Marketing and Teamwork recipes : 7 dental market situations

The effective management of a clinic currently depends primarily on two circumstances: on the direction in which you are making efforts to increase the competitiveness of your company for sales of dental services, and on whether you are able to competently realize the existing advantages of the clinic.

Efforts of managers can be directed to different types of marketing – external, internal or interactive. Management problems begin with the fact that managers have a poor idea of ​​the differences between the types of marketing and do not understand in what kind of marketing the main efforts need to be invested in today.

Usually, the heads of clinics correctly argue about the essence of external marketing – nevertheless, we will clarify its content.

External marketing studies the:

• the state of the service market;
• achievements and shortcomings of the closest competitors;
• condition of a real and potential consumer of services;
• availability of personnel in the labor market;
• promising range of services;
• ways to promote them to the consumer (banners, advertising, website, word of mouth, calling a customer base, SMS, etc.).

Internal marketing: In defining its essence, managers tend to make a serious mistake, believing that it is about the relationship of staff with customers. This is not so, and a misunderstanding leads to the fact that the tasks of internal marketing are either not set or are partially implemented. Most often, a very important area of ​​the formation of the competitive ability of the clinic completely falls out of the sphere of attention of managers.

Internal marketing creates all working conditions for the staff, under which they can:

• work at a given (desired) level of quality of services (treatment and service);
• best meet the needs of customers;
• realize and increase their potentials;
• ensure maximum income for yourself and the clinic.

Interactive marketing covers various aspects of direct and indirect interaction of personnel with consumers of services:

• communication of the administrator with clients by phone/messages and in the lobby;
• communication between the doctor and the client during consultations, during treatment and after;
• interaction between the doctor and the assistant with the client at the stages of treatment;
• customer feedback after treatment;
• feedback from managers to staff;
• anticipation and work with complaints;
• internal advertising action.

The clarifications we have made regarding different types of marketing allow managers to clearly concentrate efforts in achieving the clinic’s competitive advantages.

Marketing should provide the clinic with a competitive advantage in accordance with the situation in the service market. How promising is it today to concentrate management efforts in an specific area?

https://dentalreach.today/dental-education/100-effective-social-media-post-ideas/

7 characteristics of the current market situation and recipes for managers

1. There are many dental clinics, it is very problematic to open new ones, it is difficult to withstand the competition.
2. The solvency of most customers is reduced, so it is unjustified to increase the average check and wait for rich customers.
3. The main client is with an average income, he saves on dental treatment, is limited to the elimination of pain and discomfort.
4. The prices of the closest competitors differ little from yours, it is difficult to show your advantages in the area of ​​pricing policy.
5. Clinic websites are very similar, so they do not significantly increase the flow of clients.
6. There is a shortage of good personnel in the labor market.
7. The desired results may not be provided by means of attracting customers through external marketing efforts (advertising, word of mouth, calling a customer base, sending SMS).

Disclaimer: External marketing is ineffective, it is practically impossible to create a competitive advantage of the clinic with its means, its role in attracting and retaining customers is almost zero if it doesn’t start from you and your team (Internal marketing).

Some authors of training programs, webinars and trainings adhere to an outdated concept and suggest that managers concentrate their efforts on external marketing, choosing its low-cost options. There are supposedly about 30 of them.

In our opinion, this is a shocking orientation outside the real time and capabilities of an ordinary clinic, a dead-end strategy due to underestimation or ignorance of the potentials of internal and interactive marketing.

Recipes:

• Don’t waste time and money on external marketing.
• In today’s situation of paid medicine, it is necessary to shift the focus from external to internal and interactive marketing.
• Whoever realizes faster and more clearly than others reflects this tactic in business will benefit!

Let us give a number of arguments, taking into account the above market situations and discussing external, internal and interactive marketing and recipes for success in each.

https://dentalreach.today/dental-education/the-ultimate-guide-for-dental-personal-branding/

1. Market situation 1: There are many clinics – it is very problematic to open new ones, it is difficult to withstand the competition.

A new competitive clinic that does external marketing will have this :

1. The original interior.
2. The latest equipment (including CT).
3. Trained staff.
4. An attractive website selling services.
5. Professionally developed documents regulating personnel behavior (job responsibilities, service standards, instructions for interacting with clients, algorithms for behavior in typical and atypical situations).
6. “Sellable”. Documentary and informational support of clients from entry to exit (contract, health questionnaire, informed voluntary consent, reminders, anticipation of discomfort after treatment, warranty coupons, brochures on customer problems, business cards, internal advertising, etc.).
7. Excellent cultural service.
8. Well-organized medical service.

This means external marketing in market situation 1 relies on this ideology:

• If you open a new enterprise, then immediately guarantee its competitiveness.
• The expectation that a clinic can be ‘gradually’ staffed to the level of competitiveness severely constrains its development or forever throws it into the ranks of mediocre institutions.

What does the practice of opening new clinics show, if its organizers were guided only by external marketing?

Usually, owners (if they have finances) become competitive in interior design and purchase the latest equipment. Sometimes they manage to create a smug website, but in practice there is no evidence of the quality of treatment and service. They declare high or relatively low prices (compared to their closest competitors), but there is no evidence of their justification in the treatment. On the walls of the clinic there are many certificates with which doctors came to work, but they do not know how to show their skills, to make it tangible for the consumers of services.

If only external marketing is followed, then the rest of the realities of the modern clinic, which are formed in internal and interactive marketing, are in their infancy:

• low level of staff quality: untrained administrators, randomly selected doctors and assistants, unable to work in a team;
• low quality of documentary and informational support of clients from entry to exit: it usually does not correspond to all legal requirements, interests of clients and psychology of perception;
• there are no or unprofessionally developed regulators of personnel behavior: job responsibilities, service standards, algorithms for consultations and consultations, etc .;
• the general cultural service is mediocrely organized: it is understood in a simplistic and unoriginal way;
• there is practically no medical service: managers and staff have a vague idea of ​​it.

Conclusion: A new clinic focused on some indicators of external marketing falls into the area of ​​marketing incongruity. Inconsistency in marketing is the discrepancy between the declared claims of the clinic and its real capabilities and expectations of discerning consumers of services.

Recipe: Don’t trust business coaches promising to boost your clinic’s revenues in a short time.(Don’t fall for deceptions).Take into account the internal and interactive realities mentioned above as well.

https://dentalreach.today/dental-education/social-network-how-should-the-clinics-social-media-page-be/

2. Market situation 2: The solvency of most customers is reduced, therefore it is unjustified to increase the average check and wait for rich customers.

Recipes:

• Do not react to calls from business coaches that humiliate you and clients to attend their trainings on the topics: “How to get the most out of the client”, “How to increase the average check by 20-60%”, “How to work less and earn more”, “How to get client per million ”.
• Do not focus your efforts on attracting wealthy clients to the clinic, as some business trainers advise. Focusing on “clients per million”, you can lose real service recipients, whose income is more modest. Focusing on wealthy clients, you can overdo the self-praise or ignore shortcomings in your work – then there will be a discrepancy between the clinic’s claims and its real capabilities. Not every advertised clinic fully meets the needs of wealthy people.

https://dentalreach.today/dental-education/tips-to-successfully-run-a-newly-opened-dental-clinic/

3. Market situation 3: The main client is with an average income, he saves on dental treatment, is limited to the elimination of pain and discomfort

The main consumer of services is a person of average income, therefore, you need to focus your competitive ability on him, actually planning income. Don’t worry – good counselling with patience can make these patients observe problems beyond pain and discomfort i.e towards more lucrative esthetic treatments.

Recipes:

• Don’t raise prices for services – this is an inadequate financial strategy now. The closest competitors have the same technologies and provide services of about the same quality. If you raise prices by 10% today, tomorrow you will attract customers with discounts of 15-20% to stabilize your income.
• Do not mock the area of ​​prices for services, do not try to catch clients like a fish with a spoon!

4. Market situation 4: The prices of the closest competitors differ little from yours, it is difficult to show your advantages in the area of ​​pricing policy.

If the general pricing in your area is low, then it is difficult to show your advantages in the field of pricing by means of external marketing. It is necessary to create advantages in the field of pricing policy not in external marketing, but in the framework of interactive marketing, in the direct interaction of the dentist with the recipient of services.

Recipes:

1. The doctor must directly regulate financial relations with the client:

• Provide discounts pre-agreed with managers: this builds confidence in the dentist. Unfortunately, many doctors are reluctant to offer discounts. For example, on the eve of a training seminar, doctors ask the following questions: “How to explain to a patient that he is humiliating himself by asking about discounts?”, “How to learn not to save patients’ money?”
• Offer the best treatment options, taking into account the quality of care in this situation and the client’s material capabilities. This tactic is humane and maintains competitiveness in the current situation in the service market.

2. The physician should not use tactics that provoke the conveyor style of relations with clients and lead to a decrease in the quality of treatment:

• “Fight” to increase the average check;
• to offer the client the most expensive technologies without reason;
• take money for the elimination of disorders that the patient does not have in reality (for example, treat one channel, and pay for two or three channels in the cost of treatment). The consequence of such tactics is “dentist mortality”, that is, a gradual weakening of the flow of patients up to the complete cessation of the recording.

Example: After consulting an orthodontist, the client told why she did not stay for treatment with this specialist. “I really didn’t like how the doctor recommended to put the most expensive bracket system, but at the same time she didn’t well explain its advantages.” The concluding phrase showed the specialist’s complete indifference to the results of the treatment: “In principle, I don’t care what you choose.” Sometimes one ill-considered dentist’s phrase prompts the client to bring money to another clinic.

However, if prices in the price list of the closest competitors are almost the same, there are still many dentists who do not want to attract and retain customers by reducing prices, which is fair.

Recipes:

• Declare a comprehensive cost for your services, that is, include related manipulations and procedures. Some clinics correctly show on their websites the complex cost of specific services. Until your competitors do the same, you can increase your customer flow.
• Teach administrators, when registering clients for consultations, to report that your prices are complex, depending on the case. Thus, you transfer information about the prices (cost) of services from external marketing to interactive.
• Teach administrators and doctors to use push-in-the-back sales techniques.

Examples scripts:

The administrator informs about the cost of root canal treatment: “The cost of root canal treatment in our clinic includes anesthesia, examination, canal treatment treatment and restoration of the coronal (visible) part of the tooth. In other clinics, usually only the price of canal treatment is indicated, and then prices are added for all related manipulations. As a result, the cost is unexpectedly higher. ”

The administrator informs about the cost of implantation: “The cost of immediate implantation in our clinic includes a panoramic image, placement of an implant, manufacturing and placement of a crown on it. In other clinics, they usually name the price of only the implant, and then it turns out that you still need to pay extra for the X-ray and the placement of the crown. ”

https://dentalreach.today/dental-education/8-marketing-tactics-for-dentist/

5. Market situation 5: Clinic websites are very similar, so they do not significantly increase the flow of clients.

Some clinicians complain that websites of the clinics are very similar, therefore, they do not significantly increase the flow of clients. This does not mean that websites are not needed, they fulfill their informational role, therefore they have become an attribute of any clinic – small, medium, large and a chain of clinics.

Some authors of training programs propose to reanimate the clinic’s website by means of triggers, which are supposedly able to capture the attention of the visitor and draw him to the clinic.

Here, as a rule, websites promises what the clinic has not yet achieved: all doctors are masters of their craft, the latest technologies and materials are used, a high level of service.

The metrics of a competitive website are very specific:

• easy Internet access to the website of the desired clinic;
• easy access to the section of interest to the visitor;
• list of services provided;
• price – it is better not to mention the prices for services (for example, treatment of one canal), but their cost, which includes mandatory accompanying manipulations: for example, root canal treatment includes control images, anesthesia, etc.;
• photographs of doctors with an indication of the length of service in their specialization;
• scientific degrees and titles of specialists (certificates obtained in training courses are not informative, since they do not reflect the level of practical skills and all dentists have a large number);
• information on the provision of guarantees and the conditions for their observance by the clinic and doctors (meets the interests of the consumer of services, complies with the Law of Country Federation “On Protection of Consumer Rights” and medical practice, the gag like a year of guarantees for certain services is excluded: such guarantees have no competitive advantages);
• perhaps, the answers of the clinic’s specialists to the frequently asked questions of patients (what is this or that disease, how is it treated, what is the probability of success);
• possibly very significant fragments of the clinic’s corporate philosophy and culture for the recipients of services, if these documents regulating the behavior of the team are drawn up correctly;
• brief educational information about individual treatments and dental diseases is appropriate;
• the working hours of the clinic and individual part-time specialists.

Attention! The design and content of a website that increases the competitiveness of the clinic and is able to attract clients, to some extent, to the clinic is a subject of team work: from the field of external marketing, when a website is created by hired specialists, work with it goes into internal and interactive marketing.
In internal marketing, managers deal with the website – they are involved in its formation, taking into account the interests of doctors. In interactive marketing, the website reflects the nature of the interaction between doctors and clients.

https://dentalreach.today/dental-education/how-to-hire-the-best/

6. Market situation 6: There is a shortage of good personnel in the labor market

Clinicians often find that their associate doctors, assistants or reception staff are not what they expected when they placed an ad for hiring. Surprisingly, the reason for this maybe the ad itself!

Recipes:

• Define the job well in the ad before hiring an employee
• Plan your employee recruiting strategy with your administrator.
• Try to interest people in your job description and do not write something for namesake so that qualified employees see the value in your proposal.
• Review credentials and applications carefully
• Do not rush interviews – Ask the right job interview questions!
• Check backgrounds and references when hiring an employee
• Hire someone whose talents will add value to your clinic and not with your same expertise.
• Use effective employment letters when hiring an employee in consultation with a marketing specialist.

Remember that your employees, present and even former, can be efficient representatives of your clinic and help you engage in interactive marketing.

7. Market situation 7: The desired results are not provided by the means of attracting customers through the efforts of external marketing (advertising, word of mouth, calling the customer base, sending SMS).

About advertising: traditional advertising in the media is an attribute of external marketing, but, as you know, it was and remains costly and with low efficiency.

Calls from some trainers to use low-budget options of external marketing are unpromising in any form:

• Banners remind clients of the clinic and, perhaps, evoke associations with its coolness, but do not convey its benefits in treatment and service.
• A leaflet in mailboxes informs about the nearest dental clinic; perhaps the recipient will keep it just in case, but it is pointless in the sense that it does not contain a reason for addressing the interests of the client.
• TV spots are addressed to a mass audience; a specific consumer of services is unlikely to go to a clinic if it is far from the place of residence and work.
  There may be some benefit from advertising on behalf of a system of clinics located in different regions of the city.

Recipes:

• Do not follow the calls from business coaches to increase external advertising costs. Traditional advertising will not convey your benefits to the consumer and therefore will not significantly increase the flow of service consumers.
• Train your contact staff to do in-house advertising. The best advertisement is internal! It is addressed to a specific person who wants to make an appointment with the clinic, who has come for a consultation or medical appointment. Internal advertising is a product of internal and interactive marketing. A team takes part in its production:

1. dentists – they decide what and how to advertise to a potential and actual recipient of services;
2. managers – they design and offer scripts for administrators who carry out such advertising, and control its implementation;
3. administrators – they are trained to make advertising inserts in telephone conversations with those who are interested in the clinic’s services, and also offer advertising to clients in the lobby.

https://dentalreach.today/dental-research/selling-without-selling/

Internal advertising in telephone communication.

Examples of ad inserts made by administrators:

Caller: “Can you put a filling?”

Administrator: “Yes, we can put a filling. In our clinic, the latest materials are used for making fillings, which allow you to completely reflect the color of the tooth and have high strength. ”

Next, the administrator needs to identify the probable real problem of the patient, guided by special tables developed by us in the “Instructions for Administrators: Informing Patients about Services”.

Caller: “Do you treat children?”

Administrator: Yes, we treat children. Receptions are conducted by doctors who have certificates that allow treating children. ” (The advertising insert makes the caller think: in other clinics, dentists who do not have special certificates can provide help to children. Next, the administrator needs to identify the caller’s likely real problem in the child’s oral cavity: what is bothering him – in order to provide sufficient and necessary information about the service.)

Advertising inserts in telephone communication can be more voluminous and convincing, include the technology of active sales “push in the back”. Such internal advertising involves writing scripts for administrators. A script is a semantic scenario of influencing the client and the corresponding speech information.

An example of a script for administrators about implantation:

Caller: “Can I get implants?”

• An affirmative answer to the question-

Administrator:“Yes, we can have implants.”

• Fair sale of the clinic’s capabilities-

Administrator: “Our doctors are able to offer implants of various prices and designs, depending on the patient’s clinical situation. The doctor determines which implant is optimal for a particular clinical situation. ”

• Packaged cost information-

Administrator: “The price of one implant is from … to … rupees. Plus the price of the crown, which is placed on the implant,… rupees. Thus, the cost of a complete, immediate implantation is from … to … rupees.

• “Push in the back”-

Administrator: “Keep in mind that many clinics are silent about the total cost of implantation and only report it when the patient agrees to have the implantation. Suddenly, the cost is very high. ”

• Honesty marker-

Administrator: “We respect our patients, so we give all the information about the services in advance.”

Internal marketing as indoor advertising in the hall

Administrators offer clients newsletters on clinic innovations. The leaflets are compiled by managers with the participation of doctors. In order to avoid annoying adverts, the administrator makes a mark in the customer service card: “This ad was offered.”

An example of indoor advertising performed by administrators in the lobby.

“New in our clinic!

For the treatment of complex canals (curved, highly branched), we have acquired the technology of their filling – ‘heated gutta-percha’ . It is more effective than the ‘cold gutta-percha’ commonly used in clinics.

‘Heated gutta-percha’ has fluidity and therefore makes it possible to hermetically fill all the space in the channels so that there is no void or empty space left. Unfilled sections of the canal are a medium for microbes, possible inflammatory processes, and pain.

The new technology of canal filling – ‘heated gutta-percha’ – increases the efficiency of treatment. ”

Interactive marketing in the classic ‘word of mouth’ marketing

Some trainers believe that clients who receive dental care should be provoked to act as word of mouth. This assigns the main role to the administrators.

Recipes: Do not follow the advice of business coaches who claim that word of mouth can be activated by requests to recommend the clinic to friends and acquaintances.

The patient left the office, the administrator asks:

• “If you liked the treatment, please write your review. Here’s a book of reviews.”
• “If you liked our place, let your friends know about it, we will be happy about it.”
• “If you liked it with us, can we take a picture of you in our interiors?”

Such appeals to clients indicate a violation of medical ethics: after treatment, a person usually experiences discomfort, he still does not know the success of treatment, and he is harassed with a request to praise the clinic.

The treated clients will say kind words about the dentist’s work if he could:

• gain points of trust in communicating with them;
• use access keys for a specific client;
• implement scenarios of personal “medical service”.

Only a doctor in direct communication (interactive marketing) can lead a client to the conclusion:

“Thank God! I see a dentist in front of me, whom I can trust, who is ready to pay for services, and can be recommended to others. ”

Calling the base is the form in which it is promoted is an aspect of external marketing with limited effect.

Marketing mentors ‘by base’ mean a list of clients who have received and are receiving the clinic’s services. ‘Calling’ means periodic or regular coverage of as many clients as possible with calls or SMS in order to invite them to the clinic for one reason or another.

It is assumed that calling the base increases the workload of the clinic and, consequently, the income of dentists. Is it always? Appeals to the “base” can be unjustified and justified.

Unjustified appeals – undifferentiated, are sent to all clients in the database, even if the recipients of messages are not interested in them.

Examples of unjustified, undifferentiated SMS that clinics actively send, and our commentary on them on behalf of the virtual recipient:

• “The clinic has a special offer – the price of two implants for the price of one.” The recipient is probably thinking, “I don’t need an implantation. Or have you decided that I will pass your information on to my friends, as if I have nothing else to do? Yes, I was treated by you, but I don’t want to remember your clinic”.
• “Till September 30, caries treatment at the price of anesthesia – 75%OFF.” – “You are bothering me with some kind of gibberish: it is not clear what the interest is taken from, and what does anesthesia have to do with it? Why did you decide that I need to treat caries? “

Among the unjustified calls we also include address SMS, which cause confusion and seem mercantile.

• Clinic writes: “Anna Victoria, happy birthday to you! As a gift, we add 1000 rupees to your account. In order not to lose any service before 01/31/2021, to register, press (indicated email address) or call (indicated phone number). Taking care of you … “-” Gift? Then leave it to me in case I come to your clinic. Why do you force for some reason to appear to you within 15 days and use this money? What is your concern? “

Among the unjustified calls, there are targeted, but pointless ones, nevertheless, some managers and authors of training programs insist on their conduct.

The head physician of the clinic, an orthopedist, says: “I am outraged by the passive attitude of some colleagues. The orthodontist is not very busy with work, waiting for me to “fit” her clients. Sits idle on shift, knits socks. Call your former clients and ask if they have any dental problems. ”

The chief physician’s indignation is understandable, but he gives the wrong advice. A colleague should be advised, during the consultation and treatment process, to record what he observed and from whom, what he was treating, so that by prior agreement and reasonably offer his help, inquire about the condition of the treated teeth or the consequences of removing the braces.

The doctor should always think about bootstrapping, taking into account the interests of the client, and not about calling the database in the absence of work.

https://dentalreach.today/dental-education/7-pillars-of-clinical-governance/

Unjustified, undifferentiated calls are vulnerable from several positions.

Firstly, an SMS or a call violates the client’s personal space, and this annoys him, especially against the background of such undifferentiated calls from other service sectors that have acquired the phones of their consumers.

Your clinic should not be among the ads that cause negativity! Illiterate managers use unreasonable calls to lower the prestige of the clinic and cause negative associations among potential consumers of services with annoying primitive SMS advertising from other service sectors.

Secondly, clients can easily decipher baseless calls: things are bad in the clinic, dentists are out of work and luring clients to them.

Thirdly, you shouldn’t think that your clients regard such SMS and calls as evidence of special care for them. Many, alas, from personal experience realized that the main thing for most dentists is to get money, they are less worried about the health of the recipients of services, the quality of treatment, prevention of diseases, the appointment and observance of reasonable guarantees.

Conclusion: unjustified, undifferentiated ‘dialing the base’ causes the opposite effect: instead of showing concern for the client, it provokes irritation, especially against the background of a negative experience of treatment in your clinic, which the caller does not know about.

Recipes: Justified appeals to clients – targeted, differentiated – are organized in relation to the actual problems of clients, meet their interests.

Two rules for making justified calls, which indicate that the clinic really cares about clients:

Rule one. The call is agreed in advance with the client after consultation or treatment.
The clinic must know whether the client wants to be bothered or not, when is the best time to call, which number, at what time. To record these details of dialing, an electronic customer service card or another version of the ‘memory’ of the results of interaction with customers is used. In this way, the impression of forced calls is overcome.

Never invade a client’s personal space without prior agreement with him!

The second rule. The client is given one or more specific reasons that are important for him to make a phone call from the clinic.

By prior arrangement call a specific client about an interesting occasion for him.

Justified reasons for calling-

Reason 1. The client (by agreement with him) needs to be reminded:

• about the day and time of arrival for a consultation or medical appointment;
• about the period of hygienic cleaning;
• about the period of a free professional examination (in six months or earlier).

A doctor inviting a professional examination after treatment must comply with three conditions.

The first condition: You need to substantiate both the call in six months and an earlier visit.

>>> Why do you need to come for a professional examination in six months?

Script argument for dentist or administrator:

“Dental statistics show that after six months usually there are some irregularities in the oral cavity, even if sanitation has been carried out.”

Unfortunately, as our experience of working with doctors and administrators shows, many people cannot clearly explain to the patient why, on average, a preventive examination is scheduled after six months.

>>> Why do you need to come for a professional examination earlier than six months later?

Doctor script argument:

“We usually invite patients for a free professional examination after six months, because statistics show that most people have some kind of oral disorders during this period. I invite you in … months, because … (the doctor comments on his findings based on the observed clinical situation).

The second condition: The doctor explains that a professional examination is carried out free of charge, however, if violations in the oral cavity are detected, they are eliminated for a fee in accordance with the clinic’s price list and with the patient’s consent.

Unfortunately, not all doctors warn clients about this. By telephone callback, they report that they counted on free elimination of the revealed new violations, believing that this is included in the guarantees.

The third condition: The doctor reminds the client that a professional examination at the appointed time (six months later or earlier at the fixed time) is one of the conditions for the clinic to comply with warranty obligations.

Reason 2. At the consultation, an ongoing treatment plan was agreed and signed, among the points of which are indicated the situation and the timing of the immediate intervention of the dentist, but for some reason the patient did not come for treatment.

Reason 3. During the consultation, an executable treatment plan was agreed, which the patient partially implemented.

Reason 4. There was an agreement with the client to call to find out about his health after treatment (feedback from the client).

Reason 5. The doctor set a date for a follow-up examination, but the client did not show up.

Reason 6. The doctor has established a personally meaningful relationship with the client, which is based on mutual sympathy, trust and an emphasized mutual interest in good results of treatment.

Recipes:

• Doctors, working in interactive marketing, need to reflect on their relationships with clients, correct mistakes that lead to their attrition, and not impose clinic services with the help of administrators who carry out external marketing.
• Dentists must build trust points, establish strong therapeutic contacts, motivate the recommended treatment plan, and, at a minimum, ensure that agreed-upon plans are followed through with the client.
• Administrators should not call clients with questions: “Why don’t you come for treatment?”, “Will you make an appointment?”, “What didn’t you like about us?” All this is intrusive and tactless, and no crafty scripts will mask these calling defects.
  Note. Calling up the customer base does not characterize the administrator in terms of his professional training. Argument: calls are made automatically using standard SMS or through live calls to clients using prepared calls, where there are no signs of individual professionalism.
• The correct implementation of customer calls involves the introduction of a special business process that combines the efforts of administrators, doctors and clinic managers in interactive marketing, providing this process (internal marketing).

1. Doctors record the grounds for a reasonable, differentiated exit to clients, either personally or mediated by administrators.
2. The clinic should operate a system for reaching specific clients, taking into account their current needs and interests.
3. Administrators connect to this system, directing clients to the specific content of the call or SMS.

As you can see, “calling patients” is not limited to reports of administrators on the number of calls made.

Conclusion: Training programs focusing on the statistics of calls to the client base shift the attention of managers and administrators to false indicators of their professionalism, remain within the framework of external marketing, while the competitive ability of a modern clinic is formed primarily within the framework of internal and interactive marketing.

The only remaining question to ask is: does your firm practice internal marketing?  If the answer is NO, I suggest you start with it as soon as possible.  With an internal marketing strategy, employees are treated as ‘internal customers’ who must be convinced of a company’s vision and worth just as aggressively as ‘external customers.’  The objective of internal marketing is to align every aspect of a firm’s internal operations to ensure they are as capable as possible of providing value to clients. If a firm can operate in a coordinated and standardised way, that firm can provide a more consistent experience to their clients.

Disclaimer: This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein.