Friday, January 31, 2014
Over the past few years the practice of giving away or greatly discounting teeth whitening to attract new patients has become a very common marketing tactic. This strategy can bring new faces through the door, but remember, these aren’t really new patients—they’re just giving you a chance to prove yourself as a skilled clinician. And keep in mind, anyone asking for teeth whitening wants…no…expects truly white teeth. Yet so many dentists don’t deliver this, and when they don’t they lose the patient’s confidence and loyalty.
So, what is a real new patient worth?
You’ve made the effort and spent the advertising money to get new patients in the door. This is your big chance to make a great impression. But all too often, dentists say to themselves, “They’re getting this for free, so they don’t expect much. When they agree to treatment that I’ll actually be paid for, and they prove to me they’re a good patient, then I’ll spend the time.”
This is a sure-fire way to assure “potential” new patients that you are not the dentist for them. Because of this, and because so many patients from marketing initiatives, such as discounted whitening, end up not returning to the practice, dentists start to believe that marketing is the culprit—that marketing attracts only “bad” patients. And so, the cycle continues.
On the other hand, some dentists do very well with marketing programs. Why? Let’s continue our look at whitening as an example. Dentists giving away whitening for free often look for the least expensive (and often least effective) whitening gels they can buy. It’s a free service so they don’t want to spend very much time on the impression, the fabrication of the trays, or the case in general.
So here they’ve taken the time and spent the money to get this “potential” new patient in the door, and just as quickly lose them. Is that smart? No!
What is the lifetime value of a good new patient nowadays? It’s a lot. Add to that their other family members who they’d refer. Add to that (if they really like the dentist) others who they may refer. When you talk about the lifetime income from this patient and the referred patients…and the patients they would refer—that is a lot of money.
You market to thousands and thousands of people and only a small fraction respond. Those people are like gold. Treat them like gold.
Imagine you spent extra time on these free or discounted whitening cases and you did all that you could to ensure fantastic results. Suppose you not only meet their expectations of whitening, but you exceed them. Now you’ve got a true “new patient.” That patient thinks you walk on water and will send the rest of the family now.
Plus, consider this patient’s excitement because the teeth got so very white. They’re now infatuated with their teeth. They can’t take their eyes off their teeth. So now they start to notice all the imperfections—chips, spaces, crookedness, dark existing crowns and fillings (even on posterior teeth). Next, this patient asks you to fix these problems, including various types of orthodontic treatment, replacing dark old restorations, right up to the occasional full porcelain veneer case, just like in the case below.
A 50-something-year-old patient presents for exam to Dr. Natasha Lee of San Francisco.
Dr. Lee suggests porcelain veneers because it will help the tetracycline staining and close the spaces. However, the patient is married and has grown children, and basically he says that regarding the looks of his smile, he’s pretty much, “over it.” He’s certainly not willing to spend all the money for porcelain. So then Dr. Lee suggested KöR Whitening, and the patient accepted. Little did the patient expect this result.
Two weeks later, he’s on the phone with Dr. Lee’s office, now interested in porcelain veneers.
Just imagine how patients with average staining would respond to KöR, and how white their teeth could become. How excited would your average patients get? It works exactly the same way.
Friends and relatives of this patient will notice how white the teeth are because the patient now loves to smile a lot. So the dentist (i.e. you) comes up in conversation frequently.
The patient is so thankful to this dentist for the successful whitening, and like any of us in that situation, he or she wants to tell others about us. Sort of like being excited to tell everyone about that new great restaurant you just found. So the referrals start.
Genuinely white teeth create incredible excitement on the part of the patients, and a practice full of patients who truly are excited about their dentist is possibly the single biggest key to a mega-successful practice. So if you decide to use free whitening to attract new patients, remember, they are expecting white teeth.
Whether it’s free or discounted whitening, or anything else you give away to attract new patients, just remember how hard you worked and all the money you spent to get these people through your door. Dazzle them with anything you provide (including the free stuff), exceed their expectations, and you’ll find a lot of great patients who will stay, pay and refer.