GAP Australasian-Dentist-May June 2019

Category 96 AustrAlAsiAn Dentist “Websites, online advertising and social media marketing do not convert patients! they generate leads. the practice converts patients!” reminds emanuel recupero, Co-Founder of Practice entreprenuer network (Pen) and Founder andManaging Director of Dental eD, a global study club and hands-on course network. emanuel is commenting on the notion that dentists often fall for the latest gimmicky “Patient Conversion” technique, while being totally oblivious to the unintended consequences. His advice to dentists: Do not spend a cent on marketing until you understand these four points that will help you re-evaluate the whole concept of dental marketing. #1: Strategic marketing the first point emanuel makes is probably also the most salient – if not the most obvious. “since marketing is a numbers game, your strategy should be prioritised according to the method that secures the highest returns or rOi.” According to him, national survey results find returns on digital dental marketing, including Google Adwords and websites, average around 15%, while social media platforms fare worse at around 2%. Compare these rOis to that of Word- of-Mouth referrals (56%) and signage (30%)! Based on these figures, one should be revisiting marketing expenditure on strategies that may not provide an adequate return on investment (rOi). Without ruling out the effectiveness of online campaigns, emanuel urges dental entrepreneurs to do the following before blindly signing up to adhoc marketing campaigns to generate “leads”: Diagnose the health of your business: “A blanket digital marketing campaign is a terrible waste of money if not backed by analytics comparing hard data such as Do not market your practice until you read this! Emanuel Recupero, marketing expert and dental business consultant, believes these four points will make you rethink your marketing spend By Danny Chan trends in patient turnover, demographics, competitors and online environments that yield best returns.” Conduct market research of your business environment: “You run a more cost effective campaign knowing who your target audience is and what they want.” Consult your patient books: “it’s far more cost effective upselling your existing customers into higher production than attracting new ones.” #2: Front-desk staff need to sell, not just schedule patients “if your front desk staff do not know how to convert patient leads efficiently,” emanuel puts it bluntly, “don’t market for new patients.” Frontline staff can be – and ought to be – specifically trained for the task. Based on experience, emanuel says it is possible to train frontdesk staff and raise their conversion rates from inefficient (30-40%) to an efficient benchmark (80- 90%). Patient leads do not come cheap and failure to convert a large proportion will affect the botton line on the marketing dollars you spend. Besides training courses, emanuel says the Practice entrepreneur network (Pen) also provides MiPractice (www. dentaledglobal.com ), a suite of apps that automatically engages prospective leads and captures their details to simplify the follow up task for frontdesk staff. One of the apps helps to capture the caller’s details and set up the follow-up call by sending an sMs and/or email video info pack explaining specific treatments and practice info. Prospective customers can Emanuel Recupero praCtICe ManageMent