Growing a New Practice in the New Dental Economy

Ienjoy speaking with young dentists about the career they have chosen and urging them to avoid picking up bad habits, adopting outdated approaches, or wasting time and money on ill-conceived strategies.

Young dentists who have already opened their own practices have presumably already drawn up a proper business plan and created an annual operating budget. If so, they are ready to increase production rapidly by focusing on marketing.

Grow Your Practice from the Ground Up

Fortunately, unlike quite a few older dentists, the new generation

accepts the necessity of m a r k e t i n g their practices. Unfortunately, this makes them more vulnerable to misleading promises of success using external marketing techniques. Many of these are promoted by marketing “experts” who reap large profits for themselves from ads, mailers and other media aimed at a broad “external” audience. Typically, such efforts fail to even pay for themselves 80 percent of the time.

By Roger P. Levin, DDS

The alternative, internal marketing, when executed properly pays a return on investment 98% of the time according to the Levin Group Data Center™. But there’s a catch. Internal marketing involves persuading existing patients to refer new patients to the practice, and new dentists do not yet have enough patients for internal

Roger P. Levin, DDS Practice Builders

marketing to work fast enough. How, then, does the young dentist get the ball rolling? With some judicious spending and a lot of “shoe leather” marketing. Strategies for attracting patients include:

small brochure or flyer featuring your introductory offer. • Staff as Ambassadors Encourage the staff to go out in the community during practice hours when patients are not scheduled. They, too, should introduce themselves, talk a little about the new practice and give out cards and the offer flyer. • Announcement Ad with Offer If you decide to spend money on an announcement ad, do more than simply announce the practice has opened. Feature the offer to attract patients to your office. • Support Network Get family members and friends involved in acquainting everyone they know about the practice. Ask them to mention your practice at work, social events, community gatherings—anywhere they can. They may even be

Introductory Offer for New Patients This could be a free first exam, reducedcost hygiene visit, free whitening after first appointment, etc. It should be an offer that will catch people’s attention and entice them into the practice. The offer can be used in a number of ways, some of which are discussed below. • Community Outreach Spend as much time as possible out in the community, meeting people and letting them know there’s a new dental practice in the neighborhood. Join community groups, serve on boards and committees, attend local sports events and sponsor teams, etc. Give your card to everybody, along with a

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willing to hand out your cards if you ask them. • Database Building During all these activities, be sure to collect names, addresses, email addresses, etc., from the people contacted so that you will be able to get them to “like” your practice on Facebook and encourage them to let their acquaintances know about your practice.

Promote Exponential Growth with Internal Marketing

Once the patient base begins to grow, the science of internal marketing can begin to play a role in building the practice and creating exponential growth.

Internal marketing is aimed primarily at current patients. Contrary to what some dentists apparently think, a few old gimmicks used sporadically do not constitute an internal marketing program. To be effective, a program should consist of a variety of different strategies, custom-selected for the practice and used consistently throughout the year. Longterm experience with practices of all types all across the country has shown that using multiple strategies (we recommend a minimum of 15) works more effectively for two reasons. First, it usually takes a number of attempts to cut through the clutter and actually reach people, and it often takes more than one exposure to persuade them to respond. Having more strategies working for your practice simultaneously enables you to achieve the necessary reach and exposure levels to get the desired response, i.e., giving the practice a referral.

Maximize Growth with Excellent Follow-Up and Customer Service

It is equally important to use a variety of different strategies because different approaches will appeal to different people. Categories to include are:

Educational – interesting information about dentistry and other subjects • Fun – contests, raffles, games and other activities • Public Service – involvement in programs that benefit the community • Family & Friends – vouchers for free services given to patients to pass along • Social Media – a powerful communications vehicle that can be used to reach,

our pleasure to have you as a patient. As a young practice, we would be pleased to welcome any of your family or friends as part of our No-Cost First Exam Program.” Using a name such as this makes it seem more valuable, and also avoids sounding like the practice is desperate for referrals. It adds muchneeded credibility for the new dentist. • Customer service lays the foundation for effective internal marketing strategies. Patients who are extremely pleased with how they are treated at your practice will be naturally inclined to recommend you to anyone they know who may need dental care. Ask them for referrals and they will respond.

It is equally important to use a variety of different

strategies because different approaches

will appeal to different people.

interact with and engage many potential and existing patients The Levin Group target is for 40-60 percent of all current patients to refer at least one new patient per year. If a young dentist has 300 patients, for example, and 50 percent of them refer, the patient base will more than double in two years from this strategy alone, totaling approximately 675 patients.

Conclusion

Marketing is a multi-pronged, ongoing activity that should be fully integrated into every aspect of practice operation. No single idea provided here will create rapid practice growth for the young dentist all by itself. However, brought together in a robust marketing program, these techniques will position the young practice for many years of growth, success and professional satisfaction. ■

One very important point for young dentists to learn is that some aspects of practice operations which are not labeled as “marketing” can have a tremendous effect on marketing success. Examples of this include:

To learn how to run a more profitable, efficient and satisfying practice, visit the Levin Group Resource Center at www.levingroup. com. You can also connect with Levin Group on Facebook and Twitter (@Levin_Group) to learn strategies and share ideas.

The front desk coordinator must be trained, scripted and prepared to convert a one-time shopper into a long-term patient. This must be proactive process. You cannot afford to wait for prospective patients to ask for appointments. Even if they like the practice and intend to come back if they need any dental work, that interest will fade if the practice does not ask for the commitment. • Follow-up with every patient every evening. Calling patients at night to see how they are feeling, regardless of what procedure they had done, is a very powerful strategy. This type of outreach will make an excellent impression, especially if the conversation is guided by a script such as, “It is

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