The Challenge
If you’ve ever been to Connecticut, you’ve probably heard of Bridgeport. The historic seaport is the largest city in the Nutmeg State and home to PT Barnum, the first Subway sandwich shop, and Dr. Desai, owner of CT Braces. A deft orthodontist by day, Dr. Desai was hyper-focused on growing his practice after hours. His philosophy had always been to let brilliant bicuspids do the talking, but without a reliable system in place to encourage online reviews, potential referrals were literally walking out the front door.
The Solution
“I knew there had to be a way to get more of a response.” said Dr. Desai. It wasn’t until he attended Orthopreneurs—a regular meet up of like-minded orthodontists—that he stumbled upon the answer. “I was able to see what Podium could do and it made sense to me.” he explained. "Even if patients are directly referred to an orthodontist from another dentist, people usually tend to ask their friends and family where they go and back that up with a Google review.” Having connected the dots on his customer journey, it was time to see if Podium was the crown to his molar.
The Result
One month and 124 reviews later, CT Braces was raking it in. "We just have to keep treating the patients well," said Dr. Desai, "We don’t really have to do anything else and we keep getting great reviews.” The secret to Dr. Desai's success is how Podium has been implemented behind the scenes. “It’s integrated with all of our offices, so when a patient keeps their appointment, they automatically get a text message with instructions on how to leave a review.”
Of course, not every invitation ends in a 5-star review, but Dr. Desai isn’t afraid of less-than-perfect feedback. “If I’m getting bad reviews I want to know about it and I want to do something about it.” Today, Dr. Desai and his team at CT Braces outrank every other orthodontist in Bridgeport in Google Search, thanks to Podium. “A couple of people have reached out to me when they find out I’m using it and I say, if reviews are important to you, it’s a no-brainer."