Dental Marketing and Einstein’s Definition of Insanity

We recently spoke with an endodontist who stopped using one of our referral-generating endodontic newsletter programs. The endodontist felt the newsletter was not helping his practice, and he wanted to see what would happen if he discontinued the newsletter marketing program.

As the conversation progressed, we learned two interesting facts:

• First, this endodontist had not sent out his newsletters for at least nine months. 
• Second, he did not have a system in place to track new patients. His staff did not ask new patients whether they had walked in off the street, learned about the practice through a yellow page listing or if they were referred by another dentist (and if so, by whom). Even if a new patient volunteered that information or arrived with a referral letter, this endodontist’s staff did not record the information.

Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and then expecting a different result.”

The Einstein quote is not meant to suggest that this endodontist is clinically insane. However, to grow his practice, he has to approach dental marketing with the same logic and critical thinking he employs when successfully treating his patients. Here, our endodontist had no idea where his patients were coming from. He had no idea whether his yellow page advertisement was worth anything. He may be a great dental specialist who performs precise work, but ironically, he manages his practice without the same sense of discipline.

If you do not measure marketing results, there is no way to determine what works and what doesn’t. Above all, it is foolish to think things will change—that more new patients will mysteriously appear in your office—without actively marketing your practice.