As an extension of yesterday’s message, I mentioned that I would
describe today the importance of including ALL relevant information
when helping patients make good decisions about their dental health.

I barely remember seeing reruns of the old TV show “Dragnet”,
where two detectives would always investigate a crime.  The
only quote I remember from the show is: “Just the facts, ma’am.”

The detective knew that he usually couldn’t solve the crime until
he had all the relevant facts…and only the facts.  Many times
the same is true with your patients.  They often can’t (and won’t)
arrive at the best “dental decision” unless they have access to
EVERY fact related to their situation.

And it’s up to you and your team to be SURE they have all the
facts at their disposal.  After all, no one else has the
professional dental expertise to guide your patients through
the important decisions they must make about their health…
except you and your team.

I’d even contend that your MOST important job is to ensure
that your patients have all the info, every time.  It’s much
more important than that one remaining little speck of tartar.
Have you ever had a patient call with a “tartar emergency”?

Patients have little chance of making smart dental decisions
if they don’t have all the data.  Most important among the facts
usually is a detailed explanation of the RISKS involved in not
moving forward with treatment.  A realistic assessment of the
risks of losing more tooth structure, the whole tooth, or needing
more extensive and expensive procedures than they need now is
critical, helping patients understand the urgency of their problems.

If patients aren’t having symptoms, the perceived urgency is
low.  Add to that the natural tendency to avoid or put off “going
to the dentist”, and you’re starting with an uphill battle at
best.

Even if they said “no” or “not now” last time, they deserve the
same opportunity at EVERY visit to REvisit that decision.  And
at every visit they need a COMPLETE review of all the details!

Please don’t think they’ll remember what you told them last time.
And don’t think that they’ll automatically say no this time if
they said no last time, because that will influence your
presentation of the facts.

I’d rather have the patient say, “Yes, I remember that photo,”
than for him/her to say “I didn’t know that tooth was cracked”
the day it breaks…and you told them a year ago but not most
recently.

Fact is, people aren’t sitting around all day thinking about their
teeth!  I know it’s hard for us to swallow that, but it’s true.

I know it gets boring sometimes to have to go over the same things
again and again…but it’s a NECESSITY to do so, period.  And it’s
best BY FAR if it starts with the team, and then the doctor
verifies the findings as the “second opinion” in your own office.

When you and your team are in the habit of communicating with
patients about their dental conditions consistently, as if
each interaction were the FIRST interaction, your CONVERSION
RATE to “yes” will reach its optimal level.

So again, give your patients the opportunity to say yes or no
every time…but make sure they have all the info first.

All my best,
Chris

PS: Next week my Dental Insiders Alliance “Summer Blitz” Teleseminar
and Webinar Series begins, with two exclusive learning events:

1- “How To Profit From Your Own Dental Assisting School”
Tuesday, July 21 at 8:30pm EDT (7:30pm CDT; 6:30pm MDT; 5:30pm PDT)

Join my expert guest Dr. Mark Costes, as he takes a concept
you’ve probably heard about to the next level.  Dr. Costes is
helping dentists across the US demystify the DA School process,
so they can start profiting rapidly.  Even if you’ve heard
about this additional stream of revenue before, you’ll be
impressed with how Dr. Costes has literally reversed the weaknesses
of previous DA School systems and turned them into opportunities.

2- “Instant Team Meetings - Your Formula For Success”
Wednesday, July 22 at 8:30pm EDT (7:30pm CDT; 6:30pm MDT; 5:30pm PDT)

Back by popular demand!  Yes, the first time I did this webinar it
was filled with technical glitches.  So I did the “Mulligan” version
of the webinar, and the digital recording somehow got botched by
the webinar service.  Sheesh!

Still, the reviews were great, and I’ve had more requests for an
“encore” presentation of this content-packed webinar.  So I’m
doing this once again, for the LAST TIME.  Registered attendees
will have access to the recording, which I’m committed to capturing
this time (I’m using two sources!).

During this webinar I’ll reveal my 7 CORE Patient Attraction
Strategies that have helped me grow my practice into the exact
business I want, spinning off plenty of profit in the process.
Also, I’m including specific content that you can literally use
the next morning in your own practice for immediate results.

Reviews on this presentation are among the best I’ve received…
so don’t miss it!

Registration information will be sent to you tomorrow, but I
wanted to let you know about these events now.  Stay tuned.

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

I’m baaaack…with another BIG idea!

I’m also back in the saddle again, after a fantastic long
vacation with the family at beautiful Figure Eight Island,
NC.  It’s a phenomenal private island with miles of
incredible, uncrowded beaches…ultra-safe for the kids.

Two weeks of the beach, golfing at Eagle Point Golf Club
(Golf Digest #83 in the US), the pool, and a little fishin’
and I feel like I’ve “reset” myself.  Now I’m ready to
rock for the remainder of the year!  Just in case though,
there’s that next week off coming up in August…sigh.

OK, now for the BIG idea.  This one may seem obvious at
first, but when you think about it, you may realize that
you and your team need to work on it quite a bit.  It is:

“ALWAYS give your patients the OPPORTUNITY to say ‘yes’ or
‘no’ to your absolute BEST treatment, no matter what!”

When it gets right down to it, that’s what allows me to:

- experience continued practice growth in ANY economic climate

- find out what they really want, and what means most to them

- discover my patients’ true motivations behind their dental goals

- find out what true limitations they have, financial or otherwise

- not worry about US trying to figure out what they’re thinking,
or whether they can afford it, or whatever else

- sleep well every night, knowing that my patients have the freedom
make their own decisions about their care…with ALL the relevant
information of course!

That last point is perhaps most important to me…and to my patients.

By the way, don’t miss the IMPORTANT CAVEAT I threw in there
about being certain that you and your team have given your
patients ALL the relevant information they need to make wise
decisions.  I’ll discuss that in more detail tomorrow.

Until then, be sure to share this message with your team…
and hold them accountable for following through.

All my best,
Chris

PS: Be on the lookout for a flurry of communications from
me over the next several weeks and months.  Since I haven’t
been in touch in a little while, it’ll seem like a lot.
Don’t worry though, I won’t bug you…I’ll make sure that
every message I send has a solid purpose.

Case in point:  Soon I’ll be announcing my 1st Annual
Dental Insiders Alliance “Summer Blitz” Teleseminar &
Webinar Series.  I have an impressive lineup of guests
gathered to help you learn and implement new ideas and
strategies in your practice.  While most of the events
will be reserved for Dental Insiders Alliance members,
I’m opening some up for non-members as well

However, the ONLY way to get the schedule for the upcoming
DIA Summer Blitz Teleseminar & Webinar Series is to be a
subscriber here!  So stay tuned.

Dr. Chris Bowman
Dental Insiders Alliance

I’ve got TWO things for you tonight…yes, tonight, mainly because
I just couldn’t get this out to you earlier today.  This 3-day week
has been a little hectic, although mostly in a good way.  Except
for the “drama queen” patient I saw today and the new patient
whose teeth “itch” yesterday (someone HELP me with that!), we’ve
been quite productive.  Two “10K+ Days” (both over $16K actually)
plus a $9K “close call” make almost any situation a little more
tolerable.

OK, so here, as Dr. Seuss would say, are “Thing 1″ and “Thing 2″:
an announcement and a KILLER idea.

Thing 1: My “Webinar Mulligan”

If you tuned in to my webinar last night (Instant Team Meetings…
Your Formula For Success) you witnessed perhaps the worst technical
webinar nightmare I’ve ever experienced!

PowerPoint and virus protection software issues plagued me from
the start, as my presentation kept closing and opening all by
itself.  I was forced to switch to an alternate P.Point Viewer
software, which prevented me from utilizing many of the live web
examples I had planned to share.  Even though I did manage to get
most of my content out, no question it was a MESS.

So…I’m taking a “Webinar Mulligan”!  I simply can’t allow that
sad excuse for a webinar last night serve as a representation of
me and Dental Insiders Alliance.  And, I want you to get ALL of
the content I had intended to share with you last night, but
couldn’t because of all the glitches I had to deal with.

For all these reasons, I’m going to REDO last night’s webinar
for you!  Whether you were there or not, you’ll get a second chance
to attend MY second chance at “Instant Team Meetings…Your Formula
For Success”.  [Be on the lookout for the announcement of the date
and time, coming very soon to your inbox.]

And, don’t make the mistake of assuming that this webinar is just
about team meetings.  FAR FROM IT!  Those who attended last night
and “stuck it out” with me would testify under oath that I unloaded
a TON of real, usable, “Monday Morning” content.  Plus I revealed
the absolute BEST method for IMPLEMENTING it consistently over
time.  And I’m going to do it all over again.  You do NOT want
to miss it.

Thing 2:  Flat Fee Success!

I conducted an informal TEST this week in my practice.  (HOLD IT!
That fact alone is a lesson.  You should frequently and actively
test new concepts and strategies in your practice, always looking
for better ways to do things.  I hope you caught that.)

I decided that, instead of constructing my treatment plans the
usual way, with my usual fees adding up to whatever…I would
present all treatment plans in a FLAT FEE format.  The reason I
did this was to SIMPLIFY things for my patients, making my fees
easier to understand.

Why?  Because the confused consumer buys NOTHING!  If you haven’t
noticed, most people are ALREADY more nervous and confused
nowadays about the economy, their jobs, their businesses, etc
than they were a year ago.  The last thing you want is for them to
be confused about their dental problems, your recommendations,
and worst of all, your fees.

Here’s what I did.  I picked a flat “per tooth” fee for:

- small fillings (like “Diagnodent” sized)
- big fillings (incl. multi-surface)
- ANY indirect restorations (onlay, crown, veneer)
- ANY root canal

Then I simply added everything up on the spot for each patient
based on their needs.  Using this approach I was able to arrive
at a TOTAL fee easily and IMMEDIATELY.

But here’s the most important part.  I explained this new “Flat
Fee” approach to each patient, including the REASON WHY I chose
to do it.  I told them that I wanted to make my fee structure
simpler for them, and that I wasn’t going to NICKEL & DIME them
with extraneous added fees for anything else, like laser
gingivectomy, build ups, etc.  They LOVED that!

Don’t worry…my flat fees were a little HIGHER than my typical
average fees.  So I wasn’t giving up hardly any gross revenues
by using this fee structure.  I estimated that, at most, I
would end up charging about $100 to $200 less per quadrant on
average.  HOWEVER…

A. I got more YES’s…at least two this week who specifically
stated that they APPRECIATED me simplifying things and SAVING
them some money.  And these two also mentioned to Kim that they
were not planning on moving forward, but the flat fee approach
was the MAIN REASON they said yes!

B. One of the two “extra yes’s” was a $3800 quadrant.  The other,
a $10,900 anterior case!  You think it was worth it to “give up”
a few hundred dollars here or there to acquire these cases?

C. Although anecdotal so far, the reaction from my patients was
100% overwhelmingly POSITIVE.  As “dicey” as things are out there
these days, they seemed somewhat relieved that I had adapted
and tried to make things easier for them.  That’s a HUGE
“intangible”, and a potential reason for them to REFER others to
my practice.  You can’t underestimate the value there.

I can’t say how long I’ll keep this going, but I can confidently
report that, early on, my new Flat Fee approach has been a big
SUCCESS.  Give it a try for a week or two in your practice, and
let me know how it goes.

That’s it for now.  Have a fantastic weekend!

All my best,
Chris

PS:  Have you looked into my new “10K Day” Coaching & Mastermind
Program yet?  If you haven’t, or if it’s been a little while
since you’ve seen the website, you should go there now and learn
about it while it’s fresh on your mind.  I’m only accepting a
maximum of 16 doctors into the program, so don’t put it off any
longer:
www.10KDay.com

PPS:  Don’t forget about my “Webinar Mulligan”, when I redo the
entire “Instant Team Meetings…Your Formula For Success” webinar
in the near future.  Keep your eyes peeled for the announcement.

Dr. Chris Bowman
Dental Insiders Alliance
www.DentalInsiders.com/patientattraction
www.10KDay.com

This is a l-o-n-g but important post… don’t skim it!
First, a few important notes, then on to today’s message.

NOTE #1: Today’s the last day to let me know what your TOP CONCERN
is about your dental practice today. Go to:
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=ECEMN&m=1gptEUX3RFhxOT&b=8v9Ez7YE5yogAD0VtSQyVQ
and enter your reply to this critical question. I’ll tailor
future messages to the exact topics that you raise!

NOTE #2: I just returned from an AWESOME two days in Baltimore
with my Millionaire Mastermind group, led by Glazer-Kennedy Inner
Circle president Bill Glazer. Bill bought Dan Kennedy’s business
5 years ago and has grown it by over 1200% (yes, that’s 12x)! I’m
the only dentist in the room, surrounded by 18 top business and
entrepreneurial minds from 16 different business sectors. These
are “heavy hitters”. We estimated the total ANNUAL revenues of
businesses represented in the room at over $56 million!

Let me tell you, NOTHING will help you grow your business faster
than a true mastermind meeting, provided it’s led by the right
business coach to facilitate keeping idea flow on the right track.
My mind is literally bursting with dozens of new ideas to implement
in my practice. Most, of course, are adapted from OUTSIDE of the
dental profession, through the mastermind and numerous other means.

While much of what we share in that room is confidential, I will
continuously be providing new strategies for you… based partly on
what I bring home from these meetings, and from my own analysis
of what’s new AND working in dental practice marketing and business.
Simply put, there is no one in dentistry with “ear to the ground”
and “antennae in the air” more so than yours truly.

NOTE #3: OK, this is a request for a favor. If you’re benefiting
from the information I provide, PLEASE HELP YOUR COLLEAGUES by
recommending that they join this E-Alert network. Have them
go to www.DentalInsiders.com to subscribe for *free*.

Or if they want to take advantage of my BEST new member offer EVER,
they can go to www.DentalInsiders.com/patientattraction to join
Dental Insiders Alliance as a Preferred member. I’m giving away
over $2378.00 in content at that webpage only to the next 23 doctors
who join! I started with 57 “Patient Attraction Collection”
packages, but I have only 23 remaining. Once they’re gone,
they’re gone.

Just forward this message to 2 or 3 colleagues that come to mind.
They’ll no doubt thank you for it… and I thank you too!

*****************************************************************

Today: Are you stepping over DOLLARS to pick up PENNIES?

Lately I’ve been imploring you to “get going” and make the moves
you need to make to grow your practice in these challenging
economic times. Today I want to caution you against a behavior
that tends to rear its ugly head during economic downturns. This
behavior can crush the morale of your patients and your team at
a time when you most need them to be “raving fans”.

I was prompted to share this with you after reading about Irish
discount airline Ryanair. This week the CEO of Ryanair announced
that he intends to install PAY TOILETS in their fleet of planes!
This is not a joke. With an estimated charge of $1.40 per use,
Ryanair estimates annual revenues from this “pay to go” policy
to be about $21 million annually.

My opinion, in a word: stupid. Yes, $21 million sounds like a
lot of money, but Ryanair’s fiscal year 2008 revenue was over
2.7 BILLION Euros (about $3 Billion), with an estimated profit
of 481 Million Euros (over $500 Million)!! By the way, passenger
flow was estimated at 50.9 Million seats for the same period.

Hopefully you’re thinking what I’m thinking: what in the world
are THEY thinking? $21 Million is a drop in the bucket for a
business this size… not to mention the bad press and NEGATIVE
CUSTOMER SENTIMENT they’re already getting from such a move.
Add in the costs of installing “toll booth” doors on their lavs,
and you’ve got a financial and PR disaster on your hands.

Hey Ryanair… want more revenue? Raise your fares on your 50.9
million seats sold (and growing, oddly enough) by just one euro,
and you’ll more than DOUBLE your estimated “pay to go” revenues
~FOR NO COST~ to your airline. And no one will notice!
Hello… anyone home??

Now, let’s apply this to your practice. It’s time to closely
evaluate your policies and protocols related to your fees and
financial options, for example. Are you “nickel and diming”
your patients, when you should be focusing on the bigger picture?

It’s an all-too-easy trap to fall into when economic conditions
worsen and business owners look to “cut costs”. But it’s often
a BAD IDEA because of what it costs in terms of headaches and
customers’ (translated, patients’) lowered satisfaction levels.

Here are some things to look out for:

- Charging for every little x-ray, and other piddly things
- Reducing prepayment savings if paying with a credit card
(my biggest business pet peeve…have you EVER had a clerk
at any retail store reduce your % off when you pull out
your Visa card?!)
- Adding annoying itemized charges to a patient’s bill, instead
of bundling services into one simple fee
- Limiting the scheduling of certain procedures to only certain
times of the day
- Only allowing new patients to enter your practice through either
the doctor’s side, or through hygiene, but not both
- Not allowing patients to make monthly payments through automatic
bank draft (with sufficient up front payment required)
- Cutting back on marketing and special offers for new patients
- Not sending monthly patient newsletters because of “the expense”
(the return from this is among the highest around if done right!)
- and on and on and on…

I imagine by now you’ve got the picture. If your services are
excellent, and your fees are positioned properly, AND your team’s
communication skills are good, you will benefit far more from
“giving in on the little things” in return for capitalizing on
the BIG things!

What’s more, focusing on this now, while everyone around you in
business is “cutting back”, will position your practice better
than ever before. Your patients will appreciate this, and they’ll
tell others about it too… especially if you ASK them to!

All my best,
Chris

PS: Remember to SPREAD THE WORD about this E-Alert network
(www.DentalInsiders.com); and the most amazing “Patient
Attraction Collection” offer you’ll ever see (found at
www.dentalInsiders.com/patientattraction). Thanks a BUNCH!

Dr. Chris Bowman
Dental Insiders Alliance

The other day I answered the first of two great questions I got shortly after my previous message about my “Freedom Promotion”.  This second question speaks to a few important issues I want to point out to you…some direct and some indirect!  Here’s the question:

Hi Chris,
What happens to the patients that were already scheduled for treatment and received the card? If they call, Do you honor the discount for them as well?
Thanks,
Dr. Ronald J Sherstoff

[This type of question is what I call a "What If" question.  I'm going to comment about that type of question in a minute, toward the bottom.]

Wouldn’t ya know it…the first 2 people that called about my 4th of July “Freedom Promotion” were patients that were already scheduled for treatment.  And to be scheduled in my office, financial arrangements are already signed, with a deposit made to secure the appointment time (another topic, another day).

They asked a reasonable question: can they save more than they were saving by prepaying already?  Well, probably not.  In the text of the greeting card it says that this offer can not be combined with other offers.  VERY important!  In some cases the savings listed would be a bit more than the 8% they were saving, in which case we allowed the higher savings.  But they couldn’t have both.

Now, you may be thinking it’s dumb to give away more than you’ve already agreed to.  If you think only in the near term, you’re right.  But if you think LONG term, that chunk of change will come back to you many times over in the form of a stronger relationship, more referrals, etc.

Another caveat is that we stated on the card that “full payment is required to receive savings”.  In other words, patients couldn’t use the savings as a “credit” to lower their balance…UNLESS they were paying it off in full!

The limitations of the offer were clear, but we did not overwhelm the offer with rules that diminish its impact.  That would not be good!  How many times have you seen or heard a great offer in an ad, only to be followed by about a page worth of legal gobble-de-gook?  Dumb.

OK…here’s the BIG, indirect point I want to make about what I call “What If” questions.  First, anyone has every right to ask questions like this… and they should so they can think through the possibilities of what COULD happen.  Sounds like Dr. Sherstoff is ready to act, and he wants clarification on a particular circumstance.  Very smart.

Here’s what you must watch out for with “What If” questions.  You can’t let them BOG YOU DOWN!  It’s so easy to get caught up in the “What If’s” that you never make any progress.  Of course that did NOT happen here, but it reminded me of this principle called “analysis paralysis”. 

In the past I would stew over every conceivable scenario that I’d delay getting going, or sometimes not get started at all.  That was until I realized that the “What If’s” will ALWAYS be there, and it’s impossible to think of them all. 

So my rule now is: if I feel confident that anything I do in my practice will work for 85-90% of my patients, then I do it NOW.  I don’t worry any more about “that one patient” that may do this or that.  It’s very liberating, and I get a whole lot more done nowadays.

Do we run into “that one patient” occasionally?  Of course we do.  But the benefits we got from moving forward always far exceeded any headaches we may have suffered from the “What If’s”!

All my best,
Chris

PS: We’ve had a rush of dentists checking out Send Out Cards in the past few days.  If you have any trouble getting through, just wait about 10 minutes and try again.  Here’s the link to learn more:
www.TheReferralMovie.com/fordentists

PPS:  If you’ve already looked and you’re ready to sign up, go to:
www.SendOutCards.com/fordentists