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Second Opinion: Selling Yourself Nancy Lashley

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– Nancy Lashley

Second opinions are common in health care; whether a doctor is sorting out a difficult case or a patient is not sure what to do next. In the context of our magazine, the first opinion will always belong to the reader. This feature will allow fellow dental professionals to share their opinions on various topics, providing you with a "Second Opinion." Perhaps some of these observations will change your mind; while others will solidify your position. In the end, our goal is to create discussion and debate to enrich our profession. — Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, Editorial Director, Dentaltown Magazine

I recently had lunch with the venerable Jerry Woolf, DDS, vice president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, and he wanted to know what I thought dentists need from the dental industry right now.

My answer was "hope" – hope that you will be able to practice the type of dentistry you want regardless of the economy, work with the patients you want and ultimately create and enjoy the practice you always dreamed of. The form hope takes is different for each of us, but is absolutely attainable through proper marketing, as it turns out.

The only reason to market a dental practice is to keep the new patients flowing, the practice practicing; to keep you working on teeth. Regardless of whether you're a fee-for- service practice or an insurance-based clinic, regardless of what technology or training you have invested in, regardless of the demographics, the economy or sunspots, without new patients, you're stuck. Without marketing there are no new patients. By definition, without marketing, no one will find your front door.

Many dentists rely on insurance companies to do the marketing for them. When I ask these dentists what their marketing budget is, they typically reply, "I don't have to market. I get all the patients I need from insurance!" If insurance is keeping you in business, then keep insurance.

I would like to point out, however, that the difference between what your fees should be and what insurance will pay is your marketing budget. In most cases, that's a difference of around 20 percent, which is a very big marketing budget indeed, a Coca-Cola-sized marketing budget, if you will. And I would add that with insurance you have no control over who they send your way – some become excellent, happy, long-term patients, but most don't care one iota for dentists and would frankly rather not be there, even if your breath is sweet and your staff is kind. That's not exactly a fun place to be, for you or them.

Compare that 20 percent marketing budget with the modest five percent budget a hard-marketing practice might invest. Add to that the control those hard marketers wield. Market correctly and you attract the right patients. Those patients then value your time and skill and ultimately accept and appreciate your treatment. You see, everyone wins!

I'm not saying you should drop your insurance; I am saying that it is up to you to become conscious of where your money, time and energy are all going. You have the power to create the practice of your dreams. There is hope and you hold the key.

Suddenly this whole question of whether and how to market takes on a whole new light. It's no longer about "deciding to market" but about "deciding to take control." Once you decide to take control, where do you begin? An innocent search online for "dental marketing" will leave you confused. Is a generic dental Web site by itself really marketing? What is marketing and what isn't? What is SEO? Social media? Do you really need that huge Yellow Pages ad? Who are these people making promises? And how do you know if you can trust their claims? It can become overwhelming very fast, so I don't blame those dentists who just want something someone else can implement for them so they can get back to what they love – practicing dentistry.

You say "I went to dental school in order to practice dentistry, not become a salesman, and I certainly don't want to sell myself!" Well, I'm here to tell you that this thinking is why you get into trouble. You are selling a service, not a widget. You are selling a promise and patients are purchasing trust. You are selling your interior design, your staff 's compassion and your bedside manner, whether it is good or not. If you're lucky and good at what you do, they'll still have faith in you after the case has been delivered. But they had no way to know for sure when they said OK to your treatment plan that you would deliver – no, they had to trust you and your staff completely, which means they had to like you. You are selling yourself.

It turns out that when you are selling yourself, everything you do is marketing. It's time to take control and focus your energy so that you can continue to practice with joy and prosperity.

Step 1: It All Starts with Vision.
Stop thinking the same thoughts that got you where you are long enough to create a vision for your practice, and you become conscious of the messages you have been sending and are finally able to take control of their impact.

What if you woke up every morning eager to practice? What would it look like, feel like, be like? What kind of dentistry would you do, and for whom? Why would those people want to be part of your practice? Once you have the answer, once you have your vision, every decision you make becomes a conscious answer to the question: "Does this align with my vision or not?"

Step 2: Put Your Vision to the Test with Goals.
Without a destination, how do you know when you've arrived? Write down several specific goals and post them with your vision in a prominent area, like on the ceiling above your bed. Write how many patients you want per month or write how you want to feel each day. As you remain focused on your vision, over time you will get what you set out to accomplish.

Step 3: Choose Your Budget.
When you are selling yourself, you are marketing all the time. From the sweatpants you wear to Costco to the real patient photos (or lack of ) on your Web site, you are sending messages. Take control of the messages you're sending.

You can take control with a shoestring budget or you can take control with the budget of a small country. It truly does not matter how much you spend; only how consistently you align your message to your vision. Choose to shell out an amount that you are comfortable with, even happy with, and then quit thinking about it. The more you fuss about the money, the more you distract yourself from reaching your ultimate goals.

Step 4: Write Out Your Plan.
When I create a marketing plan, I go nuts with a huge spreadsheet, tracking everything from the timeline to the estimated costs to the actual new patients who come in over the timeline and the treatment presented and accepted. If you love a good spreadsheet, you can easily do this yourself. If Excel gives you hives, simply type it up in Word or write it in your journal: your vision, goals, budget, methods and results. Don't skip this step; the simple act of writing it out will give you more power than almost any other step as you move forward.

Step 5: Align Your Brand.
Great branding gives you great control. Branding is where your vision comes to life. When you get your brand consistently aligned to your vision, the perfect patients will know they belong with you before they ever walk in your door.

Your brand is made up of elements including logo, colors and a tagline, as well as layout, photos and text. These elements are then used in different combinations to build a simple marketing tool like a business card or a complex tool like a Web site. Simple or complex, your message needs to be instantly, visually, emotionally compelling. If you change your branding elements from tool to tool – or worse, build tools with generic or no branding at all – you lose control of your message and instead sound like Charlie Brown's teacher, so much noise lost amongst so much chaos.

Step 6: Choose Your Methods.
Admit it – you are sure that there is some magic marketing method out there, that the guy down the street is using it and that if you only knew what it was you'd have everlasting success and could get back to practicing dentistry instead of reading long articles about marketing.

Despite what some marketing companies and experts might tell you, there is no secret, no method that will give you everything you think you want. There are only choices and the right to make your own choices. I will recommend that you have a real Web site branded to your practice and filled with examples of work you've actually done on real patients.

Some examples of methods (to get your juices flowing) would be: direct mail campaign, magazine ads, internal marketing campaign, SEO, phone skills training for staff, an interior design upgrade, a Yellow Pages ad and a new patient package.

Step 7: Building Tools for Fun and Profit.
When you know what methods you want to use, you know what tools you get to build. Yes, I said "get to!" If you have to have a business card, why not make it amazing? Why not have fun telling people about yourself and make it easy for your staff and patients to send your message for you? Same with your recall card, or the book of happy patient testimonials in your waiting room or that little black and white ad they need for the little league directory.

This is your chance to boast about what makes you special. This is your chance to take a stand, put your message out there with aplomb and make the market want to listen to you. If you're not having fun, neither will they.

Step 8: Just Do It!
I've worked with hundreds of dental practices, and without exception, implementation is the scariest step. They are right, change is hard and putting yourself out there makes you vulnerable to judgment. Not everyone will be attracted to your message. But you are stronger than you know and your patients adore you for tangible reasons. So implement your plan; be patient, give yourself some grace and the time you need to achieve your vision.

Step 9: Track and Evaluate Your Results.
Technically, if you're still in business, your marketing has been a success. But don't you want to get to the next level, to take control of that success so that you wake up every morning excited to go to work and with no more worries than what to have for lunch?

So take the time to evaluate. Look at what you actually spent on your chosen methods, the quantity and quality of patients each method attracted and the amount of treatment presented and accepted. Compare the actual numbers to the goals you started out with. Look for fluctuations in the new patient flow so you can adjust for the next plan.

You'll find that perhaps spending all that money on SEO wasn't nearly as profitable as developing personal relationships with raving fans. Or perhaps it was, and your Internet patients are presenting the best cases, but might need more time with you in order to build the trust to accept treatment. Or that the huge investment in your interior design this year was worth it, as evidenced by the happy patient testimonials you've so avidly collected.

If you don't take the time to analyze your data, you won't know any of this stunningly valuable information, and then you're the blind leading your own blind self.

Step 10: Repeat as Necessary.
Repeat these 10 steps as long as you want to be in business and every year you will find yourself more focused on what really matters and more successful at creating the practice you've always wanted. You have the power; you have the control.
Author’s Bio
Raised by dental consultants, Nancy Lashley has a unique perspective on dentists and the dental industry and isn't afraid to share it. Lashley began Athena Marketing in 2002 and has worked with hundreds of dental practices and dental companies on marketing and branding, as well as the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and the International Federation of Esthetic Dentistry.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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