Think Inside Out, Not Outside In

Dentists often view marketing from an outside-in perspective ... you place an ad, send a letter, run a radio spot, mail off a press release, or a patient refers a friend ... and from that outside activity you draw in new patients.

While the outside-in approach is important and helps a practice grow, it's not where your dental marketing should start. Instead, think inside-out.

Dental marketing should start with you and your staff and how you interact with prospects and patients.

It's a nice fantasy to believe that people choose you as their dentist because of your skill and education. We've always been told that if we do something better than someone else we will be rewarded for it. But that really only applies if people are able to readily recognize and understand what *better* is.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people can't begin to recognize a great dentist from a not-so-good one. To most people a crown is a crown ... regardless of which dentist and lab are responsible for it.

Thus, in people's minds, most dentists are pretty much lumped together ... all capable of providing the dental services needed or wanted without any real difference in quality. So, they choose their dentist primarily on how they like him or her and the staff.

If your practice is not patient-focused, patient-oriented, relationship-centered, that's where you need to start the marketing process.

For more, see: Dental Marketing -- Think Inside Out, Not Outside In

Prompt More Patient Referrals ...

The quickest, easiest, most efficient way to get more referrals is to ask for them.

"But, that makes me look like I'm begging for business" you may be thinking to yourself. " And that's not the image I want to portray." It won't if you approach it correctly. In fact, instead of perceiving your request as begging ... your patients will likely see it as a compliment.

How do you accomplish that?**

• First, instead of asking all of your patients to refer someone, you approach only your best patients.
  
  
• Second, you sincerely thank them for their business and express how much you appreciate, and enjoy working with, them.
  
  
• Third, inform them that you would like to add more patients to your practice who are just like them.
  
  
• Fourth, explain that patients tend to refer other patients who are, in fact, quite similar to themselves. (That's generally true.)
  
  
• Finally, ask them.

The way you word your request is important in both patient perception and success.

** If you're looking to add more quality patient referrals to your practice contact me to request more information regarding my Patient Referral Program.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

What Is Word Of Mouth Marketing?

Isn't Word Of Mouth marketing just another name for seeking patient referrals?

Patient referrals represent only one aspect of word-of-mouth marketing. It involves strategy and tactics designed specifically to facilitate and encourage the media, local community people (whether they're patients or not) and influential people in your community to talk positively about you to others.

One example would be providing appropriately valuable information to local professionals via letters, newsletters, recordings, dvds, etc. What would be an example of appropriate info? Keeping local physicians abreast of the most recent mouth/body connection research would fit that "appropriate" definition.

Another example would be setting up speaking engagements with local groups ... and providing media with press releases to announce it.

Sponsoring high profile events and popular local social causes is another, as is developing unique advertising or incorporating a practice feature that causes people to talk to their friends about it ... and, thus, you.

I'll be covering a number of word-of-mouth topics in in the future. If you'd like to read more about it now, a good place to start would be a visit to the WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) web site and read Word of Mouth 101. You can also check it out in Wikipedia.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

The "Holy Moly" dental factor ...

If you want your patients to talk to others about your practice, you need to give them something to talk about.

It would be nice if patients were able to recognize your special dental skills (99% of patients can't tell a great dentist from a not-so-good one) and, because of that, be inclined to tell all of their family and friends about you. But that rarely happens.

So, what will cause patients -- without your prompting -- to get excited and talk to their family and friends about you? With acknowledgement to Tom Peters' WOW factor, we'll call it ...

The Holy Moly factor.

What is the *holy moly* factor? It's something new, unique, unusual, or out-of-place which causes the patient to react with a "Holy Moly!"

It might be a shiatsu lounge chair in the waiting room ... being served expresso and blueberry muffins by one of your staff ... having a patient-controlled high definition television in your operatories ... providing hot towels for clean-up after a procedure ... providing each patient with a "thank you so much"** package after each procedure ... or a working 1950's-1960's style jukebox in the waiting room (if you have lots of older patients). Do some brainstorming to come up with ideas.

** The "thank you so much" package might include, for example, the normal dental products (new toothbrush, floss, etc.) along with a couple of tasty treats and a surpise gift (like restaurant gift coupon, movie ticket, lottery ticket, etc.) Of course, you'd change the contents of the package on a regular basis.

If you would like help creating a logical "Holy Moly" factor for your practice, give me a call or drop me an email.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson

Your Staff's Place In The Marketing Mix

Do you expect and encourage your staff to take an active role in your practice marketing?

If not, you should consider it.

Every member of your staff should be actively recommending your practice to friends and acquaintances whenever the opportunity presents itself. Who better to know how skilled you are and how patient friendly your practice is. And although it would be nice to think that staff would do this willingly, the likely reality is that few see themselves as a marketing arm of your practice.

How can you encourage and motivate your staff to take more of an active role in the marketing of your practice?

» Whenever you hire a new staff member, be sure to discuss their role in the overall marketing of the practice.

» Explain to the current staff that they can have a direct influence on the success of the practice through their personal word-of-mouth marketing. Encourage them to regularly recommend the practice.

» Make it worth the staff's time and effort. Develop some type of compensation package that remunerates staff members whenever they are responsible for bringing in new patients. It might be a flat dollar amount, a percentage of fees paid by the new patient (up to a given limit and within a certain time period), or any other number of options.

» Devise a system that makes it easy to track which new patients came through which staff member. There are any number of ways this can be accomplished but one of the easier ways is to give all of your staff professional business cards which they hand out to prospects (with instructions to the prospects to bring the card with them to their first appointment).

To make this system even more effective, allow staff members the right to authorize a prospective patient up to a 5% or 10% or 15% discount on any work done during their first year or first procedure or whatever you're comfortable with. The staff member handwrites this discount percentage on the card and tells the prospect to be sure to present that card when s/he gets to the office to be sure to get the discount.

If you're concerned about how much the discount might cost, you can always put a total dollar limit on it ... say 10% discount with a total limit of $500. (Of course, the limit should be mentioned to the prospect by the staff member.)

This is a win-win-win situation. The power to offer discounts (and have a vested financial interest) gives the staff member more incentive and confidence in broaching the subject with people. The new patient gains immediate respect for the staff member as someone with influence in the practice. And because of the special personal discount the prospect is more likely to make an appointment, keep the appointment, and follow through on your recommendations.

I'm not one who often recommends to my clients the use of discounts to attract new patients. That's not the image we're normally trying to promote. BUT, when it comes to motivating referrals -- particularly from staff -- I consider it a valuable marketing tool with little downside (as long as the staff handles it with care and respect).

If you're not actively trying to get your staff involved in the marketing mix, give it some thought. I'm sure you (or your staff) can come up with a plan that will make everyone happy.

Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson