October 30, 2024 • 30 mins
In this Ortho Marketing Podcast, Dean Steinman is joined by Blair Feldman, Co-founder & President of Retainer Club. They explore the power of retainers as a tool for patient reactivation. Learn how your practice can leverage retainer programs to re-engage past patients, increase appointment bookings, and strengthen long-term relationships. Tune in!
Ready to elevate your practice?
Contact us! https://orthomarketing.com/contact-us/
About Blair Feldman
Dr. Blair Feldman is an orthodontic specialist practicing in the Phoenix area for over 20 years. He was an adjunct professor of orthodontics for 8 years at AT Still university in Mesa, AZ. He was the former team orthodontist for the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks. Presently, he is the cofounder of Retainer Club and Mouthguard Club - 2 great companies that bring online services to top orthodontic practices around the US and soon to be internationally.
www.retainerclub.com
Ready to elevate your practice?
Contact us! https://orthomarketing.com/contact-us/
About Blair Feldman
Dr. Blair Feldman is an orthodontic specialist practicing in the Phoenix area for over 20 years. He was an adjunct professor of orthodontics for 8 years at AT Still university in Mesa, AZ. He was the former team orthodontist for the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks. Presently, he is the cofounder of Retainer Club and Mouthguard Club - 2 great companies that bring online services to top orthodontic practices around the US and soon to be internationally.
www.retainerclub.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, I'm doctor Blair Feldman. I'm an orthodonist and the
president and co founder of Retainer Club. In today's podcast,
Dean and I discuss how to differentiate your practice, specifically
using retainer programs all the benefits that go from just
making it easier for your patients to replace retainers to
extending the lifetime value of services in your practice. Really
(00:21):
focused on growth. You won't want to miss it. This
is an amazing podcast and I'm excited to share this
information with you.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Orthomarketing dot com three hundred and sixty degree digital marketing
solutions for your practice. Well, hello everybody out there and
podcast land, It's Dean Steinmann from Worth of Marketing and
guess what we are back but for another podcast for
(00:53):
so I hope everybody is having a great fall. It's
now middle of October twenty twenty four, and if you
follow me on social media's in my other podcast you'll
know that as a Jet fan, it's been kind of
a tough year so far, but you know, the Mets
are still playing, so I'm happy. And you know, I'm
(01:14):
in the smile business. If you could be happy and smile,
it's a good thing. So I am very super super
stoked to have back one of my favorite people in
the industry, are one of my favorite guests and just
an overall great guy. I have doctor Blair Feldman, who
is the founder of Retainer Club, and we're here to
talk a little bit about how to differentiate yourself in
(01:35):
the market and some really cool strategies to help you
re engage with people and get more patients coming in
the door. So, Blair, good morning, how are you today?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I am great, Thank you, and it's really fun to
be back. I love speaking with you, and I love
engaging with your members and your audience and excited about
today's topic.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, thanks, so of my So you know, let's just
kind of you jump right into it. So you know,
when I bring on a new practice, even speak to
somebody that's reaching out to us, the first thing I
always ask them is what's your differentiated? What makes you
different in the market, Because, as anybody who's listening to
this knows, competition is more fiercer than ever. You know, antist,
(02:19):
you now know that people who were referrs and competitors.
If you're a dentist and now you're jumping into the
orthodontic or liner business and marketing. You need to stand out.
And you're fright that you're competing with everybody else in
the market. You're competing directly with director consumers from the
big players there. So you need to stand out. And
(02:41):
when I talk to a practice, I say what makes
you stand out? And I hear, oh, we'll give great service.
We're a family business practice. You know, we want to
make sure that you're taking care of you know, we
have the greatest technologies. That's not a differentiator everybody. If
you're not offering the best service, close your doors. Okay,
if you don't offering the best technologies and up to
date technologies, close your doors. You have to have that,
(03:04):
all right, But take one step back and think what
makes you different? What are you offering to somebody that
nobody else is, what somebody else is you know, offering
in the market, or you know, what makes you stand out? So, plair,
let's talk a little bit about from your perspective, what
makes a practice stand out, especially in the retainer world.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, So, I mean, I love this, this sort of
this quick line of question, and I hope the listeners
really think about it and think like one level deeper
than that. Typical answer that they most often give to
you when you say that. So when you say, like
what differentiates you and they say, you know, high quality,
of course, you know, technology, service, family, I mean those
(03:46):
are all great, but I think underneath that is really
thinking about these patients and recognizing that they are consumers
with choices, and the things that motivate patients these days
are are you know, they're time their money, where they're
putting it, what kind of experience they have is it's
more more important than ever and so you know, like
(04:09):
like any other business, we have to look at what
we're doing and re evaluate it frequently over time, you know,
whether it's every year, every couple of years, and you know,
how does our website look, how's our marketing?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
How are we talking to our patients? So, you know,
we began retainer club.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
We started it in my practice seven years ago and
the topic wasn't that common to talk about long term
retainer replacement. How we service patients with their desire to
replace their retainers so they can maintain their orthodonic results.
And you know, now here we are seven years later,
there's many businesses that are kind of suggesting different ways
to do this there's aligner companies that are offering ways
(04:46):
to do this, and really patients want this. They want
to know that when they get their orthodonic treatment. You know,
we always joke the dirty secret orthodonics is that if
you don't wear your retainers, your teeth a move. And
so this idea that you know, you can maintain those
results through regular retainer replacement. And it's not just I mean,
(05:07):
the biggest reason is life happens, right, you know, you're
gonna lose your retainer, You're gonna break your retainer. So
so thinking about all that, thinking about retainer replacement, this
idea has really differentiated practices in how you offer that service.
So I mean, I'm happy to jump into that, but
I mean I'd love to hear from you and the
practices you work with. How do they how do they
(05:29):
different How do they talk about, you know, the end
of treatment and you know they positioned it as the
beginning of a retainer relationship or do they talk about
it is the end? Let's go find another new patient,
you know, see you later, your good luck call us.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Exactly, that's right, it right there. You know, well, you
know I think before but a couple of years ago
when I was at the businel lines stummit. Oh Hogan
gets up and he says, really the only industry that
celebrates the end of relationship with the customer. Why what
else is there? Nine percent of practices don't get it?
(06:02):
Practice patients done, we did that, we did all work.
Let's get the next one in. And that's wrong. You
know you have it, but you have somebody there. What
else can you offer that? What else can you do
that will keep them? You know, part of your practice,
help you make money and potentially re engage with them.
You know, as you said, that dirty little secret. You know,
(06:24):
if you don't weigh your retainers, what's gonna happen? You know,
ninety percent of the time, you know, we're somebody who
just spent five, six, seven thousand bucks in a few years.
Guess what, they don't have to spend it again, right,
or or just a smaller amount, but several thousands. So
most practices don't get it, whether they just not or
they're just so focused on, you know, get it, you know,
(06:46):
bringing the new patients in or focusing on their existings
that they don't see so fares through the trees and
by offering a program like this is really powerful, you know,
and will make a practice stand out. But you know
you have to have the right message and the right
way to do so you keep just by having it
doesn't mean anything. You got to know what to do
(07:06):
with it. And luckily, as for a company here like
mine comes in as we with the marketing is we
work with practices and we show you how to stand
out differently and how to position you and how to
run your ads and how to get you know, get
you more, you know, patients coming back in, you know,
using retainers and to use something different there, you know.
So I'd love to hear from you some ideas of
(07:28):
what you've seen, because you know, most this is from
you know you and have you know, know each other
for a few years now, and you know, people oh
I do it, I'm good, I'm using a Visil line,
or I make it my own andah blah blah blah.
So you know, even though you're doing it your own,
you think they don't. Again, the farest through the trees.
You know, if you're making it yourself, well you have
(07:50):
AI that just makes it automatically and puts the you know,
and buys the equipment and then put puts it in
and or is a person doing it? You know, persones it.
The person costs money?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I also quest an average person fifty bucks an hour
or so. And you know, is it worth your time
to spend somebody's time to have them just do that?
You know, when you pay their pay their insurance and
pay you your overhead and blah blah blah. You know
it's corossing fifty sixty seventy dollars an hour for that person.
So is that the smartest way to use your your team?
(08:24):
And how do you stand out different? You know? So
you know most practices. You know, before a retainer club
came in, what was your retainer program for patients? So
once they finished, would you give them one retainers and
say okay, good luck let me.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, it was basically, I mean the sort of the
script and if you can call it that, it really
wasn't much at that time. Was basically, you know, we've
given you a great set of retainers and great results.
Call us when you need us, like, you know, if
your retainer breaks, call us. And it's such a terrible
way to service patients. And it really doesn't address that
(08:59):
that under lying fundamental that teeth a move if you
lose your retainer. And I think the bigger problem is
who do the patients blame when their teeth moved because
they lost their retainer. They called your office and they
found out it was five hundred bucks to replace the retainers,
and they're like, you know what, I'm either not going
to do it today or I'll put it on my
list of other things I got to do. It gets
in line with all the other things that cost, you know,
(09:19):
hundreds of dollars. And they end up not doing it.
Their teeth move, and who do they blame. They blame
the doctor, they blame the office, and then they want
free treatment. I used to call it a court case,
like I'd go into the TC room, which she would
tell me, oh, you know, our patient deans, you know,
not happy. He said, you know, the teeth moved and
it's our fault and he wants us to fix it
for free, and you know, it's it's a funny and everyone,
(09:42):
you know, I feel like that's been an orthodox for
any amount of time. Can can sort of relate to
that story. And I look at that problem as a
problem that started to that started way back before their
teeth moved, and it's that we didn't talk about retention
and the importance of it early on. You know, we
didn't talk about how we make it easier in our
practice to replace retainers. We didn't talk about the fact that,
(10:02):
you know, if you get dental work done, you get
a crown, you get you know, something done, You're going
to need a new scam to do that. So, I mean,
I think you know what it comes down to with
these retainer programs is this this sometimes this discrepancy between
the plan you've created and the and what your patients
want and even what your team wants.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And my favorite question.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
When I go to these conventions and and offices come
up as I say, tell me, do.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
You have a plan?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
And now more than ever, practices say yes, we have
a program. He said, great, tell me about it. And
so I had a funny story. I think it was
at the Orthophi convention and a doctor came up to
me and she told me about her plans, like I
love it.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
It's it's a membership fee.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
It costs six hundred dollars for the patient, and the
patient gets access to discounted retainers. And I said, okay, great,
sounds like you're happy, and you know, she said, you know,
we are, but maybe I'll call you later and she left,
and then, you know, a few more groups came by,
and a group of staff came by, and they started
telling me about their program and I said, that sounds
like something I heard earlier. Are you with you know,
(11:08):
doctor so and so? And they said yep. And I said,
do you like this program? And they go, no, we
hate it. I said, oh, why do you hate it?
And they said, well, first of all, we told patients
that if they bring in their models, it's one price,
and they don't have their models, that's another price. So
every morning we get a lunch bag with a couple
of models. Usually they're broken, and we can't even use
(11:29):
them with a twenty dollars bill like paper clip to
this bag.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
And we're supposed to make, you know, a beautiful set
of retainers off that.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
And this happens day after day after day after day,
and so I think, you know, as a practice, it's
a great exercise to sit down with the team and
sort of ask them and I'm you know, talking about
specifically retainers, but you really can ask about any service
in the practice, you know, do we like this, is
this profitable? Is it good for the team? Is it
good for the patients? What else is out there? Who's
(11:55):
doing other things? You know, what's the what's the newest
way to starer as patients? What are other businesses that
service patients, even if they're not orthanonys are doing and
how could we incorporate that or those types of things
in our practice? And then, of course the final decision
is do we do this ourselves or do we outsource it?
And I think these are the tough questions you have
(12:16):
to ask and there's no right answer. But I think
if you are having that discussion in your practice, you're
one step ahead of everybody else, because everybody else is
too busy to have these meetings about growth and change
and improvement.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Hey from Wealth of Marketing and this podcast is sponsored
by AUTHO Marketing. Wealth of Marketing. It's not just our name,
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dental orthodontic practice can be quite challenging. Ask yourself every day,
how do I get new patients while keeping my current
ones happy? Well, the answer is simple. WORTHO Marketing what
(12:49):
the marketing is the leading marketing agency for dental orthodontic
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and drive more patients through your door. So if you
(13:11):
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Speaker 2 (13:24):
They are and again, because you get set in your
ways and you know, and if you're a mature practice,
you're doing this for ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty five, thirty
years and things were going great. But things have changed
a lot, guys in the last two years, three years. Okay,
I can't remember the last time I spoke to practice.
Who's having a banner year this year? All right, plane
(13:44):
and simple. There's a lot of peripheral things going on
in the world, but it's it's competition, it's the economy,
what have you. So you need to stand out and
you need to be able to work smarter. Okay, and
by you know, having a program like this, it's a
no brainer really from my eyes, and you know, in
fact you don't do anything is incredible. And you know
(14:07):
I'd love to just sit back and just get get checks.
You know, I mean, boy, boy, oh boy, I would know.
That's that's my dream. Just you know why even get
up today, checks are coming in. And by working with you,
that's that's you know, that is the self fulfilling prophecy there.
But you know, let's talk a little bit more about differentiator.
So you know, if somebody is looking for for an Adanta,
(14:30):
so they're searching busil line near me or you know,
in the sort in their town, they'll see people, you know,
top rated Authodonte visital line as low as or one
thousand dollars off blah blah blah. But as I just mentioned,
what's what's the whole package, what's the whole journey? And
once they finish treatment again, if they if you don't
use it, they're gonna they're gonna move. So make life easier,
(14:54):
let them understand, help them understand the future, because you've
been there all right, you know it's gonna to happen
and make life their life easier. And BTE offering a
full end to end solution nobody else is doing it.
It's a no brainer, guys. It's a no brainer because
you know, if you don't just don't offer the first
thing you see, which is the abusinal line part, but
(15:14):
the whole package, all right, and you need to then
be able to figure out how to say that and
how to position it. And again that's where you know,
a good marketing company comes and helps you with your
branding and positioning there. But you know, let's talk a
little bit about you know, retention and re engagement because
that's super important as well. So walk we through, you
(15:37):
know what the typical scenario of re engagement. Somebody that
you know had you know, praises five ten years ago,
and you know then what happens.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot in here to unpack,
and I think you know, one of the ways that
Retainer Club helps with re engagement is through our software platform,
and that's really the heart of every thing we do.
We've invested seven figures in creating a software platform that
has a partner side for the practice, an e commerce
side for the patient that basically they always see the
(16:10):
practice name that they're associated with, so it stays top
of mind. I mean, one of the things we fight
with in orthodonyx is, you know, two, three, four years later,
can the patient remember who their orthodonist is? And if
there's never been any communication and there's never been any
messaging on you know, how's your retainer? Have you replaced
your retainer? Here's why it's important to replace your retainer.
There's a decent chance that they'll probably forget who their
(16:32):
orthdos is. Some other shiny, you know, new website or
practice will pop up in there in their feed and
it might be like, oh, have you replaced your retainer?
And they'll be like, yeah, yeah, who are you? Like,
I can't remember my orthonyist. I'm just gonna go to
you instead. And so this idea of re engagement, there's
multiple entry points in my mind. There's your current patients,
you know, how do you re engage with them over time?
(16:54):
How do you share new services that you're offering. I
mean we're frequently you know, introducing new services to our patient.
How do you re engage new patients who are moving
to your community. How do you re engage if you
you know, maybe pick up a new practice or patients
from an older practice. How do you engage these people?
Who theoretically have all been treated, you know, but they
might need your services. Most do, and I love the
(17:17):
idea of a retainer as a way to be kind
of a trojan horse for new patients. The question we
always tell practices to ask is, you know, when they
come in, patient comes in the sense we're looking for
a retainer. And of course this is a there's a
deeper side to this, you know, does your practice take
patients who are looking for retainers. There's this fear that
I've I've heard from practice in the past, like I
(17:37):
would never touch a patient who was treated by somebody else.
You're just taking on all their problems, and you know,
there might be a little.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Bit of truth to that.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
But my experiences with good records and of course a
waiver and a conversation with the patient. You know, you
know I didn't do your initial treatment. You know, I
can only help you from where you're at today and
move you forward. You know, I think you can. You
can reduce any kind of risks dramatically. You can't eliminate it,
but you can reduce it dramatically. So, first of all,
if you're taking patients for retainers, I think it's a
(18:05):
great entry point happy to make you a retainer. Are
you looking to hold teeth exactly where they are or
do you want to see changes? And I was joke.
You've heard me say this before that like many patients
will say, well on a retainer to move this tooth,
and this is where you can have that conversation. So
retainers actually just whole teeth. Orthodonics moves teeth. They've got
some amazing options for you. They're going to be comfortable.
(18:27):
You know, they won't take too much time, and we
can get you back to where you were or even
better than you were through you know, treatment in our practice.
And so you know the idea of engagement. I mean,
you know, nobody knows better than you when you talk
about marketing how expensive it is to find a new patient,
but it's it's a fraction of that to maintain a
relationship with a previous or current patient and you know,
(18:50):
get a referral from them, you know, offer them services
after orthodonyx is complete retreatment. I know our mutual friend,
doctor Nick Axisis, was lecturing once and I think I'm
giving proper credit to him when I say this, but
he was talking about you know the relationship with plastic
surgeons that patients have and the difference between plastic surgery
and orthononics. And plastic surgery, you pretty much know, every
(19:12):
ten years or so or whatever amount of time, based
on the procedure, you have to go in for a revision.
They don't call it relapse of a facelift. They call
it a need for a revision. And do they do
it for free?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Of course not.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
You know, it's whatever their latest fees are, and you
just sort of expect that. But there's this weird belief
in orthononyx that if you know, you warri your retainers,
but then maybe you stopped and your teeth move, that like,
it's not requiring a revision. It is requiring a revision,
and the patients should pay for it.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Of course they should.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
You've got your expertise, you've got service, you've got the
greatest technology. So I think, you know, I'm using this
topic of re engagement to activate, you know, previous patients.
It could be as simple as replacing a retainer on
a regular basis and getting revenue from that process. Or
it could be bringing them in or family members in
(20:02):
because you've been engaging them over time and you know
they actually want orthodonic treatment in your practice. I think
it's it's an important topic. It's worth, you know, really
looking at how do you re engage your your patients
in your practice. How easy is it, how much work
does it take? And you know what services are you offering.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
It's a no brainer, especially if you're in a busy
metropolitan area or in New York, you're in Phoenix, you're
in places where people move into. Most probably somebody in
their thirties forties had, you know, without the treatment ten
fifteen years ago. They're new to the town. As you mentioned,
the probably didn't use their retainders. So think about this
as follow that follow me guys. So now you get
(20:43):
somebody in who already believes in what the doontics. I
already did it, So that's hard. Parts the heart cell
was already done. You get them back in, you do
a scan, you obviously to charge for that scan, and
then got three options. One, oh, sorry, what your teeth
really moved? You have to go back in and start
from scream. Two they moved a bit. Do you want
to just kind of move a fix a little bit
(21:04):
and keep it as it is? Or you know, right
there can be another option, So you can think about
the first one I just mentioned. Your teeth really moved
a lot. You've ben putting it touched in ten years.
You need a full on case, okay to chain five
six seven thousand bucks. You know they moved a bit.
You know, we could do a quick six month you
know program for you to chain two three thousand bucks,
(21:26):
get them in or the teeth about them, they moved
a bit, but we could keep them steady where they are.
You know, we get you get a retainer program to
change every month when you come in. So these are
people that again and you're in your area, believe in
it because they already paid for it, but once before
the parents did so they understand what it's like. And
now you've got three potential options for them. And then
(21:47):
the referral part off the that as well. So it's
a huge opportunity to stand out and position yourself differently
in the market. And then you know it's there, you know,
you know perfectly said it's so much easy to self
resisting customer get a new one. So now that you've
got this ongoing program for them, it's a it's a
no brainer because you know, and you know how much
(22:08):
do you know how much did you charge player for
a lost retainer? Ten years ago?
Speaker 3 (22:13):
I haven't been the.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Same that that people charge now. I mean it was,
you know, three hundred bucks each charge.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Exactly at each person over the course of a lifetime
loses five to six seven of them minimum. So at
five hundred bucks of pops pops, I'm seven, that's you know,
four thousand bucks PERCs out of pocket versus somebody every
month to spend there, you know, twice a year whatever
it is. You know, the program that they sign up for,
you don't do a thing. So it's kind of a
(22:38):
no brainer. Guys. This is something once again that you
really have to figure out where your practice is.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
One of the things you said, which which made me think,
and it's so important, is the power of the three
D scan and how we still underutilize it even after
all these years for this amazing technology, the three D scans,
and you know, I feel like it was it was
huge improvements in like comfort and speed, and now it's
sort of plateaued out a little bit. You know, we're
two to two plus minute scans. I mean, it doesn't
(23:07):
really matter to most patients how much faster.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
It is than that.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
But these scans are incredibly useful and powerful in the practice.
I mean, if you bring somebody back. Some of the
most interesting practices and successful practices we study are doing
these wellness scans. So it's a they They recommend the
patient comes in every two to three years for a scan.
The great thing about it is in most states, the
doctor doesn't have to be around. This can be done
(23:31):
on a non patient day. This can be done by
team members, and so they do the scan, the doctor
reviews it, maybe they send a video note to the patient.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Hey, Dean, you know I saw your new scan. I
reviewed it.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Everything looks great, looks like you're doing an amazing job
with your retainers. They did notice a little chip in
that front tooth. I'm curious, you know, has your dentist
taken care of that. If not, I can refer you
to a great dentist that can do that for you.
I also noticed you've got a new crown, so I'm
wondering if your retainers, you know, fitting as well as
it did last time. We can make a new retainer
of that scan we did today. By the way, we're
(24:04):
we're always accepting new referrals. I know you have you know,
two kids who were young when I saw you last time,
but they're probably the right age. Seven is when we
look at patients for exams and would love to see you.
You know, what a what a modern, great way to
communicate with that comfortable three D scan. Those scans are worth,
you know, real revenue to the practice.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
And they're just all right difficult to do.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
And as a layman, you know, when I go to
a practice, I see the scan in action. It's mind blowing,
really what you're looking at and how you know it's
been the round and you can see exactly what is
within seconds, your whole treatment plan is done there and
you can see exactly what it's. If you're sitting in
that chair and the practice knows how to do it
(24:47):
the right way and use the three D scan, you
should be able to close it like that.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
You know, I remember a story.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
You know, we we do a lot of in my practices.
We used to do a lot of sports mouthguards and
then we bring a team in and we'd scan and
them and we always got patients from them. And of
course that's the other side of our business. Mouthguard Club
Custom sports Mouthguards which we think are a great practice
growth tool, totally underutilized by our industry. But basically, my
script before I do a scan was, Hey, I'm doctor Felman,
(25:14):
I'm an orthanoniest, and I'm going to be doing a scan.
This is a three D scan. Anything coming up, you know,
any dental treatment or braces that might affect the fit
of this mouthguard we're making you. And the patient said,
or the athlete who was a football player, said I
might be getting braces soon, and the mom goes, no,
he's not. He doesn't need braces. He's not getting braces.
(25:35):
Said okay, no problem, I'll do the scan. So I
do the scan, and then, of course I always sort
of my last before I walk away is or you know,
the team member does a scan and I kind of
come back. But the last thing I do personally is
i'd go up and I'd say, so, this is your teeth.
This is like a giant iPad. You can check it out.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Again, I'm an orthonost. Asking me any questions by your teeth,
I'm happy to answer them for you. And the mom said,
that's his teeth, and I said, oh, yeah, that was
the scan we did right now, and she could tell
because how good it is, how easy it is to
visualize crowding and spacing and you know, you.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Know, all kinds of bite issues on that scan. She said,
Oh my gosh, I need to get him in for
an orthodonic console.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
And of course you know we were there as like,
you know, let's let's you.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Know, we can do it right now.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And so, I mean, I think you know that that
communication over a scan, you know, is so easy for
patients to understand. So when you say you have crowding
and they're like, I don't really think I have crowding,
you know, like it's it's a little bit.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
But when you see.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
It this big on your on your thirty or inch
monitor or whatever, you know, you you can't argue with it,
you know, you really can. You can relate to that,
and then of course you can't stop thinking about it
once you see it, and you know you're you're really
interested in you know, corrections.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah. So you know, in a nutshell, retainers are have
so many useful uses across the board, from the from
a patient's perspective and to your perspective as an orthodontist authentist,
you know, it re engages to get patients in It's
a way for you open up communication with them. It's
a way to get referrals. It's a way to continually
(27:06):
your relationship with your patients if you utilize correctly. There's
a lot of money that you could bring it to
your practice by just thinking differently outside the box. And
as this is twenty twenty four, all right, things have
changed drastically since the old days of twenty twenty two.
All right, seriously, that's how crazy things happened, you know,
(27:27):
in the last two years. You know, in twenty twenty two,
there was no chat GPD. That's that's how long ago
things have changed. Was no AI, you know, I mean
there was, but it wasn't even close to being out
there and using you know, technologies and you doze and
things the right way. Is a game changer for your practice.
So Claire, in closing, if somebody wants to learn a
(27:47):
little bit more about retaining a club, get more information,
talk with you about it. What's the best way for
them to reach you.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, First of all, you can reach out to me personally.
I am a tech junkie, so you can find me email.
You can find on LinkedIn, So my emails Blair at
retainer club dot com. You can go to the retainer
club dot com website. I think one of the important
things there is to realize that we are a B
two B two C company. We work through a network
of practices and you can't buy anything as a patient
(28:17):
on our site. You have to go to one of
our partner practices, so, you know, learning about becoming a
partner and offering this service and really making that decision
that you know, our best use of our time is
focusing on treatment and so the things like retention and
retainer programs that you can outsource it easily and really,
you know, explode the power of this while you're continuing
(28:38):
to grow your practice is to me, the smart way
to go about this, So go to retainer club dot com.
We have a section for practices at the bottom. You
can find it, and I would love to continue the
conversation with you.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I definitely reach out to them for many of our
practices to Blair and you know, these guys, they're great.
I believe it's something as you at least consider if
you're working with another company, just pay the phone and
call and see what the difference is and make it.
Make the wise choice, you know, and then feel happy
with with after getting both sides say we are if not,
(29:15):
you know, it's good to get to basically not do
anything and get paid for it, you know, you know,
and at the same time, I'm really excited you know
that you know, have relationship with Blair and Retainer Club
and we were able to help practices who want to
market themselves and stand out. You know that we do
so with with you. So if you are thinking of
you know it's been a tough year and you're not
just getting the new patients that you want, reach out
to us and we can then help facilitate how to
(29:39):
stand out and using retainers as part of your process,
and you'll see the difference. You'll see the patients come in.
You'll you know, because I've heard so many practices that
you know, my last agency didn't work and the ads
didn't work, and marketing is no good, but well, marketing
iss is necessity. If you don't market yourself, you know,
(29:59):
turn the a business sign on today, you have to
do that. There, you have to market. So we have
to stand out and that's where a company like us
could work to work with you and help you position
you using retainers as a very very big difference in
the market there. So again, Blaire, thanks so much for
joining everybody and podcast, thank you so much for listening,
for watching, for getting your feedback from always the great
you know, great messages and comments on all the social
(30:22):
media and look forward to join you guys, joining us
again in the future and once again. And it's like
it's the great Jerry Garcia said, nothing left to do
but smile, smile, smile, Thanks everybody and be safe.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Right Worth the Marketing dot Com three hundred and sixty
degree digital marketing solutions for your practice
Hey, I'm doctor Blair Feldman. I'm an orthodonist and the
president and co founder of Retainer Club. In today's podcast,
Dean and I discuss how to differentiate your practice, specifically
using retainer programs all the benefits that go from just
making it easier for your patients to replace retainers to
extending the lifetime value of services in your practice. Really
(00:21):
focused on growth. You won't want to miss it. This
is an amazing podcast and I'm excited to share this
information with you.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Orthomarketing dot com three hundred and sixty degree digital marketing
solutions for your practice. Well, hello everybody out there and
podcast land, It's Dean Steinmann from Worth of Marketing and
guess what we are back but for another podcast for
(00:53):
so I hope everybody is having a great fall. It's
now middle of October twenty twenty four, and if you
follow me on social media's in my other podcast you'll
know that as a Jet fan, it's been kind of
a tough year so far, but you know, the Mets
are still playing, so I'm happy. And you know, I'm
(01:14):
in the smile business. If you could be happy and smile,
it's a good thing. So I am very super super
stoked to have back one of my favorite people in
the industry, are one of my favorite guests and just
an overall great guy. I have doctor Blair Feldman, who
is the founder of Retainer Club, and we're here to
talk a little bit about how to differentiate yourself in
(01:35):
the market and some really cool strategies to help you
re engage with people and get more patients coming in
the door. So, Blair, good morning, how are you today?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I am great, Thank you, and it's really fun to
be back. I love speaking with you, and I love
engaging with your members and your audience and excited about
today's topic.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, thanks, so of my So you know, let's just
kind of you jump right into it. So you know,
when I bring on a new practice, even speak to
somebody that's reaching out to us, the first thing I
always ask them is what's your differentiated? What makes you
different in the market, Because, as anybody who's listening to
this knows, competition is more fiercer than ever. You know, antist,
(02:19):
you now know that people who were referrs and competitors.
If you're a dentist and now you're jumping into the
orthodontic or liner business and marketing. You need to stand out.
And you're fright that you're competing with everybody else in
the market. You're competing directly with director consumers from the
big players there. So you need to stand out. And
(02:41):
when I talk to a practice, I say what makes
you stand out? And I hear, oh, we'll give great service.
We're a family business practice. You know, we want to
make sure that you're taking care of you know, we
have the greatest technologies. That's not a differentiator everybody. If
you're not offering the best service, close your doors. Okay,
if you don't offering the best technologies and up to
date technologies, close your doors. You have to have that,
(03:04):
all right, But take one step back and think what
makes you different? What are you offering to somebody that
nobody else is, what somebody else is you know, offering
in the market, or you know, what makes you stand out? So, plair,
let's talk a little bit about from your perspective, what
makes a practice stand out, especially in the retainer world.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, So, I mean, I love this, this sort of
this quick line of question, and I hope the listeners
really think about it and think like one level deeper
than that. Typical answer that they most often give to
you when you say that. So when you say, like
what differentiates you and they say, you know, high quality,
of course, you know, technology, service, family, I mean those
(03:46):
are all great, but I think underneath that is really
thinking about these patients and recognizing that they are consumers
with choices, and the things that motivate patients these days
are are you know, they're time their money, where they're
putting it, what kind of experience they have is it's
more more important than ever and so you know, like
(04:09):
like any other business, we have to look at what
we're doing and re evaluate it frequently over time, you know,
whether it's every year, every couple of years, and you know,
how does our website look, how's our marketing?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
How are we talking to our patients? So, you know,
we began retainer club.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
We started it in my practice seven years ago and
the topic wasn't that common to talk about long term
retainer replacement. How we service patients with their desire to
replace their retainers so they can maintain their orthodonic results.
And you know, now here we are seven years later,
there's many businesses that are kind of suggesting different ways
to do this there's aligner companies that are offering ways
(04:46):
to do this, and really patients want this. They want
to know that when they get their orthodonic treatment. You know,
we always joke the dirty secret orthodonics is that if
you don't wear your retainers, your teeth a move. And
so this idea that you know, you can maintain those
results through regular retainer replacement. And it's not just I mean,
(05:07):
the biggest reason is life happens, right, you know, you're
gonna lose your retainer, You're gonna break your retainer. So
so thinking about all that, thinking about retainer replacement, this
idea has really differentiated practices in how you offer that service.
So I mean, I'm happy to jump into that, but
I mean I'd love to hear from you and the
practices you work with. How do they how do they
(05:29):
different How do they talk about, you know, the end
of treatment and you know they positioned it as the
beginning of a retainer relationship or do they talk about
it is the end? Let's go find another new patient,
you know, see you later, your good luck call us.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Exactly, that's right, it right there. You know, well, you
know I think before but a couple of years ago
when I was at the businel lines stummit. Oh Hogan
gets up and he says, really the only industry that
celebrates the end of relationship with the customer. Why what
else is there? Nine percent of practices don't get it?
(06:02):
Practice patients done, we did that, we did all work.
Let's get the next one in. And that's wrong. You
know you have it, but you have somebody there. What
else can you offer that? What else can you do
that will keep them? You know, part of your practice,
help you make money and potentially re engage with them.
You know, as you said, that dirty little secret. You know,
(06:24):
if you don't weigh your retainers, what's gonna happen? You know,
ninety percent of the time, you know, we're somebody who
just spent five, six, seven thousand bucks in a few years.
Guess what, they don't have to spend it again, right,
or or just a smaller amount, but several thousands. So
most practices don't get it, whether they just not or
they're just so focused on, you know, get it, you know,
(06:46):
bringing the new patients in or focusing on their existings
that they don't see so fares through the trees and
by offering a program like this is really powerful, you know,
and will make a practice stand out. But you know
you have to have the right message and the right
way to do so you keep just by having it
doesn't mean anything. You got to know what to do
(07:06):
with it. And luckily, as for a company here like
mine comes in as we with the marketing is we
work with practices and we show you how to stand
out differently and how to position you and how to
run your ads and how to get you know, get
you more, you know, patients coming back in, you know,
using retainers and to use something different there, you know.
So I'd love to hear from you some ideas of
(07:28):
what you've seen, because you know, most this is from
you know you and have you know, know each other
for a few years now, and you know, people oh
I do it, I'm good, I'm using a Visil line,
or I make it my own andah blah blah blah.
So you know, even though you're doing it your own,
you think they don't. Again, the farest through the trees.
You know, if you're making it yourself, well you have
(07:50):
AI that just makes it automatically and puts the you know,
and buys the equipment and then put puts it in
and or is a person doing it? You know, persones it.
The person costs money?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I also quest an average person fifty bucks an hour
or so. And you know, is it worth your time
to spend somebody's time to have them just do that?
You know, when you pay their pay their insurance and
pay you your overhead and blah blah blah. You know
it's corossing fifty sixty seventy dollars an hour for that person.
So is that the smartest way to use your your team?
(08:24):
And how do you stand out different? You know? So
you know most practices. You know, before a retainer club
came in, what was your retainer program for patients? So
once they finished, would you give them one retainers and
say okay, good luck let me.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, it was basically, I mean the sort of the
script and if you can call it that, it really
wasn't much at that time. Was basically, you know, we've
given you a great set of retainers and great results.
Call us when you need us, like, you know, if
your retainer breaks, call us. And it's such a terrible
way to service patients. And it really doesn't address that
(08:59):
that under lying fundamental that teeth a move if you
lose your retainer. And I think the bigger problem is
who do the patients blame when their teeth moved because
they lost their retainer. They called your office and they
found out it was five hundred bucks to replace the retainers,
and they're like, you know what, I'm either not going
to do it today or I'll put it on my
list of other things I got to do. It gets
in line with all the other things that cost, you know,
(09:19):
hundreds of dollars. And they end up not doing it.
Their teeth move, and who do they blame. They blame
the doctor, they blame the office, and then they want
free treatment. I used to call it a court case,
like I'd go into the TC room, which she would
tell me, oh, you know, our patient deans, you know,
not happy. He said, you know, the teeth moved and
it's our fault and he wants us to fix it
for free, and you know, it's it's a funny and everyone,
(09:42):
you know, I feel like that's been an orthodox for
any amount of time. Can can sort of relate to
that story. And I look at that problem as a
problem that started to that started way back before their
teeth moved, and it's that we didn't talk about retention
and the importance of it early on. You know, we
didn't talk about how we make it easier in our
practice to replace retainers. We didn't talk about the fact that,
(10:02):
you know, if you get dental work done, you get
a crown, you get you know, something done, You're going
to need a new scam to do that. So, I mean,
I think you know what it comes down to with
these retainer programs is this this sometimes this discrepancy between
the plan you've created and the and what your patients
want and even what your team wants.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And my favorite question.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
When I go to these conventions and and offices come
up as I say, tell me, do.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
You have a plan?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
And now more than ever, practices say yes, we have
a program. He said, great, tell me about it. And
so I had a funny story. I think it was
at the Orthophi convention and a doctor came up to
me and she told me about her plans, like I
love it.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
It's it's a membership fee.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
It costs six hundred dollars for the patient, and the
patient gets access to discounted retainers. And I said, okay, great,
sounds like you're happy, and you know, she said, you know,
we are, but maybe I'll call you later and she left,
and then, you know, a few more groups came by,
and a group of staff came by, and they started
telling me about their program and I said, that sounds
like something I heard earlier. Are you with you know,
(11:08):
doctor so and so? And they said yep. And I said,
do you like this program? And they go, no, we
hate it. I said, oh, why do you hate it?
And they said, well, first of all, we told patients
that if they bring in their models, it's one price,
and they don't have their models, that's another price. So
every morning we get a lunch bag with a couple
of models. Usually they're broken, and we can't even use
(11:29):
them with a twenty dollars bill like paper clip to
this bag.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
And we're supposed to make, you know, a beautiful set
of retainers off that.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
And this happens day after day after day after day,
and so I think, you know, as a practice, it's
a great exercise to sit down with the team and
sort of ask them and I'm you know, talking about
specifically retainers, but you really can ask about any service
in the practice, you know, do we like this, is
this profitable? Is it good for the team? Is it
good for the patients? What else is out there? Who's
(11:55):
doing other things? You know, what's the what's the newest
way to starer as patients? What are other businesses that
service patients, even if they're not orthanonys are doing and
how could we incorporate that or those types of things
in our practice? And then, of course the final decision
is do we do this ourselves or do we outsource it?
And I think these are the tough questions you have
(12:16):
to ask and there's no right answer. But I think
if you are having that discussion in your practice, you're
one step ahead of everybody else, because everybody else is
too busy to have these meetings about growth and change
and improvement.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Hey from Wealth of Marketing and this podcast is sponsored
by AUTHO Marketing. Wealth of Marketing. It's not just our name,
it's what we do. So, as you know, running a
dental orthodontic practice can be quite challenging. Ask yourself every day,
how do I get new patients while keeping my current
ones happy? Well, the answer is simple. WORTHO Marketing what
(12:49):
the marketing is the leading marketing agency for dental orthodontic
professionals who want to get more orthodontic patients. Wealth of
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and use data driven strategies to increase your online visibility
and drive more patients through your door. So if you
(13:11):
want more new patients, visit Wealth of Marketing dot com
today and start your journey towards the thriving practice. That's
Wealth of Marketing dot Com. It's not just our name,
it's what we do.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
They are and again, because you get set in your
ways and you know, and if you're a mature practice,
you're doing this for ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty five, thirty
years and things were going great. But things have changed
a lot, guys in the last two years, three years. Okay,
I can't remember the last time I spoke to practice.
Who's having a banner year this year? All right, plane
(13:44):
and simple. There's a lot of peripheral things going on
in the world, but it's it's competition, it's the economy,
what have you. So you need to stand out and
you need to be able to work smarter. Okay, and
by you know, having a program like this, it's a
no brainer really from my eyes, and you know, in
fact you don't do anything is incredible. And you know
(14:07):
I'd love to just sit back and just get get checks.
You know, I mean, boy, boy, oh boy, I would know.
That's that's my dream. Just you know why even get
up today, checks are coming in. And by working with you,
that's that's you know, that is the self fulfilling prophecy there.
But you know, let's talk a little bit more about differentiator.
So you know, if somebody is looking for for an Adanta,
(14:30):
so they're searching busil line near me or you know,
in the sort in their town, they'll see people, you know,
top rated Authodonte visital line as low as or one
thousand dollars off blah blah blah. But as I just mentioned,
what's what's the whole package, what's the whole journey? And
once they finish treatment again, if they if you don't
use it, they're gonna they're gonna move. So make life easier,
(14:54):
let them understand, help them understand the future, because you've
been there all right, you know it's gonna to happen
and make life their life easier. And BTE offering a
full end to end solution nobody else is doing it.
It's a no brainer, guys. It's a no brainer because
you know, if you don't just don't offer the first
thing you see, which is the abusinal line part, but
(15:14):
the whole package, all right, and you need to then
be able to figure out how to say that and
how to position it. And again that's where you know,
a good marketing company comes and helps you with your
branding and positioning there. But you know, let's talk a
little bit about you know, retention and re engagement because
that's super important as well. So walk we through, you
(15:37):
know what the typical scenario of re engagement. Somebody that
you know had you know, praises five ten years ago,
and you know then what happens.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot in here to unpack,
and I think you know, one of the ways that
Retainer Club helps with re engagement is through our software platform,
and that's really the heart of every thing we do.
We've invested seven figures in creating a software platform that
has a partner side for the practice, an e commerce
side for the patient that basically they always see the
(16:10):
practice name that they're associated with, so it stays top
of mind. I mean, one of the things we fight
with in orthodonyx is, you know, two, three, four years later,
can the patient remember who their orthodonist is? And if
there's never been any communication and there's never been any
messaging on you know, how's your retainer? Have you replaced
your retainer? Here's why it's important to replace your retainer.
There's a decent chance that they'll probably forget who their
(16:32):
orthdos is. Some other shiny, you know, new website or
practice will pop up in there in their feed and
it might be like, oh, have you replaced your retainer?
And they'll be like, yeah, yeah, who are you? Like,
I can't remember my orthonyist. I'm just gonna go to
you instead. And so this idea of re engagement, there's
multiple entry points in my mind. There's your current patients,
you know, how do you re engage with them over time?
(16:54):
How do you share new services that you're offering. I
mean we're frequently you know, introducing new services to our patient.
How do you re engage new patients who are moving
to your community. How do you re engage if you
you know, maybe pick up a new practice or patients
from an older practice. How do you engage these people?
Who theoretically have all been treated, you know, but they
might need your services. Most do, and I love the
(17:17):
idea of a retainer as a way to be kind
of a trojan horse for new patients. The question we
always tell practices to ask is, you know, when they
come in, patient comes in the sense we're looking for
a retainer. And of course this is a there's a
deeper side to this, you know, does your practice take
patients who are looking for retainers. There's this fear that
I've I've heard from practice in the past, like I
(17:37):
would never touch a patient who was treated by somebody else.
You're just taking on all their problems, and you know,
there might be a little.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Bit of truth to that.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
But my experiences with good records and of course a
waiver and a conversation with the patient. You know, you
know I didn't do your initial treatment. You know, I
can only help you from where you're at today and
move you forward. You know, I think you can. You
can reduce any kind of risks dramatically. You can't eliminate it,
but you can reduce it dramatically. So, first of all,
if you're taking patients for retainers, I think it's a
(18:05):
great entry point happy to make you a retainer. Are
you looking to hold teeth exactly where they are or
do you want to see changes? And I was joke.
You've heard me say this before that like many patients
will say, well on a retainer to move this tooth,
and this is where you can have that conversation. So
retainers actually just whole teeth. Orthodonics moves teeth. They've got
some amazing options for you. They're going to be comfortable.
(18:27):
You know, they won't take too much time, and we
can get you back to where you were or even
better than you were through you know, treatment in our practice.
And so you know the idea of engagement. I mean,
you know, nobody knows better than you when you talk
about marketing how expensive it is to find a new patient,
but it's it's a fraction of that to maintain a
relationship with a previous or current patient and you know,
(18:50):
get a referral from them, you know, offer them services
after orthodonyx is complete retreatment. I know our mutual friend,
doctor Nick Axisis, was lecturing once and I think I'm
giving proper credit to him when I say this, but
he was talking about you know the relationship with plastic
surgeons that patients have and the difference between plastic surgery
and orthononics. And plastic surgery, you pretty much know, every
(19:12):
ten years or so or whatever amount of time, based
on the procedure, you have to go in for a revision.
They don't call it relapse of a facelift. They call
it a need for a revision. And do they do
it for free?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Of course not.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
You know, it's whatever their latest fees are, and you
just sort of expect that. But there's this weird belief
in orthononyx that if you know, you warri your retainers,
but then maybe you stopped and your teeth move, that like,
it's not requiring a revision. It is requiring a revision,
and the patients should pay for it.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Of course they should.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
You've got your expertise, you've got service, you've got the
greatest technology. So I think, you know, I'm using this
topic of re engagement to activate, you know, previous patients.
It could be as simple as replacing a retainer on
a regular basis and getting revenue from that process. Or
it could be bringing them in or family members in
(20:02):
because you've been engaging them over time and you know
they actually want orthodonic treatment in your practice. I think
it's it's an important topic. It's worth, you know, really
looking at how do you re engage your your patients
in your practice. How easy is it, how much work
does it take? And you know what services are you offering.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
It's a no brainer, especially if you're in a busy
metropolitan area or in New York, you're in Phoenix, you're
in places where people move into. Most probably somebody in
their thirties forties had, you know, without the treatment ten
fifteen years ago. They're new to the town. As you mentioned,
the probably didn't use their retainders. So think about this
as follow that follow me guys. So now you get
(20:43):
somebody in who already believes in what the doontics. I
already did it, So that's hard. Parts the heart cell
was already done. You get them back in, you do
a scan, you obviously to charge for that scan, and
then got three options. One, oh, sorry, what your teeth
really moved? You have to go back in and start
from scream. Two they moved a bit. Do you want
to just kind of move a fix a little bit
(21:04):
and keep it as it is? Or you know, right
there can be another option, So you can think about
the first one I just mentioned. Your teeth really moved
a lot. You've ben putting it touched in ten years.
You need a full on case, okay to chain five
six seven thousand bucks. You know they moved a bit.
You know, we could do a quick six month you
know program for you to chain two three thousand bucks,
(21:26):
get them in or the teeth about them, they moved
a bit, but we could keep them steady where they are.
You know, we get you get a retainer program to
change every month when you come in. So these are
people that again and you're in your area, believe in
it because they already paid for it, but once before
the parents did so they understand what it's like. And
now you've got three potential options for them. And then
(21:47):
the referral part off the that as well. So it's
a huge opportunity to stand out and position yourself differently
in the market. And then you know it's there, you know,
you know perfectly said it's so much easy to self
resisting customer get a new one. So now that you've
got this ongoing program for them, it's a it's a
no brainer because you know, and you know how much
(22:08):
do you know how much did you charge player for
a lost retainer? Ten years ago?
Speaker 3 (22:13):
I haven't been the.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Same that that people charge now. I mean it was,
you know, three hundred bucks each charge.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Exactly at each person over the course of a lifetime
loses five to six seven of them minimum. So at
five hundred bucks of pops pops, I'm seven, that's you know,
four thousand bucks PERCs out of pocket versus somebody every
month to spend there, you know, twice a year whatever
it is. You know, the program that they sign up for,
you don't do a thing. So it's kind of a
(22:38):
no brainer. Guys. This is something once again that you
really have to figure out where your practice is.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
One of the things you said, which which made me think,
and it's so important, is the power of the three
D scan and how we still underutilize it even after
all these years for this amazing technology, the three D scans,
and you know, I feel like it was it was
huge improvements in like comfort and speed, and now it's
sort of plateaued out a little bit. You know, we're
two to two plus minute scans. I mean, it doesn't
(23:07):
really matter to most patients how much faster.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
It is than that.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
But these scans are incredibly useful and powerful in the practice.
I mean, if you bring somebody back. Some of the
most interesting practices and successful practices we study are doing
these wellness scans. So it's a they They recommend the
patient comes in every two to three years for a scan.
The great thing about it is in most states, the
doctor doesn't have to be around. This can be done
(23:31):
on a non patient day. This can be done by
team members, and so they do the scan, the doctor
reviews it, maybe they send a video note to the patient.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Hey, Dean, you know I saw your new scan. I
reviewed it.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Everything looks great, looks like you're doing an amazing job
with your retainers. They did notice a little chip in
that front tooth. I'm curious, you know, has your dentist
taken care of that. If not, I can refer you
to a great dentist that can do that for you.
I also noticed you've got a new crown, so I'm
wondering if your retainers, you know, fitting as well as
it did last time. We can make a new retainer
of that scan we did today. By the way, we're
(24:04):
we're always accepting new referrals. I know you have you know,
two kids who were young when I saw you last time,
but they're probably the right age. Seven is when we
look at patients for exams and would love to see you.
You know, what a what a modern, great way to
communicate with that comfortable three D scan. Those scans are worth,
you know, real revenue to the practice.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
And they're just all right difficult to do.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
And as a layman, you know, when I go to
a practice, I see the scan in action. It's mind blowing,
really what you're looking at and how you know it's
been the round and you can see exactly what is
within seconds, your whole treatment plan is done there and
you can see exactly what it's. If you're sitting in
that chair and the practice knows how to do it
(24:47):
the right way and use the three D scan, you
should be able to close it like that.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
You know, I remember a story.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
You know, we we do a lot of in my practices.
We used to do a lot of sports mouthguards and
then we bring a team in and we'd scan and
them and we always got patients from them. And of
course that's the other side of our business. Mouthguard Club
Custom sports Mouthguards which we think are a great practice
growth tool, totally underutilized by our industry. But basically, my
script before I do a scan was, Hey, I'm doctor Felman,
(25:14):
I'm an orthanoniest, and I'm going to be doing a scan.
This is a three D scan. Anything coming up, you know,
any dental treatment or braces that might affect the fit
of this mouthguard we're making you. And the patient said,
or the athlete who was a football player, said I
might be getting braces soon, and the mom goes, no,
he's not. He doesn't need braces. He's not getting braces.
(25:35):
Said okay, no problem, I'll do the scan. So I
do the scan, and then, of course I always sort
of my last before I walk away is or you know,
the team member does a scan and I kind of
come back. But the last thing I do personally is
i'd go up and I'd say, so, this is your teeth.
This is like a giant iPad. You can check it out.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Again, I'm an orthonost. Asking me any questions by your teeth,
I'm happy to answer them for you. And the mom said,
that's his teeth, and I said, oh, yeah, that was
the scan we did right now, and she could tell
because how good it is, how easy it is to
visualize crowding and spacing and you know, you.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Know, all kinds of bite issues on that scan. She said,
Oh my gosh, I need to get him in for
an orthodonic console.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
And of course you know we were there as like,
you know, let's let's you.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Know, we can do it right now.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And so, I mean, I think you know that that
communication over a scan, you know, is so easy for
patients to understand. So when you say you have crowding
and they're like, I don't really think I have crowding,
you know, like it's it's a little bit.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
But when you see.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
It this big on your on your thirty or inch
monitor or whatever, you know, you you can't argue with it,
you know, you really can. You can relate to that,
and then of course you can't stop thinking about it
once you see it, and you know you're you're really
interested in you know, corrections.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah. So you know, in a nutshell, retainers are have
so many useful uses across the board, from the from
a patient's perspective and to your perspective as an orthodontist authentist,
you know, it re engages to get patients in It's
a way for you open up communication with them. It's
a way to get referrals. It's a way to continually
(27:06):
your relationship with your patients if you utilize correctly. There's
a lot of money that you could bring it to
your practice by just thinking differently outside the box. And
as this is twenty twenty four, all right, things have
changed drastically since the old days of twenty twenty two.
All right, seriously, that's how crazy things happened, you know,
(27:27):
in the last two years. You know, in twenty twenty two,
there was no chat GPD. That's that's how long ago
things have changed. Was no AI, you know, I mean
there was, but it wasn't even close to being out
there and using you know, technologies and you doze and
things the right way. Is a game changer for your practice.
So Claire, in closing, if somebody wants to learn a
(27:47):
little bit more about retaining a club, get more information,
talk with you about it. What's the best way for
them to reach you.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, First of all, you can reach out to me personally.
I am a tech junkie, so you can find me email.
You can find on LinkedIn, So my emails Blair at
retainer club dot com. You can go to the retainer
club dot com website. I think one of the important
things there is to realize that we are a B
two B two C company. We work through a network
of practices and you can't buy anything as a patient
(28:17):
on our site. You have to go to one of
our partner practices, so, you know, learning about becoming a
partner and offering this service and really making that decision
that you know, our best use of our time is
focusing on treatment and so the things like retention and
retainer programs that you can outsource it easily and really,
you know, explode the power of this while you're continuing
(28:38):
to grow your practice is to me, the smart way
to go about this, So go to retainer club dot com.
We have a section for practices at the bottom. You
can find it, and I would love to continue the
conversation with you.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I definitely reach out to them for many of our
practices to Blair and you know, these guys, they're great.
I believe it's something as you at least consider if
you're working with another company, just pay the phone and
call and see what the difference is and make it.
Make the wise choice, you know, and then feel happy
with with after getting both sides say we are if not,
(29:15):
you know, it's good to get to basically not do
anything and get paid for it, you know, you know,
and at the same time, I'm really excited you know
that you know, have relationship with Blair and Retainer Club
and we were able to help practices who want to
market themselves and stand out. You know that we do
so with with you. So if you are thinking of
you know it's been a tough year and you're not
just getting the new patients that you want, reach out
to us and we can then help facilitate how to
(29:39):
stand out and using retainers as part of your process,
and you'll see the difference. You'll see the patients come in.
You'll you know, because I've heard so many practices that
you know, my last agency didn't work and the ads
didn't work, and marketing is no good, but well, marketing
iss is necessity. If you don't market yourself, you know,
(29:59):
turn the a business sign on today, you have to
do that. There, you have to market. So we have
to stand out and that's where a company like us
could work to work with you and help you position
you using retainers as a very very big difference in
the market there. So again, Blaire, thanks so much for
joining everybody and podcast, thank you so much for listening,
for watching, for getting your feedback from always the great
you know, great messages and comments on all the social
(30:22):
media and look forward to join you guys, joining us
again in the future and once again. And it's like
it's the great Jerry Garcia said, nothing left to do
but smile, smile, smile, Thanks everybody and be safe.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Right Worth the Marketing dot Com three hundred and sixty
degree digital marketing solutions for your practice
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