Social Media is the biggest trend in today's Dental Marketing! One of the hottest resources in social media is Facebook. Facebook is an excellent social networking platform. By platform I mean that it allows you to connect with your dental patients as well as family, friends, team members, other dental practices, as well as businesses. Let's begin by creating a Facebook Page for your dental office. It is important to select more than one administrator when creating your Facebook Page. By having more than one administrator it will allow more than one perspective.

Once you have created your Facebook Page keep these 3 underlying components in mind. Each component is important in forming a balance that is attainable in reaching your overall goal. The first is to keep the posts entertaining. When updating the page...add some dental specific humor or entertaining news related to the topic at hand. Second, continue to educate on your Facebook Page. Third, offer promotional tactics that will allow a return. An example is an in office special or referral incentive that your dental practice might be offering at this time. By utilizing these areas you will allow proper balance and measurement of tracking. There are various ways to keep your audience intrigued. Brainstorm with your dental team and patients when deciding on topics to be posted. Be certain that your content is timely, relevant, and more importantly FUN!

A few facts to remember when placing a Tag on a patient or team member, if they post on your wall there is no need for a consent. However, if you tag or post on your wall using their information, have a consent form signed prior to posting on Facebook. Another important fact to remember is that you cannot tag on a business page. You must go to that Facebook Page and insert a comment. In conclusion, Facebook can offer a great platform for your Dental Practice! By keeping the content updated with the latest and greatest trends you will be able to interact effectively, reward your patients, obtain new dental patients, and have FUN!

Quick tip to get more Likes: Have a contest within the office that they have to post the answer to on your Facebook page to participate. This will require them to Like it first.

A successful relationship of any kind must have one common denominator. That common denominator is known as Communication. Communication opens any and all doorways to Success. If fostered properly in your dental practice; it will be the key to a Successful Practice. After all, the clinical skills provided in the practice are only one factor in the overall equation. The ability to communicate is by far the largest factor in the equation. The level of communication on a daily basis will have a strong impact on the overall performance of your Dental Practice. For example: How you communicate with your staff ultimately has an effect on communication skills demonstrated to your patients. If the Team relationships are not being fostered; it will typically flow outward affecting your patients. Let's discuss a few ways to enhance our communication skills within the office. The outcome will absolutely break down walls and open doorways to allow Success to overflow in your dental practice.

A Morning Huddle is an absolute efficient and very effective way to bridge great communication between doctor and staff. This will also be imperative between each staff member. Let's discuss the importance of a daily meeting with your staff. The Morning Huddle is typically a short 12 to 15 minute gathering usually attended by all staff members and Doctors. Ideally, the pertinent information is gathered the day before. The Doctor and staff should arrive on time and be ready to engage in productive conversation. A desired time prior to the start of the first patient should be elected and remain as consistent as possible. For example...If your first patient is scheduled at 9am, the meeting should be ready to begin by 8:45.

Prior to the beginning of the meeting a leader should be selected. It is NOT recommended that the doctor lead the Morning Huddle. A great suggestion might be that you rotate leaders of the huddle (daily or weekly) to give them an opportunity to refine and enhance their skills. This will also allow you to see other's perspectives on pertinent information. All Team Members including; Front desk personnel, dental assistants and hygienists should be encouraged to take a turn in this capacity. A Daily Schedule should be available to each staff member providing useful information about the patient. As a team you should agree on topics to discuss prior to the Huddle to encourage efficiency and engage in conversation. A few examples of these topics might include:

Last week we discussed the information gathered to make a Great First Impression on new patients and just another great impression on returning patients. This is the time to pass along that personal information about each patient to build strong relationships quickly.

Emergency Patients: They should be seen on the day that they call. At the huddle, look for any opening in the schedule to accommodate these patients. It is imperative that the Front Desk be made aware of the Emergencies and the desired scheduling times. This will enable their call to the patient to be as effective as possible allowing the demonstration of value within the practice. This approach also confidence in the staff as they are given the ability to evaluate "True Emergencies." An example might be a toothache. The Front Desk offers the first available time; patient has other obligation. The second available time is offered; again another obligation. By this time, the evaluation of "Toothache vs True Emergencies" becomes quite evident. Again, by setting aside specific times in the schedule for "True Emergency" you are communicating before the start of your day. This allows Scheduling to be effective and efficient. The Communication among all team members and patients is invaluable.

Discuss each patient: Identify the "New Patients," Any Patient Referrals, Children, Any Patients with Special Circumstances. If the Patient is a "New Patient" write down the name of the referring patient or how they heard about your office. This information should be acquired during the initial call at the time of their scheduled appointment. By having this information prior to their appointment; a valuable impression is given as they are greeted at the door. It demonstrates so many skills. They will feel like a "Rock Star" you actually took the time and prepared for their appointment. You made the time to notice the little things that will make them feel important. Again creating the value and trust as the patient relationship is fostered within your practice. Therefore, definitely focusing their mindset on the positive experience from the start.

This will also give them the perception of great communication skills throughout the office.

The past few weeks we have been discussing, on both our TV Show and our blog, How to Increase Patient Acceptance - a very hot topic within dentistry. Two weeks ago we discussed why people make changes, in general, with our blog entitled "How to Improve Dental Case Acceptance." For example, what motivates someone to lose weight, quit smoking or accept dentistry? Then this past week we discussed how consumer buying behavior impacts this same topic with our blog "Can Understanding Consumer Behavior Increase Dental Patient Acceptance?" This discussion built upon the previous week's discussion and related it specifically to dentistry.

This week I want to address, specifically, How to Get Patients to Say "YES." You can do all the educating of your patients in the world, but if they don't say "yes" to treatment, it certainly does their oral health no good, nor your practice. Clearly, it is in their best interest to accept treatment, as the problem will only get worse and more expensive over time. As an industry, we have to be comfortable with this fact and then passionate about solving the problem of "YES."

I see two major issues related to this matter. First, from a psychology standpoint, if we rush the process and don't answer the questions before we ask them to commit, people tend to give us the blow off of "I want to think about it." I believe this to truly mean, "You haven't answered my questions yet, and in fact, I am not even sure what my questions are. I just know you haven't answered them." What we suggest is that those questions you hear all the time, you handle before ever asking the patient to commit. If you do it the other way around, their posture becomes very defensive when they don't have all the information. So if you have ever had a patient get defensive when trying to "close the deal," this is probably why. I would guess this is why most doctors avoid asking people to accept treatment and defer it to another team member. Nobody likes the uncomfortable feeling of a person reacting defensively.

The second issue I see holding many dentists back from hearing "YES" more often, is they present the total cost of the treatment. Contemplate this for a moment. When you purchased your house or car, did you shop based on the total price or the monthly payment? Everybody shops based on the monthly payment. Given this is how we are all used to thinking, we need to conform to this to make it easier for patients to wrap their heads around. I wouldn't suggest ever asking a patient to pay $5K-$10K for their treatment. Instead, I would present that it will be $400 per month.

I am certain if everyone were to make these two changes in their case presentation, they would hear "YES" far more often. I am certain that the sky really can be the limit if you understand how people think, and present your dental solutions within that set of rules. Patients want to be healthy, they just don't realize how much you can and will impact their lives.

Action is the key to Success. AMP discusses how "doing" is the key to success in your practice. Many people in life want something different, sadly not enough are willing to do something different about it. Sometimes, even doing the wrong thing can be more productive and profitable than doing nothing while you wait to build the perfect plan. Many people in life are paralyzed with analysis and or fear. Get started on your dreams today, don't wait another day. Many of us have said for years we are going to get started on .....................something someday. For years we have said we are going to do this thing. Why have so many of us waited to do it? Because it is just a tiny bit easier to do nothing than it is to do something different. This is the conundrum of human life!!

Consumer Thinking - Many within the dental industry present treatment very clinically and logically. For example, you have caries on the distal cusp of 28 and need a DO. The problem with this is that consumers, or what is called a patient, don't make logical decisions. If they did no one would have tattoos. Therefore we need to speak their language, which is emotional purchase decisions. Many examples, breast augmentations, liposuction, fast cars, iPhone 5 all emotional.

How does this compare to what is normally said in hygiene?

Many patients who struggle with Perio tell us that they struggle with bad breath. We find in most cases that this significantly improves by taking care of the perio. We also find those who struggle with Perio also struggle with decreased energy. If you have ever wondered why this might be for you, it is because your body is fighting a constant infection in your mouth. This takes energy to fight and thus many who solve this problem see an increase in energy. Lastly, many who struggle with Perio also get sick more often with colds and such. This is also because of the energy it takes to fight the infection in your mouth as I previously mentioned. Also, your swollen gums are a pathway for illness to get into your body. By decreasing that swelling, it makes it tougher for the bugs to get into your body.

If any of these 3 benefits would interest you (eliminating bad breath, more energy, and decreased sickness) we need to do something different to improve your oral health.

How about this for moving the patient from the hygiene chair to the doctors chair?

Darren, you have some decay right here on these teeth. Here is what will happen to these if left untreated. The cavities will grow larger and at some point probably will infect the very center of the tooth resulting in a root canal. It is possible, when that happens that you will also end up with an abscess. If you aren't familiar with those, it is when you face swells up very large, hurts quite a bit and fills with pus. It is safe to say, it is no fun. At that point we will have to do a root canal and a crown. The total bill on that process will be somewhere around $2000 per tooth. Right now if we treat these teeth for about $200 per tooth, we can save you all that discomfort. That being said, we can either do all of these at once for you or we can do them individually. If we do all 3 individually, it will take 3 visits and 3 shots. Do you prefer we do them all at once or in 3 visits?

The outcome of this process for you, is that the tooth will last quite a long time, it will look beautiful and it won't hurt. The only thing I can promise you, is that right now, it will be the least expensive and most comfortable process it will be. Over time, it will only cost more and potentially hurt more.

Here is the bottom line, we need to focus on the results for the patient, not the process. Most people don't want to know the process, they want to understand 4 things: How will it look, how long will it last, will it hurt and how much will it cost? If we handle those items in our discussions and keep it simple, I fully expect to see great growth for every dental office.

Today we had the pleasure of a special guest, Carlos Hidalgo. He is the CEO of Annuitas Group (www.annuitas.com), a company that specializes in B2B marketing for fortune 500 companies. Carlos himself has been recognized as one of the 50 Most Influential People within Sales Lead Management for the past 3 years. It was great having his vast experience within the marketing field to share with us.

We get many phone calls from people regarding how to best attract or market to new patients, so this is a very hot topic within dentistry. Carlos made an interesting comment really early on in the discussion based on the marketing he has had sent to him, he said that it appeared that most of the marketing being sent appeared to be what the doctor would be interested in vs. what a patient might be interested in. Meaning, we need to understand what motivates a patient to either go to a new dentist or change dentists. Often many doctors assume the patient is simply looking for a deal, and of course some are. Carlos still keeps in touch with his dentist of 20 years ago and said if he lived within an hour and half, would travel that far to still be his patient. His old dentist obviously left quite an impression on him. I found it interesting that he didn't comment at all on his current dentist and thus assume perhaps this person hasn't left as much of an impression on him. We all understand that it is truly a relationship business, the question is how can we communicate this via marketing to our prospective patients? Carlos, felt that the message was the key to any successful marketing campaign.

Mr. Hidalgo also made an interesting comment about people seeking a referral via Social Media. I thought this was pretty profound. As prevalent as social media is, people are still seeking a referral, thus it is still a referral based business. Of course in some cases people do pick a doctor via just a marketing piece, but I would contend that the majority of the time we still need to seek a referral, perhaps via social media.

Yet another profound comment he made was that no one channel should be the entire marketing plan. As he put it, "don't put all your eggs into one basket." I know far too many people that are planning and staking their marketing future on Facebook and while I think it can be a good resource, if your read the article I posted on my blog last week, it can't be your only outlet!

We then turned toward a leadership conversation as clearly he has a lot of experience in this area. Often I hear from doctors that they love doing dentistry but struggle with the leadership side of their business. My question to him was to describe his journey from a very small company to a much larger one and what advice would he give to anyone going through the same journey? When he started his own business, it was very small at the time and as he put it, he did it all. What he has had to learn was to delegate and actually relinquish the control in the process. He used to struggle with really letting go of the control of certain tasks and now enjoys seeing his people grow within their skills and blossom into more than they were before. One challenge he experienced in this process was to check his ego. I suspect what he meant by that was he used to feel that he was the best at every job. Clearly as his company grew, he could no longer keep that attitude and has had to hire people to replace himself for many of these responsibilities. His advice to all doctors was to check your egos and lead your team rather than doing it all yourself.

It was an absolute pleasure to have him on the show and perhaps we can bring him on again with a more pointed conversation about marketing dental practices. It would be interesting to actually review some marketing pieces and essentially do a case study for a client, but that is a topic for another day.