WriteBusiness.net Online Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Building Business’

This is the age of Social Media and at the heart of social media is relationship marketing.  It’s all about building relationships by increasing visibility, establishing credibility and gaining trust.    

As the shift in dentistry has turned from just running a practice to running a business (which they didn’t teach in school) so has the focus shifted and the emphasis grown every day in your business office from just making appointments and collecting the money to patient services with the emphasis on patient relations.

In the treatment rooms you perform your procedures – preventive, basic or major – sandwiched in around the business office procedures of having seen the patient before and after your procedure.

With the emphasis on patient relations, have you thought about everything that’s going on up front in your business office? This is your first and last impression area, it’s your hub of activity:

• Telephone calls are received and made
• Patients are welcomed and dismissed
• Appointments are scheduled and rescheduled
• Treatment is enrolled and financial options arranged
• Finances  are discussed and money collected
• Insurance is filed and payments received
• Relationships are started, nurtured, take root and grow

This area is not only a top producing area, it’s your in-house “specialist” area…. the actual lifeline of your practice!

When we think “specialist” we think “tops in their field” because of what they know and what they can do.  What would happen to production if any one of these areas above were to break down? Whether or not you have more than one front desk person, the break down in any one of these areas could be detrimental to your practice.

So, if you find production is down, broken appointments are up, collections are off and stress is on, consider this scenario and ask yourself this question then answer truthfully.  Once the patient leaves your treatment rooms, they are in the hands of your business office “specialist”.  Are they hearing from your Wal-Mart type sales associate or are they hearing from your CEO in charge of production?

Technorati Tags: Building Business, Dental Marketing, engaging and connecting, engaging social media, Livvie Matthews, Patient Relations

Think of all the expense, not to mention the time, involved with getting the phone to ring…only to loose the caller.   Staggering fact:  As many as 50% of New Patient calls are lost at the front desk due to poor telephone skills! 

Verbal skills, over the phone or in person, dictate:

• First impressions
• Treatment acceptance
• Over the counter collections
• Scheduling
• Quality of service
• Referrals

There isn’t an area in your practice that’s untouched by verbal skills and it all starts with that first telephone call. 

We’ve all heard the saying ” You only get one chance to make a good first impression”.   In real estate it is all about Location, Location, Location!

In Dentistry – it is all about Impressions, Impressions, Impressions!  No, We are not talking  Alganates or Rubber Base Impression here! We’re talking about Mental Impressions ….Your service, service, service! 

Today’s patient is:

• More  Demanding
• More Intelligent

 And more importantly, they have more choice about:

•  Who they will see
•  Who they will spend their money with

Positive verbal skills  make sure it’s with your practice and NOT your competitors!

It’s also been shown the new caller will actually  judge the quality of the Dr’s care, buy how well the phone is answered !

So, lets see….. Doctor, you spent years in college studying dentistry and many more hours of Continuing Ed.  (CE).  Now it can take just a moment to make or break the practice by how well we…. answer the phone!

Does that mean pressure for the Front Office?   You bet it does!

It is crucial the atmosphere of the practice over the telephone and in person, be one of enthusiasm….that means…a Love or Passion about what you are doing!!

Closing thought:  Handle all calls, especially New Patient calls as if that call is the most important call you will receive all day…..it is!

Technorati Tags: Building Business, building telephone skills, Dental Marketing, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, social media marketing, Telephone skill

Blogs, short for web logs, are very easy to start, they generally don’t require a great deal of technical knowledge, and should be updated frequently. Blogs can also increase traffic to your site. Search engines love blogs due to the constant change in content!

There are many free blog sites for starting your blog. You can also do a Google search for free blog sites. Here are three to get you started:

• http://www.Wordpress.com 

• http://www.Wordpress.org (used by Write Business Blog)

• http://www.Blogger.com

• http://www.Movabletype.org/ (for movable type blogs)

Take some time to research some existing blogs to get a feel for how you would like your blog to look and what you would like your blog to do. Contact the blogger on some sites you like and ask them the likes and dislikes of how their blog program works. Also post the same question on a few message boards for their responses.

Some features on the blog sites are different and knowing the differences will help you make the choice that will best work with what you want your blog to do.

In designing your site, take time in choosing your colors and theme. There are predesigned templates and many different themes to choose from or you can create your own.

When creating and writing your content, make it interesting by adding your own personality and enthusiasm to your posts. Write like you’re talking to a person who’s right beside you.

Once started, be sure to promote and market your blog. Do a search for Blog Directories for places/sites to promote/list your blog.

One of the big blog search sites is http://www.blogsearch.google.com. This site lists most any type blog for any interest…business, industry, personal blog, etc.

Here are two more to get you started:

• http://www.bloglisting.net/

• http://www.blogtoplist.com/

You can also post your blog in groups and on message boards…be sure to include your blog link in your e-mail sig (signature).

Marketing your blog will take some time, but updating your blog frequently and being persistent will put you on the blogging road to success.

Remember: You are unique. There’s only one you, so share your information written in your unique personality!

Technorati Tags: Blogging, blogging for starters, Building Business, Livvie Matthews, start blogging

Social meda is a powerful marketing tool, but if you’re not careful it can be time consuming and can become overwhelming.

Invitations to connect, invitations to events, join this group, attend this meeting, use this application and the list goes on and on.  It’s no wonder after awhile many social marketing sites just sit there gathering virtual dust.  The key?  You must learn to stay focused.

When first entering the social arena, you might only want to join one of the social platforms, maybe Twitter or Facebook.  Then as you get comfortable with that platform, move on to the next.

But if you’re going to be or are already using several of the social platforms, there are some short cuts you can use to help on days when you’re pressed for time.

The biggest time saver for social marketing is to automate using the  following: 

• Schedule Tweets to post in the future using HootSuite.com or SocialOomph.com
• Write and pre-load your Blog content
• Set up searches and alerts
• Link up feed content to RSS Feeds
• Create email autoresponders
• Use plugins like Tweetmeme.com for viewers to be able to “Tweet This”

The “Lists” you can create in Twitter help you follow certain people easier and your lists can be added to HootSuite making it much easier to locate certain people you like to RT or respond to.

These are just a few time saving shortcuts but whenever possible, take a few hours a week to maintain your social platforms for making contacts and building those all important relationships.   This is social media so the more posts and tweets are seen,  the better.  Remember, it’s all about connecting, engaging, and communicating.

What time saving shortcuts can you share?

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Building Business, Dental Marketing, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, social marketing shortcuts, social media marketing, social media short cuts, time saving shortcuts for social marketing, time saving shortcuts for social media

Due to our outdoor utility room being broken into, and after some research, we purchased a system from CPI Security Systems.  You all know the commercials, it’s the one that says “CPI Security, identify yourself!”

Everything, from the initial phone call, through installation, and then exiting the property was done with customer service in mind and going the extra mile.

Initial phone call:  From the beginning of the call “Brad” (identified himself as he answered the phone) walked me through a series of questions to determine exactly what our needs were, what we wanted from the system, and the type of system we wanted (our objectives). Based on my answers (he listened) , he suggested a couple of options for us to consider.  (Extra Mile)

Brad also stated once the “technician” came out, based on actually looking at our property, we could make changes if needed. 

• At your viewers initial contact ask your viewers questions (and listen) to determine their specific needs (their objectives).   This is not a time to just start off by giving them your “sales” speech and telling them what you think they need.

Installation process:  “Adam” called before the installation time to let us know he would be running about 45 minutes late.  Then when he did get to our house (was actually earlier than the 45 minutes), he sat down with us and went over what he would be doing based on our conversation with “Brad” and asked if we had any questions. 

We did have some questions since we have our cat Muffin in the house most of the time.  We told Adam what we thought we needed for additional security that would be additional expense.   Adam listened to our concerns and then offered some suggestions that were actually better security wise and less expensive.  (Extra Mile)

• After the initial conversation, and upon “digging deeper”, could you offer your customer/viewer something better, based on their need, even if less expensive than what you originally discussed?

Exiting the property:  Adam went through the entire installation process, drilling holes, cutting and running wires, equipment in and out, going into the attic (probably 110 – 115 degrees up there), and installing equipment.  Stuff was everywhere ~ neat, but everywhere.

As he finished his install, he said  he was going to “clean up and put everything back in his truck” and would go over the system with us.

To my surprise, Adam came back in with a vacuum cleaner and literally vacuumed every spot he had drilled, picked up all the loose bits of wire, and put everything back exactly as he had found it ~ except for the keypad, you couldn’t tell he had been there! (BIG Extra Mile)

• When completing your project, break out your “vacuum” and  make sure your customers project has all loose ends ”cleaned up”, objectives are reached, and most importantly… their information presented  expertly to their viewers.  Always give more than what was expected!

In each instance above, going the extra mile didn’t cost a dime more, but the value add to ”company policy” setting CPI above the rest  was immeasurable.

What about you, what “extra mile” do you add that sets your business above the rest?

Technorati Tags: Building Business, following through, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, marketing in detail, service and the extra mile, the extra mile