Check it out, and, give me your feedback on the best ways you’ve seen holidays used as leverage/attention grabbing.

About two years ago, on a routine dental hygiene appointment/visit, the very experienced RDH of about 25 years or so (maybe more) was asking me a series of questions and making some statements about my oral health…Stuff like; “I can tell when you’ve had significant stress – the cleanings are always more difficult.” Or something to that effect. This comment led her to ask if I had ever used or heard of a water pick. (Yes, I know I spelled it wrong.) In my mind, I’m thinking of a pick that I would use to loosen up clay or very dense soil.

I said, “No.”

She began, in very technical dental language, to explain what this device was and how it would benefit me and that recently, it was getting the press it deserved.

After she got done I said, “So, this water pick, is it like a water-powered vacuum cleaner flusher device?”

“Yeah.”

Hmm.

So I asked, “Why not just tell me that it flushes out the gaps in between teeth like a power washer and the water pressure kinda vacuums it out?”

Hmm…

“Good idea. I’ll use an explanation like that next time.”

As a patient, I was completely confused (takes very little to achieve that in reality). Although, the entire time, I knew what a WaterPik really was, I just wanted to make a point with her, in an amusing way, that the average Joe or Jolleen on the street has no clue idea what a water pick, or Waterpik, is!

Two “take-aways” from this short post:

1) Use words that EVERYONE understands, like CAVITY vs. Decay.

2) EDUCATE your patients every month about dental health and how it relates to them and their long-term health. SEND a newsletter to them each and every month, no matter what time of year or time of month it is. That way, the next time you need to have someone understand what a bridge is (not the one they cross on the way to work), they UNDERSTAND and can get in-synch with you – or at the very least, they will recognize and perhaps remember seeing it somewhere, versus the current problem of thinking it’s like the Bridge Over the River Kwai.

Part of that battle begins with how you train your patients to react to you, how you treat them and how you respond to their inquiries, questions and so on.

We hear a lot about “verbal” skills (which is Dental Code for: Communication 101 and Selling 101 integrated together) from different dental consultants all over the industry. However, written skills are just as important and often, can communicate to a person BETTER than verbal communication. My most valued skill is being able to communicate in print and get people to react – or, in some cases, ENJOY immensely the ability to punch ‘em in the solar plexus without having to get physical.

Let me give you an example.

Here is a response, written from a vendor to a business that had submitted an RFP (request for proposal) and how they handled price. Frankly, it’s brilliant and well-done. There’s something ALL of us can learn from this. I encourage you to study it carefully and look at how you might improve your verbal skills to incorporate the message behind the message in this letter.

Dear John,

Here is the estimate you requested. Based on the information forwarded we would only assume the size and style of equipment desired. This estimate is based on a 55 passenger (pax) Coach with audio, video equipment included. If you wish to downsize to a 47-pax and, or eliminate the audio, video we could save you some money. All indications from my sources, along with your statement in the RFP leads us to believe that your main concern for this estimate will be based upon price only. We are not interested in, nor will we offer a discount transportation service. Our quality Coaches are the cleanest in the Northwest. They will be reliable, arrive on time and be operated by some of, if not the best possible drivers available. A high level of service is our priority, not just basic transportation. Our parent company Prestige Custom Tours conducts business daily with highest profile clients in Northwest, such as Nike, the Portland Trailblazers (the owner for each home game), the Portland Lumberjax, Adidas, Freightliner and are the Official Transportation Company of the Rose Quarter to name a few. As you can see we are accustomed to dealing with professionals as professionals.

If you determine that price is more important to you than the highest quality, we do have another mid-tier provider in our organization, for our clients who are more cost conscious. Far West MotorCoaches has been absorbed into the Prestige Transportation group. They will have only 47-pax coaches available, and would have no additional advertising budget.

Communicate with your kids via Facebook? Check this article out by Ms. Gaudin, too.

No one wants to talk about these uncomfortable realities.

Bottom line: If your office staff (your employees) are using ANY social media during the day, they’re robbing you blind. Stealing. It’s bogus B.S. You’ve just got to have the cajones to shut the Internet down. No reason I can REALLY think of that a dental office needs it other than perhaps sending insurance claims (which seem to turn to vapor when they are sent via eclaim – which is why we ONLY do hard, physical paper copies until forced to do otherwise at SofTouch), or using web-based software, but it’s limited, for sure.

Social Media is probably here to stay because it serves many as a semi-legitimate (not in my mind, but in the minds of most) distraction from reality and the tasks at-hand.

Books have been written about it (even dentist, Dr. Jason Lipsomb, has penned one), there are websites that are nothing but ‘it,’ professional social media “experts” crawling out of the woodwork, and I gotta wonder: Is there an end in sight to it all?

I’m betting…YES. MySpace is gone. Facebook’s next. Twitter – Honestly, do you really, REALLY care what the hell I’m doing on a Saturday with my kids? I’m bettin’ not, especially if you’re a potential customer considering giving me money in exchange for Butts In Your Ops.

I will say Gary Vaynerchuck’s book is good (Crush It) on business sans the social media part.

Dentists are now even reading and writing about it in their trade magazines. 2 whole pages were dedicated to it in the February 2010 issue of Dental Economics. Worse still, the author heavily mis-quoted information from a source cited in his article. Those mistakes can happen, but I’m willing to bet no one will “notice” and no retraction/correction reported. Lesson: BE CAREFUL what you believe and VERIFY.

Look, I LOVE advertising, I LOVE marketing. But, my love falls short if there’s not anyone able to step forward and say, “Hey, here’s what’s happened to my business and these are the short-term/long-term benefits of relying on social media as a plausible, long-term strategy, and, THIS IS THE MONEY IT’S BROUGHT IN.” Full-on, detailed stats.

I want proof it all works. ANY of it. I want someone tracking the TIME invested into all this “free” social media so we can get a true reading on the cost of it all. (No one seems to believe sitting down and writing fifty, 140 character posts “hey, I’m changing a diaper on the kid right now. phew, it’s stinky,” has a cost to it.)

Vaynerchuck, in his book, “Crush It,” outlines one campaign where Twitter, at a cost of “zero,” brought in 1700 customers. Other “media” brought in less. He argues, “no cost” to Twitter, so a better deal, right?

Sounds great. But, until I know the economics of repeat-ability of that campaign (how likely he could do it all again and generate another 1700 customers), & how long they stayed as a customer (vs. customers acquired via other means).

In business, there are certain customers that arrive to your door from certain media that last longer, spend more, spend more often than others and my entire career, I’ve noted those referred to me by a human (not a 140 character Tweet yet, or a Facebook posting yet) and those that come to me from books I’ve written or events I’ve created and they’ve attended, are the far most valuable customers I can get.

Of those 1700 customers, there may be no depth to them at all…all one-shot wonders. Or, perhaps you’ll get a hundred or 200 out of 1700 that might stick. When compared with the other media, how does that factor stack up? I’m willing to bet, not nearly as good.

What about ROI – nothing in his book mentions ROI?! What was the total order volume for each media used – billboard, twitter and direct mail?

How many of each media are now repeat customers, 14 months later (he did this in December 2008)?

All that matters in business. Long-term customer value far more important than initial. Equity vs. income. More often than not, when my immediate needs are met, I’m chasing and storing equity with my clients to use later. YOU should be too, and I question whether social media will allow you that ability?!

People talk about building “relationships” and customer loyalty when you engage in social media.

If you could build a relationship posting pictures and living via electronical tweets and posts with customers, then you oughta be able to pull it off with your wife and kids, eh?

Then, there’s education – you can “educate” your customers or prospects via social media. How do you do that in 140 characters without directing them offsite to another website? That’s the same damn thing as a banner ad, a google ad, a postcard, etc. SOMEONE is paying for Twitter, somehow. SOMEONE is for Facebook, too. It’s called a TIME investment.

Do the patients you need to drop big duckets in your practice hang around reading “tweets” and posts on Facebook all day long? Doubtful. Really, really, doubtful. The last person I want as a client is someone so grossly engaged in virtual reality (Internet socializing, not real, noes-to-noes, sweaty-palms stuff) that when they DO get results from what I do (putting Butts In Ops), they’re so weird and fragmented no one will do business with them because they are not digitally enhanced.

Successful people, people with drive, determination, something going on in their lives, are not living on or in “social media.” I don’t care what the stats say. I spent a few months engaged in it all, but really, I had enough of high school in high school and to me, that’s all Facebook was and remains to be…that and goofy people trying to direct me to their videos and join their groups and tell me how high of a score they got on some game. It was like “greeters” day at the local Chamber of Commerce. Not my cup of tea. But I’m sure it’s gotta be good for someone?

[See my previous post about Brian Tracy's thoughts on all this crap...He said, "There's not a penny in it to be had."]

What’s the missing link and why WON’T social media ever really work?

I’ll tell you: Social Media is wholly inadequate for building a meaningful relationship with a real client or prospective client. It’s attention-deficit to the extreme.

But, right now, it’s hot, it’s selling and everyone wants this “FREE” media to work. News for ya bub, it’s light years away, I think, if ever.