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How do we, as orthodontists, encourage trust in orthodontics?

Harvey Mackay, the author of five New York Times bestsellers including “Swim with Sharks without Being Eaten Alive,” was recently interviewed by Claudia Eisenhuth for The Progressive Orthodontist. What does Harvey Mackay have to say about the word trust? “There are one million words in the English language and the most important five-letter word in business is TRUST.”

Google the word trust and you get the following:
trust
noun
1. firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something
“relationships have to be built on trust”
synonyms: confidence, belief, faith, certainty, assurance, conviction, credence, reliance
“good relationships are built on trust”

Let me repeat that last phrase, “good relationships are built on trust.” Now let’s go back to what Mr. Mackay said, “there are one million words in the English language and the most important five-letter word in business is trust.” Now let’s combine those two for our own purposes… good relationships are built on trust, therefore, the most important word in the business of orthodontics is trust. Without it our practices wither and die.

Building trust, therefore, is one of the most important things we do on a daily basis. Trust leads to success. How do we build the trust necessary to achieve that success? Mr. Mackay argues that today’s orthodontists must be salespeople. What are we selling? We are selling ourselves. If we do a good job, trust is created, and success is ours. What is required to create trust? First, we must be good at what we do. We must have exceptional people skills, likeabililty, and a terrific chairside manner.

According to Mr. Mackay, the best salespeople possess the following characteristics:

• consistency
• product knowledge
• phone skills
• good listener
• ability to build relationships
• sincerity
• sense of humor
• deal with rejection
• strong communicator
• good on your feet
• good presenter
• flexible
• fanatical attention to detail

I don’t know about you, but I think this list describes pretty much every orthodontist I know. If that’s the case, how do we set ourselves apart? How do we say to our patients, we are the person that you should put your trust in, not the other guy? I believe that it comes from truly caring about our patients, not just their teeth, but their lives. We have the opportunity to impact those young lives in a positive and lasting way. How are we going to do it?

Do you provide patients with the tools they will need to be successful?

First and foremost, of course, we are creating beautiful and healthy smiles that last a lifetime. Unfortunately, sometimes our adolescent patients are not at a place in their lives where they can really appreciate that. So how can we reach them in other ways? It comes back to caring and generating trust. What do they do other than come to your office? Do they play a sport or an instrument? Do they love the arts? Do they want to be an orthodontist someday? If you don’t ask the questions,  you’ll never get the answers. Become involved.

Dr. Remington has been supporting her patients with her own compliance app and wants you and your practice to get the same successful compliance results that her team enjoys. As the co-founder of Docs With Apps, she is here to help guide your team to overcoming compliance issues with your own compliance app. Contact us for more details, we do all of the work so you can care for your patients. 👍

The most recent Practice Management Bulletin published by the American Association of Orthodontists has as it’s focus, internet trends in orthodontics and how they should influence the digital marketing that we use as practicing orthodontists. Katie Maassen, AAO Director of Marketing and Communications, reports the following.

• In 2008, the average time American adults spent with digital media was 2.7 hours and by 2016, it had risen to over 5.6 hours per day.
• In 2013, due to increased access to smartphones, tablets, and laptops, time spent with digital media had already surpassed time spent watching TV.
• YouTube, with over a billion active users, reports that it reaches more 18-49 year olds than any cable network in the US.

Alright, so what do these figures mean to those of us in the trenches of orthodontic practice day in and day out? How can we interpret the information provided and use it to our advantage as we take on the digital marketing world? How can we leverage our patients’ love affair with digital media?

First, it is vital that our websites are engaging and up-to-date. Up-to-date in today’s jargon really means that it needs to use a responsive design. We’ve all heard this term thrown around at meetings. It means that regardless of the size of the screen on which you view your website, it has been optimized to fit that screen. It is also critical to update your site with quality content on a regular basis and to share that information rather than hope someone randomly finds it on the internet.

Okay, now that we all possess the best websites known to man, what’s next? Unfortunately, it is no longer true that if you build it, they will come. You have built it, and now you must make it dance.

As we all know from our daily interaction with our patients, they always, repeat, always have their phones in their hands. Often, you can’t even get them to tear their eyes away from them long enough to complete their planned treatment for that day’s appointment. This is what you need to use to your advantage. Give them a reason to interact with you and your practice on their phone with your very own custom app!

What can your Docs With Apps compliance app and marketing video do for you and your practice?

How can they help you stay current with today’s internet trends in orthodontics and take your marketing efforts to the next level?

It takes your level of care to the next level
If your patients are already on their phones, let’s interact with them directly. Let’s help them help themselves by improving compliance with elastic wear and as a result, complete their treatment on time. Let’s extend our patient care beyond the four walls of our office. Let’s boost our patient care quotient.

It takes your competitive edge to the next level
Is your competition providing their patients with a customized compliance app? If they’re not, they soon will be. This is the way our world is turning. Every store, every website, every everything has an app. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to say to your patients, “There’s an app for that.”

It takes your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to the next level
Your updated, responsive website, your customized compliance app, and your YouTube video presence, are all things that will move you to the top of the list when patients are searching for an orthodontist. In order for your online marketing to be most effective, you need to be on the first page of the search. If you’re stuck on page 2, you may as well not even exist.

It is vital to the continued success of our practices, that we stay current with the ever changing internet trends in orthodontics. Contact us today and let Docs With Apps take you there!

As a professional, if you look at the way we choose to represent ourselves through our practice websites, you’ll see one idea come up over and over again… personalized orthodontic care. Personalized care, how do we define it? It is the way we set ourselves apart as practitioners. We recognize that our patients are more than teeth requiring orthodontic correction, but people who want to feel that they have been seen and heard and recognized as special individuals, not a number at the deli counter. 😋

How do we achieve the goal of meeting and exceeding our patients expectations? We go the extra mile by recognizing that the orthodontic journey is just as important as the destination. Any properly trained orthodontist can treat a malocclusion and provide a beautiful smile as the outcome, but is this is no longer enough to satisfy today’s savvy patient. Docs With Apps is here to help you take that next step for your patients.

Our goal at Docs With Apps is to make YOU that practitioner. the one who would do anything for his or her patients. We are all aware that patient compliance can make or break the treatment experience for all involved, let alone have a significant impact on the final outcome. 💪

Question: How do you effect a change, when you are only able to see your patients on a monthly or bimonthly schedule?

Answer: By providing them with a customized app, designed and branded specifically for your practice, that once downloaded with send each patient four fun reminders each day to lend that personalized touch that will make all the difference to that patient.

Let us build one for you today! → GO

“As an orthodontist, class II correction can be a challenge. Since getting the app, elastic compliance has improved dramatically!” – Dr. Kendra J. Remington