I know what you’re thinking, but your wrong. We moved into a new facility years ago, and in an effort to put everything in its place and have everything just right, I wanted to use all of the marketing pieces that I had used in my previous office. It was just minutes before we opened for our first day in the new office and I had one last plaque from the ADA on white fillings, cosmetic contouring, and bleaching. After looking everywhere for a place to hang it, I decided that the restroom was the only wall left, so up it went. Weeks, maybe months, went by until one day in a staff meeting, one of my staff commented on how many questions the hygiene department got about “cosmetic contouring”. In fact, the entire team was kind of clueless as to what it was and why everyone was asking what it costs to do. I explained that it was just cosmetically contouring the edges of teeth to improve the smile line and to give the appearance at speaking distances that the teeth were straighter than they really were. It is quick, painless, and every person I did it for remarked on how great his or her appearance was. It wasn’t until a month later that we actually figured out why there was suddenly so much interest in this procedure at our new office. One day one of the hygienists found the staff toilet occupied and decided to slip into the patient restroom. Then it dawned on her why we got all of the questions.
Most patients will go to the restroom before coming back to an op so they don’t have to interrupt their treatment. Evidently when you plop down on a toilet with nothing to look at but my plaque, you immediately go into an alpha state that guarantees you will imprint whatever you are looking at. That was it. A piece of marketing, in a place where there is nothing to look at, or nothing to distract you, and boom, an instantly effective direct response marketing strategy.
Years have passed, and we have refined our little sign to be an LED electronic frame. But it still works. So be sure and take advantage of any place in the office where your next patient might sit for a few moments (reception area, rest rooms, operatories, front desk at checkout, etc.) and figure out a way to subliminally plant a positive dental thought in their heads. This is how you Summit.
Mike Abernathy, DDS
[email protected]
972-523-4660 cell
PS — Be sure and join www.bestfordentistry.com as we are continuing to add additional Alliance Partners to lower your overhead and put more $$ in your pocket.