Your Ads Aren’t Broken. Your System Might Be (E.330)

“Do not pay for new patients when you have a million dollars plus sitting in your practice from patients that just never said yes.” – Sara Hansen

Brief Overview of the Episode

It is easy to blame the ad.

A campaign does not perform. The phone does not ring enough. The right patients are not scheduling. So the first instinct is to spend more, change agencies, or try another platform.

But Regan Robertson and Sara Hansen ask a better question:

What happens after the patient sees the ad?

This episode looks at marketing as a full system, not just a tactic. Regan and Sara walk through the internal systems that can either multiply marketing results or quietly drain the budget. From call conversion and reviews to referrals, community presence, treatment scheduling, and brand messaging, they explain what practices should check before increasing external ad spend.

Because a better ad will not fix a broken handoff.

What This Episode Reveals

Marketing is not just Google Ads, social media, or a website. Those are tactics.

The real strategy is what happens across the entire patient experience.

This episode reveals why practices often spend more than they need to because the message is unclear, the team is not aligned, or the patient journey has leaks no one is tracking.

What You’ll Learn

• Why “we need more new patients” is not always the real problem
• What internal systems to check before spending more on ads
• Why call conversion, treatment scheduling, and show rate matter so much
• How reviews and referrals can reduce the need for heavy external ad spend
• Why brand messaging must show up at every patient touchpoint
• How community involvement and authentic content build long-term trust

If This Sounds Familiar

You are running ads, but the results feel inconsistent.

You are getting calls, but not enough patients are scheduling.

You have unscheduled treatment sitting in the practice, but the team is still focused on attracting more new patients.

You have reviews, referrals, and community opportunities, but there is no consistent system behind them.

This episode will help you slow down, look under the hood, and find the real breakdown before spending another dollar trying to force growth.

Next Steps

Before increasing your marketing budget, review the systems already inside your practice.

Start with the basics: call conversion, treatment scheduling, reviews, referrals, and follow-up. Then look at your messaging. Does your team know what the practice stands for? Does the patient feel that same message from the ad to the first appointment?

When those pieces are working together, your marketing has a much better chance to perform.

 

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TRANSCRIPT

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Hey, Reagan!

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Regan Robertson: Hey, Sarah!

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Hey! So, this week was especially fun for me, because you were able to join me on some phone calls with some doctors, where we talked strategy and their concern, and, you know, this is a really common conversation that you and I have, and what it sounds like is…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Doctors will say, our marketing isn’t working, or they’re frustrated by it, and then we start looking under the hood of the practice, and what we realize, and, you know, walk the doctor through, is it’s not necessarily an ad by itself that’s not working, but the bigger question is those systems. Were they set up? Is the team following the systems?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: How… how did you like being on that call this week with me, where we were able to kind of talk about that? What did you discover?

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Regan Robertson: It puts my passion right at the front, because everyone deserves to have marketing that works.

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Regan Robertson: And not every marketing agency is an evil entity just trying to take your money. I think everyone has really good intentions, with the products and services that they offer, dentistry in general, from, you know, the software that you use, to the technology that you choose to put in, to the office design and how it’s created. So I think if we, you know, put everyone’s best interests at heart and believe the best in others.

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Regan Robertson: I don’t think that it is inherently just, we tried this marketing and, you know, the company failed us in some way. What I find is the great, you know, great practices that suffer with marketing that isn’t working, it’s a symptom. And you were so articulate at explaining that marketing is a system. I love your philosophy

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Regan Robertson: For how you think of marketing, because

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Regan Robertson: as Fred Joyle says, everything is marketing, and… And it, it really…

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Regan Robertson: Behooves us to pop the hood.

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Regan Robertson: and take a look at something deeper. So if you’re listening right now, and you think you’re spending a lot on marketing, and it’s not giving you the results that you deserve, this is the episode for you, because we are gonna go through some of the things that you can specifically look at to give a little self-diagnosis as to what may be the bigger problem, or if it is truly, you know, the company that you’re working with, or how you’re deploying marketing within your own

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Regan Robertson: practice.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah. Yeah, you know, I think when we look at marketing, and Reagan, I heard you say this week, when we look at it as, well, we’re doing Google Ads, we’re doing Google Ads, that’s not a marketing campaign, that is a tactic. And that is where I think so many practices.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: are thinking that their marketing campaign is a specific tactic, but what we know about marketing, and Reagan, we’ve been talking about it for months, is marketing is all-encompassing. It is the complete patient experience, from the time they see your ad, or they hear about you in the community, to the first phone call, to the hygiene appointment, to the financial options that are provided, to the

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: follow-up to the experience, to the way that they’re, you know, made to feel when they’re in the practice. That is your full marketing strategy. And when we get hyper-focused on just a tactic of that.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Then you could have another part that is…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: not working, as we would say, and we don’t know, because all we know is we’re paying money for an ad and we’re not getting the patience that… that we necessarily want. And so, I would love to explore more today and talk about, like, what do some of those internal systems look like, and what are… what causes

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: those Google ads or those external campaigns to not be as successful as they could. You know, it’s about looking at marketing in a totally different way than I think we’re used to.

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Regan Robertson: Can you imagine if our dentist looked in our mouth and they just looked at the individual tooth and said, yeah, we work on this tooth, but we’re not going to pay attention to how that tooth is going to show up in relation to the rest of the teeth and the mouth.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Right.

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Regan Robertson: In relation to how the jaw functions and how the jaw is placed, you know,

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Regan Robertson: I think… or look at the gum tissue, and kind of the health of the gum tissue, or take into account the genetics that that person has, or the other risk factors that are in play. We know the most, you know, incredible dentists really are great at understanding the full picture, and…

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Regan Robertson: for me, that is… that is how we look at marketing, is the exact same way. We don’t just look at a website, or we don’t just look at Google Ads, and you shouldn’t either, but it is so…

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Regan Robertson: overwhelming at times when you are a dentist who is working on being clinically proficient, you are a manager of multiple employees, sometimes multiple locations as well. You are a mentor to your associates, you have HR discussions, you’re responsible for the recruitment, or at least the final hiring decision, and compliance, and oftentimes a building owner as well. So there are so many things on your

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Regan Robertson: that marketing often just falls to that bottom of the pile, and it turns into, yeah, we have a website, or yeah, we do some Google ads here and there. And that is the equation to, yes, I worked on this one tooth, and I didn’t take anything else into account. And it is… it’s definitely not

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Regan Robertson: to be judgy on you, it’s just the amount that you have on your… on your plate right now. So, tell me from your beautiful mind, Sarah, how you approach marketing as a system.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: It’s different.

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Regan Robertson: Different than just focusing on the tactic.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah, when we look at marketing as an entire system within the practice.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: We are not just focusing on the attraction strategies themselves, so it’s not just about the website, it’s not just about Google Ads, it’s not about social media. Yes, that is a component of it, but when we look at marketing as a system within your practice, it’s going to look different. So, what community opportunities

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: are we invested in, or are we participating in? One of the conversations that I had this week with a doctor is they have such a beautiful niche practice where they do specific things that not a lot of dentists do, and they are ideal for working with other practitioners that focus on really full-body health.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: And, you know, that’s a huge opportunity, because there are patients looking for that. They just don’t know, right? That full marketing system is looking at internal reactivation, re… recall, you know, it’s looking at financial options, it’s looking at the website messaging, so it is really going through the entire patient journey.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: But implementing that system within your practice is looking at if a patient is coming from an external source. If we follow that patient through the patient journey, what happened to that patient? Did they fall off somewhere? Did they call the practice, but they didn’t schedule?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: did they call the practice, come in for an appointment, but then not accept treatment, right? So, understanding that patient and where they’re going.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: through, and where a breakdown could potentially come in.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: That’s where I tell doctors, like, we’ve got to see the data behind it to then understand where is that breakdown happening within that marketing funnel, because it may not be your marketing. It might be something in that patient journey that happened internally that we’re not even aware of.

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Regan Robertson: You know, from the brand architecture standpoint, the messaging, to me, is what is crucial as a through-line through that system. So there’s… you spoke a lot… to me, I hear a lot of the data components of it, which is so critical. The data telling us

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Regan Robertson: what reality is in the practice today. So, looking at those… the analytics and, and seeing what the data is actually telling us. And then from the…

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Regan Robertson: The emotional-driven side, the story-driven side, what… what is the… what is the core theme that’s present from the moment that somebody hears your practice name to the time that they have, you know, left the appointment and they’re ready to go into a re-care cycle?

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Regan Robertson: really important that all of those intersections create a consistent messaging experience, so that they have the chance to hear it more than once. And that’s, to me, a red flag is when we do some Google Ads or we do a website, that person has, you know, a hit or miss.

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Regan Robertson: as to what type of messaging is going to be going out, because someone focused specifically on performance marketing, for example, like Google Ads, we know that they are… they are going to put in tried and true methods, so that.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah.

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Regan Robertson: a new patient special offer, which is… it works, and at the same time, it’s often the lowest common denominator. It’s a new patient special that pushes everything down to cost, which is, like.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes.

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Regan Robertson: position to be in.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes!

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Regan Robertson: possible, because you are just working off of data alone, and no story gets to come through. Another thing that you and I talk about often, and you listening, I would challenge you right away to tell us what your mission statement is.

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Regan Robertson: Or not tell us, tell yourself, do you really know what it is? And you might say, yes, I wrote it, I know what it is, I…

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Regan Robertson: I kind of can say most of it in my head. Now ask your team, and you might be surprised that chances are that few, if any, will know it.

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Regan Robertson: And even fewer will be able to recite it word for word.

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Regan Robertson: that is a good red flag to tell you that your marketing is not going to stand a good chance of being successful, because the messaging isn’t memorized, it’s not truly felt, it’s likely not being played out and demonstrated to your current patients, every single day as well. So… so when I think of marketing as a system, I think of the logistics, the transactional elements, the data.

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Regan Robertson: Which you’re so good at, Sarah. And then I think of the brand messaging that goes throughout each of those intersections, and how is it painting a cohesive story so that that… those neurological pathways can start to be built so that patients will start to equate you with the type of care that you really ultimately

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Regan Robertson: want to deliver.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Okay, so, Reagan, as a brand architect, because this is where your genius shines, what… what does that look like, then, in a practice, when we say it needs… that message, that brand needs to be congruent? Like, what if a doctor’s like, well, what does that mean?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Tell us what that looks like. Give us some examples.

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Regan Robertson: Okay, so let’s stick on the mission statement since I’ve…

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Regan Robertson: passionate about that this week. I’ve had multiple interviews around that. Many mission statements try to put… it’s like opening a junk drawer, because they want everything to be in it. So they want to talk about all of the different ways that they serve patients, and all of the different things that they believe in, which are… is good.

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Regan Robertson: Oftentimes, the words used, because dental practices are still dental practices, you won’t use completely unique words, but you’ll use vague words.

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Regan Robertson: So, if, you know, if you’re… if in your… in your mission statement, health is part of

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Regan Robertson: your statement, what does that mean? Even if you say best health.

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Regan Robertson: Or you say wellness. What does that mean to this practice? How does that really definitively show up? So, the mission statements that we create are very, very simple, but they have an important third piece component, and that component helps motivate the team, get up every day.

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Regan Robertson: want to put their pants on and run into the office, because they’re serving a true mission. Like, think about… think about missions, think about military missions, right? I mean, you have a goal, you have a defined goal, there is something that you are fighting, or you’re making the world a better place, and you’re giving them a reason to get up and push forward, and protecting freedom is a fantastic mission, right? Like, you know you’re gonna go to work.

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Regan Robertson: Because you are protecting freedom. So, how do we apply that to a dental practice? Well, we get really clear about how we define the words that matter to you.

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Regan Robertson: So, in terms of putting this into an overall marketing strategy, so let’s say, for example, I go to your Google reviews and I see that, like, 50 patients have used the word comfortable. You’re really good at making us comfortable. We take that particular word and we turn it into a characteristic or a value, and that particular word, which your patients are already saying, starts to show up in messages

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Regan Robertson: at every single touchpoint. So, even if you’re working with an SEO company and a Google Ads company that wants to use those specific attention-getters, if you will.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah.

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Regan Robertson: You can still incorporate your core value word, your characteristic that you’re known for. Here’s where it connects.

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Regan Robertson: I end up seeing an ad, right? And I see the special on it, whatever it does, it does make me click over to it, but I see the word comfortable in it. And then my next step as a consumer as well, I want to see, like, what are the reviews of this particular practice? So I click over, and I see a whole bunch saying the word comfortable. Okay, I guess I’ll go to the website, and maybe I’ll go ahead and take a look there, take a look at the About Us, because we know the About Us page, like, what is.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah.

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Regan Robertson: Like, we show up there, and we hear stories about people being comfortable, we see the word comfortable showing up, okay? Alright, I’m kind of hooked, I’m gonna give them a call. I pick up, you know, and I give a call, and the first person that says, you know, hello, welcome to XYZ Smiles, we care about your comfort. Like.

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Regan Robertson: those touches, every step along the way, and demonstrating what comfort means in our definition. So, comfortable may mean just in as little pain as possible.

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Regan Robertson: Or, comfort can mean we offer you a blanket. Comfort could mean, you know, we greet you by name at the door, and we make sure that, you know, the temperature is adjusted, and you have a beverage in your hand. So working with your team to understand what your key values really mean, is really important, and that’s…

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Regan Robertson: That’s how you pull it through an entire system. And then, if you were to break it down into a team execution level, if we believe in comfort, how does that show up in all of the jobs that we do, including when we’re reaching out to patients who’ve had treatment presented, and perhaps they haven’t said yes yet?

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Regan Robertson: So how do we keep their comfort in mind when we’re communicating with them? And that could mean, you know, that we ask them their preferences. Do they prefer text messages, written communication, emails, phone calls? Like, what is their preferred thing? And then knowing that it helps them be comfortable if we’re able to communicate with them in a way that they prefer.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: I loved everything you just said, because it’s… that… those are the pieces that I think are missing in marketing so many times, is that, again, we…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: you know, have a team, an SEO team, create a website, but we’re not sure what our own marketing message is, right? And so we go to what we know as dental, you know, providers. We talk about technology, we talk about all the cool stuff we have, we talk about, you know, the typical… we treat you like family, right? Or whatever that.

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Regan Robertson: Yes.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: It’s like in the marketing message.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: But that’s where it becomes so generic for these patients. And what the patients are looking for is, what else? How does this speak to me? Why do I want to choose them over, you know, ZZ Smile Dental down the street, right? What is that differentiating factor? And that is, I think, that piece that we’re missing, because if the team doesn’t know who they are.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: who they serve and what their key characteristics are, how is the patient ever gonna know? So I love…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah.

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Regan Robertson: It makes you spend a lot more money than you have to, and I can already hear in my head, you know, I want to trust a marketer. I don’t do marketing. I do great dentists.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: I don’t do.

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Regan Robertson: marketing, so I’m just going to trust you. And where you can take control of that is, that is true, and you don’t have to know marketing, you do have to know what you stand for.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah.

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Regan Robertson: You have to know what your values are. You do have to know how to be able to tell that story, so that the experts in marketing can do a great job for you.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes.

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Regan Robertson: It feels so transactional at times, and I’m not a fan of the word silo, but it really is treated like a silo. I just want…

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Regan Robertson: number of patients, and then.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes.

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Regan Robertson: the conversation is, I want X number of patients right for me.

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Regan Robertson: there’s where you stop. Let’s really dig into what… what the right patients for me look like, and then, Sarah, your brilliance is… is finding where those patients are, and creating that… those campaigns that… that make sure that you have enough touches in place, because the ideal candidates might not be

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Regan Robertson: Searching for the same terms that another, you know, company might be

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Regan Robertson: recommending that you do. But not only that, what happens when you’re in an oversaturated area, and it’s highly competitive, and the practice doesn’t have the budget allotment to be able to compete and purchase those amount… the amount of inventory required to get the results, then what do you do? I mean.

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Regan Robertson: You know, do you feel like… it’s very frustrating.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes! Yeah, and I hear those conversations all the time. Frustrating with marketing. But again, that is why it cannot be a one-off thing. It cannot be, you know, market… true marketing strategies, in quotation, systems.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: has to encompass so many things than just external marketing, and we are missing so many opportunities

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: to really attract the patients that the practice wants, and that the doctor wants to see, by being hyper-focused on one tactic, or one type of, you know, marketing campaign, as we would call that. But what is so great about marketing is there is not a one-size-fits-all.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: And the other piece that is so fun about marketing is when you start to pull those pieces through, like you said, the bridging of the messaging with all the tactics and how that actually shows up.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: What tends to happen is now the office is starting to see the patients they really want, and it now becomes this ripple effect, because they’re attracting the patients that they want.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: the patients are referring other patients like them, and it becomes this… this, like, really incredible practice with the doctors happy, the team’s happy, the patients are happy, you know? And that… that is the ultimate goal of marketing, but growing a practice through marketing is not just

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: new patients. It is not new patients. And I think that… within…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: That is probably the line I get the most. Doctors will come to me and say, Sarah, we need to grow the practice. I just need more new patients. And it’s like, well, yes, you might need some more patients. What else? How else can we look at opportunities within the area? And it might be that

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: hey, we’ve got to go a little further out, so what do those tactics look like, you know, to attract the ideal patients? And that’s where marketing becomes really fun, is not just doing the same old things, but getting really creative.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Those are the strategies I love.

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Regan Robertson: Yeah, if you’ve ever seen the movie Moneyball, your, like, philosophy… you are Moneyball. Like, Phoenix Dental Agency’s, like, whole position on marketing is the Moneyball, because nobody wants to spend a ton of money on marketing and not see the ROI, and it’s a risk.

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Regan Robertson: And you often get burned in the past, so there’s so much tension around it that even energetically, it can make marketing a difficult task to be successful at because of all the fear that’s surrounding it and the loss that can be surrounding it.

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Regan Robertson: Tell me what internal systems you look at, especially, Sarah, with all of your experience in office management.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah.

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Regan Robertson: In the dental practice, what internal systems can our listeners, like, check before even throwing money at external marketing campaigns?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: So, I’m gonna separate the two just a little bit. Internal systems, I would say the ones that you have the most control over, doctors. The biggest things to look at that provide the biggest growth

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: for marketing internally would be your reviews, so asking for reviews, right? Referrals. Do you have an established referral program? Is it consistent? That’s the key word. Is it consistent? Because I can tell you that

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: probably 8 out of 10 practices that I talk to, they’ll say, oh yeah, we used to do a thing, but we’re not really consistent about it.

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Regan Robertson: Same, yes, and does it follow state guidelines?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: As it falls.

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Regan Robertson: Oh, thank God.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Guidelines, yeah, that’s the other piece. So, you know, those are the two. But then the biggest thing, doctors, is…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: I’ve said this so many times, do not pay for new patients when you have a million dollars plus sitting in your practice of revenue from patients that just never said yes. There was something through that patient journey that

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: they… there was a disconnect somewhere within what they… what they experienced. They didn’t say yes.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: But yet, they still haven’t dropped you as their dentist, right? So they need to be reminded that you are the place, that you’ve got options for them, whatever that looks like. So internally, those are the three biggest ones that I would recommend. Those are the ones that team members can be involved.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: You have those internal systems, but create them to be consistent. And then, separately, I would say community. We are missing so many community pieces.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: of, you know, just showing up, supporting local teams. I mean, I know with my own kids, there’s so many opportunities to sponsor their teams, and to, you know, provide different things, and to show up, right? Again, looking at just all those opportunities within the community. So those are the two biggest things that… that doctors, you really…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Can be…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: I’d say very strategic in, but also, like, it’s just about who you are, right? Bring that… bring that to your team. Hey, team, you know, what community opportunities are you guys seeing out there? You know, is there something with your kids that we can support, right? That would very much align with the practice and where they’re going with all of that.

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Regan Robertson: The green flag for community involvement, in my opinion, is consistency and making a commitment to plant.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes.

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Regan Robertson: It’s like… it’s like growing a plant. It really is. You have to water it, and you have to tend to it. A red flag is, I tried this one thing one time, it didn’t work, so I killed it. That is… that is one of the worst things you.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah.

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Regan Robertson: do, for your marketing efforts, because you haven’t given it any chance to mature, any chance… you can’t just

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Regan Robertson: have one event and be like, okay, this is, I mean, hugely successful if nobody knows you. You know how clicky people can be, and groups can be, and it takes time to…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes.

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Regan Robertson: to really grow those relationships within it. So choosing… I like where you were going with, like, you know, if it’s… if you have children and you want to do something that’s sports-oriented and want to support in that way.

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Regan Robertson: Choosing something that, one, it’s a community event that you can get behind, that you believe in, and that you enjoy, number one, and then number two, know that it’s going to be a more than a one-time thing. It needs to be something that goes and grows with you, and is something that you can genuinely… people know if you… subconsciously, you can feel it.

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Regan Robertson: If it’s a, I’m showing up because I just know I’m supposed to do this thing, and I don’t know if it’s gonna work, versus…

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Regan Robertson: You know, I am so happy to be here. I have a child that’s here, or I love gardening, and I’m part of this, you know, community gardening group, and I love feeding people. Like, if it’s something like that, your energetic level subconsciously communicates long before your voice ever says a word, or your marketing material even says anything.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah, yeah. So, Reagan, when I worked… I worked for, a dentist one time, and his… when he wasn’t practicing dentistry, he was on the golf course. Loved golfing. And what was really cool is we were able to find events that we could sponsor, right, that he was already going to be attending, but then the other piece that was cool is he started

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: like, meeting people on the golf course, right? And being part of these events, and all these things, and I can’t tell you how many patients came in, even drove 30, 40 minutes to come to the practice because, oh, hey, I met doctor on the golf course, and, you know.

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Regan Robertson: Nope.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: we happened to talk, you know, about what do we do? And then I told him, oh, hey, I have a tooth that’s really bugging me, you know? And so it’s like, those are the things that the doctor was already doing, right? It was very much a part of him, and his patients knew that he loved to golf. He was a golfer. I mean, we lived in Arizona, right? There’s golf courses everywhere, so it was a huge deal, but it was very much on brand for him.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Like, he didn’t go outside his comfort zone, he did something that he loved to do anyways, but brought that into, you know, an internal slash community event that made sense for the practice. And so, those are the type of opportunities that are easy for our teams or the doctors to really look at and say, hey, what are things I love to do outside of being a dentist? You know, who’s my network?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: where do I get to know people? You know, what does that look like? And that is how you can get really awesome community campaigns going. And then, to your point, Regan, it does need to be not a one-time event. We know marketing touchpoints, on average, are, what, 6 to 8, sometimes even 10, 12 marketing touchpoints before someone takes action, so it is something that you want to keep top of mind.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: keep that… that consistency going, even if, right in the beginning, maybe you don’t get a great ROI, but it’s about investing in that strategy and keeping it consistent.

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Regan Robertson: one of the things that you talk about a lot, Sarah, is… is making sure that people know, so that they can have the opportunity to participate. And… and so many times, marketing can also be confused with sales.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: unsealed.

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Regan Robertson: feels pushy, and we often think, why would they, you know, why would they care? So I think a community event is a super good example of how we can pull this through, because if you’re going to attend, is that… is that event listed on your website anywhere? Do people know when they visit, let’s think about the intersections, do they know?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes!

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Regan Robertson: that you were going to be there on the website. When they walk in the practice, is there anything, even like, you know, a little flyer or something that says, hey, we’re going to be at the farmer’s market on this date and time, so that patients that are coming in can see that and know that. Is it something that’s being shouted out in your social media, so that people know that you’re going to be there, and you… and, you know, and you could tag, if you’re doing a farmer’s market, for example, say you really love a soap company.

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Regan Robertson: Or you really love another vendor that’s going to be there. Are you engaging with that brand in a unique way, so that you’re increasing your odds?

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Regan Robertson: at actually being able to get in front… because I think that’s just such a big thing, is we just… it’s hard to get in front of eyeballs, and the reality is, we do get in front of eyeballs, but how many times are we getting in front of those eyeballs before it really sticks? And they can say, oh, okay, we’re gonna… we’re gonna be there. And again, from the messaging standpoint.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes. You’re.

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Regan Robertson: Our core value is comfort.

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Regan Robertson: how are you showing up to that event and giving the people there a comfortable experience? That’s something that you can work through with your team, and you want to make sure that that is present, so everything you do, community events included.

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Regan Robertson: should definitely demonstrate your core values in play. It doesn’t have to be difficult. You don’t have to do all 10 of them. Choose the one that is the most important to you.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes. Yeah, exactly. Because when you get focused on the one, now it becomes so easy to be like, okay, you know, for example, with what I shared about the doctor who was a big golfer, if his core value at that time was comfort.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Why not have some branded little fans that the, you know.

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Regan Robertson: Right.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Right. If it’s, like, a hot, you know, summer day in Phoenix, right? What does that look like, and how… so again, there’s so many fun, creative ways to tie in your core values to what you do into marketing strategies, but that, I think.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: It’s… it can be so fun, but also, that is such a crucial piece. And, you know, but yet it’s so overlooked, you know?

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Regan Robertson: Well, I think we can talk demographics with that, too, because it’s almost like diagram. So.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Doctor, you have to.

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Regan Robertson: to be passionate, you know, especially if you’re going out in the community, but in general, you have to be passionate about what you believe in, and then there’s the patient, and then in the intersection in the middle, to me, that is where we choose which events to attend, and what marketing channels we engage in.

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Regan Robertson: How do you, when you get… when you pull all of your psychographics, demographics, market research, competitive analysis, what are you looking for in creating a strategy as opposed to a tactic?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah, well, the first thing I do is I ask the doctor, who’s your ideal patient? Describe them to me. What do they look like? How do they, you know, is it a mom with kids? Is it an older patient because you like to do a lot of all-on-fours, right? Are they a patient that has gone through a lot of dental trauma? You know, or are they healthy? Like, what… so I ask a lot of questions first. I want to

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: understand who does the doctor want to attract? What does that patient look like? Then, yes, then we start pulling that information. It is so interesting to me because

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: A lot of things come out with understanding your demographics, the psychographics. Understanding how your patients consume media, how… what their buying tendencies are, actually shapes a strategy, and that is a missing piece that I think a lot of marketing companies don’t do. If the doctor says to me, hey, Sarah, I really want to attract patients from 60 plus, right?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: I want to do dentures, and I want to do all-on-fours, and I want to do things like that. And then they tell me that, you know, previously they did TikTok ads, and nothing’s working, and so they’re frustrated with marketing.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: I’m gonna say, well, I’m sure it wasn’t working, because your ideal patient and your marketing campaign are not aligned. And so, when we look at the demographics and understand our patients, how they, consume media, but also even their financial situation, if we are marketing to patients that, you know, are dual income, maybe, you know, don’t spend a lot on their healthcare because they just don’t have

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: a lot of money, then you need to be focusing on that messaging. Do you have financial options? Because if we know your patients are not going to accept treatment, not because they don’t value it, but because they simply don’t have the income.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: then that’s going to be, you know, a break moment in that patient journey. But if you know that, hey, these patients need to have financial options in order for them to accept treatment, and you know that about your demographic, now you can provide them with what they need and the solutions to say yes to care. If you want to attract the older demographic, we’re going to look at mailers, we’re going to look at Facebook.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: campaigns, right? We’re not going to be doing ads on TikTok because we don’t have that generation on TikTok, right? If we want middle-aged moms for cosmetic dentistry, we’re going to Hulu, we’re going to Instagram, right? We’re doing those different things. We may be working with influencers, right, in the area. So, there’s just so many opportunities, but understanding your

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: ideal patient, and then even further, how they consume media is so crucial to marketing working. Because if we don’t understand how they consume it.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: How can we now create a strategy?

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Regan Robertson: the… the… I would love for you to talk to us about, your approach to attracting patients. Like, what if… what if a practice comes to you and says, you know, here’s… here is my perfect, ideal patient, and they are very specific, and you find out that they are 20, or 30, or even 40 minutes away.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah, I…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: So again, then this is how we have to look at marketing and say, okay, we know that they’re going to have to drive, so we have to… that messaging is more important than it ever has been, because they’re not going to come to you for convenience, because it’s not convenient for them, right? To have to drive 45 minutes is not convenient. However.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: we want to identify with what their needs are, and that is where the patient story, the transformation, we cannot just market and say, hey, voted very best dentist, you know, because we have, you know, great technology. What is that hook for that patient? How do we speak to them? What’s important to those patients?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: That is your messaging, but then also, that may change your marketing budget, right? So again, understanding, now we have to go further out, we might look at different types of marketing campaigns, because now we have to convince them, we have to establish trust

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: right away. It can’t be just a static ad on a platform somewhere. We’ve got to have video, we’ve got to have commercials, we’ve got to have some type of, like, interaction with the team. The patient has to see you and fill you, hear the story. So, your marketing tactics will look very different than attracting a patient that’s within

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: 3 minutes of the practice.

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Regan Robertson: Yes, I love that you said video. My… one of my healthcare providers is… it’s a 30 to 40 minute drive, depending on traffic, away.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: for me.

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Regan Robertson: And, and I try to stay close, obviously. Like, I’m a busy… I’m a busy career woman, and a busy mom, and a wife, and so I… yeah, I’ve always…

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Regan Robertson: tried to keep it closer. However, this practice had been referred to me so many times from friends of mine that I thought, this would really behoove me to look into it. So, even with the recommendations from my friends, which is, like, the strongest you can get, I still went to the website anyway. And it looked good, like it said, I loved the messaging, but as I scrolled down, there was a video, and the

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Regan Robertson: the thumbnail was a woman that I know, like, in our community, and I really respect her, and I was like, what is she doing on here? So I clicked play to watch the video, and hearing in her words, she’s around my age, that

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Regan Robertson: helped, like, push me over the edge, and I, you know, I looked at their reviews, that… every little micro thing, I looked at their social media.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes!

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Regan Robertson: building trust. By the time I saw that, though, I was like, okay, this is ridiculous that I would ever hesitate

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Regan Robertson: to drive, and that’s what got me to… to pick up the phone, and then… and then we’re in a conversation of value and outcomes, and definitely not, is it the cheapest new patient visit possible? It completely shifted my own internal conversation to how.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes.

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Regan Robertson: approach healthcare.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: I am so glad you shared that, because…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: like, that is… those are some of the things that I get really passionate about, is like, you know, I mean, the last podcast I shared about, you know, the farmer’s dog, it is so emotional, right, for our patients. And I think that we… because we do this every day, we forget those things, but that is what our patients are looking for. And it’s like, I can say all day long, doctors, get authentic media, take every

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: every stock photo off your website, off your ads, right? Do not have them. That is what you are… patients need to see you, fill you. And I love that you shared that was what took you, like, okay, I’m doing it. Because that piece is so powerful, and, you know, but yet, it is an investment, doctors. It is, like, you know, to have a photographer come out, and then, oh crap, now we had a change of a team member.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: how are team photos outdated? You know, I understand it’s hard to want to make an investment like that, but when we talk about a patient, basically one video is the patient saying yes, and a patient not scheduling and moving on. I mean, how do you put a price on that?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: You can’t, right? Like, this is… these are the pieces that are so important to the marketing, and again, patients want to know who you are. They want to know what you sound like. They want to know what your office is like. They want to hear patients’ stories. You know, those are so many pieces that they can’t get from

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: a photo of a stock patient, right? They don’t know anything about you, and yet we’re asking them to trust us with their health, we’re asking them to trust us with their finances, like, we’re asking them to do all these things.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: And yet, we can’t even bother to be like, hey, I’m Dr. Jones! You know, here’s what I want patients to fill when they come into my practice, right? Like, when we think about it like that, it’s so easy to just be able to have what our patients are looking for.

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Regan Robertson: Okay, can we talk social media for a second? Yes! Oh, please.

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Regan Robertson: want to equate it to a system and getting your investment out of it. So people often will say, you know, yes, I know I need to do social media. I know I need to do it. And when you even put that energetic towards it, I know I need to. It becomes a, you know, something like eating our broccoli. And what I find when I go in to do a business audit is I definitely will see what it looks like when you’re eating broccoli. I see blog posts.

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Regan Robertson: And I see no engagement, and then I see Happy Donut Day, Happy Hygienist day, like, that’s it. And nothing else, like, there’s.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah.

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Regan Robertson: It’s there because it needs to be there, not because the office is passionate about sharing the story that way.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah.

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Regan Robertson: one of the best accounts that I see is treating it like a telephone, like, where they can actually engage with the community. So, for example, as a system, every week.

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Regan Robertson: some of the best practices that I see. They will do a Did You Know series, so they will… they will be just walking, maybe, just walking to the practice with the iPhone on, so it’s not…

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Regan Robertson: polished video, it’s not stock images, it’s just the doctor walking into the practice, and it’s like, God, have you ever woken up and your jaw just is… feels tight in the morning? You know what that actually is a symptom of? And then they will go in and give the answer, and the bridge over is, hey, if you’re suffering with this and you’re kind of concerned, you know, give us a call. Debbie’s at the front desk, she’ll be happy to take your call and help you figure that out.

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Regan Robertson: That… making an investment is part of a system, like, we are going to do the.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes.

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Regan Robertson: consistently. The team, this is who is responsible for it, this is who is going to post it, and hiring any external social media organization, they can get you so far, but they can’t

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Regan Robertson: force you to do things, and it shows up if you don’t care, and maybe, doctor, you’re too busy, but you happen to have someone on your team that is very passionate about communicating through social media and can be a great conduit for you. So it is a channel that you can utilize and really get a lot of mileage out of. Same…

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Regan Robertson: example with the cross-pollination, you know, so if you.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: You know what I’m.

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Regan Robertson: you’re in a… what if you’re in a strip mall, and… and there is, you know, a smoothie shop at one side and a massage, you know, aesthetics place down a couple floors down? What if you guys all talked to each other and did a special promotion together for spring, and then all shared each other’s posts and talked about it? So it’s really about, I think, inviting people in, but give me something of value, because I am going

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Regan Robertson: to equate that value as a micro-moment of touch. So what do you tell the

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Regan Robertson: practices when they say, okay, I know I need to do social media, and like you said, you started… I think you gave everybody a good foundation. Don’t go on TikTok just because it’s a platform you know how to use, but maybe your ideal patient isn’t there.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes.

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Regan Robertson: What do you tell, practices, or what do you… what’s your recommendation for how to use the social media that you do choose?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah, social media is not expensive. Now, if you want to boost, you know, a post, or you want to do those other things, but social media, again, to just have an online presence from the team, you guys, it doesn’t cost you anything to, like, have… you can open a free Canva account, you can upload a few photos that you all take with your phones, right?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: what social media is, is keeping you in front of them. That’s what it’s used for. It is now creating this opportunity for you to have, you know, maybe even a fun post. So, we’re gonna celebrate Debbie, you know, at the front desk, and happy birthday to Debbie, right? And then what that does is your patients that follow you

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Well, they’re like, oh, I love Debbie! Now they’re gonna comment, Happy birthday, Debbie! That’s true! She’s the best!

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: You know? And guess what? Their friends now see that someone said, happy birthday, Debbie. So again, by one little post, your reach can be so big, and it doesn’t cost you anything. What I recommend to teams, though, is let’s say that you post something, and your patients go nuts about it, right? Maybe it’s a…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: you know, building a house for Habitat for Humanity, maybe it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, whatever that looks like. Maybe it is, why do we floss every day? Whatever that looks like. You can tell, look at Meta, you can tell by the engagement. If that is something that patients love, why not put 10 bucks at it and boost it, right? I mean, it’s so simple to do. So again, social media.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: doctors is one of those things that it… it has to be consistent, and it has to be authentic. So, you know, just your generic, again, stock photos, or generic, you know, looking, like.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: happy teeth, like, they want to see you. Like, I cannot stress that enough. They want to hear your voice, they want to see your movements, they want to see the team, they want to know what you guys are doing. You know, those are those pieces that are really so simple, it just takes somebody to do it.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: That… that’s where it falls a lot, Reagan, really, in practices, is, again, it becomes one of those things that, oh yeah, we used to do that, oh yeah, we used to have a

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: That did that, but that is such an awesome piece. Social media is powerful. Whether we love it or we hate it, it is still a very powerful thing. And let’s say maybe, you know, a patient has seen some of your posts come up from time to time, but they don’t need a dentist.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: And then one weekend, their tooth starts to hurt, and they happen to be scrolling through social media, and there you are, because, again, you’ve interacted with them, right? Now they’re gonna take action. So, again, it is about the consistency of what you’re doing.

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Regan Robertson: And what I love about this is it’s also an opportunity, again, to bring forward your core values, and so when.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes!

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Regan Robertson: when that tooth is hurting, or when that, you know, it’s time, right? It’s time. They… and they might be anxious, they might be fearful of it. They will think of the dentist that makes you comfortable, and social media is the most beautiful way. I like the flossing

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Regan Robertson: angle, because, because nobody likes flossing. Nobody enjoys it, everybody tries to avoid it, people lie, like, I mean, oh, let’s say me.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah, I… well, you know, my hygiene.

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Regan Robertson: Right. Well, I didn’t think about this as a post, but it would be great. So, I spoke to my hygienist about it, and he said, have you ever tried a water pick?

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Regan Robertson: And I was like, oh, no, I’ve never tried that. And he goes, you might, you might find that more comfortable. So, think about even, applying that core value to the patient experience from.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: I’m from, like.

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Regan Robertson: clinical standpoint, share that on social media. Do you hate flossing? Yeah, we do too, and so does everybody else. Have you ever tried a water prick? We often find that patients tell us it’s more comfortable. What do you think? And it’s a way to educate people, and it’s a way to relate to people and connect and be honest about it. Like, you know we’re gonna tell you to floss every day, we know you don’t like it, here’s a way that we could probably make it better for you.

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Regan Robertson: And I think that that… so, you know, connecting, relating, and then… and educating. So, when it comes to that time, oh yeah, they’re… they’re not gonna… they’re not gonna judge me, and they… they’re going to understand that maybe I don’t love to do this, and they’re gonna.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes.

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Regan Robertson: for me.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah. No, that’s exactly what it is. It’s the relating, and in fact, there was, speaking of relating, I don’t know if you remember this, Reagan, Chad, you know, our previous co-host, Chad.

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Regan Robertson: Chad Johnson, previous co-host of Everyday Practices.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Oh, Chad.

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Regan Robertson: Shout out, Chad!

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah, chatty chat!

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Regan Robertson: And Dean, let’s shout out Dean.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Thank you, Dean.

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Regan Robertson: It’s his sister.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Medium.

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Regan Robertson: Manager. Yeah.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: So this is what I was going to bring up. What was so funny is they did a series on… I mean, and Chad, you guys go to Veranda Dentistry. If you have not followed Chad on social media, he is a riot. Like, talk about a guy who understands how to do social media. But what I love about Chad is there was a time period where they were reading Google reviews from their patients, but what they did is they had the star glasses.

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Regan Robertson: That’s right.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: They put their star glasses on, and they would read the reviews, and then, you know, do a little, like, something like how much they value their patients. But what I loved about that is now… so one, they made it fun, totally on brand for Chad. If anyone knows Chad, he is, like, the greatest guy ever. But what also happened is now they’re taking a Google review that someone would have to go to Google to read it. Now they’re bringing it on an additional platform.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: So what was cool about that is now those reviews that are authentic coming from the patients who love you, you know, your raving fans, right? Now it’s coming to another platform of, hey, we’re gonna read our Google reviews and have a fun time, and thank you for our patience, and, you know, all these things, but they made it really fun, and so now we’re expanding that authentic, you know, review of the practice through other platforms, so now the patients

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: doesn’t have to go to Google to read the reviews.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: now they’re like, oh, hey, you know, this patient talked about how they were afraid, and now they feel comforted, right? So kind of bringing that… those core values, Reagan, back, that you talked about, is that is a brilliant way

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: to expand something that we know converts patients, which is authentic Google reviews, and putting that on another platform. So again, there’s just so many ways that we can maximize everything we do, and that didn’t cost them any money, right? It cost them 5 minutes of their time to find the funny glasses, have one of the team members rev…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Read the reviews, and, you know, it created some really great content for them, and really, some big conversions.

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Regan Robertson: Okay, so let’s bring this home. Thank you, listeners, for hanging in with us here, and we hope you get a lot of value from this.

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Regan Robertson: You’ve said, you know, pull the report on treatment that’s been presented but not scheduled, check your referral index to see how many referrals you’re actually getting, maintain your reviews health, so if you’re getting, you know, less than a review a week, I mean, how long has it been since you’ve had a review, or

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Regan Robertson: look to your Google reviews for consistency, so do you get a bunch in one month and then nothing the next month? So kind of check and see how your reviews are going. When… how do you know, Sarah, when it’s the right time to spend money on ads?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: When your internal systems are…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: backed and working. It can’t be, oh, we used to do that, right? So I would say, when it comes to external marketing, you have to have a really great website with proper messaging and a robust SEO strategy. When it comes to external, that is a must.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: you don’t have to spend on Google Ads when you can generate enough

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: growth from the practice through RevenueWise by doing,

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: internal marketing, so the reviews, the referrals, making sure you’ve got high referrals, but also that community piece. Now, again, doctors, hear me loud and clear. This is something that… it takes time. This is more of your organic growth, right? This is not something that you can turn on and off like a faucet. However, this is a long-term value strategy that you’re putting into your practice.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: So, I would say once those systems are in place, then absolutely look out and see what you can expand with. Is it Google? Is that right for you? Is it, you know, YouTube? Is it Hulu ads? Is it podcast commercials? Radio? You know, what does that look like? So, that’s what I would recommend, making sure those internal systems are set up first, the community pieces are set up first, all the things that

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: You can do without spending a ton of money.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: put those in place. Then, I would feel comfortable saying, okay, doctor, now let’s make an investment in marketing.

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Regan Robertson: Are there any major red flags that if you go in and give a brand audit and see internally is not set up, or is underperforming, that you would do a hard stop and say, I wouldn’t spend a dime on external marketing until this is fixed? What would that be?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: I would say call conversion rates.

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Regan Robertson: I was… I was… I wasn’t saying anything, so I was like, what’s she gonna say?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: We are…

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Regan Robertson: Solar life.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah, I would say call conversion rate, and I would also probably say treatment scheduling. You know, our…

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: from the treatment that’s presented, how much of that is actually scheduling? Those are the two areas. Because again, you can spend $10,000 on Google Ads or other external marketing, but when they call the practice, if your call conversion rate

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: It’s not working, and you’re at 20%, now you are spending far more than you have to.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: to get those patients in. And then also, I would say call conversion, treatment acceptance rate, and appointment show rate. No show rate, that sort of thing. So again, are those patients that are calling to schedule, are they now coming to the office? So, those are the ones that I would look at, for sure.

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Regan Robertson: Do you have any benchmarks that you typically follow?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: So, we like our client teams to be at 80% call conversion rate.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: We do a lot of call training for them, we track it. You know, again, we know that not every patient’s going to schedule, but if 80% are gonna call and schedule, that’s what we like teams to be at. When teams sit at 20 or 30%, what we hear in a lot of phone calls is more transactional, right? They’re talking more about insurance or cost or things like that.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: They’re not getting into relationship with these patients early on, but 80% doctors, so out of every 10 patients that call you, new patient opportunities, you want 8 of those to be scheduling from your team.

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Regan Robertson: And is it 10% referrals of 10% of the amount of hygiene visits.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes, yes, yes. So, referral index, you take the amount of hygiene visits that you have in a month. So, doctor, let’s say you had 200 hygiene visits the previous month. You want 10% of that, so 20 patients.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: coming.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: from other patients. So again, we always say benchmark minimum standard is 10%. Really well-oiled internal system practices, they’re often at 15 or 20%, which is phenomenal. And what’s great about those types of metrics, they’re easy to track for the team, so you know where you’re at. But the other piece is, if you have 20% of your patients

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: coming, you know, from those hygiene, because they’ve been having those conversations, every patient, then you don’t need external marketing other than a website for online presence so they can find you, right?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: great reviews, a Google business profile, but you are now getting enough patients to sustain your practice. You don’t even need external marketing. And, not only that, but you’re getting.

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Regan Robertson: External merch.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: They’re getting oil.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: That’s what you’re.

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Regan Robertson: Yes, I want to be really clear about that. You still will be… you still will have visibility, and you still will be communicating, but less spent, by far, on external marketing spend, yeah.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes, external marketing spend. You’re now not paying thousands of dollars to Google, because now you’re attracting new patients through patients that already love you, and that level of trust has already been elevated because they’re coming from their best friend who loves you and raves about you, right? So, it is ultimately the best way to get new patients into your practice is from other patients. Like, I could… I could sing that

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: for days.

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Regan Robertson: I think this is brilliant. I hope, listeners, this gives you a game plan, so before you spend any money on social media marketing, pay-per-click, any sort of external ad spend, that you are making sure that you can convert what it is that… that you’re actually having in practice. Oh, before we go, is there a metric

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Regan Robertson: For the unscheduled treatment, or is it just as…

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Regan Robertson: Yeah, tell me about that one, because sometimes I am shocked at how much is sitting on the books that’s been presented but not converted.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah. Now, teams… so there’s not, per se, a metric, right? Because every practice is going to look different. Meaning, if you have a full fee-for-service practice that does a lot of

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: high reconstructive cases, you know, you could easily have $5 million and maybe 10 patients, right? Yeah. Just because the treatments are so huge. So, but what I will say is you typically will have at least 30%

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: of those patients need to be scheduling, at least. So that’s your benchmark. If one-third of your treatment is not scheduling for their next appointment, we want to get you at least to that point. Of course, you know, the more, treatment that schedules is just better for the practice, but practice is you want to be at at least 30% of everything that’s been treatment planned, scheduling.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Because otherwise, patients are not saying yes, and there’s usually a reason why. There’s usually a reason. So again, it’s your job to make sure that you have enough relationship with them that you can see their signs, right? Of, hey, all of a sudden, now they glazed over. Like, as soon as I started talking about finances, they got a little fidgety, right? That’s a sign that maybe finances are very sensitive to them.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: So, do you have a membership plan? Do you have financial solutions for them? Do you have, you know, options where you can talk about this in a trusting, open way that they can still get the care that they need, but also afford it? When Summer was on our podcast.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: she talked about this very thing that Bruce used to say, which was, just ask them what their budget is! And Summer’s like, no!

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Regan Robertson: See that?

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: But what that did is it allowed the patient to say, I want this treatment, but I really can only afford $300 a month. Well, okay, then let’s find a way to work within that budget, right? So again, those are those things that, you know, we really need to find those solutions for our patients so that they can say yes.

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Regan Robertson: Well, thank you, Sarah. This is such a fun topic for both of us.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yes!

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Regan Robertson: Listeners, we hope to find great value in it. You have a really clear core value established, you’re pulling it through every single step in the patient journey, and you know what red flags we pointed out today, and then what green flags to help you get on your way.

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Sara Hansen- Phoenix Dental Agency: Yeah. Thanks, everyone!