Episode 128: Employer Branding Marketing

“Growing practices should always be in the mindset of hiring great talent when it comes along.” ~Dr. Victoria Peterson

In today’s competitive landscape, the way you brand yourself as an employer can make or break your practice. Join Dr. Victoria Peterson in this episode of the Investment Grade Practices Podcast as she dives into the essential strategies of employer branding that every dental practice needs to know. Whether you’re just starting out or already have some pieces in place, Dr. Peterson will walk you through the steps to proactively establish and enhance your reputation as an employer. 

From claiming your Indeed and Glassdoor pages to crafting the perfect interview experience, this episode is packed with actionable insights that will help you attract and retain top talent. Discover how to turn every touchpoint — from job postings to interviews — into a powerful branding opportunity that sets your practice apart. If you want to future-proof your practice by creating a workplace where people want to be, this is the episode for you. 

As you listen to this episode, we want you to think about the following questions:

• Am I actively managing my practice’s online reputation as an employer, or am I leaving it to chance?
• How can I improve the candidate experience during the interview process to make my practice stand out?
• Do my communication and follow-up procedures reflect the professionalism and culture of my practice? Does each job candidate feel valued and informed as they move through the process?

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT 

[00:00:00] Announcer: The Productive Dentist Academy podcast network.

[00:00:03] Victoria Peterson: Start off with a bang. Make sure that your reputation is stellar and that you have packaged that reputation and put it on the internet.

[00:00:13] Announcer: Welcome to Investment Grade Practices podcast, where we believe private practice dentists deserve to get the lifestyle today while building an asset for tomorrow, join your host. Victoria Peterson to design the practice of your dreams and secure your financial independence. Let’s get started.

[00:00:32] Regan Robertson: Doctor, are you living the dream or just dreaming of living? It is my honor to announce the PDA 20th anniversary special conference This September 12th to the 14th in Frisco, Texas, the nation’s leading course on dental practice growth. If you feel isolated as a leader who was frustrated that your schedule is unproductive, maybe your team is disjointed or your systems are inefficient. This is the conference for you. The PDA 20th Anniversary Conference has all new features, including keynote speaker, Emmett Smith, who is a pro football hall of fame, running back, and entrepreneur. You can choose your own educational track to customize your learning experience. Go to www.productivedentist.com and click the pop-up or select Productive Dentist Academy Conference under the dental CE and events tab. That’s www.productivedentist.com. Seating is limited. Register today and we look forward to helping you make your dreams become reality.

[00:01:23] Victoria Peterson: What does it really mean to market yourself as an employer? Yeah, that’s the question that’s brand new in dentistry. It’s one that if you’ve not started thinking about it, I bet you’re already doing some things. Well, so let’s talk about employer branding. Certainly there is the aspect of claiming your Indeed and Glassdoor accounts. If you haven’t done that, please do just like your Google business page. Someone else can come and claim that page if you don’t. So claim your page and then start working on filling it out. Now, it’s not as easy as one might think. You may need to hire a millennial that’s a little digitally savvy to help you with this, or our marketing agency can help you with this. It’s not a big deal, but claim your Indeed and Glassdoor. Put up a careers page on your website. Growing practices should always be in the mindset. Of hiring great talent when it comes along. So with employer branding, it’s multifaceted like all aspects of marketing. Let’s start with what do you put on your Indeed pages? You know, you want to be clear about who you are, where you’re located and a phone number, as simple as that sounds is often overlooked. Have web links that take people right to your careers page and show what you’re all about. Warrant bans. Have team photos, team videos, testimonials. Speak directly to your ideal team member. Now to get there, you’ve had to have laid the groundwork. Are you thinking about the key characteristics of your ideal employees and the core values of your team? Are you thinking about your standard of care, who you want to be as an employer, who you want to be as a clinician? Those principles, those guiding principles that lead you through your business life are the exact things that you should be putting on these sites.

[00:03:11] Victoria Peterson: Matt Hutchings, who is part of our employer branding team, he would say, it’s your pitch. What’s your pitch doctor? Who are you? What are you all about? This is marketing. It’s competitive. Hone your pitch, have a controlling idea. For what you’re all about and then put it out in the marketplace. Even if you’re not hiring today, that is actively working for you. 92 percent of employees today say that if they had a job offer from a company that had a great reputation, they would likely change jobs. Now think about that. I don’t know how apples to apples that’s applies to dentistry, but let’s cut that in half. If one out of two of your employees would go to a different practice that had a great culture and maybe a dollar more an hour, what would you do to retain them? What would you do to show that you’re that person with the great culture? With the great reputation, if it’s blank, if there’s nothing on your website, if there’s nothing in your Facebook ads, if there’s nothing in your Google reviews that say, “Hey, not only are they a great dentist, they’re a great boss.” Then you have no reputation and people are going to bypass you. So don’t let that happen. Really get ahold of your brand in that way. I think another missed opportunity to market yourself as an employer is during the interview process. Make sure that your team is ready to proactively screen the calls in a way that positions your reputation. It’s just like answering the phone for your patients. And it can be, dental office, hold please. Or it could be, thank you so much for calling Smiles Today. How can I make you smile? You know, it’s an opportunity. To showcase who you are. So when the calls are coming in or you’re leaving a message, make sure that you have your tagline, your one liner that you want repeated over and over again, right? So advanced dentistry by design, where we create smiles day in and day out, whatever it is. You want to have that tagline going through all of your touch points with potential new employees. Now, on the day of the big interview, this is the secret sauce. You want to be ready. If you’ve got a top candidate, you could even have their name on the welcome board.

[00:05:26] Victoria Peterson: You know, they walk in, they see their name on your TV screen that says, Welcome, Victoria. We can’t wait to show you our office. These are the tiny little details that make people know that you set the table, that you’re prepared for them. It’s like throwing a party. It’s like hosting an event. Think about this. We have moved from the information age, the time of knowledge, into the experience age, how can you make that interview process an experience they will never forget? Even if they don’t get the job, what are the little tiny touches that you can present that will make that person say, wow, I hope I get that job? Because chances are they’re interviewing at multiple locations. You know, chances are you’re not the only person looking to fill a position. So think about gift bags, think about swag, think about things that could benefit them. Give them a 5 Starbucks card, give them a 10, 20 gas card. Thank you so much for making the trip. We know how difficult it can be in your job search. We’re really thankful that you came by to meet us today, just as you would a patient. Right? Give them the courtesy and honor them and respect the interviewee as somebody that you potentially want to spend the next five to ten years with and give them that honor. Now, if there’s somebody that doesn’t fit your culture, I don’t know if I would give them a 20 gift card, so use some discretion here. I remember, I’m going to give a shout out to Dr. Debra King of Atlanta, Georgia. She taught me these things. We had a concierge medicine practice long before concierge medicine ever existed. So in the late nineties, early two thousands, I was a dental hygienist for her. I was her very first employee and we operated by this system called LENYAP. So, and for all my Cajun friends in Louisiana, I’m sorry, I probably butchered that, but LENYAP is what you expect. LENYAP and a little bit more. So how can you make this interview process something that they expect and a little bit more? You have opportunities in your automated  messages. So you post it on Indeed, they apply. There could be an automated message that goes back to that candidate that says, thank you so much for taking the time to apply with us. We can’t wait to meet you. It can be in the telephone. It can be as you greeted in the hall.

[00:07:46] Victoria Peterson: In our practice, We did a tour of everything. We took every candidate on the tour of the entire office with the intention of pointing out all the positive aspects of it. So I’m, I’m old back then. Sterilization was a hot thing. So high-tech sterilization rooms like they are today were just being invented. So we would make a point to stop in the sterilization room and say, we are state of the art. We are hands-free. With our tray systems and with our cassettes, you’re going to enjoy being here. We put your safety first. So we pointed out safety. We pointed out our protocols. If we would walk by an operatory, we’d say, “That’s Dr. So and so, man, are we lucky to have him. He joined our practice a year ago, up and coming star. One of the best in the city.” Go along a little bit more and say, “Oh, that’s our hygienist. She’s been here for 20 years.” We were showcasing longevity. So the tour isn’t just about walking someone down the hall to meet the doctor. It’s showcasing how you care for each other is showcasing your ecosystem. We value being prompt. We value recognition. Your name is in lights. We say, thank you. We have courtesy. We have safety in mind. We work with stellar people. They stay here a long time. All of those messages are being conveyed on a simple tour of the office. That’s what looking at yourself as an employer through a marketing lens gives you. These are marketing opportunities. You know, the same thing applies with your patients, right? You want to build physical rapport. You want to get to know them before you launch into things. If you’ve come to the Productive Dentist Academy, you’ve heard Dr. Baird talk about the one act play. Very first thing he does is sit down and make sure that he’s at eye level with the patient. The interviewee. So I challenge you, go into your office and sit in the chair that someone sits in when they’re across the desk from you. Are you higher or lower than them? Put a chair in there that’s slightly higher, lower your chair a little bit. Give them that one-inch advantage. Let them sit a little taller than you. What that will do physically is lower their stress. When we’re close proximity to someone and you’re towering over them, there’s a natural fear. 55 percent of our communication is nonverbal. Okay. So get your non-verbals correct, set the environment, make sure that you are chaperoned.

[00:10:12] Victoria Peterson: Doctors, please, if you’re a male doctor, please don’t interview young females alone behind a closed door. That’s a big no no. It’s going to get you and your team in a lot of trouble. So always have a two person interview just to avoid any sense of impropriety. It will also make your candidates relax a bit more. They won’t feel so in the [00:10:30] spotlight. That’s always very helpful. And it also is good to have two people there to help recognize some of your biases. You know, we all have biases as human beings and you’ll hear things differently. So it’s great to have someone there, more attention for the candidate, more safety for you and a clearer picture of what’s really been said and done. Once you walk the candidate out, make sure that you clearly communicated next steps. Thank you so much for being here today. Our next step in the process is the vote. And there’s a lot of options there. It could be we’re interviewing more candidates throughout the week. We plan on making our choice within the next two weeks or your next, uh, pieces to come in to submit a video. I mean, there’s all kinds of things, samples of your work. We would like to check references next. We would like to call a laboratory that you worked with. So depending on whether it’s a doctor, hygienist or administrative. There could be some piece of proof point on skill that you want to look at with your final candidates and you want to preset that in advance. What is it? How do you communicate it? How do you activate on it? So if it’s something that they need to submit, let them know. I will email you the process. You can upload it into our Dropbox or email those things back to me. Start off with a bang. Make sure that your reputation is stellar and that you have packaged that reputation and put it. Um, the internet, make sure that you are prepared when the time comes because it will come. Your perfect team is all set to go and then you find out that one of your favorite team members is moving to another city. It happens every day. So get prepared, put your reputation online. Start being very proactive about it, own it, claim it, market it. Number two, train your team. Get your scripts for welcoming candidates into your office, just as you have scripts for welcoming patients into your office. Rehearse and role play the interview process, walking individuals throughout the practice. In fact, on the fifth week of every month, I challenge you to just start in the parking lot and walk all the way through your practice, noting chipped paint, worn carpet, outdated magazines, Clean it up, keep it fresh throughout the year and then as you dismiss this candidate, make sure that you have clear action steps. This is a pull through from a marketer’s point of view on how you can be more proactive and less reactive and win the employer branding game. Thanks for joining me on this great episode.

[00:12:57] Announcer: Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Investment Grade Practices Podcast. If you find value in this episode, help us spread the word by passing it along to a dental friend. Subscribe and give us a like on iTunes or Spotify. Learn more about building your Investment Grade Practice at productivedentist.com today. Productive Dentist Academy Podcast Network.