Time Out: What Are They Doing Differently? by Kevin Rose

Discover how you can learn from the success of others

by Kevin Rose

Why is it that some intelligent dentists and dental practice owners see how to get as many as 80 or 90 percent of their patients back in their chair, and why is it that some dental receptionists get as many as 80 or 90 percent of cold new potential patients into their reception?

Imagine if you knew what they knew— what that knowledge could do for you, and what you might do differently if you had it.

You may have noticed that there’s an almost overwhelming volume of marketing tips and advice for dental practices. Most of it seems to be based around getting the phone to ring and to fill that pesky ‘white space’ or those gaps in your diary. The focus largely seems to be on the mechanics of what to do. It’s not that any of that in isolation is bad advice—we do need to understand the channels that are available to communicate with new and existing patients—but what’s the message that you want to communicate through those channels, and is it actually connecting with your target audience?

Some commentators both in and out of dentistry have recognised that there is a problem with this, and they are doing something specific about it. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the marketing of businesses and professions that have an image problem focusses nowadays less upon what they do or offer and more upon how they want us to perceive why they do it. They’re doing this for one reason: So we trust them.

Take banks, for example: Fundamentally, they look after our money and allow us to access it when we want it. The marketing messages pay little attention to this; instead one high street bank in particular talks about providing our young school-leavers with life and job interview skills; and training the older generation how to use the internet and how to stay safe online. No mention of what they do, debit cards and interest rates. Banks have an image problem and they want us to trust them again.

Another noticeable example is a well-known online car-purchasing website. What it does is buy pretty much any car at less than full open market valuation and provide a steady stream of stock for used-car dealers. What it wants us to believe in its television adverts, thanks to a daytime TV host and and a fluffy kitten, is that you’re going to have a great day as one of its customers, and that it values your spare time as much as you do. No mention of just how much more you might get for your car if you sold it elsewhere. Once again, an image problem and the company wants us to trust it.

And then we have McDonald’s. I know that it has a huge litigation department so I will be careful with what I say, but draw your own conclusions as to why it is going out of its way to support community sport programmes. McDonald’s has an image problem and it won’t sell either burgers or carrot sticks if we don’t trust it. I may be cynical, of course, and I don’t really disagree with its efforts, but can you really ‘PR’ away your past or buy your way into customers trusting you?

Framing dentistry’s message
Dentistry also has an image problem—there’s a lack of trust and patients are sceptical. The newspapers love a good dentist ‘got it wrong’ story, and on each occasion the private dental social media groups point out just how biased the reporting was.

Recall how quick the media jumped on the fact that Cecil the lion was shot by a dentist. It wasn’t just that somebody had paid to shoot an endangered species—for some reason, the word dentist was integral to the headline, along with those who somehow attempted to make a link between dentists and psychopathic killers.

Like I said, you can’t ‘PR’ away your past, however biased and blinkered the public’s perception might be. So what can you do?

I’ve been fascinated by marketing for all of my adult life. I used to study the early shopping channels and infomercials when they first arrived on our shores via satellite TV, and I noticed the clever use of language patterns designed to make you use your credit card. I’ve been on endless NLP courses, read the books and listened to some of the leading authorities on influence and persuasion— people like Bandler, McKenna, Hogan and Cialdini. I’ve noticed that their observations and studies are blatantly used in everyday marketing, and are consistently applied by the very best communicators. The same resources are available to you!

What we can do, in the way that we ‘frame’ our message, is speak to the generalisation that at some level all patients are sceptical. They are sceptical because of what they’ve seen, heard and feel about going to the dentist.

I’m not talking about the ones who see you and regularly come back. What about the huge percentage of your local population who don’t attend regularly and yet are still in your target demographic?

Why isn’t your message getting through, despite the increasing number and variety of channels and resources available to you?

If patients are sceptical, then it’s likely that the first thing that they hear could be the first thing that they disagree with.

Think about it: You spend all that time and money to get your message out there—to speak to patients on the phone, at your desk and in your surgeries—and all the while, there is a sceptical voice in the back of their minds.

This must be frustrating. For some reason, your new and existing patients just don’t see what you can see. You want to help, but they don’t seem to be listening or to understand your message.

Your solution might be to tweak the message; to offer the treatment a bit more cheaply; to use some kind of sales technique or even to get somebody to do it for you, to coordinate

the treatment and have more and more elaborate ways of following up with patients or overcoming their ‘objections’ ... but does it get through, and do you get the 80 or 90 percent that most strive for, without compromising your values, GDC1.1 and Montgomery?

The way that you frame your message can make a huge difference—to your marketing, at your desk and in your surgeries.

By using careful language patterns, you can increase compliance and reduce resistance to your message. You can move people out of their sceptical stimulus response and, assuming it’s true, into believing that you’re there to help them, not to rip them off or sell them the most expensive treatments.

I stress that these observations are not tricks: This is not linguistic jiujitsu, and you won’t read about this in a conventional sales manual. Perhaps this is just what great doctors used to refer to as ‘bedside manner’?

For example, compare these two statements that I have observed in use within dental surgeries.

1. ‘I wouldn’t want to tell you that you must have [this dental treatment]?... but if you do, you may find that [explanation of the treatment’s specific dental and oral health benefits].’
2. ‘If I can show you a way to [insert dental and oral health benefits], how do you feel about that?’

The first statement is framed in way that quiets your patients’ stimulus response, makes them feel safe and then moves them into logical and rational thinking.

The latter is a bit of a trick embedded with a presupposition and a fumbled attempt at ‘closing’ the deal.

In these observations of dentists in action, the treatment in question was to simply start using interdental brushes regularly at home. I know that the first patient continued to follow the dentist’s advice, while the second thought that the dentist was just trying to sell him a packet of brushes. (Yes, patients really can be that sceptical!)

Putting words into action
From my research, watching dentists in action and talking to their patients, I have found that there are seven particularly useful language patterns that will help you frame your message and increase the likelihood that your patients will follow your advice—all in a way that everybody feels comfortable with ,and your values, GDC 1.1 and Montgomery are not compromised.

There are also around 10 or so particularly useful words that you can use in your surgery as part of a structured way that you can speak with your patients, in your marketing, at your desk and on the phone.

These are all ways that you can increase your effectiveness at communicating why you do what you do—ways that will move people out of making stimulus responses and into waking up to critical thinking.

You see, all of your patients are thinking the same thing: either that they know already or they don’t (about your treatment, about you, about your team or about your dental business) ... and either way, to them their reality is true.

This makes it really important to know what else they want to know, and it may be not what you were expecting! Remember that patients will still want to feel that they have a choice and that they’re not being tricked.

When you get this right, it’s great for you, it’s great for your patients, it’s great for your business, it’s human nature, and it’s consistent with your values, GDC 1.1 and Montgomery.

As I said before: Dentistry has an image problem. There’s a lack of trust, and patients are sceptical. If your message isn’t getting through, then do use the increasing number and variety of channels and resources available to you.

But remember to learn from what others are doing and to think about your message. Get this right and you can imagine that every patient that you could help will understand why you do what you do.

Get this right, and would you then ever again have reason to be concerned about ‘white space’ and gaps in your book?