Welcome to The Confidence Club E-zine

In This Issue

• Free Versus Fee - a Dilemma in Dentistry (Part 1)
• The Assessment Versus The Consultation (Part 2)
• Imagine, If You Will, a See-saw (Part 3)
• Some Advertising is Still Working
• How to Make Your Start Up Stand Out!
• Padawan Wanted!

Free Versus Fee - a Dilemma in Dentistry (Part 1)

There is a gap developing between those of my clients who tell me that "business is booming" and those who report gappy books for dentistry and hygiene.

I've been watching and listening very carefully and offer some observations.

Question 1 - why are the winners winning?

I've written before about the "big 5" retail offers and "KEDOS" - here's a quick revision.

The "Big 5"

• tooth whitening
• botox
• invisible braces (did you know that the word "Invisalign" is now appearing significantly in Google rankings?)
• smile makeovers for yummy mummies and glamorous grannies
• dental implants

It has been suggested that 2 out of 3 enquiries for private dentistry are now made via Google - and that the above list (plus "private dentist") is what people are looking for.

Conclusion

You MUST have a web site that is SEO'ed - (search engine optimised) for these terms.

KEDO's

The "knock 'em dead offer.

It's a recession. Every shop on the high street is throwing a SALE. You are in competition with EVERYBODY on the high street.

Make me an offer.

Examples that are working:

• whitening wednesdays (half price whitening) first seen in Liverpool a year ago - and now spreading virally
• invisalign open days and open evenings
• botox parties
• CPD study groups for referring dentists
• 24/7/365 emergency services
• dental tourism into the UK

Conclusion

You HAVE to make me an offer to get me in the door.

Now this is all well and good for the cosmetic practice - focused niche marketing for specific patients an/or specific products - it seems to be paying off.

But what about the GDP who is servicing a mixed bag of families as well as other demographic groups?

They are the dentists who are reporting gappy books and an Autumnal chill developing around the cash flows.

Some of them are attempting to "whiten" their way out of trouble, or use another of "The Big 5" to generate sales - but that may be a false indicator if the new patient numbers do not grow and if the dental and hygiene recalls continue to decline.

A commentator on the Today programme last week suggested that this recession may be "W" shaped and not "J" shaped - that we are heading for a second dip, after the Government's help for banks and business has been exhausted.

I'm wondering if there may not be a "second dip" for the private economy as well, forcing the hard-working British nuclear family to rein in their expenses - perhaps after one last Christmas jamboree?

Question 2- why are the strugglers struggling?

1. Why do patients cancel hygiene appointments?

I suggest that's the easy question - you know the answer.

Its because the dentist has always concluded a check up with words to the effect of:

"why don't you just pop next door now and see Mary for a polish?"

In other words, the importance of the hygienist has not been "bigged up" by the dentist and the team.

£50-55 for polishing my teeth and a chat about Strictly? No thanks, I'll wait until next time.

2. Why do patients cancel and defer check ups?

I'm going to suggest a couple of observations:

they don't cancel if they are "members" of the practice (paying a monthly direct debit) - unless they are in dire economic difficulty

Conclusion

Get that membership in place

they do cancel if they are on a fee per item basis and the cost of the check up and/or hygiene visit is becoming prohibitive

3. Why do your new patient consultations drop?

Because you are simply too expensive and priced out of the market OR you are too cheap and the right type of patients are not attracted by your offer.

The Assessment Versus The Consultation (Part 2)

I'm beginning to see practices differentiate between assessments and consults.

What's the difference?

The assessment is a meeting, normally free of charge, with a member of the team who IS NOT a fee-earner.

An assessment would include:

• a tour of the common areas of the practice
• a coffee in a nice area
• a review of the MHQ and Smile Check
• a general discussion of the patients desired outcomes
• an overview of the practice brand standards, core values and delivery systems

The beauty of this is that you can explain how new patients are triaged and, if appropriate, will see hygienists, therapists, associates or the principal, depending on their needs.

A great chance for the principal to introduce hygiene or therapist based maintenance. To escape from the tyranny of the maintenance book.

At the conclusion of the assessment, the prospective patient is invited to pay a deposit for a New Patient Consultation at a later visit.

You know exactly what's involved in a new patient consult, of course, and that would come at a price - the price being the "time" of the fee-earner.

This, however, brings us to a further possibility for differentiation.

Forgive me for such an unprofessional analogy - but let's take a look at an automatic car wash.

Prices can range from a few pounds for a quick shampoo and jet wash with cold water, to all sorts of frills around soaps, rinses, waxes, wheel trims, underbody washed and blow dry.

So why can't you offer a similar choice to your prospective new patients (and, for that matter, existing returnees?).

I'm sure the CACCU's (cheap as chips check ups) offered by Sainsbury at £16 and now Optical Express at £15 don't include all the clinical knobs and whistles that you might think necessary.

How's about:

• Complimentary assessment (as outlined above)
• Economy consult
• Standard consult
• Premier consult

I'll leave you to decide what could be included in each category of consult - I'm promoting a debate here.

A client called me the other day to bemoan the fact that patients were dropping off and deferring their £48 check ups.

Hardly surprising when nobody in the team was able to differentiate the difference between that and what the CACCU or NHS practices are offering.

Its no longer sufficient to simply say that "we are private" - I can get a private new patient consult for £15 out there.

Look at what Smilepod are doing - offering hygiene visits that range in price from £35 to £125 - very clever marketing.

CLICK HERE

What's interesting about the Smilepod offer is that they are packaging their services as "branded experiences" - remember my blithering on about that? 

Imagine, If You Will, a See-saw (Part 3)

At one end is the CACCU - the cut price, low price, no price option that gets the punters in the door so that you can weave your magic.

At the other end is the "full monty" - the added value offer that represents a considerable investment by the client.

There is room for both in the market - but YOU MUST differentiate between the two.

Conclusion

Time for you to do the same - a branded experience for:

• Assessments
• New Patient Consults
• Review visits

If you don't do this - you will end up in a price war with giant retailers with deep pockets.

My focus for 2010 is the creation of "branded experiences" for my clients.

Some Advertising is Still Working

Afshin Khalessi and Bita Farzad are the principals of College Street Dental Practice in Petersfield, Hampshire, recently short-listed for the Dentistry Awards.

They have a satellite clinic in the nearby village of Liss - and wanted to "drum up some business".

So a series of 6 adverts were placed in a local newspaper The Petersfield Post - a few are reproduced here.  

(Right mouse click on the image to the right and get the PDF of all the ads.)

I contacted Bita and asked:

• permission to reproduce in the blog/ezine? Yes
• what were the costs? each advert costs £405 (spent to the end of sep about £2400 on the adverts)
• what results have you measured? good results. about £10-12000 in treatment value if they all come and have it done. Best results were from the Implant advert.

So my oft repeated mantra that "print media is dead" may not be 100% accurate.

I suggest that this is a small circulation newspaper that covers an affluent area.

How to Make Your Start Up Stand Out!

I have noticed a gradual increase this year in the number of enquiries from associates wanting to start their own practice.

That seems counter-intuitive, given the economic conditions and circumstances I have outlined above.

My pondering on this leads me to the conclusion that:

• the associate with ambition is tired of banging out UDA's or living in the "back room" of the practice with tired equipment, poor staff and the rag end of the patient database
• the rise and rise of cosmetic dentistry appeals to them
• the banks are tentatively starting to lend again
• there are some good acquisition opportunities around, buying single-handed practices from early-retirers who cannot sell to corporates because they are too small

A client in Scotland who is just about to open a private squat asked for an introduction to Ollie and Darsh and some information on how they had manage the last 12 months.

I am indebted to Suzy Gorman for her reply and for permission to reproduce it here:

Firstly, thank you for taking an interest in our wonderful practice.

I was in exactly the same boat as you this time 12 months ago as Ollie and Darsh is still only 11 months old! I can understand why are feeling scared especially in today’s current climate – what I would say is have faith in your own ability and that of your team, embrace the change it’s an amazing ride!

Money gets spent at amazing speeds and the true comprehension of exactly how much has been spent is not realised until you start to do your numbers, so tread carefully - always try to keep to budget!

The idea to open a fully private practice from squat was so exciting even in a recession - and Ollie and Darsh and myself had many meetings long into the night, and today I can quite proudly say that when I look back at the recorded minutes, we have more or less stuck to our initial vision.

Most of our Marketing worked to be honest and perhaps there was an element of luck involved. It all started with the internal marketing - the tasteful decoration of our clinic and a fair few branded products. I should comment that our marketing was innovative and quite clever, with very bold statements running through it.

We have used the local train station, Radio, PR, Newspapers, Magazines, Flyers delivered to local businesses, open days, launches to Chamber of Commerce and other large business networks, BNI networking, a taxi cab, a blend of interruption marketing to word of mouth marketing, direct advertising via our A-Board and shop windows and more recently a fantastic new website with improved S.E.O.

In regards to your query about radio advertising it has definitely worked for us , so much so that we have arranged continuous campaigns with our local station. Initially we marketed Invisalign and by using this precise marketing stream Ollie and Darsh have become the leading Invisalign clinic in Liverpool, owning the status of the only Platinum Elite practice in the north west!

Networking has also worked well, from breakfast business meetings to business after hours to having a stand on a health and well-being day at a large firm of solicitors... Here an apt way of describing business to business meetings is - it’s not what you know it’s who you know!

I don’t know how far you have got with your website but I would have to say this is the most important area when marketing your practice, we made a few mistakes on our first website and I can highly recommend that you give Guy Levine a call , (the resident web guru) 0845 8622122 or email guy.levine@webmarketingadvisor.com. His advice has proven to be priceless! He has improved the context, content and technical architecture of our website and increased the amount of websites which link to us. This has been achieved without sacrificing the sales message of our site and has targeted to searches with a commercial intent. You must give him a call if only for advice - I really can’t express how important this is and how helpful Guy and his team are.

At the end of each month I do a referral source report which guides us on which streams are working and which are not and this is another recommendation I would make to you, it also allows you to see the amount of revenue brought into the practice from a designated marketing stream. The improvements to our website (along with the radio campaign) have made both marketing avenues our top referral sources over the last 3 months and considering we have only implemented the website SEO and PPC changes 4 months ago these results are truly amazing. From a managerial point of view I can very confidently recommend the expense in the continuity of this type of marketing to both of my principals.

How quickly did it happen? Our brand awareness happened very quickly, we did not have a rush of people fighting to get through the door as that is not what we wanted to achieve in a private practice . Within 5 months of opening I had two principal dentists with full lists and booked up a week in advance.

I have to say that although most of these revenues worked for us in one way or another, with the website the radio and the local train station proving to be the more reliable sources, still, it does not necessarily mean they will work for you, so please you must do some market research in your area. Good market research is a very important part of starting a new business. There is no point pumping all your time, money and effort into a business idea that may fail.

If you would further help please email or call me.

Kind regards

Suzy

Padawan Wanted!

We are looking for a highly motivated, enthusiastic dentist to join our team from January onwards, covering 3 days a week. The position is ideally suited to someone who wants to learn the art and business of dentistry in a world class dental practice.

HRS Dentalcare is a mainly private practice on the edge of the Cotswolds, 25 minutes from Bristol, which is fully “Barrowed Up”, providing its clients with excellent dentistry in a superb environment.

About You

You are passionate about dentistry and have a commitment to providing excellent clinical care to our patients.

You want to be well rewarded for your high quality treatment.

You are committed to postgraduate development, and have an eye for the detail.

You are a great communicator (in English) and able to work as part of a highly skilled team.

You want to work in a well run business that is forward thinking

About us

Cutting edge Principal with defined long term vision and aspiration.

We are a practice with a local reputation for having excellent customer care and producing wonderful, highly aesthetic dentistry.

Highly enthusiastic qualified support team striving towards the perfect patient journey, including the use of a treatment co-ordinator.

Hi-tech, state of the art practice with more gadgets than James Bond

To find out more about this superb opportunity please contact smile@hrsdental.co.uk or visit our website www.hrsdental.co.uk

Associate position

West Moors, Dorset.

Associate required 3 days per week in Private/Denplan practice with small NHS children’s contract.

We are seeking high enthusiasm, excellent communication skills, a commitment to excellent patient care and postgraduate development.

You should be able to work as part of a synergistic team. Start date is 4/1/10.

E-mail CV to: ajh@moorlandsdp.co.uk

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