I teach my clients that first impressions are key to attracting the sort of patients with whom you most enjoy working. A first impression certainly includes first interactions between your office and a potential new patient via telephone (we will cover phone etiquette in a future post), but it also means that your complete dental marketing message must be in alignment with the true reality of how your dental practice operates.
Any disconnect between the outside perception of your practice and the inside reality will result in lost patients and wasted time and effort.
What is the Outside Perception?
Essentially, the outside perception of your dental office is what potential patients imagine when they think of your business / practice. This can be largely shaped by your marketing efforts, which makes it doubly important that you are impeccably intentional with the messaging on all of your marketing materials.
For instance, if your intention is to bring in and work with patients who are families with young children, you wouldn’t want to send out flyers with only images of senior citizens. A mother of two grade school aged children may assume that you specialize in dental implants and dentures and look elsewhere for a dentist that works with children.
The Inside Reality
Women in particular are especially attuned to noticing when the outside perception doesn’t match the inside reality. That is, once a woman steps into your dental office (and I’ve mentioned previously that women are often the demographic that makes the biggest difference in a dental office’s bottom line – read more HERE (Women are the Key to Your Marketing Success) and sees that your marketing doesn’t match the actual situation within your practice, she will instantly be aware.
For example, if your marketing features smiling people wearing pressed uniforms in an impeccably clean office, and touts a caring environment focused on patient comfort and an attention to detail, that's exactly what she will be looking for. If she comes into your office and is greeted by someone who looks like they just got out of bed, or she steps into your waiting room (reception area) and it is uncomfortably cold or there is paint chipping from the walls (read more about the importance of atmosphere HERE (What Message are you Sending with Your Waiting Area?).
There’s a mismatch. She was expecting a comfortable, pristine office and smiling people, and if she gets something else, she will most definitely notice and possibly choose to look elsewhere for her dental work.
How to Align the Outside Perception and the Inside Reality
Aligning the outside perception with the inside reality of your dental business is actually rather simple, though not necessarily easy.
Get clear on your vision. The first step is to understand what your vision is for the business. Which demographic do you want to serve, and what is your vision for how you want them to feel when they step out of your office after an appointment? Make a check-list!
Getting clear on this vision may potentially require some thought and effort, but it is well worth the legwork. Read more about crafting your mission vision in my previous blog post, How to Build a Million Dollar Practice.
Determine where you are. Take a look at your inside reality from the patient’s perspective, or better yet, ask your patients how they perceive your practice. Is your current inside reality meeting the standards you outlined for yourself in your mission vision? It’s likely that you’re not quite there yet. If so, the CEO Dentist Virtual Academy may be a great resource for you.
Clarify your messaging. Does your marketing and branding align with your mission/vision? It’s possible that you may choose to work with a branding and design expert to clarify how your mission vision is expressed outwardly to the world.
When you follow these three steps, you’re working to bring the outside perception of your business and the inside reality of the office into alignment with each other and with the mission vision. This is crucial to attracting the right kinds of patients and keeping them in your network.
This information is just a sampling of how CEODentist trains dentists and their teams to approach their practice as a business and expand their network. If you want to get your specific questions about this topic answered, please Contact Us to speak to a CEO Dentist team member today.
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