How Reverse-Pull Marketing Can Reinvigorate A Dental Practice

Reverse-pull marketing (RPM) is a powerful strategy for dentists who want to exoand their practices and increase their revenues. This article explores how RPM, visual cues and other prompts motivate patients to inquire voluntarily about available services.

Written Apr 10, 2008, read 2 times since then.

Eeverse-pull marketing (RPM) is a powerful strategy for dentists seeking to expand their practice and increase their revenues. With RPM, visual cues and other prompts motivate patients to inquire voluntarily about available services. And, since the patients are posing their own questions (in a reverse of the normal doctor-inquiring mode), they are likely to more clearly reveal the wants and needs that dental services can satisfy.

RPM Strategy: Let patients ask the questions when THEY’re ready. (Based on the scenery in the office, they may start asking sooner than you’d think.)

Patients who walk in, ask meaningful questions about services they desire and for which they’re willing to pre-pay? How does a dentist find such highly desirable clients? They sound too good to be true. But these patients DO exist…especially for clients who have harnessed the power of RPM.

An effective RPM strategy in any business segment uses powerful cues to prompt a potential consumer into asking questions pertinent to the "buy." A dentist employing RPM for cosmetic procedures, for example, would naturally use visual cues, including photographs of successful transformations and information regarding cosmetic procedures. The cues prompt the patient to think about these treatment options. RPM puts into motion a subtle, yet strong process that is unique to every individual.

RPM Strategy: Thinking is the first step.

The catalyst for action is not what the dentist is saying or selling, but what the patient is thinking.

A key benefit of RPM is that as it takes effect and patients begin to ask questions about your services, they have probably already begun a powerful visualization process, thinking how they will look after treatment. By the time a discussion begins in earnest, a patient successfully exposed to RPM strategies is already considering not only the logistics of the procedure, but also the "buy."

Skeptical about what the power of RPM can do for your practice? Don’t be. RPM isn’t a new concept, but a tried-and-true method for influencing consumers. Tastefully furnished model homes, automobile and furniture showrooms, and outdoor clothing catalogs are just a few examples of how RPM is used to invoke feelings and promote thinking that ultimately will lead to a purchase.

RPM Strategy: Present buying cues in such a way that potential customers are able to imagine how they will feel after they have purchased a product or service.

RPM is new to dentistry, simply because the dental professional has evolved differently than more traditional businesses. Generally speaking, dentists were not compelled to show patients what could be done for them; patients came primarily at a time of need, usually prompted by pain. The changes in technology and materials have given today’s dental professionals the opportunity to market themselves competitively like other businesses do -- vying for the consumer’s discretionary spending dollar.

Before you dismiss RPM as just another gimmick, look at this from a business point of view. Let’s examine the buying cues that most dental offices offer and then compare these to an office that is effectively designed for RPM.

Which of the following apply to your office?

•Reception area that is decorated like a living room in a country inn

•Pictures of meadows, seascapes, birds, or any other non-dental subject in the reception area, hallways, and treatment rooms

•Magazines in the reception area and treatment rooms that deal with decorating, celebrities, automobiles, or current events

•A bubbling aquarium in the reception area

•Artificial flower arrangements tucked here and there

Here’s the key question you need to ask: What buying signals do these accoutrements send? Would any of them even remotely prompt a patient to inquire about any kind of dental treatment?

If as few as two in the above list apply to you, then you don`t have enough experience with the synergistic effect of different visual cues to fairly evaluate the power of RPM. All of the common furnishings above actually compete with your opportunity to provide patients with visual cues, the key catalysts that will prompt thoughts about dental services. The truth is that traditional cues often are placed in dental offices in an attempt to get the patients to forget where they are as a way to create a false sense in patients as to where they are.

But don’t kid yourself, your patients aren’t fooled ... they know exactly where they are.

Of course you’ve done your best – you undoubtedly have taken extra care to choose soothing pictures and the latest magazines to create a comfortable waiting environment in your office. But what revenues have you generated from the serene prints and glossy magazines?

The rent you pay includes your wall space. What are those simply painted walls with innocuous prints doing to earn their keep? And what are the tangible benefits your patients receive from traditional office decor? The answer to both questions: nothing

Now, consider an office that is fully immersed in RPM. Here’s what you’ll find:

•A reception area that looks professional and says, "This is a dental office, we are proud of it, and our most important concern is the health and appearance of your teeth."

•Tasteful photographs of beautiful, healthy smiles in the reception area, hallways, and treatment rooms

•Photographic "mission statements" in the reception area and/or treatment rooms

•Attractively bound albums in the reception area and treatment rooms with "before and after" photographs depicting successful cosmetic treatments

•A DVD or other interactive media playing silently and continuously with information about dental health, including the newest treatment options

•Hands-on props depicting examples of cosmetic dental work in the treatment rooms

•Recall cards depicting treatment options

•Appointment and business cards depicting your mission statement

Creating what I call an 'ambience of inquiry' turns every inch of your office into a sales desk.

Learn more about the author, Debbie Feldstein.

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How Reverse-Pull Marketing Can Reinvigorate A Dental Practice

Reverse-pull marketing (RPM) is a powerful strategy for dentists who want to exoand their practices and increase their revenues. This article explores how RPM, visual cues and other prompts motivate patients to inquire voluntarily about available services.

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