To market, to market

I have been remiss for a while about keeping regular dentist appointments since my last dentist fell out of favor with me by relentless selling me ‘optional services’ that I felt I could do without.  But my wife and kids had been going to a new dentist and I decided it was high time to get back on a regular exam and cleaning schedule.   So I made an appointment.  They told me to come at 11:15, or at 11:30 if I wanted to go to their website, download their 9 page (no kidding) medical/dental history form and fill it out prior to coming in.  Sure, why not!

So I went to their website and noticed that, for new patients, they offer a coupon right on the web site that the first visit – bitewing xrays, consultation and prophylaxis (a VERY cool word that apparently means cleaning someone else’s teeth…) is ONE DOLLAR.  That’s right, ONE DOLLAR.  And, that both you AND the referrer, in this case my wife, both get a $30 gift card to your choice of stores, like Meijer, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc.  I’m in!

So I go to the appointment, hand in my paperwork and tell the receptionist I have coupons as well and does she needs those, and she says “no” and I get my exam, cleaning, etc.  All good!

Then I get the bill which turns out to be $175 after insurance.  I am a bit flabbergasted and assume I misunderstood the offer so I head home and check their website again.  It looked pretty straightforward; I was entitled to a $1 cleaning as a new patient.  But here’s the best part:  2 days later, I get a letter from them with a brochure marketing their patient referral program and clearly re-stating their gift card offer!

So I paid the bill and enclosed a note along with the coupon and mailer essentially asking what gives with their referral policy and their discount and coupon offers.

To their credit, they called me today to address the issue.  They “explained” that I needed to explicitly request the $1 cleaning and that I also needed to ask for the gift cards and that I could only have one or the other.  I was very happy with their service so I decided, for a change, not to be an a$$, and just requested the gift cards, which they claim will be on their way shortly.

Here’s my thing:  I understand that even the world of higher end professional and medical services these days is not immune to intense competitive pressures and that repeat customers (as in come back for a cleaning and checkup every 6 months) are worth their weight in gold, silver or whatever you get your teeth filled with… 

But for you all out there that are considering similar offers to grow your customer base, why don’t you consider proactively reminding your new patients what they are entitled to, instead of hiding it and hope they don’t notice?  If you can’t afford a marketing campaign, don’t do it.  But if you can, and the recurring revenue is really worth the initial investment, imagine the impact you could make on a new patient/customer if you reminded them of your discount policies and referrals and made sure they took advantage of them?

  You want a customer for life??  Try that!  I know it’d make me smile…

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