This episode of What Would We Do, delves into Dentists. David Twigg and Chris Bugden deliver an insightful discussion that will inspire you and arm you with new ideas.

For more information go to the official website at http://WhatWouldWeDo.com.au

Chris: Hi guys Chris Bugden here. Myself and David Twigg are on a mission to help inspire

ideas for your company. Each episode we will be delving into one specific marketplace

and reverse engineering it as well as imparting our knowledge & wisdom

from the campaigns we've been involved in and books and podcasts we've read.

David: Yes between us we've been working in sales and marketing for many years

and we both love discussing business so we aim to inspire you. Today we are

going to delve into What we would do if we were starting a Dental practice.

What things we would consider adopting from established brands and what could we do better.

chris: Yes we all need to use the dentist on a regular basis so it has become

one of those medical practice sectors where the sky is the limit,

be growing exponentially even amongst generations that historically haven't

hadn't bothered. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, AIHW, an authority on medical demographic information,

In 2012, there were approximately 57 dentists, 4 dental therapists, 5 dental hygienists,

3 oral health therapists and 5 dental prosthetists employed per 100,000 people

in Australia.

David: Yes i took my eldest son to the dentist last week and when i looked around

the surgery, it seemed to be a very well oiled machine, more minimalist than i recall

years ago but the technology has clearly come on leaps and bounds in recent times.

I remember as a kid in the UK, everybody used the National health service dentists

and frankly with hindsight it felt rather like an abattoir, huge equipment, limited

pain control and overpowering smells that were not pleasant. These days it really is

a way more comfortable experience in the dentist's chair.

Chris: I'm right with you there David, the average experience in Australia has dramatically improved though no doubt there is a broad spectrum of good and bad. So what have you discovered in your audit of the dentistry online environment?

David: Well there's certainly a lot of templated marketing going on within the Dentistry

world. It seems to be fairly standard to be greeted on a home page with a big white

smile. There's not much differentiation going on rather like a lot of marketplaces,

it's generally fairly mundane messaging focusing on hygiene and patient care.

Chris: So what online marketing would you be thinking about if you were to setup a Dental practice today?

David: Yep so the first thing i would be thinking about regarding marketing material

especially including the website would be overcoming objections. So what could those

objections that prospective customers may be thinking about:

Pain in the surgery....Price.....Discomfort after the visit....Avoiding longer term

problems........competence.....and yes caring, “does this dentist care about my well being?”

By the way on a tangent i was seriously impressed with my son's dentist who called

up to check he was ok after his first filling. Frankly my son handled it brilliantly,

the needle, the mouth staying open so long, the "angle grinder" type sounds

(or that's what's in my mind), the weird sensations, the swollen mouth, the blood....

it's all pretty stressful for a 7 year old's first experience. So i thought when

they followed up to check he was ok the day after, it was really a sign that they cared.

Of course all it was most likely was a policy decision to do it then the receptionist

has the task integrated to her work day to follow up with new patients on the phone but the average patient or parent wouldn’t be aware of this.

Chris: And David that is a whole new area of expertise, being the management of your customer database making sure appointments aren’t delayed as we discussed in our previous podcast regarding skin cancer clinics:

David: Back to the marketing, all communication including the website should be focused on

overcoming objections (pain,price,discomfort,competence) AND the importance of the outcome.

The outcome being, the solution to a problem eg no more tooth ache, no more sensitive teeth with hot/cold, no more yellow teeth, straighter teeth, beautiful smile, etc. etc.

Dentistry is best focused on a female audience, males need it as well but

pushing female buttons around attractiveness and first impressions is more powerful.

So that would be one of the overall themes of content for the website, social media

and in any communication with the prospective marketplace which by the way is likely

to be within a 15km radius of your premises. In some cases less than that but marketing

to people beyond that radius is wasting money in my opinion because you will be fighting

the ultimate objection of inconvenience.

Chris: So you would focus content for the website and social media on overcoming

objections as well as problems/solutions. So talk a bit more about that problem/solution

matrix. What type of things would work as good topics for content?

David: Well based on what we've learnt from campaigns, some content theme categories could

be around:

• dating.... what role your teeth play in the dating game, in fact there are a lot

of angles to run from that one, it's not hard finding stories and experiences that have

failed around teeth.......

• job interviews again we would find a plethora of stories and experiences that justified spending money on teeth to get a new job as well as the other side of teh coin where

bad teeth has led to a failed interview.

• Then there will be other angles such as working a role serving the public with bad teeth....in the modern world this is a fairly common complaint so it becomes

a case of using 3rd party references to demonstrate clearly the good teeth vs bad teeth story. Cosmetic surgeon receptionist, airline hosts and hostesses, higher-class waiting and hospitality staff

Some Content could also focus on technology for example tools, equipment, why x is the best and by the way there are only 3 of them in this city....beware of outdated equipment....

new equipment can do this.....filling technology, the options and strengths and weaknesses

.......educating around filling vs sealing and other technical terms

Some content could focus on why teeth get yellow.....talk about the main causes

eg tea/coffee, smoking, red wine....etc

Sensitive teeth: educate on why....how and what can be done

Root canal: educate on why......how and what can be done

......same goes for other common procedures that the public don't understand

Using social media to point out problems(eg yellow teeth,crooked teeth,surveys on

first impressions,likelihood of problems in 40's,rotting teeth>>>>bad breath)

would also get people thinking.

...and the big winner. I'm really not happy that this is the case but ladies particularly

can receive a message much more clearly if it has a celebrity factor, for example

a reference to a celeb......so use celebrity stories around teeth. Finding a celebrity

with bad teeth would be virtually impossible so banging that home would be an angle.

I would suggest dental marketing should aim to encourage females to persuade

their partner to come in rather than be too focused on marketing directly to men.

Chris: Excatly David because we all know the common mentality of men being that “If it aint broke don’t fix it” and men are notorious for putting off visits to the doctor or dentist simply due to the disruption to their routines and the inconvenience it causes them/us!

Ok so that's touched on website and social media content as well as overall

strategy what about enticing them to your brand.

David: Well Google is a massive referral agency....when we look to change dentists.

Facebook can be working the mind of the local area to position your dentist

brand as ticking their boxes (competent, focused on the details, caring, value, convenient)

while they mull over their current dentist vs you. As with all marketplaces it's about

multiple touchpoints, keeping your brand in front of them consistently so the day they pull

the trigger you are front and centre in their mind.

Chris: Now i know one of your favourite topics is talking about Average Customer Value in relation to what it's worth to spend to acquire a new customer.

David: Yes Chris it's a massive business issue. When a new customer walks in the door,

what could they be worth in revenue terms to you? Obviously the guy that has been neglecting

his teeth vs the lady who has been seeing a dentist 3 times a year, will offer completely

different revenue opportunity. But the point is what is the average? Every dentist should be

able to calculate it annually because it's simply gross revenue divided by number of patients

served. My guess is here in Australia the figure for many dentists in middle class areas will

be into 4 figures, ie over $1000 per annum. So on that basis i would suggest acquiring new

customers for even as high as $200 each is a steal, as after a few years that average spend

may well reach $5,000. I don't think for one second you would need to spend that much but

this simple calculation allows you to make a decision that will likely work.

Chris: Yes i tried to research the figure of gross spend on Dentistry in Australia and divide

it by about 20 million, which would still include lots of toddlers that don't see a dentist until

they are 5 or 6.....but i couldn't find one that seemed to be reliable or that I would confidently quote as being accurate.

David: So Chris, now with your selling hat on what considerations would you make

with a dental surgery to maximise revenue and work towards growing the business.

Chris:

• One of my immediate thoughts David is how well the practice seeks to maximize the level of service and value to existing customers thereby increasing the revenue from their existing client base

• There is a difference between cross-selling, upselling and referral based business growth and they all come from providing the epitome of value-driven customer service.

• Cross-selling examples in dentistry could include selling toothbrushes as opposed to upselling which would be not just selling a toothbrush but the upselling from a plastic manual toothbrush to an electric toothbrush. Another great example which comes to mind being that I’ve been involved in rugby league for over 30 years is mouthguards as there is a major difference in the protection levels for teeth between a chemist-bought, mould-your-own cheaper version and I would always recommend the dentists professionally moulded version to the kids I coach – and I always STRONGLY recommend never taking the field without a mouthguard. (So relationships with local sporting clubs are another way to develop your client base, particularly rugby league and rugby union and also AFL, field hockey, boxing and any other contact sporting clubs.) And whilst this is a type of referral marketing, I believe the best opportunities for referral marketing are with the current patients at the time of a visit. There is always some type of research and information gathering conducted by the practice when a new patient visits for the first time, but I believe that consultation process could be expanded to include after-treatment consultation by a member of the practice staff skilled in patient care and customer service.

• I’ll give you some examples: I have full medical insurance so for me and my family regular visits for check-ups and cleans don’t cost anything outside of my monthly insurance premiums, so I attend regularly, as does my wife. However we also have children, three of whom are still living at home and covered by the same insurance policy, yet I haven’t been asked by my dental practice if I even have children (other than in a “by the way conversation whilst in the dental chair, which has obviously not been acted upon). So my thoughts are that part of the information gathering would be to ask about other family members and booking times for them to come in and visit the dentist – because as I said a moment ago – there is no financial burden as it’s already been paid. And that provides an appropriate angle to approach the question when gathering more information in the after-treatment consultation by simply using phrases like – “Do you believe you’re getting the most value-for-money from your private medical insurance?”

• Or “Considering you’re already paying for the coverage would you like to schedule your children for a check-up while you’re here?”

• and that opens up other avenues to broaden the revenue base from existing patients to ask about other family members like siblings, parents, grandparents, friends etc. There can even be incentives offered for referrals, but there certainly doesn’t need to be if the whole culture of the practice is about providing the very best of dental care to their patients and everyone in the family and immediate circle of the patient. We ALL WANT to refer people we know to good practitioners as it feels good for us to recommend someone we know to a provider we trust, knowing that our friends and family will receive the very best of care. The same way we recommend a good restaurant or a good movie, we often can’t wait to find an opportunity to talk about it to friends. And it is possible to subtly train your patients to mention the “professional”, “comfortable” or “painless” experience if that is the major objection you receive from potential patients.

We can then begin to look at cross-referrals from other practitioners in the fields of GP’s, Orthodontists, Cosmetic surgeons, beauticians etc. which opens up another marketing field and helps position your clinic as the most professional and expert in the community. Because ideally you want to position your clinic somehow and what better way than to be thought of as the go-to clinic in your area?

Chris: Definitely food for thought David and some ideas worth pondering for the forward thinking clinics and practices. Well we hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of What Would We Do? It’s been very interesting putting our thoughts together and we appreciate you taking the time to listen.

David: If you’d like to find out more about us or perhaps get in touch to see how we can help you please go to www.whatwouldwedo.com.au