 |
||||
|
|
Issue #10 - 1.2.07
If you think selling dentistry is hard, try selling colonoscopies!
For the last few years, I've tried to help dentists understand that in addition to standard marketing strategies and tactics such as direct mail and websites, that it is important to understand the art of experiential marketing. In a nutshell, this term refers to the process of using positive customer experiences as a powerful component or even the foundation of your marketing strategy. A while back I read the book The Experience Economy by Pine and Gilmore. They argue that business is a stage and that winning companies (or dental practices) will differentiate and profit by staging an experience that is "engaging and memorable."
To put it simply, as a dental professional who is concerned with your brand, you must be aware of experiential marketing and understand that it is the sum of every small experience each patient has in your care. A great example of how one company used experiential marketing as a marketing weapon is found at Sharp HealthCare. The executives at this hospital focused on one experience that was usually considered very bad – getting a colonoscopy. Next, they analyzed the process of getting a colonoscopy and broke it down into tiny segments. They improved in all the little things and eventually they created a colonoscopy experience so good that their clients were known to run out and tell their friends to go to Sharp "and get a colonoscopy, Here’s how they did it.
The management team at Sharp HealthCare knew that positive health care experiences meant more than the latest technology. To build the right platform for change, they set out on a national investigation to learn what the best of the best were doing to create positively memorable experience for staff and customers. Along with their “best practices” investigation, they also conducted over a hundred focus groups with staff, physicians, and patients to better understand what was working and what needed work. The response was overwhelming. Sharp was known to have the highest caliber technical skills and clinical outcomes, but each group of patients wanted more from their experience.
In 2001 Sharp brought all of their employees to the San Diego Convention center for two days to what they called a “re-commitment ceremony”. They asked their staff to re-commit to their purpose, to their work and to making a difference in the lives of their patients. They used these assemblies to re-connect their staff members with their heart – and the reason they chose healthcare as a profession in the first place.
By applying the learning from these leadership development sessions, the health care experience at Sharp is dramatically changing; from using the right words during patient interaction, to applying the fundamental steps to service interactions; fom improving and streamlining complex processes, to creating memorable, signature moments for patients and their families.
Now, when patients visit the Sharp metropolitan Outpatient Pavilion for a colonoscopy, they encounter something entirely different from the norm. Special attention is paid to personal privacy and dignity. After the procedure, juice and crackers are served on a silver tray with stemmed glassware and special mints. And after being discharged, all patients receive a phone call as well as a thank-you note signed by each caregiver – including the physicians! The experience is so different that now they have patients recruiting friends and family to have a colonoscopy. Patients are often heard to say, that having a colonoscopy at Sharp was the best healthcare experience they have ever had.
Now, as dentists I implore you to consider the power of experiential marketing. You will find that all of your other marketing efforts will be so much more effective if you are doing everything you can to provide patients with a superior health care experience. Remember, that it goes way beyond being polite and pleasant. It is so much more than a comfortable reception area and soft music in your operatories. I’m talking about radical change in the way you handle patients. Things such as personal phone calls to each patient from the dentist or rewarding patients who refer with lobster tails on dry ice delivered to their doorstep. Be amazing! Be extraordinary! And the rest of your marketing efforts will fall into place perfectly.
Joel Harris, is CEO and Co-Founder of Intelligent Dental Marketing one of the Nation's leading Dental Marketing companies focused exclusively on dental practices. Intelligent Dental Marketing provides powerful marketing tools to help dentists grow their patient base, increase their profit and improve their image. He can also be reached directly at 1.877.942.8855
Interested in speaking to Joel about your Direct Mail marketing campaign? Email him at Joel@thedentistsnetwork.net
Interested in having Joel speak to your dental society or study club? Click Here