Part six of my series of articles about how to improve your practice. In this article I discuss how your marketing activity should be integrated with your team.

1. 20 Practice Management United Kingdom Edition March 5-11, 2012
Why improving your practice is a
mystery - part six
Jacqui Goss explains how to integrate your marketing within your team
S
ome words resonate when before but not extrinsically. The of the essential nature of some- dental practice marketing is up an excellent marketing plan
you first hear them. Ex- Oxford English Dictionary defi- thing. conducted extrinsically. The and it is enacted with very little,
trinsically had that effect nition of extrinsic is: coming or practice owner brings in a mar- if any, involvement of the rest of
2012me. I’d heard intrinsically
on Sopro Life Ad (Dental Tribune)_2012 operating from outside; not part
Sopro Life Ad (Dental Tribune) 30/01/2012 17:15 Page 1
I sometimes discover that keting consultant, they work the team.
I’m not picking on dental
practice principals. Similar ‘dis-
connects’ happen in many other
areas of businesses. How many
times have you mentioned a
widely (and expensively) adver-
tised promotion to a sales assis-
tant to be met with a blank look?
Marketing consultants may ar-
gue that the advertising mes-
sage is not aimed at the social-
economic groups into which a
company’s sales assistants are
grouped. True, but aren’t the
staff an essential part of all mar-
SOPROLIFE
keting strategies? I think so.
Returning to dental practic-
es, I’ve come across instances
DIAGNOSIS & TREATMENT
of tooth whitening offers being
advertised on a website with-
out the reception staff knowing
– making for an awkward con-
versation when they get the first
telephone enquiry. Oh, so this
A patented new fluorescence article is another roasting of that
technology which allows you to old chestnut good communica-
tion? Er, no!
‘see the invisible’ – detection of
occlusal or interproximal decay, Merely putting a ‘sticky’ on
even in its earliest stages, which the receptionist’s computer say-
ing ‘10% off Botox today’ does
is often missed by X-rays. The not count as involving your
fluorescence images produced front of house (FoH) team. What
in treatment mode show a does count is making them feel
like and act as ambassadors for
differentiation between healthy your practice.
and diseased tissue, while SoproLife
images can be compared under L.I.F.E. Light Induced Fluorescence Evaluator, They speak with more poten-
for the diagnosis and treatment of tooth decay tial and actual patients than you
white light in daylight mode. All do, they have longer conversa-
images can be evaluated with tions, they answer questions and
magnification of 30x to 100x resolve queries, they handle the
patients’ money and sort them
and work seamlessly with Sopro out appointments at convenient
Imaging software. times. Hey, they probably have
more of a social life than you
do and meet more potential pa-
tients! Think of them as ambas-
For a limited time only, get the sadors and already your market-
USB Dock Station (shown right) ing plan starts looking better.
absolutely FREE when you
purchase the SoproLife. Before you even contact the
dental marketing consultant,
kick around some marketing
ideas in a team meeting. Your
front of house staff should be
able to say where potential pa-
tients learn about the practice
and what questions they ask.
This information could steer
you towards advertising on Yell.
com, social media, local news-
papers or on the sides of buses.
For further information: It could help you with your main
01480 477307 We to create
marketing messages – Any-
whereville’s friendliest dental
info@acteongroup.co.uk | sales@acteongroup.co.uk | www.acteongroup.com practice; Children welcome at
AN Other Practice; We open
on Saturdays etc. You’ll want
dtuk0612_12-21.indd 20 29/02/2012 18:08:59

2. United Kingdom Edition March 5-11, 2012 Practice Management 21
to monitor the effectiveness of a day. News that the practice to do this but, as mentioned ening on Wednesdays via Twitter About the author
your marketing and, again, the raised £500 for a local char- above, may not have the time and there’s no discernible in- A proven manager of change and driv-
FoH team can help. How easy ity recently or a posting on (are you missing out on good crease in the number of enquir- er of dramatic business growth, Jac-
qui Goss is the managing partner of
is it to ask callers where they social media by a satisfied pa- patient communication if you ies on that day, maybe that’s not Yes!RESULTS. By using Yes!RESULTS
heard about the practice? Do tient can be turned into mar- don’t have sufficient staff re- working. dental practices see an increase in
keting messages by FoH staff source on the front desk?) to treatment plan take-up, improved
callers give precise or vague an-
patient satisfaction and more appoint-
swers? Is it better to give them enthused with their ambassado- question patients and callers. More positively, if FoH staff ments resulting from general enquir-
a choice of, say, three places rial role. Nevertheless, you should ask for notice a sudden increase in en- ies. Yes!RESULTS turns good practices
into great practices.
– from a friend, the website, their feedback at staff meetings. quiries about, say, tooth align- Jacqui Goss, Managing Partner,
elsewhere? What, if anything, A feedback loop is desir- If during the month after an ment could this be the result Ashton House Sale Cheshire M33 6HE
Tel: 08456 448066
do callers remember from your able if not essential. You need to advertisement was placed in of a television programme, an
Mob: 07795 562617
advertisements? And is it all just know the reaction to your adver- a local newspaper no callers article in Hello! magazine or re- Email: jacqui@yesresults.co.uk
so manic on the reception desk tisements, marketing messages, mention it, did it contain the cent tweets? Maybe you need to Website: www.yesresults.co.uk
Twitter: @Yesresults
that another way of monitoring news items on the website and so right message? If you always market your ability to undertake www.facebook.com/Yesresults
the effectiveness of marketing on. The FoH staff are well placed promote discounted tooth whit- tooth alignment… DT http://uk.linkedin.com/in/jacquigoss
should be found?
Forearmed, you can now
work with your marketing con-
sultant. The best ones I’ve come
across are not content to remain
huddled away with the practice
owner and, perhaps, the prac-
tice manager. They tour the
Seeing
practice and talk to team mem-
bers (and patients). They get
a feel for the type of enquiries
received and the sorts of ques-
tions patients ask.
is believing!
Once you have a draft mar-
keting plan, it’s time to involve
your whole team again, includ-
ing the FoH staff. Not only do you
want their comments and feed-
back but you also need their en-
gagement. Give them market-
ing messages they can’t believe
in and they’ll sound like the
employees of large corporations
reciting words as required by
faceless head office staff. Think:
“Have a nice day,” “Please wait Unique three tone
and the hostess will seat you,” et
cetera, ad nauseam.
plaque disclosing gel
FoH staff don’t need a copy
of the full marketing plan but that identifies new,
they do need an itinerary of key
events – dates advertisements
are to be placed, for example.
mature and acid
They should also be told (in producing biofilms.
good time) when special offers
are available. We all like to hear
a bit of inside information so if,
for instance, a patient is chat-
ting at the reception desk and
tooth whitening is mentioned, a
receptionist could say (with em- Tri Plaque ID Gel
phasis): “I’d make sure you look
on our website tomorrow, if I
were you. Here’s the address.” from GC.
Similarly, they might
say: “It’s Mouth Cancer Ac-
tion Month starting soon and
we usually have special offers
for that.”
I’m sure your marketing IDENTIFY PREVENT
plan will include posting news
regularly on your website and Part of GC‘s
social media pages. Unless you Minimum Intervention program.
have daily ‘huddles’ (short, in- RESTORE RECALL
formal meetings for staff, in-
cluding the FoH team, with, GC EUROPE N.V.
say, the practice manager, Head Office
business manager and patient Tel. +32.16.74.10.00
coordinator) communicating info@gceurope.com
http://www.gceurope.com
these postings could be time-
consuming and problematic. GC UNITED KINGDOM Ltd.
I suggest you encourage FoH Tel. +44.1908.218.999
staff to (briefly) check your info@uk.gceurope.com
website and/or social me- http://uk.gceurope.com
dia pages online at least once
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