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SmartBox: Marketing Prodigy Masters Patient Attraction by Kyle Patton, Associate Editor

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SmartBox Web Marketing has a unique CEO and founder. Since the age of 7, Colin Receveur has been learning the ins and outs of dental practices from his father, a dentist. His mother was a successful sales executive. Add in Colin's natural talent for web design and code, and the product of his upbringing has made him into a premier dental web-marketing expert, national speaker and author. He started SmartBox in 2001 and for the past 14 years, dentists who employ his services have experienced remarkable, proven results in growing their practices. Dentaltown Magazine talked with Receveur about his company, dental marketing, growing practices and more.

What exactly is it that SmartBox Web Marketing does for its clients?
Receveur: Technically, SmartBox Marketing is a technology company. We help dentists all over the country navigate the often confusing landscape of marketing a dental practice on the Internet. On the surface, that's what most dentists would say it looks like we do. It might even look like all we do is design websites. But actually, our focus is extremely different from most technology companies.

We exist for one reason, and that reason is to bring high-quality patients into our clients' offices. Most technology companies get pretty caught up in the technology itself. That's not what we're about. We view the world from our clients' point of view. And in the dental world, one of the fundamental ingredients for success is a steady stream of ideal patients walking through the front door. That's our focus. In fact, everything we do is aimed at generating that most-wanted result. We focus on the bottom line and create a measurable, improvable and accountable system that uses web technology to generate a consistent flow of high-quality patients.

What makes SmartBox Web Marketing a uniquely valuable solution for dentists?
Receveur: Well, you could say we have a few advantages that many don't. Something that most people don't know is that, technically, I've been "working for my dad" for a few decades now—ever since I was 7 years old, when I got paid a nickel for every paper chart I filed in his dental office. I grew up in a dental household. I know how dentists think. I know what they want and I have seen some of the biggest obstacles that keep them from getting that. You could say I had insider access to the workings of a dental office for a very long time.

I work for my dad even today. These days, though, he is a client. And we manage every part of his Internet-based, patient- attraction system. That's the role we play with all of our 450 dentist clients spread out over three continents. We manage anything and everything from the website design to email marketing, video production, SEO, pay-per-click, phone tracking, online reviews and more. Every part of the system works together to produce the only result that really matters: new patients—and the type of patients that dentists want.

You mentioned the idea of a "patient-attraction system." How does your system work?
Receveur: The real secret to what we do at SmartBox begins with our approach to online patient attraction. From our perspective, patient attraction is a process, not an event. There are four steps in the system we use with our clients: attraction, conversion, follow-up and tracking. So many dentists struggle simply because they are missing one (or more) of these steps.

Step 1. Attraction is a much smarter objective than chasing patients. Attraction means the patient chooses your practice above every other option. Chasing means that the patient has not already been sold on the idea that he or she should choose you. Attraction is about creating a system that leads patients to you without you having to invest effort.

Step 2. Conversion is the step of the process that transforms you into a trusted adviser from the perspective of your prospective patients. Most dental-patient attraction is event-based, meaning it's a series of events, done on demand, that are focused on attracting patients. Systems-based patient attraction means the system is functioning 24/7. You are attracting all the time.

One of the functions of a system like this is the building of trust and credibility with your patients in a way that makes your practice their only logical choice.

When you achieve this status, fees and appointment availability are far less of a priority to the patient than ensuring it is your practice that provides his or her care.

Step 3. Follow-up deals with the unfortunate truth that 90 percent to 95 percent of your prospective patients, especially ones who find you online, are not ready to schedule an appointment. Without a system that can nurture those prospective patients until they are ready, you will lose them. Most dental practices have no idea how much money is wasted getting the attention of a prospective patient who simply is not ready to schedule an appointment. Instead of sending that patient welcomed, valuable and automatic follow-up, that patient is generally forgotten and the marketing investment required to get his or her attention is lost.

Step 4. Tracking allows you to make every dollar of your budget accountable for results in your practice. Each step of your system is measurable and, as a result, improvable. The ability to track the source of every incoming phone call in your practice straight through to the revenue that it does or does not generate, gives you a very clear picture of what is working in your practice. Most dental practices simply don't have access to this kind of a system. And that's why they do the dental equivalent of flying blind. But it gets even worse. A dental practice that doesn't see a return on its investment in acquiring new patients has to pay for those efforts at the expense of the bottom line.

What is it like to be a client of SmartBox Web Marketing?
Receveur: We are a very low-volume, high-touch operation. Our clients are generally quite successful even before we begin working together. They are busy, they know what they are doing, and they are big thinkers. That means we have to bring our "A" game to the table every single day. While we are human, we do everything in our power to make sure there's nothing standing in between our clients and the results they seek. This might sound a little bit over-the-top, but everything we do is completely measurable.

That means every dollar invested into the system is accountable for results. Simply put, there is no place to hide. We know what's working and what is not. And our clients are able to see that as well. That provides enormous incentive to the entire team to make sure everything we do translates into real results for our clients.

In addition to generating patients, what other benefits come from this systems-based approach?
Receveur: To be frank, the list of benefits is pretty long when you approach patient attraction from a systems-based point of view. But I'll highlight just two of the biggest benefits we see with our clients.

The first is that we have a system doing the work. This system develops a relationship with a prospective patient over time. That means there are many chances for positive interactions. The result of this is that you basically become the trusted dental adviser in the mind of your prospective patient. When the time comes for a patient to choose a dental provider, there's really no choice that has to be made. The prospective patient decided to choose you long before she or he made the appointment. Assuming the role of the trusted adviser is not something you can just say in an advertisement or other piece of marketing. Saying it isn't enough; you actually have to earn that status in the mind of your prospective patient.

The second benefit is even more noticeable and it's something that's going to become a very serious issue for dentists who choose not to use a systems-based approach to patient attraction. When a prospective patient is already sold on choosing you as his or her preferred dental provider, your chances of facing fee-resistance are slim to none. For dentists who do not create a way to literally set themselves apart from every other choice in the marketplace, prospective patients really are only concerned with the answers to two questions. The first question is, "How much is this?" (Or, "Does insurance cover this?") The second question is, "How soon can I get an appointment?"

Is SmartBox's patient-attraction approach accessible for every dentist?
Receveur: Yes and no. While you might think that the most valuable piece in all of this is actually the system itself, there's actually something far more important. It's something that's absolutely required for success. It's a mindset that I call the "Dental CEO." Think of any well-known CEO from the corporate world. What are the chances you would ever find this person trying to fix a leaky coffee pot in the break room? It's not going to happen. Why? Because that CEO understands that the best and most profitable use of a CEO's time requires him or her to stay far away from any activity that does not leverage a CEO's unique gifts.

The CEO knows that the most profitable use of time is when he or she is treating patients. It's that simple. The dentists who experience success with systems-based patient attraction are OK with being the Dental CEO. They don't have to micromanage everything or be the one tinkering with the website. They let the system do the work.

What results can a dentist expect who decides to pursue a more systems-based approach to client attraction with SmartBox?
Receveur: Well, that's a difficult question to answer. It depends. But to give you an idea, I'm happy to talk about the results of my clients. Our systems produce extremely compelling results.

The first one I'll mention is my dad, Ron Receveur. I've been working with Dr. Ron since 1997. He is a fantastic marketer in his own right, and we use his practice to try out new ideas. He's the first client to benefit from a new program or change. He's also the client who takes one for the team when a change isn't as effective as we want it to be. Dr. Ron is proof that web marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. He is the top-ranked dentist on Google for almost every niche he's in. Of course, he spends money to make money. He understands that marketing is an investment that pays for itself many times over. That is why he has seen collections increase from $900,000 to more than $2 million.

Next is Dr. Raleigh Pioch from Salem, Oregon. I love telling people about Dr. Pioch because he is proof that our system will work anywhere. Now Salem, Oregon has much more competition than the national average. But through changing how he ran his practice and being willing to invest in web marketing, Raleigh grew his collections from $800,000 to $3.2 million in six years. We've even written a case study about his results. Complimentary copies are available at PiochCaseStudy.com.

Finally, there's Dr. Darold Opp, a fantastic marketer. He has a program called Smile Palooza that he has successfully run in Aberdeen, South Dakota, since 2008. It's so successful that he is marketing it to other dentists across the country. He is a Dan Kennedy-trained marketer who was one of three finalists in 2014 for the Glazer Kennedy Insider's Circle/Dan Kennedy Marketer of the Year. The man knows marketing. Now he has a practice that brings in more than $3 million annually. I'm proud that SmartBox has been a part of that.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing dentists in the next five years?
Receveur: From my perspective, I think there are only three. The first is invisibility. The second is irrelevance. The third is confusion. No patient will choose you if they don't know you exist. You must be found. Second, the dentist that earns trusted adviser status in the mind of a prospective patient makes every other dentist irrelevant. You don't want this to happen to you. You must be the one to build the relationship first. Finally, the number of Internet gizmos, strategies and shiny silver bullets is only increasing. For the dentist who is interested in real results, it makes choosing the right path to those results much more difficult. I've lost count of the number of dentists I've spoken with who tell stories of wasted time, effort and money on things that simply don't work. Clarity is extremely valuable.

What's the best way a dental practice can get in touch with you to get more information about your services?
Receveur: If you are a dentist looking for "double-your- practice" levels of growth, feel free to contact the SmartBox office directly at (888) 741-1413, or visit www.MoreAndBetterPatients.com to request copy of my book, "Attract More Patients in the Next 6 Months Than in the Past 6 Years." The book is offered free of charge to the dental community with only a nominal fee ($4.97) for shipping and handling.






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