How To Achieve A 1:1 Return On Investment

In my daily contact with our dental partners about their practice marketing, I tend to recieve a lot of questions, many come more frequently than others, so today, I am going to talk about one simple question that I get from almost every client out there.

How many patients should I expect?

Well, #1 it depends on the type of marketing…are we sending postcards for you, or are we doing our RARE newsletter system?

For this example we’ll use the Simple Green Postcard Program. This external marketing program produces 1500 cards every three weeks, and averages 6 to 8 patients per mailing.

Let’s say, however, you are like Dr. H from Michigan. His first mailing in the postcard system brought in 4 patients…OH NO, 4 patients! That’s below average for what you usually get!

Now hold on, let me continue, if those 4 patients come in and each spend $250, that is $1000 that you have made. This more than covers the $993.27 you paid for the mailing.

“But James,” you say, “That doesn’t include overhead or anything, and that is only a 1:1 R.O.I.”

Well that is correct doctor, but let me tell you this, is dentistry a one-time transaction business? Or is it a business where you can create and develop relationships with people, locking them in not only as lifetime patients, but also, lifetime friends?

Knowing how any business operates, I would take a 1:1 R.O.I. anyday because I know that:
A: I will show on that first visit that I am the best at my craft.
B: I will prove that the new patient will get treated better than they ever treated before.
C: I will make sure to dedicate some time/money to keeping them around as long as possible.

With those 3 things I can not only keep this new patient around, but also build word of mouth.

As Walt Disney once said, “Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends. “

If you do that, you will never need more than a 1:1 R.O.I.

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EMC Dental Marketing is a full-service Dental Practice Marketing, Dental Advertising, and Practice Management agency that focusses on solving a dentists top 2 problems - attracting new patients and retaining the patients they already have.