Strengthening Your Marketing Core Muscles (E.290)

Marketing isn’t just ads and social posts, it’s the backbone of your practice’s growth. But just like skipping leg day at the gym, many dental practices skip the real core work that gives marketing its staying power.

In this episode, co-hosts Dr. Chad Johnson and Regan Robertson break down what it means to strengthen your marketing core muscles and why most dentists are working way too hard for too little return.

You’ll learn how to:

• Diagnose weak spots in your current strategy
• Align internal culture with external messaging
• Convert more high-value patients without chasing trends
• Avoid “shiny object syndrome” and build a system that scales

Key Takeaways

• Marketing is a system, not a campaign. Get clarity on what your brand actually stands for.
• Strong internal culture = strong external brand. If your team isn’t aligned, your marketing won’t work.
• Simplicity scales. Streamline your message, your offer, and your patient experience.

Your 3-Step Action Plan

1. Audit your brand. Is your message clear, consistent, and patient-centered?
2. Align your team. Make sure your staff can deliver the experience you promise.
3. Build a marketing system that scales. Focus on what strengthens—not just what sells.

Want to Go Deeper?

Download the Case Study:
“From Shrinking Profits to 8x Growth in Half the Chair Time”
👉 Get it now

Listen to more episodes here:
https://productivedentist.com/podcasts/everyday-practices-dental-podcast/

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Regan Robertson: The Productive Dentist Academy Podcast Network. Welcome to the Everyday Practices Dental Podcast. I’m Reagan Robertson and my co-host Dr. Chad Johnson. Dr. Maggie Augustine and I are on a mission to share the stories of everyday dentists who generate extraordinary results. Using practical proven methods you can take into your own dental practice if you are ready to reclaim your time so you can focus on great patient care without sacrificing yourself along the way. Buckle up and listen in

[00:00:31] Dr. Chad Johnson: as dentists do a great job at customer service, taking care of the people who are already in your office, but not on lead management and so for when, uh, a stranger that calls and you don’t know their name or hardly their phone number. And, you know, trying to get them into the system of how do we follow up with these people until they become leads or say, leave me alone.

[00:00:52] Regan Robertson: Doctor. Have you ever sat with other doctors or peers and just had a beep session with each other about marketing? If so, you’re not alone and, uh, my wonderfully talented and faithful cohost, Chad Johnson and I we’re just sitting here ruminating around marketing, but really we were, we were talking about an upcoming podcast that’s gonna happen with the talented Sarah Hanson, who is a very gifted marketing consultant and I said to Chad, “Hey, this sounds like a really good episode right now that we should capture.” That’s so here we are. Hi Chad.

[00:01:30] Dr. Chad Johnson: Hey. Glad to talk this stuff over. I’m doing great. It’s a, it’s a Friday that we’re, it’s a Friday that we’re recording on and, um, uh, and all is well. It’s, you know, just for context for the listeners in the future or whatnot for the context, we’re, we’re wrapped up with, uh, the school year, wrapping up with the school year with kids, and so it’s a busy time of year, nonetheless. It’s always good to chat with you and to, uh, uh, bring some content for the listeners.

[00:02:00] Regan Robertson: Absolutely. Uh, you know how businesses, all businesses, they, they’re, they, the idea is not to be a roller coaster, but sometimes it feels like a roller coaster. Sometimes you have really good months, everything’s producing great, and then sometimes you’re like, where did everything go? Why is everything off the rails? And, and it’s just, I think it’s just a normal plight of the business owner or, or an honor of the business owner, like something for someone to master. You’re, you’re shaking your head, but I think it’s like a yes and,

[00:02:30] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah, correct, because I think about, uh, this as riding a wave. Like, um, if you’re a surfing. You, you have to like, it can be easy, but, or whatever, or hard but you, you do have to actively kind of be like, at least balance. Like there’s at least a minimum balance that you have to do, um, in order to stay on top. And you don’t have to stay on top. You can fall in the water. Like that’s always an option but in order to ride the wave, it can be turbulent, it can be smooth, but you have to like at least have balance.

[00:02:59] Regan Robertson: So what I love about what you just said there is it, it, it also, it’s dependent on many factors, not just one. So the quality of, um, of the surfboard, the how strong your core strength is, is definitely going to impact the weather, will impact where you’re at. Do you do geographically will matter? Like all of these different sort of pieces go into it and, and when we talk about marketing, I think the same is to be said and it’s easy to get blinders on. So, uh, you know, Chad, you were just talking about what happens when, you know you’re spending money on marketing. You think it’s working, but you’re not really sure it’s working, but you’re not seeing the result on the other side, what your process was. I’m wondering if you could walk us through what your process was and like figuring out and then showing us like where. Your assumptions were, because I know since I lead the promotions team at Productive Dentist Academy, I will have blind spots and go into assumptions also.

[00:03:56] Dr. Chad Johnson: Sure. Yeah. So I think this is a quintessential problem that dentists have. Why do I think that? Because I see people commenting on this on Facebook forums and, and stuff like that. Um, so the. The economy has been turbulent, let’s just say on and off, since COVID really. I mean the last five years have, you’ve wondered at times if it’s like if we’re on track and then there’s other times it’s like, are we off track and whatnot? And I, um, and politics plays into that, but regardless of, of whichever side or down the middle you are with that, it, it’s, it’s regardless because there have been moments over the last few years where it’s like, “Is this going the right way? Is this not?” So, um, there are political implications and sides to be had nonetheless, it’s still volatile. And, um, I was, um, uh, last year noticing that our call volume or yeah, the call volume and the new patient leads, uh, that those were down. So we started digging into it and, uh, Kate from PDA marketing was helping us, you know, dive into that more and we’re trying to figure out what in the world, uh, is going on because, you know, I used to have, let’s, I mean, let’s just easy math. I had 30 new patients a month and uh, and it was tracking off and we were trying to increase it with a, an associate on board and, um, and at first, uh, I was, I’ll just use the easy words, I was mad, I was upset that it’s just like, “Guys. Uh, I love you, you love me. Like, why aren’t we making this work marketing team? Like, what the heck?” You know, like, what are, are we screwing around? Like, are we taking our eyes off the wheel? What’s the deal? Because I don’t know, right? I’m, I’m going to my room and drilling. I’m going to, um,  you know, to my dental stuff, but I don’t know the, the, the back rooms, stuff that’s going on with the marketing. I mean, I can get updates, but at the same time, you know, I don’t know, uh, just as much as a parent sitting out in the waiting room, they’re like, I’m at the dental office, but I don’t know what’s going on in the room with my kid. You know, like right as I go to that room. So, um, so then we started, like Kate started, uh, sharing with us the spreadsheet that, uh, has all the leads. Well, that made me upset, not at her because I was just like, “Well, crud, I mean. So, uh, you know, are we not answering the phone enough?” So this starts diving into, Regan, the, the thought of, uh, are we getting the, uh, are we actually getting the phone calls or are we just not answering? If we’re answering, are we not converting and are, if we’re converting why, and we’re really tracking. Our lost ROI, not just our ROI, because that’s what we do with it, but like, where’s the potential that we’re losing out? And so I start looking at this spreadsheet that has, you know, 50 calls a day and I’m like, “Wait a second, if we’re getting, you know, like 50 calls a day and half of ’em are, so let’s just say 25 of these are, are our leads per day, but we’re only working 16 days a month, so, you know, 25 times, 16, blah, blah, blah, whatever, than ours,” and that’s not 30 new patients in a month. Like, but I know we can’t bat a thousand, right? Like, so we can’t convert a hundred percent of ’em. Um, so we’ve done a lot, and I hate for this to be a diatribe that you want to dive in, but like, um, one of the last things that we’ve done is we started, uh, with our IT company.  We set up a, if you are a new patient calling press one. If you are a this and that. So we used to have it where you answer the phone, which is the nicest, most personable thing. Yes which being a fee for service office I like, but the, one of the problems, uh, boots on the ground for us. Was, we got a lot of calls for, Hey, do you guys take Medicaid? Oh, you don’t. Um, do you, uh, do you know anyone who does? And I feel, you know, for those people, and they’re, they’re trying to get answers. Uh, but the Medicaid website should have information as far as the doctors who are participating, so that way they can find this out. But they would, they would do it in a very covert way. They would say, “Hey. I, uh, was hoping to make, I’m a new patient to the area. I was hoping to make an appointment.” “Oh, okay. Yeah, sure and what’s your name?” “This and that, and, “Okay, uh, what’s your address? And we’d get all the information and they’d go, “Yeah. Great. Uh, do you guys have any Wednesday times?” “Yeah, sure. We got next Wednesday at 9:00 AM” “Great. Sounds good. Okay.” Um, and then, you know, regarding insurance stuff, um, I take, or I have state funding. Thanks, bye, and you know, it’d be like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, like it would just kind of be no, yes. You know, we, we would get those and so we, we had a thing that would say, you know, if you’re a new patient, press one and then they’d press new patient and then it would say, you know, if you are, um, uh, if you are looking, uh, for information as far as Medicaid pre please press one and so they would press one and it would say, “We’re not a Medicaid office,” and then it would say, you know, uh, “Please visit the Medicaid, uh, website,” and then also, uh, we’ve heard of these couple offices that are available, and so we cut down on the, the, the unimportant calls to us because, you know, we’re trying to, you know, service the people who are interested in the, the, I don’t know what the word would be, the good leads. Right. Well

[00:09:36] Regan Robertson: You’re being very helpful. At the same time though too, you’re, you’ve figured out how to scale a response is what I would say. So that you’re not having to do it by hand, uh, manually every time and, and just seeing all of that time, he’s not serving, not the, the Medicaid patient either. ’cause they’re still great patients, but they need to be where they can be served.

[00:09:54] Dr. Chad Johnson: Correct. It needs to be efficient. I think we are getting five or six of those an hour. 

[00:09:59] Regan Robertson: What? Yeah. Well that, okay, so that digs into a bigger problem, which is probably not enough Medicaid offices, but that’s another episode for another day.

[00:10:07] Dr. Chad Johnson: Correct.

[00:10:08] Regan Robertson: I love where you’re going with how carefully you started diving into marketing. Oh, I do. I also really like how you included that interaction as far as a marketing function. That was really,

[00:10:21] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yep. We’re just looking at the funnel from beginning to end and, and Kate, uh. Kate had a, a, a difficult time, a frustrating time with us in the best of way trying to figure out like, how can they help us solve our end of the problem? Yes. I mean, you know, because to some degree it falls back on us but she did and it was, I mean, I’m really grateful for that because, um, we, we were able to, you know, um, do a weekly check-in and you’re just on a Google sheet and I’ve got it on my Google calendar as you know, I would to weekly just check-in. Right, and to, as you know, assign, you know, on, on specific people. You know, hey, have we been following up with these people? How many times did we follow up on phone, on uh, email via text and, and whatnot? And, uh, some of these people I would even pick up my own phone and not everyone loves doing this ’cause you can get different apps or whatever. I would send them a text and saying, “Hey, this is Dr. Chad from Veranda Dentistry. I was, um, I was auditing my phone log and I saw that you called, I wanted to make sure that you were well taken care of,” and it’s amazing how many appointments you can pull down. 

[00:11:36] Regan Robertson: Did you, did you make appointments from that? I.

[00:11:38] Dr. Chad Johnson: I would say, okay, so I’m gonna send this to my admin team and they’re gonna follow up with you. We should be able to get you in this next week. And I would send appointments on, you know, like on Thursdays I would, uh, Thursdays or Fridays I would check in and by Monday, you know, like they, they would post a, uh, like we have a way to remote in and look at our schedule. And they would say, here’s our emergency times and I’d write back and I’d say, “Hey, they’ve already got back with me. It looks like 9:00 AM or it looks like 1:00 PM or whatever.” Yeah. Uh, is best would that work for you? And they’d write and say this and that and then I would, you know, so I would kind of, um, liaise liaison that now if your schedule is busy enough that you don’t have to do that, then cool. But mine wasn’t, and I really wanted to, you know, let leave no stone left unturned. And so we dug into that. Um. Uh, in fact, lately we’ve been doing a yomi, um, promotion where we’re gonna have an open house in a couple weeks. And so, uh, I went back in. That’s very cool. Yeah, I went back into all the, the, the spreadsheet and I said, Hey, for the last three months, if they’ve called the Yomi phone line, we need to do a fourth follow up with them, you know, and stuff like that. So, um, I don’t know. Um. We, we basically, uh, as I was explaining before we started taking the, or doing the podcast, was we started figuring out, okay, stoicism applied. What can we control? Yeah, and, uh, and what’s out of our control? Then we can ask for request for help with that, but at the same time, I. We’re getting a, a lot of phone calls, and that took a lot of introspection because granted, listen, I have humans working for me and I don’t want them working past dinnertime. You know, I want them going home and being with their family. I, I, I like that there’s the, the Scrooge McDuck side of me that says, you know, let, let’s work, you know, until midnight, and let’s always take phone calls. I get that side of, of you dentists, us dentists, but at the same time, we want to be home with family. We want our team to be happy and well-rounded and with their family and, and their own personal time and so exploring into options even on, uh, you know, having AI slash robotic algorithmic, um, phone answering and I’ll say that we tried that, uh, for a couple months and it’s, I love the idea of it. It’s not there for me yet. I think it would depend on where you’re, is

[00:14:07] Regan Robertson: This AI phone answering you mean?

[00:14:09] Dr. Chad Johnson: Correct.

[00:14:09] Regan Robertson: Oh, I’m so glad I can’t stand that.

[00:14:11] Dr. Chad Johnson: And it, it wasn’t just the phone answering, it was, um, it was like a text version where if we didn’t pick up, but it was 24/7 around, you know. So I like that at 2:00 AM if someone calls us that it will text and, but like I conceptually like it, it’s just not there yet, and that goes back to the AI problem that I don’t understand is that not all AI is the same AI and sometimes I’m just like, this just seems like it’s just an algorithm. Like why are we calling this program, you know, AI, it’s not learning because if it was learning, I’d say, no, no, no, no. Stop doing that, starting tomorrow. You know, like, this is wrong. You, you know, you can’t drop an appointment at, uh, Saturday at 9:00 PM Right. You know, it’s just like, that’s not gonna work for us even though, like it makes sense to the computer. It’s like, no, you’ll see them at 9:00PM better. 

[00:15:00] Regan Robertson: So you unique marketing campaign for single dentists right there,

[00:15:03] Dr. Chad Johnson: Right

[00:15:04] Regan Robertson: Stop and Saturdays at night.

[00:15:06] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah and you know what? For the right price, I’m down but you know, you gotta goodness. Some lead time. So, okay. So that was my long diatribe. Uh, basically we took ownership of our marketing and uh, that’s made a huge difference and, um, I am excited even in trying our new software with that, uh, called Trackable, um, that is checking out the data. Uh, you know, it’s, um, uh, it’s taking all the leads I and I was explaining to you or before hitting record as well, that we, uh, as dentists do a great job at customer service, taking care of the people who are already in your office, but not on lead management and so for when, uh, a stranger that calls and you don’t know their name or hardly their phone number, and you know, trying to get them into the system of how do we follow up with these people until they become leads or say, leave me alone.

[00:16:03] Regan Robertson: I, I, you know, the whole time you were talking, what I, what kept going around in my brain is, you know, you get out what you put into it, and it’s very tempting, especially, uh, for business owners that are also clinicians. It, it’s not your job. Like, that’s the first thing I think of is it’s not your job. Like, I’ve got other things, more important things to do and really what we’re saying is, is can I go back to where I’m really passionate and why can this not just function the way it is? Um, unfortunately. I think we’ve fallen prayed to it too at times, you, it’s more enticing to just do more or to do different than to turn around and work on your core. Think about like working out the wrong set of muscles. So, you know, um, in my own, like in my own physical health journey, I, I had hired a personal trainer and she was phenomenal, but, but, uh, it was the actual, you know, immune issues going on in my diet going on that, um and I even worked with a dietician, so let’s like that, like go that route. So even that, those two things were, uh, were not the right things to do. So just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do something and you have to really be a detective of sorts and you have to do a diagnostic on it. So if you, listeners, if you haven’t recently done an audit on your marketing. When I, and I’m going to explain what that means. It, it’s time to do that. So first of all, if you’ve, if thought I’ve never really looked at my marketing and all the intersections, that’s probably the flag that you need to know because there are things that you might miss that could be, you know, in, in Chad’s case it could be costing you, I mean, what thousands in patient care uh, that that may be missed and it’s not that your team is, is uh, malicious. It’s, it’s not that it, that your marketing team is, is being lazy, but you do have to take some ownership and go through that process and so what I do is, is I like. Chad, how you were saying that, you know, you went and started looking at each little touch point and intersection. So data is, is the, is the best part. So it sounds to me like you know, what started your journey was the data piece of it. Like the numbers were not adding up to you wasn’t making sense at the end. So I take, 

[00:18:08] Dr. Chad Johnson: Let’s, let’s put money to that. You know, I was spending, uh, $8,000 on marketing and I was like, I mean, is that earning me the patience that I would think $8,000 should bring me right. So when you talk about touch Yeah. I just wanna make sure everyone’s understanding, you are saying from, from the moment you have reached out to the patient, like on, whether it be SEO slash Google ads slash you know, billboard, whatever, uh, phone in the phone book, uh, phone number in the phone book, then the patient calls, then the patient doesn’t. Get an answer on, on our end, but they are persistent, this particular one, and they call back next week and then they, they get through, but uh, the person said, “Oh, I don’t know,” and, but then they’re persistent and they try one more time the next day and they get the right person and that person then says, “Hey, yeah, no, we’d love to have you in, in fact, we have an appointment next Wednesday.” “Okay, great.” Well then the patient realizes, “Oh, next Wednesday, you know, my car’s being worked on. I can’t make it. Um, you know what, I’ll call back.” No, I can’t. Uh, my, I lost my phone and then they don’t call you back and you go, well, what a rude person. They never called us back. What a, we don’t want jerks, you know, like this and then it’s lost. It’s a lost opportunity or you get ’em to the door but they were afraid to open the door because, you know, like they were like, “Oh, I’m too scared to go in. I’ve, it’s been 15 years.” So there’s so many opportunities from getting their butt in the chair. Then even when they get their butt in the chair to diagnose incorrectly and then, uh, getting them to say yes to treatment and then the all important paying for their treatment. So, you know, stuff like setting up finances, there’s, there’s this whole litany of start to finish thinking through the patient experience, um, that where the ball could get dropped. Keep going.

[00:19:59] Regan Robertson: Dropping the ball is exactly the point of, of doing this, this audit is really paying attention to, um, to what happens to that patient because marketing does not stop, uh, just because they schedule. So looking at the quality, uh, of it from, from every single touch point is really important. In my coaching group, um, through Coach Builder and Business Made Simple, one of the things that I hear often, um, in the community itself is the amount of times that businesses drop the ball. So a client is basically banging down their door saying, “I would, you know, I would love to work with you. I would love to hire you,” and the person says, “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” and then they don’t end up getting back to them for whatever reason and it’s a lost opportunity. Take the landscaper, for example. My husband and I wanna landscape our yard. We went out and we got bids to landscape our yard. Guess who followed up with us?

[00:20:54] Dr. Chad Johnson: The person who got the contract. None

[00:20:56] Regan Robertson: None of them. None of them of them. It was crazy. Yeah. This was like a couple years ago now. Uh, maybe they were busy. I don’t know. One person did get back to us with an initial and we were like, “Yes,” and I wanted like some pavers and so I asked my husband, I said, “Go back to him and tell ’em that you want a different style of paver,” and then that dropped off entirely too. So it was just amazing to me and was a very like visual, hands-on element. Think of like an overgrown garden. The garden is there, the canvas is there. It can be beautiful, but you have to pay attention. So from, you’re right. So the website experience, how easy is it to schedule? How easy is it to find? I am amazed at how many websites I go to. I can’t find what city they’re even in. Yeah. A lot and I’m like, what? And I look at a lot of dentist websites too. So I’m like, where is this? Where is this doctor even? But

[00:21:46] Dr. Chad Johnson: It’s not just dentist. You’re right. Like not just, sometimes I’ll be looking for a company and I’m like, where are they based out of? And you go to contact us, right? And then it’s like, yeah, uh, here, send us a message and we’ll get back. I’m like, “No, I want to contact you. Where is your place even, you know, like go into Google Maps,” and you’re so

[00:22:02] Regan Robertson: Mystery. Mystery shopping is one of the best things I think you can do for your, for your marketing, for the, uh, consumer experience and then on your side, Chad, and, and my side. So, okay. We’ve got this mystery of marketing isn’t working. Why is it not working? And really it does come down to the handoffs and looking at the handoffs. So what quality of lead are you getting in the door? So looking at those names and, and, um, and then those that who schedule, I would take a look and see, are they fitting your demographic? Meaning are they, are they needing the services that you’re really passionate about providing? And, and make sure that your, uh, you know, that your marketing is pulling the right type of leads for your practice.

[00:22:40] Regan Robertson: Sure. So paying attention to that is really good. Um.

[00:22:44] Dr. Chad Johnson: But the blame fell on us. Like specifically for us 

[00:22:47] Regan Robertson: It was how you found, what you found out was the blame fell on you. 

[00:22:49] Dr. Chad Johnson: For sure. For sure. You know, like that, that it was, it was like, wow, we could really, here’s what I, um, a statistic that I just as, just math, I mean, so 168 hours in a week and we work for seven hour days. You know, let’s even just say eight, but you know, if we’re answering the, the phone about seven hours or, or eight, that’s 16% of the week that we are answering the phone. So, uh, yeah, so what 

[00:23:15] Regan Robertson: I love it when you do your engineering brain, I love it when you start to break this all out into formulas. It’s so, I love how your brain works. Keep going.

[00:23:22] Dr. Chad Johnson: Well, think, think, think about the 83% of the time. Otherwise that, so we’re not answering the phone 83% of the day. Now, how many people are calling it at midnight? FairPoint, I mean, right but, but you know, so that’s just a, a uniform, uh, equation but nonetheless, like we are really only available, uh, uh, 16% of the, the week or, you know, any given day, uh, to answer the phone and and so that first off means that the patients are getting filtered by our closure. Yeah. You know, while we’re enjoying the weekend and naturally. So I don’t think that’s wrong that we’re enjoying the weekend, but you know, how are we making sure that we’re following up with these people and it’s interesting when you go to call logs, seeing how. You can, you can track, you know, the, the phone number if you have the right software, and you can see that these people are sometimes are calling five times, you know, they’re, they want you five times. Sure. You know, so they call, uh, they call Thursday, um, they call Thursday after dinner, 6:00 PM Okay. Then they call Friday morning, uh, as 8:00 AM, then they call, uh, Friday afternoon. Now you’ve been closed. You, you think they should be able to figure this out? They probably could figure this out, but they don’t know. And so now they’ve called three times. 

[00:24:43] Regan Robertson: Well, they call when they, when it’s convenient for them to Correct. ’cause they’re likely working. I’ve never understood this in our culture, by the way. Just throwing that out there. If I’m working a nine to five, the majority of people are working nine to five and all the businesses are open nine to five. It really, I mean, it gives you what your little tiny break in between your day and, and let’s face it, I think, I think collectively in the United States especially, everyone’s pretty much overworked. I really don’t think I’ve ever heard a professional, not yet say, my life is just chill. Like I kind of do what I want unless you’re independently wealthy, right. No, everyone’s hustling, so yeah, of course. They’re gonna be like, oh my gosh. And I bet it, I bet it’s like this too. I, I have to make that appointment. I’ve got a call. I hope they’re still open. Right. Yeah. That’s how you get those late afternoon calls.

[00:25:24] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yep.

[00:25:25] Regan Robertson: Oh man.

[00:25:26] Dr. Chad Johnson: I even was dropping off some flyers for our implant. Um, uh, uh. Open house that we’re doing. And I stopped by one business a couple blocks away and um, there were no cars in it. I was like, oh, crud. So I pull up, I look on the window, it said, uh, uh, you know, open until 3:30 and I was just like, oh man. You know, it was like four o’clock and I was like, man, they’re open until three 30. Uh, the awesome for them, but I was just like, I missed my opportunity ’cause they were closed mid-afternoon. I was just like, that’s awesome for them but holy moly. 

[00:26:01] Regan Robertson: I, I jotted this down because really I wanna, um, listeners, I wanna give you something that you can go back and you can look at your own practice or business and, and kind of dive into it. So there, when you are marketing, there are multiple elements to your marketing. There is the message and the visual that goes on all of your efforts, on your website, on your billboards, on your direct mailers, on your radio ads, and all of that. That could be a problem. Your messaging could be off. Here’s a hint. If you’re talking about how wonderful you are, doctor, and how many advanced degrees you have, you might be putting yourself in the hero seat and that is a mistake. Go check out the interview with Dr. JJ Peterson a few episodes back, and you can learn all about that. It could be your messaging might be off. Um, it could be to Chad’s Testament, a dropped ball, you might actually be getting leads with your digital advertising, with, uh, it, with all of your different marketing elements. Heck, your billboard or your, uh, no, your little ad, your ad in the church bulleted might be, might be smashing it, but it does nothing if the ball gets dropped once that that phone call is made, or

[00:27:06] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah, is after church. They’re on the church bulletin after church. They’re calling on Sunday afternoon and they don’t get an answer. Now, they should be able to figure that out, but they just saw it. They called and they can’t get ahold of you.

[00:27:18] Regan Robertson: So what’s cool about that though, here? So here’s another, here’s another cool thing about marketing and knowing your audience. There are mega churches around, right? So there’s, I was at a church that had like 4,500 people in it. If you are big in a community, it doesn’t have to be religious based. Any base, if you are in a community, you meet them where they’re at. So think about that carefully. While for Chad, it might not make sense to have a phone answering system or somebody open on Sunday. It sure as heck might if you are deeply embedded in a large community that is going to likely be calling at that time. So pay attention and listen to what your audience is doing and Chad, you just married it with the most exciting data. So, Chad going through and saying, okay, here’s when my callers are calling most like, and here’s when we’re not answering those calls. He may have discovered something really interesting and one fix might end up solving that problem. So look at your intersections carefully. Um, and this is probably the part that will make you groan, and I get it. I’ve done it myself. It does take time. It’s worth the investment or you can just keep throwing money every month at marketing and kind of hoping that it works, but you should. And

[00:28:28] Dr. Chad Johnson: And being mad it’s not

[00:28:29] Regan Robertson: Right and being mad that it’s not, before you go and blame, my website sucks. My digital advertising sucks. My what? My whatever sucks, try to do a really big diagnostic on it first to see where the actual problem could and, and, and I’ll tell you, um, one thing where, where I’ve heard doctors say that their marketing still doesn’t work, um, comes around the time of follow up. So they’ve actually had an appointment, but that lifetime patient value is low because they came in and then they never came back again. Well, what I discovered in like one of my own journeys is how well a practice medical dental, any, any health modality, how well they follow up with you post appointment makes a huge difference and especially in dentistry, because you have treatment planning, medical, you have treatment planning, you are either gonna say yes to that, you’re gonna delay it or you’re gonna say no and so it can, life gets Lifey and Chad and I know this so well, and I know you listening to this, you know this so well. Life gets lifey, you get in the car, you, you say you’re gonna think about it. Then, you know, work calls your family calls, your kid calls, life gets in the way, and then you forget to schedule it if you don’t make a touch, like, and that is a marketing touch point, if you don’t follow up, you could end up losing that opportunity. So, uh, just like a garden you’re gonna, you’re going to get out of it, what you put into it and how big that tomato grows is really up to you and, and I think, I think marketing plays a really important part when we pay attention and, and value each element of it.

[00:30:01] Dr. Chad Johnson: If you have software, uh, or some ability of tracking and you are able doctor to do what I did, I followed up with people via text and I would see the tracking phone number. I would write this message and then cut and paste it so I didn’t have to retype it every time. Um, I actually saved it in my phone so I could, you know, hit this again,

[00:30:22] Regan Robertson: Mark.

[00:30:23] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes. Every week is, I’ll write and say, “Hey, this is Dr. Chad from Veranda Dentistry. I was auditing my phone call logs and saw that you called. I wanted to make sure that I was following up with you, that you were satisfied with how we interacted with you. If you have any questions or want to, you know, schedule an appointment, let me know. This is my personal cell phone number,” or however you want it to finish that, let me know by calling whatever, right? But. I,

[00:30:51] Regan Robertson: I can hear the, I can hear the doctor groans right now. Like I could, I, I feel I can hear it,

[00:30:55] Dr. Chad Johnson: But, but here’s the deal, here’s the deal on my phone, I mean, just so you know, you might have a different area. It’s how my area works and I, people don’t bother me. Like, so if you’re just like, if I give my phone number out to a thousand people, a thousand people are gonna bother me. No, they won’t. This isn’t the nineties that people are excited to call your cellular number. Okay? So, no, they won’t, they’re busy, they have things to do. You’re not actually that important. So, uh, so give them your number and you’re. If, if you want to make appointments, if you’re full, maybe this episode isn’t for you, keep spending money how you want but if you, if you wish you had more appointments, if you wish that your, uh, customer care was taken to, uh, the next level, uh, model that as a leader by sending a message and you can hide it in a, like a hidden, um, text message app. They have those. So I don’t, I’m not saying you have to do it the way that I’m doing it, but reaching out to them, um, you will get more re-engagement, I think is the word for it and, and, and you’ll be amazed that if you’re like, man, this next week is kind of empty, well reengage with the people who tried calling you the last week or two and you will get it full.

[00:32:06] Regan Robertson: I think making it, you know, I, as a consumer, it wouldn’t matter to me if it was my doctor texting me personally, which I would be shocked at if that happened and yes, I would feel very special, um, if the office manager reached out to me. I would also feel special. And here’s why. The way that you just described the message, it felt more personal and it put yourself in the guide role and it made them the hero. It seemed very gen like genuine.

[00:32:31] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes.

[00:32:32] Regan Robertson: It didn’t feel to me like, you know, uh, hey schedule, we, we got, we got, we got openings and just go ahead and schedule. It was actually seemed very, um, caring and so I think how you message it is also a big deal. Um, but doctor, if you’re listening and you’re like, I just don’t, I just don’t have the time for that, or I don’t wanna make the investment, or I’m too introverted, or whatever it may be. I think your team could do it too, in a HIPAA compliant way, obviously. So check out the apps that are appropriate. I’m not, I’m not technical on, on that, that piece of it, but I, I do know that that would be enormously valuable and one of the things that I’ve talked about many times should be inserted here is, I received through my patient hub app at the medical clinic that I go to. Well wishes on a trip that I was taking. That was it. There was, there was no, “Hey, schedule your follow up,” or anything like that. It was just, Hey, I hope you have a good time on your trip. And that changed the world for me. It felt seen, it felt heard and and had nothing to do with their care, but I will always go to them because I felt seen. So I love that you’re doing this and I love that. I love so much, Chad, that you were willing to take a hard look. Keep your biases down and your, and like your blind, like your little, what do they, what do they call the little blind spotters? The, the little, what are they called on horses? They put ’em on the sides of their face. What are this called?

[00:33:47] Dr. Chad Johnson: Uh, I was, if I were quicker, I was gonna come up with some, like, stupid name and you’re gonna be like, no, it wasn’t, and then I was gonna be like, no, I was just kidding.

[00:33:55] Regan Robertson: I just like that you’re, that you were able to take a, a very, um, impartial look at it and I think, uh.

[00:34:02] Dr. Chad Johnson: It was tough because I, I, I did have emotion to it, so like I don’t want people to think, “Wow, I wish I could be so emotionally unattached and, and just rationally look.” No, no, no, no. Kate can attest to this. I was, I was mad. Like, she was probably just like, “Oh, shoot. Like he’s mad.” Yeah and like, I, but I was like, if I don’t go through, like, that’s not me normally, but I was like, I, I think I have to go through this emotion and like figure, like, ’cause it’s just like, I don’t know if you’ve ever been a parent coming home and it’s like, “What’s this house a mess? Like what, why is this house a mess?” And your caveman brain turns on and then like, then you settle down and go, “Oh yeah, I made this mess. You know, it wasn’t my kids, it was me. Oops.” So.

[00:34:46] Regan Robertson: Accountability, willingness to look in all, you know, under all the covers, under all the beds, look under the, you know. On all the areas. I think that that’s right. Will be, yeah. It’ll be worth it. Well, thank you Chad. Thanks for jumping on. Um, thanks, listeners, get excited for part two of this because we are interviewing Sarah Hansen, who is a master at this, and she brings a lot of energy to the conversation and a lot of excitement. So we are going to talk about marketing from the inside out with Sarah and, uh, and she’s gonna tell us some of the results that she’s been getting, which are, um, uh, uncredible. So, uh, tune in for that. Look to that next week. Thank you for listening to another episode of Everyday Practices Podcast. It would mean the world if you can help spread the word by sharing this episode with a fellow dentist and leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify. Do you have an extraordinary story you’d like to share or feedback on how we can make this podcast even more awesome. Drop us an email at podcast@productivedentist.com and don’t forget to check out our other podcasts from Productive Dentist Academy at productivedentist.com/podcasts. See you next week.