November 22, 2002
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Walter Hailey & Steve Anderson talk about...
Public Relations is Part of the 15x System
If you’ve been to Dental Boot Kamp, you’ll remember the 15X system, which says that 20% of your target market will do business with you after they’ve heard about you 4 times. 50% by the 8th time and 90% by the 15th time. It takes a lot of repetition to get people to take action.
Public relations is part of the 15X system. Each contact the patient has with your name counts as one of the 15X impressions. After enough contacts by the press and your other marketing efforts, they are ready to come to your practice and they will be more prepared to day “Yes” to total treatment.
News stories can be used over and over again as preheat. They can be framed and hung on the wall, sent out to new patients and various other ways. In fact, if you’ve been to Dental Boot Kamp, you will remember that preheat is what your patients find out about you from third party credible sources like the local press.
You can extend the lifetime and value of your public relations stories by making copies of articles, pictures and awards and placing them in frames on your reception room walls, in photo albums on your reception room table and as additional information that perhaps could be sent out to new patients before they come in for their first appointment.
You see, people are always looking for credible proof that they’ve made the right decision in choosing you as their dental health care provider. Any evidence showing you featured in the local press recently or in the past is the kind of proof they are looking for.
Dr. Jeff Gray, a Crown Council member in San Diego CA says “When you walk into our office, you’re going to see a nicely mounted frame, about five or six feet wide, about five or six feet high, with a lot of articles and pictures on it. When patients walk into the office that is without a doubt the first place they will go. They’ll just stand and read 15 or 20 articles up on the wall.”
Most offices have a few framed diplomas or something like that and patients think, “Well, I’m glad he went to school.” But Jeff says “When they read one of our articles that’s usually what they will ask us about when they’re in the chair. Also, what we usually do is make a nice copy of the article and send it out in our newsletter. We’ll say “In case you missed this story in the newspaper, here is a copy of the article which came out last month. We thought you might be interested.”
So remember, repetition is the key to 15X. Make sure the press is writing articles about your practice and make sure your patients are exposed to the articles over and over again. The sooner you get them to 15 exposures, the sooner you’ll have 90% of them sitting in your chair.
If you would like to learn more about Dental Boot Kamp (www.dentalbootkamp.com) or the Crown Council (www.crowncouncil.com) contact gregs@dentalsuccess.net or call 800-460-3838 x106.
 Greg Sneyd, Director of DentalSuccess says ...
Broadcast Your CBS
Patients don’t buy features, they buy benefits. They buy what you can do for them. In the back of their mind they are always thinking, “What’s in it for me?” If you’re not totally plugged in to what your practice, what your product and services can do for your patients, then it will be very difficult for you ever to convince anybody that you’re doing any good.
Sit in the chair and look at the world from the eyes of your patients for a minute. What does your practice do that no one else does for that patient? What makes your offer extraordinary?
We call this CBS: Compelling Benefit Statement. You need to define what is the ultimate purpose of your practice and what makes you unique among other dental practices. You need to present what your practice offers in terms of the key benefits that will compel the prospective patient to want to know more. So come up with short and direct phrases that will help people understand what the ultimate benefit will be for your patients.
It is from such an opening CBS that you can move to PDQ/DMB. That is, Probe, Discover and Question in order to determine the prospective patient’s DBM - Dominant Buying Motive. When your FAB’s (the Features of your services, the Advantages of using your services, and the Benefits to your prospective patient) correspond with their DBM’s, then the sale is not far behind.
What is the key benefit of a cosmetic dentist? “I work with people who are interested in painlessly having one of the most attractive smiles in the world and in keeping that smile for life so they’ll never be put through the pain and inconvenience of having to cope with false teeth.” That sure sounds a lot better than “I’m a cosmetic dentist.”
You need to come up with a benefit statement that is different and meaningful from the expected response. You need to come up with a benefit statement that begs the listener to say, “Please tell me more.” You need a conversation starter not a conversation closer. I like the one that Dr. Scott Kiser, a Crown Council member in Salt Lake City UT uses. “I change people’s lives. One smile at a time.” Now that will get them to ask for more, won’t it?
At Dental Boot Kamp we call this BOTSOM. Change the Base Of Thought by changing the State Of Mind of the person that you are talking with. You can’t change the latter without first changing the former. You must appeal to the thinking that structures the outlook if you seek to liberate the outlook.
So, don’t wait any longer. Go home tonight and start working on your CBS. Then move to your PDQ/DMB and before you know it you’ll have your FAB’s down cold. Then watch your revenue soar like the eagles.
If you would like to learn more about Dental Boot Kamp (www.dentalbootkamp.com) or the Crown Council (www.crowncouncil.com) contact gregs@dentalsuccess.net or call 800-460-3838 x106.
 Art Anderson, your DentalSuccess Tipster, talks about:
Finding Your Niche and Advertising it are Two Different Things
All emphasis is no emphasis. That is an important thing to remember when promoting your practice according to Dr. Tom Orent who has an esthetic dentistry practice in Framingham, Massachusetts. Too frequently you see in the telephone Yellow Pages a listing for a dentist that says, “Dr. Doall, cosmetic, family, implant, orthodontic, and reconstructive dentistry.” If a patient wants cosmetic or reconstructive dentistry, this is likely the last dentist that will be chosen. The patient will go to the one who lists only the service the patient desires.
This does not say that a dentist can’t provide multiple services, but in terms of marketing to general audiences, it is more productive to focus on one niche at a time. In general advertising media, including direct mail, it is best to position yourself as an authority on one specialty.
Internally you can have multiple niches all working simultaneously. Within the office, you can gain attention to your capabilities in multiple specialties by having books and photo albums in the waiting room highlighting success in one particular realm or another. Use the Caesy system to convey the latest information about a specialty. Bring members of the dental team into the patient area and let them provide vocal and visual testimonials as they describe their personal experiences to patients.
If you provide treatment for breath disorders, you can promote that within the office. It has been estimated that as many as forty million Americans suffer from this malady and less than 1% of dentists treat it. Nevertheless the promotion for it should by internal.
Another opportunity can be found in herbal medicine. This is a field that is growing by leaps and bounds. A display of products in the reception area can provide promotion for this service, but keep the promotion internal.
Air Abrasion provides another niche. This appeals to those who would rather do without drills and needles. That includes almost everyone.
Regardless of which niche initially attracts a patient to your practice, you will have ample opportunity to promote many other services. By presenting the external image of mastery of one service, you will attract far more qualified patients to your practice than if you claim to be master of all.
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