Dental Patients: Don't Just 'Sell' to Them

One of the most successful businesses in the history of retail was guided to greatness by a man who hated the idea of selling. So says Apple's former VP of Marketing Communication, Allison Johnson, who was profiled in a Business Insider article.

She says Steve Jobs hated the words branding and marketing, believing that "the most important thing was peoples' relationship to the product." The same concept can be applied for your dental patients and treatment acceptance.

She is quoted in that article as saying, "marketing is when you have to sell to somebody. If you aren't providing value, if you're not educating them about the product, if you're not helping them get the most out of the product, you're selling. And you shouldn't be in that mode."

Educate Your Dental Patients

This is valuable advice for any dentist, especially those who are wary of the idea of 'selling' dentistry to their dental patients. If you put the right focus on educating patients and getting them to understand the value of great dentistry in a way that resonates with them, you don't have to give anyone the hard sell. As I have often said, you will know you have been successful in educating dental patients and creating the right value, when they start asking you for the best treatment options.

There is another lesson from that article that I think is instructive too. Johnson says that "...the marketing team was right next to the product development and engineering teams. So we understood deeply what was important about the product, what the team's motivations were in the product, what they hoped that product would achieve, what role they wanted it to have in people's lives. And because we were that close, we were able to translate that very clearly in all of our marketing and communications."

In other words, the people who were tasked with talking about the value of Apple products really understood the value of Apple products. They weren't selling. They were explaining what they knew to be true. They were educating.

This is why I say it is crucial to get your team—your whole team—fully on board with what you do and what it can mean to dental patients. That means the mouths of everyone on your team should be showcases of your work. It means you should share clinical success stories with everyone in the office, whether their role is clinical or administrative. It means going on educational retreats, or watching online lessons, together. It means anyone who has any contact with any dental patients knows on a profound level the ultimate value of the possibilities your practice provides to patients.

That's how you create a culture of quality. That's when you stop selling and start educating.


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