My marketing plan

 I would suggest you formulate your vision for three years from now. Include every area: team, marketing, sales, operations, customer service, finance, etc.

You need to imagine that you are walking into your practice three years from now. What do you see? What are patients saying about your practice? What is the team talking about in the staff room? What does your day look like? What treatments are you carrying out? What are your plans for the evening? Think about it NOW and WRITE it down. Studies repeatedly show that writing your thoughts down and then sharing them with your close friends make them more likely to happen. It makes you accountable.

Your vision document will probably fill three pages. Re-read and refine it. Once you are happy with it, share it with your team. It will help them understand their role and whether this is the sort of practice they would love to be associated with. Once you have your plans, don’t just bury them away in your desk. Take them out at least every month and read them out loud. Do they still excite you? Perhaps you have changed your mind. Tweak and revisit this picture regularly.

 

Marketing first steps

Before you formulate an expensive plan of how you are going to populate your daybook with loads of new patients, ask yourself: Do you know what sort of patients you want to treat? Do you know why your current patients come and see you? What is your ideal patient?

Everyone has a different idea of what makes a patient ideal; some characteristics are non-negotiable, like ‘pays their bills on time’; some may not be important to you, like ‘smells nice’. For me, the ideal patient:

_is punctual and informs you if he or she is running late;
_pays bills on time without hassle;
_is a raving fan (enjoys being in your practice and refers others, who also become raving fans)—some practices never need to do any marketing; the raving fans do it for them;
_respects you and other team members—often they are respectful to the clinical team but not to the office staff;
_listens to your clinical advice and then makes an informed decision;
_attends all maintenance and hygiene appointments as prescribed; and
_smells nice and knows which end of a toothbrush to use and actually uses it!

Just ask your existing patient base and as you slowly weed out the subprime ones you will eventually be left with a majority of ideal patients. Among these, there will be some who fit all the criteria but only attend when they have a mini-crisis. They are to all intents and purposes ideal because when they visit you they follow all your advice and become healthy again, although they usually disappear into the ether until another mini-crisis looms.

Many clinicians find asking for referrals quite stressful and wonder what to do if the patient refuses. I have never had this happen, probably thanks to a technique I have developed. It needs a bit of practice, but the following line (your version of it) tends to work, especially if it is delivered after a course of treatment:

“You know what, Mrs Graham, I have really enjoyed taking care of you over the last few weeks. Our practice grows by recommendations from people like you. If you know any family members, friends or colleagues who need treatment I would love to take care of their dental needs. Here are a couple of my business cards.”

I would empower all of the clinical team to have this conversation at the end of a course of treatment before the patient goes back into the re-care system. I also believe in the use of referral cards (Fig. 1). These should encompass the ethos of your practice and establish an emotional connection to what you believe in.

What do you do when they contact you?

Often the first contact is asking for prices. It is impossible for you to know whether such prospective patients are just fishing around to compare prices and that is the way they judge dental services. Perhaps that is the only way they know to judge dentistry and it is your opportunity to educate them that dentistry is not chosen on price alone. Does your team just reply back to them, do they try to call them and encourage them to visit your practice? Often the team replies to an e-mail, doesn’t get a response and then deletes the e-mail. What would your results be if you tried again a day later to contact them?

If still no joy, perhaps contact them again in a week. “You recently contacted us and we have been unable to get in touch. I was just seeing whether your dental needs have already been taken care of. If not, we would love to have the opportunity to show you how Bow Lane is different from other practices. Please get back in contact and we look forward to welcoming you to our practice.” I would then file their contact details and perhaps if they had asked about a specific service, say Invisalign, then make contact again when you have an offer or new information on that particular service.

Online presence

I am not talking about an award-winning website, but can the type of patients you are trying to attract find you? When they find you, is what they see attractive, giving them confidence in contacting you? Do you have many different ways for them to contact you? I have noticed recently more new patients contacting me via Facebook or Twitter. I think this is because dentists can seem inapproachable and hidden behind the reception team. They tend to ask a simple question and the conversation grows from that. I am in the middle of a €6,000 treatment plan on a patient from Vienna. He found me through Facebook and there were 24 e-mails over a two-month period until he started treatment. How easy is it for a patient to have a conversation with you (Fig. 2)?

Why should a patient be friends with your practice on Facebook or Twitter? People like to feel part of something, a community. People like to talk, share stories and get access to unique information, whether it is hearing about something first or getting deals. Think about the newsletters you subscribe to, the people you follow on Twitter, etc. If they are always trying to sell something, you quickly get bored or find them inauthentic. No matter what the technology you are using is, it is about a quality interaction with like-minded people. I get concerned when people get all excited about the latest thing, for example QR (quick response) codes (Fig. 3). It does not stop you communicating with that person any differently; it is just a fast way of them accessing information. Don’t just jump on the next bandwagon; get your team interacting in an authentic and engaging way FIRST. The only way you can do this is to hire the right people and then it’s over to good leadership and training.

Are the different ways of contacting you clearly visible? Gone are the days when dentists were stuck in ivory towers. The consumer is well informed and their attitude to discounts and deals is really changing.

In fact, it’s now about more than just saving money: it’s the thrill, the pursuit, the control, and the perceived smartness, and thus a source of status too. Groupon has opened their eyes. I definitely don’t recommend that a dental practice start advertising on these sites; some practices nearly went bankrupt when they did.

MORE FOR LESS: While many people may have less money to spend right now, consumers everywhere will forever look to experience more. What is your customer experience?

THE MEDIUM IS THE MOTIVATION: Consumers are now being alerted to offers and deals via new (and therefore infinitely more exciting and attractive) technologies.

BEST OF THE BEST: With instant mobile or online access to not only deals but also reviews, consumers can now be confident they’re getting the best price for the best product or service. What does your Google review say?

And next? An even bigger ‘deal ecosystem’, more personalisation, more loyalty schemes, more pressure on you to deliver deal-immune brilliance as an integral part of your dental care.

Brush strokes:

_Look at ALL your marketing materials and practice stationery. Is it all on brand?
_Take a look at your Google reviews.
_Take a look at your website on mobile devices like the Blackberry, iPhone and iPad.
_Why should a patient follow you on social media?

There has never been a better time to be in dentistry. But what does the future hold?