Does your dental practice clearly communicate what makes it different, or does it look and sound like every other office in your market? In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with Carlie Einarson, dental practice coach, about a four-step process for creating a practice that reflects what you value and attracts the patients you want to serve.
You will learn how to differentiate your practice, define your core customer, identify your core competencies, recognize weaknesses, and align your team and patient experience around a clear strategy. To build a practice around what you do best and the patients you want to serve, listen to Episode 1083 of The Best Practices Show!
Main Takeaways:
- Differentiation starts with clearly defining what your practice stands for rather than relying on convenience, insurance participation, technology, or other features competitors can replicate.
- Practices should identify their core customers by examining the patients who value treatment, respect the team, keep appointments, pay their bills, and refer others.
- Involving the team in defining the ideal patient creates alignment and can reveal patient characteristics the dentist may overlook.
- Core competencies should be meaningful strengths that patients value and competitors cannot easily imitate, rather than equipment, general labels, or expected levels of service.
- Consistently communicating what the dentist and practice care about helps attract patients who share those values.
- Practices should identify weaknesses such as poor systems, limited team development, weak treatment presentation skills, or gaps in the patient experience and address them strategically.
- Staying focused on your own strategy, values, patients, and strengths is more useful than trying to compete with another practice's size, technology, hours, or services.
Episode Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:51 Why branding matters
05:35 Differentiation as a strategy for standing out.
07:06 Trust as the real product
12:00 Identifying the core customer you want to serve.
17:19 Defining your ideal patient with your team.
23:00 Identifying and communicating your core competencies.
28:50 Consistently talking about what your practice cares about.
31:00 Identifying weaknesses with self-awareness and team feedback.
33:51Clinical development, systems, and treatment presentation weaknesses.
38:11Staying true to your core purpose and values.
40:00 Staying focused instead of competing with other practices.
41:00 The Differentiation Tool and Strategic Marketing Guide.
Guest Bio/Guest Resources:
Carlie Einarson is a lead practice coach who has a passion for helping others succeed in the dental field. She loves helping to create a stable foundation for practices so both professionals and patients have a great experience every time they walk in the door!
Carlie graduated from Utah College of Dental Hygiene. She has ten years of experience in the dental field, including clinical dental hygiene, front office, and leading teams.
In her free time, she enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, traveling, skiing, playing volleyball, and golfing.
Episode Resources:
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