagues. Now, that's half my business. The other half comes from my clients. And this is, you know, you know, every. Every conference we're at there, there are trade show vendors. I'm sure that if your. Your. Your listeners are tuning in, I'm sure maybe they sponsor different, you know, little league or whatever. Or not so much that that's a different category, but more like if they're a member of a big optometry association, for instance, sure, maybe, maybe they're going to be a sponsor at that event. You know, that's typically. Who pays the bills are the vendor partner sponsors. Right? Just like podcasts have sponsorships like that. That's just what makes the world go around? People want to be in front of this audience because you reach, you know, almost 50,000 people every week in this industry. So people want to be a. It's the best. So a lot of times I'll recommend, you know, different client. You know, I'll go speak at a huge conference and then I'll get hired by some person who's at the trade show, some VP of sales was there and, you know, some weird industry. But I might recommend them to say, hey, maybe you should be a sponsor at this other event I'm speaking at, because it'd be a great. So I'm basically, I'm finding gigs for my clients. And most people, it's always take, take, take, and I flip it. And I'm always like, give, give, give, right? Like my favorite books I wrote about leadership called Wearing the Sea. My man crush, Wayne Gretzky, talks about the power of the assist. Like he was the all time leader in assists and he just loved, he loved teeing up his teammates. And that's my mindset, is what could your next great assist look like? So I'm always thinking about the assist, like, hey, my clients, they're putting together an event. How can I help? How can I be of service? So I think for starters, having a referral process, not just for, you know, customers and colleagues and people in the industry, but for your clients and maybe in your audience world, maybe that's thinking like, you know, I got a client and they own a, they own a business, you know, and maybe they're through their insurance, they, you know, their people all come get their glasses from, from us here. Maybe I could think, you know, maybe I've got someone, maybe they're in the real estate space. Maybe someone's looking for a new house. Maybe, maybe it's bigger. Maybe there's a client that, that wants to do some, you know, they need some advice and you play matchmaker. You got to connect. You can't, you can't just be an optometrist. You got to be, you got to wear a lot of different hats as far as I'm concerned. And if you want to really grow your business and win new new patients, I think this is the kind of quirky stuff you got to do to find those things.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Well, it's actually a really interesting point. We talk about this a lot in terms of setting up referral systems in one of my courses. But one of the things that is really fascinating to me of what you're saying is this give first mentality. But so the underlying part of that is recognize the opportunity, right? Because if you. If you're absolutely right, if all I'm doing is I'm seeing patients, you know, every single day, all day long, and I fail to recognize the opportunity. I fail to take the time and say, hey, what does this person do for a living? I mean, we asked that in the chair, right? We asked the question, what, what do you do for work? And if the person, like you said, owns an insurance company or owns a hair salon or is a real estate agent, let's think about what a creative partnership could look like. What can I do to give you more value for your. For your customers? In the same way that you could say, hey, real estate agent. And this is, you know, one of the, I don't know a dozen referral techniques that we teach, but it's like, hey, real estate agent, what about all the people who are moving into the area? Here's a gift pack from us at ABC Optometry to hand to them when they move in. That gift pack includes a free visit to our. To our office. It includes, you know, a gift towards. It includes a gift card towards purchase in our optical. It includes some free really advanced testing. That happens, you know, that happens as part of your eye exam. And so anyone you sell a house to, that's more than $300,000, I'm just making this up. You know, give them this gift. It'll enhance your relationship with them. Maybe we'll put it in a nice basket, and then when you run out, you just come over here, refill. And if you don't call us, if you don't come, refill. Then we'll call you in a few months and just make sure that you got enough gifts to give out to the people you're selling homes to. Because those people moving into the neighborhood, that's one less thing they got to worry about, which is, where's my eye appointment going to be at next time? So I totally support what you're saying, and I love the mindset of give first and look for that assist.

[Ross Bernstein]

Yeah, you can't ask for referrals. You need to give referrals. And then by the laws of karma, people will understand, oh, I should reciprocate. If they don't, then they're not a good referral partner. So I think you have to find, recruit, and groom good referral partners. People in your price range, people in your proximity, whatever the metrics and KPIs are. That's. You got to really find great referral partners. If you're a real high end optometry place and you're selling really high end luxury brands, you don't referral partners who are more selling at Walmart doing that kind of thing. Right. You want to find maybe those luxury car dealerships, maybe those fine liquor golf places. Like you got to find people that are commiserate with your, with your branding and with your.

[Eugene Shotsman]

So I think the question to ask is who has access to the people you want to be in front of?

[Ross Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Eugene Shotsman]

And that makes a. And who has high value access? You know, a financial advisor has a much better high quality access than a gas station owner.

[Ross Bernstein]

Yeah, yeah. Managers are good referral partners.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Right, right, exactly. So those. That, that's a. So thinking about who has access to the people that you want to be in front of creates an ultimate referral strategy. So I love that. That's fantastic. What else?

[Ross Bernstein]

You know, I think as far as referrals go, another great way that I win new business because I have to find 130 new customers every year. I know it's a little different with optometry patients. People get on a cycle, but for me I gotta, you know, I'm kind of a, kind of a guy. I go on, I even tell my clients before I work with them, I said, you know, I'm not going to try and hang around and sell you stuff. So I said I'm going to come in and speak and then I'm going to be a great resource for you to recommend and refer some other speakers to be a great value for you so that, so that you get a great stream of great speakers. And I'll even help you, you know, get the, get them at the right budget to help you, whatever I can do to be a resource for you. And they love that because they know there's no quid pro quo where I'm going to be trying to sell them something. And then by the laws of karma, they usually wind up referring me and doing stuff. So it works out to be great. So one of the things I do well is I do well on LinkedIn. I pay for LinkedIn, I post a lot, but what I use it for is I use it to honor, acknowledge and thank others. So it's a wonderful tool to acknowledge my clients. And I always have a picture of my events where I show the room and I want to create fomo. Like if you weren't here, this was such an amazing event. And then I tag the planners, the CEOs, the VPs of sales, the decision makers and say thank, thank you. What an amazing event. Thank you for your hospitality, for your support. I'll share a little bit about their company. Here's what company XYDZ does. They're an amazing. They've been doing it for a hundred years. They're incredible. And I brag on them and I make them look like rock stars and then I encourage them, hey, I'm going to make a post, right? We're going to. It's not about me. I'm just a tiny little blip in the sea of this crowd just showing this amazing event. But, but then a lot of times they'll, they'll post, they'll say, hey, they're tagged, they're post, they'll see their. So they'll, they'll say, hey, we. What a great event. Ross. You know, they usually to say, Ross, you were. You are amazing. Thank you. You know, so it shares this love. It's other people bragging about you. It's the whole concept of reputation isn't what you say about you, it's everybody else says about you. Of course I get them bragging on me and then what happens is, you know, and I've got a network of about 50,000 people on LinkedIn. But it's very specific. It's business people. It's not just randoms. I don't take invitations from randoms. I try and make it strategic. But anyways, afterwards, that's when kind of when the magic happens, you can go through and look at a little bit of the analytics and you can. These are some interesting people that might be. Liked it, shared it, commented on it. Sometimes because I pay for LinkedIn, my vision is hidden, but I can see who creeps on me. Who's a creeper, who goes on my profile and says, hmm, let me learn more about Ross Bernstein. But then that's valuable insight. Maybe they own a business in a similar space and they're just thinking, hmm, this is weird. And then I might reach out and I'll just. Now that I know that, you know, they're kind of busted, I might send a little note on LinkedIn saying, hey, Bob, I saw your smiley face pop up on my LinkedIn feed today. I'd love to connect. Smiley emoji, Nothing salesy, just I'm acknowledging I saw you and now they're busted. So a lot of times they'll respond back and they'll say, yeah, you know, I saw that. You know, Larry commented on your post that you were speaking at his conference. You know, we have a similar conference Coming up, we had a big sales event coming up next fall, and we're looking for speakers. Looks like you got some pretty good, you know, feedback. Do you want to jump on a zoom and talk? So I win a lot of new business by doing little quirky, weird stuff like that, where nothing salesy, but just kind of like right place, right time and sending a little note. So I think LinkedIn, if used the right way, can really be a great tool to do that. So in your world, I know there's HIPAA rules and things. You, you know, you're probably not going to say, hey, it was great to, you know, fit my new customer, you know, James with new glasses today. But, you know, maybe, maybe it's like, wow, got a new customer. You know, James came in today, we got a new glasses, and James has a great new business. You know, James is a realtor here and where we live and, you know, and, and I'm. I'm just happy to be part of team James. Right? I mean, everyone's got a team of. And, you know, your vision, your optometrist is just one. One portion of the team, right? And maybe you're bragging on them or doing something, maybe you want to ask their permission first to say, hey, we like to make a LinkedIn for our. And I'd be spec. I wouldn't do it on Facebook or Instagram. I mean, I don't do those platforms because I think they're very dangerous. You know, half my clients watch Fox News, the other half watch msnbc. I really don't think it would be a good decision for me to allow someone to make a post or comment talking about Trump or Kamala or vaccines or abortion or immigration or Israel or Gaza. So, you know what I mean? These are, these are. You do not want to talk about these things on your social. And look, if we're going to do business, whether you're a wealth manager, a car dealer, whatever, I'm going to go on your social. I'm a researcher. I'm going to, I'm going to look you up. And if your politics don't align with my politics or my values, you are never going to get my business and you will never know why. So it's stupid to do stupid stuff on social media, and a lot of people don't realize that. So I would say no Facebook strategy is much better than a crappy Facebook strategy. So I would say get real purposeful and have a strategy. And I think LinkedIn is a narrative where you can control the content. You Control the message, and you can reach out strategically to people that you think are important or that you'd want to win new business from. So that's a, It's a very, It's a very touchy topic, but I think a goldmine of opportunity if you're willing to invest a little bit, especially if you use video and do different things where I think you can show a great, great picture of what you do.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Yeah.

[Ross Bernstein]

And, you know, and tying into testimonials as well, which is something we'll talk about later.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Yeah. So I want to kind of hit on a couple points. Number one is the whole politics thing. Could not agree with you more because, you know, typically tends to be the case that in, you know, in any election in the United states, it's about 50%, you know, 50% vote one way, 50% vote the other way. So in any room that you're in, you're bound to piss off half the people.

[Ross Bernstein]

Right.

[Eugene Shotsman]

If you're, if you're talking about politics, unless you're in a very polarized room. And I can't imagine that our patients are always a polarized crowd. So my. I couldn't agree with you more on that. On that topic, what I also want to point out is that your strategy, number one, which is develop partnerships by giving and develop, you know, essentially B2B referral partnerships for somebody who can refer you patients because you're part of the same community and they have access to your patients, and that kind of thing can be really closely. That one strategy can be really closely tied to your second strategy, which is be good on LinkedIn, because those people are looking to develop their business. Right. And so that's the business crowd. And so I totally agree with you. Like, brag on your. On your patients on LinkedIn, with their permission from a HIPAA standpoint, of course, but brag on your patients. But it would be great if your patient, if you also bragged on something that your local partner is doing and you're positioning it that way and you're constantly working to grow your partnership, because what obviously happens is as you start bragging and people, they start following you, and so that automatically grows your, your followers, and then that automatically makes the, the brag more worthwhile to the next person you're bragging about. So, yeah, it's not that hard to start, especially for practices that are in a smaller community, because there's no one. And this is what I like about your strategy, is that, you know, everybody's got a Facebook every, Every optometry practice. I mean most optometry practices are going to have a Facebook Facebook. And most optometry practices are posting something on Facebook. And if you look at your analytics, you're going to find that unless you're paying for it, Facebook doesn't want to promote that. So you're going to get, you know, 7:12, whatever views on that content unless it's, you know, unless it's really targeted and unless it's, unless you're paying for it. LinkedIn is different. It's a different set of algorithms. And the best part is that not very many optometrists are doing it. So that's where the, the brilliance of the strategy comes in and where I think, you know, if you pair your first strategy and your second one together, it kind of creates a really interesting opportunity for us to really solidify those B2B referral channel partners that most of us aren't even thinking about to drive new patients.

[Ross Bernstein]

Sure.

[Eugene Shotsman]

So I love that. More on referrals or you want to go to some, some other topic about.

[Ross Bernstein]

How to grow, you know, let's transition to something that I think I do very well is I use philanthropy as a differentiator. So I'm tied to about a dozen different charities, but I'm real strategic. My favorite charity is as a founding member and serve as the president of the board of the Herb Brooks Foundation. So if you're any hockey fans out there, if you saw the movie Miracle, a Disney movie by the way, me hockey fan Kurt Russell, the actor plays Herbie in the movie. But I met Herby when I was a 10 year old kid in Minnesota, went to his hockey camp. I was the worst kid there. I won the most improved award for the guy who literally sucks the most. But we became, we became friends and after I tried out to play at the University of Minnesota and I wrote my first book, I interviewed him and he really helped me with that book and he wanted to connect me because he had a. We turned out we had a common passion was to grow the game and get more kids playing hockey and became a lifelong friendship. I was actually working on his book with him when he died. I was golfing with him the morning he was killed in a car accident. So we've created this foundation that we help kids play sports. It's very on brand for my business and we keep his legacy alive. We've raised millions of dollars to help, you know, socioeconomically disadvantaged kids, his kids with special needs kids whose parents are in the military. We just help him play sports and it's been. It's just been wonderful. So through that, it's really given me a different megaphone to connect with people who share that same passion for kids and sports or hockey or whatever it is. Other groups I'm involved with include taste of the NFL. It's an amazing charity, raised almost $50 million to help feed the hungry. Tied into an amazing brand, a company that owns a day of the week, the National Football League. So these are very on brand for what I do. So I would say consider creating a charitable foundation for your. For your practice. Maybe it's a 501C3. Something big, you know, but if not, certainly a page in your website to say, hey, if you want to give, we're gonna, you know, do something on brand. Maybe you're gonna give away, you know, glasses to kids who need them, or you're gonna give away. Do something that's on brand. Or maybe you had someone personally in your family afflicted with cancer. Maybe you want to give money or. But you can. You can gamify it. And this is how you attract young talent that want to work and stay with you. It's how you attract younger customers, because everything is gamified in their world.

[Eugene Shotsman]

So.

[Ross Bernstein]

So maybe you're raising money. Maybe you're giving away micro scholarships for kids to go out and do something even better at a smaller level to help kids who need glasses. I know a lot of dentists do this. A lot of folks in the audiology space. I do a lot of work in the hearing aid space. One of my favorite companies is a company called Starkey. This is about a $6 billion medical device company. They make hearing aids, and I do a lot of work for them. And they're an amazing company. And they're known. Interestingly, they're known more for their philanthropy than their business. Believe it. I think. So their founders, Bill and Tawny Austin, they're just these amazing humans. Their passion is to watch little kids hear for the first time. So they have these mission trips, and they recruit rock stars, politicians, professional athletes, and they fly them to Haiti, Ghana, Liberia, all over the world. And then they fit little kids with hearing aids. And then the. The amazing moment is when this kid hears their parents for the first time. And that's the moment. That's what they love. But the genius of what they do is they have a whole department of kids out of college who understand videos, social media, and they create these little videos and they put them to music, and then they create content specifically for TikTok, Snapchat YouTube, Instagram, Facebook. And these videos go viral and they put them to music and they're just, they're beautiful, right? So they're soft selling their product through this moment. And they have a gala every year called so the World May Hear. And my wife and I go and every year they raise at least $10 million in St. Paul, Minnesota. It's amazing. It's a Hollywood A list event, believe it or not. And these celebrities flying in their own dime just because they, they love this company, they love their mission. They have an expo every other year in Las Vegas where all their vendor partners come and all their audiologists, similar to optometrist ophthalmologists.com and this is kind of their gathering spot. They bring in amazing speakers and I'm what they call a mini keynote speaker. So I'm in between the two headliners, President Bush and President Clinton. I mean, talk about bipartisanship, right? Turns out everyone can agree on hearing health. So in a massively commoditized business of hearing aids, Starkey has completely differentiated themselves and quite frankly kicked butt through their philanthropy. And they're not the low cost leader, they're not the Walmart of hearing aids. In fact, they're the opposite. They're the most expensive. But people choose to do business with them because they give and they serve the communities that serve them. So there's an example of a company in your space, in your world of healthcare and device, whatever product that has really found a way to make philanthropy work for them. So think about those things, what you could do locally. And then also I'd say go to the right place at the right time to be in front of the right people. So for instance, I play in half dozen charity celebrity golf tournaments every summer. Herb Brooks foundation, we have a big golf tournament, a big money maker for us. And because people want to be a part of a great event and they want to be. They want to meet the celebrities. They want to. They love golf. They want to. They want to. They know that the money is going to a great cause. So go to the right place at the right time to meet the right potential customers or partners. So there's an old saying, why did Dillinger rob banks? And the answer is because that's for the money.

[Eugene Shotsman]

That's where the money is.

[Ross Bernstein]

That's where the money is. So why do I play in charity celebrity golf tournaments? That's where the money is. The people that are on brand for what I do. I mean, who do you suppose is going to take Tuesday off Spend a thousand bucks to come play in a charity golf tournament, drinking beer all day, hanging out on a golf course. I'll tell you who, typically the CEO or a senior executive of a company that likes sports. And they're probably going to hire a guy like me to be their keynote speaker at their sales conference or leadership conference. So it's amazing. You're sitting around drinking beer, golfing all day, waiting around, and you know, you're standing on a tee box and some CEO says, so, Ross, nice to meet you. What do you do for a living? I'm a speaker. What do you talk about? I talk about sports. Really? We love sports. You know, we have a leadership conference coming up. You got a business card, Cha Ching? I book a ton of business. Being at the right place at the right time, in the right situation, they're in a buying mood. It's fun. As a working member of the media, I get to be on the sideline at Monday Night Football. Who do you suppose is on the sideline at Monday Night Football? I'll tell you who. People who own the luxury suites at the stadium or people that own all the companies that are advertising throughout the arena. Those are the right people for the right. So if you're, you know, selling high end glasses, you're not going to be wanting to go to some low end, you know, event. You're going to want to try to buy an event where there's a lot of wealth managers or people in the golf industry or people selling luxury automobiles. Right. You're going to go to the right place at the right time. And philanthropy can be that real go between. It's something everyone has in common. You attract, recruit people the right way. So I would say invest in a charity that's on brand. You can bring in, hey, you got a new patient. Maybe you tie, you bring them in. Right. Maybe you say, hey, let's partner with you. Let's gamify it. Let's, let's give some money to you guys. Then let's use social media to promote both of us. Would that be a wonderful win win. So start thinking differently about how philanthropy can win you new business.

[Eugene Shotsman]

So it's interesting, Ross, I have so much to unpack there and really, really great. One of the questions I have, and we have a client, and this is a client who. And they do something similar to the, to the audiology practice but at a much smaller scale. They do, they're an eye care practice and they, you know, once a year they do a mission trip and they help less Advantaged folks and they, you know, fit them with glasses, they do eye exams, they take care of that, they take care of various eye diseases. And they do this in a, usually in a part of the world that needs the help. And they'll fly down there and they'll raise some money for all the stuff that they're taking with them, but the doctors will pay them, will pay for all the stuff themselves and the, and they'll, and you know, and I think they do that stuff. One of the challenges I have is when we say things like, well, let's promote that, let's get your patients to participate in that somehow. Let's get your patients to donate or, you know, support the charity. They always kind of shy away from it and they say, well, we're doing it because we're trying to be, you know, we're trying to do some good in the world. We're not really doing it because we want, you know, to make it look like we're getting marketing brownie points for, for, for doing, for doing charity work. You know, we're doing it for the right reasons. And so I want to pose the question to you is what would you say back to them and how would you promote it in the classiest way possible?

[Ross Bernstein]

Look, it's a unique case by case. There's no one size fits all answer to that question. Some people enjoy it. You could probably vet the right people. If you look at their social, if they're really involved in charity or if they're giving, serving, those are the low hanging fruit in that scenario. You're going to want to reach out to them. Look, it's just an idea and it may work for certain practices, it may work for certain patients, it may work for certain people, but I think there's different ways you can approach it. But I think just having that, that giving mindset again, like the referral about giving and sharing and just giving back and really don't make it a quid pro quo. Like there's, you know, just give like, you know, I, you know, I've got a cousin who's got a really successful dental practice and they give lots of free, you know, what I call currency. It's your time, right? They give away free patient advice or they'll take care of families that just don't have the means. So it's a lot of that kind of stuff helping people and, and so, you know, but I think just using the social media to promote good is really putting out there the type of values, type of person, the type of doctor that you are and the people that you want to attract. So I just think having a magnetic identity to attract the right people is really what's most important there. And whatever you can do beyond that is great. And if you just want to raise money and give it away, great, just do it. Just. And you know, you don't need to brag about it. But I think if you do it right on social, if you do it the right way, saying, hey, we're really proud to be able to donate money to this wonderful cause. You know, one of our, one of our proud patients who owns a real estate company is doing this amazing thing where they're, you know, getting a Habitat for Humanity house to a, to a military family in need. Boy, we, we couldn't think of a better way to partner. So really proud to be able to give you a great assist. Right. Something like that. We want to help you out or maybe you know, and hey, you know what? Or maybe hey, we're going to give free glasses to this fan. Whatever. I mean, I'm sure you guys have thought, just think differently and just think about the abundant mindset philosophy, which I love.

[Eugene Shotsman]

And you know, the other thing you mentioned, which I actually thought was a really valid point is that, you know, every practice that I talk to seems to struggle a little bit with issues related to staff staffing with and oftentimes that has to do with attracting the right people to work inside the practice. Whether that's optometrists or whether that's folks, you know, anything from tech positions to management positions to opticians. And one of the things that I think is brilliant about what you just said is that I think people do want to feel like they have a cause behind what they're doing. And so in addition to having some really great values within your business, you know, hey, we're not, not just selling stuff here. We're actually helping see the, helping people see the world and helping see the world clearly. But in addition to that actually putting some cause related initiatives behind it will help from a standpoint of attracting and retaining top talent that is really interested, especially younger talent who's really interested in cause related activities by businesses today.

[Ross Bernstein]

Yeah, it's a great strategy and just you do you figure out what works best for your practice. But do something right, that's the key. Just today say, you know what, start small, do a little figure, you know, study other people who are maybe doing well in your space or a similar space like audiology or maybe dentists, whatever people in that healthcare world. That you live in. And, you know, if it's. Look, if you see other people doing stuff and it feels greasy, then just don't do that. That. Right. I mean, other people screw this up a lot. And I'd say be careful too. There's some. There's some hidden minefields people don't think about. For instance, if you live in an area where it's very faith based, you don't want to partner with maybe a cancer research society where they're using money for stem cell research. Some people are very, you know, vilely opposed to ethically for their religious beliefs of doing things like that. So you don't want to. You don't want to upset anyone by doing the wrong thing or, or for instance, I know there was a situation years ago, like make a wish. It was a similar group. You know, some kid in some, you know, northern place in Alaska, or someone wanted to shoot a bear for his wish and they let him do it. And it just, you know, look, I'm not opposed to hunting, but like, some people are. So again, it's like politics. Do you want to piss off half your people? So just be careful that you find something that you feel would be appropriate and on brand for what you do. Enough said.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Right? No, I love that, Ross. I think great advice. All right. I mean, you're a wealth of knowledge and I love your unique perspectives and the way that you're approaching this. Let's talk about maybe more ideas to win business.

[Ross Bernstein]

All right? So, you know, I gotta find, like I said, you know, 130 new customers every year. And my calendar, you know, it fills up, but I get gaps. You know, my calendar, I book stuff out 6, 6, 9, 12 months out. So sometimes I might have a week of nothing. And I don't like having a week of nothing. Sometimes I have weeks of, you know, I'm in seven cities in five days. And that gets crazy. But, you know, you got to make hay, right? So you do what you got to do. But one of the things I'll do is I'll do events for clients as sort of what I call a showcase. And I think this is an opportunity where maybe for your listeners is just getting in front of the right. At the right event or maybe just doing something where you can, you know, maybe attract some new people by doing something kind of cool. So there's a. There's a cool company called Woodchuck. They make really thin wood skins that go on the back of like an iPad or an iPhone, and they'll burn a logo on there. And they got. Anyways, these guys saw me at an event. They said, hey, we'd love to have you come speak at one of our events and talk to our company. We're a startup, we don't have any money, we can't pay you. And I said, well, that's okay. They got a lot of cool customers they work with, you know, in Minnesota, like Best, Best Buy, General Mills, Target, Dairy Queen, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Twins. So they got cool customers. So I said, let's do something creative. I said, I'd love to work with you. You got a great product, great vibe. I'm not going to give you a free speech. I'm going to give you a speech at my expense. Big difference, because I see value there. So I said, you know, whatever money you can put together, find some sponsors. Let's do an event. You don't need to pay me, but let's make an event. So we picked a Friday in August. That's my least busy month when I'm not working and I wasn't traveling, wasn't doing anything and I thought this would be a good time. I want to stay busy. We'll plant some seeds, I'll find some new prospects. So we did a 4 o'clock happy hour where I came in for like 45 minutes as a gift to their best customers and prospects. And I was just going to be sharing some stuff like this, some best practice ideas, nothing salesy, just saying, hey, we're bringing in a high level hall of fame speaker that's just going to give you some ideas and ways you can grow your business, win some new customers and we'll have some fun. So I came in, they built me a stage in their warehouse in northeast Minneapolis. I'm sitting next to like forklifts in this big warehouse. And they built a stage for a bunch of and they packed the room with great people. They really made an effort to bring in some great people. And they packed the room with the right people and I did my thing and now it's rush hour, so no one's gonna leave. So now everyone gets a swag bag with a few of my books as a gift and signed and dated and a few of their products that they could give away. And then a DJ pops out, starts spinning vinyl. So it's a good vibe and the music's playing and then the garage doors open and some food trucks roll in. So now we're drinking craft beer, we're eating lobster tacos, everyone's happy. And I hung around, because that's what I do at every event. I always go to the dinners, I go to our. You know, I go to the events so that I can meet people and network. That's where you meet the next. The next gig comes from the gig. Like every gig I speak at, I got to find a couple more gigs. That's how it. That's how it works. And I would say the same thing for you, too. For every. Every patient you got, you better be finding more patients from that patient, whether it's referrals or weird stuff like this. So now this is pre pandemic, but I did the math and I walked out of that after after party with. With 18 business cards. 14 of those cards booked me. That's. I sell speeches. So nothing salesy, but it was just, hey, great to meet you. Here's a, you know, hey, if you have a card, here's my card. They called, they booked me to speak, and from those 14, I did the math. That led to another 14, and so on and so on. And to date, it's led to more than a million and a half dollars of new business.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Wow.

[Ross Bernstein]

So I guess my question is, are you willing to do things like that to win new customers, find new patients? So this is, you know, yesterday here in Minnesota. It's Thanksgiving week. I don't want to date your podcast, but I know it's coming out soon anyways. It's a slow week. There's not a lot of conferences this week because the world kind of shuts down. People are traveling. Companies are sensitive to that. I do work in Canada because, funny, they don't celebrate our Thanksgiving. But anyways, I did an event for Northwestern Mutual Actual Insurance, one of the biggest insurance companies in the world. And I had spoken that one of their previous events, and I wanted to get back on the radar. So I reached out to one of their managing directors who had become a friend. And I said, let me. I said, let me just come in and let's do something fun. Let's create a Monday. Come on into the office downtown, you know, couple hours, Ross is going to come in, do his thing, share the best practice ideas, and these wealth managers and financial advisors and insurance professionals to win new business, that's what they got to do. And I said it'd be a great way to end the year on a high note. I gave away books to everyone as a gift. You know, that that was a couple thousand dollars value for me, but I wanted to make it special. And then he invited a bunch of other divisional Heads who could potentially hire me, a meeting planner who plans their big events. And it was awesome. Like everyone had a great morning, you know that we had coffee and they came in and people left with some great value. And I'm going to be working for Northwestern Mutual again. That's just, you know, they're going to hire me for some future stuff and. But that's a seed planting, right? And I guess you got to be able to say I'm going to step outside my office, do some things differently if you want to win new customers, find new patients. So I don't know if that looks like in your world exactly, but in my world that's the kind of stuff that keeps me as a top producer. And I work at a lot of top producer conferences, you know, wealth managers, realtors, insurance and those top 5 percenters, those big 7 figure earners. There's a reason they're, they're doing those things. They do stuff like this, they set up more folks phone calls, they have more meaningful meetings, they provide more value to their customers. They become the trusted advisor. And I guess that's my challenge to a lot of your listeners is how can you become even more trusted advisor? How can you win new business by taking care of your clients, doing things differently? I think that's the stuff we got to think about.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Well, and I think that there's plenty of ways to translate that. If you think through examples in our industry, especially when you have high value services, high value cash services services, maybe it's a specific collection of frames, but really more often it's going to be something like dry eye, that's going to be something like myopia management. These services are thousands of dollars. And you know, even it could be as simple as having an event in your practice and asking your patients to invite people to that event. And obviously there's details and ways to choreograph that in a way that, and to message that in a way whether it feels extremely valuable. Valuable. Right. But you could get sponsors for that, no problem. Right. Somebody could pay for the food that the person who's benefiting from that, your dry eye, the person who sold you the dry eye device, that that person is going to benefit from that they're going to be happy to sponsor the person who's selling you the lenses for your myopia management, they're going to be happy to sponsor it. But whether that event is in your office or it's in somebody else's office, even better if you're brought into somebody else's Office if, if some sort of enterprising. If there's going to be. And think about, you know, myopia management is, is a, is something for kids. So what if you had an event that was already a kid friendly event where parents who really care about their kids were there. What if it was an academic success type of event where somebody else was hosting it and you came in with your speech about how vision is such an important part of academic success. Success or take it to your world Ross, where you know sports, right. Great vision is a big part of being successful in sports. And so you know, again, if you've got some sort of top performing teams and there's a team meeting or there's a league meeting or something like that, those are all parents, those are all people in your demographic. And what can you do? Like Ross is saying, plant the seed to create the value that ultimately allows you to be the trusted advisor for that particular group of people. People. So if you're selling myopia management services and you're in front of the right crowd that somebody else has set up, but you're helping them make their event way better and it's kind of again, taking the first thing that you said is that provide the assist, provide the value first. Don't necessarily ask to be paid a ton of money for your time, but realize that planting that seed is going to pay off massively in the future if you do get received as that trusted advantage advisor.

[Ross Bernstein]

Yeah. And you know, you can get creative too, right? I mean like you know, for instance I was with a, a group that wanted in healthcare and they wound up partnering with a local hospital and in a specific wing that dealt with what they do and medical device, pharma, whatever. They want access to do things and have good, you know, good goodwill without and their sunshine law. So there's certain things they can and can't do to, to give, you know, money and things you don't want to be in proprietary. But you know, they, they put in a brand new gaming system in a room at the hospital for kids. You know that's pretty cool, right? They got their name on it and they, you know, they partner with the local sports team. When they had a grand opening and they came in, they put a bunch of their jerseys on the wall. So another win win right now they're now it's like this cool like sports gaming room where they can go in there and play video games. And so you know, you just think differently. Right. Use your money for good, not evil and try and partner with the right people. Now they got doctors referring them back like, yeah, this is our company XYZ gaming room. Right. So just, just find some weird, quirky ideas that I love that what you're.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Pushing people to do is something different than what they've thought of before or different than what everybody else is doing. Because, you know, in the same way, you know, you're not telling anybody and neither am I usually is. Go, go partner. Go partner with the local sports. You know, paying for a banner on their field because everybody's doing that. There's already 27 other banners on there. Nobody's really looking at them. And half the time that, you know, they, they, they get messed up or, you know, they're too small for people to see or whatever, it doesn't really matter. That's not, that's not the stuff. But come in with some real value and educate the kids who are playing on that team or educate the parents of the kids who are playing on that team or do what you're saying, you know, create a special experience for them. That's the stuff that's going to truly plant the seed. That's, that's going to grow into something really meaningful.

[Ross Bernstein]

Yeah, 100%.

[Eugene Shotsman]

All right, great. I think we have time for like one more idea. I love your story on video. Or do we go with the.

[Ross Bernstein]

I'll leave you with one more. I would say if you're going to spend any marketing dollars this year, do it on video. Yeah, I have a 40 minute demo video on my website and I just drive people on my website. That's all. I don't do any marketing or advertising. It's 40 minutes and in it are over 100 video testimonials that I have asked from CEOs, VPs of sales, the decision makers who just brag on me. I ask them at the right place, at the right time, after I've delivered, over, delivered on their expectations, when they're in a great moment and they, it's amazing. If you just ask someone for a great video about the experience, what they will tell you and they will, how they will endorse you. And a lot of my clients say, I'll say, why did you pick me? Because I'm in a very commoditized business. I have thousands of competitors who I compete with every single day for gigs and I lose out a lot. So to win new business, it's a really big deal. And they'll just say, we watched your video. You had long clips. These long testimonials really differentiated You. And then I'll tell you what, I just spent 30 grand on a 3 minute sizzle video that's just like, like a movie reel. Like just 30, like three minutes. Like, this is like for TikTok and YouTube, right? This is, people want to, young people. This is how you're going to reach them. They're not going to, they're not going to read about you. They're not going to, you know, go on some. They're going to read testimonials they want to visually see. You got to put it to music. You've got to have great people, you know, great. You know, look at the culture, look at the vibe, look at the chemistry at our, what we do, you know, at our optometry center. You know, look at our patients, how happy they are. Find people that want to be a part of it. Look how we give and serve the community with our charity. Look how fun it is now. You're attracting people that might want to work there. You're attracting new patients, you're making the current patients feel good about what they do. So I would just say, you know, try and customize that, make it special and use video as a way to grow your business and win new patients.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Yeah. You know what's interesting, and I think about this from our vantage point. I actually, we have a LASIK surgeon that we worked with and he became the top in, in his region. And that's exactly what I think. This was my advice to him. I mean, I want to say like seven or eight years ago, and he turned his, he had a closet and we convinced him to turn that closet into a story room.

[Ross Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Eugene Shotsman]

And then we didn't call it a production studio, we call it a story room. And part of his process at the end, because you think about Lasik, you know, there's a transformation that happens and it's usually an extraordinary transformation. It's an extraordinary experience to be able to see in a way that you hadn't been able to see before. And we talked when we created a story room and he would walk and, and a patient would walk in as part of their process. They just finish and they'd say, hey, do you want to stop by our story room and tell us? Tell your story. And sometimes. And that's how they started. Right. And then some patients would say, yes. Some patients would be like, yeah, you know, pass on it. But the patients who had really, really excited, they'd want to go to the story room. The people who were good on camera, they'd want to go to the story room. And then you get those. And then all of a sudden they started having people come in who said, oh yeah, I saw some of your patient stories. I'm online. And then all of a sudden the ask became even easier because you would say, well, you know how you remember how you saw some, some stories online? Would you like to record your own story? Tell, tell a little bit about your, your vision before, now your vision after and what you do? Yeah, sure, yeah, I'll do that. So then they got all these stories and they clipped it and chopped it and sent it to people and they would send it. And you don't just send it during. You know, it's not just, hey, people found you. It's a, you can, you can use this in your entire sales process. Right? You know, somebody becomes interested in something that you do, you send them, you send them a confirmation about their appointment and you include a couple of stories on there. That's perfect. You know, it creates a, it creates a really interesting opportunity.

[Ross Bernstein]

Now I would just say, you know, doctors are great doctors. They're not great marketers. Sometimes they're not even great business professionals. But the ones who are great hire people who can help them with the things they're not great at. So if you're not great at social media or video, hire a kid, give them an internship out of college. Same thing for your, for your business. Right? Focus on the stuff that you're good at.

[Eugene Shotsman]

I thought you were a plug there, Ross. But you know, now you're telling them to go hire a kid. No, that's fine, that's fine. They can hire a kid and well.

[Ross Bernstein]

Obviously they want to hire Eugene to do this stuff. Of course. But I mean within their, within their practices to, to, to aggregate the content.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Oh for sure.

[Ross Bernstein]

They're the, obviously you guys are the ones who are going to create the marketing strategy and help them get a.

[Eugene Shotsman]

It's totally fine. Hey, I've got a, I've got a weird question for you that I, that has just been on my mind since the moment that you started talking about all the 130, the talks that you do every single year. I imagine you have been in front of some really interesting crowds and I'm sure that there's some. And it's kind of like a two part question because probably the answer is going to be different for both parts. Is that what's some of the most interesting stuff that you've been a part of? You know, what are some of the, you know, I guess like goings on now, right? The things that the, the most interesting crowds and then like, what's the weirdest, you know, what's, what's the strangest conference that happens that we would all be shocked to know is actually happening right now?

[Ross Bernstein]

Well, they're all different. I'm one of the only speakers in the world where I've keynoted events on all seven continents, which I can tell you, Antarctica is a trip. There's a lot of, of penguin poop to deal with down there. So just caveat. I speak in every industry, and every industry has a million conferences. I mean, it's, you know, I could go from Northwestern Mutual, which is, you know, a gazillion dollar company that everyone's heard of, Fortune 10 company, to, you know, the Vermont association of Toilet Snake and Urinal Cake Manufacturers Association. So, I mean, there's a conference for everything. So you just, you know, they all need speakers, and that's what I do. Right? Like everyone needs glasses. So you, you just like, it's a big pie. So you, you, you. You know, they say, pick a lane. My lane is speaking. I got groups of 10 and I got 10,000. So I just love to speak. So I'm really able to customize it. And when I'm, you know, I was in. Speaking in Australia last week, so I'm, I'm talking, I'm focusing on athletes from rugby and cricket and Aussie rules football, footy, as they call it, or Formula one or soccer. So it's different. Right? So if I'm speaking in Ohio, we're going to talk about the Buckeyes, we're going to talk about the Bengals and the Browns. I'm able to really customize, make it special. And I think that's the thing is you want your messaging to really be a little more targeted to the people that you're trying to reach. And for me, it's a broad, broad range, but each gig leads the new gig, and that's the adventure of what I do. And look, I just, it goes back to the full circle, back to the assist. Right? You and I met at this event and we just connected. And you said, hey, would you come on the podcast? Of course. How can I be. How can I be of service and help you? We're new friends, and that's what it's all about, right? Just if you can have fun doing business and connect with the right people and help them. I believe in the laws of karma. It'll come out. Out. And who knows, maybe Eugene, one of your listeners will say, hey, man, this, this guy sounds good. I'm a member of some conference and we're looking for a keynote speaker and that's what makes the world go round, right? You just, you just do your thing and then it leads to a bunch of new stuff and here you are.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Yeah. And you know, one of the things I so appreciate about your perspective is that honestly, given your, given the breadth and width of the number of industries that you speak in front of and, and the subspecialties within those industries that you're part of, some of the things that you're talking about, some of the stories that you're telling are universal business truths. And that's what I love about it, is that this is like universal business truths that have been etched in your personal experience, but then also are relevant across the world of business. And all we have to do is just think of ways to adapt it. So, Ross, it's been a pleasure hearing some of your wisdom. Super grateful for you to be able to join us on the show today and I'm sure that we'll get, get some visitor feedback and hopefully have you back in the future.

[Ross Bernstein]

Sounds great, Eugene. Thank you so much. Happy holidays to you and all your listeners.

[Eugene Shotsman]

Thank you. If you're enjoying the Power Hour, you might be asking yourself, what can I do today in my practice that's going to make an impact? So, over the years, the practice coaches and consultants at the Power Practice have helped thousands of practices improve. And they often start with one thing, and that's a proprietary methodology called the Practice Profitability audit. For about $2,400, they look at all of your practice numbers and they stack them up against where a practice of your size could and should be. It takes about a week for them to do, and because they're so experienced, they know what your potential looks like. And they're often able to take that $2400, multiply it several times over and hand it right back to you in found profits in your practice in months, not years, in months. But you get to keep the much more profitable process practice for years afterwards. But here's the best news I'm going to tell you how you can have the practice profitability audit completely free. See, we're really trying to get people onto the show website, which is, by the way, powerpractice.com and then you click the Power Hour podcast button. The reason we want you there is because I want the audience participation. I want to hear your feedback and I want to know how to make the show better for you so you can interact with us, send us your feedback, offer your suggestions, and for a limited time, when you go there, you can also request a practice profitability audit for free. Right? We're going to cover 100% of the cost, but only for five people per month. And five people per month is all we really have capacity for, because this is a resource intensive audit and the practice power practice coaches are generally busy serving their clients, but for five people a month, they've agreed to cover 100% of the cost. So it's totally free to you. So again, take action immediately in your practice. Go to powerpractice.com click on the power Hour podcast, interact with us, but also request a practice profitability audit today.