How To Market and Grow Your Dental Practice

I went to see a potential client the other week, when he called me he was very upset, his revenues had fallen from around £50,000 per month to under £30,000. He was putting his grandchildren through private education didn't know how he was going to continue paying the fees.

In addition to this he had recently invested in a Cerec machine, he was taking on an orthodontist; he offers both implants and aesthetics. He had a new practice manager (which he didn't trust), he was also just completing a Six Month Smile course, which he would shortly be offering to his patients.

We had a very good meeting, we seemed on the face of it to get on with each other. I asked him what he was currently doing to market all the above, his answer was that he had tried leaflets and they hadn't worked. He was getting no business from his web site and He didn't have the time or the skill sets to do anything else, so he had effectively given up on marketing his practice.

I asked him how he thought he would get out of the present situation without spending some time and effort on marketing and trying to get his story across to his patients and prospective patients. He said and I quote "he thought the economy would improve and things would get better again".

Unless he knows something that I don't, I do not believe that the economy will pick up any time in the near future, which means that the only way to get his business back on track is to encourage his existing patients to spend more time and money with him and increase the number of new patients he has.

We have now been close to zero growth or recession for almost five years. The economy is smaller now than it was in 2008; at the same time we have been the victims of relatively high inflation compared to incomes, which has had the effect of making all of us very careful about spending our money.

Dentistry has never been in a situation like this before. This is the first time I can remember where there is real competition between practices. The supply and demand equation has completely reversed from where it was up to 2008, do you remember those queues of patients trying to register for an NHS dentist?

A few years ago you could pretty much get away with sticking an advert in the local press and have a listing in the Yellow Pages and that would just about do it. Patients were easy to come by; in fact many dental practices closed their books on new patients (that sounds an awful long time ago doesn't it).

Those days have gone (probably for ever). Dental Practices now have to compete not only with each other, but also the spending choices that your patients are making every day.

If a patient is thinking about an implant for instance, they may also be wondering if they should book that holiday they wanted instead. Or buy that carpet, computer, new car etc. etc.

But it doesn't just stop there, just go onto Google and search for implants and see how many practices in your area (or from abroad) are offering to take away your patients and your revenue. It's frightening; there are dozens if not hundreds.

You are not just competing with local dentists in your area, you are competing with East European, Indian and goodness knows where else. So what should you do?

You could of course book a series of advertisements in the local press, you could advertise on your web site, you could send out leaflets, you could even advertise on a poster which is what I saw a local dentist to me do a few weeks ago.

Or you could get smart and start communicating to your existing patients. I've mentioned it before in other articles; it costs on average five times more to get a new patient/customer than it does to sell to an existing one. It is so much easier to sell to people that know and trust you than it is it people who have never heard of you. So why doesn't everyone just do it?

The problem is that it takes a great deal of time and effort. Putting an advert in the press is easy, you simply call the local newspaper, tell them what you want, agree to pay the bill and hey presto you've got your advert and you'll probably pat yourself on the back and tell yourself that your doing your marketing bit!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with press advertising, it's a great medium, but its only one avenue that you should be deploying. Incidentally its highly likely that your existing patients will probably never see the ad.

Most people are unaware of the advances in cosmetic dentistry that have taken place of the last decade. If you ask the majority of people what they know about dental implants they will have no idea. If you mention orthodontics to most individuals they will immediately think of teenagers with a mouth full of metal. The likes of Zoom Whitening is completely unknown to most people outside the dental profession.

So how do you expect your patients and prospective patients to buy these products and services from you if they have no idea it can even be done, let alone ask for it from you?

Communication with your patients/customers is a daily, weekly, monthly ongoing process that never ends. There is no one media that will do it either, so anyone that tells you that Social Media is where it's all at today, doesn't know what they're talking about, its just another avenue for you to get your message across.

Producing a monthly or quarterly Newsletter is one of the best ways you can keep in touch with your patients, simply writing one will give you lots of content to keep all the other marketing channels populated too.

But producing this type of material is time consuming and don't think that you can get away with just putting something onto your web site, because it will never get read, if you don't believe me think how often you go onto another web site and site and read a newsletter unless something has prompted you.

I'm afraid your newsletter will have to be the old fashioned printed version in order for it to make any impact with your audience.

So here is my tick list of seventeen things that will significantly make a difference to your revenues and profits.

* Become a celebrity in your area by P.R. Make yourself the best known dentist in your area.
* Produce a quarterly or better still monthly newsletter.
* Write a monthly blog article for your web site or printed material.
* Write regular email's to promote your blog/newsletter (do not try to sell with them!)
* Mentor your staff on how to sell your products and services.
* Set up a Google Places account its free advertising.
* Set up and maintain a Google AdWords account to drive traffic to your web site.
* Get involved with local groups, clubs and business associations.
* Set up a patient referral programs.
* Email and text your existing patients with informative information about what you are doing.
* Have open days.
* Engage with Social Media.
* Make sure you recall your patients regularly and use this to market your services too.
* Have a patient plan in place.
* Set up reciprocal marketing with none competing companies in your area.
* Don't miss an opportunity to market in your waiting room, reception, and in-surgery.
* Have a proper patient survey in place, its invaluable.

Becoming a celebrity is a lot easier than you think. I don't mean that you have to make the national press, but you can get yourself on BBC local radio, they are always looking for content. Have open days with a celebrity and get your self into the press alongside them. Write articles in the local press or magazines, all this raises you above your competition.

I can assure you that none of your competitors will be doing any of the above (or very little of it), because it takes a great deal of time and effort. But if you only do what everyone else does, then be prepared to get the same results as everyone else.

Incidentally the prospective client I mentioned at the start of this article decided not to use my services. I assume he is still struggling although he does email me from time to time asking my advice. I have sent him a copy of my book "How Your Practice Can Beat The Recession." I hope he reads it