Looking for the Right New Accounts?

It can be pretty easy to get a few new accounts. The trick is to get the right new accounts. These are dentists that share your values, appreciate what you do and have the same mutual expectations and desired outcomes for the patient. So how do we pre-screen the 150,000 or so dentists so that we connect with the right ones?  How do we find the right ones? First, let’s look at the value of a good new account. Then I’ll give you a proven way to meet some.

What is a good new account worth? Questions like that are best answered with: it depends. What would the cost be to acquire them? How much is their average monthly revenue to the laboratory? How hard are they to maintain? What is their remake factor? These are just some of the factors that enter my mind. However, if you have a dentist with:

•    Low remakes.

•    That appreciates what you do.

•    Gives you what you need to do your best.

•    Respects your opinion as a fellow professional.

•    Gives you time to do your best.

•    Pays your fair fees with gratitude and appreciation.

•    Shares your educational journey.

•    Puts the patient first.

•    Wouldn’t that be a joy?

Long before we put into place a marketing plan or strategy, we need to define our best customer and targets. It will be more beneficial for you to have a design for the accounts you want to attract. Then we can take the appropriate steps that are more likely to yield the results we seek.

The above list of idealized characteristics is very often the type of relationship that laboratories develop with dentists who have studied extensively at the Pankey Institute: mutually respectful, patient centered, professional friendships. That leaves one simple question. How can you network with and initiate the relationships with those kinds of clients? Simple! Attend the technicians’ course at the Pankey Institute in Key Biscayne, Fla.

The Pankey Institute (www.pankey.org) has a course designed for technicians in August. It has some technical content and training regarding occlusion and treatment planning, but it is more the philosophical, business and behavioral components that keep technicians coming back. Understanding the journey that the Pankey trained dentist’s are on is paramount to being able to work with them. Last year, DTI had at least one technician/manager from each of their 14 laboratories attend the three day course. Insight into the Pankey experience that the doctors share gave those managers an excellent opportunity to connect at a very intimate level with the right potential clients. They also joined the 2,500 strong active alumni association and have become one of over 8,000 students that have studied at the Pankey Institute over the last 33 years. Chances are pretty good that someone near you has attended Pankey. What a great conversation starter having this in common with them. It might even get you past the front desk screener!

Non-profit and non-commercial, The Pankey Institute is the one place that dentistry can look to for guidance that is unbiased and not influenced by monetary support. It is refreshing to share goals and objectives with a like-minded population of health care professionals. Today, our industry faces the most intense pressures ever: dental laboratory education, technician and laboratory certification, offshore laboratories and the dentist/laboratory technician interaction were the four challenges creating what our dental technology summit in Chicago in February called the dental technology crisis (JADA vol 136 Gordon Christensen DDS MSD PhD).

Stronger relationships with the right kinds of doctor/client/partners go a long way in solving some of those concerns. Go online today and see what the Pankey Institute has to offer. You just might meet some new dentist/client/partners that are right for you.