What Dental Patients Want
73 days ago
Irrelevant photo
We recently commissioned a survey at 1-800-DENTIST to probe into how dental consumers think. This wasn’t done on 1-800-DENTIST callers, but rather surveyed a broad selection of consumers nationwide, and we think it reflects fairly accurately the current thinking on dentistry. I am doing a webinar on this next Wednesday, May 22nd, open to anyone, and there will also be a white paper available going into detail on the survey results and recommendations, but I wanted to give you some highlights here.
Here’s a big one: 93% said a clear explanation of what is required versus what is optional was a major factor in whether they would return to a dentist or not. This comes down to effective communication with a new patient. Remember that they are anxious about the cost and the discomfort of dentistry, which means their cognitive skills are somewhat impaired, so be clear, listen closely to their responses, and be very specific about what needs to be done in that visit and what is involved in more comprehensive care. If they are not ready to hear about long-term issues, hold off until their next visit.
Tied directly to this is that 33% of consumers think dentists are trying to sell them unnecessary services. Again, poor communication, and perhaps poor timing, are the issues here. Be mindful of that when talking to new patients, and really all your patients. There is critical and non-critical care, and you should explicitly explain the difference. And if you are truly offering optional treatments like Invisalign, whitening or veneers, probe to see if they have a real interest in those treatments before trying to persuade them to do them.
70% say their choice is influenced by online reviews. This is a radical change in consumer behavior, and reinforces my previous blog on the subject.
One more key bit of data: 73% of new patients want immediate availability of an appointment. I say this all the time–get new patients in within 24-48 and you vastly reduce the risk of no-shows. This response from consumers tells you that they are moving on to the next dentist if you can’t get them in right away, even if it’s not an emergency.
In the webinar I’ll discuss the number one and two reasons why people are looking for a new dentist, and several other tasty morsels. It’s Wednesday, May 22nd, 11am PST, and you can sign up here. It’s free, and I promise to be brilliant!
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Prioritizing Your Social Media Activities
111 week ago
The most common question I’m asked when lecturing now is, “Which site is the most important to focus on in social media?” So what I’m going to do is tell you in order how you should spend your time. Let’s assume that you’ve figured out that social media is not a fad, and it is changing how society interacts, and also how they choose many of the products and services that they use. Bear in mind also that these are my personal observations, and other social media mavens may tell you otherwise. But the biggest mistake will be doing nothing.
#1. Facebook
No surprise here. This should be an integral part of your practice. You should be asking your patients to “check-in” on Facebook when they come to your office (they do this on their smartphones), to “Like” your practice page and, if they feel like it, to post a picture, video or comment. Your posts should be personal, not clinical, and frequent, ideally daily. And you should always comment on any post a patient makes. Facebook is already the most important social site, but will become more so. Read my blog on Facebook Graph Search if you want to know why.
#2. Google+
This may seem surprising, as it doesn’t have even a fraction of the activity that Facebook does. But what matters is that Google is looking at your posts, and it will increase the SEO of your website because of this activity. I recommend duplicating everything you post on Facebook on Google+, slightly modifying some of the language. In fact, if you post there first, and then post on Facebook, it gives you a bit more Google juice. Google is jealous like that.
#3. YouTube
YouTube is massively searched by people, and we are becoming a species that would much rather watch a video than read something. Every video that you make should show up on YouTube, Facebook, Google+ and your website. Don’t forget that YouTube is owned by Google. You must tag your videos properly on YouTube, with the dentist’s name, the practice, name and whatever else the video is about. A previous blog of mine explains how to make video a habit in your practice. Post something weekly, at the very least. It doesn’t have to be brilliant or well shot. Patient testimonials shot with your phone are more credible than professional looking ones. Go figure.
#4. Twitter
While I consider this a full tier below the previous three, is it easy to be active on, because what you post is so short. Some folks will tell you that Twitter can be very effective in your practice for alerting patients of openings in your schedule, and I agree, if you’ve managed to get most of your patients to follow you on Twitter. But that process takes a lot of time, and I think it might be better spent on the first three sites. You can use a site like Hootsuite to coordinate posts in several places at once, but do not replicate the content everywhere, because if it is exactly the same then you lose the Google juice.
I recommend posting on Twitter primarily for its SEO value. Pictures can also be posted there, as well as video, and if you write a blog you should alert people on Twitter each time you post.
#5. LInkedIn
This is another tier down from the top four. You should not expect to get patients from this. Mostly you will get solicitations from other businesses. But it has some SEO value, so create your profile and post occasionally.
#6. Instagram
This app is very widely used, and is owned by Facebook. It will require someone in your office who knows how to use it, and you can make interesting photos of your patients, particularly before-and-after shots. (Do I need to remind you to get releases from your patients for all photo and video? OK, I just did.)
#7. Pinterest, FourSquare and all the rest
Right now I would consider these almost completely ineffective for real SEO or patient attraction. They have specific industries that they serve well, but I don’t see dentistry as one of them. You will find some practices taking advantage of one or two of them, particularly Pinterest, which has a very high amount of user activity, but for the most part your energy should be spent elsewhere.
Step one is to create accounts everywhere. If you’re a Patient Activator client we will help you get all those accounts set up, and if you’re a WebDirector client we can carry the same design look through all of these sites. Then focus on the first two (since they are essentially the same posts) and work your way down once you have mastered them. And make social media part of someone’s job in the practice, 15 to 30 minutes a day–not the dentist! Her time is best spent doing dentistry!
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Patients Are Checking You Out
22 weeks ago
People seeking a dentist now have a number of ways of researching dentists before they choose one. They can go to your website, they can check review sites like Yelp or Angie’s List, or they can ask their friends on Facebook. And so what are they doing? Very often, it’s all three.
Of course, none of these resources can tell them much about your clinical skills. But people don’t really have a way of discerning that anyway. They can’t pull your charts and check out your margins, or see how many crowns you’ve had to redo, or inspect the accuracy of your implant placement. So they are drawing conclusions from information that should often be suspect, but what other choice do they have?
When someone calls 1-800-DENTIST and we recommend a specific practice, the operator can often hear the patient clicking away and looking up the practice online, doing a Google or Yelp search. Sometimes they may even say, “Hey, one of these reviews isn’t so good.” (Fortunately, our operators can view those reviews at the same time, so they are not caught by surprise, and can point out the positive reviews.)
Even when someone is referred by a friend, many times the person will now look at the practice’s website before going, and expect to see comprehensive information. And know this: they are making judgments about the quality of your dentistry based on how modern and detailed your website is. They are also likely to read some reviews on Google and search for the practice’s Facebook page to read patients’ comments.
So be up front. Put your reviews on your website. (Not testimonials. Those have almost zero credibility at this point in the Internet age.) In fact, put Yelp reviews right there too, if your website can do that. Why let them leave your website to see ads for other dentists on Yelp? Show them you are willing to put up unvarnished reviews, the good and the not-so-good, for them to examine and draw their own conclusions from. If your website won’t do this easily, it’s probably time to check out WebDirector.
Encourage your patients to post on Facebook. This will only become more important when Facebook launches Graph Search.
Monitor your online reviews, and always comment on them. Patients love that, and see you as engaged and concerned.
It’s no longer good enough to be a good dentist. People want to find out what the experience is of being at your practice. Make sure that wherever they go, they can find what they’re looking for.
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Why Firing Someone Is an Act of Kindness
43 weeks ago
Letting an employee go is one of the most difficult aspects of running a business. It’s even more challenging for small businesses, as the team is generally close-knit, and often a friendship develops between the boss and the employee. But the fact remains that to grow any business you need to be constantly examining and improving your team components.
This is even more true for dental practices because, if you subscribe to my way of thinking–that you are in retail health care, then you know that your team is your most essential marketing element. Without an amazing team, you cannot create a large base of loyal patients. No matter how great the dentist’s clinical skills, what the patient is going to remember is how friendly, courteous, thoughtful and compassionate the office team was.
Let’s add one more element. The dentist only has 30-35 hours a week to deliver dentistry. Beyond that it’s a physically overwhelming profession, and he or she will pay the price by shortening their career through exhaustion or disability. So how efficiently you operate during those hours is critical. I can pretty much guarantee you that someone on your team is slowing the whole process down, and everyone knows who that is.
Lastly, a dental practice is a sales organization. If you don’t believe or understand that, you haven’t read my book, and you also want to ignore reality. Dentistry is a great service, perhaps more valuable dollar-for-dollar than anything else people spend money on, but people have to be talked into taking advantage of it. And that requires everyone on the team be willing to effectively communicate the value of comprehensive care.
I mention in my book this universal truth that every business owner I’ve met has confirmed with me: we have never regretted firing anyone, only how long we waited to do so. We all do it. We all wait too long. We wait until the disease has infected the entire body. And that’s a good metaphor. Very likely one employee is the deep pocket perio infection in your practice, and you’re leaving it untreated. Would you do that with a patient?
My advice is, pull the trigger. There is someone better out there, and the team will take up the slack and respect you for having done it. (Side note: every day that person stays in your office the team loses a little more respect for the dentist.)
Why do I say it’s an act of kindness? Because that person needs to know that they are not performing at the highest level, and therefore will continue to be less and less employable as they grow older. It’s actually cruel to wait on your part. Let’s say they’re 35 now. Are you going to wait until they’re 40 to release them into the job market, with their bad work habits more deeply ingrained? It’s a wake-up call to get fired. It forces someone to do some self-examination.
Granted, they may not get the message right away. Denial is an easy trap (especially if you suck at what you do!) But letting them continue working for you is reinforcing that they don’t have to do a great job to keep their job. When I put it that way, it sounds like a pretty ridiculous thing to be doing, doesn’t it? Again, it’s cruel, or cowardly at least, for the business owner not to step up and let that person know that their performance is insufficient.
And they don’t have to be a bad employee for you to terminate them. If they don’t fit as a team player, if they aren’t looking to improve their skills, if they don’t choose a great attitude every day, that’s enough. Because you need that from everyone. A dental practice is too small an eco-system to have anyone not performing and participating at the same high level.
The steps are simple: when you have an employee not performing, spell out in detail exactly what your expectations are from them for improvement, with a timeline, and do it in writing. And let them know that if they do not meet or exceed those expectations, after that time period they will no longer be employed. (I recommend 30 days max.) I also believe in giving severance, along with a detailed termination agreement. I recommend using a company like HR for Health to button up all these sorts of things in your practice. There is a proper and legal way to do this to protect yourself.
I know you hate doing it. I do too. But I’ve had a number of employees over the years come back and thank me for giving them that message, and getting them on track, by either finding a job that suits them, or fixing their attitude, or learning to be a better employee. So find that infection and treat it now. You’ll feel better tomorrow!
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It’s Easy to Put Your Patients at Ease
51 month ago
A few years ago I was visiting a seriously ill friend in the hospital, and during my visit someone came into the room with a service dog, a greyhound, and my friend’s face lit up, and the dog climbed onto the bed and lay against her. I could see the stress drain from my friend’s face. It was a beautiful thing.
Just this last weekend I met a pediatric dentist who employs the same comforting approach with her patients. She has a service dog, approved for medical use just as the greyhound was that I met years earlier. The dog climbs onto children’s laps, and the effect is profound, as you can imagine. I was in awe.
So my question to you is, what are you doing to make your patients more comfortable? Because if they are less apprehensive, they are more receptive to treatment, and they also comprehend it better. But also, it makes the experience of your practice memorable, and personal.
There are so many simple ways to put your patients at ease, such as:
- pashminas, or some similar, washable blanket (you can even have them in plastic bags like the airlines)
- hot towels
- have a panic button (the one that stops the drill–don’t know what it’s called–patients almost never use it, but it relaxes them)
- use lighted loupes instead of the overhead light shining in their eyes
- have reception beverages available
- comfortable furniture, maybe even a massage chair
I’m sure you have your own ideas, and I’d love to hear them and share them with other readers here. But be conscious that a little comfort goes a long way. And it gives you something to put on Facebook!
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What is Technological Cachet, and How Do You Get It?
21 month ago
We live in a technological world, one that swirls and advances constantly at an ever-accelerating pace. And you may say that it is mostly people under 35 who are in love with new technology, and indeed they are. They will wait in line to get a new cell phone not because theirs is broken, but because the iPhone 5 is out and they can’t stand to use that iPhone 4S for one more day.
But all of us engage new technology all the time, and we’ve come to expect it. 4G in our phones that is faster than our broadband internet at home. GPS in a car that costs $15,000. Video on 
Demand. Arthroscopic surgery. Open Table. Google Maps. Mobile banking. Smart thermostats. And we love it.
And with this expectation comes a subconscious assessment of those things that haven’t advanced, or those businesses that haven’t incorporated new technology:
- “How can this restaurant not have their menu on a website?”
- “This hotel doesn’t have any reviews on Yelp–can you believe it?”
- ”Why can’t you just text me the appointment time?”
- “What do you mean you can’t email me the receipt?”
People are choosing businesses, including dental practices, because of the level of technology that they see, and also because of the technological cachet that comes with digital services. For example, we know for a fact that people are making judgments about the quality of dentistry that you provide based on the appearance of your website. Is it modern-looking? Does is it have videos and patient reviews? Can I request an appointment? If they don’t see these things, they often decide that the quality of your dentistry is not up to par. It’s an erroneous assumption, I grant you, but they make it anyway, because they see hundreds of well-designed websites every month.
If they can’t fill out patient intake forms ahead of time through email, they are making a judgment about you.
If they see that lightbox on the wall with the tiny film x-rays glowing on it, they are wondering why you don’t have digital radiography.
If they have heard of CEREC, they want to know why you’re placing a temporary so that they’ll have to come back in two weeks for you to cut it off and put the crown on.
If the office has free WiFi, they see you as a modern, convenient practice.
If you have iPads with movies and games, you are high-tech.
If you have an active Facebook page, you are a cutting-edge practice.
Notice how little of this, short of the CAD/CAM, is about the quality of your dentistry.
Why? Because they could look at every patient record in the office and still not know if you’re a great clinician or not. So they make assumptions based on other criteria, relevant or not.
We recently did a survey of consumer attitudes toward dentistry, and one of the questions was about why they have difficulty choosing a dentist. Almost 60% stated one of the reasons was they had no way of gauging the quality of the dentistry in the practice. It’s a daunting mystery to most people. And it makes them procrastinators and avoiders.
I will add one more observation to this: when that patient who sees you as technologically backward leaves your practice, they will not tell you why. They will just go somewhere else. And your practice will very gradually shrink. Need I point out that the segment of the population that is growing is the one with this expectation of new technology? The late adapters and Luddites will be fewer and fewer, because technology is finally making our lives easier, faster and more convenient. And more fun.
So be a great clinician, of course. That is baseline. But bring new technology and this high-tech, modern-world cachet to your office, and it will expand your patient base and create patients more open to comprehensive care and more likely to recommend your practice. And who knows, you might really start to enjoy dentistry all over again.
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Refining Your Google Strategy
11 month ago
Most dental practices have at least a basic understanding of the importance of Google, but in order to maximize the results for you, I’m going to start with the basics and work my way into full utilization.
Step 1. Claim your business. You do this at www.google.com/maps. Put the dentist’s name or the practice name in the search box, and you will undoubtedly find it listed. (If nothing appears, just go to step 2.) Click on your business name as listed on the left side of the page, and then click “more info” (where the arrow indicates below. Also, clicking on the images in this blog will enlarge them).
This will take you to a new page which will show your business details and any reviews you might have. You will see a place in the middle right of the page where it asks, “Is this your business?” Click on the “Manage this page” button below it, and then on the next page check “edit my business information” and click “continue”.
Now you’ll see your basic information, and as you scroll down you can see all the possible info that you can add. If you try to change the name or address, it will want you to validate your ownership, and it will send you a code to your practice phone number. (Someone has to be there to answer, so do this from your office.) This will allow you to become the administrator of your page.
Once you’ve added some information, Google will tell you that they are sending you a letter that will give you a PIN and instructions on how to become the administrator of this page. They, and you, don’t want just anyone adding or changing information. Getting the phone call is quickest, usually, so I would modify the address slightly to make that happen.
But do you see all the information you can add: hours, special services, photos, video, and most important, your website? Do ALL of it. This is free advertising and free SEO. You can even put in a new patient offer in the “description” box.
Step 2. Create a Google+ business page. This is easy once you’ve done the first step. Go to www.google.com/+/business/ and click on the “Create a Google+ Page” button. They will ask you to put in your primary business phone number, and this in turn will find your Google Places page.
Just follow the instructions from there, and be sure to use a nice panoramic photo as you would do on a Facebook Timeline. If you had your website designed by us with WebDirector, we would carry your design through all these social media pages. This page is going to be where you post just as you do on your Facebook business page (which hopefully you’re doing). You would simply replicate the posts at this point, because you’re doing it mostly for the Google juice.
A Google+ page increases in value when you have your patients do a “+1″ on your page, because Google will link these notations to Adwords (which I will explain below), and give you a slightly higher ranking. Every bit helps. Your website builder should also put a G+1 button on your front page.
Step 3. Solicit reviews from your patients. During the past twelve months, it seemed that everyone’s Google reviews simply disappeared, but now they’re back. And they are important. Important because consumers read them, and also because Google “reads” them, in that it looks at the ratings you’re given and the total number of reviews. They have also announced plans to analyze the text of the reviews to give a “sentiment score”, and so negative reviews will count against you in the SEO game, and you will need positive reviews to offsite them.
So what is the best way to solicit Google reviews? First, understand that only someone with a gmail address can review your practice on Google. In some ways, this makes it easier, because you can figure out which patients can review you by searching patient email addresses. Then what you want to do is send each of them an email asking politely if they would be willing to write you a review on Google, and insert your Google Places URL into the email, so all they have to do is click on it. To find your URL (which is just an array of characters, not your name, unfortunately), go to your Google+ page, click on “profile”, and then copy what is in the URL box at the top (see the yellow arrow below.) It will start with plus.google.com and then a long string of numbers–copy this, EXCLUDING anything after the string of numbers and the “/” mark. When you insert this in the email, patients will be able to click on it and it will go directly to your page, where they can then click on “write a review” (see the red arrow below).
It is also possible to have patients write a review for you while they are in your office, but there are two key facts to remember:
1. If they do a review from any device of yours–a computer, tablet, whatever–then Google will discard it, because it believes you wrote it. They can only do it on their own smartphone.
2. If you offer free wifi in your office, which I highly recommend, then DON’T ASK PATIENTS TO REVIEW YOU ON THEIR SMARTPHONES! If their phones access your wifi, then Google once again will discard all those reviews as written by you.
These two details are the reason it’s best to email patients to request reviews. If you have digital communication software like Patient Activator or Revenue Well, one of the benefits is the ease with which you can send a group email to your patients. You could even combine it with a request for them to review you on Yelp, and just put all the information for both places in the email.
You don’t need tons of reviews, but you will want a steady stream of positive ones so that there are always fresh ones for people and Google to read. Two or three a week is great, but more than five a week is unnecessary.
Step 4. Bid on keywords. What this translates to is advertising on Google using Adwords. You would go here to do that: www.google.com/adwords/express.
This is the simplest way to get started. Just follow the instructions, pick some basic keywords–specifically the word “dentist” paired with your town name, and another paired with your zip code–then add a couple of others, like Invisalign, dentures or dental implants; things you specialize in or like to do. Don’t go crazy with too many keywords yet, and don’t set a high budget. I suggest starting with $500. And please, I beg you, track the results, and use some of the analytics that Google will provide you. You ideally want to appear among the first three places on the right of the search results page, but the possibility of this happening will vary based on hundreds of things, but primarily what other dentists are willing to bid for a click, and how competitive your area is in the online world.
I hope this helps!
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Getting the Max from your Digital Communication Software
61 month ago
There are a number of automated digital communication applications on the market now–Demand Force, RevenueWell, and our own product, PatientActivator–and these are excellent timesavers for your practice. If you don’t know about them, they essentially work with your existing practice management software to send patient reminders by text and email (and also by automated phone calls, with ours). They cost between $200-300 per month, and pay for themselves easily by time saved and by tightening recall.
But what I’ve noticed is that many practices who use these applications are only using them for the basic function of appointment reminders, while a much higher value can be achieved when you use their other features. If you are currently using one of these programs, here are the tools you should be using:
Dormant Patient Reactivation
All of these programs have an automated function that allows you to send a specific message to patients who have fallen behind on their recall. You can craft the message yourself, but it basically is, “Hi Susan, it’s been over a year since you’ve been in the office. We miss you! Give us a call and we can get you in the schedule right away.” The software itself will look at which patients need this message that day, and so you’ll have on average four or five of them going out. Patient Activator will also do this with an automated phone message. Many people are surprised that a year has gone by, and will call that day.
Email Marketing Programs
You can send what we call “email blasts” to your patients. These are marketing messages like Valentine’s Day whitening specials, or Invisalign discounts, or free implant exams. Or whatever you want. We have a number of them pre-designed, but you can always craft your own. You can do as many of these as you want, and they is no extra charge to do them.
Newsletters
You can also send patients digital newsletters with oral health tips, practice services and any specials you want to offer. These programs all have hundreds of pre-written articles to choose from, so you can assemble a year’s worth of newsletters in a matter of minutes. I recommend sending them quarterly, but you can send them as often as you like. Once you set it up, it happens automatically.
It’s important to know that patients can opt out of any of the individual elements of these programs. They can say they don’t want the newsletters, or only want text reminders, not email, etc. So you can tailor each patient’s communication mode to their preference.
Surveys and Reviews
After each visit, patients receive a survey asking them about their experience at the practice. You can modify the questions or just use the basic ones already set up. Patients can also write a review of the practice, and this will go up into a microsite specially created for your practice. This gets you SEO. Beyond that, if you have a dynamic website, you can have these reviews appear automatically, so that you have ever-changing fresh content on your website. And more and more consumers are looking for authentic reviews about businesses before they use them, so this is a powerful tool. Our website product, WebDirector, can import these reviews automatically. And you can always de-select a review if you don’t want it to post.
These are all powerful marketing tools. Obviously the more email addresses you have on your patients the better, so gathering those should become standard practice in your office. If you don’t use one of these program yet, pick one. Mine is the best, of course, but they’re all good products. 
Don’t do nothing–you’re missing too much utility and marketing power here. Use one of these, and use it to the max.
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