The two biggest problems Dentists face right now mid-recession are not surprisingly, the biggest problems they always face: attracting new patients and keeping their existing patients “active.”
Regardless of what’s going on nationally, there are many micro-economies all over the U.S. that are showing promise of growth or at least, staying even. Maybe your area is one of those?
I’ve got news for you there: It doesn’t matter. The bank, your spouse, your kids could all care less what’s happening in your area – they all want to get “paid” – whether it’s food and shelter, clothes or in cash!
It’s easy for us to get caught up in the popular message the media is sending about the “bad economy,” so if prosperity is what you are looking for, keeping the evening news and Drudge Report® turned off are your best bets to stay focused on your goals.
If you buy into the negativity, I can tell you that will translate to your patients’ decision on whether they hand you money or not.
Compare it to the situation with GM and Chrysler. Cars are not moving from these two automakers. Sure, Toyota and Ford are down in overall sales, but because they’ve chosen to make the changes necessary and forge ahead, as we know them today, we’ll know them in a few years from now, whereas GM and Chrysler might be some kind of hybrid of what they look like today.
If you as a dentist and business person want to continue to forge ahead, you will no doubt have to make some changes to your business model in doing so…maybe more insurance patients, maybe working fewer hours, maybe, just maybe, being more aggressive in your marketing efforts, which I think (yes, probably selfishly so) is your best bet.
Right now, at SofTouch™ Family Dental here in Salem, we are mailing about 2,500 to 5,000 postcards each month. We’re active in keeping our existing patients as well by keeping a newsletter full of useful, mostly non-dental information in front of our best patients, so we are also staying relevant in their lives.
We’ve started including more information about how to save money, spend less and live a more free life and we’re seeing the results.
As well, the postcards we mail are centered around patient “feelings” or emotions. They’re also heavily incentivized to make an appointment as soon as possible with impending deadlines and “take-away” offers. Our best offer to-date is a “Guilt-Free Exam & X-rays” for just $99.
If you want to consistently close cases, irrespective of what the economy is doing, you have to market your practice to new and existing patients. You must have consistently-used systems to reactivate patients that are inactive (those without a “next” appointment) and you have to get involved in the community in whatever fashion possible.
Here’s a great example. Just a few days ago I made a call to the local online news service that is going head-to-head with the print newspaper and doing well at it.
I offered to provide them information on dental health care (articles) they could use – they get great content with no effort that is relevant the their readers and we get great exposure as a cutting-edge office just by being online and of course, our website link is provided with an offer(!) and readers are invited to make an appointment.
If we just get a half-dozen patients (or just ONE for that matter – think: REFERRALS!) a year from this source, it’s very well worth the time to take an article we use in our already published patient newsletter and just email it to the online news service – it’s called “re-purposing content,” and smart businesses do it all the time.
Finally, and this will be brief: Do not over-complicate the buying/sales process in your office. If you truly have something of value to offer patients, you’ll need to work hard at showing them YOU deserve to exchange your service for their cash. Working hard doesn’t mean you make the case presentation/sales pitch more elaborate than it needs to be. Go back to good old fashioned direct approach if you need to: “Mary, your tooth is cracked and it’s about to split right down to the root which means in all likelihood, this tooth will fall out and could, at virtually any point in time – and most likely, the most inconvenient time. There’s one thing that will fix it: a crown. Do you want us to get started on that today?”
More Americans are saving now than in the last twenty years. We’re seeing more debit card use today than ever before. And, in fact, the WSJ (Wall Street Journal) reported that for the first-time ever, debit card use exceeds credit card use.
We all know and have heard it countless times: There’s more undone treatment sitting secured in your patient files than you could complete in two years of full-time work. So, have your team get on the phone. Have them send out undone treatment letters. Whatever it takes to get movement.
Much of this can be accomplished with an easy-to-implement system I have developed called the Unfair Advantage Patient Reactivation System. You can learn more at http://www.PatientReactivation.com
Good luck with growing your practice; I think amazing opportunity abounds for the aggressive, take-no-prisoners dentist!
You can learn more about my new, Unfair Advantage, Recession-Proof Patient Reactivation System at http://www.PatientReactivation.com
For an absolutely free, no-strings attached copy of his 50+ page, latest book, 24 Success Secrets Most Dentists Ignore, simply visit his website @ http://www.DentalMarketingTips.com/freebook.html
Copyright 2009, Jerry A. Jones
