Internal marketing

Not ready to leave clinical but need something to break the monotony? Marketing can be a win/win for you and your practice. by Eileen Morrissey, RDH, MS

The impact of burnout on dental employees can be a major problem. This article stems from the motivation of one dentist employer who made the effort to keep his chief dental hygienist motivated and happy by expanding her role within the practice to include marketing and public relations responsibilities.

Dr. Jonathan Levy of West Long Branch, N.J., had a problem: His dental hygienist approached him, asking to diversify her clinical role. He was impressed, but not sure how he might accomplish this. Since her responsibilities are primarily clinical, her time is consumed with provision of direct patient care. Unsure of how to proceed, he e-mailed me to ask for an opinion of the situation.

It was my turn to be impressed. I know Dawn MacNamara, the dental hygienist, and she is an excellent employee. With burnout causing so many to leave practices in frustration, Dawn gets kudos for approaching Dr. Levy before she reached that point. Dr. Levy also deserves credit, as he was willing to make the effort to prevent that from happening; encouraging and supporting the professional growth of staff is integral to employee retention.

 My thought was that to diversify her responsibilities, Dawn might assume a part-time marketing/public relations role for the practice. In addition to allowing her to expand her current role, this would also benefit the practice overall by attracting new patients and strengthening relationships with existing patients.

With this option in mind, the challenge became allocating time for the new position. Dr. Levy decided that he could “un-schedule” at least one of the daily clinical hygiene appointments. This would give Dawn one regularly scheduled block of time daily, plus any potential cancellation time. One primary reason for marketing failures is lack of consistency, and expecting Dawn to achieve any sort of positive marketing results are doomed if she is limited to working during her cancellations only. Carving out 50 to 60 minutes daily may not seem like much, but it’s amazing what can be accomplished with consistent time to focus.

The practice needed to identify the hour in which it is most difficult to book patients, and eliminate it from the schedule. This is typically a 10:00/11:00 AM or a 2:00 PM time slot. If two consecutive appointment slots can be eliminated, it’s even better. The down side is the short-term revenue loss, but rewards will come to the employer who sees the big picture and looks ahead. The practice may also wish to consider an extra window of time for a lengthier marketing activity once a month. This might be scheduled on a non-office day.

The next issue was how to structure the block for marketing and PR. Dr. Levy (with input from the team) needed to decide what type of marketing efforts the practice would like to be involved with, then he and Dawn would hone in on where to best focus her energies. A few ideas were selected and a formal plan, with short- and long-term goals, was created. Once the marketing wheels had been placed in motion, Dawn worked in this capacity for the practice for an undisclosed period of time, and made the position a trademark of the practice.

“It was a hit,” remembers Dawn. “People loved the personal touch and were impressed when I would remember little details of their lives and take the time to care. And yes, it did help to generate new patients. People wanted to go to a quality office with that personal touch.”

 While Dawn’s story is a specific example, the remainder of this article will focus on some of the strategies that she used, and how any dental hygienist and doctor might adopt them and integrate a part-time marketing plan into their practice. For the purposes of discussing these ideas, the designated PR hygienist will be referred to as the Marketer.

Focus. When it comes to marketing ideas, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. It is effective to start with a few reliable activities rather than to diffuse energies. What is paramount, however, is simply having consistent marketing activities taking place.

Get on the phone. The Marketer should make two simple phone calls each day to patients. These are “reach out and touch them” calls. Perhaps check up on Mary, who came in and was clearly depressed about something at her hygiene visit today; or, to apologize to Susan because the office kept her waiting for 20 minutes. Follow up to see how Barbara is feeling after her rigorous debridement appointment. Or, check on Dan, who buried his wife last month and welcomes the gesture. These phone calls take only a few moments, but they say loud and clear, “We care.”

Be a pen-pal. The Marketer should also write two short notes each day. These are handwritten on practice letterhead, which is personalized with her or his name and title. (Don’t worry about cost; something like this can easily be created on the computer.) The note might be to wish Lila and Frank “Bon Voyage and Best Wishes” on their upcoming anniversary cruise; or, to express to 12-year old Johnny’s parents how pleased we all are with his home care, given the challenges of his ortho bands. It’s telling Mandy that we’re thinking about her as she undergoes the rigors of chemotherapy.

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