By Lerin Madole, Editorial Intern
December 30, 2013
To kick off the New Year, this month’s Spotlight is on Futuredontics, Inc., the parent company of 1-800-Dentist. Fred Joyal, CEO founder of Futuredontics and 1-800-DENTIST, told Proofs a little bit about the company’s current branding efforts.
Fred Joyal, founder of 1-800-DENTIST and author of Everything is Marketing: The Ultimate Strategy for Dental Practice Growth, also writes one of the best weekly dental marketing advice columns, which you can see at www.goaskfred.com.
Futuredontics, best known for 1-800-Dentist, has been America’s leading provider of dental marketing services and software since 1986. In recent years, the company has been introducing more and more new products and services. “1-800-Dentist was always the entryway for our services,” said Joyal, “but it was getting difficult to incorporate all of our dynamic new products under the 1-800-Dentist name.”
Not to worry: 1-800-Dentist is alive and well. It’s not going away. The company is simply up-leveling the parent company’s brand that has always been behind the scenes. The goal is to capture the company’s full scope of services and give the other products some room for growth.
AADOM Q&A: Fred Joyal, CEO and co-founder of 1-800-Dentist
When it comes to bringing new patients in the door, 1-800-Dentist does exactly that. However, practices often still need to work on better communication with patients, for example, or having a strong online presence.
Joyal pointed out that sending in new patients isn’t the right solution for some of those specific needs.
Today’s consumer behavior is very different than it was only a decade ago. The amount of time that people spend online has increased exponentially in recent years. “People search for dentists in lots of different ways now,” Joyal said. “We’ve moved beyond the phone number in terms of services, and it’s time to move the brand beyond that concept as well.”
Today, Futuredontics not only continues to offer its flagship 1-800-Dentist new patient leads product, but also offers PatientActivator, WebDirector, and ReputationMonitor.
The most recent product to be released under the Futuredontics umbrella is Reactivation Pro. “No one else offers something like this,” said Joyal. “It uses our operators to reach out to dormant patients. We get meaningful feedback and information from them after hours, when they can be reached. Our operators are excellent on the phone and we’re seeing this really take off as they reactivate patients that have gone by the wayside.” Reactivation Pro has just been released as a Patterson exclusive product and is launching nationally in January.
Joyal noted that the human component has been critical to the company’s success in its 28 years in business. He said, “It’s an intimate thing to look for a dentist; it’s not like looking for a gas station. That’s why we have live operators 24/7. Plus, we’ve always offered our dentist clients unlimited live customer service as practices expandfor all products.” That support is what gives dental practices the tools they need. Additionally, the Futuredontics support team is cross-trained between products and practice areas, so that clients can get all of their questions answered in one phone call.
Ultimately, dentists want to focus on the dentistry. According to Joyal said that, in order to do so, “Someone has to keep their eye on all the details for you. They need a strong dental-focused marketing partner to help them succeed in the increasingly digital world.” He continued, “That’s what Futuredontics is all about, and will continue expanding its products to be.”
