Them’s fightin’ words, at least among many dentists. If you don’t believe that, try posing that question the next time you’re at a state dental meeting or your study group.
It’s almost certain that the majority of the group will look at you like you’re crazy while the minority will look thoughtful. And then the heated debate will begin, and go on and on.
Let’s settle this once and for all. Whether you can make it financially without accepting dental insurance depends on what you’re willing to do. Here’s what’s necessary:
- Dump your current mindset about marketing your practice.
- Claim your own worth with every dental procedure you offer.
- Take a comprehensive approach to attracting the better prospects in your market.
Let’s break down those three points.
Tradition Isn’t Destiny
Some wag once said, “If enough people do a certain thing, and enough time passes between that thing and its original stupidity, that’s tradition.”
Where is it written that dentists should have to discount their services to attract patients? In what universe is that automatically true? Not this one.
When you discount your fees, you attract discount-minded patients. They’re looking to get as much as they can on the cheap. You get price-shoppers, insurance-driven patients, and one-and-dones with absolutely no loyalty to your practice.
You’ll work too hard for too long for too little.
Not only that, your return on your marketing investment will be far lower than it could be.
Step 1 means that you have to retool your thinking to accept that you want and can get patients who are willing to pay for your services without discounts. If you can’t manage that, you may as well stop reading right here.
You’re Worth It
You are an advance-degreed professional. You’re a freaking Doctor of Dental Surgery or Doctor of Dental Medicine! If you don’t respect that fact, don’t expect anyone else to respect it, or you.
Dentistry isn’t and shouldn’t be a commodity business. You’re not selling watches in the mall or hawking fast food. You’re providing extremely specialized services that have the potential to change lives. You’re doing something that .0006 percent of the U.S. population can do.
That’s not a made-up number; there are about 197 thousand licensed dentists in a population of 327 million. Why should you not be paid commensurate with the value of the services you provide?
Claim your own value!
Stop Chasing, Start Attracting
When you embrace your own value and stop marketing on price, you have the opportunity to attract patients who value what you provide. Those “better” patients make up some 30 percent or more of almost every market.
You have to position yourself as the only logical choice for better patients, and you won’t do that by advertising. You’ll need a comprehensive and strategic marketing approach that positions you as the dentist of choice. That’s a big lift for most dental practices because it’s time-intensive, labor-intensive, and demands a broad range of specialized skills.
And you won’t directly make one dollar while you’re spending all that time on your marketing.
Take The “A” Train
SmartBox is in the business of providing a steady stream of better dental patients to our clients. We handle every aspect of your marketing through our industry leading Patient Attraction System®. SmartBox dentists can work less, earn more, and enjoy life again!
Your future success starts with the Roadmap call. Following the call you’ll receive your tailored Patient Attraction Roadmap to build your bigger & better future.
You can do without dental insurance if you choose. With SmartBox, it’s your choice.