3 Common Behaviors of High-Performing Dental Practices
The dental practices that experience consistent, sustained growth have one big thing in common: they are very serious about marketing. We’re not just saying this because we’re a marketing agency. This claim is based on a decade of working with hundreds of dental practices.
What It Takes to Grow a Dental Practice
Dentists often think that significant growth requires a major behavior change, but after ten years of serving independent dental practices, we can confidently say that’s not usually the case. In fact, the most successful practices don’t change much at all. They do, however, exhibit certain behaviors that less-performing practices may write off as unimportant.
1. Marketing: First and foremost, the practices that experience the most growth fully embrace digital marketing. They understand that a dental practice is a business, and just like any other business providing a service, if they want to attract patients who will accept treatment, they need to advertise in the places where those patients are. That means online.
Owners of practices who want premium patients coming through the doors invest in their websites, social media channels, and other digital media. They understand the marketing power of a strong online presence. When we create strategies and campaigns for their practices, they are eager to try our ideas and contribute their own as well. To these practice owners, digital marketing is a non-negotiable.
2. Training: Another common trait among high-performing practices is full team participation because having a well-trained, engaged staff automatically elevates the patient experience. In these practices, every team member, from the front desk to the back room, understands that providing excellent customer service is equally important whether the patient is in the office, on the phone, or online, and every interaction contributes to the patient’s overall experience.
Dentists who take sales training seriously and encourage everyone on their teams to participate in the process will consistently see more premium patients daily than dentists who view sales and training as incidental. Likewise, dentists who embrace assistive digital tools like PatientCaptureNow miss fewer opportunities because the team works smarter, not harder, to reach out to patients who contact the practice.
3. Execution: The third behavior that successful dental practice owners exhibit is a willingness to put in a little extra effort to differentiate their practice from the competition. When we give them ideas for content, they simply go for it, for example, creating videos to explain interesting cases and common procedures, document patient reactions after treatment, or show how they have fun with their team in the office. It may only take 10 minutes for the dentist or someone on their team to record a video and send it to us. Once it’s in our hands, we can use it in a variety of ways to enhance the practice’s overall marketing strategy.
Marketing doesn’t have to be big, bold, or highly produced to be effective, and a little extra effort can make a big difference, especially when it’s consistent. As the marketing agency, we do all the heavy lifting for our clients, but it’s always best when they produce original content we can use to showcase the practice’s personality. We have seen it over and over again: the teams that participate in the marketing strategy see the biggest payoff.
Of course, some practices grow without digital marketing and sales training, but, in our experience, they’re unlikely to reach their full potential. We see it all the time. The practices that really take off are the ones that put in a little extra time and effort, embracing the tools we make available to them, and encouraging their teams to do the same.
