In this episode, we talk with Dr. Komal Patel who shares her experience growing and expanding her practices.
Dr. Patel shares her 3 secrets for practice success:
- Setting Expectations
- Creating Systems
- Community Involvement
Tune in for this great discussion!
Full Transcript
Intro: What do you get when you combine simplified practice marketing, proven ROI strategy, and Vans skate shoes? You get Mark Thackeray, of course. So lace up, grab your green smoothie, and get ready because this is Dental Marketing Secrets and this is Mark.
Mark Thackeray: Okay. All right, you guys, welcome back to another episode of the Dental Marketing Secrets podcast. I have Dr. Patel with me. I’m very excited to talk with her. We did a little pre-call and we’re just enumerating a bunch of different ways that we could take this call and there were so many, I wrote down three that we’re going to dive deeper on and so we’re going to jump right into those. But first I wanted to have Dr. Patel tell us a little bit about your story, you know, how you got into dentistry and just kind of paint the picture of where you are and how you got to where you are right now.
Dr. Komal Patel: Sure. Hello everyone. Thanks for introducing me, Mark. Appreciate it. I started my journey in dentistry after college. I had been visiting my dentist a lot in the past couple of years before then in college. And I had taken a year off. I didn’t know if I was going to pursue, I had always had a dream to go to medical school. I just wasn’t sure after college if that was really what I wanted. And then, you know, talking to my own dentist and we, I’d been going for a couple of years now finishing up my dental work. He was asking me, well, why not I think of dentistry and you know, he would ask the questions of, well, do you like to do this and do you like to do that? And the thing he asked was the big thing he would ask is like, how are you with your hands?
Dr. Komal Patel: And I was like, I think I’m okay with my hands. I mean, I don’t know. That’s a question to ask an 18 year old. No, I was at the time 21 year old, but I was like, I mean I could, you know, do things and cut things by. And he’s like, well, do you like to do, are you artistic? And you know, I thought about it and I was like, yeah, I like to color and you know, I’ve always liked to freehand draw and he’s like, then dentistry’s for you. So I researched it a little bit more and you know, he was nice enough to let me shadow his office and I was like, you know what, I think I can give this a try. And in the work life balance really drew to me. So that’s pretty much my journey was, it was came later. I, I didn’t grow up wanting to be a dentist, that’s for sure. But it definitely came later and that’s when I decided to take the entry course, which is the DTS at the time. I don’t know if that’s still it. And I got a pretty decent score and got into a school, a state school, which was relatively more cost effective for me. And so I thought this was a no brainer, I should do it. So that’s where I decided to do it by decided, yeah.
Mark Thackeray: That’s awesome. Yeah, it was awesome. I know it’s always interesting to see what are those, those triggers along the way that really steer you this direction or that direction and how influential one person can be.
Dr. Komal Patel: Exactly. Yeah, he definitely put a bug in my ear early on. And I, at first when he mentioned it, I was like, people’s mouths all day. I don’t know, you know, I was very like turned off, but the more and more I thought about it, I was like, well, if I was wanting to be a doctor of some sort, I don’t think a mouth would be that terrible. And the more and more I kind of got to talk to him and I would ask questions to his staff too and you know, they would tell me some of the benefits of it and what they do. And I was like, I think I can, I can, you know, consider being part of the field. And then it was, it definitely was interesting. Yeah. It definitely helped. Going off, I did have to go off, I had a lot of dental issues in college, but I think the fact that he was so open to letting me see everything and so open about it really helped me make my decision as well.
Mark Thackeray: Yeah. Yeah. That’s always such a good idea. Such a good recommendation to shadow someone in that position and get a feel for exactly what it is on a day to day basis because it’s just a glimpse in what, what you could be for you. And without that it’s hard to make a really, really educated decision. So that’s, that’s really cool. So what, tell me to what now that you’ve been, you’ve been in, in the field for awhile, what, what are the things that you enjoy most? You know, what are, what are those moments? It could be with a patient, it could be, um, working with your team, whatever it may be. What are those things that you just draw so much energy and rejuvenation from?
Dr. Komal Patel: So I, I would say there’s a few things. You know, in terms of patients, it’s one of those things where I want to make sure I’m providing the best care possible to any patient that walks into my office. And you know, well majority of our patients is routine treatment, making sure they stay healthy. But you know, once in a while you’ll get that special case where you’re going to make a difference in their life. And it’s one of those things that, you know, you don’t expect it, but when it happens, it like motivates you to keep doing it. Dentistry, there’s a lot of stress. Let’s, let’s be honest, lots of stress, whether it’s, you know, treating patients or having to deal with the bills or the business end of dentistry.
Dr. Komal Patel: It’s a lot of stress that you don’t really learn about until you get into it. And so, you know, you along the way, as much as you know, those patients believe you’ve changed their lives, it’s reciprocal. You end up getting, your life changed because of them as well. So those moments, you know, I’ve had a few recently and it just rejuvenates you to keep doing what you’re doing even though you’ve have rough days and days where you’re like, man, I don’t know if I want to go back to that office tomorrow. Right. That definitely motivates me for sure. Um, another aspect that motivates me now that I’ve been doing this over 10 years is mentorship. I truly believe that, you know, along the way there was pivotal people that it helped me to get to where I am and I want to help my colleagues get another level that they’re not there yet.
Dr. Komal Patel: You know, I really believe that dentistry is a field where you need to rely on your colleagues to get an accelerate at. I take a lot, I have a lot of, I have, um, a lot of passion to mentor my associates, to drive them to achieve their goals. And so that’s a passion that I’ve recently developed in the past three, four years. Honestly, when I started first getting associates, I was just like, Oh, this is another thing I have to deal with. I decided to embrace it and you know, really put my, my energy into setting them up for success in different ways. And I’ve changed my outlook on what an associate means to the practice and it’s really helped my practices app. And it also is very filling to know that I’m helping this person get better at their job.
Dr. Komal Patel: So yeah, that definitely, that is definitely in one. And the last is just leading a team- there is a joy to it. It’s, very challenging and there’s a lots of frustration sometimes, but to know that I have this whole people group of people behind me at all times and they’re invested in me and my practice is a great feeling and it’s not something that happened overnight for sure. And I had a lot of people who helped me along the way. But you know, I really enjoy knowing that I’ve got this leadership capability and it drives me to keep growing and helping my practices out.
Mark Thackeray: So awesome. I mean, all of those, we could spend the whole episode talking about one of those, you know, I mean, there’s just so much to unpack in each of those. And let’s, I just want to touch on a little bit with the mentorship. I mean, I look at all of the industry leaders and you can take any industry, any vertical, and you look at the leaders, those that are the very top are the ones that have embraced that mindset of, Hey, it’s time to develop, it’s time to share this knowledge and really develop the industry as a whole, right? I mean, they’re taking that kind of that more of an educational approach. And like you were saying, where you flip that switch and started to change your paradigm on what an associate means to your practice. I mean, that was, sounds like that was really a pivotal point for you. Talk a little bit more about that if you would.
Dr. Komal Patel: Sure.It was definitely something that nothing, it’s something that I wish we really kind of learn, not learn about, but we’re more, I was more educated about, I guess would be a best way to put it because you don’t talk, they don’t talk about that in dental school. Right. And, or they don’t talk about that in residency. I did happen to do a residency after dental school. They don’t like, they don’t talk about the business aspect of it. Right. And so it was just one of those things that every person I talked to is like, who talked about an associate it just seemed like something that you had to do if you want to grow your practice, but nobody told you how to do it. Everyone, like when I first hired my first associate, I was like, okay, I’ve hired her. I’ll let her watch me do a few things and she should be able to do it on her own. This won’t work like that.
Dr. Komal Patel: And now, you know, I’m very systematic with it and I’m a just a very systematic Type A personality. So this works for me and it’s not gonna mean it’s gonna work for everybody. I think you need to know your personality to know if it’s going to work for you or not. But it’s just one of those things when I realized that I can’t look at this associate as just like an, it’s like, it’s not just a piece I’m plugging into my office to hope for it to grow. I need to nurture it and I need to know what it takes to nurture it based on the associate I hire. And I’ve gotten better at hiring associates that I know I work well with. I think you need to manage that personalities and are you going to be able to reach that person?
Dr. Komal Patel: And you can learn a lot from the person, obviously from the interview, but also having shadow days and you know, before you hire them, making sure you got the right fit from the get go. Right. And then knowing that, Hey, I have the ability to mold this person and mentor them. But I mean, and it’s, and I don’t think mentorship ends with, there’s no timeline of end point for that in my opinion. It’s constant. I have an associate now for two and a half years and yeah, she’s, she pretty much knows a lot about dentistry. Heck, she might know more than me in certain aspects because she graduated dental school, you know, maybe about three, four years ago. But now she’s going into the role of ownership with me as a co-partner. So now she’s never been there. So I’m still gonna mentor her, but in a different way.
Dr. Komal Patel: And so I don’t think that mentorship role ever ends. And that’s where I think a lot of dentists seem to drop the ball and not on purpose. You just don’t know. Membership with associates is constant, is just like our skillset that, you know, you don’t just end learning when you grow, get your diploma and you’re constantly learning in your field. That’s just our field. So, um, I think that’s where men, that’s what I really realized, like this is like another job. Just like being a business owner is a job. Being a dentist, like actually seeing patients as a job. It’s, it’s part of like the fold where you know, it, you have to take it as like a job of responsibility.
Mark Thackeray: Yeah. You, you really do. You know, and I, I see that a lot with in my own life, you know, I’m looking at we both have kids. We both understand sometimes when you’re – it can be really challenging to take the time to show your son, your daughter who’s six years old, how to properly clean a sink. Right? I mean, it just so much time and so much repetition. You keep in the back of your head. There’s always this nagging thought like – arggh, get out of my way. I’m just gonna do it cause I want it done. But the, but the longterm benefits that come from taking that time are just immeasurable. I mean, it’s just, you can’t put a price on those. And so I think it’s very, that’s exactly what you’re saying here, it’s just, you have to look at it from that lens and it really is this constant evolution, right? I mean, you’re just, it’s not just, okay, here’s your six month training is up. You are good to go. Pat on the back. I’ll talk to you when I talked to you.
Dr. Komal Patel: And that’s the other, that’s a very, a common mindset. Hey, you have a question, you just let me know. And it’s like, how am I going to let you know when you’re popping from room to room doing procedures, there’s no right fly by night operation or something. Or you’re like, Oh, do you need help? Okay, I’ll be with you. And then you forget. You know, it’s just like you have to be intentional about it and carve out time. But it’s, you’re right, it’s definitely easy to be like, well, I could just do this and you, and that’s the thing. He probably could do it better than that associate at the time, but the goal is to get that person to the point where they do it just as good as you, if not better, then I know I’ve done my job as a mentor.
Mark Thackeray: Right, right. And there’s, there’s a really neat saying, I heard it was down in I think the Johannesburg, South African airport. It says if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go farther, go together. And that’s really what we’re talking about. And you touched on that in that last aspect that really drives you is leading that team because that can propel you so much further than if you were just going to try and do it yourself, which unfortunately a lot of a lot of doctors like to do that. That way, you know, they don’t like to take on the added responsibility of educating and really doing that hand “handholding” you know, and teaching them side by side because it just means more work for them.
Mark Thackeray: But in order to really grow into order to really serve more people, you have to be willing to be a leader, you know? So I’m so glad that you touched on that. It’s something that doesn’t get talked about, talked about enough and it certainly, it does not get the attention it deserves in medical school, you know, I mean across, across the country, unfortunately that’s the case.
Mark Thackeray: So let’s dive into some of these things. So we had, we’ve talked a little bit about three different aspects and this, you know, this is a marketing podcast, but this really plays into, it plays into marketing. It plays into really everything that you do in your, within your practice and really within your life. You know, I mean, it’s, it’s pretty, it’s pretty cool. So let’s start out with, we talked about setting expectations. So talk to us about that. What does that mean, you know, from a practice, how does that, how does that affect the practice? Dive into that would you?
Dr. Komal Patel: Sure. Well in terms of marketing, I truly believe that you have to have a game plan with this. In the beginning when a lot of people are opening practices, there’s so much intentionality behind marketing, right? Because you’re a brand new practice you or maybe you’ve taken over a whatever it is. It’s like I got to get my name out there. Everyone needs to know about. So you put a lot of effort into marketing, maybe even a lot of time into marketing, even money into marketing. But then it seems like after a while after that initial pull of patients and you know, Oh wow, this marketing is working. All of a sudden, you know, you get in your flow, you’re busy with patients and the marketing dips. And I truly, I truly believe that you can’t ever take the gas, the pedal off the gas when it comes to marketing.
Dr. Komal Patel: So, you know, I actually own three practices and a couple of my practices are more than five years old and one is less than five years old. And you know, regardless of how old they are, we’re still very intentional of marketing in one way or another. And that’s the expectations I set from the get go from all my offices. In terms of, and the people that are, there is no one person in charge of them marketing, I mean, or who does marketing I should say there is people in charge of it in terms of, I usually have my managers in charge of it, but there’s an expectation that everybody is involved in marketing. So that’s basically the gist of how I set up my account expectations with it. And then, you know, my managers are my touchpoints of light of when we meet one-on-one.
Dr. Komal Patel: I try to meet with each manager at least once a week, whether it’s just a quick lunch or whether it’s a quick phone call just to see where we’re at in terms of the office and how we’re going to be doing marketing in terms of marketing. And probably once a month, I touched base with them. So I know basically what upcoming events are we gonna do next month or what other things we’re going to do differently in terms of marketing, whether it’s if we’re going to sponsor a school events, are we doing something at a daycare, are we, you know, are we going to do a golf tournament or you know, whatever it is. Or are we going to just focus on doing something else? Or like, Hey, I’m going to do a lunch and learn with um, this ms Nancy who we just saw and she had a great experience.
Dr. Komal Patel: So like, you know, it could be a really small event. It could be also a big event. It just depends. But there are events and I think that’s really the key to the Mark doing marketing and setting up that expectation that Hey, this is not something that we do when we’re just, when we have low patient counts or low new patient count. We’re going to be doing this every month in some form or another and we’re going to hold each other responsible for my offices. Each office is at least required to do two marketing events a month. And like I said, they could be big things like at schools, but they can be small things like a lunch and learn or a community event, a health fair, whatever it is. And typically they’re not very expensive. I think maybe once a year we might do an event that’s over $500 in terms of sponsorship, but a lot of these events are very cost effective and we typically just need to buy lunch for them. Maybe a few marketing toothbrushes is not that expensive. And the, you have to think about the return you’re going to get from one or two patients coming into the office because of that event.
Mark Thackeray: Exactly. And that’s, that’s such a key point, right? It’s just always remembering your and understanding. And frankly this is, it’s sad that there are, there are practices out there that don’t understand the lifetime value of a patient or even the annual value of a patient. And so when they get into marketing, they, they see, Oh, I only got one or two patients from this. But they went there to realize that there’s, that patient is going to be worth, you know, a couple of thousand dollars in just a short span if they treat them right and nurture that relationship. So it’s, yeah, that’s definitely a key to remember. And I love what you said, just expectations both internally of marketing. You know, I mean that we are a practice that that gets out into the community on a consistent basis. And we’re going to do what we can to show that we’re involved.
Mark Thackeray: We’re going to do what we can to position ourselves as a great option for you to come if you want to get taken care of. You know, and, and I, and I think you even look from a patient point of view and setting that expectation as soon as you meet with them so that they know what to expect as they come in the door. You know, what, how they’re going to be treated. You know how, how it’s gonna feel when you’re your chair side with them, how it’s going to feel on the followup. I mean once you set that expectation from their point of view, it makes it so much easier for them to feel comfortable to know, you know, to not feel stressed or not feel worried and then to come with you if they have any questions as well. They, because you’ve set that expectation, you’ve delivered consistently and now there’s a trust. There’s an element of trust there.
Dr. Komal Patel: For sure. And it’s like, and a lot of people shy away from marketing with the team because they worry about the cost. And you know what I, I always think of it like it might be a cost now belonged term. I believe that they’ve done studies about this and you know, every study I’ve seen ranges from that. Each new patient short term will bring you about, like you said, of two to $5,000 worth of revenue. But over the course of a lifetime of a patient who’s committed to your practice, a returning patient, that’s they, most studies show that each patient will bring in $30,000 in a lifetime of that patient. And so if you think about that patient and they have this great experience at your office, at, you know, dr Smith’s office, like you have to go to it. That is the marketing is right there from that person who had that great experience. That’s an internal marketing right internal way to market. And that person’s going to tell his wife, his kids, everybody, his friends, his next door neighbor. And so even if you get 10 people off of him, that’s $300,000 right there.
Mark Thackeray: I know it adds up so fast, you know? I mean, and, and you may have spent even if you would’ve spent, but would you spend $1,000 to acquire a person who’s going to spend, you know, or generate $30,000 over the next, yeah, in 15 years.
Dr. Komal Patel: yeah. And honestly, most of those events, we don’t even do high dollar events like that. I really believe that you don’t have to spend a lot of marketing money monetarily with marketing. I really believe it’s more time. Um, and then, you know, like you touch a point, the team, I don’t think that excludes doctors. In the beginning obviously it was my offices, so I would go to marketing events. I definitely have not been as good lately because of having children and multiple offices. But you know, in the beginning when I only had one practice, I would try to go to at least one marketing event a month no matter what, regardless of what anything else was going on in my life. And it was amazing to see what a raw response you got from patients because they’re more because of you being at the event. And when they call, they’re like, I want to see Dr. Patel because they remember you from the event. And so my associates started seeing that and then they started volunteering and they’re like, you know what? I want to go to the next marketing event because they realize the value behind it. And so I don’t think it’s like, Oh, it’s just the manager’s responsibility or it’s the front’s responsibility. Everybody even having a da there in scrubs, you’re going to get more people coming up to you then just having somebody from the front code marketing event.
Mark Thackeray: Oh, 100% I 100% agree with that because it really should be top down. You know? I mean it should include the doctor as much as possible. Yeah, you’re going to have quite a few more challenges in getting out there because of time and, and other obligations. But you, you have to be the leader in that, you know, and, and like you said, the response is just tremendous when you get out there in front of those people because they don’t, they never see that. I mean, one of their doctors are going out there and really taking part in the community face to face and, and answering questions that you just don’t see that most of them are in their office and you, you rarely even see them in their office. You know? I mean, it’s just a such a different approach that it stands out and pays huge dividends in the long run.
Dr. Komal Patel: For sure. And you know, it’s just one of those things that again, like you said, top down and you know, if everyone’s on the same page with that, that expectation of marketing, it makes it seem effortless rather than like, Oh, here we go. We have to do this. Dr. Patel says we have to do it instead of emotions. You know, there’s more investment into it.
Mark Thackeray: Right? Oh absolutely. Absolutely. Well that’s, that’s so key. That is so key. So, well that kind of leads us actually into our next, our next section. Let’s talk about creating systems. So, so you set the expectation, right? I mean that we’re going to be a practice that that gets our name out there. We’re going to do that consistently. So how do we create and support that effort so that it happens, you know, consistently every month. So what type of systems, and and you mentioned too before, you’re very systems oriented, dr. So tell me about what that means and what you’ve done with that for your practice.
Dr. Komal Patel: So, you know, in terms of marketing, what systems I would put into place is you got to look at your numbers for sure in terms of how many people are you seeing in a month. And to me, I look at the three months trend of how many new patients we’re seeing and how many returning patients we’re seeing. So, you know, but I definitely don’t want to ever forget about my returning patients because that is what’s going to be the thing that really keeps your practice from growing long term. Those returning patients constantly coming back. The new patients are just an uptake because you know, that’s definitely going to help with that short term gaining of revenue. But you know, that new patient will turn into a returning patient so you know, you, but that the growth comes from the new patients, right?
Dr. Komal Patel: Because your returning patients will stay stagnant if you don’t keep adding to that pot. Right. And so, you know, I hit a target number, you know, depending on what office that I’m talking about, you know, depending on the size and stuff. But you know, I like certain numbers. So for one office I like to see around 65 to 85 new patients. And when I see that number dip below the 65 consistently for three months, you know, I go extra hard with the marketing being, you know, very intentional like, Hey, we usually do two marketing events, let’s try to do three marketing events, you know, so that’s, I look at the new patient count for shore. Um, I think it makes a big, it can definitely, but do you need to look at a three month trend because you might have a dip in one month, right?
Dr. Komal Patel: That just happened. That’s, you know, that’s just how things are. But you want to look at a three month, in my opinion, a three month trend of it and just be mindful of that. So that’s definitely something that I definitely take a look at. Then we also do a lot of touching points with businesses around the community. So that’s another system we’ve set up where, you know, you’re surrounded by a bunch of businesses are in your community and all those people have insurances for the most part or you know, they need dental care. And so, you know, we’ll touch upon those businesses. Let’s say there’s 50 businesses around us and so one month we’ll touch 10, the next month we’ll touch another 10. So we’ll consistently do that until we hit all 50 businesses within five months, let’s say. Then we go back and we hit the next, the first 10 businesses again in month six. So it’s like, you know, just little touch points, whether it’s a gift basket or just dropping off toothbrushes with our names on it or coupons or some kind of discount or like we’re running a special so that you’re just mining these patients of yourself in the background when they do need you. Maybe they, you know, maybe they don’t go to the dentist every six months or maybe you know, whatever the case may be. But you’re remembered because you stopped by that business.
Mark Thackeray: Right. And that’s, that’s critical too. You have to, I mean, we are constantly bombarded by different advertising and marketing messages every single day. You know, I mean, it’s, it’s estimated anywhere from four to 10,000 every single day. And so we’ve become really, you know, very good at tuning all of those messages out unless they speak to us directly. And so just like what you’re doing here, you have to be able to get in front of them on a consistent basis because you just never know when they’re going to make that really, I guess that self-discovery where they understand that, Hey, I have a need for this right now. And if you’re not in front of him at that point, you could totally forfeit that opportunity. So, and I love that. I love going out to employers in your area because that is a huge, it could be a huge referral source if you can nurture and build that relationship.
Mark Thackeray: I’ve, you know, one of my clients, we’ve, we’ve been working on an employer outreach program that’s similar and we just worked with a company that’s, it’s a startup but they’ve grown over the past couple of years – mushroomed. I mean, and so they’ve been, you know, a tremendous referral source as we’ve built out this program to offer additional benefits above and beyond their dental benefits that the employees receive just to incentivize them to come over to the practice to try it out and make sure it’s a great experience. And, and man, it’s just worked like gangbusters and they, they’re now, this relationship is so strong that whenever we have a promotion, they will actually broadcast that internally as a company to all their employees. So it’s just a, I mean, and that’s, you know, the company is just building another building they’ve got, they hire about 25 new people every week.
Mark Thackeray: It’s just, just that it’s a tech company that’s exploding and it’s, but those are the opportunities that lie in, in pretty much every community if you set up a system like this and that’s, I love that system. Is there, what’s the, is that, what’s the challenge or what is there, what’s the hardest part about creating a system like this Dr. Patel? Is it just getting everyone on board? Is it just taking the time to figure out, okay, this is what we’re going to do. What would you say the biggest challenges in getting started?
Dr. Komal Patel: I mean the biggest, I think the challenge of, it’s not necessarily getting started in my opinion. You can get started because you’re motivated. You’re highly motivated in the beginning, right? Cause it’s like we know we got to do this. This is something we have to do in order to grow. I feel like when it comes to getting started, that’s sometimes not the hardest part. It can be hard in terms of if you don’t know where to start maybe. But if you’ve got, you know, a manager who’s had experience, who knows, you know, something about marketing or who’s had dental background, they can pretty much help you navigate through it. And there’s a lot of companies out there that can help you with that as well, you know. Okay. As you know, Mark, I am actually part, I have business partners that helped me with my practices and you know, they definitely are very implementable helpful when it comes to this kind of stuff. And you know, they definitely know they’re doing, cause you know, they have that background in business and marketing and all that stuff.
Dr. Komal Patel: But I think what really, what causes challenges to people is the consistency behind it. Meaning like being intentional about doing it every single month and not dropping the ball with it. And I is the accountability piece, right? Just like with mentorship and your associates, everyone needs to be held accountable for it. So, you know, if we dropped the ball, I’d go to the team, be like, Hey guys, you know what, we haven’t done a marketing event this month. What happened? And we talk about it. Well doc, we’re real busy this month because it’s the end of the year and we just couldn’t do it or that marketing event fell through. I’m like, okay, okay, well what can we do differently?
Dr. Komal Patel: How are we going to do it differently next month so that we can get to those people? What do we have to do? I kind of make it like a team effort to be like, what can we do differently? And sometimes it’s not the whole team. Sometimes it could just be with my managers or my front, but I try to include the team if I can so that they’re, you know, they realize like, Hey, we got to get back on the ball. And like I make it like, not necessarily like, well you dropped the ball. I kind of make it more like as a team we need to get better about this. This is an opportunity for us to do better next month. So how are we going to do that? So instead of doing like a reprimand thing, cause I’ve realized reprimand doesn’t work well, you don’t get a good result.
Mark Thackeray: No, no, always a challenge, you know? And that’s where, that’s where really what we were talking about before, where you set those expectations and if you’re consistently holding them accountable, then a lot of times you just look at the numbers together and you’re reviewing whatever one’s responsibility was, you know, and then, and people will self identify and say, you know what, I’m sorry, I dropped the ball, do it. You know? And they’re the ones to admit it. You don’t necessarily have to call them out and, and give them a pep talk or anything like that. They, they see that and they see the impact it can have on the team. So, yeah, that’s so smart.
Dr. Komal Patel: okay, well, like I said, I tried to do it. It doesn’t always come out that way.
Mark Thackeray: well, yeah, I know. We all are. And it’s, but the systems allow you to get farther than you probably would have without it, you know? And so it’s, it’s really a mechanism to support you in your efforts. And that’s what’s so great about him. But that, yeah, let’s, let’s finish up with our last one, which is, and you’ve touched on this before, but it’s community involvement. So it sounds like you’re very active in the community. So tell me what do you, what type of events are you looking for? What are you doing at those events? Give us some details on that.
Dr. Komal Patel: You know, I think when it comes to community events you know, a lot of marketing. I think a lot of people think marketing if I, you know, do you know, there’s spent a lot of money and these Buxton’s which are mailers or if I do a large advertisement with a billboard that considered marketing and, you know, for some people that might be enough or if they’re in the, depending on the market they’re in. But when the market I am in, where I’m dealing with mostly, you know, soccer moms and people who have families, community events really seem to resonate with our offices. It really helps us, you know, meet the people, get to know the people and be face to face with them, you know? And so what I like to do is, you know, in the beginning, you know, I, I’m very, I was very blessed to have a manager who was in the dental field previously before joining with me. And so she had done a lot of marketing on her own because she worked for a very small office and you know, there, there were times of struggle for the office, so she did whatever she could to get people in the door. And so she was really good at being like, Hey doc, we got to get into the community. We need to start asking patients like, what, what’s going on in your community?
Dr. Komal Patel: And so, you know, very good at asking people what’s going on. And then eventually we got more and more invitations to be part of the community events. And like I said, it could be a big thing like for school or it could be something small where it’s just, you know, going to an office and talking to their about are talking to the office members about our office and what we can offer them, what services we can offer them. All those to me are community events because you’re engaging with the people in your community.
Mark Thackeray: Yes, absolutely. So when you go out to, let’s say you’re looking in a school for example, how, how do you approach that? Are you just contacting the one of the administrators at the school and saying, Hey, we would love to come and do kind of an educational presentation or how you go about that?
Dr. Komal Patel: So schools are a little tricky because you know, you just can’t go into them, you know, you have to be invited into that. So it’s usually there’s an administrative building or something like that that’s a good place to start. And that way you’re going to get more employees that way to get into school events, you really have to know the people who are doing the events and be invited to that. Cause you can’t really just walk into a school and be like, Hey, I’m Dr. Patel, I’m just going to come talk to the kids. Like they’re like, hold up. You know? So it’s, it’s one of those things you have to know the right people who can get you into the door. And so we always start every school, there’s some kind of administrative building where, you know, they’ve got people that do a lot of like the nitty gritty stuff with schools.
Dr. Komal Patel: I think that’s the best place to start. Then they’re usually like the bookkeepers they do the tech stuff. You get there and the employees there will start talking about you to everybody if you’re good, you know, if they liked you and they’d been turned off and it’s like, it’s like wildfire with schools. Eventually teachers will start coming and then a lot of these teachers run the events too. So then there’ll be like, Hey, Dr. Patel, I’m running this event, would you like to participate in it? So it’s very intentional, but unintentional meaning like you guys just have to kinda like chip at it slowly and then eventually you’ll get the big bites and being invited to the event.
Mark Thackeray: Right. You kind of hit that tipping point where then it’s, you know, then you, and you’re really pick up steam and acceleration and you’ll be, people will be mentioning you and all different circles for those types of events,
Dr. Komal Patel: Correct. And you know, this is just one area of marketing we’re talking about, right? There’s so many more like social media. I think we talked about that on our phone conversation and you know, there’s like, I mean there is also marketing internally within the office too where like you’re asking patients for referrals by, you know, saying like, Hey it was great meeting you, Mr. Smith. I can’t meet, wait to meet your wife. That’s a way to market, right? Because you’re asking him to bring her his whole family. That’s a easy way to market without you having to spend a dollar even.
Dr. Komal Patel: So I’m with the community. I found it easy to do it because we were able to really work at it and get in with the community where it came to a point, like you said, a tipping point where I have people coming to me rather than me having to try to find those events. Like we just get calls like, Hey Dr. Patel, we’re having a health fair. I know you participated in one a couple years ago. Would you like to come back and you know, talk to us about your office, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is. Like if you get good enough with this and do start doing these events consistently and with, you know, some intention, you’ll won’t even have to worry about finding the events. They’ll come to you.
Mark Thackeray: Yeah. That’s so nice too because yeah, it can be a little time consuming. Some of the events are harder to find, you know, like an internal employer health fair. Those can be tricky to, to contact the great people and make sure you’re a fit and all that stuff that just takes additional time and resources away from your primary responsibilities of the practice so that yeah, it can be harder to locate. But it’s so nice when, yeah, you’ve kind of worked your way into that network, so to speak, and then people will just send you the dates and times and can you come and it’s makes it so much easier.
Dr. Komal Patel: Yeah, and it’s, it’s one of those things, like I said, that it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s one of those things that you have to work at and really just wait for it to happen. And it might not happen. It might happen. Like you might get invited to one event one year and then the next year, three events. But it will happen if you consistently do it every year and you hit those markets every year. And sometimes you might miss an event because you just can’t make it for whatever reason. And then there’ll be people like, Oh, we didn’t see you at that event, why didn’t you come? So it’s like there’s an expectation for you to go feeling too, because you know, it makes you part of the community and that people want to see you at these events.
Mark Thackeray: Exactly. Exactly. And that, and then you’ve really fully integrated the community when you’ve reached that level where people are missing your presence. You know, I mean like you just like you just detailed and that’s when, you know, you’ve done a tremendous job of integrating within the community. You’re now seen as that essential piece. Right? I mean, you’re seen as that, as that health provider for them and for people that they care and trust because they, and they want you to be there. They want you to, they want to refer people to you because they know the value that you’ve delivered for them personally. And that is just, that’s, that’s the ideal position to be in. You know, and it just, from, from a marketing standpoint, I mean, it gives you so much more authority and there’s less, there’s less price resistance when people are coming, you know, there’s, there, they’re much more likely to accept treatment. They’re much more likely to refer. They’re just better qualified patients, you know, when they’re coming when they’re seeing you at that level and then they’re coming to the for the first time. So yeah, that’s just a tremendous place to be in.
Dr. Komal Patel: You’re doing the same events over and over again. You’re going to run into your own patients and those patients are going to be like, Oh, this is my friend you, Oh, friend here, come talk to this dentist, you’ll love her. Like, you don’t even have to talk that much because you know, people are there and they’re gonna be like, Hey, you got to go see this dental practice. They’re amazing, blah, blah, blah. And you know, it’s one of those things where like, you just being there, it’ll just come to you because you know, people that are there,
Mark Thackeray: that’s so great. So great. Because now not all of us are excellent at, you know, asking for referrals and asking people to come try us out. Because, you know, naturally in our society today we’re a little hesitant to, you know, B forward, you know, in that type of approach. So yeah, it’s such a nice, it’s like you said, especially when you get patients there at those events, there are going to be the ones doing the marketing for you. Like you just said, they’re going to be pointing to friends and say, Hey John, you’ve got to check this. You got to check out Dr. Patel, this is you. This is unlike any other dental experience you’ve ever had. Just go and schedule an appointment. Trust me. You won’t be disappointed. And you’re just sitting back there smiling the whole time. I mean, it’s just so nice not to be out there, you know, really presenting or pitching or selling or anything like that. It’s just, you know, the, your patients will do that for you.
Dr. Komal Patel: Yeah. And honestly, like when I first started doing marketing events, it was one of those things where I really didn’t want to, but I, you know, I was encouraged to do it by my manager at the time. I only had one manager at the time and she just put it to me very plainly like Dr. Patel, you have to do this in order to set yourself apart from the rest of the dental office and near you. I’m in, you know, a suburb of Houston, Texas in spring, Texas. And you know, they’re from my office, one of my offices. You probably see seven dental practices. It’s just the nature of how Houston is these days. It’s a growing city. Dentistry is, you know, booming here in my opinion anyway. Somebody might say differently. You guys set yourself apart from the community and you know, I think we talked about it on our phone conversation is like, we have to stop hiding behind that white jacket and get out there and get to know our patients on a human to human level.
Dr. Komal Patel: And that’s going to set you apart from the guy who’s a block down from you or up the street from you, whatever the case may be. And it’s, it’s definitely, it’s just like anything in dentistry. The first few times you do it, it’s awkward and uncomfortable. And you don’t know if you ever want to do it again. But if you keep at it, it will become so natural. And it now it’s to the point, to me it’s like this is just part of being a business owner. I don’t think of it as a chore. I think of it as a responsibility that I need to make sure I do in order to make sure my practice is growing.
Mark Thackeray: Right. I mean, it changes your mindset on that entirely from a, I need to do this too. This is really a joy, you know, to be out and sharing. And it’s such a different, a state of mind really. And that’s what’s so cool about it is it’s, it’s kind of self feeding in a way because you get out there, you see the results and it makes you more excited to be out there. And it’s just this kind of cycle.
Mark Thackeray: So awesome. Oh man. Well shoot. Yeah, we could go on forever. And I have, I have so many notes that I have down here, Mmm. That I won’t get a chance to get to, but I just want to thank you, Dr. Patel for taking the time to jump on this to share your experiences. The last question I’ll end with is if people want to get in touch with you, uh, to find out more just to talk to you. What’s the best way to get in touch with you?
Dr. Komal Patel: Sure. I’m, the best way to get in touch with me is my email. It’s komal1280@gmail.com. You’re more than, I’m more than happy to take any emails and answer any questions for anybody out there. Awesome.
Mark Thackeray: Awesome. That is so generous. I’ll put that in the… Are you okay if I put that in the show notes?
Dr. Komal Patel: Sure. Not a problem. Okay.
Mark Thackeray: Okay. And if it gets too much, just let me know. We’ll take it down. That’s awesome. I mean, it’s one thing to talk about being a leader and be a mentor. It’s another one to just put your personal information out there. So I appreciate you doing that. And I know that there will be listeners that will probably take you up on that. So, um, so cool that you’re doing that, but thanks again, Dr. Patel. I know you’re busy and so I really appreciate you coming on tonight. Well, we’ll have to do a followup one at some point. But again, appreciate your time and for all your insight.
Dr. Komal Patel: No, thank you. I appreciate it. This was fun. I’m glad to be a part of it.
Mark Thackeray: Okay, sounds good. Well, we’ll talk to you soon.
Dr. Komal Patel: Sounds good.
Outro: Did you enjoy this episode of the Dental Marketing Secrets Podcast? Head on over to iTunes to subscribe, rate and leave a review and for more proven marketing strategies to grow your practice, visit www.practicerocket.net.
