Standing Out in the Crowd

Standing out in the crowd is only the first step. Unfortunately, many people stop there. If you have been trying to sell larger restorative and/or cosmetic cases (or cosmetic dentistry of any kind), you know what I mean. Patients get whitening or enhance the front four, but often need much more. The patient feels fine about the minimal work done, but you have missed a great opportunity to really enhance their life.

I think of creating logos as whitening and developing Web sites as the front four. They offer similar immediate and beautiful benefits to our clients. Yet the client's long-term financial health and increased-production functionality has not been treated by this service.

When our clients complete their "image package" they are very happy, but there are often elements we have not been able to address to ensure the image package will actually be successful. Either they were not "ready" to go ahead with the entire marketing case plan for various reasons or they have a more specific objection like current insufficient funding. No matter the reasons for holding off on further marketing treatment there is the big potential of long-term marketing failure.

Imagine what $500 worth of laser whitening would look like after months of smoking and other damaging habits. Regardless of what you told the patient about taking care of their smile, the value of your services takes a beating. Likewise, an award winning logo is ineffective if it is not "taken care of" properly: displayed at appropriate intervals and in proper venues. If a beautiful logo were ultimately ineffective, our clients would value our artwork less. The result would be fewer referrals.

Take this idea one step further… A practice might have a great team when it comes to one-on-one patient interaction, but their external patient communication strategies are weak. They don't get the logo and complementary brand information in front of patients at the right time or often enough. This problem eats away at the value built up internally by the team. This causes long-term patient retention issues, difficulties upgrading current patients to higher-level procedures, and lowering the percentage of case acceptance by new patients.

This periodontal disease of the communication process is rampant in many practices. If my "periodontal disease communication statistics" are up to date, three out of four practices have this problem and often don't even know it.

Current patients will migrate to other dentists if the value of advanced dentistry is not consistently communicated. Without ongoing, well-integrated communication, your patients will see that other practices are more proactive about what is possible, and find reasons why your services may not be valid. Retaining strong referral agents, empowering more referral agents, and better educating those who have not yet upgraded their dentistry should not be left to the aggressive dentist down the road. Just as actual periodontal disease dissolves the supporting structure around teeth, haphazard communication can cause current patients to fall by the wayside and disintegrate your referral network.

Think about another issue that creates difficulties in the long run: the functionality of enhancing only the front four--that is the Website. In this hyperactive communication environment, you need a Website to retain current patients, attract new patients, and help solidify referrals. The Website does this by communicating to patients and the public--in unlimited way--the value of the practice mission.

Yet, your Website, no matter how mesmerizing it is, will never attain the level of success you ultimately require unless it is supported by a posterior (supportive) campaign of proactive marketing elements. Practices that hope their new Internet shingle will magically push them ahead without supportive marketing end up with a bad taste in their mouth when their front-four strategy fails.

Like your patients, it often makes sense to do your image development in phases to cushion the financial costs. However, you need to quickly tie your image package together with a cohesive plan to solidify your brand in each patient's mind and with the public at large. Waiting too long can create image transition frustrations and difficulties. Momentum can be lost in the time that elapses between logo and Web site development, and when you start your plan. You're excited, your team is excited and your patients are waiting to find out how they will benefit. Letting your brand take a vacation at this juncture can have long-term consequences.

Standing out in the crowd is a vital first step, but once everyone else has had their teeth whitened and their front four done, what will ultimately differentiate you from the pack? Yes, get a great logo and Website, but don't expect that these elements alone will give you the healthy and long-lasting results you really need to pull away from the pack. Like your patients, you have the freedom to choose: limited success or ongoing success?