Data Bites: Why doesn't your practice have a marketing coordinator?
ONLY 19% OF GENERAL PRACTICES use a marketing coordinator (MC) according to the latest Dental Economics—Levin Group Annual Practice Survey. Even a part-time MC can be a critical difference maker when it comes to growing practice revenue, while at the same time reducing the dentist’s administrative workload.
As Figure 1 shows, nearly nine out of 10 dentists (88.4%) with an MC expect to increase production this year compared to 65% of practice owners without one. In fact, that confidence is borne out by looking at the previous year’s performance. Sixty-eight percent of practices with an MC increased production in 2016 versus 49% of offices without this key employee.
Analysis
I understand the hesitation of some dentists who don’t want to increase overhead by hiring another employee. Yet, a part-time MC working 10–15 hours a week can have a significant impact on your bottom line. When you have a team member dedicated strictly to marketing your practice, you’ll see positive results sooner rather than parsing out promotional activities to various employees, or worse trying to handle them on your own.
Too often, dentists try to do the marketing themselves, even though they have little time to do so. Or, they assign the tasks to a number of different employees who are all more focused on their normal activities—because that’s what they’re supposed to do.
If you’re dissatisfied with how your practice is growing, take a look at who’s doing your marketing. If you’re not using a Marketing Coordinator, that could be a big reason for slow or no practice growth.
Author's note: Need marketing help? Download Dr. Levin’s free whitepaper “The 9 Areas of Expertise—Marketing” by clicking here.
Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the founder and CEO of Levin Group, a leading dental consulting firm. A nationally recognized speaker, Dr. Levin presents practice management seminars throughout the country.
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Data Bites is a monthly column by Dr. Levin in the Apex360 newsletter.
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This article first appeared in the Apex360 e-newsletter. Apex360 is a DentistryIQ partner publication for dental practitioners and members of the dental industry. Its goal is to provide timely dental information and present it in meaningful context, empowering those in the dental space to make better business decisions.
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