How the Billionaire Founder of Tesla and Paypal Can Grow Your Practice Despite Competition

If there are lots of clinics around you and you are struggling to capture the amount of new patients you want every month because of it, then it’s critical that you develop the appropriate strategy to deal with that threat now before it gets worse. Here are 2 of those strategies with some insight from Elon Musk, found of Tesla, Paypal and Space X…

For the first strategy, listen to what Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, Paypal, and Space X has to say about success in a competitive environment. Just hit play…

So the first way is to have a much, much better service. In this context, we are not talking about better dentistry; we are talking about total patient experience. There are ways to work on your practice so that you give such a profound client experience that they are “wowed”. While that is extremely important, it takes time and management of your staff. What’s important now is to get people calling. Also, you probably already have a decent enough patient experience otherwise you wouldn’t be frustrated as to why there aren’t more new patients calling and booking.

Let’s assume first that you already have a great service, then what he is talking about is being at the top of your “golden ladder”.

In Al Ries’ book called “Positioning”, becoming a market leader – or in your case at least standing out amongst the clutter and competition – is getting to the top of your ladder.  The ladder is a symbol for how people put products and services in a hierarchy in their mind. You have to be at the top of the ladder and when you are there, you are at the top of the mind of the potential new patient and therefore get all the calls.

So how do you do get to the top of the ladder despite people thinking all dentists around you are the same? Enter the second strategy: to stand out like a sore thumb with your marketing.

Side note: I believe Elon actually meant to mention this as well. It’s well known that even if you have the best dental practice in town, that doesn’t mean people will know about it instinctively.

Sounds expensive? It doesn’t have to be if you invest your money strategically. That doesn’t mean spending all your money willy nilly on everything and everyone that pounces on you and your office about whatever marketing initiative. It means spending where it’s strategically going to place you in the direct path of your potential new patients and give you such a large competitive advantage that people looking for a dentist don’t even think twice to call you.

Breaking that down further you have a multistep path to achieve the top of the ladder. One way and it just so happens to be the quickest, fastest and least costly option is what I call the “Core 3” internet strategy (in other words, what you must do now).

When you read them, you probably already know them…but are you doing all 3 at once?

It’s like a musical instrument. Sure a violin when played by a professional sounds nice by itself, but what happens when it’s put into a symphony? What you are trying to do is compose a symphony. It is in the harmonious playing of instruments that allow you to break through the clutter of your competitors and attract new patients.

Here is the Core 3:

1) Online advertisements: To become dominant in all Google’s aspects of advertising.

2) Search Engine optimization: To be at the top of Google’s search for your top keywords.  Number 1 is great, but “above the fold” is where you at least need to be.

3) Online reviews: To be heads and shoulders above every other office with reviews.

1 and 2 get you to the top, but if you don’t have 3 you won’t get calls and even if you do get a few calls, your booking ratio (number of calls vs. how many of those calls book an appointment) suffers.

This is because a multi-year patient relationship that could involve their children, friends, family members, years of hygiene and restorative and cosmetic work starts with trust. Trust starts with having a flood of other patients saying, in a believable way, how great their experience is.

So if you feel like you are slowly sinking in a sea of competitors, think strategically. Think like Elon and drown out your competitors with your orchestra.