Not for the Faint of Heart

I want to add some additional thoughts to my most recent blog post on why you need to be an extraordinary practice and how to achieve that goal. A number of readers were kind enough to offer suggestions based on their own experiences.

1. Offer user-friendly payment options that utilize outsourcing. I have become a big fan of Lending Club.

2. Be more convenient. Early morning and early evening hours along with some Saturdays are very much appreciated. As my friend Fred Joyal likes to say “ even banks don’t work banker’s hours anymore!”

3. Make it easy for patients to read and write Google reviews.

4. Continuously upgrade and amplify your website. A prominent online presence is an absolute necessity.

5. Respect people’s time.

6. Offer an in-house membership plan for patients without dental insurance.

While you should always implement as many ideas and strategies to separate your practice from the competition, it has become increasingly important to do so in the recent dental insurance environment . A wake-up call, if you must. Be sure to also read the post that Seth Godin published way back in May 2014 about the futility of trying to be the cheapest. His last paragraph bears repeating to us as dentists. “In the long run, to be the cheapest is a refuge for people who don’t have the flair to design something worth paying for, who don’t have the guts to point to their product or their service and say, ‘this isn’t the cheapest, but it’s worth it’.”