Does your agency sell marketing services to dental practices?
If you offer search engine marketing services such as PPC or SEO then it is extremely likely that dental practices are directly in your strike zone.
Why?
Because dentists tick a lot of boxes when it comes to ideal marketing clients:
- They’re typically inexperienced with digital marketing, so they’re craving expert advice.
- They sell high-priced services that allow for a reasonable profit margin based on the cost of marketing in the industry.
- Their patients are actively searching for these high-priced dental services, meaning there is enough demand to satisfy the supply.
With that in mind, how can you capitalize on this opportunity without getting lost in the noise?
The key is to walk in the shoes of your potential clients and truly understand what they care about. To help you out, here are five ways to sell marketing services to dental practices by tapping into a dentist’s psyche.
1. Lead with a high-end product focus
Dentists are looking for ways to improve their profit margins and increase their hourly earning capacity. The best way for you to help them achieve this goal is to generate qualified leads that are looking for high-priced dental services. Think about things such as Invisalign, dental implants, and cosmetic-based dental surgeries. These are the money-makers for dental practices.
On the flip side, if you can acquire dental implant, Invisalign, root canal, or other high-end cosmetic leads for dentists where the consultation and surgery costs are in the thousands of dollars, it starts becoming interesting.
Below is an example of a marketing agency that uses “New Implant Patient Opportunities” as their primary value proposition for dentists:
2. Understand the dentist’s daily schedule
When you are selling to dental practices, you need to be aware of the key decision-maker and their daily schedule. This is usually the dentist or a franchise owner.
Of course, you need to have your messaging tight and focussed before interrupting their busy schedule. At best you will only have a few seconds to catch their attention. Your offer is only going to be worth their time if it maximizes their billable hours. So start with this message and be empathetic and understanding of their situation.
Also, do it at a time of the day when they have the most headspace. Before the patient day kicks off and during lunchtime tend to be effective times for locking down a dentist for a short meeting.
You could even block these times out in your calendar as a sales block for calls and meetings with dental practices:
3. Know exactly who you are targeting and what they value
On the surface, the dental niche itself may appear like a targeted audience segment.
While this is true, it’s also a basic way of defining your ideal customer.
Yes, you are approaching dentists… but dentists come in all shapes and sizes. If you can more accurately define the type of dental practice you are targeting, your sales approach and messaging will become much more effective.
Document a detailed customer avatar by answering these type of questions:
- What geographical area do your ideal dental practices operate in?
- Are they independent practices or do they have more than one location?
- What treatments do your ideal dentists specialize in?
- How much do they charge for these treatments?
- What does it cost to acquire a click/lead/sale for these treatments?
- What are the demographics of the ideal patients of this practice?
- Who is in control of the marketing spend?
- What are the demographics of the primary decision maker?
- What does their daily schedule look like?
- What are their other daily frustrations?
- Are there any other key decision makers you should be aware of?
Do you see how granular and specific you can get when defining your dental prospects?
Here is a basic avatar of a dental practice owner we created using HubSpot’s Make My Persona tool:
4. Appreciate and plan for skepticism
Here are some tips for gaining immediate trust with a dental practice and overcoming skepticism:
- Create a personalised or highly targeted report for the key decision maker on opportunities in their space and deliver it to them for free. Incorporate keyword research, average acquisition prices, and untapped market sectors.
- Provide thorough testimonials from other dentists who were initially hesitant but saw the benefits of your services. This dentistry office marketing agency has professionally made movies demonstrating its clients’ results:
- Create an offer that is in itself risk-averse for the dentist, such as a free marketing evaluation or audit like the example below:
- If and when you have a meeting with the decision maker at a practice, talk directly to their concerns and skepticism. By not avoiding the big issues you can address them head-on and more often than not overcome them.
5. Go offline and create relationships
A dental practice is an offline business – they’re local, and for the most part have built their reputation from showing interest in their patients and developing relationships.
This is the way that they view the world and subsequently an approach that they appreciate from other service providers.
Before long you will be more than just another service provider but instead a friend, a mentor, and an integral part of their team. Nothing that any other agency can do on the phone, over email, or via a banner ad can trump that.
Conclusion
The dental niche presents a proven opportunity for marketing agencies. Not only can it be extremely profitable for your clients, but for the most part, dentists are inexperienced with digital marketing activity and looking for expert advice.
Given the “searchable” nature of many high-priced dental services and treatments, search engine marketing is a great entry point for securing new dental practice clients.
What other tips do you have for selling marketing services to dental practices?
Reader interactions
2 Replies to “5 Ways to Sell Marketing Services to Dental Practices”
We are a webste digital agency working with dentists and would like some help in securing new clients
Great article very informative. What dental specialists need the high-ticket clients the most?
Should I target general dentists or orthodontists, periodontists etc.