Why You Need External and Internal marketing

Internal marketing efforts are designed to keep patients active, keep them “referring,” and keep them coming back on a regular basis—at least once, and preferably twice, a year for hygiene.

There is no question that “personal referrals” can be the most cost-effective and profitable patients. Yet, most businesses, especially dentists, fail to do anything to motivate their old patients to refer new patients, let alone work on retention and reactivation of inactive patients. Most dentists have spent a great deal of time, energy and money in developing new patients in the past. The problem is, as one recognized expert in the field told me, “The average dentist chases more patients out the back door than they bring in the front door.”

It is extremely important for any business, not just for dentists, to create and maintain an on-going relationship with old patients or clients. Fully 69% of all the patients who leave a practice, do so because nobody said they cared. They weren’t mad, they weren’t upset; they just wandered away because over the last two to three years, nobody said they mattered to the practice. That goes for virtually every type of business!

It is vitally important, whether through phone calls, cards, letters, newsletters or whatever method you choose, to stay in touch with your old patients every month (especially those patients who have not been seen for 18 months or more). Otherwise you can be sure they are becoming someone else’s patient.

Starting Points
Whether you’re marketing internally or externally, it is important to know quantitatively what a patient’s value is to you, both short-term and long-term; to establish how much you can initially invest to get new patients through external marketing; and how much to spend annually on proven internal marketing strategies that will keep them active.

I have heard many experts over the years, when talking about patient value, use the $3,000 to $5,000 figure, which, in reality, is considered a lifetime value of a patient not a short-term value. It is a big mistake to use that as a base.

Obviously, it is impossible and impractical to spend three to five years’ income up front in developing new patients. So, we only consider the short-term value. We evaluate how much a new patient is going to bring into your practice in the first six weeks of their association with you. Then we determine how much you can afford to spend to get “New Fee-For-Service” patients in the door that makes them profitable for you —“independent of referrals and repeat business” that the patient might bring in over the next few years.

Each clinic has its own unique differences, however, we have found that, on the average, a new patient is worth about $800 in the first few weeks in services. So, this is the number we use when measuring the results of our internal and external marketing programs, developed especially for dentists.

If you can bring a new patient into your clinic for $200, and they are worth $800 to you in the “first go-around,” you have a 4-to-1 return on your investment, and that is an excellent return. Anything less than 2-to-1 for external marketing probably should not be repeated. External marketing should accomplish at least a 3-to-1 return on your investment in order for you to make money.

“External Marketing” That Gets Results
In our external marketing programs for dentists, we have been able to maintain an average between 6-to-1 and 8-to-1 on their short-term investment. Add to that the lifetime value of the patient and the referrals, and our systems become very lucrative to the practice!

“Offer” or “No Offer”
“Should I have an offer?” is a question worthy of some debate. It has been our experience that you will get the best results with an offer, and 98% of the dentists want immediate results. In a recent article written by Dr. Woody Oakes, he pointed out how Wal-Mart generated $1.5 billion in just one day’s sales, by offering a $29 DVD player. Banks, grocery stores, luxury car manufacturers, high-end department stores, exclusive resorts and spas all use “get acquainted” or special offers to bring new clients in the door.

This approach does not in any way denigrate your professional image, as is the concern with some dentists. It is not the offer, but the individual practitioner and the way you treat the patient that determines the integrity and the value of your practice. We have found that strategic, well tested offers, evaluated for each specific geographical area of the country, have been “proven” to pay big dividends and bring good, solid “New Fee-For-Service” patients into the practice.

New patients need to “feel out” a new practice before committing to a long-term treatment plan. An effective “get acquainted” offer for either a cleaning or an exam provides a non-threatening, comfortable way for new patients to get to know you. With any external marketing program, the purpose is to bring “New Fee-For-Service” patients through your door.

Your job is to make them feel welcome and respected once they get there. This presents you with a unique opportunity to solidify a long-term relationship and turn them into a lifetime patient. That’s when you know your investment and time was well spent.

Dave Stone, President of DC Marketing, has more than 35 years of direct response marketing experience for professionals. He has been serving the dental profession for over 12 years with patient retention, reactivation and referral tools. If you have any questions about internal or external marketing, he can be reached at 1-800-736-3632.