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Sex, Drugs, & Oral Cancer

Sex, Drugs, & Oral Cancer

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Recent trends in oral cancer have heightened the importance of a proper oral cancer screening protocol for all medical and dental professionals.

Forward Science’s CEO Robert Whitman delivered an informative, educational, and inspirational presentation on causes, cures, and prevention of various oral cancers.

The incidence of oral cancer has increased each of the past seven years.  This deforming and sometimes deadly disease is now affecting patients with no traditional risk factors.

HPV Related Oropharyngeal Cancers Rates Are Increasing

Owing to the 225% increase in HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers, oral cancer is occurring in younger populations, changing the perception of who is an appropriate screening candidate.  This strongly suggests the need for a new adjunctive oral cancer screening protocol

The webcast presented recent and emerging technologies for the early discovery of oral cancer, including fluorescence technology and quantitative cytology, as well as their proper implementation and clinical examples of these procedures.

As cancer therapies continue to evolve, two oral health concerns from many such treatments are xerostomia and mucositis. Other common side effects and treatment options for the oncology patient are covered.

Robert Whitman Presents On Cancer Screening Products

Our presenter, Robert Whitman, is a graduate of Tulane University with a B.S. and M.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering, he brings a unique mindset to the medical device industry. As a Clinical Engineer at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Robert had a passion for early cancer diagnostics. He joined the R & D team at a private startup, developing cancer-screening products using fluorescence technology licensed from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and later co-founded Forward Science LLC, a medical device company established with the goal of advancing oral healthcare through early discovery, diagnostics, and treatment options. He is now their CEO and speaks on the topics of oral cancer and early discovery.

In his informative and fast moving presentation, Rob shared details on oral cancer rates and risk factors, the role of HPV in Oral Cancer, proper patient communication and oral screening protocols, and how to use adjunctive screening technology.

Key points addressed included:

  • the ‘false positive rate’ of the technology
  • the required investment for testing kits
  • the American Dental Association’s stance on the technology
  • the definition of ‘excessive’ alcohol use as a risk factor
  • alcohol vs. non-alcohol-based oral rinses
  • suggestions to relieve radiation ulcers in the back of the throat
  • relative comparison of the technology vis a vis others in the marketplace
  • availability in Canada
  • available coaching on how to communicate such delicate issues with patients

and more.

The webcast was hosted by Daniel A. ‘Danny’ Bobrow, president of AIM Dental Marketing® and Founding Executive Committee Chair of The American Academy For Oral Systemic Health (AAOSH).

AIM MarketingSex, Drugs, & Oral Cancer
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Dynamics of Craniofacial Structure Involving Neuromuscular Dentistry, Sleep Disordered Breathing & the DNA Appliance, presented by Dr. Martha Cortes

Dynamics of Craniofacial Structure Involving Neuromuscular Dentistry, Sleep Disordered Breathing & the DNA Appliance, presented by Dr. Martha Cortes

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DYNAMICS OF CRANIOFACIAL STRUCTURE INVOLVING NEUROMUSCULAR DENTISTRY, SLEEP DISORDERED BREATHING & THE DNA APPLIANCE, PRESENTED BY DR. MARTHA CORTES

Dr. Martha Cortes is a graduate from the University of New York at Buffalo of Dental Medicine. She is a past president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry-New York Chapter, as well as a past international chair serving consecutive terms, and an accredited member since 1992.

She is a fellow of the International Academy of Facial-Dental Esthetics, the American Society for Laser and Surgery, the Las Vegas Institute and a fellow and master of the International College of Cranio-Mandibular Orthopedics. She is also a member of the American Society of Dental Aesthetics and a diplomat of the American Board of Aesthetic Dentistry. In addition, Dr. Cortes is an international lecturer and published author.

Dr. Cortes is a certified DNA appliance instructor, focusing on mid-facial development, airway and cosmetic dentistry. Dr. Cortes uses an holistic approach in all aspects of treatment. Utilizing bio-friendly materials, lasers, air abrasion and digital x-rays, while combining her expertise in lasers, esthetics, airway and neuromuscular dentistry, she created a unique, multi-discipline practice.

She is currently in private practice in New York City.

I had the distinct pleasure of hosting Dr. Cortes for a stimulating and most enlightening 90 minute session, which began with an audience poll to determine the attendees’ profession.  Perhaps not surprisingly, owing to the topic, we seemed to skew a bit more toward physicians than usual.

Questions answered during the session included whether attendees thought it possible to expand the Maxilla after the age of twelve, and the extent to which beauty has an economic value in our society (the answer is yes: Yes. There have been studies showing that people with an attractive, symmetric smile are paid more. Perhaps unfair but true nonetheless).

Additional questions posed by the audience, and answered by Dr. Cortes included:

  • What do kissing tonsils & extended uvula indicate to you about your patient?  
  • If a 15-year-old patient has impacted canine teeth, can they be erupted and positioned correctly without surgery?
  • What does a diminished vertical dimension indicate about a patient?

The webcast addressed the bright promise of being able to treat children as well as adults with sleep apnea to actually functionally change their face, as well as their airway.  This is extraordinary, and is why we were so grateful to have Dr. Cortes join us to present on this very important and highly relevant topic.

It was a truly enlightening, stimulating, and motivational presentation that showed great promise.

AIM MarketingDynamics of Craniofacial Structure Involving Neuromuscular Dentistry, Sleep Disordered Breathing & the DNA Appliance, presented by Dr. Martha Cortes
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Telephone Skills Mastery Course Delivered By AIM President

Telephone Skills Mastery Course Delivered By AIM President

AIM Marketing

With grateful appreciation to Aseptico!

Good morning everybody my name is Bob GiAntonio and I am the business development manager with Aseptico, Incorporated. We’re very happy to have you join us for the webinar today. Before I turn it over to Danny, I wanted to give you a couple of quick housekeeping items and also add some clarity on who I am and what I do. My primary responsibility is to serve as product manager for The Wand all-injection anesthesia system. We’re very excited about the product. It’s going to be talked about a little bit by Danny today.

For anesthesia-specific questions, I will be following up with each of you individually, so go ahead and type in your questions to me on line here, and we will get them and sort them out at the end of the presentation.

Danny Bobrow is a double MBA and president of AIM dental marketing. He’s also executive director of the Climb For A Cause and smile tree Foundations. Mr. Bobrow lectures nationwide. He’s been published in dozens of professional and in profession-related publications. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the University of Illinois and MBAs in finance and marketing from the University of Chicago and kul Belgium, respectively. Danny is author of The State of the Art in Dentistry Marketing, Dentistry Marketing: Strategies Tips and Secrets, and founder of The Art of First Impressions. He’s also a certified mediator and arbitrator, charter member of the Speaking Consulting Network, and founding executive committee member of the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health.

Without further ado, I’m going to turn it over to Danny.

View the Webinar Presentation here:

-Danny Bobrow and the AIM team

AIM MarketingTelephone Skills Mastery Course Delivered By AIM President
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If It Ain’t Broke, Break It!

AIM Marketing

By Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA (University of Chicago) & MBA (K.U.L. Belgium)

In his book Good To Great, author Jim Collins explains that “Good is the enemy of great.” It is all too easy for us to grow complacent with things that seem ‘good enough.’ The consequences of this can range from a loss of market share to business failure. This has always been true, but never more so than it is today. Why? Because technology advances at an ever increasing rate, which means the period of time from ‘new and different’ to ‘old and boring’ shrinks with each passing year.

Cover of "Good to Great: Why Some Compani...

Cover via Amazon

This is not to say that such mainstays as best in class customer service and attention to the needs of your patients are no longer important. On the contrary, they are more important than ever. That’s because a consequence of this increased rate of technological advance is a higher standard of care when it comes to “customer service.” In other words, if you think your current level of attention to the needs of your patients, both current and prospective is ‘good enough,’ think again.

Another way to help ensure practice growth is to increase your willingness and ability to understand what motivates members of the demographic group known as Generation Y, and adapt your communications and compensation accordingly. This group, raised on the Internet, is better educated, less brand loyal and more focused on quality and speed of delivery. This spells both opportunity and challenge for your team management and motivation skills.

Our company is committed to what we term “I.C.A.N.” that is, Improvement that’s Continuous And Never-ending. A poignant example of this is in our work with social media for dentists. At this time, ‘the rules of the game’ and what constitutes an optimum social media presence are changing at an astounding rate. Case In Point: I was invited in September, to make a presentation to a group 4 months later on social media strategies and nearly drove myself crazy reworking the presentation to ensure it was ‘current.’  While the pace of change required to remain in the vanguard of dental patient service may not be quite that great, I do suggest as a worthwhile investment of time adding a “What’s New” section to your team meetings. You and your team then have an opportunity to share updates and suggestions on how to improve the patient experience in your practice.  And do not think that, once you’ve implemented a change, you are stuck with it.  Experimentation is a key ingredient of improvement and that elusive goal called perfection.  Just be sure to give each (hoped for) enhancement a fair chance to demonstrate its value.  If ninety nine people love it, and one does not, remember not to set or change policy on the exception, but rather, on the rule.

Lead or Be Left Behind

What this means for your practice is to be ever on the lookout for better ways of doing and packaging what you do. You need not be an ‘early adopter’ of technology. From your patient’s perspective, offering the ‘latest and greatest’ will probably not warrant the premium price you are likely to pay, as well as the ‘growing pains’ you’ll likely encounter, by being by the first to adopt a new technology. But you can and should keep yourself apprised of shifts in the preferences of your target audience(s). For example, are you communicating with current and prospective patients in ways in which they wish to be communicated? Is your service offering consistent with what patients value?

On the ‘back office’ side, are you learning about ways to reduce your cost of practice while maintaining high standards and perceptions of quality? Submission of online dental patient forms is an excellent way to simultaneously reduce the time and effort involved with enrolling new patients while providing a valuable benefit to your patients.

How To Know

One of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to keep up with what your patients want is through the use of surveys. These can be mailed or distributed by your team to your patients, but why not save time and money, while simultaneously offering another technology-based convenience to your patients, namely, emailed and online patient surveys?

AIM MarketingIf It Ain’t Broke, Break It!
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Principles of Effective Dental Direct Mail III

AIM Marketing

By Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA (University of Chicago) & MBA (K.U.L. Belgium)

This is the third of three issues on this topic.

In the previous two issues, we presented detail on the best audiences to target to promote your dental practice, as well as how to structure a successful campaign. In this final Issue, we present techniques for tracking, monitoring, and making reliable decisions, namely, continue, tweak, or trash.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

We’ve all heard this before, and likely understand it means that the output of anything, be it sausage, data analysis, or dental care, depends upon the quality of the input. In the case of analyzing the results of a direct mail (or any) marketing campaign, the means must be in place for collecting not only accurate but also complete, data. One of the simplest ways to do this is to assign a unique telephone tracking number on your direct mail piece. We also recommend a vanity URL (special website address extension), which, as with the telephone number, only appears on your mailer.

Armed with these two pieces of nifty technology, you are now able to evaluate not only the number of responses but also the quality of the response. What do we mean by quality??

Hint:
What happens after the telephone rings is just as important
as getting it to ring in the first place!

Our next Issue will emphasize the importance of ‘breaking it, even if it ain’t broke”

Sincerely,

AIM DENTAL MARKETING
Daniel A. ‘Danny’ Bobrow,
President

AIM MarketingPrinciples of Effective Dental Direct Mail III
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Principles of Effective Dental Direct Mail II

AIM Marketing ,

By Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA (University of Chicago) & MBA (K.U.L. Belgium)

This is the second of three issues on this topic.

In our last Issue, we introduced and discussed the components of a successful direct mail campaign, included a Planning Checklist, and shared some of the more profitable target audiences, going into some detail about the pros and cons of targeting new residents.

Now, let’s talk about a more aggressive and, therefore, exciting, approach, namely, demographically selected segments of the current population. Other ’boutique audiences,’ such as brides-to-be, employees where they work, and persons with specific medical conditions.

The times when only highly capitalized firms could afford to employ sophisticated marketing research and implementation technologies are thankfully behind us. The advent of the Internet, and the ability of companies like AIM to ‘bundle orders’ means any dental practice can, for a reasonable investment, have access to precision targeting, list acquisition, mailer design, print, fulfillment, and tracking services.

A Laser Beats A Shot Gun Every Time, Especially When It Saves Money!

For many years, we’ve advocated targeting at the carrier route, as opposed to zip code, level. A carrier route is a series of physically contiguous addresses used by the postal carrier to efficiently deliver the mail. It is, quite simply, and as the name implies, the mail carrier’s route. Targeting carrier routes has two distinct advantages over mailing to entire zip codes. First, it permits the practice to be far more precise in identifying and connecting with only those households that are a ‘fit,’ both in geographic and demographic terms, for the practice. Convenience continues to be the number one factor in someone’s decision to visit a dental office for the first time, so it is nearly always a waste of valuable resources when the practice is constrained by targeting entire zip codes instead of only those portions of zip codes that are a fit for the practice.

Second, because targeting at the carrier route level allows a competent fulfillment house to do much of the work for the Post Office (by sorting and bundling the mail), the per piece postage rate can be as little as half that of mailing to all, or even part, of a zip code. Because postage often accounts for more than half the cost of a mailing tactic, the savings really add up.

Design, Copy, and Offer(s) That Speak To Your Audience

In designing your mailer copy, selecting graphics, and choosing your offer(s), place yourself in the shoes of your intended audience. The mailer must ‘speak’ to them, that is, get them first to identify with the message, by answering the question “Is this (about) me?” in the affirmative. This requires that the imagery, be it a photograph or illustration, represents a person, group, or lifestyle to which your audience can relate. The offer should be likewise appealing to them.

What’s the Frequency (and interval) Kenneth?

As any good marketer will tell you, once is never enough, that is, repeat exposure of your memorable and compelling message is necessary to break through your audience’s protective barriers (if this does not yet resonate with you, ask how many times you see the same television commercial before you even know what the ad is about, and I think it will). Our experience dictates a minimum of three, and as many as twelve, identical, or highly similar, mailings to the same person within a twelve-month period to be optimum. We typically recommend an A, A/B, or A/B/C program, defined as follows:

‘A’ Program: mailing to the same Group each month for 12 consecutive months (total of twelve mailers per Audience Member)

‘A/B’ Program: divide the audience in half and mail to each Group in alternating months (total of six mailers per Audience Member)

‘A/B/C’ Program: divide the audience into thirds and mail to each group every third month (total of four mailers per Audience Member)

The decision as to which approach to employ is often based on budgetary considerations, but sometimes also on the volume of new patient inquiries the practice feels is can effectively handle over a given month (capacity), as well as the number of prospective patient households within a reasonable distance (because of the importance of convenience to the prospective patient’s decision) of the practice.

Issue III will delve into tracking, evaluation, and sound decision-making with respect to dental direct mail strategy.

Sincerely,

AIM DENTAL MARKETING
Daniel A. ‘Danny’ Bobrow,
President

AIM MarketingPrinciples of Effective Dental Direct Mail II
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Principles of Effective Dental Direct Mail I

AIM Marketing ,

By Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA (University of Chicago) & MBA (K.U.L. Belgium)

This is the first of three issues on this topic.

Dental direct mail has long been an accepted means for image-consciously, yet cost-effectively promoting ones practice. Its popularity lies in the fact that it offers a focused and controlled method for sharing information about your practice with selected members of your community. Properly implemented, direct mail marketing can mean a steady inflow of new patients, which, by adding to your existing patient base, also increases the success of your internal marketing efforts.

There are a number of audiences to consider reaching with direct mail to grow your practice. These include new residents, existing residents, residents in need of treatment for headache, diabetes, and sleep disorder, families with children, business leaders, employees, and more.

Effectively reaching and receiving a response from these different audiences requires an understanding of the kind of services they find appealing. For example, if you want to increase your hygiene production, promote cleanings and preventive dentistry to New and Existing Residents. If you want to increase the number of patients choosing cosmetic procedures, market to the Brides to Be in your area promoting the idea of having “…that perfect smile for your special day,” and if you want to be the dentist in your area able to help diabetic patients, patients with sleep apnea, or TMD, be sure your initial communications clearly and concisely demonstrates that you have the skill and sensitivity to help them with their special needs.

As with any marketing program, success at direct mail requires that each program element be performed correctly. To help you with this, we offer below a Dental Direct Mail Program Checklist. Using this Checklist will assist you in identifying and tracking the performance of each element of your direct mail program.

To download your own Dental Direct Mail Program Checklist, click here.

Of the many different audiences for direct mail marketing, the one group which shows the highest percentage response rate is New Residents. The general appeal in targeting new residents stems from the fact that people who move a sufficient distance will likely want a new dentist for themselves and their family. Since all practices lose patients when people move out of town, this is an opportunity to “turn a negative into a positive” by targeting this continually renewing source of new patients. However, a practice desiring to do more than simply stem attrition will want to do more than simply market to new residents because, while the percentage response may be high, owing to the small number, relative to total population, of new movers, the volume is low.

Issues XV and XVI will delve into more aggressive practice growth techniques.

Sincerely,

AIM DENTAL MARKETING
Daniel A. ‘Danny’ Bobrow,
President

AIM MarketingPrinciples of Effective Dental Direct Mail I
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Manage and Communicate with Dental Patients of Record Using the Internet III

AIM Marketing

By Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA (University of Chicago) & MBA (K.U.L. Belgium)

This is the third Issue concerned with Communicating With Patients of Record.

In this last in our series on Communicating with Patients of Record we focus on why and how to encourage your patients to post positive reviews on social media and service review sites to grow your practice.

There are two benefits your practice realizes from getting its patients to submit posts to customer review sites and your social media. First, people increasingly depend upon service review sites in forming their opinions about a product or service, which in turn, predisposes them to make their product or service selection.

Second, these posts, be they on service Review or your social media sites, help optimize your website, that is, make it more popular among search engines that are responsible for presenting your website on their results page when someone searches for a term like ‘dentist’ in your area.  It should be noted, however, that the degree of optimization benefit depends upon the extent to which what is posted is ‘keyword dense’ that is, contains words and phrases you want the search engines to recognize, and contains fully qualified URLs, that is, complete website addresses (when preceded by ‘http://’ website addresses are deemed to be ‘fully qualified’).

Some of the more relevant service review sites for dentists include:

Google, Facebook, Yelp, Angies, & Health Grades

Priming The Pump?

The two general ways to get patients to post to your social media pages, or submit a positive review are 1) having in-office display materials and ‘takeaways’ with instructions for doing so, and 2) utilizing an automated review generator platform that ideally ‘filters’ less than flattering reviews for remedial action by the practice.

Because these reviews are so valuable, you should consider offering a bit of incentive to yield the desired result. For example, you may wish to emulate what other establishments in your area have done for years only, instead of asking someone to “Drop your business card in the fishbowl to receive a chance to win [this or that],” invite them to interact with you online.  Explain that, in exchange for e.g. Liking your Facebook page, “Checking In” to your location through Facebook, posting to your Twitter feed, LinkedIn profile, Facebook page, or, even better, videorecording and uploading a testimonial to Youtube, your patient will be entered to receive a valuable award.

Try it. It works!

Photo: Example of an in-office display inviting your patients to like, friend, and post to your social media sites.

Another way to ‘build your tribe’ is via email:

Photo: Example of email sent to your patients announcing your ascension to the world of social media.

Yet another simple way to get people to join your social media sites is by inviting them to do so from your website and email signature:

It’s easy to embed buttons and icons for your website visitors to click on to join, like, connect with, or follow you.

Responding to questionable reviews

To maximize your ability to respond to what is said about you by others, you will want to register with the more relevant review sites. The extent to which you are able to respond depends on the site. Some require a registration fee: most do not. Some allow you to respond to the review publicly, some only direct with the person posting the review, and some permit neither. In general, the best response is to have far more positive than negative reviews, then let the prospective patient decide for him or herself.

One argument in favor of directing people to post to your Facebook page is the ease with which to communicate and otherwise deal with anything that is posted to it.

So what’s best?

As with so many things, the optimum strategy for encouraging your patients to write nice things about you online depends upon your situation. If, for instance, you’ve yet to receive any Google reviews, that should probably be your first objective, so ask your patients to do so. Once you’ve received say, sixty or so 5 Star Google Reviews (average in the 4.8-5.0 range), ask your patients to post comments on Yelp, Health Grades and, if they’ve registered, Angie’s. I recommend you always encourage your patients to post to your social media pages, as well as agree to have their video-recorded testimonials uploaded to Youtube.

The final piece in the puzzle is being sure your team can effectively communicate to your patients what they must do to post on your behalf.  Be sure your Team knows the sites with which you want patients to interact, and also the names of your various pages.  If you’ve set up your pages correctly, they should be very similar to your practice name, so this should not pose a challenge.

Sincerely,
AIM DENTAL MARKETING
Daniel A. ‘Danny’ Bobrow,
President

AIM MarketingManage and Communicate with Dental Patients of Record Using the Internet III
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Manage and Communicate with Dental Patients of Record Using the Internet II

AIM Marketing

By Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA (University of Chicago) & MBA (K.U.L. Belgium)

This is the second of three Issues concerned with Communicating With Patients of Record.

Of course, no self respecting discussion about communicating with patients of record would be complete without including social networking.

According to Socialnomics “Social media (is not) a fad. It is the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution.” Here are a few more statistical tid bits:

So, if you think social media is just a fad, think again.

As with any new endeavor, getting started can be a daunting proposition. Consider budgeting a certain amount of time per week, and possibly delegating some of the work to someone who is motivated and, with hope, already knowledgable about the subject.

The first social media sites with which to become involved are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and (possibly, if you are a specialist) LinkedIn. Instagram and Pinterest are also wildly popular, as is Tik Tok. The extent to which working with these to enhance a dental practice’s visibility, or how much attention is being paid to it by the search engines as part of social media marketing, is an ever-moving target (more on this soon).

Books and other resources are available on each of these, but the most direct, and lowest cost, way to get started is simply to visit each of them, then register for an account.

Facebook and Twitter are extremely popular sites and rather simple on which to create profiles.

YouTube allows you to upload your own videos, as well as link to them from your own website, and view other videos that might interest you.  Future communications will present a simple, nine-step process for creating extremely valuable patient video testimonials.

LinkedIn is used more for business than social interaction, but can be a useful way to get the word out to your patients (most of whom, after all, are involved in some form of business). As noted above If you are a specialist, LinkedIn can be an especially powerful tool for communicating with referring practices.

Here are step-by-step instructions, using Facebook as an example, for setting up your social networking site.

Then, you get connections, termed friends in Facebook. Facebook makes it easy for you to find and invite people to become friends with you (or at least, with your Facebook Profile). We can also thank Facebook for making the word friend a verb as well as a noun.

You are now, at last, ready to begin disseminating valuable information and opportunities to your patients. And here is where the art of effective social networking comes into play.

Our next Issue will conclude our discussion about Communicating With Patients of Record by focusing on how to use online review sites such as Yelp, Angie’s, City Search, and Health Grades to grow your practice.

Sincerely,
AIM DENTAL MARKETING
Daniel A. ‘Danny’ Bobrow,
President

AIM MarketingManage and Communicate with Dental Patients of Record Using the Internet II
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Manage and Communicate with Dental Patients of Record Using the Internet I

AIM Marketing ,

By Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA (University of Chicago) & MBA (K.U.L. Belgium)

Below we present the first of three Issues concerned with Communicating With Patients of Record.

Synopsis

Effective patient communication requires a simple-to-use content management system and automated means for delivering messages. Equally important are the chosen messages and interval of the communications. The final success component is effective response tracking and monitoring, without which one cannot determine the relative effectiveness of various communication components and strategies. The benefit is a more loyal and valuable patient base, and a more valuable patient means a higher ROI from strategies that generate new patients.

By The Numbers

If you’re investing, say, $1,000 in a new patient acquisition strategy, and you’re averaging 5 new patients for every $1,000 invested, your cost per patient is $200. Now, if the average annual value of a patient to your practice (AAVP) is $1500, your return on investment (ROI) is easily calculated to be 650% (($7500-$1000)/$1000). Not bad. But what if you could increase AAVP to, say $3,000? That’s right. Your dentistry marketing ROI more than doubles to 1400% (($15000-$1000)/$1000). For the same investment in external marketing, you just shot your ROI into the stratosphere. Clearly, this won’t happen by itself or overnight. But you may be pleasantly surprised to learn it’s not nearly as challenging as you might imagine. The reason is that most dental practices are nowhere near maximizing their average patient value.

Spread The Word

One of the simplest, most cost-effective ways to increase average dental patient value is by doing a better job of communicating (and considering adding to) the wonderful benefits your practice already offers its patients. There is a lot about you and your practice that your patients may forget, or not even know, about.

Make The Connection

The first step in cost-effectively communicating with your patients of record is to implement a policy of collecting valid email addresses from your patients. There are a number of tactics to help with this. For new patients, it’s simply a matter of incorporating the request into your patient enrollment form (or, preferably, having one of your team do it for your patient while they are in the office. Online appointment scheduling services automatically collect email addresses.  If you do not have an email address for a current patient, your Team Member should be proficient at explaining to the patient how the office will (and will not) use their email address, how it simplifies communications between practice and patient, and how it is ecologically responsible (no need for paper). Of course, if the patient prefers that he/she not receive communications via email, you want to respect and honor their preference.

To collect email addresses of your current patients as they present for treatment or hygiene, the Team should take a few moments to update their contact and health information, and simply request their “preferred email.” If the practice chooses to adopt paperless forms and online appointment requests, a mailing may be sent to, or a telephone call placed with, the patient advising them of these valuable new services that eliminate the need for paper forms and which simplify the appointment scheduling process for the patient.

Keep In Touch

Now that you’re well on your way to capturing patient email information, it’s time to decide what you’d like to share with your patients. Most email services provide the means to perform what are called Campaigns and Broadcasts. A Campaign is a schedule of predetermined communications that are delivered according to a schedule (that can be changed ‘on the fly’) starting from the date the patient is entered into the system. For instance, if I join your practice today, you might arrange for me to immediately receive an online patient satisfaction survey. Three weeks later, you might introduce me to laser-assisted dentistry. One month after that, you could let me know more about mini dental implants. And so on. Broadcast communications are sent to everyone (or a selected sub-grouping) on your contact list at the same time. For instance, you can send ‘Spring Cleaning,’ Back To School, Insurance “Use it or lose it”, Dental Health Month, or other date-dependent messages. Once the system is in place, you are in control!

Track It

The final success component involves measuring response to your Program in general, and specific communications in particular. The response may be further broken down into Open Rate, Click Through, and Conversion. Open Rate is the number and percent of total recipients who actually opened your email. Click Through refers to the number and percent of total recipients who clicked on one or more links embedded in your message. To ensure delivery past spam filters and to keep messages short, it is a good idea to ask recipients to click on a link to learn more, redeem an offer, etc. You should also use a unique telephone tracking number on your email communications so you are able to determine how many, and what type, of calls are generated as a result of your email campaign. Conversion is the number and percent of total recipients who actually took the requested action e.g. scheduled an end-of-year appointment to maximize benefits, came in for their ‘spring cleaning,’ scheduled their Back to School appointment, etc. (Click through are often considered to be conversions because it represents some form of action taken by the patient. In our view, this is merely an intermediate step toward the ultimate objective, the former being a ‘suspect’, the latter a ‘prospect’).

Our next Issue will be the second of three concerned with Communicating With Dental Patients of Record.

Sincerely,
AIM DENTAL MARKETING
Daniel A. ‘Danny’ Bobrow,
President

AIM MarketingManage and Communicate with Dental Patients of Record Using the Internet I
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