There’s no doubt that dentists are very intelligent, dedicated, and talented group of people. There’s also no doubt that dentists are as different as everyone else – different beliefs, different pastimes, different interests.
But when it comes to the one thing that matters to your dental prospects, there’s no difference between dentists.
Dentists today are assumed to be competent. That comes with the credential. But when it comes to the nuances between dentists, what makes a dentist more suitable for certain patients or conditions than others, your prospects are basically color-blind.
That can be a hard pill for dentists to swallow, but it’s true. Your prospects don’t know the difference between a DDS and a DMD. They don’t know the difference between someone who specializes in implants and someone who’s added implants to a general practice.
They don’t know the difference between dentists. That’s why you have to tell them, and that’s where too many dentists go wrong with their marketing.
Case in Point
Take a look at a variety of other dentist’s websites. The odds are excellent that some of those sites, if not most, are written for other dentists. You might not notice at first. After all, you know what endodontic procedure means, and periodontal treatment, and dental restoration. You know what a superior outcome means clinically.
Your prospects don’t know any of that, and they don’t care. They’re not interested in reading material written to impress other dentists. They won’t watch doctor videos when the emphasis is on the fine points between clinical approaches to a particular problem.
They won’t read, they won’t watch, and they won’t stay. They’ll go find another dentist’s website. They’ll find and stay on a website that’s written for them, that speaks their language, and talks about what the doctor can do for their dental problems in terms they can understand and relate to.
Who is Dentistry Really For?
As odd as it may sound dentistry isn’t about you and your staff. It’s about your prospects, your patients, and their dental problems. Any dentists who don’t have that attitude and express it clearly in their marketing are in for a rough time. To dental prospects, those dentists are all alike. There’s no reason to choose one over another.
So what criteria do prospects use to choose a dentist? The answers are simple, but disheartening: price, availability, and insurance acceptance.
And those are exactly what most dentists stress in their advertising. Dentistry is engaged in a race to the bottom, with dentists trying to undercut their competitors while retaining enough margin to make it worth their while. So dentists get price-driven, availability-driven, and insurance-driven patients. Does that sound familiar?
The Bottom Line
You’re losing prospects to your competitors, and they’re losing prospects to you, because you’re all chasing after patients using exactly the same “selling” points. But all it takes for you to have really bad months is for your competitors to have really good months.
There’s a better way to attract more patients. More importantly, there’s a proven way to attract better patients, the kind who will stay, pay, and refer.
If you’re serious about your success, here’s what you should do. Visit patientattractionblueprint.com and arrange a BluePrint call. SmartBox reserves those calls for dentists who are interested in a proven system that can double or even triple their practices.
You can keep on being “just another dentist” and get your usual run of low-value cases. Or, you can get more patients, more profits, and more freedom.