“TRUST Is A Fragile Thing. Easy To Break, Easy To Lose And One Of The Hardest Things To Ever Get Back.”
-Attributed to Zig Ziglar
“Trust, But Verify.”
-Ronald Reagan
*****
It’s stories like this that test my faith in humanity to do the right thing and serve people properly and unfortunately give this great profession a black eye.
In short, a woman in Marietta, Georgia allegedly “pulled teeth, applied fillings, replaced crowns and wrote prescriptions for pain medications” without any kind of license. She simply walked into this building every day and pretended to be a licensed dentist. This woman was indicted on 40 counts of practicing dentistry without a license.
As a result of her missteps, one of her “patients” had to be rushed to the hospital with an abscess the size of a tennis ball. He had to have a tube shoved through his mouth and neck for everything to drain out.
Quite obviously, this shocked both this man, his family and the community of Marietta that someone could masquerade as a licensed and qualified dental professional.
What makes me even more concerned is that she actually got away with it.
There is a HUGE lesson to be learned here for every practice.
In these times of “fake news”, robot-created testimonials, Facebook privacy issues etc., consumers have a lot further to reach to make sure a potential dental practice can be trusted. Humans are untrusting creatures by nature and in particular when it comes to choosing a dentist, which majority of the population inherently wants to avoid due to dental fear or anxiety. Especially these days in the era of social media and a polarizing political environment, patients wonder if people are trying to take advantage of them. They’re just not sure who they can trust to provide dental care to their family and friends.
On the other side of that coin as the service provider, it is not only your obligation but in your practice’s and your bottom line’s best interest to do everything you can to demonstrate that you’re a qualified, trustworthy and experienced professional. A professional who puts your patients’ health and welfare as the highest priority.
As you’ve heard me say so many times, there’s no more effective way to do this than with verified 5 STAR Google reviews from your best patients bragging about how you’re the best practice in town.
Google is one of the most established and balanced organizations on the planet. According to Edelman Trust Barometer, a prominent research firm, Google is now the most trusted MEDIA (not search engine) on the planet! That means it’s more trusted than any newspaper, news show, radio station or any other traditional media, so let that sink in for a moment. Bottom line, if you don’t show up on Google and LOOK THE PART of being a trustworthy dentist with tons of fresh content and fresh reviews with a branded Google business page (NOT your website!), you’re simply not trusted by prospective patients. Plain and simple.
Google’s only agenda, from its inception, has been to provide the best and most balanced search experience for its users. That’s why it is a constant “beta” state — refining the search algorithm and its practices every minute of every day. All to create a platform that people trust.
The Modern “Word Of Mouth” Referral Has Moved From Offline to Online!
Trust me… you are 100% losing referrals, production, market share and PROFIT (pure cash flow) to other doctors down the street who have their “Google House” in order, with loads of FRESH AND CURRENT Google reviews, videos of their best patients bragging about them, blogs, photo websites and other online reputation marketing that they’ve been doing for over 10 years, while you might be relying on “outdated” marketing methods, like a “website” (which is just a glorified brochure in this day and age), word of mouth, playing on Facebook, or worse yet, you’re doing NOTHING to attract referrals and new patients.
Please allow me to explain, let’s say Kelly, a great patient of yours refers you to Suzy down the street because she just moved into the neighborhood. Does Suzy ever call to book an appointment? Maybe, maybe not. Data from Comscore tells us that 93% of the time she is going to Google you and your business. If she goes on Google and sees that you’re branded as the best dentist in town, using the tools I referenced above, then she’s going to call. There is instant trust. I was just talking about this with Dr. Nathan Ho, who is a tremendously successful dentist in the Dallas area and influencer in the industry to over 6,000 dentists on his podcast, called Dental Win-Win. He consistently gets large cashing paying cases because the patients already come in trusting him because his “google house” is 100% in order. In the modern era we live in, you have NO CHOICE but to do these things or you will go the way of the “dodo” bird and become the next Kmart or Blockbuster…EXTINCT. And I don’t say this to scare, the data backs up my statement, you simply will not survive, and I’ve seen this all too often over the last 15 years!
Tools and systems have arisen to help standardize trust, and thereby facilitate better decisions when it comes to picking your dentist based on what their patients have said about them.
The best local platform on the planet to facilitate this process, bar none, is Google. No other media outlet (yes, Google is that prolific that it’s now considered part of the media!) has the traction, respect and transparency they do.
Google’s “local business” platform is the best avenue for establishing your practice and yourself as reliable, hardworking and honest. The reason behind this is that Google encourages your existing patients to leave an honest review of their experience with you. By doing so, they are helping define you as a service provider, and whether other folks in the community should use your services.
There’s no better time in history to create a windfall of business for your practice through Google. Instead of falling victim to public suspicion of dentists and other doctors in the community, use Google to build an aura of trust and quality. Plus, the entire thing is free!
Patients don’t understand the difference between a respected service provider and “the cheaper, easier alternative.” That is unless you actually show them why and how there’s a difference.
Too many doctors believe that
“What used to work will keep me successful forever”.
This is why it’s so essential that you control the conversation between you and your prospective patients. And the best way to do that is through your own powerful marketing, led by loads of FRESH and NEW beaming Youtube videos and Google reviews from real patients of yours bragging about how you impacted their lives and made everything simple and easy.
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take and it’s time to take action and let me help your practice improve profit and cash flow via more quality fee for service patients…
If you’d like to learn more about how to utilize Google and other online platforms to attract more highly qualified patients WITH MONEY…click here for a proven practice specific dental marketing game-plan => https://lsfd1.wpenginepowered.com/game-plan
Have Fun & Do Something Great!
Graig Presti
CEO Local Search For Dentists ®, The ONLY 4-TIME Inc. 500/5000-Approved Dental Marketing Agency
CEO New Patients For Life™
#1 Best Selling Author
Dental Economics Magazine Author & Contributor
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Src: https://www.ajc.com/news/crime–law/woman-acused-posing-dentist-also-under-investigation-cobb/nC8IHxvbZ3mS2xtG9t2WaM/
