Marketing As A Team Sport - Is Your Team Ready To Compete? (Part 2)

The Dreaded “S” Word

The first thing to understand is that at some level, we are all already sales people, actively selling something every day. For example, I am a sales and marketing professional who deals with many existing clients and new business opportunities every day. Still, on many days, my best selling happens at home, at about 8:15am, when I am trying to convince my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter to wear sneakers to school instead of princess party shoes.

Proactive Selling = “communicating softly”

The second thing to understand is that the selling that we are doing here is not to be confused with the selling that happens at your local A-1 Fine Motor Sales. The selling here is about a soft approach that is all about leveraging the great relationships and trust that are already in place with our clients.

Once things really get rolling and your team has embraced this new idea of proactive selling, it is really interesting to watch how every team member develops their own unique style. One of the easiest ways to observe your team in action is with a referral program. Set a target for everyone to ask one patient for a referral per day and see how they go about making this happen.

Spark selling opportunities

Selling is about everyone finding their best opportunities to spark a discussion - and then making the most of that opportunity. Here are a few big ideas to help spark selling opportunities and then make the most of them:

1. BE CONFIDENT IN WHO YOU ARE AS A PRACTICE: See yourself as the best practice around. Be confident when trying to grow the practice – you are not desperate.

2. HAVE A REFERRAL PROGRAM: This is the easiest way for your team to get involved.

3. EMBRACE THE POWER OF GOOD QUESTIONS: Use open-ended questions to get a conversation going. Make the effort to really listen for opportunities to sell dentistry.

4. KNOW YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH: Know why someone should choose you. Have a list of the three biggest reasons why someone should join your practice.

5. REMEMBER TO A.B.C.: “Always Be Closing” is a great philosophy to keep top of mind. With every new opportunity discussion, always be thinking about the next step in the sales process - and how to get them there.

Preparing your team to achieve extraordinary wins!

As dentistry businesses become more competitive, the value and potential of team performance to drive organizational and sales and marketing success grow significantly. Equally important, disciplined team choices and behaviours improve the quality of a sales and marketing culture as well as encouraging, collaborative thinking, leadership skills, engaged and motivated workers.

As you’ve learned, the three prerequisites for a winning team include clear objectives, communication, and a team sales and marketing approach. Working groups that rigorously apply these fundamentals will tilt the odds of success greatly in their favour.

I recommend unleashing the power of your team to come together with these principles. It’s sure to be a WIN-WIN for everyone.

Bottom Line: This article outlines a team marketing approach to ensure success in a dental practice.