As we have now opened are doors and lack the flood of new patient we were expecting our focus is turning to advertising and getting new patients.  I just spoke with the local phone book company and they wanted about one quarter of our monthly advertising budget for an ad.  My guess is, that is not a very cost effective way of spending my advertising money.  What kind of response have you had to yellow pages ads, and do you feel it is worth it? 

From what I have been told internal marketing is the most effective way to market, so we are spending a good chunk of our budget on this since we do have a small patient pool that Dr Mah has brought to the new office.  I just got back from the PCSO where I spent an extensive amount of time with a company called “Smile!” who specialize in marketing products.  We ordered several of their products and am optimistic that the will increase our visibility and get patients more excited about our practice, ultimately leading to more referrals.   

What have been the most effective ways for advertising in your office? 

We still have some minor decorating to finish, but we are at least open for business.  Now we just have to get patients in the door.   

I just got a call from our contractors, Pueblo Contracting (who have been excellent), who said we are about one week away from final inspection.  It’s been a long road and I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, which I have a feeling is just a freight train coming my way.  I thought I would post some pictures of were we were about 1 week ago.  

I also got a call from the chair installers that informed me that the delivery company left some nice scratches in the floor when the delivered the chairs.  It amazes me that you can put in a brand new wood floor and the delivery guys screw it up 2 days later!  

Marketing a New Orthodontic Office

In the overall business of building the office and our attentions diverted to the details of the build out and permitting, we need to develop a marketing plan for the office. We want to avoid the all too common situation where attentions are diverted elsewhere, and I can see how this is an easy thing to do, the date of opening the office arrives and… no patients are booked! So in developing the marketing plan, I see four aspects to it, and please bear in mind, I’m not a marketing expert by any means. The aspects are:
1. Timing
2. Budget
3. Strategy
4. Longevity

It’s often said that timing is everything, I couldn’t agree more. The most important element here is the development of an office build out timeline. Although this will most certainly change, it is important to establish a target date that the office is open to the public. We’ve contacted the local newspaper and the local zip code magazine and depending on their product, will need at least 3-4 weeks of notice, provided the artwork is ready to go. We want to time the delivery of these marketing materials to the public approximately 1-2 weeks before we are open, as opposed to opening the doors and waiting for the phones to ring. In our situation, our office opening may be in early September, a time when most patients return to school and with the time committed to this, often don’t have time for dental care.

We have a fairly healthy marketing budget but nevertheless need to spend it wisely. Advertisements in newspapers and inserts cost much more than I ever imagined. Depending on the distribution and frequency of advertising, this element of our marketing approach could cost a few thousand dollars. Add to this the cost of marketing in the local zip code magazine and we are suddenly spending in the neighborhood of $6000 dollars. I’ve spoken to colleagues on this topic and I receive mixed responses ranging from “a very low yield for the dollar” to “an absolutely necessary thing to do”. Overall, we have a diverse approach to marketing and need to have a budget to meet with potential referrers for lunches and dinners. In addition, we shouldn’t forget their staff. We plan to send small gifts, lunches, etc to offices in the nearby area. We also plan for in-office marketing with small gifts to patients that refer friends and family to us. We’ve spoken about i-Pod giveaways but don’t have a definite plan for this yet. All these aspects of marketing will add up and although we thought we had a fairly healthy budget, I’m not sure if we should do more. I see other orthodontists with television commercials and radio advertisements and wonder.

I feel that development of a marketing strategy is a trial and error process. No one has the magic bullet for marketing and I feel that the local demographics, competition, economy, office philosophy and presentation will determine if one approach is more successful than another. The only way to get this right is to try something and if it works, keep going. If it fails, try something else. Keeping track of how patients hear of the office will be an important part of this. I also feel that there is no substitute for meeting with local general dentists keeping them in the interdisciplinary treatment loop. Attendance at local dental events and study clubs will be important.

In our marketing approach, we looked at approaches to increase the longevity or “stickiness” of the different methods. The problem with newspaper and magazine advertisements and inserts is that their longevity is not much more than the issue itself. We would have to consider several issues to obtain significant yield from these media. Strategies to increase longevity included coupons for free consultation or gifts for visiting to encourage individuals to hold on to the advertisement. With the local general dentists we’ll consider mousepads, mugs and other materials in addition to our referral forms.

In summary, marketing a new office is a complex task with issues related to budget, strategy and timing. Although we have certain biases as far as expectations from the different elements, we’ve kept an open mind and will keep track of which is our best foot forward.

So we have transfered the idea of this great office from our heads to paper. As we are scanning our plans the contractor asks us how electrical outlets, data cable drops etc, we want, and where the put them. I  am thinking, "I barely know where to put the bathroom, let alone outlets!" The great part about owning your own practice is you get to do things your way, but I have found that that to be a double-edged sword, because in many aspects I don't know what my way is. We want this technologically advanced office but really had no idea what planning needed to happen to be sure we were all wired up properly. We contacted our IT guy and had him give us some advice.  The following is what he had to say:

1) What services do your company provide? We are a full-featured networking services company providing a turnkey solution with name brand computers, LCD/TVs, Patient Education and Communication Software, networking equipment, network wiring, telephone, antivirus and firewall protection, backup solutions, on-site and remote support and maintenance programs to the Dental/Orthodontic/Oral Surgery community.

2) When should your services be engaged during an office buildout? We would like to be brought in at the design phase of a new office buildout to help design the network flow and structure to meet the doctors' needs and to coordinate efforts between contractors. It is also important to bring us in early so we can make sure room sizes, cabling needs, conduits, power requirements, and any additional support for mounts are adequate for certain digital applications and equipment.

3) What are common pitfalls/mistakes that previous orthodontist/dentists have made? One common mistake is to wait too long to bring in a company like PACT-ONE into the decision-making process and design aspect. During a new build it is also advisable to think about your future growth and potential needs for the practice.  Using contractors or an IT company that are not experienced with Dental/Orthodontic/Oral Surgery offices will almost always create issues. Always expect delays with permits, equipment, or sub-contractors, and plan on it taking 2–3 weeks longer than expected.  This will help avoid the uncomfortable situation of setting an opening date for patients that can’t be met.

4) Any advice you can offer to dentists/orthodontists building practices?  Use professional services such as your dental equipment company and companies like PACT-ONE to help design, implement, and integrate your needs for better reliability and productivity. Start early and plan ahead while keeping an open mind to the potential needs of the office and the needs it will place on you as you become more successful and profitable. Keep in mind the technology changes that WILL occur during the years in practice and be prepared and enthusiastic about embracing those changes in the digital market, as these changes will benefit you and your staff to be able to deliver the best dentistry experience your team can deliver.
 

 

 

Thank you for the comments and encouragement.  It’s been a long time coming and the birth of a dream.  I must admit it has been a little more difficult than first anticipated.  I remember sitting in these “lunch and learns” in school with lenders essentially handing me a blank check and saying, “go build it”.  Well I have quickly learned that it is not that simple.  Back in October when James approached me with the practice idea we anticipated opening by April.  Well April has come and gone and still waiting to open.

I would have to say that the delay was largely due to delays in loan funding.  I don’t know if many others had experienced this problem but apparently getting the nod from the bank and actually getting the money in hand are two totally separate things.  I think this is do to several factors:

1.    We are not dealing with a “specialty” lender.  We started the loan process with a bank that apparently saw no difference in a dental office (which have very few defaults) to any other high risk small business loan.  As a result they seemed to have asked for every piece of documentation and guarantee, short of my first born.  It seemed to never end, each time we sent them documents they would come up with more needed documents, it was rather frustrating.  These continual delays actually got to a point that we had to resubmit all of the original documents because they were over 90 days old, even though the bank was causing the delays.   
2.    Part of our loan is funded by the SBA, which many of you already know is a government loan.  The up side is the loan is a lower interest rate.  The down side is they take a long time and are much more strict and therefore require a lot of documentation.  
3.      We bought the building instead of just leasing a space.  I figured by buying the building it would offer a degree of security for the bank since there is obvious collateral in the physical structure.  Once again my naivety of the banking industry shows though.  Obviously the cost of a building increased the loan amount and required more security from the banks perspective.  

Although we got funding for the building in December it wasn’t until today that we got the green light on the rest of the funding.  

So what would I do different?  Well I am not sure I have all the answers and sometimes the needs of the bank and order of getting things done may be backwards, but this is how I would do it:

1. Speak with a specialty lender about your plans.  
2. Find out all the documents you will need before hand, it will save you a lot of time going back and forth with the bank.  Unfortunately, some of this is unforeseen but you want to minimize as many delays as possible.
3. Have a business plan, talk to friends who have gone before you or reps, they may have valuable information in this area.
4. Have a timeline   
5. Have a detailed list of all equipment and build out costs.
6. Have detailed architectural plans finalized to take to the lender.  I don’t know if a specialty lender would require this but ours lender did.  It seems a little backwards because architectural plans can get expensive and you may need the loan to pay for them, but it would have saved us a lot of time, money, and headache if we had finalized, detailed drawings to give to the bank.  It seems that the rough drawings (which was only a floor plan) was not enough for the bank, even after they said they would be sufficient.  In addition we needed a detailed plan for the construction company to give us an accurate buildout cost to give to the bank.   

Do your homework, make sure you have a fairly accurate idea of what your dream practice is going to cost way before you start asking the bank for money.

 

As an editor, sometimes I work for months to find a good story, and sometimes one just lands in my lap. This one just landed: James Mah, one of the nation's foremost imaging experts (and a heck of a nice guy) has decided to open a brand new private practice, starting from scratch. And the best part? He came to ME and said he wanted to write a blog about it. 

Here's what you can expect from this blog: James and his partner Chad Hawkins will both chronicle their adventures and mishaps as they find a space, design their clinic, hire their staff—all leading up to that glorious day when the first patients walk in the door. I'm hoping that each of them will have something to say (or photos to share) once a week, and you'll be hearing from me occasionaly as well. So check in often, and please feel free to click on the comment button and respond to what you have read. I hope this blog will become a conversation among orthodontists, a place where you can share stories about the triumphs and tribulations of private practice. 

And just to get the comments started, tell me this: what were the highlights (and lowlights) of your very first day as a private practitioner?