The Dental Marketer

Here’s one way to lose a patient.  This is taken from a reader write-in feature, called, “Ticked Off”, from orlandosentinel.com :

“I am ticked off at my dentist’s office in Aloma. I called and canceled on a Thursday for a Monday appointment and I received a bill for $30 for giving less than 24 hours notice. When I called to question it I was told they were closed on Friday so it was less than 24 hours notice. This policy was never disclosed to me, and the office manager was extremely rude.”

I’d bet that this Aloma dentist  never even knew why he lost that patient.  He may even be surprised by the policy of his own office.  He’d certainly be surprised that the policy was conveyed to the patient in a rude manner.

The trouble with this, from my perspective, is that marketing to attract patients is hard and relatively expensive compared to keeping an existing patient.  For every chart you lose, you reduce by one the net growth of the practice produced by the new patients from the marketing campaign.  If they are coming in one door and leaving through another, you’ll be treading water forever.

A customer service expert, name Bob Farrell, swears by the philosophy of  ”Give Em the Pickle”.  It all started when one of his waitress employees lost his retaurant a customer by refusing to give him a pickle.   Farell’s point is that your business is all about the customers; do anything within reason to make them happy and loyal, and “give em a pickle”  if necessary.

I’m not against late-cancellation penalties, and I realize that some patients need to be let go.  Just make sure that you and your team all understand that a good loyal patient/customer is worth a heck of alot more than that $30 fee.

Marketing is all about efficiency.  It’s much easier and efficient to keep an existing patient than to attract a new one – especially if all it costs you is a pickle.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting on the rise in dental marketing in the face of the recession:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124995744000721607.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Are you growing your practice – or just waiting for the competition to eat your market share?

The best marketing, and the best subsequent customer experience, generate not just customer satisfaction, but actual customer loyalty.  Brands like Apple and Harley Davidson have not just customers, but evangelists, spreading the word.

Effective marketing and superior customer service will put your patients to work for you, and bring you referrals like crazy.  So will giving patients a referral  thank-you gift.  If you start a referral incentive program like the one below, make sure to send an e-mail or postcard to all your patients letting them know.

Put this language on the back of your business card: 

New Patient Offer

Get a free $25 Visa Gift Card with your first paid appointment.

Tell us who sent you, and they’ll get one too!

I was referred by:  _____________________

Some patients really get into it.  I’ve see a few offices have contests for their patients to see who can give the most referrrals in six months or a year.  Prizes are either a bigger gift card, or an electronic item like an i-pod or flat-screen tv. 

Make sure that your state board has no restrictions about rewarding people for referrrals.  Most don’t, but you should check first.

http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/04-08-2009/0005002969&EDATE=

This could open the door to overturning a number of draconian laws in different states.  Florida has always been tough on dental advertising.

Getting to the Root of Dental Phobia – FOXBusiness.com

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 Fox News wants people to know that they have an alternative to the conventional (read:expensive) smile makeover.  Will your patients be lining up for a snap-on smile? http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=4098717&referralPlaylistId=playlist

Apparently Maine has a dentist shortage.  “Dentists are in such short supply in Maine that primary care doctors who do their medical residency in the state are learning to lance abscesses, pull teeth and perform other basic dental skills through a program that began in 2005.”   See the rest of the story at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/us/03dentist.html?_r=1&ref=us

Facebook isn’t just for the kids anymore.  Take a look at your e-mail inbox these days. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or none of your friends use computers, you’ve been getting invitations to look at the Facebook pages of people you never expected to have a Facebook page.  What happened is that Generation X (born 1966-1977), and even some of the younger Baby Boomers, just discovered Facebook.

Facebook is a social networking site that lets users communicate through their individual customized web pages.  The site is free, and the user interface is so simple that anyone with a PC and an e-mail address can make their own page in a couple of minutes.

What does it have to do with dentistry?  Well maybe not so much specifically, but everything in general. 

A dentist could certainly set up a Facebook page for your themselves or even a “business” page specifically for the practice.  And why not?  Free exposure offers unbeatable ROI.  But Facebooking with your dentist may never become extremely popular.  Your best return with this technology may just be from the top-of-mind awareness when you keep your name out there in the community. 

What really jumps out about the Facebook craze is the way technology quickly emerges and becomes part of people’s lives.  The real lesson is that we need to be observers of human nature, especially the way people communicate and the way they learn new information.  Ten years ago few dental practices had websites – now it’s almost inconceivable not to have one or more. 

E-mail is a standard method of communication now.  It has become a terrific way to stay in touch with patients, and to remind them to schedule and keep appointments.  There’s nothing magic about e-mail though.  The reason it is such a useful tool is that this is the way your patients communicate.  If patients used messenger pigeons, the smart dentists would have coops on their roofs!

When your practice designs its systems around the preferences of the patient, instead of making the patient conform to the way you do things, you make their life easier.  When you make it easier to be your customer, you give someone another reason to value your practice.  You’ve just added value – without lowering the price.

So Facebook reminds us that technology changes quickly, and behavior follows.  so if your patients like to communicate online and with e-mail, make your practice a place where they can do that.  Why not take it a step further and anticipate the next step?  Why not be the first office in town to use instant messages and text messages to communicate with patients? 

The businesses who offer a fair price, and make people’s lives easier with a total customer experience designed to meet their needs and their wants are the businesses that will thrive.