27 Sep 2013  •  Marketing and Design  •  4min read

It’s Marketing Time… And This Time It’s Personal!

Les Jones, Marketing Director at Practice Plan, takes a moment to explain why a personal touch can go a long way when it comes to marketing your practice.

When a friend asks if you could possibly do them a big favour, do you find yourself preparing to say ‘yes’, even before you know what the favour is?

Strange that, isn’t it? Perhaps it’s because most of us are, in the first instance, flattered to be asked for our help, and in the second, just eager to please.

Which makes it all the more strange why dental practices don’t directly ask their most valued and trusted patients to refer them to friends and relatives more often.

Image to go with Les Dentistry July article

Take a look at the picture in this article – it’s one of the most effective and cheapest marketing initiatives I’ve ever seen. It’s a type-written note printed on a home computer and it was left in a milk bottle at our old house by our milkman, Kevin. Read it and then make a judgment as to how likely you would be to buy his potatoes if he was your milkman. It’s hard to resist isn’t it?

Why? Because it’s a personal request. It’s personally addressed, and there’s a clear request for help (it’s not an impersonal sales message) and a simple call to action.

We also found it impossible to resist and for a few years before we moved house, we bought all our potatoes from Kevin.

So, what’s stopping you doing something similar?

Take a look at the sample letter below and ask yourself how you would you feel if you received a letter along the same lines?

Dear Amanda,

We’re writing to you in the hope that you may be able to help us grow our practice at ABC Dental.

It has been such a pleasure to welcome you as a valued patient in the practice over the past five years and we hope to continue doing so for many more.

Of course, like any other business, we are always looking to grow and we would love to welcome more people like yourself into our practice. People always say that a personal recommendation is worth far more than an advert or brochure; and so we were wondering if you would mind passing on our details to anyone that you know who you think, like you, would benefit from our high level of dental care and friendly customer service.

I’ve enclosed a few referral cards that you can give to your friends and relatives. If you need any more, just let us know the next time you visit – which, by the way, is on the 6th of August at 2.30 pm.

Thank you so much in participation of your continued support for the practice.

Yours sincerely,

Mike, Diana and all the Team at ABC Dental

It’s simple and it’s easy – it’s also low cost and high impact marketing. Why don’t you give it a try? Start with your most valued and loyal patients and monitor the results. It’s also something that can be done as a conversation in the practice in a very gentle way. Most people are more than happy to help out – so why not tap into that goodwill?

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