I want to add some additional thoughts to my most recent blog post on why you need to be an extraordinary practice and how to achieve that goal. A number of readers were kind enough to offer suggestions based on their own experiences.

1. Offer user-friendly payment options that utilize outsourcing. I have become a big fan of Lending Club.

2. Be more convenient. Early morning and early evening hours along with some Saturdays are very much appreciated. As my friend Fred Joyal likes to say “ even banks don’t work banker’s hours anymore!”

3. Make it easy for patients to read and write Google reviews.

4. Continuously upgrade and amplify your website. A prominent online presence is an absolute necessity.

5. Respect people’s time.

6. Offer an in-house membership plan for patients without dental insurance.

While you should always implement as many ideas and strategies to separate your practice from the competition, it has become increasingly important to do so in the recent dental insurance environment . A wake-up call, if you must. Be sure to also read the post that Seth Godin published way back in May 2014 about the futility of trying to be the cheapest. His last paragraph bears repeating to us as dentists. “In the long run, to be the cheapest is a refuge for people who don’t have the flair to design something worth paying for, who don’t have the guts to point to their product or their service and say, ‘this isn’t the cheapest, but it’s worth it’.”

Over 90% of people trust a recommendation from someone they know. As consumers, they make their buying decisions based on input and feedback from friends and family. Jonah Berger, a professor of marketing at Wharton, claims in his book Contagious that word-of-mouth is ten times as effective as traditional advertising. The challenge for you as a dentist is to get people talking about your practice to their friends and family. But that is not going to happen unless you and your team deliver an extraordinary experience that consistently exceeds the expectations of your patients. Average doesn’t cut it. You have to be exceptional.

1. Technology is impressive, especially when a patient realizes the benefit of that technology to them. I would suggest that you consider:

• The option of on-line appointment scheduling.
• The option of making payments online.
• The use of text messaging to confirm appointments.
• The use of tablets rather than paper on a clipboard to gather information from new and existing patients.
• The use of an iPad when making case presentations.
• Always having a real person answer the telephone all day long. People absolutely hate phone trees.

2. Continuously let your patients know that you care about them. At the end of every day, doctors should call every patient who received local anesthesia for any procedure performed that day. Hygienists should also call any patient who had scaling and root planing. It doesn’t take much time, and it is SO appreciated. Over the years, I have had three outpatient surgeries. It’s still incredulous to me that the operating physician never called even once on the night of that procedure to see how I was doing!

3. A dental practice is a major gossip pit. The front office personnel hear things when they answer the phone all day long. Good news and bad news. All other staff members are listening to similar stories as they interact with patients throughout the day. I suggest that one staff member be assigned the task of gathering this information from everyone and placing it on the dentist’s desk by the end of the day. The dentist can pick and choose, but must write at least two personalized notes every day. These notes are sent to patients either congratulating them on a recent event, or commiserating with them on a recent tragedy or unfortunate occurrence. In an age of email and texting, this old-fashioned type of communication is unheard of, especially from a busy doctor. It shows genuine caring, great inter-office communication, and is totally unexpected by the patient.

4. Follow up on conversations with patients that take place in the course of their visit to the office. It is so easy to email a link to a patient about a restaurant, or an upcoming event, or any one of a million things that might’ve been casually discussed. Doing this shows true consideration and uncommon follow-through. Every staff member should look for these opportunities.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the message. NOBODY else does this! Because it is hard, it takes time and energy, and it requires a commitment to creating WOW experiences day in and day out. If you truly want people talking about you in your community, then adopt this culture. It is only then that you will see the results and the power of word of mouth advertising.

And by the way, if you were ever considering dropping out of some bad PPO plans and operating out of network, it might be a very wise idea to read this post a few times – and then act on it!