Lessons shared with the Premier Study Club
I recently opened my presentation at the Premier Study Club by reading this Dear John letter from a client who recently dumped us:
Dear Ernie,
This is a difficult letter for me to write, but it’s not working out.
I need space, Ernie. Between appointments, I mean; I literally need space – I’m booked back to back!
I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME to turn this place into a full time Dental Sleep practice. I just can’t do it anymore, Ernie.
I hope you find a practice that makes you happy.
Sincerely,
Dee S.M.Failyour, D.D.S.
Ok, ok. That wasn’t the actual letter. Here is the real one:
Ernie,
Bullseye has been really great to work with, so I hate to do this, but I need to cancel my sleep site.
I just don’t have time to focus on sleep; my practice is very busy.
This is unfortunate as I had hoped to transition to a full time sleep practice over time.
Thank you.
While most of our DSM clients are very successful, we hear this too often. Doctors reach a point in their careers where they want to transition from ‘drills and fills’ to Dental Sleep. They do the math and think,
“Wow, I can make a killing at this! And really improve the lives of my patients who have sleep apnea.”
So they buy-in – do the training, buy the scanner, throw up a website and wait for the phones to ring.
And a few months later, they get out the stationery…..
Dear Ernie,
This is a difficult letter for me to write, but it’s not working out….
Here is the theory I shared with the audience at the Premier Study Club as to why this happens:
Dentists are a laser focused crowd. They didn’t get a degree in Business, work as a consultant, try programming, then project management, then find their calling years later in sales.
They got a degree in Bio, went to dental school, accumulated a ton of debt, opened a practice and have been passionately, unapologetically ALL IN ever since. And it worked. They opened a practice and over the years the patients came, because everyone knows they need a dentist. It’s just a matter of which one.
Fast forward to opening a DSM practice and the challenge is two fold:
1) How can you be ALL IN in both your General Practice and DSM Practice?
2) Few people have any clue that their dentist can even treat sleep apnea.
So what does all that mean? It means that unlike the ALL IN approach to opening a dental office, DSM doctors need a Crawl, Walk, Run plan when it comes to growing their DSM practice. A plan for selling a few Oral Sleep Appliances in months 1-9 and a few more in months 10-18, etc… Which means an equally tired approach to their marketing.
Because we don’t like being dumped, we’ve created a roadmap for scaling your DSM practice.
Please contact [email protected] for more information.
I want your letter to read:
Dear Ernie,
I sold my general practice! I’m doing DSM full time. I’m happy and I’m rich! Your roadmap helped me get here.
In appreciation, enclosed please find a check for $1,000,000.
Sincerely,
Moe Mon-knee, D.D.S.
