Dental Marketing - Tyson Steele Associates - Advanced Dental Marketing Concepts

discovering the real goal of marketing

Written By: Tyson Steele

Marketing. It’s a dental buzz word today. Twenty years ago, no dentist would use the word “marketing.” Now, it’s the hottest topic on the seminar trail. Every consultant, salesman, and dental guru seems to be selling some new marketing “system” guaranteed to “blow your doors out with new patients” – not to mention what it’ll do to your wallet.

We get emails and calls daily from dentists who want help marketing. Unfortunately, the calls usually go something like this...

“I have an opportunity to run an ad in the next issue of the Horticultural Times Newsletter,” says the dentist. “Can you help me design something? I need to give it to them by Friday.”

“How much will the ad cost?” I ask.

“Fourteen thousand dollars. That’s with the twenty-percent, first-time-advertiser, one-time-only, use-it-or-lose-it discount.”

“How many people read this newsletter?”

“Well,” Doc says thoughtfully, “they’re printing three hundred million copies, and my ad is on the page next to their cover article on aphids. I’m thinking about offering a tooth whitening special.”

“I didn’t ask how many they print,” I say. “How many people actually read it?”

From here on out, my caller begins to give me a lot of “I’m not really sure” answers.

“Have any other dentists ever advertised in the publication? What kind of response did they get? How many readers are likely to already have a dentist? Assuming that a phenomenal ad or mailing targeted to a perfect audience might get you 1/4 of one percent of readers responding as prospects, what’s your cost per prospect? What’s your estimate on the number of prospects who won’t make an appointment, won’t show up for their appointment, won’t accept treatment, or won’t pay their bill? What is your average dollar volume of treatment for a patient in the first year? What’s the average lifetime value of a patient in your practice? Assuming that about 40% of the dollar volume of treatment on these new patients will be profit, how many patients must you attract to pay for your ad and still earn enough take home pay to make it worth your while?”

At this point, my caller is on the ropes – so, I go in for the knock down. “By the way Doc, how much are you doing INTERNALLY to increase revenue and maximize referrals from existing patients?”

My caller wakes up, “Huh, what do you mean?”

And, finally, I’ve got my opening. “Doc, can we talk about REAL marketing? I mean, aphids and ladybugs are cool, but REAL marketing is comprehensive, just like good dentistry. REAL marketing functions as a system, and best of all . . . it will skyrocket your profits. And that’s what you’re looking for after all . . . isn’t it?”

The Four Goals of Marketing

So what exactly is the real goal of marketing? It’s not to attract new patients, it’s not to have name recognition, it’s not to do more cosmetic treatment. It’s . . . are you ready for this . . . to MAKE MORE MONEY.

You see, most consultants and ad salesmen want you to think that marketing is how you get new patients. Some may even admit that you’re probably not going to get many new patients from your advertising or mailing efforts. They say you are getting “name recognition,” which is really a nice way to say you’re gonna get a major ego boost.

However, marketing is really all about making more money. And the best marketing to help you make more money is made up of four components. We call it “integrated marketing.” So here are the four components for your consideration:

1. Prospecting

Prospecting is any marketing activity that lets people know you exist. Ultimately it’s a sorting tool. You’re looking for people who are interested in becoming patients. Your goal is to get them to call your practice. Examples of prospecting include ads, mailers, websites, signs, and word of mouth. Unfortunately, many people believe prospecting is all there is to marketing, but it’s only the first step.

2. Closing

Closing is sales jargon for getting the prospect to become a patient. It encompasses the entire process of getting prospects into your practice, in the chair, willing to accept treatment and identifying themselves as your patient. Closing tactics include your front desk team phone skills, new patient greeting process, and new patient exam protocol. But you’re not just closing new prospects, you have to re-close your patients all the time. In other words you close both in the beginning of the relationship and throughout your entire relationship with a patient. Without effective closing, prospecting is useless.

3. Initial Value

For our purposes, initial value is a measure of how much economic value you get from a new patient in the first year. This value may include the dollar value of treatment you perform on the new patient, the patient’s willingness to pay their bill and keep their appointments, and the value of new referrals from the patient. Maximizing initial value is the most commonly overlooked component of marketing.

4. Residual Value

Residual value is the ultimate economic value of a patient to your practice over time. As with initial value, residual value has a lot to do with the “quality” of your relationship with your patients. A patient who accepts treatment, has regular hygiene visits, pays promptly, keeps appointments, arrives on time, and refers others has a high residual value. Residual value is the most important aspect of marketing in a dental practice, because general dentistry is basically a residual income business.

Better yet, each of the four components of integrated marketing builds on the others, developing synergy – where the total economic value is greater than the sum of the parts. So the question isn’t really whether you should run an ad in the “Horticultural Times Newsletter” - the question is, “Are your approaching your marketing in an integrated way?”

If you’re not, then maybe it’s time to take a step back and reconsider your idea of “marketing.” You’ve really got nothing to lose . . . except maybe being recognized by an avid gardener the next time you go shopping!