Justin: Welcome to the Dental Marketing Guy Show. I’m Justin the dental marketing guy and today we have this huge gust. I’m hugely honored to introduce Fred Joyal. He is, as you probably know, the founder of 1-800-DENTIST. He has been a huge key influence in the dental marketing industry. Since very early in the days when dentist even started considering marketing. Fred’s basically a historian on everything that’s gone on in the changes in the industry, the technological changes. Everything from taking 1-800-DENTIST into its future as 1800 numbers become less relevant and our digital age is taking over. He’s going to tell us all about the history of marketing in dentistry, what he thinks the future is, what’s going on right now, who are the movers and shakers What you need to be doing in your practice in order to stand out from everyone else and man it’s just such a huge honor to be talking to you. How are you, Fred?
Fred: Really good, Justin. I’m happy to be on your show. It should be a lot of fun, there’re tons to talk about obviously, in the marketing world of dentistry and my company’s celebrating its 30th year. I can’t even believe it myself, that it was back in 86 that we started advertising.
Justin: That’s excellent, that’s excellent. Time does fly, doesn’t it? I mean, well.
Fred: Yeah, that’s it. It’s a big chunk and it’s, you know, half my life. I’ve been doing this and that with more to come.
Justin: Well, yeah ad I’d love to talk to you about, you know, what’s more to come. That’s going to be really exciting to me. But for the viewers who haven’t really, aren’t too familiar with what you’ve done in the world of dentistry and marketing. Could you tell us a little bit about the history of how you got into 1-800-DENTIST, why you got into 1-800-DENTIST, and what’s changed as time went on, you know.
Fred: Well, back in 86 dentist had really just started advertising a little bit more than Yellow Pages and so we came in and we started doing radio advertising, in the television, advertising, creating a referral service for a dentist and there’s a ton of resistance to it. There were people going “You’re really denigrating the profession and, you know, you’re harming our image in the consumer’s mind. We’re professionals, we don’t do this sort of stuff.” And then eventually it’s come full circle because I had dentists who used to come up to me and say exactly that, at the trade show. And I had a dentist come up to me about a month ago and he said “I just want to tell you” because I talked about that in electron, he was in it and he said “I want to tell you, I was one of those guys” and he said “I’m here to apologize and tell you that I was wrong. You’ve done more for this profession in terms of promoting that any society’s ever done.” We spent the half a million dollars promoting dentistry with 1-800-DENTIST at this point where nobody has spent that much and what happens is more people go to their own dentist because of me. Then call me, looking for a dentist. So I believe we’ve had a tremendous, positive impact and we certainly helped thousands of our members over the years to grow their practices. But the evolution of things is gone from what, we did, we were on television for 20 years is our mains day of advertising and now it’s probably a third of what we do, you know. We’re deep in social media, we’re deep in online search at this point. So, the landscape is completely changed and of course the dentist all feel the need to do advertising at this point to do some sort of promotional marketing. Whether it’s through advertising, like print, television, radio, buying clicks. Things like that, but they feel the need and they’re not wrong to promote themselves.
Justin: Yeah, yeah. And what do you think caused that change? Were you just seeing things before they happen or do you think 1-800-DENTIST actually hanged the game?
Fred: I think we were not completely responsible for changing the game. But we were really powerful influence in the fact that the consumer was needed to be reminded to take care of their teeth and that there were options available. And so I think that a lot of dentists believed “Oh, we will just do what they ask us to do or they’ll show up when they show up and we’ll try to remind them to come.” And it’s been an opportunity to really expand the industry and of course with the advent of implants and cosmetics and single visit dentistry. All of these things have really changed how people are perceiving dentistry and you know cosmetics is a big thing that’s certain, appearance whitening has had a huge influence on the dentistry that people are suddenly much more concerned about having white teeth. And that was kind of, the extreme makeover was a big influence or on that. What I laugh at is when you look at old TV shows like you look at an old star trek episode and you look at the actors’ teeth and they’re just horrible. They couldn’t even get a job today with those teeth. The whole aesthetic of teeth has gone very hard and in the direction of straight and white. And that’s a big deal, that’s a big change.
Justin: What do you think has changed culturally? I mean you’re just, you don’t take care of yourself. You have a bad set of teeth, the impression is you don’t take care of yourself and if you don’t take care of yourself why are you going to take care of my company? So why should I hire you? When do you think that change started happening?
Fred: I think it’s just been really, really gradual. I don’t think there was a tipping point moment where people just started to care. I, maybe its high-definition television, who knows where all we started to notice what these actors really looked like. But I think it just happened gradually over time just like, you know, grooming, in general became more and more important. But, yeah, you’re absolutely right that now it’s you put a ceiling on your career arc. If you don’t have a good looking teeth because it is an indicator and a lot of times it’s unconsciously with people that their response to your appearances, they may not vocalize it or even be aware of it. But they’re looking at it and they’re having a judgement about how you take care of yourself and that’s certainly in the job market in the relationship world. Those two things are two places people are spending all their lives. So it just became much more important.
Justin: You know. I think I heard some stats somewhere. So I’m not the expert on this, but somewhere I heard that psychologists believe that we actually make like half of our judgements of a person based on the first three seconds of looking at them.
Fred: Yeah, I’ve seen studies on that too. Yeah, and we’re not always right, but we are making a serious judgement about people in that time frame. It’s, I think it’s very primal that we’ve always had to asses almost on a tribal level somebody right away. Are they a threat? Are they a friend or foe? Essentially so we’re doing that stuff, you know we’ve hardwired it in our communion brains to do that, you know.
Justin: And when you talk about psychology, remind me. I think this is 1-800-DENTIST or maybe Futuredontics, the parent company. You guys actually do some sort of personality test or some sort of screening process before you hire someone. Was that accurate?
Fred: I mean, because what we’re looking for, when somebody’s answering the phone in our call centers. We want somebody who can be helpful and compassionate and we teach them to be non-judgmental about people because we want them to be listening on the phone. If somebody’s called us it means they need help with their teeth. So we’re doing our best to help them to find a dentist. They’re going to want to go to on a regular basis because we believe that that’s important. That that’s important for your health, as well as your appearance which means it’s going to affect your whole life. So if you don’t have a dentist, you need one and their job is to really help somebody do that. And they really are empathetic and so we have learned, you know, we have taken our 20 bests operators and profile them to tell us what personality types can do this all day long and be really helpful to talk to these people about, you know. What is a very personal issue, but they have a lot of apprehension about. They have apprehension about finding a dentist not just going. We get studies that showed us that consumer have an equal level of apprehension of just about picking a dentist, because it’s the great unknown. They have no idea what that experience is going to be like till they sit down on the chair and lean back. And it’s, they’re pretty darn anxious about it.
Justin: Yeah, not only does it require a high level of trust, but I think people really know deep down if they’re honest with themselves that you don’t really know, you can’t gauge the clinical skills of the dentist. So all you have to go off of is that halo effect, you know. There’s the dentist himself and nice teeth as a staff has nice teeth. You know, are they, like you said empathetic, you know. That’s a big one because if someone’s not empathetic on the phone, so this is the front desk, it’s not even the dentist but that halo effect, you know. If the front desk answers the phone. She cares about you, you know you’re in pain and all that are for the opposite, she doesn’t. The inference from any reasonable person is the dentist is the same way, if the dentist puts up with this behavior at the front desk then that’s how he is.
Fred: Well, that’s one of the least trade positions in the practice. I want to go into what you said, but it just reminded me of this amazing story that somebody just told me. That he called the dental practice because he wanted to see how the reception is behaving. So we said “Hi, I found the practice name on my list of dentist with my delta plain. So I found your name and I need to get some dental work done. Do you have a website that I can go see?” And she said “No, we don’t have a website” and hung up.
Justin: Oh, okay.
Fred: That was it, she was like, and she was helping him right then. Like I don’t have a website, click. We wish we had a website but can I send you some information to tell me more about your problem anyway. But that’s a 180 degrees from where the experience you need to start giving. And that’s why I’ve have written a couple books on marketing based on everything that I’ve learned about what consumers are asking us for and what, I’ve seen amazing dentists do the first book called Everything is Marketing which is because everything that you do in the practice either increases or decreases case acceptance. So it’s all about how to create that in step by step, how to create a mindset in the practice and then create the team that does it. Second book really talks to what your reference before which is it’s called Becoming Remarkable: How to Create a Dental Practice everyone Talks About. Because now when somebody talks about you they talk online, they talk with their thumbs and it’s permanent. It’s searchable, it’s likeable, it’s shareable, and you can delete it. So you have to create a remarkable experience from start to finish. And it’s not about, like you said, it’s not about the clinical skills. That’s 20% of the experience, maybe, it’s everything else. All the other dimensions of that experience that they’re judging your dentistry and what’s going to create loyalty and trust with that patient.
Justin: Yeah, that’s really powerful. You know, things like Google reviews. It’s, you know just amazing like you’re telling me. I’m, you know, I had a lot of dentists contact me. I do SEO for dentists and a lot of dentists contact me and they’re like “You know, I don’t know I don’t feel comfortable asking for a google review.” It’s like how many referrals did you get this month?
Fred: Yeah, it’s like I don’t feel comfortable with a lot of stuff you know. When I started my business I was going door to door to dental practices. I wasn’t particularly comfortable with it, but that’s how you build a business and now this is where they’re going to find out about you. You have to find a way to get comfortable or to get systematic. That’s what I’m telling people, there has to be a systematic way of generating reviews. Whether you’re asking yourself or your emailing them or your team’s asking. That’s the way of the world, I mean people read on. Once they start reading online reviews as a behavior, they want it for everything and we have to be there in the dental field.
Justin: Yeah, I mean I don’t know how dealerships do it. You know these restaurants do it, it’s kind of stilly that the dental industry wouldn’t do it. I mean, come on.
Fred: They don’t want to do it, nobody likes to change their own behavior. They love change, they love the modern world. They just don’t want to change themselves and dentists get very much locked into the patterns of what’s worked for them, what made them move through their day very efficiently. They’re much more engineer, artist personalities, then, you know that aggressive business person’s personality and which makes them great dentists, but it makes it much more difficult for them to survive in the small business world that you see them in, every day and that you’re helping them. I mean they need help with all of that stuff.
Justin: Do you think that’s partly why the rise of corporate dentistry and, you know, a lot of older dentists who are solo practitioners are saying like all these young kids, they got out of dental school, they go into corporate dentistry. Do you think that’s part of it? I hear a lot of dental students about to graduate saying “I just want security, I got these two loans. I just want to paycheck. I want a solid paycheck. Do you think that’s partly, do you think that the comfort, the not wanting to get out as an entrepreneur just I’m a dentist. I want to be a dentist. You think that’s what’s causing the rise in corporate dentistry or at least one of the things?
Fred: Well, it’s that and it’s the consumer demand for convenience and it’s the huge consumer demand now for a dentist to accept their insurance coverage. I mean 10 years ago, dentists were dropping their plans. The goal was to be a fee for service practice. Now 86% percent of practices except at least one plant and corporate accepts plenty of plans and that’s every income level. That’s what we found people want, the insurance to pay for as much as possible and so corporate is taking advantage of that and their systematizing the business aspects of the business and helping people who, you know. Like you said, they got student loans they come out, they can’t buy a practice any more than 3, 4 hundred G’s in debt. Where’s the money? Who’s going to lend him the money to buy a practice? And now they’ve got, you know. Some of these people are serving 6, 7, 8 thousand dollars a month in debt. They need a paycheck, so yeah. So corporate’s attracting them, giving them a place to work and to make money and then sometimes make very good money that their career arc is perceived very differently that it was 20 years ago certainly. I get older dentists at the end of my lecture I say “What did you pay for dental school?” So these guys paid 5,000 dollars a year to go to dental school. It’s a hundred a year now, that’s, I mean, that’s some inflation right there.
Justin: Yeah, alright. So let’s talk about, you know. There’re all these changes going on. Let’s talk about how Fred Joyal is changed. How has 1-800-DENTIST changed, you got future Futuredontics is the parent company, right?
Fred: Yes, yeah, and we’re actually, now we’re part of Dentsply Sirona because they saw that what the consumer needed to know about was at this point single visit dentistry cad/cam technology that makes it possible to never have to get a temporary. Most people don’t know that this exists and what we’ve seen because I believe this. I started to see Sirona has come along 10 years ago really was when I really started to notice it, is that when people hear about this, these people have been put off dentistry for years who have the money, who have the need, who just don’t. I know it’s 2 or 3 visits, I just can’t do it right now. They’re too busy and they find out that it’s possible to get it done more quickly and they come right in and they’ll start a big case right away. And so this, I think is the next big wave and it’s what Sirona saw was the consumer needs to become aware of this and so we’re part of our advertising now is to tell people of this, about a quarter of our members have the cad / cam technology. Now, people have all sorts of different needs and we try to match them up with whatever level they’re at. But technology is really changing dentistry too, and we want people to know about it so this is how we’ve changed. We’re starting to chance our messaging along with the media that we use. We’re moving it in every way that we can, inform people we’re using and Facebook is a huge medium for us at this point which 3 years ago even wasn’t true. That’s how fast the world changes and dentists are having trouble keeping up with that for sure.
Justin: The way things are moving so fast, it seems like dentists are, you know, there in the trenches. They’re doing the work, they got the hand piece, and it seems like every 2 minutes, there’s some new software, there’s some new gizmo or gadget coming out. I mean what you would say, for the dentists. I talked to a couple dentists in dentaltown, they were asking about your partnership with Sirona. How big it is and all that, I didn’t actually get any specific questions of that thread, but kind of the general tone was, man, it just seems like there’s always something new. There’s always something big going on. What really is the next big thing and I know you’re big on technology. You’re big on CEREC and that single day dentistry is, so you think that the next big wave?
Fred: I think that you know this as a marketer. Convenience is a huge marketing advantage and I’m one visit vs to undeniably be a marketing advantage but it’s an experience advantage. There isn’t a patient out there that says “Let’s drag this out over as many days as possible.” The idea of getting it done in one day is huge and just that the quality of the resort has grown and grown and grown to the point where it’s basically the equivalent of a lab now. There may be some labs that the dentists use for his cosmetic cases, the interiors that are better than he’s going to get from CEREC technology. Maybe, but not everybody wants perfection and a lot more people want convenience and I think that’s technology that brings convenience and also says “This is modern dentistry.” I mean, that’s a lot of the response we’re getting is they’re going “Oh, dentistry is finally changing.” Digital radiography, being another it’s, you know, from a consumer standpoint they get to see a full-sized image of what’s going on in their mouth and it’s a lot easier for a dentist to explain that. So, to me, it’s digital radiography is baseline cad/cams critical and becoming more so from a convenience standpoint and then there’s this see the 3D image. That basically makes implants much easier, but that information is much more powerful, clinically and it’s a, you know. You show a person a 3D image of their head that blows their mind. They’ve never seen anything like that in any doctor’s office. Never mind their dentist and so all of those things are powerful marketing tools and their powerful clinical tools.
Justin: So what cities have your partnership and focusing on? I think you guys are releasing in some bigger metropolis is throughout the country. You and Serena?
Fred: Yeah, well you know we’re national in how the whole business works, but we made a push for a single visit dentistry in San Diego and Chicago in particular. Also, did in Phoenix, in Portland and Boston and San Antonio as well. So we did a test market in those cities just to see what if it had an effect on people and that’s what I was telling you is what we started to see is this. It wasn’t a flood of people going “I want single visit dentistry” it’s not people walking around going “I need a crown today and I don’t want a temporary” but there are people who put off their dentistry who suddenly hear this message that dentists, there’s a new age of dentistry out there and it brings up this need to a higher level. And, you know, that’s how the dentist builds value in his practice. That’s how he creates a remarkable experience, is with this technology and making it more convenient to get better results, you know. We live in a world of everything is faster, better, and cheaper. And so everyone’s waiting for that to happen in dentistry. It will be faster and better, I don’t know how quickly we’ll be cheaper, but we can be more affordable when we’re more efficient.
Justin: Right, right. So speaking of efficiency. Okay, obviously CEREC has some advantages there. I know in your first book, everything is marketing which, by the way, really changed my whole career. I tell you a little history about me. I was doing SEO for all businesses, I kind of became known for it. Getting really good SEO results for my area in San Luis Obispo, California and I really wanted to target the niche. I wanted to say, you know, I wanted my own identity. I wanted to become the real go to expert and dental was always towards the top that list. Your book actually changed my mind about, I was considering personal injury lawyers, I was considering moving companies, I was considering different things and I have my own reasons for each one based on my past. And let me tell you, when I read your book I was like hands down. I had no idea there’s so much in this industry. Sorry, I had no idea the psychology that goes into this and it was really incredible. And I know one of the things you mentioned in your book were how CEREC and other technology, not just CEREC, but all technologies can be used as a marketing tool where, when you show them this thing that looks like it’s from outer space and it just shows that you care because you want to stay on top of things. So, you know, that’s comforting, you know, it’s like all this dentist actually cares about my world health because he went out and bought a bell scope even though he’s not going to make a lot of money doing Val scope oral cancer examinations. He might not make any money off of that, but it shows that he cares and with that, and so have you. It’s kind of hard to quantify that right? It’s one of those serendipitous things. It’s just one of those things that you should do, but I was curious if you know of any studies or just based on your personal experience. What it is that you’ve seen in terms of using technology as a marketing tool?
Fred: Well, certainly when you bring your patients in and you do a restoration in one visit and you say “I have this technology” they’re going to go out and tell people about it. I mean it’s just like anything that’s different when you suddenly go into a business and it’s suddenly way more convenient in one way or another or another or way more comfortable or just more exciting. It’s been on this reason why there’s a line outside the Apple store every time they release something new is people love this stuff and they talk about it and that’s, you know. To me, any sort of technology that gives a better experience has a certain wow element to it. You’re generating word of mouth, which is which of the best patients. I was told if your number one source of patience isn’t word of mouth you’re not giving a great experience. That’s the biggest indicator you need to stop any advertising, change the experience of the practice because people are talking about you for a reason, or worse, they’re just not recommending you for a reason. So technology can always do that a Velscope another great example of, you know, like we are the doctors of the mouth here and we wanted to detect any sort of cancer very early when it’s treatable. Let me know, you know when you’ve got comfortable, you’ve got convenience and you are showing them that you care. That’s a huge part of creating the value of the dentistry in the trust and loyalty that that patient is going to have for the practice. That’s what you want, it’s about always about a long-term relationship with the dental patients. It’s not about one visitor to, it’s how do you take care of them for 10, 20, 30 years. That trust is everything for that and the result is there.
Justin: Absolutely and so with technology that’s one way to show it, but you know I would also say the opposite is true as well where if your dental practice with a budget- a marketing budget. You know, it kind of blows my mind, honestly Fred. You know those still spend a 100 k plus on a toy, but then the front desk answers the phone with rudeness.
Fred: Yeah, right. Well, it’s easier to buy the toy then the change and they know, you know, it’s either it’s not a nice person or not if they’re so busy they only pick up the phone three out of four times and that’s like, there’s no small business that could survive that except dentistry. That’s how profitable dentistry is. We get to the phone three out of four times when we’re open and still stay open and not have a nice person answering the phone. Yeah, it’s remarkable how that is the norm and because, but the dentist is a clinician. He’s a surgeon essentially so he needs those skills and develop those skills and he’s the person who has the personality who had those skills. So when it’s the fuzzy stuff like marketing it’s like no, you need really nice people, you need a great culture, you integrate the experience. The lighting needs to change in here, okay, though. But you need to redo this reception area like that’s got nothing to do with my dentistry. Like now, just in the patient’s mind when they walk through the front door. Creating an impression about you just like we’re talking about that three second person makes a judgement about you based on your appearance. They’re doing the same thing when they get on the phone with a dental practice or walk in a dental office that we are unconsciously registering all of this stuff in our environment from people and from whatever sight and sound and smell that we encounter. It’s just who we are and you can ignore it and believe it since they say it’s not important, but it is important and it’s having an effect. It will have a greater and greater effect on your business as dentistry gets more competitive. Cutting corporate dentistry is making dentistry more competitive. You have to step up your game or join corporate. There’s no third avenue anymore, not long term. So that’s why I’m encouraging, create a remarkable experience and you’ll have an invincible practice.
Justin: Yeah, I really like that, you know, you touched on that a little bit in your first book too. It is one of the tips that gave dentists and some of them I find have already done this, but I’m willing to bet dimes the donuts most dentists do not do this is your advice on using Chap Stick. It’s so cheap, like how much is that chap stick vs the CEREC, right? Like getting your ducks in a row first, but not to say anything bad because it’s so hard to run a dental office. I mean it’s so hard sometimes, you just got to have someone from the outside who’s outside the controlled chaos come in and say “Let’s give people chap sticks halfway through their procedure”
Fred: Well, that’s really true- is a lot of times that’s why most, the dentists I know who are successful they have somebody coaching him. They use outside resources, they use software, they use an SEO expert like you, they use a practice consultant that says, you know “This has to change this system has to be in place, you have to start collecting your money ahead of time, you need to fire that person, you need to be systematic about these three or four things.” And you know, anybody was really good as coaches and that’s sort of why I went to the school I should know how to do is like “No, you shouldn’t.” Don’t feel like you should, you know how to do the dentistry and you have to keep training yourself to get better at that. Get help, those people out there do this stuff all day long. You know SEO is an amazing example, right, because my joke is if you bought a book on SEO you’re doomed because the idea of a book on SEO means it’s outdated. The fact that it was printed and you have a hardcover means the information’s too old to actually use, it’s just, it moves too fast.
Justin: Right, right. Yeah, tactically it does, yeah. And I think I do a pretty good job on my YouTube videos. I just kind of break it down like look, you know it comes down to it, it’s more like a broad marketing idea because SEO is just one form of marketing, but it’s almost, SEO is becoming the result of good marketing and so, you know. There’re some technical elements to it too but I truly believe that, you know, it’s based on relationship building and driving really good content. But you, it’s ultimately coming down to are you willing to get other dentists are not willing to do? And you know the simple things like we had a doctor, Sunny Pahouja on the show and he told us about how little amount of seconds it takes for them to take a thank you greeting card and for the entire office to sign up. Not just the dentist, not just the four of us, but the entire office. They all signed it, they all wrote something nice, that’s applicable because they listened to the patient. I forget how many seconds it takes, maybe like three seconds per person, you know.
Fred: it’s got 5 min, right. Chairside time, it’s just but it’s really just a choice to do that. To say we want to be expressive about how much we appreciate, I mean, and that’s a rule of business anyway. When you express appreciation, whether it’s to your customer or to your employee or to your spouse. That, almost nothing gets mileage to that level because everybody wants to be appreciated and many times I’m probably guilty of it as an employer just as much as anybody else is. But I’m making the effort, at least I know how valuable and important it is to take the extra 5 seconds, 10 seconds to express appreciation. The dentist has got to know what in creating that experience in his practice when he does it to his team they do it to the patients. So it’s a chain reaction from the top.
Justin: Absolutely, would you say, I mean, that’s probably something corporate dentistry is not doing so you know that the handwritten cards, you know signing by every member of the team. So, you know if you’re just keeping up with corporate dentistry.
Fred: They’re going to outstrip you on the systems that they can do because they’re doing human resources collectively they are doing billing all centrally. They’re doing after hours call handling and appointing and building websites where you can make a change on your appointments online. They can invest in that stuff and they can manage that stuff more cost effectively. So you’re going to beat them on the experience, people are going to go “I don’t like the feeling of corporate.” Not everybody, some people, don’t care but if you want to be successful practice there will be people who say “No, I want the personal experience of the dentist that I know that care about me and has a whole team that when I walk in there I’m happy to see them and they’re happy to see me.” That’s how you’re going to survive and thrive, you certainly want to survive but you want a nice, you know, a place to work every day for the next 20 or 30 years. That means making it profitable, happy employees and loyal patients.
Justin: That’s right, let’s say it as we’re coming to close on our time. What would you say in your book becoming remarkable? What are your top three tips you can give to the debt to our listeners to take away from this interview If you remember nothing else from this interview. It is these top three tips that can be found in your new book.
Fred: Okay, so I like to be really practical in that sort of advice. Number one thing, have somebody great answering that phone at the front desk like we talked about right at the beginning, it starts right there, that person is mission critical. She is the aorta of the practice and many practices have that aorta clamped off with a really average or negative person and make sure you’re always answering that phone so put two people there, if you have to. And don’t worry about if you pay two people 30,000 dollars and you get one better case a year because of that one big case. She’s paid for herself and I guarantee you more of, that’s going to happen. Second thing that’s incredibly powerful, practical, patient testimonial videos. They are the most utilizable marketing tool that you have and there, nothing is more credible than a patient sitting right there that you recorded on a smart phone who says “I love this dentist, I love what she’s don’t for me, I wouldn’t go to anybody else. She’s fantastic, she’s changed my life.” You put those and you can use them on your website, on Facebook, everywhere. They can just go everywhere, they’re extremely powerful and the third thing would be, see I had it and I jumped off to something else but it’s probably what we talked about too, is getting help. Don’t think, don’t try to do it all yourself. There are people out there that know how to do this stuff. Certainly I recommend reading my books, but, and I recommend having your team read my books, but you know, get somebody to coach you on SEO, get somebody in your office to refine the system in your practice, go visit other dentists and see what they do to get, participate in the community. Certainly technology is going to be part of it. Find dentist’s that use technology, they can show you how it works in their practice but get help. You don’t have to do it alone.
Justin: Yeah, you shouldn’t. I mean we had a Dr. Dan Marut from Quality Dental Plan QTP on the show and you know he said “Do what you do best and delegate the rest” I thought that was great, that was real catchy. Yeah, well that’s awesome, those tips really hugely important. I totally agree with you on the video testimonials that is huge because people, your patients can actually gauge the veracity of what’s being said, there is nothing more ridiculous than a piece of text on your website saying the person’s first name and initial, no picture. I mean that has got to be so 1992
Fred: that’s like a movie review that says you know what they’ve taken five words from the reviewer. It’s got that little credibility at this point, but all the way at the other end is a patient just talking right to camera talking so that people can identify with that person they know it’s not a big production value or anything like that it’s just a genuine, totally credible testimonial. It’s a big deal
Justin: And you know I think people, a lot of people do better appearing natural when it’s just off the cuff. Ike if you just put up your iPhone, like that might cause a tiny bit of apprehension for some people, but it’s way different when you got the lights in the thousand million cameras.
Fred: What I tell people is that the dentist, as I say, just say if you don’t like it we won’t use it. Don’t worry about it but just tell us what it’s like to be a patient of ours and they will in 30 seconds, they’ll say amazing things and it doesn’t, I said it. The dentist, it doesn’t matter if they stutter or they repeat themselves or pause. That’s all adds to the credibility if you ask them to do it again. They won’t be as good as the first time. They’ll say I want to do it again. They won’t nail it like they did the first time because it comes straight from the heart for the first time and that’s what’s so powerful. It’s not the words, it’s everything else
Justin: That’s excellent, well, it’s been a huge honor having you on, Fred Joyal. You know I saw you at the CDA Anaheim and I told you, you know, Howard Farran and Fred Joyal. Those were the two guests I want in my show more than anyone else and I finally got both of you on the show. Really excited to see what happens with this Sirona deal. I think you’re onto something. You’ve always been cutting edge back when winning a hundred numbers were totally unheard of. You jumped on that and you’ve been parlaying that ever since. I really like it, but, yeah. I think you know if you’re considering getting a CEREC, if you’re considering using technology as a marketing item, definitely consider that. And also consider, you know, the low-hanging fruit. The thing like the chap stick and the greeting cards, consider those things first because those are easy buying decisions. It’s just a matter of taking action.
Fred: It’s the small details that people remember.
Justin: Right, right. Absolutely. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Joyal. It’s been a huge honor, you’ve given us some immense value. Thank you very much for coming on the show.
Fred: thank you, Justin. It was a pleasure.
Justin: Excellent and for our listeners, if you have any questions, let us know in the comments below. Wherever you see this, you see this on a dental marketing guy blog in dentaltown or wherever you see it, on YouTube. I’d love to hear from you. If you’ve got questions for Fred, I’ll forward this to him. Thank you for listening to the Dental Marketing Guy Show.
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