This is probably the most frequent and repetitive question, concern and frustration I get. It comes from all different Dentists, geographic areas, every size and type of practice you can imagine. It is: how to reliably and consistently receive a steady stream of high quality a-patients into your practice.
If you have ever done any type of marketing or advertising then it’s a sure bet that you have been disappointed.
If you have ever worked with some cookie-cutter marketing company, some website scammers or those “promise you the world by using some new gimmick based on a trendy bright shiny object” online crazies then you already know you’d be better off standing someone outside your practice handing out toothbrushes to passersby.
There just isn’t a simple answer here and anyone that tells you there is – is lying.
Here is the problem with marketing in general and especially marketing companies…there crap only works when they pigeon hole you into their methods, using their systems and following their approach for your practice.
This, by the exact definition of the sentence, is counter productive and wrong. Completely.
The entire point of marketing is to capture your uniqueness, to make it about you, to educate and show patients how you are different, special, desirable.
If you are falling into the same mold that some company sells you that they are doing for every other practice on earth (and in your city) then tell me how that works? It doesn’t.
Think about it this way: I hate insurance and PPO’s above all else, why, because they commoditize what you do. They put all their dentist providers on a list, the same list, and they stack them up and then patients get to choose from the list.
That is no different than google, the yellow pages, or any other commoditized method. When you buy into marketing scams you might as well just sign up for an insurance provider and be on a list because you have taken everything that is special about you and everything that actually matters to your patients and you’ve said “No it really doesn’t matter who we are or what we do, we are just another one of those dentists, the same as everybody else.”
Now, the bigger problem with getting what I call ‘stranger new patients’ people who did not come from word of mouth or referral marketing systems based around relationship and your reputation.
1st – You are going to be fighting with the corporate dental chains, big box discounters and you will lose.
The only way to win against these people is to do something dramatically different than they do; not by showing up where they are.
2nd – No one believes advertising and marketing anyways…anyone can say whatever they want on their website. And even the best people will still get negative reviews when you did nothing wrong. There are 100 negative for every 1 positive.
Therefore, you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
I’m not saying not to have reviews and not to take your website seriously. In fact, I’m saying the exact opposite. I’m saying that you must have a deliberate and well thought out strategy to maximize each of these for your own benefit.
3rd – And finally and above all else never forget what I’m about to say…
The way your patients experience you is the way that will determine how well they behave, accept treatment, respect you and refer to you.
If you are doing stranger danger marketing, playing ‘who can be the highest on google’ and wasting money on things you can’t track (or worse don’t understand) then you are on a path to be disappointed where you end up spending more and more money.
But whatever you do, don’t build dependence on your new patient numbers and succumb to the quality of the people you attract on any of these type of strategies.
You have to build it from the inside out and you have to focus on the three most important components of getting new patients…
Relationship
Reputation
Referrals
More on that next week…that is when it is going to get real my friend and you will never again have to worry about new patients the rest of your career.
Get ready…and stay tuned.
In the meantime, just for fun, would you please send me your most frustrating experience or story about marketing or online companies promising things then never follow-through. I’d love to better understand what you have been through so I can help you going forward.
Whether it has been the ridiculous idea ramping up your overhead and hours in order to take on new patients that accept no dentistry; or continuing to waste bigger and bigger dollars every month on fighting the elusive google rankings battle; or getting a bunch of price shopping patients from your Valpak ad.
Go ahead, give me your biggest challenges and allow me the opportunity to remove all frustrations from your life when it comes to quality base new patients and take you through the only way to really grow your practice with control, integrity, and profit.
