Want More Dental Patients? Use An Experienced Marketing Team.

When you open a dental practice, you also become a business owner.  Your plate gets very full, very fast.  Suddenly, you’re no longer just a dentist seeing and taking care of patients—you’re an employer, responsible for training and instructing employees; you’re a decision-maker, responsible for dental office design and determining an effective working order; and you’re also a marketer, developing your brand and promoting your new practice to the community.

For most new dental practice owners, the marketing side of business-ownership is the most daunting. Determining how your practice will best serve the community while generating a successful production income is a delicate balancing act.  

As we discussed in previous articles, you spent significant time and money becoming a doctor.  This what you trained to become and the career you chose for yourself.  Attempting to handle I.T. and advertising tasks on your own is not a productive use of your time and skills.  Unless you have previous experience in marketing, knowing where to start can seem like an enormous challenge.

Attempting to market and advertise your dental practice on your own WILL cause you stress.  Effective marketing and advertising is and art and a science.  It requires analyzing the data to determine which message attracted a new patient and tweaking the message to improve ROI (return on investment).  It may require completely scrapping a current campaign and creating a new approach to deliver the right message to attract new patients (customers).  Not only is this an additional task that will take you away from treating patients, you may become too emotionally invested into a campaign to be willing to change strategy.  

Remember, this is a business you are building—not your ego.  It may be in your best interest to step back from the creative and find a team that can professionally handle your marketing development and implementation. 

Getting help is not a sign of weakness, it’s an intelligent business decision that will payoff in the long run.

Five Reasons to Consider Experienced Marketing Professionals

1. It saves time: You WILL have your hands full when opening your own dental practice—when your marketing is most important. Taking advantage of marketing professionals who can tailor a multi-pronged marketing campaign to your removes a major headache from your to-do list and allows you to focus on the aspects of running a dental practice for which you are prepared.
2. It eliminates guesswork: Without previous marketing experience, you will feel like your marketing campaign is a big game of trial and error. Employing marketing professionals allows you to piggyback on their experience as they have already created methods that get results.  They can avoid known marketing pitfalls and adjust your message more quickly.
3. It gets results: There’s a reason marketing is its own industry—it’s a big job that requires an expert.  There is online marketing, direct marketing, branding, advertising and more.  You will face competition that has been marketing for many years.  A professional marketing team can help you create “shock-and-awe” in an environment where the marketing and advertising has been okay.
4. Eliminates distractions:  A new business will attract all types of companies vying for your advertising dollar.  You will be approached by salespeople from phone books (there are many publishers), card decks, flyers, newspapers, billboard, radio and television.  A marketing team can interface with these salespeople as your proxy—allowing you to spend more time with patients.
5. Maintains brand continuity:  The various advertising mediums can be great, but they will all tell you they have “people” who can design your creative “for free!”  Your message WILL become muddled by having different people handling your designs.  The pictures, fonts, and copy used in medium will differ from others.  The lack of brand consistency will work against your practice instead of working for it.

You can do your dental marketing on your own, but would you do your own electrical and plumbing for your new practice?  As a new new dental practice owner you need to minimize your risks.  A professional marketing team will help you develop the right message, the right brand, and the right campaign to attract your new patients.

You can read more helpful tips at jointherevo.blogspot.com.  Or contact our team at darrensomsen@gmail.com.

Dear Dentist, What Is Your Time Worth?

I once engaged in a conversation with a dentist who said he spent 3-hours a night trying to keep his patched-together computer network running. He had twelve used computers daisy-chained together running Windows XP and he said he struggled every day to keep the system from crashing. I asked him if he minored in Computer Science at dental school. Incredulously he replied, "Of course not!" So I asked why he was wasting his time trying to learn how to keep his system operating versus buying new equipment and hiring a professional to handle installation. 

His response, "Because I'm cheap." 

Assessing Your Time

This doctor made the mistake of failing to value his own time.  The average annual earnings of a general practice dentist is $175,000.  A traditional 40-hour per week job equals 2,080 hours per year.  This equates to an average hourly salary of $84.00, based upon a dentist working a full 40-hour week.  So why do dentists insist upon doing mundane tasks versus focusing upon production?  If the dentist’s response is indicative of the typical attitude, because they are cheap.  But are they?

The Cost of Your Team

An average small practice will have a receptionist, insurance/billing specialist, dental assistant, and a dental hygienist.  Some dentists may employ an office manager who doubles as the treatment coordinator.  What does this team cost?

•  Dental Assistant:  $15.00 per hour
•  Receptionist:  $12.00 per hour
• Insurance Specialist:  $15.00 per hour
•  Dental Hygienist:  $30.00 per hour

A traditional small-practice dentist may insist upon handling all the accounting, human resources, IT and office management while assigning employees to handle cleanings, sanitation, sterilization, answering phones, check-ins and inventory.

Valuing Your Time

The dentist in this example stated he was spending 15-hours a week fixing the office computers and network.  Aside from the risk he placed upon his practice when the computers fail and he loses practice data, he completely devalued his own time.  Fixing computers doesn't contribute to production or office income.

By reassigning the time the dentist spent on IT to production he could have been generating income while making himself more valuable to his patients.  Extending office hours by two-hours a day, a dentist can accommodate patients who cannot afford to take time off during traditional business hours.  The additional ten-hours per week could generate an additional $840.00 per week in individual income.  This equates to an additional $42,000.00 per year while reducing the hours spent after the office has closed by 50 hours.  A completely new computer network, with a server and back-up storage device, would cost about $15,000.00.

What is Your Team Worth?

Hiring a good practice manager to augment your dental office can ultimately increase your profitability.  This person would handle accounting, human resources, basic network maintenance, and treatment coordination.  Enhance your team and you will improve your practice.

Ultimately, being “cheap” will cost you profits.

For more information about owning a dental practice that comes with professional marketing and operational support, visit www.jointherevo.com.

Dental Advertising: What Are You Trying to Sell? Part Two

Every point of contact with the public is an opportunity to “sell” your business.  Whether you sell tires, hamburgers, carpet cleaning or dental service – you have to tell people who you are, what your sell, and why they should purchase it from you.

In a dental practice this means from your first point of advertising to the moment the patient walks out of your office they need to see your brand, hear your name, and “feel” your practice.  The feel of your practice refers back to our previous article Pitching the Practice (http://jointherevo.blogspot.com/2014/04/pitching-practice.html) and discusses making your dental team cheerleaders for your practice versus just employees.  This article will review advertising.

Your Advertising

Direct Mail remains a very effective way to reach your prospective audience.  But you cannot rely on a single mailing to miraculously double your new patients.  Unlike the offer for the new pizza restaurant, your prospects are not “hungry” all the time.  For a dental practice, you have several factors that will contribute to a successful advertising campaign:

• Does the prospect need your services at this time?
• Do they have a current dental provider?
• What services do you offer that are elective AND wallet-friendly?
• How much do your services cost?
• Why should they choose you?
• And, who ARE you?

You need to have your offer in front of the prospect when they need your services.  This is why a consistent advertising campaign is very important to your practice’s success.  In addition, you need to make your practice a household name.  When a prospect needs dental work, you need to make sure your practice is the first one they remember.  And if you’re not getting the response rate you want from your mailer, it may be your creative and your ad copy.  Let’s review an example and how it can be improved upon.

The Mailer

1.  The Header

“There’s a story behind every smile . . .,” could be a tagline for anything from cupcakes to a photography studio.  Nothing in the header tells your prospect this is for a dental practice or who sent it.  A simple change can make a huge difference.

                “There’s a story behind every Smith Dental smile . . .”

Simply adding the name of the practice focuses the narrative in the header.

2.  The Copy

“ . . . and everyone wants to have a smile they feel good about, no matter their age. [Sic] gender, profession, or circumstance.”

First, two paragraphs break the “10-words or less” rule of copy.  Unless you have a compelling story, keep it simple.

Second, the copy sounds like the opening of a speech.  There is not a call to action or a reason why there is a story behind every smile.  A better approach:

                “ . . . and that’s why we want to help you find yours again.”

 The second paragraph:

“Understanding that simple fact has allowed us to provide not only exceptional results, but a pleasing experience as well.”

This paragraph is unnecessary, but can be written to provide a more compelling reason to visit this practice.

“At Smith Dental, we respect your reason to improve your smile.  Whether you want to improve your career, are dating again, have an upcoming reunion, or simply want to feel better about yourself – we will give you excellent results.”

This copy gives the prospect pain points to consider even if they have not been thinking about dental work.  The suggestions may trigger the prospect to choose an elective dental procedure.

The third paragraph:

                “So whatever the story may be . . .”

This paragraph is simply unnecessary and does not add to the “conversation”.

3.  The Tag Line

“ . . . we’d like to be a part of yours”

This line is frighteningly passive, like a shy 8^th grader asking for a dance in junior high.  The tag line should be confident and assertive:

                “At Smith Dental, we will help you restore your smile.”

4.  The Image

The picture should tell a story about what you will receive at the dental practice.  The smiling dentist and his family is a well-staged photograph, but does not show an example of the services.  With a few small changes in layout this mailer could have shown two services, like professional teeth whitening or veneers, to support the header.  This was a missed opportunity to show results of making an appointment.

5.  The Identifier

This section had the name of the doctors larger than the contact information.  This was a missed opportunity to put a large contact telephone number and a call to action:

                “Make your appointment today.”

This may seem like a simple statement, but it tells the recipient what they should do if they want a restored smile.

Direct Mail Does Work

A direct mailer doesn't require printing 25k pieces at once – nor should a dentist do so to get “a better price”.  The value of direct mail is the ability to change your message and offer based upon impact and the needs of the practice.  The look and feel of the mailer should maintain a theme, but the offers and images should rotate in order to keep the mailer fresh.

Remember, if you’re not getting the response you want, it’s time to change the mailer.

For more information about owning your dental practice that comes with professional marketing and operational support, visit www.jointherevo.com.

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