How did you guys get first case from doctor?

[John_Millinger]

Ask what the doctor WISHES their current lab would do differently. They always have something to say even if they like the lab. Propose commonly overlooked situations they might have grown accustomed to and your unique solutions to it. If they are with an outsourced lab, examine the fees and see if the office manager is being duped into paying the same overall cost YOU want to be paid, but hidden in multiple, broken down fees. The doctor isn't paying the bills, the office MANAGER is. They will often choose what's easier for THEM, not what's best for the doctor. They might even be getting a kickback like gift cards. (non-taxable income is better than a discount!)

My dad hated knocking on doors before he retired. But since I was not a technician, I could approach the doctor without the Pride but WITH the researcher's inquisitiveness.

I personally wish there was a more transparent neighborhood model for doctor and lab interactions. Everybody wants to eat, but there are bad ones that NEED weeding out and the local focus could eliminate some outsourcing if there is a sincere connection. People have to know what their dollars are paying for. If its all "the same" why NOT outsource?

The egos of the insecure unfortunately lead and the patient doesn't know the difference. It might take a very low bottoming out period for the consumer to catch on. Consumer Reports Magazine needs to focus on the lab side of dentistry.

Perhaps a selling point for local labs IS to leaflet the doctor's office with a cheat sheet explaining the advantages the patient has of working with that doctor because the lab is INsourced.

Can you please touch on the final sentence a bit more? What types of things would you include in the literature?

 

[JKraver]

My dad said, "James, pour this model and get me a wax rim, the patient will be here tomorrow." the rest is history.

 

[rkm rdt]

i know it is very common question for all of us and i saw some similar threads but right now my lab has very difficult time and i just want to know if there is good way to get a first case from doctor. i cant afford any sales people so i am knocking all the dental offices i can see on the road and i never got single case from any of them. i probably went 100 offices. if you guys have any experience on sales, please share it. My lab mainly doing crown and bridge with cadcam.

thanks

I walk in with my lab in a box ( h/t CHL) and show them my intra oral scans and a finished case.
Proving the skeptics wrong is the best part.

 

[JMN]

I walk in with my lab in a box ( h/t CHL) and show them my intra oral scans and a finished case.

Whats yer box got in it?
h/t chl = ?

 

[CatamountRob]

Whats yer box got in it?
h/t chl = ?

High translucency zirc from Cool Hand Luke, maybe?

 

[rkm rdt]

hat tip (h/t) to Cool Hand Luke for coining the phrase " lab in a box".

The box has a Trios pod and laptop.

 

[MC Reusable Articulators]

Can you please touch on the final sentence a bit more? What types of things would you include in the literature?

"Perhaps a selling point for local labs IS to leaflet the doctor's office with a cheat sheet explaining the advantages the patient has of working with that doctor because the lab is INsourced."

What I meant by that is placing guerrilla brochures (without your identifying info) in the doctors waiting room (without them knowing you did so) that patients pick up. The leaflets explain the differences and benefits of having a dentist who uses an insourced lab. You could choose to focus on whatever resonates in that particular area: quality, timeliness, materials, toxins, neighborhood support, whatever you want.

If you choose to create a SIMILAR brochure for doctors you WORK with, you could highlight yourself in it rather than be anonymous.

Perhaps somebody (or group) could design the broad spectrum anonymous one for public download so as not to look too similar to the lab specific one.

 

[AJEL]

Tom said it right there are many C&B labs, and China working with ??? Materials selling for less than FDA or CE supplies. There a lot of US labs closing search for used lab equipment, ever wonder why there is so much? I'm a denture guy, we might Not have made the big bucks, but look around there are adds for denture techs in every city.
Getting past the front office was a challenge for me, I just made appointment for quad cleaning, 4 dentists with my samples to look at, 3 cleanings per year deductible, I had really clean teeth, and was able to get 1 out of 4 as account, but this was a long time ago.


After first year I might have been laughed at in dentist study groups, but my name got in study group and I managed a few more accounts. I send out zippy card letter openers, they stay and are not given away.

 

[JKraver]

"Perhaps a selling point for local labs IS to leaflet the doctor's office with a cheat sheet explaining the advantages the patient has of working with that doctor because the lab is INsourced."

What I meant by that is placing guerrilla brochures (without your identifying info) in the doctors waiting room (without them knowing you did so) that patients pick up. The leaflets explain the differences and benefits of having a dentist who uses an insourced lab. You could choose to focus on whatever resonates in that particular area: quality, timeliness, materials, toxins, neighborhood support, whatever you want.

If you choose to create a SIMILAR brochure for doctors you WORK with, you could highlight yourself in it rather than be anonymous.

Perhaps somebody (or group) could design the broad spectrum anonymous one for public download so as not to look too similar to the lab specific one.

If you place leaflets in a Drs. office without their knowledge, that is a good way to ruin your reputation.

 

[MC Reusable Articulators]

If you place leaflets in a Drs. office without their knowledge, that is a good way to ruin your reputation.

The leaflet would need to be anonymous, untraceable, probably not something you would want to do. But the point was to get the messaging into the customer's hands.

However, in doctors offices you HAVE a relationship with, if they are using you, they probably don't mind or might even WANT their customers to know the lab is local and better than the competition.

There are some great doctors out there who would participate.

And then patients would talk amongst themselves.

 

[DenLab]

Join the Marketing Study Group on face book. It for dental labs.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1610005689277707/

Was reading on that site that 80% of sales are made on the 5th to 15th visit to the potential account. Only 2% on the first visit. Posted by Bennett Napier at the NADL

Wow, my ratio is much higher. I do marketing for a lab in California (since 2013) and I use a method where I go in to show them our dental lab work when they invite me to come in. I get 2 out of every 3 dental offices I visit to send me cases and most have stuck around for years sending cases daily (2-5 a day). You just have to go when they ask you to come in- I'm a very shy person so I go in, show the work, give them my pitch and leave. I'm not pushy, I don't shmooze them, I don't compliment them to death, I don't flirt with the girls or show up with flowers or candy or nothing or do anything special. I just show the work, tell them what we offer and leave. The key is to be invited to come in.

Going door to door to solicit is a guaranteed waste of time, money, energy and will lead to no results.

 

[rkm rdt]

Jiujutsu submission hold until they agree to send a case or.......
Ask them to send you a case and if they are dissatisfied with the results
have them return the case and tear up the bill and you'll never bother them again.

Sometimes the gate keeper is bigger than you. Do you recommend flowers or a full Nelson?

 

[rkm rdt]

Wow, my ratio is much higher. I do marketing for a lab in California (since 2013) and I use a method where I go in to show them our dental lab work when they invite me to come in. I get 2 out of every 3 dental offices I visit to send me cases and most have stuck around for years sending cases daily (2-5 a day). You just have to go when they ask you to come in- I'm a very shy person so I go in, show the work, give them my pitch and leave. I'm not pushy, I don't shmooze them, I don't compliment them to death, I don't flirt with the girls or show up with flowers or candy or nothing or do anything special. I just show the work, tell them what we offer and leave. The key is to be invited to come in.

Going door to door to solicit is a guaranteed waste of time, money, energy and will lead to no results.

Works for me because I have something different to offer.

 

[Denture Dude]

Wow, my ratio is much higher. I do marketing for a lab in California (since 2013) and I use a method where I go in to show them our dental lab work when they invite me to come in. I get 2 out of every 3 dental offices I visit to send me cases and most have stuck around for years sending cases daily (2-5 a day). You just have to go when they ask you to come in- I'm a very shy person so I go in, show the work, give them my pitch and leave. I'm not pushy, I don't shmooze them, I don't compliment them to death, I don't flirt with the girls or show up with flowers or candy or nothing or do anything special. I just show the work, tell them what we offer and leave. The key is to be invited to come in.

Going door to door to solicit is a guaranteed waste of time, money, energy and will lead to no results.

May I ask what your method is to 'get invited?'

 

[RCKSTR]

 

[RileyS]

Wow, my ratio is much higher. I do marketing for a lab in California (since 2013) and I use a method where I go in to show them our dental lab work when they invite me to come in. I get 2 out of every 3 dental offices I visit to send me cases and most have stuck around for years sending cases daily (2-5 a day). You just have to go when they ask you to come in- I'm a very shy person so I go in, show the work, give them my pitch and leave. I'm not pushy, I don't shmooze them, I don't compliment them to death, I don't flirt with the girls or show up with flowers or candy or nothing or do anything special. I just show the work, tell them what we offer and leave. The key is to be invited to come in.

Going door to door to solicit is a guaranteed waste of time, money, energy and will lead to no results.

are you a low cost lab?

 

[rkm rdt]

are you a low cost lab?

we all are!

 

[Polarmolar]

We usually wait til the other labs screw up and we show them how our work is a little better and how we treat their patients is also. Sell yourself not the crowns I was told once. The relationships between you and the dentist/staff is more important than the crowns ( crowns still have to be on point ) so if they need something extra I'll go there and make sure they know we support them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JMN]

We usually wait til the other labs screw up [...]

How do you know when another lab has opened the door for you?

Sell yourself not the crowns I was told once. The relationships between you and the dentist/staff is more important than the crowns ( crowns still have to be on point ) so if they need something extra I'll go there and make sure they know we support them.

That's the biggest part.

 

[JMN]

Teeth are what we invoice, but what we sell are ideas.
The idea that we are behind our product.
The idea of someone willing to come do in operatory support if needed.
The idea that they matter and when we unpack and work their case it's not 'another A2 #12 came in today Jack" but rather:
"Jack, Dr. X's office sent a #12 in A2, and he likes this and that so we'll do it differently in this way than Dr. Q's #12 in A2"

If you can make them see they are not just another doctor/office/client that you will work with, but that you will treat their baseline expectations as minimums, working towards being able to understand the restorative mindset so you can be more of "one mind" as you gain understanding of their offices unique 'personality', that's what will keep them. Getting them is easy compared to that.

If you thought you needed boots for that.

Standard marketing knowledge says it takes about 8 impressions to get someone to remember and think of you, your brand, your service at the time it is required.
This is why direct mailing stinks on conversion rates. If the dentist is making the decisions, he needs that card in front of him 8 times. Not in front of the receptionist going into the trash.

When I opened, I took a script book to each office, with a letter telling them I'm here, I take them trusting me with their patient relationship and reputation seriously, and this is what I can do for you. This is how I can upgrade the options you currently have if you want to offer more. In short, invite them to grow with me.
I visit, personally, every office in my area monthly with a cobbled together trifold 'newsletter.' Why? It gets me in the door.
Whenever I do a vacation schedule, it goes to every local office. Why? It gets me in the door.

Be unique. They, like we, get marketed to constantly. Can't tell the commercials apart any more? A postcard came, instant trash usually, right?
Initiate creative methods to get your name in front of them. Have a model pouring class for assistants, conspire with the desk staff to bring coffee one cold morning.

Getting in the door, isn't just arriving. It is having a reason to be there. A reason to converse with the ladies at the desk. A reason for your name to be taken to the dentist, taped up in their little lab, or even just to make one of the 8 impressions on the desk staff.
They have more input than you may think, if the dentist comes by them fussing and fuming about brand X lab, that does what you're doing... They get a lot of the crap from patients when something goes wrong, they have a vested interest in getting yelled at less.

Be consistent. Be polite. Be aware. Be frequent. Be unique.

They smell salesmanship in the outer office from the back office. Don't be a salesman. Be an opportunity deliverer.

And never never never walk outside without 5 business cards in your shirt pocket. I've gotten cases from a dentist who's patient brought them my card, said I was a pleasant fellow, and handed it to them when we were talking waiting for Pizza. Sometimes that's all it takes. Keeping them is up to you.