patient attraction system for automatic and predictable growth and anti-fragility since 1997. In the pre-internet/social media world and in the post-internet/social media world. Much has changed at the parts- of-the-machine level but very little has changed at the strategic level, and nothing, I repeat, nothing has changed with the success principles. One of my current private clients is a 60-office, multistate, fast-growing implant dentistry company. The exact same success principles and strategies fueling its fantastic growth are the same ones I provided to practices in the late 1990s and 2000s. Most dentists are only tactical in their thing, but the winning approach is to know the short list of principles that make your practice a successful, valuable, saleable business, then what strategies are needed, linked to those principles, and only then, finally, what tactics are employed. One of my books, “ALMOST ALCHEMY: More From Fewer and Less,” might contain strategies linked to your particular goals or it might not. Ultimately, you need brilliant clarity about all your objectives and an overriding master objective to then pick, assemble, and, if need be, create the strategies matched to those objectives. Being more or less strategic may translate into tens or even hundreds of thousands of differences in you obtainable exit price. The core of all this, a key determinate of true, presentable value of any business including yours is the comprehensiveness and efficiency of SYSTEMS for every aspect of the business versus random, erratic acts. When Ray Kroc first saw the McDonald brothers’ hamburger joint, he saw a fantastic product but a terrible business, because it was disorganized, run by the seat of the brothers’ pants, virtually everything wrong — even the work flow of putting an order together. But he also saw what it could be if the same popular products were coupled with a system so good that pimply-faced teenagers could run it. Henry Ford is credited with the Model T, but his more valuable invention was the franchised system, using its capital to fund inventory of cars and an overlaying system of national brand and local direct sales advertising. A lot of the successful businesses we all know have, at their core, systems — including marketing systems. Keep in mind that, perhaps unreasonably, people want certainty. Investors and company CEOs loudly bemoaned the uncertainty caused by President Trump’s tariffs. Even though there’s always some type of uncertainty in the markets. One of the things patients are always anxious about is: What will MY outcome be — for certain? It’s why digital imaging of the smile to come is more important than 100 before/after photos of other people. Certainty has enormous persuasive value. If YOU CAN SAY: “Here is how our new patient acquisition system works — very formulaically. Each month we invest X$ into these five different advertising channels, on average bringing Y# of new leads into our marketing funnel. X% of those schedule and keep appointments, thus an average per kept appointment cost of $Z. 50% of those accept treatment, so average cost per new patient of $A. Step 2: From the leads who do not immediately schedule, without 16 step online/offline follow-up, we get half of those to schedule with 90 days. The cost for that extra follow-up is $B per lead. Cost per sale: $C. Step 3: Our multistep referral simulation system gets .5 new patients per patient within their first 6 months..... and so on. You have system diagrams, stats, ROI numbers, and samples of all your copyright and trademark
protected system contents. “With slight seasonal variances, these are the results from our systems each month for the past 36 months” you get to say. “You just run these 6 variable campaigns in rotation and this evergreen, constant campaign all year, and these ARE the results.” Is this reassuring to a potential buyer? Is this more reassuring than just “we get most of our new patents by referrals”? Does owning systems like I just described make you smarter and more sophisticated than the average dentist? Yes. Does it make your practice more valuable? Of course. And this is not just theatrics for exit; this is the situation you should be in now, for steady growth, for peace of mind from anti- fragility and from predictability. You can start the month one of three ways: One, with hopes of new patients. Two, with specific goals for new patients. Or three, knowing, within slight range of variance, how many
new patients you’ll have by month’s end. Which of those three sound better to you? Will sound better to a buyer of your practice? —Dan S. Kennedy
Dan S. Kennedy is a much sough after direct marketing strategy consultant and copywriter, helping build brands and businesses like Perfect Smile® and Proactiv®, America’s #1 acne treatment, MiracleEar®, and Medicare Express. He is the author of the bestselling series of “NO B.S.” books, including the most recent No B.S. Guide to Succeeding In Business by Breaking ALL The Rules. As a speaker, his long career includes 9 years on the largest public seminar tour in America, alongside four former U.S. Presidents, countless Hollywood and sports celebrities, great marketing founder-CEOs like Debbi Fields (Mrs. Fields Cookies) and Jim McCann (1-800-Flowers), and legendary speakers including Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn and Tom Hopkins. His own seminar events have featured celebrity-entrepreneurs like Gene Simmons (KISS), Joan Rivers, George Foreman and Kathy Ireland The entrepreneurs’ organization he founded can be looked in on at MagneticMarketing.com. Over 30,000 dentists, chiropractors and other health care professionals have been in his audiences.
Stan Kinder - (703) 298-1690 · 11
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