Dental Marketing and Advertising Mindset

Inside the Mind of Wildly Successful Dentists

Over the last 20 years, I’ve worked with over 10,000 dental practices. 

Small towns, big cities, new practices and long established practices going back several generations – we’ve helped them all

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 There is one commonality all the wildly successful dentists share that is absent in dentists that are struggling financially.  It’s a very specific mindset.

Mindset often conjures up images of self-help books, or motivational cds, but that’s not what this is about.
With the correct mindset, the economy, healthcare changes and increased competition become irrelevant to your success.  Some get the mindset right and succeed, while others get it wrong and struggle.

Listen closely to the story of two dentists, we'll call them John and Steve.  They were best friends in dental school.  Both were above average students.

After college each set-up a practice.  It was in the same city, but not close enough to compete with one another directly.

Fast forward 5 years…

John’s practice is thriving, bringing in about $2 million in revenue and on track to do $2.5 million this year.  His net income hit the $850,000 mark last year.  John just got back from another 2 week vacation, and his schedule is jam packed, but he only works three days a week

Steve isn’t doing as well.  He struggles to cover overhead and is watching his margins shrink every month. His revenue is a little more than $750,000, yet he’s only taking home $249,000 of that.  Needless to say there’s little left, if any, to invest in equipment, marketing and a small remodel Steve wants to do.

Recently Steve began taking appointments in the evenings and on weekends. The long hours are beginning to wear on him…

I’ll share something with you that might be hard to swallow. If Steve and John traded places for a year, they’d end up right where they’re at now.   John would be thriving, Steve would be struggling.

Why would two eager, bright doctors lives turn out so differently?

 The secret is their mindset.

John & Steve’s story is not unique.  I talk to doctors every day and the wildly successful dentists just think and do things differently than the struggling dentists.

It may be hard for an outsider to pick up on the nuances in a regular conversation.  But if you looked at the nitty-gritty details, and met doctors all day long, like I do, the struggling ones would begin to stick out like sore thumbs.

Let me give you a peak into the different mindsets:

Dental Marketing:

-Steve:  When I hit $1,000,000 in revenue I’ll have enough money to put towards a marketing budget.

-John:  I spend the amount on dental marketing that it takes to reach the revenue number I set as this years goal.

Value of a patient:

-Steve:  I’m lucky if I make $250 after all is said and done when a new patient comes in.

-John: Each patient stays with me for an average of 15 years and refers 3 other new patients, who then refer 3 more new patients.  I know this because I track everything.  I know a new patient is worth around $10,000-$25,000  to my practice. If I need to break even to get them in the door, I’m not worried.  If getting them in is profitable right off the bat, then even better!

Sadly, the change in mindset requires an uncomfortable leap of faith…and as much as Steve would like someone to push him over the ledge, noone’sgoing to do it for him.

No one is going to offer up a practice like John’s to someone like Steve.

Although the decision to leap is yours alone, I can give you one thing that all $2 million+ practices started with…before they cranked up their marketing budgets and set to be a top dentist in their market.
Without this piece in place, all  marketing, referral systems, websites and any other growth investment  will underperform.

John’s secret to success along with his mindset is...his PHONE.

John realized...after being very skeptical ,that first New Patient appointments were made or lost on the phone.

If the phone wasn’t turning calls into appointments, a torrent of calls would make little impact on his bottom line.

John took the 5 Star Challenge about 3 years ago.  He discovered that his staff was leaving out 2 critical steps when handling new patient phone calls.

His staff was nice, friendly and accommodating -- good front office staff by most measures.
But…..they were missing a few small pieces.  New patients were hanging up the phone without a commitment to come into the office.

To start where John and thousands of other dentists & successful medical practices began, click here to take the 5 Star Challenge today.  The cost is normally $197 for this evaluation, but right now I’m offering it free of charge.  Check it out before you do any dental marketing or practice building.

Click here:

Free Dental Office Staff Evaluation