Greg Anderson, Director of the Crown Council says …
 
Last week I told you about Dr. Jeff Gray’s and Dr. Kenny William’s and their Extreme Makeover success in San Diego. You can now view their actual 8-minute news story by going to www.thesandiegochannel.com and clicking on the “Extreme Makeover” link.
 
Jeff and Kenny were inspired to do their own Extreme Makeover after seeing what fellow Crown Council member, Bill Dorfman, did with the Extreme Makeover idea on the nationally televised ABC Extreme Makeover series.
 
This week I would like you to read about Bill’s inspiring Extreme Makeover story.
 
A Real-Life Hollywood Success Story and How Extreme Makeovers Can Make You a Star

By William M. Dorfman, DDS, FAACD

I was sitting at a soda fountain in some drugstore on Hollywood Boulevard. As I finished my sugar-free root beer float, I noticed a noisy group of movie-types down the counter, discussing a project they had “in development” at a studio. I overheard them saying something about an “extreme makeover” case and how they really needed to find a great cosmetic dentist. I leaned over, handed one of my cards to a tall, absolutely stunning blonde, and said, “Bill Dorfman, cosmetic dentist. I create beautiful smiles.”

And the rest is Hollywood.

Okay, that may not be exactly how I got the part on ABC’s new reality show, Extreme Makeover, but I can assure you that appearing on prime time T.V. this past few months has been one of the most exciting developments in my professional career. In case you missed it, Extreme Makeover featured participants who experienced a real-life Cinderella story of their own. They underwent plastic surgery, tooth whitening and other dental services, as well as a complete beauty and wardrobe makeover. On top of all that, they were placed on a rigorous physical training and nutrition regimen. The results for each one of these participants were absolutely amazing.

The smile makeover segment included a comprehensive oral health exam, prophylaxsis and Zoom! chairside whitening. Shortly after the first episode of Extreme Makeover aired, my office received well over 1,000 emails from patients interested in the featured procedures. I referred many of those patients to dentists all over the country, while others ended up in my office. We did 30 Zoom! chairside whitening treatments within the first two weeks of the show’s airing and I’ve done over 10 veneer cases as a direct result of this appearance, with a lot more on the books.

In 20 years of practicing dentistry, I have tried numerous marketing and publicity-related ventures and although many have been very successful, nothing has had a greater impact than appearing on ABC’s Extreme Makeover. Not only can I affirm that it has brought new patients into my practice, it also has had the same effect on many dentists’ offices around the country.
 
For the first time ever, prime time television highlighted cosmetic surgery and dentistry and showed what a tremendous impact these services can have on people’s lives. When the pilot aired, the network did not anticipate that it would draw like it did. Not only did Extreme Makeover beat West Wing, it was one of the highest rated reality shows of the year. Everybody cares about looking good.

Here’s the inside story. I have a patient who has been a game show hostess on a nationally-syndicated program. She had recently met with the producers of Extreme Makeover on a different project, but over the course of the meeting, they wound up pitching her to become involved in this show. She was immediately excited about the concept and it so happened that, at the time, she was working for a plastic surgeon friend of mine, Dr. Garth Fisher. At the end of her meeting, she said, “You have to meet my boss. He’s a great plastic surgeon who would be perfect for Extreme Makeover.”

So they met Garth and immediately realized that they had found their first Makeover expert. They also had a dentist selected at the time, but Garth and my patient suggested that they also talk to me. The producers called me and told me they were interested in meeting, but that they needed to make a decision that evening. Fortunately for me, I’ve compiled a lot of the media things I’ve done over the years into a demo tape, which I realize is kind of unusual for a dentist, but I knew that actors and actresses have them and many times, when they go in for auditions, a demo tape is often preferred to a performance.  I sent it over to ABC and once they saw that I was comfortable in front of the camera, they called me back and told me that I got the gig!

Taping the show was a lot of fun, though, at that point, I really had no idea what it was all about. I definitely had no idea that it was going to air nationally and thought that it would be shown locally on an ABC affiliate. Even when they taped it, it was all done using hand-held beta cameras, but I gave it my best effort and had a great time during the taping.

Shortly after the program aired, a dentist friend of mine called and suggested that I share my experiences with our colleagues. Based upon his comments, I thought that it might be of interest to develop what I’ll call “A Blueprint for Extreme Success” that you can use to create your own Extreme Makeover locally. Follow these 10 steps and you might be very surprised at how much response you receive.

1) Locate a great plastic surgeon in your vicinity. It’s critical to find someone with an excellent reputation, who’s both personable and media savvy. I realize that this is easier said than done as plastic surgeons notoriously lack the charisma and charm for which dentists are so noted. Still, you should be able to find someone who shares your goals to create excitement about cosmetic makeovers.

2) Take a course on media training and public speaking. In my opinion, that’s the one real key to your version of Extreme Makeover. Make sure that it is clear that you are having fun while you work on your patient. Believe it or not, there are many out there who are still reluctant to visit our offices and this is your opportunity to re-shape their preconceptions about the dental experience. Even if you can’t get airtime right away on local stations, develop your own in-office video. Use it to distribute to referring plastic surgeons and for other PR opportunities.

3) Keep the focus on the face and the teeth. Don’t do a replica of ABC’s show—no breast augmentation or lipo suction.  Also if you focus on the face, stay away from rhinoplasties because they take too long to heal. Quick turnaround is key.

4) The best aesthetic procedures for Dental Makeovers: porcelain veneers and whitening. The best aesthetic procedures for Surgical Makeovers: face lift or chin augmentation.

5) Find a great publicist! Hire one who’s really keyed into this type of promotion and is well-connected with local media.

6) Develop your Personal Media Plan. Contact local news stations during the candidate search stage. Find out if they’ll put out free public service announcements (PSA's) that you are conducting an extreme makeover with a plastic surgeon and that you seek candidates for treatment. People today have a really high IQ when it comes to extreme makeovers. Solicit letters and photos from prospective patients. The real selling point is that they will be getting free cosmetic dentistry and plastic surgery.

7) Pick your Top 50 candidates to come into your dental office for screening. It’s best to conduct this screening in your office for a reason. Most of the patients that come to you are not going to be selected for the makeover, but the other ones, after having met you and visited your office, may become paying patients. Once you start screening, what you really want to look for are opportunities for dramatic improvements; for instance, a patient with diastemas or crooked, chipped or badly discolored teeth that you could do porcelain veneers and whitening on.

8) Find a good woman! Women buy cosmetic dentistry much more than men do. In fact, 87% of all cosmetic procedures are performed on female patients. This is one context where it’s okay to be sexist. By the way, you should look for a woman in her late 40s to early 70s. When they look great, so will you.

9) Make sure that you perform procedures that make up a significant portion of your everyday practice. Don’t try something that you’re not totally confident in or that you don’t do very often. For instance, one of the candidates I screened for Extreme Makeover had missing lateral incisors and although it would have been very dramatic to do two bridges for her and replace those lateral incisors, how many cases like this walk into your office? I don’t see too many. So try to do procedures that are going to appeal to the largest population out there because that will bring patients into your office.

10) Once you select the candidate or candidates for the extreme makeover, you need to have everything you do with the patient taped in your office. Now, if you have a lot of luck in finding a local station that wants to pick this up as a story, that’s great. It will be free, everything will be taken care of and it will all be professional. If this does not happen, then I would strongly recommend that you invest a little money in hiring a professional to come in and tape your treatment sessions. If you’ve got great footage, it may get picked up later on.  In a worst case scenario, if you can’t get this picked up for T.V., you can make your own tape and use it to market to potential new patients or play it in your reception area. Appearance is everything, and how your story is filmed will determine how you appear.

I was a little bit frustrated after the first show because all I got to do was Zoom! the first patients, so I took the initiative to send over my Before & After book (you have one of these, right?) to the producers for them to see what I could do with veneer cases. I included a “thank you” note about how much I enjoyed being on the show and suggested that if they ever decide to produce a second show, this is representative of what can be done with cosmetic dentistry. They were so hooked into the program that they actually had me come in and select the patients that I wanted to work on for the second round, which made it a lot nicer as I was able to rule out the dentally inappropriate cases up-front (for example, orthodontic cases or patients that required long-term, extensive treatment).

One of the things that I often hear from other dentists goes something like this: “Yeah, sure, that’s fine for you, but you’re in that Beverly Hills market with a celebrity clientele. Out here in (fill in the blank) we just can’t pull something like that off.” It seems to me that the ratings of Extreme Makeover prove that everyone, everywhere, is interested in improving their appearance. Treat all your patients like celebrities and you will be the #1 star in their lives. One thing I’m sure of—there’s no better PR available than the free kind provided by happy, satisfied patients with beautiful smiles.
 
Bill Dorfman

Thanks for the story, Bill. And what a success story it is! Maybe it will inspire more of our Crown Council members and DentalSuccess Letter readers to do exactly what Jeff and Kenny did in San Diego. We’d love to see an Extreme Makeover program in every city in North America. So what are you waiting for?
 
This article is provided courtesy of the Crown Council. If you would like more information about the Crown Council send an email message to gregs@dentalsuccess.net and type “Crown Council Info” in the subject box or call Greg Sneyd at 800-460-3838 x106 or complete the information below and fax this page back to 801-293-8524.
 
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