ACT Dental Practice Coaching

Dr. Paul Henny

Strong, well-differentiated, and well-positioned practice “brands” have high profit margins, command premium fees, and see fewer patients each day. They also secure more patient loyalty and appreciation, grow faster, and ride through economic downturns with less trauma. In contrast, struggling practice “brands” tend to have poor profit margins, depend on coupons, insurance discount programs, require a high patient volume to survive, and are more susceptible to economic downturns.

Position or be positioned. You may not realize this, but even if you have made no effort to brand or position your practice within your community, you have still created a “brand” for your practice, albeit not the kind of brand you had really intended. This branding comes through others making assumptions about you which are likely to be similar to experiences they have had with other dentists. If their previous dentist spent minimal time building truly helping relationships, they may assume that you will be the same. If their previous dentist was a family practitioner with little understanding of esthetic or comprehensive restorative dentistry, they may assume the same of you as well. In the general public’s eyes, all dentists look pretty much the same - unless you have given them a reason to think otherwise.

Positioning your practice through strategic branding allows you to promote your strengths and unique selling points (USP’s). This in turn causes others to approach you who are interested in your best and finest services. It also causes patients within your practice to view what you do – and why – very differently. In other words, these folks start to see value behind the new and unusual things you are suggesting (comprehensive exams, allowing for more than one visit to arrive at co-developed and appropriate treatment plan, etc.).

So how do know if your practice “brand” is moving you in the right direction?

The answer is found in more than your monthly production numbers and collections statistics. Ask yourself these 5 questions:

Do many of your new patients reluctantly accept or not appreciate the value (to them) of an initial comprehensive exam
Are you frustrated that you must aggressively “sell” restorative dentistry in order to cause patients to choose appropriate and predictable treatment?
Do your patients frequently break appointments and delay treatment plans because proper dentistry is simply not a priority in their life?
Do your practice collections lag behind because many of your patients begrudgingly pay their dental bills?
Are you spending too little time doing the kind of dentistry that you really enjoy and that you feel is the most predictable and valuable to your patients?

If you honestly answered “Yes” to several of these questions, it’s likely that your brand may be ready for a “makeover”. And you may need to get about the business of repositioning your practice to be more attractive to the kinds of patients who value and are interested in your best and finest services. If you can answer “No” to these questions … Congratulations! You are on track and are doing a great job with the development of your practice brand. Keep up the good work!

In the next article in this series, we will review “The Key Points of a Successful Branding Campaign.”

Paul A. Henny, DDS maintains an esthetically-focused restorative dental practice in Roanoke, Virginia. He is a visiting faculty member of the Pankey Insititute as well as a principle in Mark 4 Associates a practice development firm focused in the area of marketing and practice brand development. He can be reached via e-mail at paul@Mark4Associates.com