Today, the 2nd of 3 BIG ways to adapt to this economic climate.

Yesterday I covered the first of these brilliant strategies,
“sell (or offer) something different”.  The concepts were
first presented to me by marketing and business building icon
Dan Kennedy.  If you remember, I mentioned that, with regard to
growing your business, what may have worked well in the boom of
2003-2008 is likely either significantly less effective or
completely ineffective now.  Bottom line is you’ve got to do
things differently to propel your business forward when things
are tougher.

Here’s Strategy #2:  “Sell to someone DIFFERENT”

This idea can be broken down a few ways.  First, let’s look at
the obvious thought of finding more new patients.  But let’s
also take it a step further and find new patients in NEW places.

To paraphrase Captain Kirk (loosely): “to go where you’ve never
gone before.”  What have you done and where have you gone to find
your current pool of patients?  OK, now ask yourself where ELSE
you can go to find more new patients?

If you’ve marketed to certain areas of town, try new areas.
For your unique niche services, you can certainly test the
expansion of your marketing reach.  Proximity to the dentist is
NOT as important to most people as it used to be…they just
want to be in the right office with the right dentist and team.

If you belong to local civic groups or organizations, join new
ones.  Reach out to new groups of people and establish new
connections.  Those new circles of associations, if nurtured,
will bear fruit in the form of new patients.

If you’ve focused on getting referrals from your patients, have
you considered getting referrals from other businesses?  Other
professionals?  Other physicians?  Granted, this takes time and
effort…but hey, I never said it would all be laid out for you
on a silver platter!  And EFFORT is what will be the difference
between those practices that excel and those that struggle in
this economic climate.  You gotta go get it!

What are the characteristics of your “ideal” patients?  You need
to know the answer to this.  Grab 30-50 charts of your best
patients and look for similarities in them all.  Then ask
yourself where people like that are…and go there.

Stemming off yesterday’s post…when you offer new services, you
open yourself up to an entirely new patient pool.  These too
are “someone different”.

Using the information and clues above, compile a list of potential
new sources of more new patients.  Then do what it takes to
attract and convert them into your practice.  Enjoy!

All my best,
Chris

PS: Here’s a clue for Monday: the 3rd strategy involves the HOW!

Dr. Chris Bowman
Dental Insiders Alliance

I hope your new year / new decade is getting off to a good start.
I’m fired up for 2010…and I’m excited to help you grow your
practice like never before!

Regarding what it takes to get you the results you want in your
practice, one thing’s for sure today: what WAS working “then” is
either not working AS WELL “now”…or not AT ALL.  Although macro
economic conditions do not necessarily dictate our individual
“micro” economic outcomes (i.e. your practice), they do dictate
that you employ NEW strategies to overcome the challenges and
seize the opportunities that they create.

Yes, I did say “opportunities”!  Look back through history and
you’ll see countless examples of amazing, once-in-a-lifetime
opportunities borne out of horrific economic corrections.  It’s
a natural phenomenon that you can take advantage of if you’re
nimble and adaptive…and if you’re willing to do things
differently.

Ahh, there’s the key!  Doing things differently.  Today I’ll begin
to review some excellent advice that I must attribute to one
of my most referred-to marketing mentors: Dan Kennedy.  As you
may know, Dan is legendary in the marketing and business building
world.  He’s also a genius when it comes to REINVENTING businesses
for whatever reasons.  This economic downturn is as good a reason
as any.

A while back Dan gave an excellent summary of 3 brilliant adaptive
strategies for growing ANY business during challenging times.
Today, Friday and Monday I’m going to share all three, and of
course relate them directly to dentistry.

Strategy #1: “Sell something DIFFERENT.” (Don’t worry about the
word ’sell’…you can change it to ‘offer’ if it makes you
feel better.)

This one’s pretty easy to grasp, but boy is it powerful!  As
dentists, our “products” are our services and procedures…and
a little actual product too.   Let’s explore the ways we can
“sell something different” in our practices.

- Add new procedures that you haven’t normally done.  Many
smart dentists are gravitating to learning and practicing
new procedures.  Think of all the things you typically refer
out to specialists that you could likely provide in your own
office.  It could be a long list…worth a LOT of revenue!

Not doing root canals?  Placing implants?  How about Invisalign
AND 6 Month Smiles?  Sleep apnea treatment with oral appliances…
sedation dentistry…dentures?  What else can you think of?

Sure, many of these require focused training and have a learning
curve.  Better get on the on-ramp now, before it’s too late!
You’ll certainly find that your patients PREFER to come to you
in most cases…and you’ll enjoy the big bump in your numbers.

- Look for new adjunct services that you can also add.  Perio
Protect, Cari Free, and Arestin are good examples, as are adult
fluoride, home care products, etc.

- Do you have an extra unused operatory?  I’ll bet you could get
a massage therapist to lease it out…and when he/she’s not
busy, your patients can get a special treat in the way of a
free mini-massage.

- Better yet, the most valuable usage of an extra op is to have a
specialist in your office for a 1/2 to full day per week, or more
if needed.  Pick one that does procedures you don’t think you’ll
be doing (for me it’s perio surgery), and split the revenues.
You’re providing the facility and the patients…the specialist
is providing the expertise and the labor.  Tons of ways to work
this out, and it’s a complete win-win-win.

“Selling something different” allows you to increase your
productivity without necessarily increasing your patient base.
When you add services and procedures to your mix, your average
lifetime patient value increases, because there’s more you
can do for them!

What are YOU going to “sell” that’s different this year?

All my best,
Chris

PS: On Friday I’ll discuss Strategy #2: Selling to different
people!

Dr. Chris Bowman
Dental Insiders Alliance

I hope your holiday season is going well, and that you’re finishing
out 2009 strong!  We’re actually “done” for the year, as we finished
our last working day of 2009 yesterday.  After some last minute
Christmas preparations, Christmas Eve and Day with the family, and
then the UNC Tar Heels bowl game on Saturday, we’re all going to the
beach for a week of relaxation, golf, and recharging!

Today I thought I’d share with you my thoughts on the raging debate
we’re having here in the U.S. regarding healthcare reform legislation.
I’m NOT going to “soapbox” my political opinions…rather, I’m going
to discuss how what’s going on in Washington is currently related to
your dental practice.

NOT MUCH.

That’s it.

What’s my point?  Well, it’s pretty simple.  Other than calling
and faxing your political representatives like crazy, mobilizing
other people to do so too, and possibly even organizing like minded
people to express your views (all GREAT ideas)…there’s not much
else you can do about what’s taking place in Congress and the White
House.  You SHOULD be involved, because it is extremely important.

However, your PRACTICE needs to operate and function successfully
regardless of this healthcare debate, or anything else for that
matter.  And the BIG idea is that it’s largely INDEPENDENT of all
that.  Simply put…you’ve gotta run your business anyway, no
matter what…and the LESS time or energy that is spent IN your
practice discussing or worrying about healthcare legislation, the
MORE productive you will likely be!

When it comes to your practice, it’s “YOUR economy” that matters,
not “THE economy”.  Sure, times are tough, and people are worried
about what the future will hold.  It’s easy to get “sucked into”
conversations with patients, team members, and other doctors about
all the negative stuff out there today.

Don’t do it!  Change the subject.  Focus on your patients’ families
and friends.  Find the GOOD news and talk about it.  Focus on your
patients’ DENTAL issues…that’s what they’re there for!  It’s
YOUR responsibility to keep your team and patients focused on
what’s important for their dental health, now.

When you can avoid the negative and accentuate the positive, you’ll
give your patients a much better experience…especially now.
We’ve actually had patients comment that it’s “REFRESHING” to
come to our office, because we’re happy and we make them happy.

Is your office “refreshing”?  If so, great!  If not, it certainly
can be, starting NOW!

All my best,
Chris

PS: Dental Insiders Alliance members: Don’t miss the TWO teleseminar
audio recordings we did this month!  You’ll be getting an email
very soon that includes links to both recordings.  You’ll be able
to listen immediately, or download the MP3 and put on your iPod.

PPS: DIA NON-members: I’m pulling my “Patient Attraction Collection”
offer off the shelf on December 31.  This will be your last
opportunity to receive so many resources free as part of your
introductory package.  The link below has all the details.

Dr. Chris Bowman
Dental Insiders Alliance
www.DentalInsiders.com/patientattraction

Here’s a quick update on my most recent 3-step internal marketing
campaign, during which I used 2 emails and one voice broadcast to
my patients in an effort to pack my December schedule and close
out the year strong.  (Check out my last message for all the
details to get caught up.)

During the past two days we’ve filled FOUR more appointments,
making for a total of ELEVEN filled from this campaign!  This
is a carry-over from last week’s campaign, as I’ve sent no
additional messages since then.  We didn’t have that many
openings, but we shifted a few things around to accommodate
these four patients.

Total value of these 4 new appointments: $4422.00.  Added to the
original $7468.00 value of the previous 7 appointments already
scheduled, we’ve now achieved a grand total of $11,890.00
worth of dental treatment generated from just $148.00 invested.
OK, even if you count the DemandForce $299.00 monthly fee,
my total investment in this campaign is $447.00.  That’s a
2660% return.  Twenty-six point six TIMES my investment.  Whoa!

Two appointments were scheduled out of hygiene for patients
who specifically brought up the offer, and they knew they needed
treatment from the previous visit.  They both had insurance
benefits to use…one had FLEX money available too.

The other two were calls generated from the campaign.  One patient
scheduled perio therapy, while the other scheduled a quadrant of
composites.  Pretty cool, huh?

Again, I’m sharing this with you to MOTIVATE you to reach out
to your patients on occasion with unique promotions when you
anticipate the need to add revenues to your practice.  The myth
that “discounting your dentistry” somehow cheapens it is 100%
FALSE.  The bottom line is that people LOVE to save money…
especially now.  And there will be patients who appreciate the
opportunity to save on the dentistry that they need.

If you’re worried about giving away too much, worry not.  If
your schedule is at least 70% full, chances are you’re already
going to cover your fixed overhead…so your margins on this
added revenue are much higher.  In other words, you’ll still
profit handsomely from this strategy.

Do you think it’s too late to do this yourself?  Think not!
Just do it (if you need to).  Today is December 10th, and
your practice likely has 6 to 10 working days left this month.
So there’s still time to make things happen.

Here’s a cool idea that still has “legs”.  Consider a “12 Days
of Christmas” offer, during which you can offer 12% savings
off your fees when patients prepay for treatment.  You can
even begin the offer today or Friday, and have a team member
volunteer to answer a cell phone over the weekend.  Your office
phone number is forwarded to the cell phone, and your team
member can carry schedules with her/him and fill slots as
calls come in.  Of course you’ll want to pay your team member
for her efforts.  I’d recommend a base of $75 plus $10 per
appointment scheduled AND KEPT.

Use a sequence similar to the one I used, mix it with the best
offer you can craft, and enjoy the calls and added revenues!

Also, if you end up doing this or something similar, please
email me with your results.  I’d love to report your success
derived from the implementation of these concepts.  Thanks in
advance…I really appreciate your interest and involvement.

All my best,
Chris

PS: Next Wednesday I’m hosting a teleseminar for DIA members titled:
“5 Voice Broadcast Strategies For Your Practice”
This teleseminar is a free benefit for Dental Insiders Alliance
members…but non-members can also attend for a small fee.
Keep your eyes peeled for the official invitation soon.

Dr. Chris Bowman
Dental Insiders Alliance

How goes it?  Good I hope.  We just got back from a weekend in
the North Carolina mountains…beautiful Sapphire, NC…near
Cashiers and Highlands.  For those not familiar, we were down
“in the corner” of the state.

We had a bunch of family staying in a huge cabin on the grounds
of Camp Merrie-Wood, where my wife Elizabeth used to go when she
was a little girl.  We went to the Highlands Christmas Parade,
played football with the boys in the cold, enjoyed seeing the
first snow of the season…and the kids got a visit from Santa
himself at the cabin.  You shoulda seen their faces!

OK…let’s get down to business.  Recently I’ve gotten a couple
of requests from Dental Insiders Alliance members who need to
fill some openings in their schedule as 2009 draws to a close.
Here I’ll share with you how I not only JAMMED my December
schedule, but also built a “waiting list” of patients eager
to schedule before year end.

If you’ve previously communicated with your patients that
have insurance and/or FLEX plans about using their benefits
before the end of 2009, you’ve got a bit of a head start.  You
planted the seed for the procrastinators whom you can still
reach.  If not, don’t worry.  It’s not too late to pack ‘em in.

First, you’ll want to consider what it’s going to take to get
the number of patients you need to DROP whatever they’re doing
and call your office to schedule.  During the holidays that’s a
BIG task, as most people have A LOT going on.  Keep that in mind
as you consider offering an incentive for them to call you now.

As you know, you already have two good incentives built in:
dental insurance and FLEX benefits that expire on December 31st.
Even then, for most patients that’s not enough…they’d rather
just wait.  For best conversion results (in my opinion) you’ve
got to offer more during the holidays, especially in the current
economic climate, if you want people to take action.

Here’s what I did.  I had 3 openings for treatment and 2 hygiene
openings to fill for December, but I wanted more patients than
that to respond so I could have a “waiting list” to help fill
any potential cancellations that occur too.

Step 1: I sent an email to all patients who had been in my
practice within the last FIVE years!  Since this is essentially
“free” for me (no additional cost), I included all but those
who were labeled “inactive” by their request.  My obvious goal
was to attract a patient or two who hadn’t been in for a while,
and the end of the year is one of the best times to do just that!
(Note: I have about 85-90% of my patients’ email addresses.  If
you’re not collecting them, you NEED to be.)

In the email I made a phenomenal offer: $50 Off PER $500 worth of
dentistry started before our last day of December 22nd.  So if
a patient schedules $2000, they’ll save $200.  Not too shabby.
I also LISTED the exact dates and times of the appointments that
were available at that time, with the footnote that they could
vanish at any time as patients called to schedule.

My “REASON WHY” stemmed from the consecutive business days of
“Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday”.  I decided to declare last
Tuesday as “Tooth-Day Tuesday”!  Patients had to call by the end
of the week, but they could save as long as their appointment is
in December.

Step 2: I created a VOICE BROADCAST and sent it to the same list
(including those without email addresses) the next day.  In the
message I referred to the email from the day before, and I also
explained the offers.  Thanking your patients for being your
patients is a great way to start these messages, by the way.
It’s also a good extra reason for the offer.  This call went out
on Wednesday, using IfByPhone (www.IfByPhone.com).  Cost: $148.00.
It’s best to keep these at one minute or less.

Step 3: I sent a follow-up email on Thursday, repeating the offer
and mentioning that we were almost out of appointments in 2009…
which was true.  Otherwise the message was essentially the same.

Here’s what happened.

The first email generated DOZENS of calls!  Within one hour we had
filled 3 of the 5 appointments, and we also started to build our
waiting list of patients who requested different dates and times.
Other callers simply inquired about their treatment needs but
didn’t schedule…at least they got one step closer!  Still other
callers who were no longer patients allowed us to “scrub” their
names off my active patient list, so I won’t waste their or my
time in the future by contacting them.

The voice broadcast served to fill the remaining two slots…
AND two more that opened because of >24-hour cancellations!  Two
patients that got the email called to reschedule their appointments,
which allowed us to schedule two more callers.  Otherwise the
original appointments would’ve possibly been canceled later,
making it more difficult to fill them.

7 appointments worth $7468.00 filled with an email and a $148
voice broadcast!

On Thursday the second email generated more calls from patients
requesting appointments.  Please do not overlook the importance
of a follow-up message!  Since we had no slots left, we added
their names to our waiting list, which we’ll turn to when we
have a cancellation.

This “VIP Short Call” list will be MUCH more effective than
our regular patient list, since these are patients who are actively
seeking an appointment this month.  Although we had no cancellations
on Monday, I expect we’ll still add a few more appointments from
that list in December, as patients rearrange their holiday plans.

Of course this isn’t the only way to skin this cat.  Your exact
processes may vary, as will your “mileage”.  But I hope you gain
something from this anecdote.  Namely, that it’s OK to “prod”
and also “incentivize” your patients on occasion to take action.
In fact it’s not just OK…it’s PROFITABLE too!

All my best,
Chris

PS:  On an unrelated note…if you missed the opportunity to send
your patients their Thanksgiving card and you still want to send
them a holiday card, I’d recommend a “Happy New Year” card instead
of Christmas/Hannukah/etc. cards.  That way your card won’t get
lost in the deluge of other cards hitting mailboxes in December.
Schedule for a delivery date of about January 10th.

The brief videos linked below outline the exact process I use to
send real cards to my patients (family and friends too) without
going to the store or licking stamps.  Even though they use a
Christmas card as their example, I use this online system for ALL
of my postcards and greeting cards.  It’s fast, simple, and VERY
economical.  First, click the first link…then the second!

Here’s the first video showing how to send at least 100 cards
in under 5 minutes:
http://www.soccoach.com/sendcards

Next, this video shows you how you can get the same system:
https://www.sendoutcards.com/24057

(NOTE: Either ‘Wholesale” or “Entrepreneur” is the way to go!)

Dr. Chris Bowman
Dental Insiders Alliance