Grabbing the attention

Did that grab your attention?

It certainly did mine.
And that's the power of effective marketing. As a dentist looking to grow your practice and reach new patients, capturing their attention and making a lasting impression is essential. Just like the Specsavers campaign, your marketing should stand out and tell prospective patients that you're not only established but also fun to be around!

Yes, fun!

Making the experience more enjoyable and less intimidating, more personable, and making patients feel welcome and appreciated.

Remember, don't settle for boring or generic marketing. Make an impact and stand out in our crowded market. #marketing #experience

Direct mail - the return of its popularity

Direct mail is making a comeback in the mainstream marketing world, and for a good reason - it's an important channel to use for building relationships between dental practices and their patients. With businesses of all kinds continuing to embrace digital technology, email, Google ads, Instagram and social media, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest trends.

Fortunately, a physical letter offers one solution that still stands out from the rest when it comes to engaging your patients and future patients.

This blog post talks about how direct mail works and why its popularity is growing among dental practices everywhere!

Understanding the appeal of direct mail- why it has become popular again

Direct mail may seem like a thing of the past, but it has actually become increasingly popular again in recent years. So what's the appeal?

For one, it allows for a more personal connection between your patients. In a world where we are bombarded with digital advertisements, ping after ping after ping. A letter stands out as something tangible and physical. Additionally, direct mail can be highly targeted, allowing practices and referral practices to send news and service offers specifically to those most likely interested.

With the rise of technology, the art of receiving something in the mail has become a novelty, and direct mail has proven to be an effective way to stand out from the noise and hangs around longer.

The tactile human

You see, the thing is, we are human beings, and we still like to hold things in our hands. If you want to grab the attention of potential customers through direct mail, it's important to make sure your piece is both creative and effective. The key is to think outside the box and come up with a unique approach that will make your piece stand out from the rest.

• Dentists like to take their time over interesting cases on a Saturday morning.

• Patients like to pass on newsletters to friends and family.

Keep in mind that successful direct mail campaigns require both creativity and strategic thinking, so take the time to carefully craft every aspect of your dentist/patient piece to maximise its impact.

If you are thinking of running a newsletter campaign, call me, and we can chat about some game-changing tactics.

Attributes to building trust

The Eldermann Trust Barometer is an annual survey measuring the levels of trust people have in various institutions and businesses worldwide.

The survey covers a range of industries, including healthcare, finance, education, and government. According to the results of the Eldermann Trust Barometer, there are several key attributes that businesses can cultivate to build trust with their customers.

Building trust is a crucial aspect of any business, and dental referral practices are no exception. By implementing the Eldermann Trust Barometer, referral practices can cultivate a strong reputation and build relationships with dentists and patients alike. Here are some ways to put the Trust Barometer into practice in a dental referral practice:

Transparency: Referral practices can build trust through transparency by clearly communicating their referral process and fees to dentists. They should ensure their fees are competitive. Transparency can also extend to the follow-up process, actively updating the referring dentist on their patient's progress for transparency and providing all necessary patient notes in the transfer process.Providing advice of when the referred patients is being returned tot he practice.

Integrity: Referral practices can demonstrate integrity by always putting the needs of the patient and referring practitioner first. Referral practices should ensure high ethical standards in their decision-making. The referral practice takes responsibility for patients that have been referred as if they were in-house.

Competency: Referral practices should demonstrate high clinical skill and experience to build trust with referring dentists. This means sharing continuing education events, supporting referral clinics on new techniques, and sharing reports among the industry so referring dentists can see growth and development.

Empathy: Referral practices can show empathy by treating referring dentists as friends/peers. Practitioners within the referral practices should listen actively to the referring dentist's needs and concerns, promptly taking any necessary actions where necessary to support and assist assisting the clinician when there is something delicate that needs to be addressed in terms of patient care with regard to the referral.

By implementing the Eldermann Trust Barometer, referral practices can build long-lasting relationships with referring dentists by emphasizing transparency, integrity, competency, and empathy, resulting in more referrals and better patient outcomes.

 If you re considering building your referral practice. Feel free to contact me if you are in the SouthEast of England. Let’s chat!

Building Referrals - The Trust Factory

Building trust is vital in any business but especially crucial in growing a dental referral practice. Here are a few reasons why:

Firstly, trust helps to establish credibility. When referring dentists trust your practice, they are more likely to refer their patients to you, and their patients are more likely to accept the referral and trust the treatment plan. By building a reputation where you nail excellent patient outcomes, do exactly what is prescribed and provide good communication to the dentist, you can secure more referrals and grow your practice.

·       Listen and understand potential referring dentists’ service needs

·       Cohesively work well as a team/multi-disciplined approach

·       Place treatment ahead of profits for the best outcome.

·       Has highly regarded and widely admired clinical skills

You don't need a huge marketing budget – but you need to build relationships, and this can take time.

Secondly, trust helps to establish loyalty. You don't need 100’s referrals; just 30 dentists that trust your practice and you become friends, and then they are more likely to partner with you for the long term, making repeat referrals based on their positive experiences with your practice. This repeat business can create a steady revenue stream and help solidify your position in the industry.

·       Treat only within the prescribed referral from the GDP

·       Communication process so nothing gets missed

·       Be 100% transparent and open to discussions with the GDP

·       Socialise, mentor and support.

·       Creates great educational programmes which positively affect the impact on local practices

Thirdly, trust fosters collaboration. Referring dentists who trust your practice are more likely to work collaboratively with you to ensure the best possible outcomes for their patients. This can lead to a more robust referral network and higher patient care.

·       Provide the highest quality evidence-based treatment for patients

·       Seen to be an innovator of new products and services

·       Does it need saying?... Return every patient

·       Highly regarded and widely admired

Finally, trust leads to positive word-of-mouth. When patients receive high-quality care from providers they trust, they are more likely to spread the word to their friends and family. This can help to increase your patient base, leading to more referrals and further growth for your practice.

Overall, building trust is an essential aspect of growing a successful dental referral practice. By cultivating a positive reputation for delivering excellent outcomes, building long-term relationships, fostering collaboration, and encouraging positive word-of-mouth, you can position your practice for growth and continued success.

Secret & effective way to build referrals

Something to think about....

Dental Referral marketing

If your target market is certain types of local dental practices, say, and your goal is to acquire another 25 or 30 of them as your referrers this year, then there is no need to embark upon complex email campaigns or landing pages, or invest lots of time developing your social media presence, your Facebook page or running glossy ads in the dental magazines.

 You’ve simply got to ask for a meeting!

Dental referral marketing can be very, very straightforward, and the goal of the referral marketing expert is concerned is simply to set up a meeting with potential future referrers.

Most of my practices are never looking for hundreds or thousands of dentists, just a select few.

In each one, they want a relatively small number of new dentists who are based within a fairly small geographic radius.

In these situations, asking for a meeting is the smartest thing.

Last month, whilst working with one of my referral practices, we simply rang up local practices and asked if we were referring for periodontal treatment. When she said we were, we said that she would be passing the following day, handing out some chocolate, and asked if we could pop in and drop them off.

 We provided an inoffensive, well-delivered pitch to get a meeting and guess what? It worked.

The same approach may work for you.

You have to think about giving your potential referrers a strong enough reason for them to see you (in this case, chocolate worked really well – and we also provided another little innovative incentive) and, as well, be smart about the amount of time that you are asking for.

 Something along the lines of “I’ve got this really “cool thing” that I think could make a real difference to you… can I have 10 minutes of your time next week to pop in and show it to you?” And then shut up.

This could be CPD/support for the PM etc.

Now, I’m not saying that every single practice receptionist you approach will say “Yes”, but if you deliver it well, a lot will. You’ve just short-circuited a whole load of fluff and puff and accelerated your referral business's growth.

I also know that, in some cases, it won’t be easy to engineer a conversation with the dentist ( sometimes almost impossible)or PM, but then, a few things in life are easy, and there are lots of ways you can make that conversation happen. This visit could be a simple “foot in the door” for another time… a few more visits will work wonders.

What you need

Newsletter

Branded cake/chocolates

Case study

Dates for the specialist dentists diary

& that special cool thing, that’s the hook!

 It works! And you should try it!

To be clear, you have to deliver this well and think about what you can do for the dentist/PM you want to see rather than what they can do for you.

 Put yourself in their shoes.

What would you say to an approach like the one you’re planning to make?

Be honest here. Don’t waste their time.

We all live in the real world.

 So consider your marketing approach. Sometimes, the answer is way more straightforward than you originally thought…

If you are considering building your referral practice, simply get in touch. I’m available to help dentists within Kent, London and Southeast.

What I can do for you...

Looking for a strategy to build new patients…

1- Maximise existing patient base by nailing efficient recalls, provide interesting practice news to existing patients.

2- We communicate dynamically with lapse patients who we need to engage via digital and traditional communciation.

3- Train the reception team on consultative communication and provide them with everything they need to maximise patients acceptance.

4- Work relentlessly with the team so each patient receives the best possible experience so they evolve into "raving fans".

5- We maximise our patient recommendations - by perfecting the "exit drill!"

4- We engage new leads with a  websites which is exciting and bang-up-to date and use social media to boost traffic.

5- Communicate in a cost efficient way to maximise ROI

6- Reach-out to the local community and run events to building great PR.

Overview of marketing for Neodent