Article Avenue - free articles and downloads - Dentist Marketing Strategy : How To Start Your Business Right

Starting up with your dentist marketing business means that you have to have ideas on how to start it right. And in dentist marketing you should be able to make your practice compatible with the business. I will share to you good ideas on how to do just that in your own dentist marketing business.

Holding a free tele-class with a group of doctors, I was asked: “How do I know where to start with your marketing?”, and “How do I know if my practice can be helped with marketing?”. I gave them a fair, round about answer. My answer to them explains what you really need to think about in dentist marketing instead of being in a position where you are misled by a marketing consultant or representative. In here, I'll be giving you specific measurements that I like to look at which helps me to objectively coach my clients on the “health” of their practice.

Specific Measurement 1 : Consider the Referral Ratio

You need to consider the Referral Ratio in dentist marketing. So, what is this Referral Ratio?. It's simple. All you need to do is just take the total number of referrals you received for the last year and divide it by the total number of active patients you have in your practice. So now we have:

Referral Ratio = (total # of referrals received last year) / (total # of active patients you have)

With this formula, consider these examples:
Example 1: If you have 300 referrals and 1000 active patients:
Therefore;
Referral Ratio = (300 referrals) / (1000 active patients) = 30%

Note: 30% Referral Ratio is considered “good”, not great... but it is a good starting place.

Example 2: If you have 100 referrals and 1000 active patients:
Therefore;
Referral Ratio = (100 referrals) / (1000 active patients) = 10%

Note: If you fall in this range, then you have some major improvements to do. The good news though is that at least you now know it.. and we can go to work!

If you hit below 50% referral ratio in your dentist marketing marketing business, then you would list it as one of your strategic objectives to improve over the next 90 days to around 12 months. If you hit below 20% referral ratio, then it is vital! Immediate action is needed!

Specific Measurement 2: Consider The 6-Month Value Of A New Patient

You would want to know what a patient is worth to your practice at a 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month time basis in your dentist marketing business. But getting started, keep it as simple as you can. Why? Because it will tell you how much patients are spending with your practice in that time. This tells your Return On Investment (ROI) in a span of 6 months! Let's site an example. If the cost to acquire a new patient for you is $100; and you have a 6-month patient value of $600; then you know for every $1 you spend... you get around $6 back. And that's a good start!

If your ROI falls around 3:1 or 1:1 in your dentist marketing business, then you are in danger! You need to move it up a notch a.s.a.p.! But even if you have a higher ROI, you are ALWAYS looking to improve this!

Bear in mind that in your dentist marketing business, the value of a patient is that you will never stop trying to improve. Here are some simple ways to do this:

increase referrals per patient,
diagnose more and improve case acceptance;
improve your new patient experience;
start a patient newsletter so as to communicate with your existing patients (if done correctly, gets them to choose more of your services);
offer more services;
hold an Invisalign Open House;
start placing implants; etc.

There are more ideas in dentist marketing, but this gives you a very good start!

Visit us at our website, www.dentistprofits.com and get a free CD and Book titled, “The Underground Secrets Of Attracting High Quality New Patients Who Pay, Stay, & Refer!”.

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