SmartBox Dental Marketing

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Patient Attraction Episode 1103

It’s 2 days until Thanksgiving. Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, your dental practice will certainly be closed. As long as you have a day, or 2, without the demands of patients and running a business, you might take this time to reflect on what you have to be thankful for. Or whether you have enough to be thankful for. If you fall into that second group, stay tuned. I’ll be back after the break to tell you about how you can get the kinds of new patients that you will be thankful for.

– I’m Colin Receveur.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– I hope that this Thanksgiving will find you and yours healthy, happy, and prosperous.

– Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday.

– Parades, football, and turkey aside, it’s way of connecting with the very beginnings of this country.

– As Americans, we have a lot to be thankful for.

– I certainly do, even if I forget that sometimes in the day-to-day stress of running a business.

– I’m not going to spend a lot of time on Thanksgiving during today’s podcast, but I did want to touch on the prosperous part.

– Dentistry is one of the best professions in the country.

– And it ought to be one of the most rewarding, both professionally and financially.

– After all, dentists change lives by what they do, and that’s not a small thing.

– So the rewards should equal or surpass the responsibilities.

– But I know from firsthand experience that a lot of dentists continue to struggle with getting new patients in the door.

– And more dentists aren’t getting what we’ll call quality new patients.

– They’re getting price shoppers who try to beat them up on price.

– They’re getting patients who don’t want more than dental insurance will cover, even if they need more.

– They’re getting new patients with absolutely no loyalty to the practice.

– And they’re working too hard and too long for not enough in return.

– It doesn’t have to be this way, and it shouldn’t.

– I’m not going to spend any time on what those dentists are doing wrong with their marketing.

– I’m going to tell you that SmartBox helps over 550 dentists on 3 continents get more and better dental patients.

– We help those dentists have reasons to give thanks, and not just at Thanksgiving.

– Our industry-leading Patient Attraction System is proven to work in almost any market, from the very small to the very large.

– Just ask Dr. Katie Post of Rochester, Minnesota.

– Here’s what she had to say.

–  “SmartBox has been very instrumental in the growth of our practice going from 250 to 300 to 350 new patients per month, contributing ideas to us on marketing techniques, helping us evaluate the effectiveness of how much money I’m spending, and where I should effectively spend that to make it the most effective.”

– If you’re short on professional reasons to give thanks this year, contact SmartBox.

– Go to smartboxdentalmarketing.com/practicediscoverysession/ and schedule your free Practice Discovery Call.

– We’ll use the results to provide you with your own, personalized Patient Attraction Roadmap.

– And we’ll discuss the results that you can expect when you work with SmartBox.

– I hope that this Thanksgiving is happy for you and yours.

– But if you want and need even more reasons next year to be thankful, contact SmartBox.

– We’re in the business of helping dentists thrive.

– You can have more patients, more profits, and more freedom.

– Join me for our next podcast.

– Until then, keep moving forward.

The post Dentists Should Have Reasons to Give Thanks appeared first on SmartBox » The Patient Attraction Podcast.

The post Dentists Should Have Reasons to Give Thanks appeared first on SmartBox » The Patient Attraction Podcast[...]

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Patient Attraction Episode 1102

Somewhere out there in your market, there’s another dentist or two who are getting better new dental patients than you are. That’s not necessarily because they’re better dentists or deliver superior results. It’s not necessarily because they have more upscale practices than yours. They’re getting better patients because they know something you don’t, and they’ve acted on that knowledge. If you want to know their secret, stay tuned. I’ll be back after the break.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– I’m Colin Receveur.

– Have you ever heard of the 80-20 rule?

– It gets applied in different ways, but it goes something like this.

– 20 percent of efforts or activities generate 80 percent of results.

– For dentists, that could mean that 20 percent of your market could generate 80 percent of your profits.

– In any given market, about 20 percent of your prospects don’t care about dental insurance, or specials, or price.

– They have the means and the willingness to pay more for a dentist they like, relate to, and trust.

– Those are the patients you should be marketing to.

– You should be, but you probably aren’t.

– How do I know that you’re probably not getting those better patients?

– Because you’re watching this podcast, and you’re watching to get ideas about how to get more patients.

– There’s no secret to getting better dental patients.

– We’ve posted a huge amount of information on smartboxwebmarketing.com detailing how to do exactly that.

– I even cover different aspects of our Patient Attraction SystemTM in various podcasts and in our Inside Patient Attraction webinars.

– So, the information is out there, and you can learn to do it yourself.

– But in addition to learning how to set up your own patient attraction system, you’ll also learn that it’s a huge amount of work.

– Don’t get me wrong; the rewards are well worth the effort.

– But very few dentists out there have the required determination, skills, and bandwidth.

– And you should know that you won’t make a dime from the time and effort involved to set up a patient attraction system.

– You make money by seeing patients and solving their dental problems.

– Do you have an enormous amount of downtime in your practice?

– If not, you’ll be working on this system before and after work, and on weekends.

– So, it’s obvious that you’re looking for more dental patients, and hopefully better patients.

– And unless you’re an extremely rare kind of dentist, you don’t have the time or the capability to put together and maintain your own system.

– Dr. Jonathan Gilbart of Hagerstown, Maryland, was in that same position.

– He became a SmartBox dentist, and here’s what he said.

–  “I wanted to find a company that could do everything, as far as marketing, for me and put it all together without me having to spend a ton of time learning what search engine optimization was or Google AdWords.

– “I’ve been very happy with SmartBox and their ability to take all the stuff, put it together, and handle that aspect so I can focus on my patients.”

– You could take all the stuff, put it all together, and handle that aspect, but wouldn’t you rather be making money by treating patients?

– And wouldn’t you prefer to be getting those better patients rather than the dentist down the street?

– We’ve got an offer for serious dentists who want to see a Patient Attraction SystemTM that can double or even triple their practices.

– Visit smartboxdentalmarketing.com and schedule your Practice Discovery Call.

– The call is free, and we’ll take the results and provide you with your own, personalized Patient Attraction RoadmapTM.

– And we’ll discuss the results you can expect when you work with SmartBox.

–[...]

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Patient Attraction Episode 1101

Delta Dental is often seen as the 800-pound gorilla of the dental insurance industry. And if you’re like most dentists, you fall firmly in the category of having the dental insurance blues. As insurance reimbursements decline, and they are, more of the cost burden is shifted to patients. That means people defer care because they can’t afford it. But you don’t have to have the blues. Stay tuned. After the break, I’ll let you know how you can make dental insurance pretty much irrelevant to your success.

– I’m Colin Receveur, CEO of SmartBox.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– For most dentists, dental insurance falls into the category of a necessary evil.

– There are a lot of patients who wouldn’t have work done without it.

– But there are also a lot of prospects who aren’t going to have work done because their share of the bill is too much.

– You can pretty much thank Delta Dental for shifting more of the cost to patients.

– Delta got the ball rolling when it came to cutting reimbursements to dental practices.

– And other insurers followed suit.

– The upshot of decreased reimbursements is twofold.

– As I mentioned, prospects defer care, and the ones who seek care are looking for the lowest price.

– If that’s you, you’re going to get even less than you would normally.

– So, given the current state of dental insurance, it’s certainly understandable if you have the dental insurance blues.

– Let’s change that.

– We’ll start with who you’re marketing to.

– For most dentists, that’s price shoppers, one-and-dones, and insurance-driven prospects.

– If you don’t target those low-value prospects, you’re probably thinking that I’m nuts.

– Maybe so, but let me ask you this: How do you market your practice?

– Are you emphasizing low price or quality of results?

– Note that I said emphasize – it’s generally a mix of the two.

– But which one dominates your advertising?

– Odds are that you’re pushing price points, specials, discounts, and insurance acceptance.

– So what you get are price shoppers, one-and-dones, and not enough insurance reimbursement.

– Don’t feel bad – that’s what most dentists do, because that’s what they see other

dentists do.

– But there’s a segment of almost every market, about 20 percent of prospects, that aren’t insuran ce or price driven.

– Let’s call them better patients.

– Better patients have the means and the willingness to pay more for a dentist they like, relate to, and trust.

– And they’re generally extremely loyal once they decide on the right dentist for them.

– Their lifetime value to your practice is many times that of a one-and-done.

– And you don’t have to devote part of your marketing budget to replacing them every month.

– Those are the patients you want and need to grow your practice, regardless of what dental insurance does.

– But you won’t get better patients if you keep chasing after low-value patients.

– Instead of monthly or quarterly advertising, you need a system that works 24/7.

– And what your system needs to do is to convince those prospects that you’re the right choice for them.

– Dr. James Kiehl looked at various dental marketing options and then became a SmartBox dentist.

– Why?

– Because SmartBox’s industry-leading Patient Attraction System is helping more than 550 dentists on 3 continents get more and better patients.

– He told us,  “Since we’ve implemented our SmartBox Patient Attraction System, we’re definitely getting the quality patients that I want to see come into my practice.”

– If you’re serious about growing your practice, and you’re tired of singing the dental insurance blues, here’s what you should do.

– Visit smartboxdentalmarketing.com and s[...]

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Patient Attraction Episode 1100

Let’s say you bought a membership to a fitness club that advertised fast results. And then after working out for several months, you discovered that they couldn’t deliver what they promised. You’d feel like you wasted a lot of your money, wouldn’t you? I mean, you could still continue working out, but you’re not going to get everything you expected. It’s the same with your dental marketing. You’re almost certainly wasting a lot of your hard-earned marketing dollars even if you don’t realize it. I’ll be back after the break to tell you how to get everything you deserve. Stay tuned.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– I’m Colin Receveur.

– Dentists typically don’t have a good way to measure value for the marketing money they pay out.

– Even if they feel like they’re getting enough new patients, they don’t know for sure whether they’re getting all the new patients they could be.

– They also don’t know which marketing channel is returning the most new patients, or the best new patients.

– Mos t dental practices rely on patient self-report to try to learn how their marketing is performing.

– But there’s a lot of research that says that’s a bad idea.

– Patients are usually wrong when they try to recall what ad or promo influenced them to pick up the phone.

– And trying to fine-tune your marketing based on false reports is a bad idea.

– The bottom line is that almost all dentists are wasting a large chunk of their marketing dollars.

– And that’s no way to run a business.

– You and your staff work too hard for the money you spend to attract more patients.

– Badly aimed marketing hurts your bottom line and hinders the growth of your practice.

– You don’t have to keep wasting marketing dollars.

– There’s a way to know precisely how every aspect of your marketing is performing.

– The best and most accurate way to track your return on investment is use phone tracking.

– Phone tracking has been around for a while now, but it’s still very underused by dental practices.

– And that’s a shame, because phone tracking makes your marketing much, much more profitable.

– Here’s how it works.

– Phone tracking assigns a unique phone number to every marketing vehicle.

– Calls to those numbers are automatically forwarded to your practice.

– The source of the calls – and with some packages, the calls themselves – are automatically recorded and stored in an accessible database.

– Dentists can review the database to see which parts of their marketing programs are generating the most new patient calls, and which are underperforming.

– That allows them to divert more marketing dollars to the channels that are working the best.

– Beyond that, phone tracking programs that record the calls themselves offer the opportunity to review your front desk’s phone technique.

– The best marketing in the world is wasted if a new patient caller isn’t appointed.

– But think about it for a moment.

– How many calls come into your office every week?

– Do you really have time to sit down and listen to every one?

– And do you have the training and the skills to correct problems with how your front desk deals with prospects?

– SmartBox dentists receive phone tracking and call quality analysis as part of our industry-leading Patient Attraction System.

– Here’s what Dr. Matthew Burton of Clearwater, Florida, says about our phone tracking and call quality analysis services.

– “I think that the greatest service that SmartBox has added recently is having SmartBox’s team listen to and grade our phone calls.

– “That really eliminates a lot of time for me. I don’t have time to go back and listen to all the phone calls.

– “90 percent of them are ‘change my appointment’ or do so[...]

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Patient Attraction Episode 1099

Treadmills can be great if you’re trying to get in shape or lose weight. But they’re a lousy way for dentists to make a living. The dental treadmill is a seemingly endless stream of low-value patients – drill-and-fills, routine exams, and similar unchallenging things. If you’ve ever gotten to the point where you felt like chucking it all in because you were incredibly bored, stay tuned. I’ll be back after the break to tell you how to attract more professionally and financially rewarding patients.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– I’m Colin Receveur.

– Dentists go through a lot to get qualified to treat patients: 4 long and very expensive years of dental school, postgrad training, and more.

– Then there’s the expense and the stress of opening and running your own practice.

– It seems to me that actually practicing dentistry should be really rewarding to make up for all that sacrifice.

– How’s the dental profession going for you?

– Do you wake up eager to face the day and get into the office?

– Or do you drag yourself into your practice because you know what’s waiting for you?

– Just another day on the dental treadmill.

– Oh, sure, you’re doing good work and helping people.

– So why doesn’t that feel like enough?

– Could it be because you’re not challenged, not doing the cases you love to do?

– Could it be because your back’s beginning to hurt and your neck has twinges?

– And you’ve started to wonder just how long you can keep this up?

– Or maybe it’s just because all your hard work, your physical aches and pains, and your sacrifice isn’t growing your practice.

– You’re working too hard, for too long, for too little return and not enjoying it at all.

– Yeah, that’s discouraging.

– I’m not going to cast blame on anybody or anything.

– You’re doing what you’ve seen everybody else do when it comes to promoting your practice.

– It’s a simple equation: what you market for is what you get.

– And how you market is based on your belief about what motivates dental prospects.

– If you think the best motivators are low prices, insurance acceptance, and discounts, those are them things you advertise.

– That’s known as the “low-cost strategy,” and it’s a generic marketing approach that gets generic customers.

– Or in the case of dentists, that strategy brings in price shoppers, insurance-driven patients, and one-and-dones.

– Those low-value patients are pretty much the definition of the dental treadmill.

– Aren’t you and the services you provide worth more than that?

– Aren’t you more valuable than that?

– Then act like it, dammit.

– The cure for the dental treadmill is to get better patients.

– Market for the patients you want, not just for what you think you can get.

– But you know, not every dentist can do that.

– What I mean is that not every dentist is willing to do that.

– And even some of the ones who are willing don’t have the bandwidth to accomplish it.

– Marketing to attract better patients isn’t a quick-hit proposition.

– They’re not attracted by discounts and low prices.

– And frankly, they’re not all that easy to convince.

– They’re looking for a dentist they like, relate to, and trust to solve their dental problems.

– And they start their search for a dentist online.

– Google says people consult an average of 10.4 sources of information online before they make a buying decision.

– If your marketing isn’t at least most of those sources, those better patients won’t choose you to solve their dental problems.

– So you need a system in place to get in front of those prospects and stay in front of them.

– And you have to be where prospects are looking.

– That’s not just on y[...]

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Patient Attraction Episode 1098

Dentists learned a hard lesson during the Great Recession of 2008. That lesson is that plans can and will be disrupted by economic downturns. Many dentists who were anticipating comfortable retirement discovered that they had to keep working for longer than they expected. In some cases, those dentists are still working. Their practices lost so much value that the sale wouldn’t support their retirement plans. You don’t have to be blindsided by the next recession … and there will be one. Stay tuned.

– I’m Colin Receveur, CEO of SmartBox.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– One thing I’ve noticed about this country is that, as a group, we have short attention spans.

– There are too many businesspeople who are already forgetting the lessons of 2008.

– You might think that another recession like that couldn’t happen.

– You’d be wrong.

– The financial controls that were put in place were thoroughly watered down.

– And they aren’t being vigorously enforced.

– In fact, there’s a lot of pressure to downgrade those controls even further or do away with them altogether.

– So, no matter how good the current economy might look, there will be another recession.

– And your retirement plans could take a severe hit.

– No matter how long you’ve been practicing, that’s something to think about.

– What will your dental practice’s value look like when people are hoarding cash and deferring treatment?

– And how long will it take you to recover from that hit?

– It took until 2015 for dentists’ incomes to recover from the last recession.

– What will 6 or 7 years of reduced income do to your retirement plans?

– So, what are you doing to prepare for the next recession?

– That’s not something you should put off.

– The next downturn could hit this year, next year, or 3 years from now.

– But it is coming.

– And you need to be ready.

– The patients you’re getting now probably won’t insulate you against loss.

– When money is tight, low-value patients typically defer needed dental care in favor of paying the rent and putting food on the table.

– And with dental insurance paying less and less, those patients will be even less motivated to see you.

– That basically puts them in the emergency patients category.

–  In the event of another recession, your appointment book is going to be running on empty.

– There’s only one way you can protect against loss.

– You need a lot more better patients, ones with disposable income who can and will continue to seek dental care.

– Even during a recession.

– Those better patients are your insulation against economic loss.

– SmartBox specializes in helping dentists get more and better patients.

– We help dentists thrive, and we’re doing that for more than 550 dentists on 3 continents.

– Dr. Thomas Feder of Belleville, Illinois, was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to retire as he wished.

– He became a SmartBox dentist, and here’s what he told us about the results he got.

–  “Our average case value has increased.

– “People are coming in looking for dentures and implants.

– “The practice is now overwhelming our dental lab.”

– Dr. Feder is seeing higher average case value.

– He’s been able to cut back on thme number of hours he works.

– And his retirement plans are firmly back on track.

– Dr. Feder isn’t unique.

– SmartBox helps all kinds of dentists thrive.

– So, while I can’t tell you what to do, I can tell you this.

– Your dental livelihood is at risk unless you act soon to safeguard your practice.

– If you’re ready to take steps to secure your future, here’s what you should do.

– Go to smartboxwebmarketing.com and schedule your Practice Discovery Call[...]

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Patient Attraction Episode 1097

Halloween is here, and kids all over the country will be ringing doorbells and saying, “Trick or treat!” That’s great for Halloween, but not so great for dentists whose marketing is producing “trick-or-treat” numbers of new patients. If your marketing approach has you feeling like you’re on a monthly yo-yo, it’s time to make it stop. I’ll be back after the break to tell you how. Stay tuned.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– I’m Colin Receveur.

– Happy Halloween to everybody!

– Do you have kids who will be making the rounds today?

– If so, I hope that the experience is both safe and a lot of fun for them.

– I think it’s good to have something to look forward to.

– In fact, I think dentists should look forward to plenty of new patients every month.

– But I know too many dentists who don’t have that.

– Those dentists are getting maybe enough new patients some months and not nearly enough new patients other months.

– Maybe that’s you.

– If so, it’s almost certain that you’re missing out on a lot of new patients.

– And you can look to how you market your practice for the explanation.

– That’s not a criticism, because you’re probably doing what you know how to do when it comes to getting new patients.

– You offer specials, discounts, and incentives, like coupons.

– You do what almost every other dentist in your market does.

– You’re all chasing the same low-value dental prospects.

– And every month, it’s a case of “may the best offer win.”

– Unless your practice has incredibly deep pockets, you don’t always win.

– Maybe you’re losing more months than you’re winning.

– That yo-yo pattern of good months and bad months may be your normal, but it doesn’t have to be.

– There’s a way to get out of the race to the bottom of the low-value patient barrel.

– That other way gets you enough and more than enough new patients to build your practice – and to prepare you to enjoy the kind of retirement you want.

– Basically, it comes down to 4 things.

– The first is to market to the patients you want, not just the ones you think you can get.

– When you attract higher-value dental prospects, you work less while earning more.

– And what dentist doesn’t want that?

– Better patients have the ability and the willingness to pay more for the right dentist.

– They’re not motivated bym specials and discounts.

– And once they choose a dentist, they’re fiercely loyal.

– The lifetime value of one of those patients is worth half a dozen price shoppers or one-and-dones.

– The second thing you need to do is to convince those better patients to receive communications from you.

– Except for emergency cases, better patients take their time selecting a dentist.

– So, you have to get their permission to communicate with them until they’re ready to decide.

– Generally, that’s accomplished by getting them to opt in in exchange for something of value to them.

– Once you have that permission, use your emails and dental newsletter to build trust and demonstrate why you’re the right choice to solve their dental problems.

– That’s the third thing – continuing to follow-up with your dental prospects.

– And the fourth thing is to track precisely what parts of your marketing are paying off the best.

– There’s only one way to know for sure, and that’s to track every new patient phone call into your practice.

– Once your Patient Attraction System is in place, phone tracking allows you to fine-tune it for maximum results.

– In fact, that’s what I’ve just described – SmartBox’s industry-leading Patient Attraction System.

– We’re helping more than 550 dentists on 3 continents get more and better patients.

– And we’re helping them[...]

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Patient Attraction Episode 1096

Dentists as a group are proud of their accomplishments and skills. They should be – completing 4 years of dental school, passing the licensure exams, and getting additional specialized training are things to take pride in. There’s just one problem: your prospects don’t care. Dentists who promote themselves on their websites and in other marketing run the risk of sending those prospects straight to a competitor’s website. After the break, I’ll tell you what your true strengths are and how to promote those to attract more patients. Stay tuned.

– I’m Colin Receveur, CEO of SmartBox.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– Take a look at most dentists’ websites, and you’ll see pretty much the same thing.

– Those sites are all about how educated, accomplished, and wonderful the doctor is.

– They’re all about what the dentist and the practice does, and how well they do it.

– All those dentists basically look the same to prospects, because dentists are assumed to be competent.

– There’s no reason for a prospect to choose one over another, except for price, availability, and insurance.

– What those sites aren’t about is what prospects are actually looking for.

– Prospects are looking for solutions to their dental problems.

– They want to know that the dentist will help them smile without embarrassment, eat comfortably again, or be free from pain.

– And prospects want to know that their fears and concerns will be understood, and that they’ll be taken care of while they’re in the chair, and afterward.

– It’s all well and good to list what you do on your website, but to actually make it work to get more new patients, you have to go a step further.

– You have to connect the services you offer with the results your prospects are looking for.

– You have to show how you’ll address and help ease your potential patients’ fears and concerns.

– For the patient, dentistry isn’t about the dentist; it’s about the patient’s life.

– When you show your prospects how what you do will improve their lives, you set yourself apart from the great mass of dentists.

– When you offer a superior patient experience and have the testimonials to back up that claim, you differentiate yourself from your competition.

– And when your happy patients talk about what you did for them and how it improved their lives, you have social proof.

– That social proof will convince many more prospects to pick up the phone and call for an appointment.

– You might not agree with the idea that you have to connect the dots for your prospects, but let me ask you this.

– What’s on your website?

– And how are your new patient numbers?

– If you’re not seeing the kind of new patient numbers that you think you should, look to your marketing.

– And since your website is, or should be, the linchpin of your marketing, look to that first.

– Your website is the final stop for many, many prospects before they contact your practice.

– It’s one of the make-or-break points for your marketing.

– If you get a prospect to your site but they don’t pick up the phone, you’ve potentially wasted your hard-earned marketing dollars.

– On the other hand, a website that speaks to patients’ hopes, fears, and needs can be a goldmine.

– Dr. Matthew Burton of Clearwater, Florida, knows that.

– He told us,  “Our new patients are up markedly from when our website went live.

– “I can track back and see an extra 10, 15, 20 more new patients a month than we were getting prior to SmartBox.

– “I know, unequivocally, that that website is attracting people and generating phone calls.” 

– Are you serious about getting the number and quality of new patients that you need and want to grow your practice?

– Then go to www.Pat[...]

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Patient Attraction Episode 1095

There’s an old saying – be careful what you wish for. I’m going to alter that a bit to “be careful who you market for.” Too many dentists are getting almost nothing but low case value patients. If your practice model is based on “grind it out” dentistry, where you see a high volume of cases, that’s fine. But you’re missing the best part of dentistry – being an advanced-degree professional with the freedom to handle more of the cases you love to do. I’ll be back after the break to tell you why you should move your dental marketing mark.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– I’m Colin Receveur.

– Unless your practice serves a very economically depressed area, you have dental prospects with a range of disposable income and insurance coverage.

– If you want to know what kind of patients your marketing appeals to, look at what you’re getting.

– Does your new patient stream consist of cleanings and exams, drill-and-fills, price shoppers, and one-off patients with no loyalty to your practice?

– That’s a short road to a bad back, a low-value practice, and a retirement that’s not going to be what you want.

– I see this all too often: dentists competing on and advertising low prices, which brings in low-value cases.

– As I mentioned in the beginning of this episode, if you’re content with working really long hours for not much return, that’s fine.

– But if you’re going to grow your practice while working less, you’re going to have to shift the focus of your marketing.

– Some 20 percent or more of your market consists of prospects with the discretionary income to be picky about their dentist.

– Those better patients aren’t influenced much by the lowest price.

– They’re looking for something else in the dentist and the dental practice they choose.

– Not all of those patients will be big cases, but almost all of them will be extremely loyal to the right dental practice.

– And it’s far cheaper to retain a loyal patient than to market to attract a new one.

– But some of those better patients will be big cases – full-mouth restorations, cosmetic dentistry, implants, dentures.

– Just one of those cases should bring in more money than 6 or even 12 of your low-value patients.

– It could be even higher than that.

– And those better patients aren’t going to care a great deal about insurance.

– Oh, they’ll use it if they have it, but how much insurance pays isn’t going to be the deciding factor.

– They want what they want and they’ll pay what it takes, as long as you’re the right dentist for them.

– That’s basically what SmartBox’s industry-leading Patient Attraction System does for our dentists.

– We help them get more and better patients.

– The vast majority of SmartBox dentists work less, enjoy themselves more, and can look forward to a very comfortable retirement.

– Just ask Dr. Katie Post of Rochester, Minnesota.

– She told us, “SmartBox has been very instrumental in the growth of our practice going from 250 to 300 to 350 new patients per month …

– “… contributing ideas to us on marketing techniques, helping us evaluate the effectiveness of how much money I’m spending …

– “… and where I should spend that to make it the most effective.”

– Are you tired of trying to drill and fill your way to retirement?

– Do you wonder whether your back and neck will hold out?

– It’s time to change who you market to.

– Go to www.PatientAttractionBlueprint.com and schedule a Practice Discovery Session call.

– We reserve these calls for serious dentists who want a Patient Attraction System that can double or even triple your practice.

– You can get more patients, more profits, and more freedom.

– Or you can choose to keep missing the mark with your[...]

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Patient Attraction Episode 1094

It’s a wired world, which can be both a blessing and a curse for dental practices. The blessing is that there are more ways than ever before to communicate with and attract new patients. The curse is that there are more ways for unhappy patients and prospects to air their grievances in public. The vast majority of your prospects will check one or more review sites before making a decision about choosing your practice. Your online reputation is a make-or-break aspect of your marketing. When we come back, I’ll tell you how to handle bad online reviews. Stay tuned.

– I’m Colin Receveur, CEO of SmartBox.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– There was a time when the only bad publicity dentists had to fear was the word-of-mouth grapevine, and maybe a letter to the editor in a newspaper.

– Those were real and serious concerns in small markets, but much less so in larger ones.

– Today, though, every person with an internet connection has a soapbox that can potentially reach every one of your prospects.

– Reputation management for dentists is a very hot topic these days and for good reason.

– According to some estimates, over 90 percent of people now read online reviews.

– And another source says that people trust online reviews just as much as they trust word-of-mouth recommendations.

– So online reviews are today’s word of mouth, but with a much broader reach than was ever possible before.

– Dentists really need to pay attention to the reviews of their practice on Yelp, Google Reviews, Healthgrades, and other well-known review sites.

– There are 2 aspects of online reviews that matter to your practice – the reviews themselves, and the star rating given by the reviewer.

– Patients and prospects who complain online about you or your practice run the gamut from reasonable to ridiculous.

– Reasonable complaints often center on scheduling issues, financial issues, and quality of care.

– Unreasonable complaints might include relatively minor things such as the comfort of your dental chairs or the type of floss your hygienists use.

– But every complaint needs to be taken seriously, because a handful of negative reviews can have profound consequences for your practice.

– To borrow a phrase, it doesn’t take much poison to poison a well.

– Every negative review is a potential “forget it” from your prospects.

– But the second aspect of reviews – the star rating system – is just as important.

– If you have hundreds of 5-star ratings, a few very low ratings won’t move your overall score much.

– But if you have only 1 or 2 dozen ratings, a few 1-star ratings can drop your score significantly.

– And everything else being equal, prospects will choose the dental practice with ratings in the high 4 stars over practices in the low 4 or even high 3 stars.

– The star rating is the most important factor that influences your prospects’ decisions.

– It’s a quick and easy snapshot of your practice, and often it’s the first thing prospects look at online.

– Now, preventing online complaints is clearly the best strategy.

– Having clear, written policies in place and shared with every new patient helps set expectations.

– Ideally, any patient dissatisfaction would be dealt with before a patient ever walks out your door.

– But many people won’t complain on the spot, so you have to be ready when those complaints surface online.

– One of the worst things you can do is ignore complaints, because those complaints then become unanswered public indictments of your practice.

– You should already be engaging the people who comment on your practice online.

– You have to engage the people who make negative comments as well.

– You’re generally safe repeating your commitment to patient s[...]