Justin: Welcome to the Dental Marketing Guy Show, I’m the dental marketing guy, and today I’m joined by Dr Eric Jones, who you may already recognize from the lecture circuit. Dr Jones, met him at the townie meeting here, at the cosmopolitan this year, in Las Vegas, and let me tell you, huge amount of value your about to get for your practice. If you’ve very thought about implants, certain elective procedures, and how these high margin procedures can actually – meaning high profit margin – procedures, can actually help your practice grow, Dr Jones has a story of how he helped his practice and we’re going to talk about some of the techniques he’s used in marketing.
First of all, how’re you, Dr Jones?
Dr Jones: I’m good man, thanks for having me.
Justin: absolutely, it’s a huge honor. Let’s talk a little bit about your history as a dentist and maybe some of what you’ve done in your practice to help spur on the cases that you like to treat.
Dr Jones: So, sure. I’ll tell you, I started a practice in 2011, so that it’d be like a new practice, it was kind of like figure out the marketing side of it, or have really skinny kids. So, we went full tilt all in, coming up with a plan and all of that, but, you know, it’s not so much that – it was almost out of necessity, and then ever since, just watching that through our growth has been something that we’re definitely passionate about, because that’s what fuels, you know, the cases that we want to do, and seeking what we’re actually good at, is the whole marketing side.
Justin: excellent, and you know, I’m always encouraging dentists to sort of reassess ‘what is it that you really want out of dentistry, what kind of case do you want?’ and really get down to why you enjoy that kind of work. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about why you enjoy doing certain types of procedures?
Dr Jones: yeah. You know, I think, there’s more to the point, because you think about, and I’m trying to remember where I read this or heard this, but you think about sales is really just transferred passion, and I know when someone comes in, and we talk about what their options are, I feel confident that, it’s not sales, it’s not anything like that, it’s just that when they see what we do, and what were pretty good at, I know that they can then decide if it’s a fit for them or not. But I think now that it’s especially hard with just, you know, everyone you see out there is like family dentistry, we’re treating you like family, and you’re trying to be everything for everyone. So I think, looking at the scheme of it, if you can pick out what it is you think your good at, what you enjoy doing, what your passionate about, that transfers over to the patient, especially even from a case acceptance stand point, from a looking different, and not being the 1 of 10 000 flyers that you get in the mail, offering a cheap a cheap cleaning, or a free exam, or a $100 tooth extraction, you know? So I think that was huge for us, in saying you know, being a little bit different, I’m almost like a purple cow, with gut instinct, but it’s like standing out there and being congruent with that. it’s not like saying ‘oh we do all these things’ and the patient gets in there and your practicing out of a book, you know what I mean? Yeah, doing everything right, from the phone, to how the office looks, and how you handle, you know the new patient experience, and that all starts with marketing, you know getting the phone to ring.
Justin: would you say the internal marketing from being a specialist, from positioning yourself as someone, of course in dentistry, if you use the word specialist, it might mean something. But, in the marketing field, I guess we could say focus, by being focused on a certain type of procedure, or set of types of procedures, would you say your internal marketing is spurred on from that?
Dr Jones: no, I think it absolutely because that is what you’re used to talking about, you know what I mean? All marketing is, is getting the phone to ring. And it’s very good at it, but then from there, you’re on your own. You can have the best marketing in the world but if you’re blowing 7 out of 10 phone calls, it’s not going to do you much good. But I think absolutely, you know, most of its internal, but it’s just a continuation of the congruency of the message.
Justin: yeah, and so, your part of a group called ‘clinical mastery series’, did I say that right?
Dr Jones: you did.
Justin: excellent. So, you know, having an easy to remember name, that’s important. So, I was talking to John Nosti over at the townie meeting and then I met you and Jason, and we were talking about, well his speech I remember, one of the parts that really stood out to me, is how, you can walk into his office and the hallways are lined with pictures, and there all his cases. You’ve done something similar to this?
Dr Jones: right, so, yeah as I said, I can’t take any credit for it because I stole the idea from him and definitely Jason, it’s good. But it’s just having, think about it, what is it we do? Do you walk in and see like a 1989 zoo poster up? Is that really about what you do? we took headshots, we took before and after’s, we had them printed on like a little stand out from the wall and then titled the wall with those, so I think, you want the patient to feel like there in the right spot. And the last thing you want to advertise is ‘oh, I’m the implant guy, I’m the implant guy’, and then they get in there and you don’t have a single photo of an implant case to show, all you have is the old skull model from dental school that your breaking out, you know, to show them about implants instead of saying ‘this is so and so, this is there story’ and that can either come in from a patient testimonial, or either video where they talk about their experience, or any of those things. Absolutely.
Justin: yeah, and so, internal marketing, I’m always talking about how huge that is, and we’ve had some guests on the show who’ve talked a little bit about that. So there’s the pictures, what would you say as far as external marketing, reaching out, you know, we talked to Dr Christopher Phelps, and he talked about some of his ideas on how to reach out to certain demographics in an effective way, that’s not salesy, and you were telling me earlier about some of the things you’ve done that are sort of similar to that, could you share that?
Dr Jones: yeah, so I think we talked about it, even the idea of being kind of simultaneous, having multiple avenues of marketing going and not think about it, it’s like ‘we do this, then we do this, then we do this’ for instance I think, looking at, your whole marketing plan as a whole, it’s something that needs to be community outreach, some of that is events, I’ll talk a little bit about that. Certainly there’s a direct mail component, like in our office, there’s a huge web component, you know SEO and SEM component. And, really just tackling all these things, because I think if you pigeon hole yourself into one medium, next thing you know your like, all the companies that are gone now that dominated, you know what I mean, even like Polaroid, who would of thought, you know that’s what we called film forever, and Kodak, and since then that division is gone, times change.
So I think even if it’s, I know you asked me about events, but even if that is getting out and talking to people about implants or something that you’re passionate about. Implants, just like Dr Phelps, is something that we started doing education seminars on, and first one we had, I’m thinking ‘no way someone comes to this’, and we go in and it was in a retirement community and there was like 80 people in there, and I was like ‘holy cow, who wants to hear about implants’ I was thinking like 3 people. And that I was going to be embarrassed talking about it in front of 1 person, and instead it was a packed room.
So, I think coming up with a comprehensive plan and working on multiple fronts and not out thinking the room. I know sometimes, even that first thing, thinking about an event, we’re worried about what kind of – do we get a deli tray, do we get a cheese try, what do we get, all the stuff, and then by the time we did our 3rd one, we were just like ‘let’s just bring some bottled water and we’ll pick up doe fruit on the way there’, and just getting out there and meeting people. And then even when they see us talking about implants, whatever it is, they can tell that that’s something that we have experience in, a little bit of expertise in, and that’s something we’re passionate about.
Justin: yeah, and so, you get in front of these audiences, I mean obviously, being a retirement community, there in the market, they’ve decided to join this seminar, which for those who might of not here, that was 80 not 18 people showed up 80, and that’s incredible. So, these are all people who have decided that they want to learn more about implants. And of course these communities, they don’t want you to come in and pitch them, so you’re not going there with the intent of being like ‘okay, so it’s $19.99 for-‘
Dr Jones: right, and you know as I was saying, the first even 2 we did, really threw me, we’d do, we’d tell who we were and all that. But then at first I was afraid they’d be saying that the community would be upset if we bought in any kind of material, so we didn’t bring anything in. We just told them who we were, the girls had some business cards on them, that went with me, but that was it. It was funny, it took a little bit of time, and I thought, all this didn’t work, and about 2 weeks later we got a call from a new patient, and they wanted implants, they already, they’ve been thinking about them for years, and then finally the time was right. That kept happening and kept happening to the point where, we’d get calls 9 months later.
A lot of times we’d do it on implants, and then that works a treat and then other times, it maybe simpler, or it may be more complex, but, it’s the patients who would come in, they’re like ‘oh, we already met Dr Jones’ and another dentist I worked with, and they’re so fine, and so insist able on seeing me, you know, like I was the expert on them. We believe in our passion on implants, we do a good mini, but just they are, them coming in wanting to see me, like I’m the guy was kind of fun and unique to see.
Justin: yeah, and so you don’t even need to call yourself the implant guy, your just-
Dr Jones: no, so we didn’t at all. and then you know, once they’re there, they feel like they already know you, and it’s like there’s no tension, you know, and even in our seminar, 1 thing we talk about is ballpark national cost, so it’s like, we already had someone coming in, thinking they know what they need, knowing about what it costs, knowing a little bit about the process, because they were there and then, it’s like, there educated informed ready to go, versus, feeling like your starting from scratch.
Justin: you know in dentistry, the word ‘sales’ is kind of a dirty word.
Dr Jones: yeah.
Justin: but, you hit the nail on the head when you said “sales is the transfer of that passion or enthusiasm”, so that’s really really clear, once a person knows, likes and trusts you as a dentist, and your passionate about it, if your enthusiastic about getting them an implant, that’s the winning combination, so that’s sales right there if you really break it down in an effective way, would you say that’s pretty much your sales process? Is just being enthusiastic, being honest and just having the consumer being informed and knowing the expectations?
Dr Jones: yeah, and I’d say that’s entirely it is; just meeting that person where they are, eye to eye, hearing there story, I have a team member that does just that, and does a lot of that process for me, but really finding out a little bit more about them, and from that it’s just giving them there options, and not picking it for them, and kind of laying it all out there and letting them decide what it is they want, and I think off the top of my head, photos on the walls, we do bigger cases, and functional cases, and aesthetic cases, even like what we teach in clinical mastery, but it’s just that, I think of all the ones we’ve done, I can’t think of anyone that’s like ;nope, I wish I didn’t do it, I want my money back’, you know, most are response are ‘you know what, I wish I did this years ago.’ And then knowing that and being about to look a patient in the eye and tell them the truth is an awesome thing. In fact I just got a text, we seated a case yesterday, and this was the text I got a bit ago, it said “wow, loving my new smile, wish I’d done this years ago, thank you!”, with all the emoticons, you know, so it’s like, that’s awesome, to know that and feel that and to know that we’ll give that value to the patient, is really, it’s not about sales, it’s about just telling them about what we can do, and letting them decide, there’s no pressure, whatever they choose.
Justin: When you get that momentum, how much word of mouth is, how many referrals do you get specifically for implants, from previous implant patients?
Dr Jones: I think it’s, you know what, that’s a good question, the exact, with implants, and I’m not sure. I mean I think, we get them, and then there are patients who are referral, they come in per-sold, and those are the patients that’ll wait 3 weeks to see you. When you know you could hit 10 dentist offices opposite of the 9 hour, from your office, and they could see them tomorrow, and those are the ones that come in, knowing they want to see you and they want to talk to you. I think a good bit, but I think also just the confidence it brings, and with that confidence, knowing that your competent and that you have this new patient that you’ve never met before, and they found out about you from the web, or from google reviews or something like that, and they feel that, and I think that that’s also huge.
Justin: yeah, and you know, google reviews are pretty huge. It seems like hats were word of mouth is going.
Dr Jones: yeah, it’s like digital.
Justin: we had Maui Bob on the program, he talked about 5 star reviews, and it was a lot of fun. We talked about how word of mouth is still really big, people do refer people, but I think a lot of the generation of 18-34, what’s happening is, they do have word of mouth, they do still asked friends and family about ‘whose your dentist?’, but then they go to google and yelp and they base their decision on that as well.
Dr Jones: yeah, and I think, you just touched on a good point, I think that’s knowing your audience, I think about for implants, most of that’s for older people that have lost teeth and now have the ability to afford treatment or the need with missing teeth. You know, I think trying to go fully google-yelp strategy on the 65+ crowd is tough, that’s why we’re totally into the seminar, and getting out in front of them, you know what I mean, kind of meeting them where, how they want to be met. Whereas the younger crowd, I’m sure if you’re looking at say Ortho or Invisalign, and your target demo is females or maybe some guys from 22-32, that’s a huge online presence to worry about, and its google, its yelp it’s all those things its getting people to check in where you are, like you on Facebook and all that stuff.
So I think it’s also having all of those things going but knowing where to find who you is looking for.
Justin: exactly, yeah that’s definitely the case. Well tell us, before you go, tell us a little bit about Clinical mastery series, and how – I think it’s you and John and Jason, right?
Dr Jones: and then Mike Smith, and then I have a few other guys that help out as well, Chad Yenchesky, Eric Farmer, Josh Stelzer, and so, originally, I started out as a student with those guys, and then just seeing that kind of dentistry on dental town, I wanted to do more of that but I didn’t even know where to start. So, it kind of began as a student there, and then even that transferred, is getting excited about it, seeing what it did for our practice, and then now, wanting to be a part of that because I know how it completely changed everything we did, you know, the elective side of our practice is probably 50-75%. And I mean, it’s needs based, but you know, a partial works just like an implant does, replacing missing teeth, but it’s allowing people to choose, and I think that was just huge in my development, and what it did for my practice and I kind of wanted to be a part of giving back and helping our dentists see that as well.
Justin: yeah. And so, we talked about focusing on the procedures that you want, so that you can get the patients that you want, not trying to be everything to all people, knowing your audience; would you say 2 quick tips, if there’s nothing else from this interview that anyone remembers, what are too quick tips that are good take away for our viewers?
Dr J ones: I think, just like you said, knowing what it is that you want to do, and being clear about that and then positioning yourself to get the training, you know, if that means going to courses, if you think you want to do aesthetics, that’s great but being able to deliver what you say you can do, is huge. Because all we really have at the end of the day, is our reputation or word for what we say we’re going to do, and I think following up on that, you know, if that’s saying we’re going to follow up in the office with your calling your patient, or bring you patient to bring them back in, or calling to check on them more, if it’s saying ‘you know what, I can make your smile look great, your teeth look great or give you this function’ any of those things, and being able to do it.
So, I think knowing what you want to do, and then preparing yourself for that, as far as what you need to do clinically and get training, to really create an environment where you can bring that patient in and deliver what you say you can do, and then finding those patients too. It doesn’t make no good to know how to do everything in the world, and then not have the – too many patients in a month – and then never get a chance to do those things.
Justin: well you heard it here first, from the dental marketing guy show. Dr Eric Jones, thank you very much.
Dr Jones: thanks Justin.
Justin: it’s been great having you, I’m sure the viewers have some really good actionable data, that’s what were all about here at the dental marketing guy show, is how to get you to grow your practice the way you want it to grow. So, if you have any questions for Eric, for myself, feel free to reach out, if this is in the YouTube comments below, on dental town, the dental marketing guy blog, where ever you see this on social media, feel free to reach out. Once again, thanks for listening, I’m Justin, the dental marketing guy, from dentalmarketingguy.co, and thanks again to Eric Jones, Dr Jones.
Dr Jones: thanks Justin, it was fun.
Justin: excellent, I’m glad you could join us. Until next time, thanks for listening.
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