Sally McKenzie

I frequently hear dentists say, "I just want more new patients." In actuality, you want more than "new patients." You want good patients. You want patients who will pursue your treatment recommendations. You want patients who will keep their appointments and pay their bills. Launching an advertising campaign simply to get more new patients through the door is no guarantee that you'll post higher profits for the year. Sure, you will see a flurry of initial activity, but then it will drop off like lemmings from a cliff. And you'll be shaking your head wondering what went wrong.

Before you leap into your next big "marketing campaign" give a little thought first to developing at least one clear goal. This doesn't need to be an elaborate or time consuming exercise. It's simply a matter of identifying what you want your marketing to achieve. For example, is your goal to increase the amount of restorative, cosmetic, or implant dentistry that you provide? Do you want the hygiene department to grow? Do you want to increase the number of days you work? Do you want to increase practice profits by a certain percentage for the year? The point is that you give thought to what you really want your marketing to achieve long-term.

Next consider is your team prepared to help you achieve that goal when this marketing campaign gets under way and well after it concludes. For example, let's say you've decided that your marketing goal is to increase the number of implant cases in your practice. You launch your campaign. It's brilliant. More patients are inquiring about the procedure and are definitely interested. Naturally, they are asking questions of your business staff when they call. But no one thought to prepare the business team. After all, this is a clinical procedure, why should the business staff need to be involved?

Why? Because if they are not trained inevitably they say things like this: "You want to know about implants? Uh, isn't that when the doctor puts screws in your gums? I can't imagine having something like that done. Oh, but I'm sure Dr. Smith is really good at it." Kiss that procedure and possibly that patient goodbye. Every staff member from the scheduling coordinator to the hygienist must be educated on the benefits of specific treatments and well-prepared to enthusiastically support treatment recommendations.

Chris Mullins

After offering an option to a prospective customer, PAUSE. Give your prospect a chance to respond to what you're saying.

Many times I find that the front desk person will suggest, for example, an appointment time, and then pause for a brief moment and start making other suggestions before the caller has even had a chance to respond. Usually I'll find this problem in folks who are trying to make changes in their presentation skills. However, office managers and owners need to monitor this closely, or you'll just be creating new bad habits.

Here are some tips for creating good habits:

Slow down the pace of talking. One of the ways you can do this is to stand up while trying to book an appointment. Another is to put a 3x5 lime green index card in front of you that says SLOW DOWN. You don't need to say so much, especially if you tend to go into much greater detail than is necessary with prospective and established customers. The goal should be to build a relationship early on: "What made you call today," etc. Then make the appointment, confirming for the caller that everything he or she just shared means he or she made the right decision in calling your office. (211)

Be careful: Too much information (TMI) is the fastest way to guarantee talking yourself out of a sale, which in this case is closing the appointment. Many times, if we don't hear a YES right away from the prospect, we get nervous and start to talk or even downsell our original offer. You must be sure you're not going to sell your appointment, product or service before you go into a downsell, perhaps signing up your prospect for your free customer newsletter.

If you would like a FREE mystery call made to your office to see how your staff is doing, call 603-924-1640 or email me today at chris@mullinsmediagroup.com - put Curves in the subject line and we can arrange that for you.

So, remember-PAUSE-and sell more!

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