What business are dentists really in?

By Colin Receveur

If you’re not getting the quality of new dental patients that you want and need to grow your practice, look at how you market. But before that, look at how you view the business you’re in.

I’ve talked with thousands of dentists, and I’m amazed at how many of them believe they’re in the business of fixing teeth, replacing teeth, and clearing up gum disease. That’s like saying Apple’s phone division is in the business of providing smartphones with advanced features. That analogy is true as far as it goes, but it really misses the mark.

Apple doesn’t advertise solely on the features of its phones; it sells an experience. In Apple’s ads, there’s the implicit promise that your life will be better when you own one of its products. That may be due to enhanced convenience, clarity of sound or image, ease of use, or anything else that goes along with having and using a smartphone. There’s also an undefinable but real sense of prestige underlying its advertising. “Buy one of our phones,” its ads seem to promise, “and you’ll have bragging rights.”

It makes sense to define a consumer-oriented business by the value of what its efforts accomplish, not by the nuts and bolts it takes to provide that value. By that measure, dentistry isn’t about fixing teeth and healing gums. The ultimate value of dentistry is about its ability to improve and even change lives.

How you define your business determines how you market

If you view yourself primarily as someone who fixes and replaces teeth and clears up gum disease, your marketing will reflect that view. You’ll focus on procedures and materials, because that’s basically what you offer. That limited viewpoint determines how you market to attract new patients - on price, discounts, and specials. Because price- and insurance-driven dental prospects, in my experience, make up about 80% of any given market, that might seem like the sensible approach.