How Do Your Numbers Look So Far? (Part 2)

Phase 2: Getting a Closer Look

Every marketing dollar invested should go towards delivering a specific result - be it more new patients, more referrals, or more of a specific treatment.

Always be sure that you have selected the right media mix for marketing. You will also want to consider whether you have the right approach for delivering your specific message. Will this media and marketing strategy connect your offering to your best target audience?

In Phase 2, it’s all about tracking response and conversion rate.

First, “tracking response” means tracking website traffic. With each marketing initiative and tactic, a specific examination of “unique visitors” and “pages visited” is needed. There should be a connection between these two activities and what your marketing message was.

Second, you also need to track response by way of telephone calls delivered to your office. Your office team needs to be able to handle these calls with two purposes in mind. First and foremost, they need to be able to convert as many new patients as possible while also tracking some key information in the process.

With every new prospect call to your practice, your team should be able to decipher these three big questions:

1. How did you hear about our practice?

2. What was it about the ad that sparked your interest?

3. When can we book an appointment for you to come in? And if not, why not?

By answering these three questions, you will be able to understand why someone will choose your practice, and track some key marketing information.

The following simple spreadsheet can be used in your practice to help you begin gathering this information and managing your customers.

MARKETING RESPONSE ACTIVITY TRACKER

MONTH OF: ________________

Date	Caller Name	Lead Source	What Sparked	Converted Y/N	Call Result / Comments	Initial

Set Targets

You invest in good marketing to grow your practice. Now that you have a good sense of what the numbers are, let’s set some targets to grow every one of these number lines.

While every practice is different and every practice manager has different designs on how ambitious they want to be, it is necessary to set targets for growth that are right for your practice-5%? 15%? Or 50%? Having target numbers in place makes it easier to communicate your growth objectives with

your team.

Make sure these numbers are real and achievable. Setting numbers that are next to impossible to deliver will only serve as a morale killer. Grow your numbers steadily by regularly hitting targets.

Business is a numbers game. You must think of good marketing as a means of growing your practice. The sooner you get control of your numbers, and set some realistic targets for growth, the better it will be for driving your business forward.

Bottom Line: This article outlines a two phase marketing plan that provides dentists with numbers useful for increasing revenue in a dental practice.

Author: Dan Pisek, Practice Marketing Coach