Growing and maintaining a thriving practice requires us to master many different business systems. The one most often neglected, yet without which you cannot thrive, is your new patient attraction system, your marketing. Steady state in business is a myth. Your practice is either growing or dying. You must be CONSTANTLY strategizing on new patient acquisition. No two practices are alike, but I’ve identified “9 Critical Keys to Increasing Patient Flow” that every dental practice can execute. Effective marketing requires constant attention, time, money, and ongoing testing. Your Gems Coach and/or Personal Gems Concierge will be happy to help you make the best possible marketing decisions. Reach out to them today. DEPLOY SIMULTANEOUSLY: It’s tempting (and easier) to take each of the keys one-by-one and slowly integrate them into your practice, testing new marketing angles in a linear fashion. However, doing so will be woefully insufficient to truly ramp up and maintain your new patient pipeline. Instead, you need to attack new patient flow on all EXPECTATIONS ... 1. fronts … at the same time! (marketing strategies constitute an exception to TOBI!) Effectively marketing your practice requires deploying at least 6–8 different strategies and tactics simultaneously and consistently throughout the year.
Most practices would be wise to decrease (or suspend) spending money on ads during that period. Never cut back your marketing when your patient load climbs. Instead, build your practice and add more providers as the flow increases. 2. NEW PATIENTS AT WHAT COST? If you market effectively, you may anticipate spending roughly $250–$300 per new patient acquisition. Use this cost as a barometer for the success of the keys you deploy. If you are spending more than $250–$300 per new patient acquisition, your return on investment may not be high enough to justify continuing that particular marketing strategy. BUT… don’t jump to pull the plug based solely on cost per patient. You must also take into account the type (i.e. Value) of patients you’re getting from each source. If you’re spending $500 per new patient via a Google pay-per-click implant campaign and getting a much higher lifetime average per patient, then $500 per new patient may well be worth the investment. The $250–$300 rule of thumb is for campaigns that attract your bread-and-butter, general dental patients. IT’S JUST A TEST: There are many rules in marketing you must follow in order to gain a competitive advantage for your campaigns. That said, we may suggest something that’s worked amazingly well in 30 other members’ practices and yet there is NO GUARANTEE it will work 3.
in yours … nor will you know until you TEST! “ALL MARKETING IS A TEST!”
In order to get to the point where you’re deploying 6–8 effective
marketing strategies consistently and simultaneously throughout the year, you will likely have to test many more than that. You may try five and only find two that work well and three that fail. Keep using the two that worked and replace the three that failed in search of one more that works well for you. Effectively marketing your practice takes time and patience … but it can change your practice, your lifestyle, and your life. track how much ROI you are getting, specific to each ad campaign. Plus, know the exact cost of each new patient acquisition. Simply pushing out marketing without carefully tracking will only set you up for failure. BATTLING NO-SHOWS: New patients scheduled as a result of advertising will NO-SHOW more often than a direct referral from an existing happy patient. That’s why we urge you follow the “20/20/20” rule for the new patient exam. The “20/20/20” exam is a paradigm shift which bears zero resemblance to what you were taught in dental school (or likely by anyone ever).
4. TRACK CAREFULLY: You MUST
5.
Deploy the “20/20/20" new patient exam and you’ll not only protect your time (and
The only exception is the brief period between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
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