Sally McKenzie

The number one mistake dentists make during difficult financial times is they shut down their marketing efforts. Don't. You might want to change your strategy somewhat, but you still need to get your name out there. The key is smart, cost-effective marketing.

Keep the website up and running and current. This is just as important as your telephone. Continue to regularly reach out to patients with a periodic practice newsletter, preferably sent via email to avoid postage costs, that highlights a new or existing service, state-of-the art equipment, staff member profiles, etc.

Perhaps you want to reconsider that "great" billboard deal or the expensive radio campaign, but this is definitely not the time to disappear from the landscape. It is the opportunity, however, to make the most of internal marketing in every interaction.

Remember, everyone on staff is responsible for marketing. If your front line person on the phones is cold, rude, or simply indifferent when she's talking to patients, you're dancing with disaster. Many patients don't want to spend the money on dental care anyway, and going to the dentist isn't something they're clamoring to do even in the best of times, you don't need your staff giving them any excuses to take a pass on your practice.

Your front line employees need to be rock stars. They need to convey in every interaction that they love their job and they enjoy people, from chatting it up with the grandmas to expertly handling the demanding executives. Don't fool yourself into thinking patients see past a not-so-friendly front line. They don't. It is a huge practice killer, and too many dentists are completely oblivious to what really goes on.

Your practice must scream superior service. It is the most cost-effective marketing strategy you can implement at any time, and especially during tough times. Involve the entire team in developing service-minded strategies.

Examine the total patient experience from the first phone call to the doctor's after treatment follow-up call. And if you're not making those after-care calls, there's no better time to start than now. The waiting room should be clean, uncluttered, and comfortable. The bathrooms must be spotless. Each individual patient should feel as though s/he is the only person in your practice today, after all, tomorrow they might be.

Curve Dental took an entirely different path to dental charting, one that lets the dentist or staff member chart any dental procedure in less than three steps, which is more efficient. Perhaps more interesting is the incredible visual appeal of the chart. Here's what doctors like the most about the "sexiest odontogram in the world":

No Learning Curve. The dental chart interface is clean and simple. As far as dental charting software is concerned, functionality becomes available as needed, rather than in your face from the very beginning.

Faster Charting. The Curve Hero chart is designed so that restorations can be painted right on the tooth using the mouse, which means you can chart a multiple-surface restoration, like an MOD, in milliseconds.

Intuitive Workflow. The secret behind our success in designing dental charting software that dentists and staff love is the designer himself, who happens to be a dentist.

Simple Treatment Planning. The defining test of whether treatment planning software is easy or not is asking the dentist if the same task can be done faster on paper. Curve Hero passes this test with flying colors.

Fun Charting. Being able to chart in a quick manner adds a bit of brightness to any day. Curve will put a smile on the face of any clinician that uses it for the first time.

Web-based Convenience. Because Curve Hero is on the web you can access patient data from any computer with a browser and Internet access. 

Perhaps the benefits of dental charting in the Curve Hero software can be summed up in three easy words:

• Simplicity. Once you compare our charting functionality with other dental charting software you'll agree that nothing could be easier for the dentist when it comes to charting.
• Flexibility. Dental charting software should be an extension of your lifestyle. If you can bank on-line, trade on-line and book a reservation on-line you should be able to manage your practice on-line.
• Efficiency. If your current dental charting software is making you pay more attention to the chart than to your patient, then something's wrong. See how much time you'll save with Curve Hero.

You can see the "sexiest odontogram" in action by clicking here to see a short video and to learn more.