Image

The most important goal in a successful practice management is creating a positive image for the practice. A positive image not only allows us to keep our patients and referrals but it impresses them and therefore makes them talk about us. Let me give you an example:

If you needed a detective to investigate a complicated crime scene, which one of these TV series police departments would you want? NYPD Blue or CSI Miami?!

Both have very dedicated police detectives, it's just that one looks much more high tech! Is that one really better? Probably not. Does it look better? Definitely!

When it comes to our practices, the same rules apply. Not only must we strive to be good practitioners, but we also have to look good! So, how is this image shaped in our patients' minds and how can we paint the perfect picture for them? I wish I could answer this in one sentence or two, but image shaping is an intricate psychological process that our patients go through. It involves every aspect of our practice, and it starts from the moment they call our office, and never really ends.

Due to its complexity, the best way to understand image development is to generalize a little and find out:

1. What roles the different parts of our practice have in creating an image.
2. How we can improve them.
3. How we can evaluate our performance.

The following series of articles will breakdown these important issues and make them more understandable and easier to manage.

Everything you do (by you I mean the practice as a whole) has an effect on your image. Regardless of how trivial something may seem to you, it is going to be important. By continuously using this software, your entire practice will gradually develop a concept to help you paint the ideal image you want for your patients.

In closing, let me give you a perfect example of how powerful image control can be. Remember Arnold Schwarzenegger? How did a bodybuilder/actor become a governor?

The answer is this:

After using systematic and meticulous image control during a 2-year period, he in the end convinced over 50 percent of voters in California that he is someone they can trust to run the whole state!

Let's see if you can do something similar by convincing just a few hundred people a year that you are running an impeccable practice and that you are the best dentist for them!

  The most beneficial result of having a perfect image is creating an automatic referral network. Let's say you have a slow practice, acquiring only ten new patients a month. If you could get these patients to refer you only one patient each, do you realize in only one year you could have 120 new patients a month?! The effect is even more profound if you already have a large patient base. If you have thirty new patients in a month and you get only one referral from each new patient, you will can be seeing 360 new patients a month by the end of the year! Do you think you can handle that?!