My New Book Is Out!

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Fred Joyal

After a year of writing and editing, my second book has finally been published. It’s called Becoming Remarkable: Creating a Dental Practice Everyone Talks About. It takes the ideas in my first book to the next level. It’s called “Becoming Remarkable” because that’s what you literally have to be. Your practice experience has to be so amazing and unique that people can’t resist talking about you.

That has become more important than ever because when people talk now, they do it with their thumbs. They post it somewhere, whether it’s on Facebook, or Yelp, or as a Google review. They are adding it to your online identity and reputation, and it’s searchable, likable, sharable, and perhaps most importantly, undeletable.

I love signing books. It’s very flattering to an author when people ask.

Some of the things that I cover in the book are:

The impact of corporate dentistry on private practice, and why you either need to join them or compete effectively with them;
How the dental patient has changed in the past 8 years, from their attitude about insurance to their expectation of convenience;
Where to put your time, energy and money online for the best results;
The impact of technology on your practice and on patients’ perception of value;
Why your trustworthiness is the most important element in your practice, and what increases or decreases it;
And much more.

Some of you may find my various suggestions and predictions controversial. But I’ve never been one to shy away from the debates about the industry’s direction. I’m passionate about the future of dentistry, and the urgency to evolve and grow.

I also feature six remarkable dentists and their unique stories and approaches. What I found striking was how differently they all approached their practices, except for one thing: the patient always came first. I hope to discover many more remarkable dentists in the coming months, and will feature their stories in this blog.

Meanwhile, I hope you take the time to read my new book, and that it gives you insights and practical tools to build and maintain a remarkable practice over the coming decades. You can order it here, or buy the Kindle version on Amazon.

I’m recording the audio version next week, so it won’t be available for about a month. Hey, I’ve been busy!

Responding to Negative Facebook Comments

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Fred Joyal

You may find that sometimes you will post something on your practice Facebook page and a patient may have a comment you don’t appreciate, or that you find taints the positive impact of the post. What should you do? Respond? Delete it? Ignore it?

If you’ve been following me at all, you know I’m not going to recommend ignoring it. NEVER ignore a negative comment. Now, as far as deleting it, that depends on whether it’s something nasty or insulting or inappropriate in some way. If it is, then you just go to the little “x” on the right of the comment and remove it. But remember that by doing so you are inviting the person to comment again. If they do, I would just remove the post altogether.

But what if it merits a response? That’s trickier. So let me tell you a story which, by way of example, has several key lessons in it with regard to Facebook.

A dentist friend of mine wrote to me about this exact problem. First let me say that she does an amazing job of building a culture in her practice, and also does Facebook very well. She is always doing fun events for her team members, from group pedicures to mini-vacations. And she knows how to stage them as well. One day she came to work with a new Coach handbag and was making a bit of a deal about showing it off to her team. They were admiring it, but she knew that there was a bit of “I’m glad you can afford that,” as an undercurrent. She was setting them up perfectly without them knowing it.

That night there was a team dinner and as each of them showed up they were given a number. They were not aware that the number was based on seniority. She was still sporting the Coach handbag as they all sat for dinner, and there was some joking from a few of the team, like, “When will we get ours?”

“Actually,” she told them, “I’m glad you asked.” Her husband, meanwhile, who manages the practice, had set up a separate table earlier, with a tablecloth draped over something, and he stepped over and revealed a row of brand new Coach handbags.

“Those numbers that you have? You get to go up in order and pick your own bag,” my friend told them.

Of course, the crew went wild with excitement. My dentist friend made sure to document the whole experience, and then the next day she posted a photo on Facebook and explained the team reward. Herein lies the lesson.

There were many positive comments and likes on the post, but one patient felt the need to make this remark: “I think you are a good orthodontist, but it is upsetting to see your staff get Coach bags when I am struggling to pay my orthodontics bill. They work hard but so do I.”

In this person’s world, no employee should be rewarded, and discounts should be passed on to the struggling consumer. Ironically, (and typically), this person was already getting a discount and a special payment accommodation, but still felt the team was being enriched to her detriment.

The team, as you might expect, was indignant about this comment, and will no doubt not feel as warmly toward this patient on her next visit. But my friend responded perfectly, as you can see below:

How perfect is that?

The lessons here are twofold. First, respond well, and positively, and turn it to your advantage whenever you can. But this is a cautionary tale as well. How many other patients might have had this negative response but didn’t express it? I think it wise to be careful about posts where you are rewarding your team members.

A group pedicure may be fine, but something that seems expensive to the average person is best kept private. Stick to charity events, costume days and holiday celebrations with the team, and avoid flashing your success too much.

For more on ideas of what to post on Facebook, read my previous blog post. Also if you are interested in our white paper, Facebook 101, click here.

By the way, if you’re not going to CEREC 30, you’re missing out big time. This is going to be the largest and most exciting event in dentistry all year. I’m speaking there, as well as Tony Robbins and Magic Johnson, and the band Train will be playing a full concert on Friday night. Even if you don’t use CEREC, it will be a great learning experience for you and your team. There will also be an Eaglesoft track and several other learning opportunities. See you there!

Google+ Down, Mobile Up, Facebook Up and Down

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Fred Joyal

Here are some up-to-the-minute changes in social media.

Google+, as far as dental practices go, is over. Let me be the first one to tell you that you can stop posting there. Google+ is morphing away from being a social media site, as it failed the “me too” challenge with Facebook. I know, in my book I told you to mirror everything you did on Facebook on Google+. Stuff changes–don’t shoot the messenger! However, you should still request reviews for your Google+ page, as they will still show up in a Google search, and are valuable for SEO and influencing searching consumers. [Thanks to Jason K. for pointing that out!]
Your activity, likes, and recommendations on your Facebook page are no longer indexed by Google. No one knows exactly when this happened, but it’s over. So you get no Google juice (my term for SEO) out of your activity. This doesn’t mean you stop using Facebook. It’s still the best medium to show the experience of being a patient of yours.
On April 21, Google is modifying its algorithms (how it ranks websites) with respect to mobile sites. If your mobile site is not responsive or reformatted to play well on mobile devices, it is going to hurt your ranking. Not the first time I’ve told you how important the mobile version of your website is.
74% of consumers will abandon your mobile website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Not the second time I’ve told you how important the mobile version of your website is. More than 60% of web searches begin on smartphones, by the way.
Videos now start playing automatically on Facebook as people scroll down their wall. (Unless you turn the function off.) This is engaging FB users in a big way. How big? Well, media analyst Socialbakers’ recent study showed video has twice the organic reach on Facebook as photos. And Facebook also has twice the number of videos with 1 million views that YouTube has. That’s serious.
Because of this, I maintain that patient testimonial videos are your best marketing tool. Also, make sure you post natively on Facebook, which means don’t link a YouTube video or other URL source, upload it using Instagram or straight to Facebook with your computer or device. If you don’t know how to get them done, read this blog post.
Physicists now believe that gravity can leak into parallel universes, creating tiny black holes, and that the Large Hadron Collider may be able to detect them. This may not seem important now, but wait 50 years. You’ll be saying, “Yeah, I knew about that back in 2015!”

That’s it for now. But expect more changes. Social media is a rapidly moving target. And of course, if your website isn’t playing right on mobile, check out WebDirector.

And Jack Hadley, from My Social Practice, had this important point to add:

Fred, your statement under #2 is only partially true, “So you get no Google juice (my term for SEO) out of your activity.”

Cyrus Shepard, a super-smart SEO guy at MOZ, wrote the following just a couple of days ago… “The basic argument goes like this: ‘Google says they don’t use Facebook likes or Tweet counts to rank websites. Therefore, social activity doesn’t matter to SEO.’ This statement is half right, but can you guess which half? It’s true that Google does not use metrics such as Facebook shares or Twitter Followers directly in search rankings. On the other hand, successful social activity can have significant secondary effects on your SEO efforts. Social activity helps address two of the major tasks facing SEO: 1) Search engine discovery and indexation 2) Content distribution, which leads to links and shares.”

I wholeheartedly agree when you say, “It (social) is still the best medium to show the experience of being a patient of yours.” Spot on! However, in addition, there ARE SEO benefits that result from social media activity. We see it with our clients all the time.

Oh, BTW, if anyone wants to read Cyrus Shepard’s post, here is the link: http://moz.com/blog/seo-myths.

Thanks, Jack!

The Magic of Giving Tours

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Fred Joyal

If you’ve read my book, you know I’m a big believer in giving office tours to new patients, and I wanted to give you an example of how influential it can be based on an experience I had in Chicago last month.

One of the perks of attending the Chicago Midwinter Meeting is getting to eat at some Chicago’s amazing restaurants. For the second year in a row, I made a point of dining at Chicago Cut Steakhouse, which to my mind is one of the best steakhouses in the world. The waiters are informed and attentive, the atmosphere feels modern and classic at the same time, and the beef is cooked to perfection.

We all wanted to see how they could do everything so perfectly, so we asked for a tour of the kitchen. And they were entirely prepared to do so. They often give tours of the dry-aging room (they butcher all their own beef right there) but we got the bonus round and were led into the kitchen, where we met master chef Fernando (that’s him with me) who manages to serve more than 500 steaks every night, each one cooked perfectly.

He showed us his unique method for testing if the steak is done exactly right, but those of us on the tour were sworn to secrecy. (Maybe if you buy me dinner there next time I’ll tell you. 😉 ) All in all, it was a singularly terrific evening in the Windy City.

Am I biased by the tour to believe that their food is superior? You bet. Am I coming back? Guaranteed. Am I going to tell people about this place? I am right now. Will I post about it on social media? Oh, just on Twitter, Facebook and Yelp.

This is the same effect you want to achieve with your new patient tours.

When a new patient comes to your office, they don’t know what they’re in for. Even if they were recommended by a friend and family member, they’re apprehensive. A tour relaxes them, informs them, and gives them an experience that they don’t normally get in health care. It starts the relationship by making the patient feel truly welcome.

In a recent survey done for Futuredontics, we asked patients the reasons why they would go back to the same dentist. Surprisingly, they ranked the cleanliness of the practice as a close third. Most people have no idea the degree of effort dental practices make in sterilization, so show them. Put them at ease. They may not verbalize it, but they want to know that the practice is safe and sterile. If you want to know more about what we learned, you can access our white paper “What Dental Patients Want” by clicking on the title.

To give you an idea how serious people are about this, I recently met a woman who told me she only went back to the dentist that we recommended because they had soap in the restroom. Huh? But think about it. She was basing the cleanliness of the entire office based on the bathroom. Big assumption, but if the bathroom is dirty, what else is? Keep it clean!

Lots of big companies do tours. Zappos, the online clothing store, for example. Anyone can get a tour of their facility in Las Vegas, and i highly recommend it. A-Dec does as well, and you’ll be amazed at the lengths to which they go to build long-lasting products. And, if you’re ever in Los Angeles, we’ll be happy to give you a tour of Futuredontics. (Lots of soap in the bathroom, I promise you!)

I lay out the details of doing office tours in my book, but here are the basics:

Plan the steps of the tour, and script it;
Pick a tour guide (you generally know who that should be from the team–or take turns doing it);
Let everyone know in the morning huddle when there will be a new patient tour, so that they can be ready to greet the person by name;
Show them your wall of fame (pictures, training, diplomas, patient letters and photos);
Explain all the benefits of the technology that you use;
Show them the sterilization center;
Introduce them to the team members and dentists;
Ask them if they have any questions.

This will give a phenomenal and unique first impression. Your office doesn’t necessarily have to have an amazing design, but it should always feel warm and inviting, and look clean and modern. Most of all, have fun doing it!

Creating Your Panoramic Photo Images

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Fred Joyal

A dentist asked me recently, regarding Facebook Timeline photos, “What camera takes pictures that wide? It’s crazy!” I took out my iPhone 5 and said, “This camera. And Apple just sold another 15 million of them this week.” I then showed him the “panoramic” option on my phone’s camera.

Of course, Facebook allows you to reframe an uploaded photo, but the picture needs look right when it is cropped deeply at the top and bottom, and you can only adjust up and down.

But then, wouldn’t you also like to add your logo, or some other message on the photo? How the heck do you do that!?!?

Amazingly easy, even for us old folk. First, you sign up at the website www.canva.com. The tools on this site are FREE. Their goal is to sell you the rights to uses images, which they provide very inexpensively. But you can upload your own pictures and combine them, add text to them, frame them, all sorts of things, in a nearly idiot-proof environment, and not pay a dime.

The home page looks like this:

You can create any shape you want, and they have the templates for practically everything, from Facebook ads to Timeline photos, your Twitter heading, website images, your thumbnail photo, your business cards, whatever. You just upload the pictures you want to work with (and it stores them for you forever as part of your media library), and then you can drag it into the template you want, stretch it, move it add another photo next to it if you want, or super-impose one onto another.

Then you’ll want to add text, and they have all different fonts and colors to choose from. If you’re color blind, like me, get some help with your choices. Or you can drop your logo onto it. Now just save it, download it, and then upload it to whichever site you made it for.

You can also use Canva to design Facebook contests and promotions, and they have templates for those and many other things. They also have millions of photos that you can access, and you only pay $1 for each premium element you use for your design. That’s cheap. Especially since the rest is free.

You can get way trickier if you take some of the tutorials–framing photos, changing background colors, drawing on the image–but for now you have a simple solution that makes great-looking images.

I did this for my Facebook book page in about three minutes,and the template made sure I knew exactly where the thumbnail photo was going to appear over it, so I could get it looking right the first time:

I still recommend you get team photos professionally done, do nice photos of your office, and take good thumbnail photos of yourself. But now you can dress them up and personalize them easily.

You can also use it to design printed materials, if you’re still into that sort of thing.

I haven’t found any photo tool that’s easier with such versatility. Give it a try!