Marketing your dental clinic using Google local marketing

Marketing is a critical way to increase dental patients, however some dentists we talk to think that they do not need to advertise online, or even to have a focus on their website as they are offline businesses; businesses built on trust and by word of mouth. Whilst these points are true and will always be important drivers of the success of a dental practice, relying on this alone is unlikely to be enough to build a thriving and resilient business. Your website and your online presence in general is an important tool in ensuring you are visible to your potential patients as well as to inform your existing patients.

Even in the dim, distant past (2017), 77% of Australians[i] used their mobile phones to find local health services, including dentists to conduct searches for convenience via local or ‘near me’ searches. They conduct an average of three searches and search for availability, prices, quotes and directions. What is more important, 75% of searches are followed up with an in-person visit within 24 hours. Local searches in Google are a valuable source of new dental patients as these people are actively interested in making a purchase decision.

Your customers’ ability to find you, online and in-person, is key. You can use Google to help maximise your local visibility, and therefore help customers find your services. And many of the tools you can take advantage of to increase your visibility are free of charge.

1.Ensure your website shows up when users conduct local searches in Google

The holy grail is of course to appear in the top 3 listings in the organic search results. These are the results you don’t have to pay for, and have high trust levels amongst users. You can maximise the likelihood your website will appear high in the search results for searches for local dental practices by ensuring your practice address is easy to find on your website, and that you include directions to your practice. This way, you are giving Google the clear signal that you are in a particular location, and that your business is highly relevant to the search, thereby prioritising your site in the search results list.

Use a variety of terms that refer to location, for example ‘near me’ or ‘nearby’ are commonly used, but whilst the name of the suburb in which you are located should be included in your address, add to this by also using broader terms, such as council area, or other location markers, such as ‘Melbourne CBD’.

Type of treatment information

Many people conduct online searches for location, but many potential new dental patients searches will also search for type the treatment option or problem they are having, for example ‘treatment for toothache in Sydney’ or ‘help with bleeding gums northern beaches’ etc. Your website should include content that specifies the dental specialty you practice, and the services offered, which is also very helpful information for Google and for potential dental patients when they reach your website.

Other search types that are combined with location searches include availability, so include hours of business together with your practice address. Consider the types of users’ needs, some people will need information about access to your surgery: Is it wheelchair accessible? Are there stairs? Is parking provided or available nearby?

2.Geotargeting advertising

A really useful tool to increase dental patients is Geotargeting in AdWords, which you set to serve your ads in geographic areas you specify. For example, if you are a Sydney north shore dentist, you can choose a local focus for your ads, and they will only be served to people in that area. And this feature is also useful to set multiple areas, if you wish to serve several areas, and options include: country, state, city and postcode. You can also add locations nearby, and exclude or include further areas. The really useful one for dentists is to choose to selection location by radius. This feature is available only to customers who have geolocation turned on in their Google account.

Google geotargeting is based on a range of ‘signals’ Google collects from its users, including users’ settings, the devices they are using and users’ behaviour on Google platforms. These signals cannot be guaranteed to be 100% accurate, and it is important to monitor your AdWords performance and change them accordingly. The benefits of this are that you don’t waste your ad spend on advertising to customers that are too far to realistically generate business.

3. Set up a ‘Google My Business’ account

Google My Business is free, and an essential part of ensuring your dental practice is literally and metaphorically ‘on the map’. It includes a Business Profile that helps you to easily connect with customers across Google Search and Google Maps, allowing you to add photos that showcase your dental practice, such as storefront and interior photos, plus perhaps photos that demonstrate some unique quality of your practice, such as a type of treatment or specialty. It also ensures your surgery shows up on Google Maps and in the local search part of Google search results as well as on the right-hand-side panel Knowledge Panel in Google search results.

A Google My Business listing presents your business in a professional manner, with key details in one place, together with alternative contact methods. Setting this up enables you to provide much more information about your business right in the search results, making you more visible, accessible and professional.

Create a free Google My Business account, which gives you access to optimise your listing (think of it like a modern-day Yellow Pages listing). All the details you provide will appear in this listing, including location extensions and promotion extensions described below.

4. Use Google Local Campaigns to increase visibility

To further boost your dental clinic’s online visibility and therefore ability to find new patients is to bid for location specific search terms using Google Local Campaigns, a specific type of Google advertising campaign for marketers who want to set offline goals. Primarily, it helps businesses such as dentists to focus their Google advertising spend on generating traffic into the dental practice. By entering business location, ad budget and ad creative into your Google Ads account, Google will optimise your ads across all properties and networks, showing your ads with an address, a map, or the distance from the user to your location, a phone number or call button.

To set this up, link your Google My Business account to your Google Ads account. If you do not have a Google Ads account or a Google My Business account, we can help you get set up, create advertising campaigns for you, and to manage as much or as little as your require, freeing yoy to deal with the incoming business inquiries and increase in dental patients the advertising generates. Talk to our digital marketing specialist today for more information about how we can help you.

Location extensions

One of the key aspects of local search is display location extensions, which allows you to show your location as part of PPC ads and promotion extensions, like the bakery example below. Users can click on the address in the ad to show live directions from their current location to the store, enabling an easy way to get there now, or to establish the ease of getting there in the future thereby increasing their likelihood to call you to make inquiries or an appointment.

Promotion extensions

The second aspect of local search is promotion extensions, which enables you as an advertiser to add time-based offers to your PPC ads which target high propensity to buy terms such as ‘affordable braces for adults’, where you may choose to add an offer for payment plans for the rest of the week or month.

Measuring the impact of your efforts

The important objective here is to increase actual physical visits to your dental surgery. Google helps here by providing the ‘Shop visits’ in Google Analytics, which is an estimate based on data from users that have turned on Location History. Note that to protect data privacy, Google presents this information as an anonymised aggregate.

Australians want to entrust their dental health to the reliable professionals. When potential clients near you go online to find dental care in their location, your job is to make sure you provide the information and transparency about your practice, making it easy for them to find your site, find the information they need and build the trust that results in a practice visit, phone call or online request to your practice.

If you found this article useful, read our recent post about the 3 essential checks to ensure your clinic’s website is doing its job. 

The Dental Review has in-house digital marketing specialists who are on hand to discuss and advise you about how to build a better local profile for your practice online. Call us today for a free consultation on 1800 118 991, via our short web form or editor@thedentalreview.com.au.

Sources include:

https://www.google.com.au/business/

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9103401?hl=en-GB

[i] https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-aunz/marketing-strategies/search/micro-moments-guide-how-australians-find-and-choose-health-services/

Ways for dentists to destress – Destress while you etch!

I have been listening to a couple of great dental podcasts this past week, both of which had the same interesting guest speaking about, among other things, stress and burnout of dentists. The guest was Dr Annalene Weston and she appeared on both Dental Head Start with Dr David Keir and Communicating Health with Dr Colm Harney.

I have to say that it was incredibly helpful to hear from a dentist about the stress they are under and how, at times, they feel powerless to communicate this with their team. I was a dental assistant for many years and hope I did not add to or create a stressful day for my dentists, but I am sure I did, especially in my younger, more self-absorbed years.

With a more experienced, compassionate and wiser head on my shoulders, I would like to think that I would offer the opportunity for dentists and team members to voice any concerns and stresses they have so a healthier working environment could be achieved in the surgery.

During one of the conversations, Annalene spoke about the importance of breathing during difficult moments in your day. During particularly intense moments, the sympathetic nervous system goes a bit crazy and performing breathing exercises can trip your parasympathetic nervous system
and neutralise the adrenaline and cortisol that is coursing through your system.

Ways for dentists to destress – The breathing technique

Breathe in for 4 counts.
Hold this breath for 2 counts.
Breathe out for 6 counts.
This is a total of 12 seconds.

Practicing this breathing technique several times throughout the day may just help reduce your stress levels enormously.

Now consider this: the etching process during composite restorations is usually 10 seconds. Light-curing bond and composite is 10-20 seconds. Might I suggest that dentists and assistants use these 10-second opportunities to practice the breathing
technique that Annalene suggests? Imagine the beneficial compounding effect of reducing the tension and stress in your body throughout the day.

Prevention is far better than cure when it comes to dentistry and the same is certainly true for stress. Take advantage of a usually time-consuming act of etching and curing and flip it to become valuable, calm-inducing seconds that could save your state of mind and body, and help you build a great culture in your practice!

This content was originally posted on julieparkerpracticesuccess.com

For feedback or to make contributions or suggestions for blog topics, contact us
today on 1800 118 991 or editor@thedentalreview.com.au

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Dentistry – What it is and its Impact

Introduction

Artificial intelligence in dentistry is a hot topic, and for good reasons. The increase in data collection from and about dental patients is the focus of attention to compile, interpret and save this data in ways that enhance diagnosis, treatment and administration in dentistry. Although there have been several false dawns in relation to the applications of artificial intelligence (AI), major achievements such as AI-based facial recognition, natural language for speech recognition and gaming have been highly impressive[i] and applied to many human spheres, including dentistry. The potential for AI to revolutionise dentistry is now realistic, but what is AI?

What is artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence textbooks define the field as the study of ‘intelligent agents’: any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximise its chance of successfully achieving its goals.[ii] Colloquially, the term artificial intelligence can be described as machines (or computers) that mimic cognitive functions that humans associate with the human mind, such as learning and problem solving.[iii] The forms of AI relevant to dentistry include machine learning, deep learning, artificial neural nets, augmented reality and virtual reality. Let’s look briefly at each of these terms as they apply to dentistry.

Machine learning, artificial neural networks and deep learning

Machine Learning (ML) is a type of AI, where computer algorithms are written by humans, but through the experience gained from inspecting large amounts of training data, the machine improves the algorithm or ‘learns’, thereby increasing its ability to produce the desired objective.

A specific type of ML model is artificial neural networks, which attempt to mimic the neural network of the human brain by being comprised of a mathematical model system of artificial neurons. By assembling artificial neurons in layers, and connecting these neurons and layers by mathematical operations, a neural network is engineered to solve specific tasks such as image classification to detect tooth decay easily missed by the human eye, or the specific location of canals for root canal treatment. In this way, AI is playing a valuable support role to dental professionals in practice.

A type of machine learning called deep learning involves an artificial neural network that takes the form of a complex multilayer system. Deep learning algorithms are capable of much more precise decision-making than conventional computational methods, such as being able to detect small details in an oral cavity image, or to identify complex patterns of behaviour or inferences in the provided data. One example is the design of an artificial neural network that has been proven to accurately predict toothache, based on the link between toothache and a range of factors including toothbrushing frequency, duration, eating habits and stress.

Augmented reality and virtual reality

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are technologies that are more commonly known to people outside of computer science, and are increasingly popular in gaming. Augmented reality provides an interactive experience in which a 3D virtual object is incorporated into a 3D real environment. It has many uses in dentistry including in dental surgery to assist with providing clear graphical information of the craniofacial region; in the positioning of dental implants; in orthodontic surgery, and in the education of dental students.

Virtual reality is currently a less developed technology. It enables the operator to interact with virtual objects in real time. Its two functions are 1) Immersion – where the operator has the sense of being in the virtual environment, and 2) Interaction – which gives the operator the opportunity to take actions that impact the virtual environment.

Augmented intelligence[iv] has been proposed as a cognitive extension of AI in health care, emphasising its role in assisting and supplementing the work of medical professionals. While fully autonomous medical robotic systems are not yet a reality, the virtual component of AI, usually software-type algorithms, is the main component used in dentistry.

Leveraging powerful capabilities in data analysis, virtual algorithms are expected to deliver transformative benefits to dentistry including:

• Improve the accuracy and efficacy of diagnosis of lesions in the oral cavity is much better than the human eye.
• Provide visualised anatomic guidance for treatment.
• Simulate and evaluate prospective results.
• Project the occurrence and prognosis of oral diseases.

Limitations of AI in dentistry

AI has the capacity to revolutionise dental practice. Whilst the applications of AI in medical-aided diagnosis, treatment, and disease prediction are exciting, the issues are data limitations, interpretability, computing power and ethical considerations.

Despite the fact that the application of AI in dentistry holds great promise, significant challenges both in technical and ethical aspects currently exist:

• The lack of data curation, sharing, and readability.
• The inability to illustrate the inner decision-making process of dental professionals;
• The neglect of ethical principles in the design of AI frameworks.
• AI based systems are machine-based and controlled and conducted by computer scientists without any medical training which has led to a problem-oriented approach of many AI applications in dental delivery.
• AI can’t replace the contemporary healthcare delivery model whose working completely depends on clinician skills and patient-clinician communication.
• The use of robotic assistants creates a whole additional set of safety, privacy and issues social issues in healthcare.
• Dental professionals are reluctant in accepting AI-based technologies.

Rather than computer scientists working towards a future where AI or other technologies replace the role of dental professionals, a preferable suggestion is a model which accommodates both AI and human elements so that the process of data collection and categorisation becomes easy and at the same time preserve the human aspects of clinical care.

Artificial intelligence is a large, complex and fast developing topic area. This article is the first in a series introducing AI and its uses for the dental industry.

[i] Speigelhalter, David, The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data

[ii] Legg and Hutter, 2007

[iii] Russell and Norvig, 2009

[iv] ‘Application of Artificial Intelligence in Dentistry’ T. Shan, F.R. Tay, L. Gu, October 29, 2020

Don’t do anything until you have read this FREE eBook

95% of Australians use Google to find goods and services.

Whether your dental practice shows up in Google’s search results depends heavily on your Google Reviews. Dentists that want to drive walk-in visits and acquire new patients know the importance of focusing on improving their Google Reviews.

In this free guide, we will show you how Google Reviews affect local search results, increase trust and loyalty with your customers, and ultimately boost your bottom line.

Get the free guide “Google Reviews 101”

Google Reviews 101 includes:

• Step-by-step to get more Google Reviews
• Why Google Reviews matter
• How to Outrank your competition

                                  
PODIUM
Level 22
120 Spencer Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
+1(833) 276-3486

Recipes for success in Endodontics … including the use and abuse of Ledermix and other materials and techniques that produce better clinical results

Your Webinar Invitation: Tuesday 12th May 2020, 8pm

This short webinar is designed to re-acquaint practitioners, both new and old, with some basic tenets of endodontics. Presented will be some principles of practice that have been gained after providing 35 years of endodontic treatment.

Hosted by Adjunct Associate Professor Peter Duckmanton, the Senior Clinical Specialist in Endodontics at Sydney Dental Hospital and an Adjunctive Associate Professor with the Sydney Dental School of the Faculty of Medicine and Health of the University of Sydney, where he has taught endodontics for over 25 years.

Benefits of attending:

• Learn recipes for a successful endodontic practice
• Get your questions answered
• Obtain a Statement of Attendance so that you can claim CPD points
• The first 200 registrants who provide their prescriber number and attend and will be sent a complementary Ledermix cement and hardener (valued at $130).

So much has changed in the world—especially in healthcare—during the past several weeks.

The urgency felt throughout the country right now is to take every opportunity to interact with patients digitally in an effort to reduce time spent on phones, and keep waiting rooms empty. This is requiring an unprecedented strategy and creativity

In Addition to all of this, the ADA recently announcing the Level 3 restrictions means dentists will have to go even longer without seeing patients for routine appointments. So how can dental practices ensure they can keep communicating with patients so that when restrictions get lifted they don’t lose out on gaining new patients?

Join us for a 15-minute webinar to learn four easy ways dental practices can use text messaging to transition more patient interactions to digital channels. Including:

• Directing increased phone traffic to your website
• Communicating with patience in their preferred channels
• Nurturing patients through messaging

                                  
PODIUM
Level 22
120 Spencer Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
+1(833) 276-3486

The way that consumers communicate is different. No longer will phone and email be a sufficient way to maintain contact and interact with your patients. Today’s consumer is much more comfortable communicating via text or other messaging apps. Dental offices that aren’t catering to these differing communication preferences could be left behind.

See how using messaging to augment your service will significantly boost your customer service, while vastly improving your retention. We’ll also give you tips and tricks for implementing a messaging strategy that works best for your business.

In this free guide, we will show you how online reviews can improve local SEO, increase trust and loyalty with your patients, and ultimately boost your bottom line.

Get the free guide “The Ultimate Business Text Messaging Playbook”

The Text Messaging Playbook includes:

How your business can improve with text messaging
Ways to get more repeat customers with simple text hints
An easy way to set up Business Text Messaging for your practice

PODIUM
Level 22
120 Spencer Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
+1(833) 276-3486

95% of Australians use Google to find goods and services.

Whether your dental practice shows up in Google’s search results depends heavily on your Google Reviews. Dentists that want to drive walk-in visits and acquire new patients know the importance of focusing on improving their Google Reviews.

In this free guide, we will show you how Google Reviews affect local search results, increase trust and loyalty with your customers, and ultimately boost your bottom line.

Get the free guide “Google Reviews 101”

Google Reviews 101 includes:

• Step-by-step to get more Google Reviews
• Why Google Reviews matter
• How to Outrank your competition

                                  
PODIUM
Level 22
120 Spencer Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
+1(833) 276-3486

Scientifically-based Indications for their Use in Everyday Dentistry

This webinar will discuss the scientific basis and clinical indications for the use of Ledermix Paste and Ledermix Cement.

Hosted by Prof. Paul V. Abbott AO, Endodontist Specialist, BDSc, MDS, FRACDS(Endo), FPFA, FADI, FICD, FACD, FIADT

Benefits of attending:

• Hear the latest research and clinical results
• Ask Prof. Paul Abbott questions
• Apply for CPD points
• The first 300 registrants who attend with a Prescriber Number will be sent a complimentary Ledermix sample pack (valued at $150)

Ledermix Paste and Ledermix Cement have been used clinically for over 57 years with numerous research papers and clinical studies to support their efficacy and usefulness. The major components of these materials are a corticosteroid and an antibiotic – hence, their indications for use should be based on these components. The major use for Ledermix Paste in root canal treatment is to reduce inflammation and thereby reduce or avoid pain and to manage inflammatory resorption. It can also be used to manage infected canals, particularly if used in conjunction with calcium hydroxide. Ledermix Cement is an extremely useful material for conservative pulp treatments such as pulp capping and pulpotomy. Its short-term anti-inflammatory action combined with the beneficial effects of the cement base components (i.e. calcium hydroxide and zinc oxide-eugenol) make it an ideal material for these procedures.

Prof. Paul V. Abbott AO

BDSc, MDS, FRACDS(Endo), FPFA, FADI, FICD, FACD, FIADT

He has presented over 820 lectures and courses in 42 countries. He has published over 180 articles in refereed journals and 23 textbook chapters. In 2015, he was appointed as Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Dental Traumatology. He has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching and for service to the dental profession, particularly in education and research. In 2015, he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia.

LEDERMIX IS NOW BACK IN STOCK AND IS HERE TO STAY

Contact your Distributor and order today

“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.”

This quote by Alexander Den Heijer is one that can shift your perspective immediately. It clearly identifies where you should direct your focus when a team member is struggling to thrive in your dental practice.

In the context of your practice, the quote can be rewritten as: “When a team member doesn’t bloom, you fix the practice in which she isn’t growing, not the team member.”

The following are a few methods I suggest to improve the environment in which your team members are expected to bloom.

PROVIDE ADDITIONAL TRAINING

There are several ways to train team members.

• Provide a detailed instruction manual,
• Have trainee team members shadow an experienced team member and see for themselves how tasks are to be performed,
• Role-play,
• Implement off-site and online team training events (such as the online JPPS On-Demand Webinar Series).

GAIN TEAM MEMBER FEEDBACK

Identify any barriers to learning by having a discussion with team members. There may be a conflict with another member of the team, lack of confidence or simply lack of understanding what is expected of them.

MODIFY YOUR EXPECTATIONS

Impatience and frustration will result if you have unrealistic expectations of team members’ progress. We would love it if all we had to do was provide instruction once and then a new skill is learned. However, this is simply not the case. Depending upon the complexity of the skill, most people need the chance to practice the skill many times to become competent. Are you patient enough? How often are you expressing, or demonstrating, your frustrations?

ASSIGN A BUDDY TO TRAINEES

Pair your trainee with another team member who can act as their ‘buddy’. A buddy will help the trainee make adjustments to the way they manage each task so they consistently improve. A buddy acts as a coach, cheerleader and mentor.

I encourage all dental practice owners and managers to display in their office the quote by Alexander Den Heijer. It will serve as a useful reminder to create the ideal environment for your team to bloom, grow and flourish, as it surely will if team members are blooming, growing and flourishing.

Have a groovy weekend!

What makes the Aqualizer’s dental splints the best choice for malocclusion and TMJ pain relief?

The Aqualizer’s revolutionary water system makes it different from any other product on the market designed to treat malocclusion. While most dental splints simply disable the bite long term and guess at optimal occlusion, the Aqualizer  takes the guesswork out of treatment by allowing the body to naturally find TMJ pain relief and functional balance. The Aqualizer applies a physical law of nature called Pascal’s Law, meaning that when you bite down on the Aqualizer®, the fluid is evenly distributed across the entire bite. Aqualizer® dental splints offer no opinion, enabling the body to naturally balance itself and function on its own.

Our bodies seek functional balance – with Aqualizer dental splints, it is found instantly

The Aqualizer® is the most accurate and effective differential diagnostic tool available. The Aqualizer allows the body to find instant functional balance by unravelling the malocclusion it is locked in, making The Aqualizer an invaluable tool to anyone who is suffering from the effects of TMD. The Aqualizer obtains a perfect bite on the first try – dental splints made from this bite are immensely effective, predictable, and require remarkably few adjustments, saving valuable chair time. Dental professionals may use the Aqualizer‘s water system in conjunction with articulation paper or the Tekscan T-Scan® to diagnose bruxism-related facial pain, while other medical professionals use it to treat migraine headaches and chronic neck and shoulder pain.

Why the Aqualizer®?

The Aqualizer’s unique water system:

• Immediately optimizes biomechanics
• Supports the jaw in a comfortable position
• Removes the teeth from dominance, placing bite and body in harmony
• Straightens the bite to maximize other structures
• Aqualizer is the bridge
• Normalizes the bite and provides TMJ pain relief at will – without drugs
• Removes the imbalance trigger for patients who have existing malocclusion
• Enables systemic function and balance
• Allows the body to naturally balance itself
• Finds perfect occlusal balance, starting treatment immediately

1. The Discount will be automatically added at the check out if purchasing via link above

2. The Discount is not valid with any other discounts

3. The Discount is not valid on bulk pricing

If you have attended any of my webinars or online coaching programs, you will be aware that it is crucial to select the right mode of communication for the task at hand.

The recipient engagement rate for telephone calls, SMS’s, emails and direct mail are all different. And, the level of engagement you require differs for the type of task you are tackling, for example, confirmation calls, TLC, incomplete treatment follow-up, recalls etc.

Despite email having the lowest engagement – current figures are as low as a 13% open-rate – it is a very effective mode of communication when used well.

Email open rates increase substantially when the recipient is expecting a communication from you that will be useful to them.

A great deal of useful information can be included in an email considering the use of links to websites and attaching documents and brochures. However, it is a challenge to display your content in a way that engages readers. It all ends up appearing as plain text sectioned into a bunch of paragraphs.

NOT ANY MORE!

Have a look at this design…(excuse the quality of appearance once I converted email to image format)

Imagine the deeper level of engagement you would achieve with patients if you were to send them beautifully designed emails that effectively communicated your message, held attention all the way to the end and was consistent with your practice branding.

The platform that I have discovered that can do this and more is called BombBomb. And I think it’s THE BOMB!

One of the main features of BombBomb is that you can very easily embed videos within the email. You can see what I mean in the video to the right.

But I see BombBomb’s template emails as being the true value to dental practices.

Imagine having pre-designed templates for the communications I have listed below. All your receptionist needs to do is drop in the person’s email address and send it off. You can even track when your recipient opens the email and how often they return for another look.

• New Patient Welcome
• New Patient follow-up “How did you enjoy your visit with us?”
• New callers who don’t actually book in. Send them a “more about us” email and include a brochure on the service they queried after
• Existing patient survey to improve practice performance
• Reactivation of inactive patients
• Happy Birthday sung by your team and sent to patients celebrating their special day
• Video Newsletter rather than the less-engaging PDF

The possibilities go on and on.

If you are interested in receiving the above example email, simply reply to this email and I will forward it on immediately. I have the smart-phone app so can send it off anytime and from anywhere!

You can request a demo of this product by following the links after CLICKING HERE.

Let me know if you would like any guidance in setting up your BombBomb templates. I will arrange a 30-minute complimentary online session with you.

You didn’t go into business to manage artwork and design or write advertising copy. You didn’t go into business to manage printing, source mailing lists or deal with complicated postal rules and deadlines.

That’s where Smartprint comes in – we do all that for you.

Over the last twenty years we’ve developed the best processes, invested in technology, studied and identified the finest equipment available, and engaged the best people. We deliver excellence in marketing care so you can deliver excellence in clinical care.

During August and September we are offering free artwork and design when you send our standard postcard mailers. We can also provide free mailing lists.

Call us on 1800 118 991 or click here to get started on the road to finding and keeping more patients.

Yours Sincerely
Smartprint

Alan Weiss is an American consultant, author and speaker. I subscribe to his blog and a recent post was written after he attended a dentist for a dental implant. Alan’s experience of his dental practice’s poor customer service and subsequent inadequate response by staff resulted in him continuing his dental care elsewhere.

Here is the article for you to read. I am sure you will note the sentence that I urge you to keep top of mind when designing the experience you think your patients want.

I need some minor oral surgery. My dentist sent me to a periodontist who performed a difficult extraction and who would then replace it with an implant after the site was “restored” (sounds like archeology (sic), right?). We’re ready for the implant, which is relatively expensive and not covered by my insurance (no big deal and less hassle for the doctor) but I find her office staff so infernally rude that I’ve had it. When I tried to give feedback to the receptionist about her behaviour (sic) both she and the office manager went ballistic.

I guess I touched a nerve!

So now I’m with another doctor, a great guy with a wonderful staff, who has a more sophisticated implant procedure and loves to talk about exotic cars and trains. He’s more expensive. I don’t care.

The schools still don’t teach doctors, lawyers, accountants, and other professionals how to run a business, how to treat clients and patients, how to hire and manage the right kind of people. I don’t demand special treatment but I do demand professional treatment.And so should you.

Did you notice the line “He’s more expensive and I don’t care.”?

It is a common assumption that treating dental patients for the lowest prices will result in their happiness and your busy-ness.

Not true!

A recent study by Price Waterhouse Coopers, one of the ‘Big 4’ global accounting practices, ‘Experience Is Everything’, speaks to the fact that consumer experiences play a significant role in maintaining customer longevity.

Of the consumers surveyed for the PwC study, 60% said they would stop doing business with a company if they experienced unfriendly service. Additionally, 46% said they would do business elsewhere if employees lacked sufficient knowledge to help them. One in three (32%) say they would walk away from a brand they “love” after just one bad experience.

The take away from the PwC study is a crucial piece of advice for dental practices: “Give customers a great experience and they’ll buy more, be more loyal and share their experience with friends.”

Dentistry meets facial aesthetics

This Conference “Empowering the Smile” will demonstrate and highlight the necessary knowledge and practical skills to ensure the highest clinical competency and proficiency with predictable, safe and high quality patient outcomes.

A hugely scientific program with live workshops on Advanced facial injection procedures (neurotoxins and dermal fillers using needles and Cannulas).

Topics will include soft tissue orthodontics, TMD diagnosis and treatment, Smile design, Advanced injection anatomy for safer application, Pharmacology of neurotoxins and dermal fillers, Physiology of skin (importance, ageing and maintenance) and many more.

A conference not to be missed!

Certificate of Attendance will be provided to claim CPD points.
Free membership to: Dental Facial Aesthetics Society of Australasia (DFASA)

Reputation is important to dental practice success. Your practice’s reputation is both what your patients say about you (if positive, then more new patients visit you) and also what keeps or repels your patients from future visits.

But what about your personal reputation? Despite many believing that you should not be concerned what others think of you, I think your personal reputation is something you should purposefully design. Why do I think this?

REASON #1

Just as a business’ reputation will either attract or repel, the same is true for you personally. We are social beings and we gain a sense of security and well-being when included in social groups, such as family, friendships and sporting groups.

REASON #2

Like attracts like. The manner in which you live will attract particular types of people into your life. Just as misery loves company, so too does gratitude, contentment and joy.

Life is happier when you are surrounded by happy people.

Life is more successful when you are surrounded by successful people.

Life is more peaceful when you are surrounded by peaceful people.

REASON #3

If you develop an admirable personal reputation, you will be offered higher-quality professional opportunities and invited to join better teams.

REASON #4

Pride in yourself and your personal behaviour contributes positively to your enjoyment of life, builds self-confidence and encourages you to grow and develop.

Your reputation is what others think of you. This collection of thoughts in others is almost always based upon the past experiences of you that you have delivered.

If, sadly, you have established a series of past experiences for others that you now find cringeworthy, it is not too late. You can re-boot and start making changes in the ways you behave and start building a better personal reputation for yourself.

Here are a few hints to start your journey.

Be true to your word.

Do what you say you will do. Become known for being reliable and dependable.

Go out of your way to help others.

Be charitable with your time and energy and offer advice, encouragement and support for those around you.

Become an eternal optimist.

Always look on the bright side of life. There are positive aspects to every situation, if you are willing to look for those positives.

Become a great listener.

Being understood is one of our basic desires, perhaps even a basic need. Develop your listening skills and achieve deeper levels of engagement with others.

Be everyone’s cheerleader.

Let others know that you are in their corner, wanting the very best for them.

Avoid judging people harshly.

Judgments you make about others are likely to be unfair and inaccurate. Afford those around you with an assumption that they are doing the best they can.

Don’t believe gossip.

It can be difficult to avoid people trying to gossip with you, but you can control how that gossip affects your perception of the ‘victim’. Of course, one step deeper is to actively stand up for the person being ‘attacked’ by the gossip.

Become an effective communicator.

Be mindful of how you speak and what your body language is saying. Seek to become someone who is easily understood and with whom it is enjoyable to communicate.

Leave people better off for having known you.

This is my personal favourite and something I have lived by for many years. Be a positive force in the lives of those around you.

Personal Performance / Team Management

A colleague recently asked me online how to gauge job satisfaction.

Given my years in the dental industry working in various roles and speaking to others through my practice coaching work, I wrote the following response. I thought you’d find it helpful.

To experience job satisfaction I believe these six factors need to be working in your favour:

1 – FAIR REMUNERATION

Receiving ‘fair’ remuneration – what you believe you are worth – is an important element to achieving job satisfaction. When you are ‘fairly’ compensated you are happy to deliver a consistently strong performance. When you are not receiving ‘fair’ compensation, there is the risk of feeling taken advantage of. Given time, you may resist going ‘above and beyond’ in your role for the practice because you already feel that you aren’t being treated fairly.

2 – TREATED WITH RESPECT

Lack of respect results in poor communication amongst team members, compromised emotional safety and conflict, therefore, develops more easily.
Being treated with respect validates us as human beings. Respect shows that others see us as worthy. Worthy of safety, worthy of happiness and worthy of being acknowledged. A respectful environment reduces stress, promotes fairness and increases engagement.

3 – HEALTHY WORKPLACE CULTURE

Workplace culture forms the basis for the emotional, social and spiritual experience of working with a team.
Workplace culture is not what your team talk about but what they DO EVERY DAY. I have observed several practices with a Culture Policy that they strive to achieve but whose actions and behaviours fall remarkably short in delivery.
Charles Kovess (the co-founder of JPPS) often shares his preferred definition of culture in his presentations: “culture is what people do when no-one is telling them what to do”.
Maintaining happiness and enthusiasm in a toxic working culture is challenging and is often the reason why good people leave.

4 – EFFECTIVE SYSTEMS

Workplace systems are designed to increase efficiency and productivity while also providing stress-free working processes. However, this is not always the case. I have seen practices keep broken systems simply because ‘we have always done it this way’.
It is de-motivating working with processes that fail to deliver effective results, or that are far too inefficient.
Alternatively, working with a collection of systems that are continually assessed and modified in response to user feedback fosters an environment of continually improved performance and therefore high job satisfaction.

5 – AUTONOMY

Micro-management and unnecessary scrutiny over your performance dumb you down and you can feel quite uncomfortably incompetent.
Having the ability to direct your own actions is crucial to your feelings of growth, happiness and motivation. It also shows that you are trusted, thereby increasing your positive feelings about yourself. Being trusted makes you feel significant; few people enjoy feeling insignificant!

6 – PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR HAPPINESS

Taking personal responsibility for your own happiness is the single most important factor in job satisfaction.
Charles Kovess often shares this mantra:
“Before enlightenment, chop wood, cart water.
After enlightenment, chop wood, cart water.”
Happiness is not a state that is delivered to you by external events and situations. Happiness is a state that you foster within your self, your soul. When you learn to foster that happiness internally, it really doesn’t matter what you are actually doing: you enjoy the task!