When Facebook first burst on the scene, many dental offices created Business pages with the high hopes of capturing leads and gaining new patients at a rapid rate. As many of you who tried this know, it didn’t quite work out that way. But over time, Facebook has introduced marketing tools that have enhanced the platform to allow businesses to market themselves. As a result of these changes, dental offices are able to target potential patients and get them to become aware of their content, unlike ever before.

Have you ever logged on to Facebook and seen ads on the side of your screen? Those ads are targeted specifically to you. They may be targeting you because of where you live, what you have indicated you like, how old you are, or even what you have talked about on Facebook.  Thus Facebook’s ad platform will allow you, the dentist, to target people who live within the communities you serve. This, I believe, is an extremely effective marketing strategy.

Think about this: what if you could show your face and a note about how amazing your office is to every person living in the area where your practice is located? Historically, the only way you could be assured to reach these people would be through direct mail. Now with Facebook ads, you can create an ad that targets people in your town and show them that ad multiple times. This can be done for a fraction of what it would cost to direct mail them.

Additionally, Facebook has recently allowed business pages to “boost their posts.” What this means is that when you post something on your page, you now have the capability of paying to ensure that your content shows up not only in front of the people who Like your page, but to their friends as well. You can also choose to show that content to people targeted by age, gender, geographic, or language. The results are measureable, and with Facebook’s superior analytics, you are able to see the impact in relation to the dollars you spend.

It is important to understand that your impact and results will be commensurate with the amount of people who are in your target area and who Like your page. The amount of people who Like your page can easily be grown by using Facebook ads. So my recommendation is to use the ad platform to get as many Likes as you can. From there, if you are posting interesting content, you will see an incremental increase in engagement and eventually lots of new patients. It should be noted that Facebook  won’t allow you to boost a post unless you have 100 Likes, so work first on increasing Likes, next on posting interesting content, and last on boosting the posts of that interesting content.

If it all seems like too much, ask for help. There are people out there who specialize in Facebook marketing. These people take the time to understand how to leverage Facebook’s tools to increase the exposure of your practice, stay up to date on the changes, and provide valuable insight that can help you grow your effectiveness using this platform. Contact me if you would like a recommendation.

In an effort to promote specialized services such as invisible braces, same-day crowns, sedation, and non-surgical periodontal therapy (LANAP), some dentists are marketing themselves on the Internet by creating a separate domain with a single page site. These “exact match” domains convey a quick message with a clear call to action outside the normal information visible on the dentist’s primary website. These pages often have a simplified navigation, bullet pointed selling points, and a short paragraph about the practice and contact information plastered across the page. These domains have zero history with search engines from an organic standpoint. Thus they are outside the organic optimization efforts of the primary site. The only way to find them is with a pay per click campaign that will land you on this page. Hence the term “landing page”.

In recent years, Google has placed more emphasis on sites with high quality content and penalizes low-quality sites lacking in content. So creating landing pages within your primary site makes a lot more sense. These new pages can feature all the hallmarks of separate exact match domains, but they will benefit from the strength of the primary site. The landing pages I am describing should be optimized with the proper page title, meta description (including for photos), h1 tag, and content that is easy to scan yet provides the rich user experience of the practice’s primary branding. The page must of course have content that matches consumer searches and contain a call to action like “Click here to learn more”. Your webmaster can also create a different look–for example a different banner–that totally distinguishes this page from all others on the site while still retaining the colors and feel and character of your website.

Those of you who follow my blog know that I’ve always been a fan of creating websites that position well on the local Google business map by utilizing ethical and innovative SEO techniques. Recently, I am starting to feel that you need – and will benefit from –  additional firepower.  Since Google constantly changes its algorithms, you cannot totally control how Google matches consumer searches to content on your website.  The only real way to control consumer search and which pages a consumer is brought to is by placing Google Adwords.

With Adwords, you choose the terms you want to be shown for, and you choose where you bring the consumer. For instance, if you want to have your ad show when someone within a certain geographic location searches for clear braces, and you want them to land on your Invisalign or Six Month Smiles page, you can control that with an Adwords campaign.

While it is possible for you to do your own Adwords campaign, I advocate that you hire someone to do it for you. A specialist in this area can insure that the correct keywords are picked, that people are being routed to the correct landing pages, that possibly certain keywords are excluded, that you aren’t wasting your ad  dollars on keywords that won’t ultimately get people to call, that you aren’t wasting your ad budget outside of the geographical reach, and that you are getting a good return on your investment.   Additionally, a specialist is acutely familiar with reports and how to interpret them to get you the best results.

If your website is outdated – or worse if you don’t even have a website – then your only option is the exact match domain. But if you are proud of your website, and it is reflective of the personality and character of your practice, then using landing pages within your site seems like such the better way to go. As always, I remain interested in your opinion.

Over the last few months, I have been discussing strategies for solidifying and reinforcing the relationships you have created with your existing patients. If you consistently meet or exceed their expectations, in theory they should never leave. I suggest that you go back and review this information with your entire team. And today let’s put the finishing touches on what I think are the two absolutes for continuing to distinguish your practice in your community.

“Thank you” and “How may I help you” are magical words that will disarm even the most critical and demanding individual. “How may I help you” should be the start of every conversation and patient interaction. And it must be genuine and sincere and heartfelt. Providing a solution has to be a given –whether for resolving a problem with a dental insurance claim, changing a scheduled appointment, accommodating an emergency, making a referral to another provider, or calling in a prescription to the local pharmacy.

Eliminate road blocks, eliminate ego, and recognize that patients want solutions and expect you to provide the answers quickly. Be certain to always follow through. Never overpromise and under deliver.  I’ve said many times before, in this day and age when poor customer service is rampant, it is really not that hard to be good when everyone else is so bad.

Saying “thank you” is the finish of every conversation.  Even better when you include the name of the patient along with the thank you. Try to look for ways to say thank you: for posting a wonderful Google review, or for referring a new patient to the practice, or simply for your understanding of any perceived failure on your part to deliver a quality experience.

The cumulative effect of these efforts will be genuine, unsolicited, word of mouth recommendations that should continue to drive new patient flow. And of course they will reinforce the belief of your existing patients that there is no finer dental office on the planet!

This is my third post of a series on strategies to promote patient attraction/patient retention. The first was on the importance of post treatment telephone calls, and the second was on the marketing impact of technology. Today I would like to discuss the importance of staying on time.

I firmly believe that the doctor is ultimately responsible for staying on time. No matter how perfectly crafted a schedule might be at the start of a day, it can all go to hell in a handbag if the doctor does not stick with the program. At the core, it becomes simply an issue of respect. An agreement and an understanding that the patient’s time and the patient’s life is just as important as yours. And I do find that people/patients will respect your time in direct proportion to the way you respect theirs. It has to become a major part of the DNA of the practice–we will stay on time!

So what can a doctor do to consistently maintain an on –time schedule?

1. Do not perform definitive therapy for emergency patients. While I strongly advocate that emergencies should be seen on the day of the call, the main goal should be to relieve pain or anxiety. Diagnose the problem. Get them comfortable, of course. And then reschedule for definitive therapy.
2. Resist the temptation to present elaborate treatment plans in the hygiene room. This creates delays in both the hygiene schedule and the doctor schedule. More on this next time.
3. Stop taking personal calls during business hours – like from a stockbroker or a golf buddy. Totally unacceptable. And please don’t think that patients in treatment rooms are not aware of what is going on. When some-one is reclined in the dental chair and hears the doctor gabbing instead of paying attention to them, it is very aggravating.
4. Do not agree to or allow a treatment schedule that you know is unsustainable or unrealistic. I could spend six hours discussing proper scheduling, so this is obviously not the place to do that. But the two most common scheduling errors that I observe are related to unbridled optimism: an inadequate time allowance for a known procedure, and an inadequate time allowance for a patient put in the schedule for an unknown procedure like a toothache or broken filling. Both of these situations almost guarantee that the doctor will fall behind.
5. Be aware of the implications of bad judgment calls. This typically happens when a scheduled procedure is not progressing well. Maybe the patient was late, maybe an impression has to be repeated because the tissue was bleeding. There are a million examples. It’s important to know when to punt. Don’t mess up an entire morning or afternoon by insisting on finishing the procedure.

There will be, of course, situations where despite your best efforts, you get behind schedule. If you can anticipate this, it is always a good idea to call a patient to let them know you are running late. This beats their sitting in your reception room waiting – and waiting – staring at the front desk person and looking at their watch. When you keep someone waiting more than fifteen minutes, they start mentally counting up all your faults! I also recommend sending a small gift – movie tickets or coffee cards – with a note apologizing for the inconvenience.

Above all else, take the stress out of your life. Stay on time. Everyone is much happier.

Last winter, I had the opportunity to spend some extended vacation time in Naples, Florida. I was playing golf with someone I had recently met – a really nice guy from the Boston area – who, when he found out that I was a dentist, shared with me that he had found a great young dentist in Naples and that he was leaving his dentist of long standing up North. “This dentist,” he told me, “could show me my x-rays instantly on his computer and he made a crown for me in one appointment. Although I liked my dentist on a personal level, I realized he was nowhere near as current”. Interesting comments.

A few weeks later, at a large dinner party back home, I overheard another “dentist” story of a similar nature. A woman was raving about her dentist (who actually was a client of mine) and how the office was so up to date with lots of “cool stuff.” Two people listening to the conversation asked if the dentist was taking new patients!

The message is that technology definitely creates a buzz and makes a major impression on your patient base. People today are very savvy and impressionable. You just can’t afford to be complacent and simply maintain the status quo if you intend to keep the loyalty of your patients. And the dental profession of the 21st century has no shortage of fabulous technology to create a WOW experience.

Digital x-rays offer less radiation and can be viewed almost immediately. The ability to manipulate and enlarge images enhances your ability to diagnose – and ultimately sell dentistry.

Florida Probe offers a computer generated voice that “speaks” the results of very accurate periodontal probings. And for some reason, patients believe a machine more than a human being! As the numbers are being announced, a very nice color chart is created on the computer showing quite clearly where the problems are.

Same day crowns with Cerec and E4D use CAD/CAM digital impressions to eliminate the need for gloppy impression material and temporary crowns that can break or dislodge in between appointments. Patients love the idea that they can get their crown in less than two hours and don’t have to come back.

Diagnodent for caries detection is pretty nifty laser technology, and again, patients seem to readily believe a machine more than the dentist. Without question, the word laser equates to high tech – and patients continue to be impressed.

A website is a must, and you certainly will not be considered relevant if you don’t have one. And be sure it is designed so that it can be viewed easily from a smart phone or a tablet.

Appointment reminders by email or text are the natural evolution from a staff member making phone calls. In this day and age, just about everyone texts. Telephone calls are almost obsolete. For many reasons, I am a big fan of Demand Force.

We as dentists certainly understand the clinical value of technolog and make judgments on purchases based on economics and return on investment. My main point is that when making your decisions, please do not overlook or discount the marketing value of technology.

In hundreds of practices over the years, I have seen a direct correlation between the introduction of technology and practice growth. Your patients are constantly evaluating you and your practice– even at a subconscious level. The image you want to promote is relevance – not obsolescence.

Those of you who follow my posts know of my passion for delivering exquisite customer service. Clinical excellence is of course an unquestioned requirement for success in dentistry, but our patients are usually not capable of evaluating our performance. But they certainly can make judgments on how they are treated. The need to create nothing short of a fabulous five-star experience for each and every interaction between the dental office and the patient is an absolute. Everyone who works in the practice is equally obligated to try to provide a level of excellence and respect and caring – from the doctor to the clinical team to the business team. Easier said than done. Over the next few months, I’d like to offer my thoughts on how to make your patients happy – so happy that they would never ever think of leaving your practice.

Over the years, I have had my gallbladder removed, my prostate removed, two inguinal hernias repaired and one umbilical hernia repaired. Probably a bit more complicated than a quadrant of restorative dentistry! But never once did I ever get a post-treatment telephone call from the surgeon. Four different doctors–four different surgical practices–each time the same lack of attention. Give me a break – I mean if you cut someone open, don’t you think you might want to call to see if they are okay? I find that behavior unacceptable. But it illustrates one of my favorite sayings about customer service: “It is not hard to be good when everyone else is so bad.”

I recommend that at the end of every day, the doctor – not any other staff member – but the doctor personally makes a two-minute telephone call to check on any patient who has undergone an extraction, endodontic treatment, or even restorative dentistry of two or three teeth in a quadrant or an arch. I made these calls every business day for the 29 years I was in practice. In my opinion, these calls significantly contributed to the growth and success I enjoyed.

After the treatment visit and before the patient heads out to the front desk, the doctor should say something like, “Joe – there is a good possibility you may be uncomfortable when the local anesthesia wears off. Here is a prescription for 600 mg. of Ibuprofin. If you need anything stronger, just give me a call.” Do NOT tell the patient that you will call. It should be unexpected.

A staff member prepares the patient list with telephone numbers so that the doctor can easily make the calls at the end of the day from the office or using a mobile phone on the way home. Usually, with good clinical technique, our patients are rarely very uncomfortable. A typical response to the doctor asking “how are you feeling” is often “I am actually doing fine.” Since you told the patient there was the likelihood of discomfort, this makes you look good. And if in fact they are uncomfortable, you told them this was a possibility.

Patients are blown away that a busy doctor takes the time to call. It is just not something they expect, and they share this experience with others. I was recently discussing my ideas on customer service with a physician friend who feels the way I do. His response was “As I get older, I find I am not surprised by anything, but I still get very disappointed.” I told him how jaded I have become over the years and how I now almost feel that the key to happiness is to have no expectations.

The fact remains that people do have expectations, and people are disappointed with what they perceive to be unacceptable behavior. In your practice, please strive to go the extra yard and do the unexpected. Make that call. You will definitely be rewarded.

As a rule of thumb when I measure the revenue potential of a general practice. I estimate $1000/patient/year. So if a practice has 500 active patients, it should produce $500,000. If it has 1000 active patients, it should produce $1,000,000. Just for purposes of clarification, my definition of an “active” patient is someone who has an appointment scheduled within the next six months. We could certainly argue about my valuation metrics, but I don’t think anyone questions the on-going, year after year value of someone who comes in for treatment and refers others to the practice. In a recent post, Fred Joyal, the founder of 1-800-DENTIST, estimates the lifetime value of a dental patient is $10,000 minimum before implants, and the average time keeping patients is 10 to 20 years.

So if our patients are worth so much money, why don’t we take better care of them? And why is there so much focus on all kinds of marketing to acquire new patients when maintaining and fostering the relationships with our current patients will keep us busier than ever? Please don’t misunderstand – of course we need a continuous supply of new patients, and we should have well thought out strategies in place to attract new patients. But I think most dental practices would be well served to think about patient retention as well as patient attraction.

It all starts with making patients feel special and appreciated. I recently read an interesting article about the timing of when an existing patient leaves a dental practice. You would guess it would most likely be soon after an initial visit – the patient didn’t connect with the doctor and office. The data concluded – to my surprise – that a significant number of patients left after five or six years. Exit interviews as to why the patients had left had a common thread. “When I first was a patient, they made quite a fuss about me. Now it seems like I’m just a number, and I don’t get the same attention and respect I used to.”

How very sad – and unfortunate – and totally unacceptable. Over the next few months, I intend to share with you ideas on what I see working in dental practices to keep patients happy.

Last week my wife drove to the Mall to try to purchase Mother’s Day gift cards for our daughter and two daughters in law. Her destination was an upscale boutique cosmetics store where she had shopped many times before. To her disbelief, she discovered that the store had closed. Undaunted, she went next door into Macy’s where they sold these cosmetics, and asked to buy a gift card for the particular product she was seeking. “I’m sorry,” said the sales clerk, “we can’t do that–I can only sell you a Macy’s gift card.”

My wife then went to Nordstrom at the other end of the Mall. The salesperson at the cosmetic counter had a different response when asked about the gift cards. “We can only do a Nordstrom gift card–but I’m going to put five small samples of the product with each gift card so that your daughters will know exactly what you are trying to do.” That Nordstrom employee scored a nice sale by being creative and understanding the need of the customer. Of course, Nordstrom customer service is legendary – no surprise there. The Macy’s saleswoman said “No.” The person working at Nordstrom figured out a way to say “Yes”.

I believe this tale is relevant for everyone who works in your dental practice – but especially so for the staff members who answer the phone. Whomever is answering the telephone at your office just might be the most important person in your employ. She creates the first image in the patient’s memory bank. She is the face and the voice of the practice. Her job is to figure out how to never say no to a patient. Rather, she should say “The best way I can help you is…” Eight words. Memorize them.

Getting new patients in the door promptly and keeping the schedule full requires great communication skills, understanding of customer service, knowing how to make people feel special, and a recognition that you will do whatever it takes to make things work out for the patient. How can I help you get what you want? How can I make visiting our office convenient for you?

When people are happy, they tell others, and you will certainly be rewarded for your efforts. In this day and age, patients have options, and patients have choices where to have their dental treatment. In order to be sure that the dentistry gets done in YOUR office, you need to routinely go above and beyond the call of duty – in every patient interaction – and consistently exceed–not just equal – people’s expectations. Learn to always say yes!

PS – The girls loved their Mother’s day gifts!!