The reason I bought a dental practice is that I wanted a learning and teaching lab for my clients where I could test concepts and techniques and report my experiences. Here is an experience that happened this past Monday.
A new patient in her early 50’s called our office after receiving a direct mail post card from us. She needed to be seen urgently because her veneer on tooth #8 (done by another dentist) had fallen off. Our scheduling coordinator recognized the urgency, told the patient she called the right office, and that Dr. Nielson would be concerned and would want to get her taken care of as soon as possible. Laurie, our scheduling coordinator, provided directions to our office and advised the patient to come in immediately.
Long story, short, we work the patient into the schedule and discover that she has additional clinical needs. Dr. Nielson provided that care and we added approximately $3,000 to our daily production. The patient was absolutely thrilled!
Many things happened right in this story. Laurie recognized the urgency and opportunity and reassured the patient that she called the right office. Our clinical team members had a ‘can do’ spirit about helping a patient in need and all team members pitched in to work the new patient into our schedule. It’s a great win/win story.
The point that I’d like to make is that this story would have never happened if we hadn’t mailed the patient a direct mail post card! We started using direct mail about two years ago and I must admit that I was highly skeptical about direct mail as an effective marketing strategy. I just had not experienced good results with direct mail in the past with my clients. I was referred to the owner of a marketing firm (Mike Shoun) from someone I respected and I met with Mike to discuss using their services. In this meeting, I expressed my concerns and told Mike that I just had not seen good results with direct mail in the past. Mike very politely said, “Maybe you have not been doing it right”. Turns out, Mike was right on!
Over the past two years Mike and his team have taught us how to use direct mail to consistently attract quality new patients to our practice. Today, direct mail is one very important element of our comprehensive marketing plan. The return on investment (ROI) for our direct mail activity has been excellent. Here is a link to Mike’s website.
Direct mail is one of the reasons that our practice has grown, even in a very tough local economy. While the ROI has been great, the best part about our direct mail is helping patients like we did this past Monday. Keep Smiling!
