The Dental Marketer

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.

In a down economy, what should the general advertising message be?  According to advertising guru, Roy Spence, “The message should be all about great values at the company and offering great value to the consumer.”  See:  http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/interview_with_roy_spence_090129.html

What does that mean for a dental practice?  Your existing marketing may already display your “values”, but can you also sell your service as offering the customer great “value”? To a certain extent, the way you accomplish this depends on the brand you have established. 

While low prices are certainly part of the marketing strategy for some dentists (a few do this very successfully), most steer away from that model.  Most dentists who are seriously marketing their practices set their fees at the higher end of the spectrum in their local market.  They don’t want to be known as “low cost”, they want to be seen as “high quality”.

So, if you have already established a high quality brand, is it impossible or even contradictory to market a “value message”.  I don’t think it is.  Neither does BMW, and they’re not known for aiming for low-end customers.   You’re not trying to establish that your prices are low – you’re just letting the customer know that the service is worth it, and that their money will not be wasted.  The price is not low, but it is fair.  The higher end consumer is quite willing to pay for quality, but just like everyone else, he doesn’t want to spend more than he has to.

Don’t sell price.  Sell value.

A dentist who advertises a good deal in Vegas  recently shared his own glimpse of the economy.  He told me, “I did three two-veneer cases this week.”  That didn’t seem like such a bad thing to me, and I told him so.  “I’m not complaining,” he said, “it’s just that for the last few years, everyone was accepting four, six, eight or even more veneers at a time.  It’s a little bit disappointing to have three cases in one week who just wanted to do two.” 

There’s his recession – patients saying “yes” to less.  What’s yours?

Since I work with so many dentists, they frequently use me as a barometer for the economics of dentistry across the country.  When someone is having a bad month, they often ask if  “everyone”  is having a bad month.  Maybe misery loves company, or it’s just comforting to know that you’re not the only one.  This line of questioning has taken a new direction with the troubled economy, and some are just asking, “Is everyone’s business down?”.

The short answer is – no.  Many practices are producing about the same as always, and experiencing their typical incremental growth.  Some are still in high-growth mode and continue to break practice records. 

 But if your practice is experiencing a downturn, you are certainly not alone.  There are many stories like your own –  with holes in schedules, treatment plans that are rejected or only partially accepted, and a general hesitation on the part of the public to spend discretionary dollars.  While more practices are “down” than usual, it remains true that there is anever a universal pattern.  I’ve never seen every practice up at the same time, and it’s never so bad that everyone is down.

If the ad works, the phone will ring.  But then what?  Experience proves that what happens next is one of the most important factors in the ROI a marketing campaign will generate.

The office with the best front desk will get the best ROI.  That’s a  pretty dependable rule.  When people call your office, they still haven’t crossed that threshold from stranger to customer.  They’re standing in the doorway, deciding what they are going to do.  Obviously they are interested – that’s why they called.  The trick is to understand what they need to hear to take the next step, and let them hear it.  The best front offices are the ones who help a prospective patient take that next step.

If you’re not sure how your office stacks up in the call-conversion department (converting calls into appointments) start by listening to a couple of incoming calls and how they are handled.  Most call tracking services allow you to record calls, and you should have a written understanding with your employees that  calls may be recorded.  If you don’t have such a service, try a “secret shopper” or “phantom” phone call from a voice the front desk won’t recognize.  Record the conversation or have the caller take detailed notes.

Here’s what you’re looking for:  First, how is the caller experience in general?  Is the phone answered promptly by a live person?  What happens after hours?  People understand that you won’t be open 24 hours a day, but is the after-hour experience pleasant and efficient, or a voicemail purgatory?  Once the front office answers the phone, does the conversation typically end with the new patient scheduling an appointment?  If not, why?

There isn’t one universal script for answering the phone that covers every office and every caller.  You can and should have a general script.  Make sure every team member understands that the goal of the call is an appointment and design your script to accomplish this.  Practice, role-playing and listening to calls as a group are exercises that are well worth the time investment.

Put call conversion on the agenda for the next team meeting, and watch your ROI grow.