“…blind praise is worthless in the absence of fair criticism.”
The preceding quote is credited to Bryant Gumble; it was enclosed in a wrap-up closing thoughts segment of a recent HBO® Real Sports with Bryant Gumble installment. The aforementioned host was examining the sexism evident in the general U.S. media response to the U.S. Women’s World Cup Final soccer match against Japan that took place back on July 17th.
Throughout time truer words probably have been spoken, “Give me liberty, or give me death” comes to mind.
So do, “It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” And “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
But…it turns out each of these famous historical quotes, and Mr. Gumble’s newest contribution to the archives, all have one common denominator – dental practice online reputation management.
Allow us to bridge the gap.
Gumble 2 Gumble
Blind praise IS worthless in the absence of fair criticism; as it pertains to your dental practice.
There are plenty of examples out there of dentists broadcasting seemingly only the most positive patient reviews. From Google Places to Angieslist to Healthgrades, there is no shortage of dental practices out there communicating only positive digital word of mouth.
But how accurate is the assessment, and who are the authors penning away these dental accolades – and why don’t you have patients like that?
You see, it is actually possible in this digital day and age to buy positive patient reviews. Any dentist can – for a price – tout everything from rockstar dentist to top-shelf tooth jockey across virtually any major social media outlet or local search environment out there.
That’s right, you too can make it look like a real patient went and virally reverse peristaltically digitally divulged how much of a painless pleasure and scintillating savings experience it was to sit in your dental chair.
We know; you’re blushing.
We’ll save the examples and visual representation to save face for those aggressive but ultimately foolhardy dental practices (surely some dental management companies deserve blame too) out there that employ such digital word of mouth and online reputation management tactics.
Organic is More Palatable
Cut to the chase – when it comes to generating, eliciting, collecting, and broadcasting patient reviews; the organic authentic approach is best prescribed. Negative reviews will happen; we’re all human, and way too subjective.
We’re of the opinion that REAL patient reviews reek of authenticity; with real being an organic mixture of gleaming, mediocre, excellent, and yes even some less than desirable reviews. Seems counter-intuitive, but we are talking computers and communication here.
As for purchasing positive patient reviews – or a quick fix for anything regarding your online practice rep – don’t waste your time or money. Be smart, it got you this far.
We invite you to join the debate and counterpoint our No Fake Reviews mantra with Churchill’s, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
We’ll be accepting submissions until Midnight July 31, 2011.
Tune in next week for our Noah’s Ark diatribe on aligning your practice financial well-being with your online reputation.
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