Episode 749: How to Know if Your Marketing Is Actually Working

 Tiff and Denae are back to talk about marketing — this time, how to know if what you’re doing as a practice is working. They touch on the following:

1. Setting up a tracking method

2. Blocking out time to review your tracker

3. Understanding trends in tracking

They also specify two very important points to add to your tracker which will help your practice know if your marketing is working or not.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Denae

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

Transcript:

 Tiffanie (00:01.454)

Denae, I'm back at it with marketing for you. I have enjoyed picking your brain. We've had a couple of them go out already. You and I doing some marketing. I know I've got some with some of the other girls, but I picked your brain a ton on one of these topics earlier and we kind of bled into today's. So I thought let's just wrap up my podcast with you on marketing because I really loved.

you guys, Excel spreadsheets are our jam and I finally have somebody on my side with it. So I thought, Danae, let's keep that conversation going. Like, let's talk more about tracking the marketing and for them to know how or how they know if it's working. Like, how do our practices know that these marketing efforts that they're putting in, I've got some practices spending, you know, three to eight percent of their overhead towards marketing.

Denae Black (00:31.747)

Thank you.

Tiffanie (00:56.994)

and half of them are like, I don't know, is it working? Is it not? And I'm like, ah, this is driving me crazy. I can't answer that question without the data. So how do they know, how do they acquire that data? And what does your brilliant brain have when it comes to a spreadsheet like that? Because I know you love a good KPI.

Denae Black (01:16.59)

I love a good KPI. I love a good Excel spreadsheet. I'm a big fan of manually tracking what you're trying to analyze because analytics are analytics. And sometimes the data that's going in is only as good as the data that's being put or the data that's coming out is only as good as the data that's going in. So if you manually track it, you know exactly what that data is telling you. When I look at new patient trackers, I

Tiffanie (01:20.845)

Okay.

Tiffanie (01:35.198)

Mm hmm. Yeah.

Denae Black (01:46.178)

will always recommend you want to track any new patient that called, whether they actually scheduled or didn't. You want to track the new patients that did call. And for the new patients that didn't, track why they didn't. Was it because of Medicaid? Was it because of pricing? What was the reason they didn't actually schedule? So you want two columns on that tracker. That's the first one is going to be a number of new patients that called.

Did the patient actually schedule? The next column is did the patient, why did the patient not schedule? And then you want to track, um, for the new patients that did schedule, did they schedule for a next appointment? Because you want to be able to track not only what kind of new patients are calling us, but what new patients are getting converted and then of those converted new patients, how many of those patients are going to end up turning into lifelong patients for you?

Tiffanie (02:45.342)

I love that. So you guys have good Excel spreadsheet. And if you don't have a tracker, then create one. Like we're giving you all the tools here or reach out. I said that in our last podcast. We talked about, I say it in every podcast. If we're talking about something like a sheet or a tracker or something, you can always reach out. We're happy to send you what we have. But I think that tracker, that's brilliant. So what was the new patient? Like who called? Right. So where did they hear about you? Did they schedule or not? If not.

why I love that piece because we really want to dial in the reason that the conversions not happening. Um, and then did they reappoint, which is something that we talked about at length the last time that I really loved because we want to know, like you said before, if they if they're going to be a lifelong patient. So to like break it down and really to talk about how to know if marketing is working or not, you guys can manually track everything under the sun literally.

And then never look at it and it doesn't matter or look at it and not understand what you're looking for When you're looking at the numbers and the tracking doesn't matter. So then you stop tracking and it falls off So number one make sure you have a tracker So get one if you don't have one created or update your tracker If you feel like we've said something that you don't have on your tracker. So number one do that number two Make sure that you've got

time set aside in your schedule to review your tracker, whether it's just you yourself or it's you and your leadership or marketing team, make sure you guys are reviewing that. And then three, I think let's talk about some trends within the tracker, Danae, because we've got the tracker and now we can look at the tracker, but how do we truly know if the marketing is working or not? Those trends in there are what's telling us. So one, I think of, right, where are they coming from? So I think, Danae, if we see like,

internal, fantastic, I love that, but what external marketing are we doing that's not generating a result, right? Or if we see, like no matter what, where are they coming from, what's working and what's not? Because you're looking for an ROI, you guys always were looking at marketing, or looking for the marketing to have paid for itself. So you want to make sure whatever money that you're putting into marketing, whether it's an outsourced company, whether it's new patient gifts, like

Tiffanie (05:01.142)

whatever it is that you guys are putting out into marketing, you guys are getting that return. So where are they coming from? And then Danae, break down a little bit. I loved the not scheduled, like why did they not schedule? So were they not, you know, able to come to our practice for whatever reason? Did we not get the conversion? So break that down. What are some reasons first that a patient wouldn't schedule? And then why do we do with that information? Why does it matter?

Denae Black (05:26.946)

So there's quite a few reasons why a patient might not schedule, but to break some of them, it might be because of insurance. Maybe they have an insurance plan like Medicaid that we are not in network with. It might be because of price. They don't have an insurance, and they weren't expecting to pay whatever they were quoted over the phone. It also might be because of the experience that they had on the phone.

It might be they didn't feel heard. They didn't feel like they were getting that VIP experience when they called. Remember that first phone call is the patient's first impression of your practice. And if they didn't get that VIP experience, even if they do, even if we do take the insurance and even if finances were not a barrier for them, they still might not schedule because they didn't love.

Tiffanie (05:56.406)

Mm-hmm.

Tiffanie (06:08.776)

Mm-hmm.

Tiffanie (06:21.891)

Totally.

Denae Black (06:23.35)

the experience that they had just from that first phone call. So I would say, yep, yep. So I would say that. And then another reason could be because of time. Maybe a new patient really needed to get in within a week, and you didn't have an opening for three weeks. So.

Tiffanie (06:26.774)

Totally. I love that you said that. That's so huge.

Tiffanie (06:35.317)

Mm-hmm.

Tiffanie (06:40.694)

Yeah, yeah, I love that. So, okay, I love those reasons. So then those are the, those are the things you're looking for. Why didn't they schedule? And typically, like you said, you're going to see insurance or couldn't get them in soon enough, I think are probably the two. And those are the two that your front office is going to feel the most comfortable with saying, you know, they're not always going to say like, oh, they were, they didn't like me. So I feel like though,

within that not scheduled, the reason that we want to look at that is we want to see what barriers did we present to the new patient that didn't allow them to come to our practice. Because insurance or not, they can still come to your practice. Anyone can pay out of pocket and come to your practice. So are we doing our due diligence to present ourselves in a way that says come to our practice insurance or not?

Are we trying to overcome those barriers or are we hearing a barrier and saying, Oh, well, guess not. Because how many times today have you called a practice, um, cold called or worked in a practice or built a practice up that the first question. So I just listened to a new patient call the other day that was like outlandish. I wanted to, it was so cringy. I wanted to cry. You answer the, they answer the phone and you say, Hey, are you taking new patients? And they say, yeah, what insurance do you have?

Well, now we're insurance minded and if I don't have insurance, I might feel like, Oh, well, I don't have insurance. Is that okay? Oh my gosh, I want you more than I want anyone else. So absolutely. But when we start with barriers like that, and we're not just super open and welcoming, then it creates barriers for the patient trying to schedule. And then I think on the topic you said, if they want to eat, well, number one, you want to be able to get your patients in within one business week.

Denae Black (08:13.09)

I'm sorry.

Tiffanie (08:32.79)

So if you can't get a new patient in within one business week, we need to take a look and evaluate your schedule. I know that there's a lot of practices out there like that right now, because dentistry took a wild turn after we reopened after COVID. So I understand that, but there are a lot of practices out there. If you don't as well. So you said if they couldn't get in with them in the next week, it was going to be three weeks. They decided to go somewhere else. That's huge. So that's a barrier, but that's a barrier we can.

we can work with and that's a barrier that we can fix. What are some options that the practice owner might be able to utilize to overcome a barrier like that?

Denae Black (09:09.954)

To overcome a barrier like not being able to get new patients in, it's going to boil down to do you have protected time in your schedule? And is your team honoring that time? Or are they filling it with other things? It's so important that we respect those blocks, that we honor those blocks for what we reserve them for. So if it's a new patient block, whether it's in hygiene or in the doctor's schedule,

Tiffanie (09:13.692)

Mm-hmm.

Tiffanie (09:18.499)

Yeah.

Tiffanie (09:24.534)

Mm-hmm.

Denae Black (09:36.726)

honoring those and knowing exactly when it's okay to start to release them. Um, yeah, I mean it's really going to be those blocks.

Tiffanie (09:42.858)

Yeah. I love that. Yeah, for sure. So I think knowing those trends that we're looking for looking for what marketing efforts are working what it's what marketing efforts are bringing patients to us and then that conversion rate, just those two alone not even adding the reappointment rate yet. But those two alone the why didn't they schedule column and the where are they coming from? Those two you guys on their

give you a ton of data to see if your marketing is working. So now you know what efforts are working and what efforts aren't you can cross, you know, cross examine and see maybe there's a trend that with all of the Google new paid the patients that are saying, Oh, I found you on Google, maybe they're all Medicaid, right? I had that happen with a practice I spoke on it. I thought it happened with a couple practices I have a practice

I'm working with now that's kind of going through that where she's like, yeah, we're getting a really high volume of calls, but there are patients that won't come here. Right? So there's a barrier. Won't is a barrier. Okay. So we've got to overcome that with verbiage with the practice we're working on that. But on the marketing effort side, if I can see that trend within there that all of my Google referrals are Medicaid, I know that there's probably something within the Google AdWords.

that's populating really high for patients when they type in Medicaid dentist. If we're not a Medicaid dentist, I don't wanna populate first on Medicaid dentist. You don't want to populate first for everything. You guys, you are not here to serve everyone. You are here to serve the people that you're here to serve. So don't attract everyone, attract who's good for your practice. So if you're not a Medicaid dentist, but you're the first one on the list when they type in Medicaid practice,

Well, that's going to be frustrating on everybody's standpoint because your team's answering a million quest or a million phone calls for patients that they can probably convert 10% of maybe, um, and actually help. And then on the other side, the patient calling is frustrated because now they can't trust Google. And I've been on the team side of that call. And the first question they always ask is, well, who can I call? And I'm like, I have no, I have no idea. So I think.

Denae Black (12:01.654)

Thank you.

Tiffanie (12:04.874)

you guys like dialing it in, have that spreadsheet ready to go and start manually tracking, not you. I would have your team as the calls come in, your team is manually tracking on this Excel spreadsheet, make it simple so that it's not difficult for them. Um, I even have a practice honestly, that uses sticky notes throughout the day. And then they transfer it to the Excel spreadsheet later. And I'm like, I don't care how we get the information, whatever's going to get them tracking it.

That's all. So just get that information. So first and foremost, make sure you've got a tracker, um, updated if you need to with some of the pieces that Danae talked about today, and then watch those trends, track them and watch them. That's how you're going to know if your marketing is going to work. Now Danae mentioned on a previous podcast with me that it takes time. You guys, if you're signing up with a marketing company today or last week, and then you come in today and you're like, Oh my gosh, Tiff, this isn't working. I track, I tracked the trends from last week and we're getting nothing.

You guys, it takes realistically 6 to 8 to 12 weeks to see a good turnaround on external marketing efforts. So your marketing companies, you've got to give them some grace. You've got to give them some due diligence and understand that upfront, you're going to be paying 3 to 8%, sometimes less if you guys are great, of your overhead towards marketing that you're not necessarily going to see the results for maybe a couple months on.

So do your due diligence, allow them the time and track it with them alongside so that you guys are pivoting and making those changes as you need to. Taneya, it was so fun. I love this. I really do. Marketing, your brain in marketing makes me just happy. Probably, you know, the spreadsheet has a lot to do with that. But is there anything, is there anything you feel like in that wrap up? Like the action items are again,

Create that Excel spreadsheet if you don't have one, get your team using it, update it if you do have one, and then start tracking those trends weekly and monthly, or just monthly, no longer than that. But Danae, what else do you feel like, if there's anything in there that, an action item they could benefit from today?

Denae Black (14:08.714)

Yeah. I would just say, look for the trend or look for the story that your Excel spreadsheets telling you and don't always put it on your external marketing. Really look internally and say like, what could we, what are, what is the story telling us that maybe we can do differently? Can we talk differently to our patients? Can we put those blocks in our schedule? That stuff.

Tiffanie (14:12.973)

Yeah.

Tiffanie (14:33.734)

Oh, that's a good one. That was one I wanted. Thank you. You reminded me. This is why I take notes you guys this whole every time I'm like, I got to take notes. So these are your actions. I love that today. Thank you. Create an Excel spreadsheet if you don't have one or a way that your team can track it and get it to you update your tracker if we gave you information you needed today. Look for those trends. So look for the story within that tracker that tells you what's working and what's not working. That's how you're going to know if your marketing is going to work. Don't change things that are working.

only change things that aren't working and give it its due diligence and then put some new patient blocks in your schedule guys if you don't have those already. Again a good rule of thumb is that they need to be seen within one week of calling your business so if you're three, four, six weeks out I've got practices that are like Tiff I can't see people till October and I'm like that's obscene it's like four

The six weeks from now, you've got to, we've got to do something here. Let us know if you guys need help with that. If you need help navigating it, if you need an Excel spreadsheet or help getting your team on board to track it, reach out to us. That's what we're here for. We work with businesses just like yours all the time. We work with teams constantly. I have personally seen Denae, literally personally seen her take a team and get them on board with tracking things and really just.

I watched this incredible transformation of this team live and in person, and it was just so much fun. And you guys, it just inspired me to really truly believe all over again in everything that we're doing. So, Danae, you are a rock star consultant and coach and friend and everything to these clients, just so you know, and to our team. And you guys, listeners, I want you to know that we're all here for you. We're here supporting you.

You have our brains behind anything that you ask for. If you reach out to us at hello at thedentalateam.com, we're there on the other side. We have a lot of options, a lot of options when it comes to coaching and consulting. We have a lot of free options, and then we actually have some new fun stuff that we're working on launching. For practices, they're just looking to get things rolling. So reach out to us if you need us. And as always, leave us a five-star review if you haven't done so already. We really love to hear how much.

Tiffanie (16:46.506)

Value you took from these podcasts. It helps us to create the next one. So thank you so much, Danae Thank you for being here and thank you for letting me pick your brains today. I truly appreciate it All right, guys, that's a wrap and we'll catch you next time

Denae Black (16:56.526)

Yes.