05 Aug Inspiration and Ideas for your Dental Business Journey, from Richard Charon BDS
When I began in dentistry in 1975 it was in many ways a very different world to the one I retired from in 2014.
During these years I think that I have had plenty of experiences that will be useful for you wherever you are in your dental career and dental business journey.
This is the first of my monthly Blogs and I am going to start by providing an overview of how I used sedation to differentiate my practice and attract patients from far and wide (including Norway as I recall!).
But first let’s recognise that, although dentistry was different in 1975, what has not changed since then are the fundamental motivations and reasons why somebody would visit a dentist. At our Club Connect workshops we regularly explore these factors. In fact there are only two motivations for anything; either away from pain or towards pleasure and simply recognising that in your marketing will help you differentiate your practice and help you stand out from the other dentists in the crowd.
I can see clearly now, from the perspective of seeing what worked for me in terms of attracting and retaining loyal and motivated patients, that offering dental services under RA sedation was appealing to a very specific phobic market (away from pain) who still wanted to feel comfortable about the appearance of their teeth (towards pleasure).
Now it might not be that sedation is how you differentiate your dental business. Back then for me as a dentist, and now through my sedation training, it is something that I am passionate about and it happened to be something that helped me be different in a very busy healthcare marketplace.
The view from the other side;
- Dentistry is a busy place and patients want to know why they should choose you.
- Your differentiation does not have to be about what you do clinically. Being able to offer implants or whitening will not set you apart but how you provide that service could do.
- The best ways of differentiating your practice are those that you are most passionate about, provided that they will appeal to your chosen market.
- Reading back the numerous thank you letters that I collected over the years, I can see that the common theme was that they felt comfortable with my team and I (lead by my wife Chris) and with a calm and reassuring ‘bedside manner’ my patients knew that they could trust me.
- Having a dentist that you trust is as relevant now as it was in 1975
- Technology has changed, techniques have moved on but understanding what your patients want and being able to communicate and deliver that, well I can’t see that ever expiring.
Richard is well known for being an early adopter throughout his 23 successful years as a dental practice owner. He was one of the first to be voluntarily accredited for BUPA Dental Cover, joined the BAAD at the outset and gained full membership in 1999. He also leads his own inhalation sedation training courses, having undertaken over 8000 cases.
Now retired from practice, he is part of the expanded Rose & Co dental business coaching team for 2015. He shares his passion for developing the dental businesses of others through a combination of decades of experience, his own brand of modest wisdom and practical advice.
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