What would Sam Malone do?

Posted: November 3, 2011 in customer loyalty, patient experience, success mentality
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“Sometimes you want to go 
Where everybody knows your name, 
and they’re always glad you came.”

You may recognize that as the theme song to the 28-Emmy-award-winning sitcom “Cheers.”  I apologize in advance if that song is an earworm for the rest of the day, but it’s ringing in your patients heads as well.  They don’t want to be referred to as the “root canal and crown prep on #4 in operatory 2.”  They’d certainly like to be more than your “next patient”.  They want to be like Norm when he walks into Cheers and everyone proclaims his name.

(Sam Malone:  ”How’s life treating you?” . . .  Norm:  ”It’s not, Sammy, but you can!”)

What if you saw your patients as members?  Dues paying, card holding members?

Assuming that your private club is your practice, your members would expect you to know their name (as well as a few things about their work, family and interests).  They’d expect you to be of service to them.  They’d want you to run on time.

AND they’d stop paying you if they didn’t feel special, valued and important.   Why do you think Norm kept coming back to Cheers?  (Certainly there are thousands of pubs in Boston)

Norm once said, “It’s a dog eat dog world out there and I’m wearing Milkbone underwear.”  Don’t be caught in your Milkbone underwear.  Train your team to treat those you serve as private members of your club (or regulars in your pub).  If you don’t, Sam Malone, DMD down the street just might.

5 sources of power

Posted: October 30, 2011 in customer loyalty, patient experience, success mentality
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I was just contemplating the word “POWER”.  What is power as it relates to a business?

I believe it’s the ability to obtain a desired result predictably.  In our practices, power is directly related to effectiveness.  Therefore, the major value of a dental practice doesn’t come from CPA stuff – bricks & mortar, equipment, and inventory.  In my estimation the major sources of power are the following 5 concepts:

1.  Our patients and our relationships with them.  I’ve written about the “herd” and “tribe” previously.  The value base in a business is the customer base.  No patients = no practice.  Lots of loyal patients = great practice.

2.  Reputation – what are people in your community saying about you?

3.  Marketing – how good are you at patient attraction and retention?

4.  Clarity – do you know exactly what you want out of your practice?  Does your staff know?  All objectives should be clearly defined and regularly reviewed.

5.  Team – you’ll have a true competitive advantage when you are surrounded by staff that you know, like, and trust.  Then leverage their talents to make sure patients are being connected with and taken care of.  Delegate, delegate, delegate . . . if it’s not your legal responsibility or it’s not something you are highly interested in, find a team member that can do it better or less expensively.

Keep these 5 sources of power in the front of you mind and make sure they are managed on not just a daily basis but a minute by minute basis.  Turn on the power of your practice!

Toe in the water

Posted: October 28, 2011 in online marketing, social media
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You’re looking for new patients.  Luckily, there are lots of folks looking for a new dentist.  BUT . . . they may not be ready to commit.  Having a great website is one fantastic way to answer questions for that non-committal person that isn’t ready to dive in.  Your website can be that proverbial “toe in the water.”

Does your website allow your patients to get to know you and your staff?  Does your website show off all the cool things you can do for people?

Tangent:  One of the things that shocks me most about dentists is . . . they’ll pay for an ad that runs for one day in the newspaper or for 30 seconds on the radio.  Clearly, they want more patients.  But, not only is their website not robust . . . it doesn’t exist.  They won’t pay for a website that is a perpetual 24-7-365 advertisement.

If you are reading this, I’m certain you have a website.  As for your dental school buddy that doesn’t have one, show him/her this (and welcome them to 2011):

Note that 97% of consumers now use online media when researching products and services in their local area.  That’s you Dr. Dentist!

Brand land

Posted: October 26, 2011 in direct response marketing
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I was just reading an article about the world’s most powerful brands.  The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a “Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller.”  Essentially it’s about creating an image.

As dentists we don’t have the budgets to create a strong brand like Apple or McDonald’s.  We want to run an ad on Monday and see the results on Wednesday.  That’s the idea behind direct response marketing.

You want advertising that’s measurable and trackable.  Here’s some things to keep in mind:

1.  Make an attractive offer . . . better yet, and irresistible offer

2.  Prompt a quick response with deadlines on the offer

3.  Capture the leads.  If some is calling about your practice or offer, get their contact information.

4.  Follow up.  Not everyone is ready to make an appointment now.

5.  Measure the results.  Are you getting a return on your investment?  Are there ways you can improve response the next time?

If you are good at points 1-5, you’re brand building will simply be a nice biproduct.

Feeding your herd

Posted: October 23, 2011 in customer loyalty
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“Herd” is a Dan Kennedy term that refers to your list of customers and prospects.  It’s not meant as a derogatory term.  It’s a visual to capture your imagination.  It helps the savvy business owner see which customers are highly loyal and which are about to “escape”.

My assumption is that you don’t want your patients to go elsewhere (most of them anyway).  It’s much more costly (5x) to acquire a patient than it is to retain them.

Here are things that you can focus on to keep nurturing the relationships (feeding your herd):

1.  Frequency – How often are your patients hearing from you?   There are lots of mediums out there.  You should use all of them . . . email blasts, personal notes, newsletters (printed and digital), social media, phone calls, etc.

2.  Personality – Do your patients know who you are?  I mean really know you . . . how many kids you have?  Where you grew up?  They should.  Your marketing should capture your authentic personality.  You want your patients to feel a strong attachment to a person (you) or persons (your team).  There isn’t any attachment to a white coat with lots of degrees hanging on the wall.

3.  Dependency – You want to be irreplaceable in your patients’ minds.  If they have a dental need or desire . . . you want them to know that you are “the guy” (or gal).  Your team is your competitive advantage when it comes to your patients relying on you.  Here’s a question . . . would your patients rather wait 4 days to see you for a dental emergency because you are out-of-town?  Or would they just go to the first available doc in your area?  That answer will tell you a lot.

4.  Affinity –  Are your patients proud to be a part of your practice?  Do they feel a sense of belonging when they walk through your doors?

Keep these 4 concepts in mind when you plan your internal marketing.

Protect your herd

Posted: October 22, 2011 in customer loyalty
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What’s the most valuable thing in your practice?

Pano or CEREC machine?  The painting in your office?  Your dental skills?

No, No, and No!

It’s your patient database and your relationship with those people.

It’s often called the list, your herd, or the tribe.  Regardless of the label, it’s all there is (or isn’t) in your practice.  You need to wrap a fence around that herd and make damn sure no other cowboy rustles them away.

You are making a mistake if the only time your patients hear from you is either a bill or a reminder call for their 6 month re-care visit.

If you had a great first date, would you wait 6 months to call them back?  If you did wait months to contact them, how would that go over?  The answer is:  like a lead balloon.

You need to let your patients know you’re thinking about them and that you care . . . all of them.

Make it a point to have multiple phone numbers, email address, and a mailing address for each patient.  Also, if you don’t already, make personal notes about them:  children, hobbies, profession, major life events and things that are most important to them.

There are a number of outstanding ways to stay connected . . . but, I’ll go into more detail in future posts.  Until then, just keep that fence in tact and keep a watchful eye on your herd.

The customer has won!

Posted: October 21, 2011 in patient experience, social media
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Google places.  Yelp.  Angie’s List.

The customer has won . . . once and for all.  The aforementioned websites are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to customer control.

Your patients can “check in” via facebook when they walk in your practice.  They can update their friends in real-time as to how the visit is going.  Then, they can post a review on Google on their way out.

That’s a gamechanger!  Like it or not, your reputation is now online.  There’s no more hiding the fact that you left someone in the waiting room for 25 minutes.   Your customer has a voice and it’s maximum volume surround sound!

Your options are to sink or swim in this virtual world.  If you do nothing . . . you’ll sink.

If you want to swim (like Mark Spitz or a sober Michael Phelps) you need to manage your online reputation.  But, first you better be delivering a premium patient experience.  If you don’t want 1 and 2 star reviews, be dang sure that you haven’t given anyone reason to post about a sub-par experience.  Every customer matters!

Programs like DemandForce help manage your online reputation by automating the process.  After each appointment, your patients are emailed a survey.  That survey is then pushed out to the web.

All of your reviews won’t be 5 stars.  But, if most of them are it will insulate you against the occasional poor review.  In fact, if you have dozens of stellar reviews, don’t you think your peeved patient will be less likely to complain online?  They’ll realize that their experience was on the unusual day when your team was off their mark.

If your patient gives you a verbal comment that makes you proud, ask them to post it online.  If they love you and your services, they’ll be happy to share the good word.

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