Jared Kaltwasser

Having a strong brand and positive reviews are integral for building a successful 21st-century practice.

Once upon a time, the formula for growing a dental practice was simple. Susie books an appointment with Dr. Smith and leaves satisfied. She tells her friend Mary and soon Mary becomes a patient of Dr. Smith’s, too. Easy growth.

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Nowadays, that scenario is a little more complicated.

Graig Presti, CEO of the dental marketing firm 

“In 1995, Mary just picked up the phone and gave Dr. Smith a call and made an appointment,” Presti said. “Now, Mary takes that recommendation from Susie and goes right to Google.”

In 2017, that Google search is the make-or-break moment. If Mary finds the dentist has a reassuring web presence and positive online reviews, she’ll likely pick up the phone. But if the dentist’s online presence is nonexistent, or inconsistent, or tarnished by bad reviews, Mary will likely move on.

“Perception is reality,” Presti said. “If she goes to the Internet and then all of a sudden finds out there’s an empty house, you’ll find out that essentially she’ll go to the competition now.”

Presti said he regularly hears from dentists who say they’re just not getting the referrals they used to. The problem, according to Presti, isn’t lack of referrals. It’s that when those referrals are made, prospective clients are being deterred by the dentist’s web presence, or lack thereof.

“The reality of the world now is we live in the digital age,” Presti said. “And that’s where everyone is.”

Presti has worked with thousands of dentists to help grow their businesses for 15 years, the last seven of which through his own firm. He’ll discuss ways dentists can grow and leverage a strong Internet brand 

during a session at this week’s Academy of General Dentistry meeting in Las Vegas

Compared to other industries, the dental industry overall is very much behind the curve when it comes to marketing, and online marketing in particular, according to Presti.

“Part of what we do is help people have an A-plus internet presence, but I’d say the majority of people who come to us start with a D or have an F, but in no time at all we can get them to an A-plus,” he said.

The solution isn’t to run a bunch of new ad campaigns, start offering a long list of new services, or even necessarily to spend thousands of dollars on a fancy new website.

Rather, Presti says, the first step is to optimize what potential clients see when they google you. And in a perfect world, one thing they will see is fresh and abundant five-star Google reviews from customers.

Presti said Google reviews are by far the most important -- more important than Facebook reviews or reviews on third party sites. That’s because Google dominates search and 

outranks traditional media when it comes to consumer trust

“[Patients] want to see it right from Google because they trust Google,” he said.

How does a practice get good Google reviews? First, they don’t ask every single patient.

“We don’t want to ask everyone for a review, because that’s how bad reviews happen,” Presti said. “We don’t want to automate our review process.”

Dentists and their staffs should focus on asking their best clients, and their satisfied clients for reviews. Moreover, they should ask patients to complete the review on their mobile phones while they are still in the office. That way, office staff can assist if the patient needs help. Asking even one satisfied client each business day to rate the practice can quickly lead to dozens of five-star Google reviews and a major bump in search-driven business.

However, Presti cautions that reviews aren’t everything. A dentist also needs to have a strong and cohesive Internet brand. Often, the search results for a given dentist are auto-generated by Google and could include misspellings of names, incorrectly rearranged names or old contact information.

“The most critical thing is to make sure your practice information is accurate,” he said. “And 99 percent of the time, when a doctor calls us we find errors and misspelling of names, and if you can’t spell your name properly on Google, do you really think a prospective patient is going to give you 10 to 15 thousand dollars for an implant procedure?”

When a dentist’s information is inconsistent, it can confuse or deter patients, and Google’s algorithm will devalue the dentist’s Internet presence.

And that brings Presti to another reality of 2017: Dentists need outside help. Algorithms, terms of service, and technology in general are changing so quickly that internal staff simply don’t have the expertise to effectively manage a practice’s online presence. In other words, dentists need outside marketing help. For instance, while it might seem simple to merge two Google listings for a single practice into one listing, a misstep can be costly.

“One of the worst things you can try to do is merge them yourself, because it’s not uncommon to lose all your reviews,” he said.

However, Presti said it’s also important to vet potential marketing firms to ensure you hire a company with a proven track record and legitimate technical expertise. Local Search for Dentists, for instance, has been ranked on Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies for three straight years.

The good news is, getting your practice’s Internet house in order can have benefits far beyond attracting new clients. A strong brand will also increase your practice’s re-sale value, Presti said.

The first step, though, is understanding that local search and Internet marketing are here to stay.

“You’ve got to get in the game,” he said.

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Articles

Like most things in the digital age, acquiring and keeping new patients has been transformed by search engines. Many business owners learn the hard way how Internet presence and reviews can make or break a brand. Dental health care providers are no exception if you want your practice to survive, attention to digital marketing is imperative. Continue below to learn how Google search results influence patient decisions. 

To Grow Your Practice, Word of Mouth Isn't Enough

When planning for retirement, Fettig says it is important not to put all your eggs in one basket

Douglas K. Fettig, CPA, MBA, has helped hundreds of dentists get their retirement planning back on track. As a dental business advisor at Aldrich CPAs + Advisors LLP, he works closely with dentists around the country. He will share his expertise during 

a talk at the Academy of General Dentistry meeting

ahead of the meeting to discuss some of the most common retirement-planning errors he sees.

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1. Focusing on debt to the detriment of saving for retirement

According to the American Student Dental Association, the average dentist 

 with more than $200,000 in debt. Student-debt sticker shock can drive many dentists to devote all their financial efforts toward reducing debt, but there is a problem with that strategy.

“If someone focuses on reducing their debt at the risk of not starting to save for retirement, they miss out on many years of compound returns,” Fettig said. “And you can’t get that time back.”

Saving just a few thousand dollars a year can translate into a million dollars in retirement savings if a person starts saving early enough.

“It’s kind of mind-boggling when you think about it,” he said.

All debt is not created equal. While there are good reasons to want to quickly eliminate high-interest debt like credit card debt, Fettig said it is perfectly fine for a dentist to take his or her time paying off low-interest debt like mortgage and student loan debt, particularly if doing so enables saving for retirement and other long-term financial goals.

2. Thinking your practice is your retirement fund

Many dentists have the idea that they can fund their retirements by selling their dental practices upon retirement. Fettig says that’s a nice idea — in theory. But there are a few problems. For one, it is not always easy to find a buyer. A dentist who lives in a remote area might struggle to find a successor who wants to live where the practice is located, even if the practice is a financial success.

“You have to find someone who wants to live that lifestyle you’ve chosen, and if a dentist can’t find a dentist to take over, then what’s the value of your practice?” he said.

Another factor is technology. If the new owner will have to invest considerably to bring a practice into the 21st century, the sale price might be much less than the retiring dentist had planned.

Yes, a successful practice in a sought-after area might translate into a big payday for a retiring dentist, but given the potential uncertainty, Fettig said dentists should not think of practice sale proceeds as the centerpiece of their retirement.

“To me, I look at the sale of the practice for them as icing on the cake.”

3. Keeping the same retirement plan for your entire career.

Dentists can choose several retirement plans for themselves and their employees: a 401(k), an IRA, a Simplified Employee Pension plan, among others. However, the plan that works best for an early-career dentist might not be the same as the plan that works the best for a late-career dentist.

“What people don’t understand is that the benefit of your plan varies depending on your age and your career stage,” Fettig said.

To wit, factoring in elective contributions, catch-up contributions and company matching, the maximum amount a dentist over the age of 50 can contribute to a Simple IRA plan is $23,600 per year,

Fettig said. However, if that same dentist were in a 401(k) Profit Sharing plan, he or she could contribute up to $60,000.

Fettig said a smart dentist will re-evaluate and shift a retirement plan several times over the course of her career to maximize her retirement savings

4. Not keeping a careful eye on the practice’s finances.

Many dentists do not love the business side of their practice, and so they hire trusted professionals to handle the books. That can be a good arrangement, but it can also make the dentist vulnerable.

“There’s an old joke in the dental industry that 2 out of every 4 dental practices have experienced fraud; the other two just don’t know it,” Fettig said.

Even if a dentist does everything else right, all it takes it one bad employee to wipe out a dentist’s finances and practice. Fortunately, there are simple steps a dentist can take to lower his risk.

“Once a month, quick 15-minute finance meeting and talk about where your finances are,” he said.

That meeting, involving everyone involved on the business side, will give the dentist a chance to keep tabs, and will also send a signal to employees that he is minding the shop.

Another simple thing dentists can do is check electronic access logs to see who is entering the practice and when. If a dentist finds an employee is coming into the office in the middle of the night on a weekend, that’s a red flag that something is amiss.

Discover more Dentist’s Money Digest® news here.

It takes a lot of hard work, plenty of studying and no shortage of determination to become a dentist. Those are the same skills needed to successfully save for retirement, and yet, many dentists struggle to build up enough savings to live the lifestyle they desire in retirement. CPA Douglas Fettig sat down with DMD to share his insight regarding retirement planning for dentists in particular. Continue below to learn how to manage your retirement plans.  

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College—and lots of it&mdash;is essential for anyone wishing to become a dentist.

However, even for people in less specialized industries, a college education can make a huge difference.

In 2015, the median weekly income for people with only a high school diploma was $678, and the unemployment rate was 5.4%, 

according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

. Among people with a bachelor’s degree, the average weekly income nearly doubled, to $1,137. The unemployment rate for people with bachelor’s degrees was 2.8%

Among doctors (including those with medical degrees and those with PhDs), the median weekly income jumped to $1,623, and the unemployment rate fell further, to 1.78%.

In other words, educational attainment matters. A lot.

It would seem to follow, then, that areas with highly educated people would tend to be areas with more wealth. And indeed, if one were to draw circles around the country’s pharmaceutical and computer technology hubs, they would land on some of the most highly educated regions, and on some of the highest-priced real estate.

That’s the finding of a recent report by 

, which looked at the 150 largest metropolitan areas and ranked them by educational attainment. Boston, the Silicon Valley, and North Carolina’s Research Triangle all made the Top 10, as did the Seattle area, home to Amazon and Microsoft.

What follows are the nine “most educated cities,” in America, according to WalletHub’s report. In compiling the report, WalletHub created two broad categories. The first, Educational Attainment, carried the most weight and looked at the percentage of adults with high school diplomas, some college, bachelor’s degrees, and graduate degrees. The second broad category, “Quality of Education and Attainment Gap,” looked at the quality of local schools and universities, the number of students who are accepted into top-tier universities, and the size of any race or gender gaps in educational attainment.

Quality of Education and Attainment Gap Rank: 12

Standout Facts: Austin, which is home to the South by Southwest technology conference, is a burgeoning tech hub deep in the heart of Texas. It’s also home to the University of Texas.

Quality of Education and Attainment Gap Rank: 8

Standout Facts: Provo and Orem have the fourth-highest percentage of adults with high school diplomas and the second-highest percentage of adults with at least an associate’s degree.

Quality of Education and Attainment Gap Rank: 48

Standout Facts: Living at the heart of Silicon Valley will cost you. The median home price in San Francisco is now $1.1 million; the median monthly rent is a whopping $4,450.

Quality of Education and Attainment Gap Rank: 17

, nearly 1 in 5 (19%) of Boston residents have a master’s, professional, or doctorate degree.

Quality of Education and Attainment Gap Rank: 19

Standout Facts: The city, known mostly as the state capital and home to the state’s major university, has the highest percentage of high school diploma-holders of any US city.

Quality of Education and Attainment Gap Rank: 2

Standout Facts: The Research Triangle Park area has the third-highest percentage of residents with a graduate or professional degree. However, it’s also got the fourth-smallest gender gap in educational attainment of any region.

Quality of Education and Attainment Gap Rank: 3

Standout Facts: The region has the best universities of any region, according to the study. That’s thanks in large part to Stanford University, in nearby Palo Alto.

2. Washington, DC-Arlington, VA-Alexandria, VA

Quality of Education and Attainment Gap Rank: 26

Standout Facts: This region has the second-highest percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree and the second-highest percentage of residents with a graduate or professional degree.

Quality of Education and Attainment Gap Rank: 1

Standout Facts: It may not have the same cachet as other cities, but Ann Arbor wins in a number of categories, including highest percentage of residents with associate’s, bachelor’s, and graduate or professional degrees.

To view WalletHub’s full list, click here

A new study looks at educational attainment by metropolitan region. These regions came out on top.

The 9 Most Educated Cities in America

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Regular dentist visits are key both to patient health and to a dental practice’s bottom line, but as dentists know all too well, many patients don’t make regular check-ups a priority.

In 2014, the most recent year for which data are available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that about 83% of children ages 2-17 went to the dentist at least once in the year. However, that rate dropped to 62% for adults.

That same year, Gallup conducted a wide-ranging national survey of America’s oral health habits and found a similar number — about 65% of Americans – were making annual dental visits.

As William Kohn, DDS, vice president of dental science and policy for Delta Dental, 

, patients who miss appointments represent lost revenue for a practice.

“Every person who comes into your office is going to spend some money, either through their insurance carrier or out of pocket,” Kohn said. “And if it’s an insured person, most preventative and diagnostic services are paid at near 100%.”

There are a number of strategies to help patients make and keep appointments, but data suggest that one of the biggest reasons patients don’t keep appointments isn’t forgetfulness — it’s financial concerns. Gallup has found that wealth can be a 

 of how often a patient visits the dentist — the higher a patient’s salary, the more likely they are to visit a dentist each year.

As it turns out, region is also a strong predictor of whether a patient makes annual dental visits. Patients in the northeast tend to have the highest rates of regular dental visits. Southern states have a weaker record.

What follows are the five states with the highest rates of annual dentist visits, followed by the five states with the lowest rates of annual visits, according to Gallup’s survey. In addition to the state’s rate of annual dental visits, we’ve also included other key wellness metrics from Gallup, including the percentage of people in each state who are uninsured, the percentage of people who say they’re worried about money, and the state’s “Overall Wellbeing” score, which is a metric Gallup calculates based on a variety of data and scored from 1 to 100. The national average for Overall Wellbeing is 61.7.

Percentage of Patients with Annual Visits: 72.4%

Percentage of Patients with Annual Visits: 72.6%

Percentage of Patients with Annual Visits: 73.8%

Percentage of Patients with Annual Visits: 74.5%

Percentage of Patients with Annual Visits: 74.9%

Percentage of Patients with Annual Visits: 56.3%

Percentage of Patients with Annual Visits: 56.1%

Percentage of Patients with Annual Visits: 55.3%

Percentage of Patients with Annual Visits: 55.2%

Percentage of Patients with Annual Visits: 53.0%

A number of factors can determine whether or not a patient makes regular dental appointments. However, a Gallup survey found rates of regular dental appointments can vary greatly depending on the state.

The Best and Worst States for Regular Dental Check-Ups

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