What is A/B Testing?

In simple terms, A/B testing compares two versions of something to see which performs better. Marketing professionals use A/B testing to refine ad copy and select images for landing pages and social media ads, among other things. Running an A/B test allows the marketing agency to better understand what attracts and engages patients most effectively.

Why Dental Practices Should Use A/B Testing

Every new patient counts, and A/B testing can increase the chances a patient will choose your practice by improving engagement with your practice’s marketing channels. In fact, A/B testing can achieve quite a bit, including:

Create Compelling Online Ads

A/B testing copy and visuals on platforms like Google and Facebook can determine which phrasing, imagery, and combinations generate the most engagement and new patient inquiries. For example, publishing the same Google ad with different headlines or images can show which one motivates more people to click through to a landing page or call the practice.

Design Attractive Landing Pages

For a landing page to be effective, it has to pique the patient’s interest and get them to act, whether that be to call a phone number, fill out a form, or something else. Testing two landing page versions—different layouts, headlines, images, calls to action, etc.—can determine which resonates more with the type of patient your practice is seeking to attract.

Boost Patient Engagement

Visual content is crucial for capturing attention on social media and in online ads. For example, A/B testing can determine whether patients prefer to see video testimonials or before-and-after images. Creating marketing content that keeps patients engaged is no longer a mystery when you understand what your audience (potential patients) wants to see.

Support Marketing Decisions

A major benefit of A/B testing is gaining the ability to make marketing decisions based on facts. Analyzing test results provides real data to guide current and future marketing campaigns, content strategies, landing page designs, and more, removing any guesswork from the equation. The importance of making data-driven marketing decisions cannot be overstated.

How to Conduct an A/B Test

The concept of A/B testing seems simple enough, but the reality is a little more complex. A/B testing takes time and usually involves several variables. Setting up a test, executing it correctly, and interpreting the results is not always straightforward. Hiring a marketing agency is the best strategy if your internal marketing team is not familiar with the process. A professional marketing agency will have the expertise and tools to design and conduct an A/B test, analyze the data, and provide actionable insights. An experienced marketing agency can:

• Design effective tests by developing hypotheses and creating meaningful variations
• Manage multiple tests and ensure their proper execution
• Analyze test results, providing reports and recommendations
• Propose marketing strategy adjustments based on the outcome

A dental practice that incorporates A/B testing into its overall marketing strategy can easily gain a strategic advantage because very few are using this powerful tool. Whether you want your internal marketing team to handle everything or you decide to hire a professional agency, A/B testing will help you better understand your patients and make more informed and profitable marketing decisions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With more than a decade of experience in corporate dental laboratory marketing and brand development, Jackie Ulasewich-Cullen decided to take her passion for the dental business and marketing to the next level by founding My Dental Agency.

Since starting her company, she and her team have helped a wide variety of practices all over the nation focus their message, reach their target audience, and increase their sales through effective marketing campaigns.

She can be reached at (800) 689-6434 or via email at jackie@mydentalagency.com.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Jack_the_sparow/Shutterstock.com.

Whenever you try to “join ’em,” you lose yourself in the process.

Unfortunately, this usually doesn’t appear until you’ve gone too far backward. Instead, there’s a key to this whole deal… you must clearly define what your winning practice looks like to you.

What do you deem a true victory when it comes to every level of your dental practice?

The main factors of independence and freedom that are supposed to come with owning your own practice include time autonomy, financial independence, patient care, team culture, and clinical mastery. It’s not about sacrificing or avoiding work. It’s about making the work and sacrifice count; this provides you with the life that you deem worth it in every way.

It’s far more important to choose what you want more of than trying to make everything more or even better in a random way.

If you develop a solution that is better, faster, etc., it won’t matter if you are solving the wrong problem. This process only leads to feeling burnt out, resentment, and demoralization in the practice you’ve created. And if you are in this state of self-doubt about your abilities, making corrections will become even more difficult. But the good news is that this doesn’t need to happen! Instead, make choices where you focus on your best self, living your best life, and chasing your own dreams.

Stop looking at the past and make future decisions based on what you want and where you want to go. After all, you can’t reach any destination by looking in the rearview mirror. You must keep moving forward, even if you haven’t quite figured it out yet.

Are you going to give up on everything if things don’t go your way or you can’t figure things out on your first attempt? This just sets you up for defeat.

I have heard many stories and can introduce you to numerous dentists who have fallen into this trap and failed… usually because they listened to the advice of someone who had a hidden agenda (or maybe not so hidden). It’s very common for dentists to hear that they all need the same thing and that bigger is always the better way to go to cure any and all problems. However, this just brings more stress and reduces your freedom.

You’ve heard the message before… to grow, you need a bigger, state-of-the-art building, all the insurance available, more team members, and to spend hundreds of thousands on marketing to fill your practice with a large number of random patients that you don’t know whether or not they are good or bad or right or wrong for you!

This common theme of being part of the model of volume-based dentistry, discounting (baiting and bribing) people to come into your office, and otherwise commoditizing what you do… usually creates more dependency on insurance. This just doesn’t work. The only guarantee with this model is that you’ll have more stress, overhead, payroll, and working hours, and the only profitable growth will come from doing more dentistry!

Then, the dentists who “join” this model often blame insurance for why they aren’t getting better case acceptance, or they fault new marketing tactics for not increasing the number of highly qualified patients who come into the office. The response to all of this is to try to get as many new patients in the door as possible to offset the lower case values. With this growth in volume, they shortcut the time and attention each patient receives, and this only exacerbates the problem. This is a negative cycle that repeats with more volume, overhead, and work… without more profit. It can only be broken by bringing in better quality patients and giving them a higher-quality experience.

Now, there are many dentists who do this effectively, but it’s only possible because they practice the art of customized care. Plus, they have foundational structured systems in place that provide effective new patient experiences and treatment plans that are not based on insurance or emergency care. These dentists also have something else in common; they wish they could get FEWER patients. You heard that correctly. These smart private practice owners don’t ask for more patients; they just ask for more dentistry, which is better for everyone.

When you get more with fewer, you bring your overhead numbers down and your profit up.

This way, everyone wins, especially the patients, because you now have the time to give them a true experience with attentive and comprehensive care. Remember, no one has the right to tell you how you should run your practice or what it should look like. There is no “right or wrong” way to do things. There is only “your way” that works when you align your likes and dislikes with the appropriate business model for you.

All of this is based on your goals, personality, team, future, the way you want to work and manage others, and, of course, your philosophy of dentistry. What really matters is that you figure all of this out first. Then, you work to differentiate yourself and ensure that every single point of contact and engagement with your patients, community, and referral sources exemplifies this.

When you finish each day, judge your success by how much fulfilling dentistry you completed that made a real impact on your patients, how much profit you made for the time you sacrificed and the investment you put in, and whether you cared for your team members in a significant way.

All of this comes from more profitable dentistry—not necessarily more patients. And more profitable dentistry always comes from knowing your identity, being true to yourself, and having a model of practice that is unique to you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Recognized by thousands of dentists across North America, Scott Manning is an accomplished author (“The Dental Practice Shift” is the #1 most requested book in dentistry) and highly-sought-after public speaker. For almost two decades, he has dedicated his life to inspiring and motivating dentists worldwide to create wealth and lifestyle-based practices. Today, when he is not sharing his positive messages worldwide, he loves to travel and spend time with his beloved wife Kristen and daughter Saylor.

To learn more, visit https://dentalsuccesstoday.com/.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Nialowwa/Shutterstock.com.

Start with a Consistent and Impactful Brand

Your first step is to build a strong brand that authentically represents who you are and why patients should choose your practice.

Find Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

What makes your dental practice stand out? Whether it’s the latest technology, personalized care, or special services, highlight what sets you apart. This unique feature is your “superpower,” so show it off! At Golden Proportions Marketing, we guide clients through an extensive branding evaluation that asks some probing and perhaps unusual questions (e.g., “If your dental practice was a car, what kind of car would it be?”) to dig deep into what makes each dentist unique.

Don’t forget to include your mission statement and core values. They should be transparently and clearly stated on your website and other in-office materials, and you should reinforce them every day with your team. Every action, message, and interaction with your patients needs to show how you live those core values. For patients, it’s not just about WHAT you do, it’s more about WHY you do it.

Develop a Strong Visual Brand and Use It Consistently

Your logo is more than just a pretty brand mark that you use on your business cards. It is a graphic representation of who you are and what you believe. Designing a strong, memorable dental logo is a proven way to stand out from the rest of the practices in your community, so do your best to avoid the classic toothbrush or tooth logo. That type of imagery only connotes WHAT you do, not HOW you do it. Is your patient experience serene? High-tech? Sleek and contemporary? This is all communicated through your fonts, iconography, and colors (hint: blue and green are colors that inspire trust and comfort—but also make sure your colors feel consistent with your office atmosphere!). Once the brand is finalized, make sure your practice’s logo, color schemes, and messaging are the same everywhere—from your office sign and staff uniforms to your website and patient paperwork.

Your business cards, website, and social media posts should all look like they belong together. Think of it like setting up a cohesive look for a party. You want everything to match and make a lasting impression. This also applies to the tone and language you use across all communications, from your marketing to automated appointment reminders.

Continually Strengthen Your Brand

Whether you’re into fitness or not, your brand is like a muscle. And just like the muscles in your body, if you don’t put it to work, it will only get weaker over time. Here’s how you can flex it.

Tell Your Brand Story and Use Patient Testimonials

Brand storytelling is a fantastic way to connect with patients. Share stories about your practice’s journey—from how it started to where it is now. Highlight transformative patient experiences with videos and testimonials to make these stories come alive. It’s vitally important to invest in a custom photo shoot instead of relying on stock images. Your prospective patient base is highly sensitive to stock, having spent years engaging with the candid, authentic-feeling images that saturate social media.

Patient testimonials and positive reviews are gold for your brand. Encourage your satisfied patients to share their experiences on Google, and feature their testimonials prominently on your website and social media. Video testimonials can be especially powerful and personal when they showcase transformative patient experiences and convey the “why” that brought them to your office.

To get those positive responses from your patients, you have to be “on” 100% of the time, from start to finish. Even if you provided them with a great in-chair experience, your front desk can unintentionally blow it with a single unempathetic remark about collecting payment or showing up late for an appointment.

Engage with Your Community

In today’s world, having an active online presence is crucial. Use social media to engage with patients and share useful and engaging content. Share stories of life-changing patient treatment journeys, and don’t be afraid to tug on the heartstrings. Short informational videos answering common questions can also help connect with your audience. Sharing helpful tips can establish you as an expert and build trust.

Offline, getting involved in your local community can do wonders for your brand. Support local events and organizations to boost your visibility. Volunteering for local causes also shows your commitment and helps build goodwill.

Manage Your Reputation

Managing your online reputation is key to defending your brand. Regularly check review sites and respond to all reviews, whether they’re positive or negative. The rare one- or two-star review can happen to even the most exceptional practice, and it won’t sink you (unless you get defensive and snarky for the rest of the world to see!). Every bit of negative feedback has a silver lining, and that’s the opportunity to learn how to improve the patient experiences that shape your brand reputation. Make sure every interaction reflects your practice’s dedication to excellent care.

Not sure what patients love most about your practice? Sure, everyone thinks you’re friendly, but there’s something deeper. Copy all your reviews into a document, upload it to ChatGPT, and ask for a summary of the most common themes. Those themes can help identify key messaging points for your marketing.

Measure Your Results

In the old days, it was nearly impossible to measure brand value. These days, it’s as simple as measuring how many visitors entered some variation of your brand name or the doctor’s name to find your practice. Another way to measure impact is making sure at least one-third of your new patients come from patient referrals; anything less than that indicates an uninspired patient experience with your brand.

Remember, a standout brand is more than just a logo or a catchy slogan. It’s about consistently delivering an experience that reflects your unique values and expertise. From your initial marketing efforts to your day-to-day patient interactions, every touchpoint is an opportunity to reinforce your brand’s identity and create lasting impressions.

So, take these insights and apply them thoughtfully. Invest in creating a strong, consistent visual identity, tell your practice’s story with authenticity, and engage actively with both your local community and online audience. By doing so, you’ll not only attract new patients but also build lasting loyalty and trust.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Xaña Winans is the CEO and founder of Golden Proportions Marketing, dedicated to the growth of dental practices. Her agency provides goal driven, full service solutions including branding, website design, advertising and digital marketing. Visit goldenproportions.com to learn more.

Xaña is a board member of the Academy of Dental Management Consultants and has been awarded Fellowship in the International Academy of Dental Facial Aesthetics. She lectures and publishes regularly about all aspects of dental marketing.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Ski14/Shutterstock.com.

THINK COMPREHENSIVELY

The first step in initiating a successful clear aligners marketing campaign is taking a comprehensive approach, which means dedicating more than one marketing channel or activity to clear aligners. In our experience, the best formula is a combination of advertising and educational content, including:

• Google and social media ads
• Emails to existing patients
• Social media posts
• Educational videos
• SEO

Why implement a comprehensive marketing strategy rather than rely on word of mouth to attract clear aligner cases? First and foremost, the more marketing channels your practice has working toward the same goal, the more people will see the message and consider your practice when inquiring about clear aligners. A comprehensive marketing approach promotes product awareness across all marketing channels and increases short and long-term success rates. Taking a comprehensive approach is also a highly effective and efficient way to use marketing resources to achieve a specific goal.

MAKE IT PAINFUL

Stressing pain points resonates with patients who are good candidates for clear aligners. A pain point is essentially another way to say “problem.” Obvious pain points for patients needing orthodontic treatment might be:

• Uncomfortable smiling in pictures
• Embarrassed to laugh or smile in social situations
• Difficulty flossing and maintaining oral hygiene
• Jaw pain (if you are using clear aligners to treat TMD)

The language you use to call attention to pain points also matters. Descriptive words that create discomfort and unease will emphasize the problem and increase the urgency to seek treatment. Positioning clear aligners as the solution to the patient’s problems will pique their interest and prompt them to inquire.

A PICTURE (OR VIDEO) IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Piggy-backing on pain points, before-and-after images, as well as videos of patient testimonials, have a similar effect. Patients can see themselves in the before pictures and visualize their future smiles in the after pictures. In the case of video testimonials, if the patient’s case is especially compelling, for instance, they are older than average or had a particularly severe problem, it may serve as the proof someone else needs that clear aligners will work for them. Conversely, a more subtle or average case will resonate with patients who might believe embarking on a treatment journey is not worthwhile. In essence, presenting a variety of cases, from mild to severe and from younger to older, shows potential patients that clear aligners are suitable for nearly everyone.

GET BLOGGING

I am a big fan of blogging. It is an excellent platform for educational content and, through SEO and linking to and from other marketing platforms, it increases visibility. The blog format is flexible, and content can be “recycled” every few months, meaning that the main topic can be the same but approached from a different angle to keep it fresh and contribute to the overall marketing goal of attracting clear aligner cases. For example, the first blog post explains the basics of clear aligners and the types of problems they correct. The next blog, 2 or 3 months later, can focus on the specific benefits of clear aligners over traditional braces. A third blog could highlight a recent case, linking to a video of a patient testimonial or the doctor commenting on before-and-after images. A fourth blog might focus on clear aligners as an option for adults who had braces as teens and whose teeth have since shifted out of alignment. All four blogs are about clear aligners, but the content is different enough not to be repetitive, enhancing SEO and overall visibility. Social media posts can call attention to the blogs and link directly to them to boost this effect.

Clear aligners are a tremendous opportunity for dental practices to expand their services and attract new patients. However, success in a competitive market demands a strategic marketing approach. By leveraging multiple channels, including Google and social media ads, email campaigns, educational content, SEO, and engaging blog posts, you can significantly boost your practice’s visibility and appeal to potential patients. Addressing patients’ pain points and showcasing real-life success stories through before-and-after images and testimonials create a strong emotional connection, making the case for clear aligners even more compelling.

Effective marketing is not a one-time effort but an ongoing process. By continuously updating and refreshing content, it stays relevant, enhancing success immediately and long term. Embracing this comprehensive strategy will increase interest and inquiries for clear aligners at your practice, helping more patients achieve their goals while also achieving your own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With more than a decade of experience in corporate dental laboratory marketing and brand development, Jackie Ulasewich-Cullen decided to take her passion for the dental business and marketing to the next level by founding My Dental Agency.

Since starting her company, she and her team have helped a wide variety of practices all over the nation focus their message, reach their target audience, and increase their sales through effective marketing campaigns.

She can be reached at (800) 689-6434 or via email at jackie@mydentalagency.com.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Jihan Nafiaa Zahri/Shutterstock.com.

As a dentist, the commitment to achieve and break through limitations runs through your veins. You don’t wait for errors to make improvements; you are always raising the bar of expectations.

However, you see things changing in the world around you, and the future seems uncertain… or is it?

BE FUTURE-FOCUSED

Of course, you never know what the future holds, but you can prepare accordingly and take control of what happens in your own life if you are willing to accept the responsibility. Unlike most, this means that you need to focus on long-term stability versus short-term gratification.

The key is setting a strong foundation for life and dental success.

You can be insulated from the economy, have peace of mind about the future, practice with confidence, and profit with predictability with the right foundation. It’s about preparing to make the most of the situation, capitalize on impending events, and position your practice for whatever comes next.

THE 3 DISTINCT FUNCTIONS NECESSARY TO PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE

To insulate yourself from what is going on in the world, there are three key things to focus on:

1. STOP WORKING HARDER TO KEEP UP.

To do what you are doing now, but certainly better and never worse, it doesn’t require more of what you don’t want. You don’t have to start sacrificing and compromising. Stop making changes just because everyone else is or is telling you to do so.

2. INCREASE EXPECTATIONS.

There is no reason to take a pay cut, lower prices, or reduce your expectations. This only cheapens yourself and what you offer, slashes quality, and follows a negative mindset.

Rather than shrink your practice to prepare for rough times ahead, think about actually continuing to grow your practice and life in whatever way you deem appropriate. This can lead to more positive results where you will always be able to attract, convert, and retain the value of patients you need to achieve your goals.

3. MOVE FORWARD.

While you may feel like hunkering down and waiting to see what happens next, keep moving forward.

Don’t put your life, vacations, hobbies, or bucket list items on hold, and absolutely without any doubt, do not put your practice future on hold either.

It’s time to do the opposite of what everyone else around you is doing. When they slow down, you speed up. When they play passive, timid, and scared, you act! What happens when you do this?

You’ll see an acceleration of progress unlike anything you’ve ever experienced in your career, whether years or decades. You can capture more A patients, market share, high-quality team members, and especially more prosperity, more freedom, and more independence.

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO NUMBERS

When you know the numbers behind your business, you can pick and choose your patients and only do what is most profitable and fun for you. Yes, I said “fun.” When was the last time you heard that in the news about running your practice?

By knowing your numbers and following a proactive and positive plan, you can be confident in your message, proud of your philosophy, and passionate about your dentistry.

You’ve worked very hard to get where you are today. At this point, are you really going to let external factors dictate what you do, how you live and pursue your dreams, and create your future? You did not come this far to just roll over!

The math facts in your numbers don’t lie; if you are profitable, you always earn more income in a couple of years of holding the asset and still have an even more valuable asset to sell at any point of your choosing.

DO THE OPPOSITE AND PRACTICE ON PURPOSE

Your fellow professionals will make excuses, go into massive reduction mode and basically give up, succumbing to the pressures around them. Instead, do the opposite, and take the positive route as this may be the greatest time in your life. When others hide their heads in the sand waiting for the storm to pass, you will be able to spring into action, serve and rescue those left behind!

By insulating yourself from the uncertainties of tomorrow, you actually create your own economy where you have full control. You turn the negative forces into positive counters for good that set you up for the ultimate victory and the ability to earn what you deserve, multiply your wealth, do meaningful work, and still practice on your own terms.

To do this, stop seeing yourself as just a “dentist,” and start viewing yourself as a business owner. By realizing that your main focus is on your business, you can buffer, protect, and position yourself to be immune and prosper regardless of industry trends, economic fluctuations, the political climate, or even global uncertainties.

It’s when you “practice on purpose,” and consider yourself a professional owner of a business… and not just an amateur hobbyist with a job that you succeed.

As a private practice owner, you have the power and unique ability to create a lifestyle practice that is set up to make your ideal life possible whenever you want. This is a remarkable opportunity if you are willing to take responsibility, become a real business owner, and embrace true independence in private practice dentistry.

This is exciting… especially when you think about the alternative; if you don’t deliberately and proactively make decisions about your practice and life, the forces at play will. By not acting now, you risk devastation to your profitability, lifestyle, wealth, and peace of mind.

You have at this moment in time an unprecedented opportunity to build a stronger foundation than ever before, put up a fortress of wealth unlike you ever imagined (or thought you would need), push the limits on your beliefs, and engineer your practice to profit more than you have thought possible.

So, what’s it going to be? Are you going to change your mindset to be a professional business owner and build a solid foundation based on actual numbers to thrive through the storm? Or will you let others decide for you and have to deal with uncertainty about the future for you and your family?

The choice is yours.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Recognized by thousands of dentists across North America, Scott Manning is an accomplished author (“The Dental Practice Shift” is the #1 most requested book in dentistry) and highly sought-after public speaker. For almost two decades, he has dedicated his life to inspiring and motivating dentists worldwide to create wealth and lifestyle-based practices. Today, when he is not sharing his positive messages worldwide, he loves to travel and spend time with his beloved wife Kristen and daughter Saylor.

To learn more, click here to visit Dental Success Today.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: StockSnap from Pixabay.

The first (and biggest) problem is that dentists and team members simply fail to ask patients for feedback. But if you do that and it still doesn’t work, maybe you just didn’t really give them a reason to be impressed.

The question you need to ask yourself is—how good is your patient experience? To get a glowing review, you have to do just about everything right, and doing even one thing noticeably wrong can not only prevent a positive review but can even trigger a negative one.

Nailing your new patient experience is well worth the effort, and basically turns into free advertising if you get ALL of it right. Here are some of the things people will be most likely to point out about you when their friends or family members are looking for a new dentist.

YOUR FRIENDLY AND WELCOMING STAFF

First impressions definitely matter to new patients. When someone walks in the door that you don’t recognize and it’s right at the time you’re expecting a new patient, stand up from the desk and walk around/introduce yourself.

HOW CLEAN AND MODERN YOUR OFFICE IS

This goes without saying, but women will notice every little detail, like chipped paint, stains on the rugs, mismatched light bulbs on the ceiling, and even a slightly crooked picture. Details matter. Bring in a trusted friend to do a walk-through with bright pink sticky notes to attach to problem areas.

THE WAY YOU CLEARLY COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR PATIENTS

Unfortunately, patients do not understand how dental insurance works. Most think of it just like their medical insurance, with nearly bottomless coverage and nominal co-pays. When you use language like “out of network,” your patients don’t realize that they may need to pay you before they get reimbursed. Imagine you are trying to explain this to your 85-year-old grandmother. How would you simplify it and slow it down so she could understand?

RESPECT THEIR TIME

While it may be best practice for you to see a new patient for a 2-hour comprehensive exam before they can even get near a hygienist, it’s a hard sell to get a patient to come back for a second appointment for their prophy. That’s two separate appointments and two times that the patient has to take off work. I’ve seen more negative reviews about this approach than you would expect. If the patient is relatively young or has been seen by another dentist in the past year or two, current advice says to schedule that patient with hygiene first, and then schedule the exam. Bonus: If you’re a practice that has a tendency to run late, schedule your new patient blocks for first thing in the morning and right after lunch, when you’ll nearly be able to guarantee an on-time appointment.

PAINLESS PROCEDURES, COMPASSIONATE CARE

New patients should be scheduled with your gentlest hygienist. Patient anxiety is often higher until they get to know your office, and any level of discomfort is more likely to be exaggerated. Schedule new patients with your most empathetic, personable hygienist and block 5-10 extra minutes in your schedule to make room for questions. To really dial up your customer service, call every patient who has received an injection that day to ask how they are doing.

PUMP UP THE COMFORT

To combat new patient anxiety, offer blankets, pillows, noise-canceling headphones to block out the drill, and other comforting aids to help make your patients feel more relaxed in the chair.

BEING EXACTLY WHAT THEY EXPECTED… AND MORE

Lastly, you have to live up to your branding. If your website tells patients to expect on-time appointments, make sure you run on time. If you talk about your friendly team and 5-star service, live up to the hype. Authenticity, consistency, and predictability are key to keeping patients HAPPY!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Xaña Winans is the CEO and founder of Golden Proportions Marketing, dedicated to the growth of dental practices. Her agency provides goal driven, full service solutions including branding, dental website design, advertising, and digital marketing. Visit goldenproportions.com to learn more.

Xaña is a board member of the Academy of Dental Management Consultants and has been awarded a Fellowship in the International Academy of Dental Facial Aesthetics. She lectures and publishes regularly about dental marketing.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Panchenko Vladimir/Shutterstock.com.

ESTABLISHING A BASELINE

Targets are nice, but before devising a plan on how to reach them, a practice must establish a baseline. Think of it this way: when a patient comes in asking for treatment, the dentist first gathers information through consultation and examination to establish their baseline oral health. This baseline becomes the foundation for building a solid, achievable treatment plan. No dentist would dream of treating a patient without an initial assessment.

The same goes for establishing a marketing plan. Before anything can happen, the practice must evaluate its current practices and results to understand how close or far away it is from where it needs to be. Establishing this baseline makes it possible to make decisions based on facts and actual data rather than feelings or preferences.

UNDERSTANDING CURRENT PERFORMANCE

The first step in establishing a baseline is understanding how well current marketing strategies and practices are working. This means analyzing every marketing channel and in-house practice, including answering the phone and responding to new patient inquiries, to determine what is netting results and what is not. To do this, the practice needs to gather accurate data. For instance:

• On average, how many new patients call in or inquire online per week?
  • Of those, how many schedule appointments?
• On average, how many calls are missed in a day?
  • Of those, how many come in after business hours?
• How many missed and after-hours calls are returned/followed up on?
• Why do some calls and inquiries not result in appointments?
• How did the new patient hear about your practice?

Gathering this data takes time and dedication. There must first be a system for tracking calls and inquiries and logging results, either through automation or by hand. After getting that squared away, data collection should take place over a long enough time frame to get a number that truly represents normal activity. For example, a day is not usually enough time to get a good idea of the average call volume. Four to six weeks may be better. Some days are naturally busier than others, and many practices have shorter or longer hours on certain days.

Once sufficient data has been gathered, the practice can determine the average number of new patient calls and inquiries that convert into appointments. This is the baseline. Knowing this information is necessary to create an effective marketing plan to attract more new patients.

WHAT OTHER INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW?

New patient conversions are just one piece of the puzzle. Other metrics go into establishing current performance, including website traffic. Practices need to find out how many people are finding the website and what pages they are viewing. Practices should also track the sources of new patient inquiries: How many new patients are finding the practice through Google My Business? Social media ads? Existing patient referrals?

It is also important to calculate the number of new patient inquiries coming in from every active marketing channel and how many of them convert. All this information and more is essential for understanding how a practice’s current marketing is performing, what is working well, what is not, and where opportunities lie.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Once all the information has been gathered, it is possible to see patterns and trends, strengths and weaknesses, and then set realistic, achievable goals based on the findings. Similar to creating a treatment plan for a patient, creating and implementing a marketing plan for a dental practice is a step-by-step process that starts from the baseline. Each step in the plan, properly executed, brings the practice closer to the end goal, whatever that may be.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With more than a decade of experience in corporate dental laboratory marketing and brand development, Jackie Ulasewich-Cullen decided to take her passion for the dental business and marketing to the next level by founding My Dental Agency.

Since starting her company, she and her team have helped a wide variety of practices all over the nation focus their message, reach their target audience, and increase their sales through effective marketing campaigns.

She can be reached at (800) 689-6434 or via email at jackie@mydentalagency.com.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Ann H from Pexels.com.

I understood “boss-hole” because for most of my career I’d been a boss-hole. A higher-than-thou presence in the office, run like a dictatorship, forcing any and all to walk on eggshells, spending their days either celebrating or fearing me.

I know of several employees who quit because of a ‘toxic work environment’ that I’d created. Ten years ago, I didn’t suffer much blowback because employees in a dental practice were there for my taking. There was no shortage of applicants. Having said that, creating that kind of environment was never my intention. In fact, looking back and reliving, writing, and explaining who I used to be brings me great shame. I have a physical sensation understanding that others will read the words below.

I feel my skin crawl and I want to hide. The truth of the matter was that despite my behavior, I legitimately and sincerely did care about the people who worked for me. I wanted to be their friend, and… I wanted them to be my friend.

I frequently opened my wallet, gifting hundreds of dollars of my personal income, to help my employees pay rent or buy Christmas presents. But acts like that did not make up for the disparaging and shaming communication in front of patients, nor did they make up for the incessantly cold temperature running at my whim.

WHY WAS I A BOSS-HOLE?

I believe my boss-hole-ship was created by a combination of factors. There was a diminished empathy resulting from the many years pursuing academics and a sense of entitlement that came with the three letters following my name. Also, somewhere along the way, I got the idea that I needed to be celebrated – as a reward for the hard work I’d put into becoming a doctor. And, add to that poor and outdated mentorship.

But most of all… most of all… I was encased in an isolating profession lacking examples and inspiration into the kind of leader my team deserved.

EMPATHY AND AN OUTDATED MODEL OF LEADERSHIP

Studies show us that as education increases, specifically as it applies to dentistry, empathy declines. The highest empathy scores are shown among first-year dental students. This may be due to the fact that more emphasis is placed on courses that include communication in those early years.

Empathy starts to reduce in the 3rd year and is found to further decline in providers with specialty training¹.

With a lack of practiced empathy, it’s easy to focus solely on our own needs as opposed to considering those of the people around us, whether they be patients or team members. Furthermore, getting through the eight post-high school years, necessary to gain those three pretty letters offset by a comma settled after our last names, can be exhausting. The education is filled with a never-ending struggle of self-doubt, fighting perfectionism at every corner, and exasperating learning. We all want to have that hardship recompensed in some way; and to most of us, the reward at the end of that journey is being called ‘doctor.’

When we are referenced as such, our chest puffs out, our eyes open wider, and it feels as if our bodies should be levitating off the earth a little. We confuse the honor that has been bestowed upon us as healers into a form of self-indulgence. I believe this happens to many new doctors. And, with time, with difficult patient interactions, our perception of who it is we really are, as doctors, is humbled. That inflated sense of self is almost self-leveling with years, though it does take hostages along the way.

POOR MENTORSHIP

What I found to have affected my poor leadership most was the influence of a thirty-plus-year senior dentist who had injected himself as my mentor. I’d met him shortly after graduation as a referral source. I remember being led into an outdated conference room filled haphazardly with diplomas. Each one in a different frame, all without a sense of organization. This unwelcoming consultation room was the preliminary place of making a patient subservient to the all-knowing doctor. There were no photos of patients, or smiles, or laughter, or even family. No photos of the team, just the doctor and his many distinct certificates. I felt terribly intimidated. And at the same time, special to have been ‘chosen’ as his mentee. After that meeting, Dr. Northwestern took me under his proverbial wing, and we talked on and off for more than a decade.

Conversations involving shaming me were quite frequent. I was shamed for not wearing a white coat to greet patients. I was instructed to communicate with patients by first and foremost displaying my level of education. I was to use terms like gingiva, caries, periodontium and was never to dumb down the language, no matter how confused the patient may seem. If I did, I’d lose the air of authority. When patients didn’t follow through with my recommended care, rather than showing empathy and inquiring deeper, I became more arrogant and displeased with wasted consultations. It showed in the operatories, in our hallways, and in team meetings. But no matter how hard I tried, I was nowhere near as successful as Dr. Northwestern. I was shamed and belittled for accepting HMO and public aid patients; for serving underprovided populations.

Each time I spoke with my mentor, I’d been led into a pervasive cycle of self-loathing with each day feeling more defeating than the next. My thinking was that if I wasn’t happy, if feeling inadequate was the norm, there would be nothing wrong with making others feel inadequate. That was life, I thought. And so, my poor leadership ensued.

In the final conversation I had with Dr. Northwestern, about four years ago, he shamed me for posting a photo on our Happy Tooth website. It depicted myself and my business partner neither wearing a lab coat. He insisted that I looked like I could have been a receptionist or an assistant, as if there was nothing worse.

How would patients distinguish me and applaud me for my professionalism if I looked like everyone else?²

It was in that conversation that Dr. Northwestern told me I was incapable of change, and he would no longer offer his advice; I was a lost cause. I remember feeling heartbroken and scared. I remember feeling deserted, feeling alone. I was running a failing practice, which I hated, which hated me, and now nothing would ever change because I had no one to depend on, no one to ask advice of. Dr. Northwestern’s desertion of our mentorship was likely one of the best things that could have happened to me.

Because it was in the depths of that darkness and loneliness that I had to do some introspective consideration. I needed to look in and figure out who I was without this man, without his outdated theories, analogies, and recommendations. And as I courageously began to delve into my core values with the help of a life coach, I finally, after 15 years of practice, figured out who I was, who I needed to be, and how to fulfill my passion and purpose. I began to create a future on my own terms, without a pressed lab coat, without the classical music in the background, and in an office not just filled with photos of patients and friends laughing but practicing in that kind of atmosphere.

I was finally free to be me. With that inception, everything changed, and everyone noticed. Out of the boss-hole that’d been grown in the shadow of Dr. Northwestern came ‘me,’ a human committed to helping patients become healthy, but more importantly, a human committed to creating a healthy atmosphere for our team to thrive.

AN AWAKENING INTO ALL THINGS HUMAN

Finding myself sans my misleading myagi wasn’t the only part of the equation. The moments that matter… that really matter… you remember for a lifetime, and my significant change came in that kind of flash. There came a break, there came a time in my practice when patients, their families, my teammates, even me—we all became human.

People were no longer objects available for my taking in monetizing a strenuous education. This specific awakening came during a time when my grandmother, a woman who’d loved me the most in this world, fell ill; her end was near. She lived in Poland, and my ability to visit with her was limited; it could have even been self-imposed out of fear of watching her age. She was constantly on my mind. I remember entering the operatory and seeing a woman, just like my grandmother, a Polish-speaking, grey-haired elderly woman in the presence of her daughter, her caretaker. She was in pain. She needed my help.

I believe that was the first time, as ashamed as I am to admit it, that I connected a tooth, to a mouth, to a human and back into my heart. I was not treating a symptom; I was treating the beloved woman who’d made me feel my whole life like I mattered. Embarrassingly, and uncontrollably, my eyes began to water. I admitted to the patient and her daughter their resemblance and how much I’d missed my grandmother. It might have been the first time that I also became human in the eyes of my patient. It was truly a life-changing moment for me. A veil had lifted, and all I was capable of seeing from that point on was what I had to offer other humans and not what I was there to take. I believe with good reason that the patient interaction mentioned above was the first step I took from being the boss-hole into servile leadership. And from that point on, with coaching, and reading, with writing and practicing, it felt good to change. I left in the rearview a model provider that deserved to be cherished for no other reason than his letters.

I left in the rearview the toxic and unreasonable expectations, the barking orders, and the shaming comments made in front of patients. I left in the rearview mirror the dental textbook language when speaking with patients. I left in the rearview the boss-hole I once was.

Change wasn’t immediate but it ensued. What came next was flow (as defined by scientist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) and more smiles, and laughter. With changes came newly rediscovered relationships with the team and patients. With the changes burnout reduced. With the changes, profit increased multifold. With the changes came a sense of joy and a practice I’m truly honored to call home, a team I’m honored to call family, and patients I’m honored to call friends.

A LINGERING QUESITON

As I write this, a question lingers in my mind: why didn’t I know better? Your question may linger: didn’t you see how you made others feel? I don’t know how to answer that, other than to say that I was, in fact, clueless. I have nothing and no one to blame for making those decisions; it was all me. I can’t assign blame for trusting a mentor whose role in our relationship was to be fawned over. I chose that relationship, and I should have known better. I’m deeply shamed and disturbed by my past leadership. What’s more is that back then when I thought about change, it was far too daunting and scary, and quite honestly, I didn’t know if it’d be possible. I’d beaten myself into believing that my existence in the practice was simply the way it had to be.

I could have kept going as I was, though there was very little about my days that I enjoyed. I dreaded waking up in the morning and was constantly late for work. I was making an above-average income for an average American, but not for a dentist in our area. I will reiterate this once more: change was difficult, and the road was long, fraught with curves, dirt passages, hills, and valleys. But the change and the effort were well worth it. With the help of the Productive Dentist Academy, creating new systems, prioritizing relationships, profitability skyrocketed. My hourly production quadrupled and still continues to grow. We were, we are, able to reward our team members with highly competitive salaries and endless gifts and bonuses. Our team is the best we’ve ever had; many of whom have been with us for almost a decade and a half.

If you find yourself in a place similar to mine, where as you pull up to the office you have an incessant desire to pull back out, something is off; but that something can be manipulated and changed into an advantage. Putting people first, prioritizing relationships, viewing teeth as connected to the human and then into our hearts makes a tremendous difference in the lives of those around us, in our own lives.

REFERENCES

1. Sherman JJ, Cramer A. Measurement of changes in empathy during dental school. J Dent Educ. 2005 Mar;69(3):338-45. PMID: 15749944
2. Interestingly enough, I received that same unsolicited call earlier this year when our new website published in a similar way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Maggie Augustyn is a practicing general dentist, the owner of Happy Tooth, a faculty member at Productive Dentist Academy, an author, and an inspirational speaker. She obtained her Doctorate of Dental Surgery from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Augustyn is passionate about reading, researching, writing, and speaking on topics that encompass the human experience, including our struggles, pain, and moments of vitality.

Maggie Augustyn, DDS, FAAIP, FICOI

Her personal mission is to inspire individuals to embark on a journey toward a more authentic self-actualization. She has a notable presence in the media and is a frequent contributor to Dental Entrepreneur Woman. Dr. Augustyn takes great pride in her role as a contributing author to Dentistry Today, where she publishes a column titled “Mindful Moments.”

She has also been featured on various podcasts and is a sought-after national speaker, emphasizing the significance of authenticity and self-discovery.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Pathdoc/Shutterstock.com.

Here are three of the most important.

1. Have an Open Attitude

You’ve heard about attitude so much in popular motivational and business literature that you probably are already tuning out as you read that word. I do believe that a phenomenal attitude makes a difference, but in this case, I want to make it very scientific and practical. You want to develop what I call an “open attitude.”

This is not about positive or negative, although positivity certainly allows you to be more open to new ideas, insights, strategies, comparisons, updates, research, or just about anything that is new to you. An open attitude means that whatever you hear about, you approach it objectively from the start.

• Too many people already believe that they…
• Do not want a larger practice
• Do not want to work more hours
• Do not take insurance
• Take all insurance
• Resent their staff
• Resent what they pay
• Need an associate
• Never want an associate
• Should open 4 offices
• Should open 40 offices

None of the above are right or wrong. They are only right or wrong for each individual dentist. Each one of those statements could be the foundation of a strategic plan that leads to great things when properly applied for that dentist. The key is to have an open attitude. Open to listening, learning, and accessing new information. All too often we simply create a comfort zone for ourselves and when we learn something new, even if it worked for someone else, we don’t believe it can work for us.

2. Get the Correct Systems in Place

Another concept that has received plentiful coverage in dental literature is systems. Step-by-step systems will help any practice to perform better, reduce inefficiency, train the team, improve performance, lessen fatigue, and raise production. So why don’t most practices have excellent up-to-date documented systems? Because it takes work. Unfortunately, there is no effortless way around this. If you want to maximize performance and production, you need the systems.

What is the best way to run your schedule? What is the best way for you to improve your case presentation? (Which has a dramatic effect on case acceptance and a dramatic effect on increasing practice production.) What is the best way to increase hygiene productivity by 20% AND refer more dentistry back to the doctor?

These are simple questions that actually have simple answers all wrapped up in practice operational systems. Scheduling, case presentation, hygiene productivity, insurance management, customer service, etc. are all systems that allow the team to excel. When the team excels the practice excels. Simple concept, but it does take work.

3. Track a Few Key Things

You don’t need to measure 100 data points a week in order to understand your practice. There are great dashboards out there that have information that is very valuable, but a lot of it you can ignore. You can ignore it because if you don’t get the few correct key statistics tracked, the rest won’t matter. Although I like to track 12 or so different measurements, the most important ones are: total production, production per day, production per provider, production per hygienist, production per patient, and production as a ratio of overhead. If you simply start there, you’ve got the basics. Here is my analogy. You go to your physician, and you’re told that you need to lose weight, lower your body fat, reduce your blood pressure, decrease your glucose, and lower your cholesterol. You could measure all of those numbers, or you could simply measure weight loss. If you lose enough weight most (if not all) of the other numbers will also improve. Track the key statistics and focus on them intensely and other statistics that you’re not even looking at will automatically improve.

My suggestion is to stop playing at practice improvement and get really serious. What you need to do is not hard to understand. There are a few key things that will catapult your practice to the next level, raise your production and like the example above, and allow you to grow your practice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the CEO and Founder of Levin Group, a leading practice management consulting firm that has worked with over 30,000 clients to increase production. A recognized expert on dental practice management and marketing, he has written more than 60 books and over 4,000 articles and regularly presents seminars in the U.S. and around the world.

To contact Dr. Levin or to join the 40,000 dental professionals who receive his Practice Production Tip of the Day, visit www.levingroup.com or email rlevin@levingroup.com.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Marcel Eberle on Unsplash.

I get excited when a dentist tells me that they roll out the red carpet for their patients—creating the best experience possible, listening to them, and generally providing exceptional customer service—and the patient reviews echo this. These practices are really on the ball. On the other hand, some dentists swear that their patient experience is outstanding, but what I hear from the patients themselves and the team doesn’t back that up. These practices need to get their head in the game because now, more than ever, patients care about customer service.

Let’s not assume that a person looking for a new dentist has friends or family in the area who could make a recommendation. Even if they do, they will usually want to conduct additional research before making a final decision. There was a time when customer service in dentistry was not much of a priority. However, with the internet and the birth of social media and online reviews that are freely available, the reality of the patient’s experience is out there for all to see. Online reviews are often the deciding factor, prompting a new patient to go with one practice over another. As much as good reviews will attract patients, reviews that reflect a less-than-stellar patient experience could be driving new patients away.

How to Compete with the 5-Star Practices in Your Market

On the whole, patients are honest in their reviews. They will make it known when they encounter exceptional customer service or have a negative experience. The most effective way to prevent new patients from going to a competitor is to concentrate on improving customer service. This means more than greeting people and being polite. Customer service starts from first contact and continues with each interaction.

1. Return phone calls and respond to online appointment requests promptly—So often, people seeking a new dentist complain that no one responded to their initial inquiry. Ignoring online requests and voicemails or waiting too long to respond will drive potential new patients to another practice simply because they respond. That is like giving free money to your competitor. Designating time daily to address inquiries from online forms and return phone calls and tracking results will instantly reverse this trend.
2. Train team members how to answer the phone and carry on a customer-service-oriented conversation—The office gets hectic, and there is no way to anticipate when someone will call to inquire about the practice. Any team member answering the phone at any time of day should be prepared to field questions and know how to convert an inquiry into an appointment. No matter how busy it gets, the patient on the other end of the phone should never feel brushed aside, rushed, or disrespected.
3. Make patients feel welcome, always—Going the extra mile pays off. On the phone, in person, during a consultation, in the middle of a treatment, during check–out, and beyond: these are all opportunities to shine in front of patients. Some of the most impactful testimonials we have seen are from patients who received a phone call from the dentist after treatment to check on them or were shown exceptional kindness that helped them overcome their fears.
4. Listen—Dental professionals have a lot of professional skills and love to share their knowledge. Sometimes, this results in a one-sided conversation with the patient, especially when the solution seems evident within the first few seconds of an exam or consultation. Jumping in without first letting the patient express themselves can be offputting, regardless of whether there is a straightforward solution without the need for any explanation. Patients want their concerns to be heard so that they feel comfortable and confident in their decision to move forward with treatment. Any healthcare professional’s most valuable skill is truly listening to their patients.
5. Don’t forget about patients once they leave the office—Focusing solely on attracting new patients and ignoring existing ones is a huge mistake. Existing patients are a tremendous resource for referrals, testimonials, and repeat business. Catering to existing patients with emails, social media posts, and special services will prevent the “revolving door” effect by encouraging loyalty.

There are practices in every market that have these steps down and excel at providing patients with top-notch service. It shows in their patient video testimonials, their solid patient base, and the number of new patients on the books every month. If your practice is not the practice all the patients are flocking to, it is essential to plan and implement some customer-service changes as soon as possible or risk losing out.

No one wants to lose patients to another practice for a reason that could have easily been remedied with more attention to the patient experience. Don’t let the practice down the street outshine yours. Focus on building a reputation for good customer service, and soon, your practice will be the one outshining all the others.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With more than a decade of experience in corporate dental laboratory marketing and brand development, Jackie Ulasewich-Cullen decided to take her passion for the dental business and marketing to the next level by founding My Dental Agency.

Since starting her company, she and her team have helped a wide variety of practices all over the nation focus their message, reach their target audience, and increase their sales through effective marketing campaigns.

She can be reached at (800) 689-6434 or via email at jackie@mydentalagency.com.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.