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If you’re reading this and you’re not the dentist, this one’s for you!
Front desk. Office managers. Treatment coordinators. Practice leads.
You are the ones answering the calls. You are the ones dealing with schedule gaps. You are the ones juggling no-shows, insurance questions and last-minute cancellations.
And when marketing “isn’t working,” you’re usually the first to feel it.
So, let’s talk about what good marketing should actually do for you.
Your marketing efforts should not do the below.
• Flood your day with price shoppers
• Dump unqualified leads into your inbox
• Create chaos on your schedule
• Force you to “figure it out” on the fly
Your marketing efforts should do the below.
• Bring in patients that match your insurance mix
• Spread demand consistently across the week
• Reduce slow days and improve show rates
• Give you predictable, consistent volume
When it’s done right, marketing creates stability. And stability makes everything better.
That looks like less scrambling and less stress. And a bonus, being more excited to walk into the office every day.
Here’s what is rarely mentioned when looking at marketing for an entire practice.
When your marketing works properly, the entire team benefits.
More production. More bonuses. More room for raises. More resources for better tools and staffing. Win-Win-(Win), as Michael Scott would say.
A growing practice is a calmer practice. And you deserve to work in a calm, well-run environment. So, here’s something you can use immediately.
The next time marketing comes up in your staff meeting or with the team, ask these three questions.
1) Are we measuring booked appointments, or just calls and form fills?
There’s a massive difference between the two. Anyone can send ‘action’ to your phones and inbox. That action needs to be curated correctly and likely to convert into patients sitting in your chairs.
2) Are the patients coming in the right type for our practice, or just whoever clicks first?
Even if they convert, they may not be the patients are you looking for. It could be an insurance mismatch, it could be a ‘one and done’ appointment that brings zero lifetime value. The quality of your new patient flow is massively important.
3) Is our schedule more stable than it was 90 days ago?
Your marketing efforts don’t need to be perfect out of the gate but they do need to improve. It’s always ideal to zoom out a bit, no issues there. There will be seasonality fluctuations. But more of less, you want to see improvement and narrowing in on the ideal audience. That will then create higher lifetime value and more overall revenue for your practice.
If the answer to those is unclear, that is not your fault. But it is a signal. Most of the time, marketing efforts are curated to keep the owner or the dentist as happy as possible.
And of course, that’s important. But it will end up falling on deaf ears if those efforts don’t support the front desk staff and management team as well. Marketing has to make everyones life easier.
Including yours.
— Kyle
