Dental Tribune Israel Edition

16DentalTribune Israel Edition ‫כלכלה‬ Dr Anna Maria Yiannikos Germany/Cyprus Introduction During this issue we are going to explore the first element of marketing mix which is the package in our case the service that wedeliverinouroffices.Dentaltreatment is an intangible service therefore a very important role is played by the quality. Do you know how quality is perceived in the mind of our patients? First by the past experiences our patients have had from us or from other colleagues. Second from the word of mouth, which is our most powerful marketing tool, what others are saying about us and finally, from the personal needs that our patients have. As an example we can start with their need of experiencing minimal pain during a treatment. Many get afraid or annoyed by the sound of the drill; in this case they will prefer to choose a laser dentist. The above are factors that we have to meet during the services that we offer. We should understand that we do not only deliver services but a culture; the culture and mentality of our clinic through the experience that our patients receive. They do not only expect from us to be just good doctors. If we think like this we are wrong! They expect from us to be the best, period. Our patients will not just compare us with other dentists but with all the service experiences that they have like as in a hotel or in a restaurant. Our competitors are everyone when it comes to our patients; the manager in a restaurant, the receptionist in a hotel. Our patients hold in mind a mental picture of how they think they should be treated and this picture becomes their standard by which their experiences are judged. Law of memorable event: determines dissatisfaction and loyalty When nothing makes either a good or a bad impression on you, your feelings are neutral. It takes something memorable to turn ordinary satisfactory experience into something special. Dissatisfaction comes from something bad that you experienced and you remember. Furthermore, loyalty is generated by memorable things that happen, that we weren’t expecting. And if our patients do not remember us, why should they choose to continue to come to us? As we can see from Figure 1, we have three zones when we interrelate satisfaction and loyalty: 1. The zone of defection, which includes the terrorists - all the dissatisfied patients that discourage others from visiting us. This zone gets narrower as the relationship between dentist and patient matures and goodwill is added in the emotional bank account. 2. The zone of indifference, where the patients are satisfied but they might visit other colleagues as well for their treatment or they will not refer us to others. 3. Finally the zone of affection containing the apostles - the very satisfied patients, the loyal patients Gain power at your laser clinics! that talk favourably about our services and their experiences and they will spread through the word of mouth how thrilled they are with us, encouraging friends and relatives coming to us for their dental treatments. A question that might arise is: how can we minimize the zone of defection? Exit interviews or measuring regularly our patient’s satisfaction with surveys can have an extreme impact on our profits since through them we can learn in which areas we lack in so to improve. And here comes another question to consider: How many of us administrate patient satisfaction surveys, how often and when do we imply them? As mentioned before, dental treatment is an intangible service (=we cannot measure it like a product). Therefore, the quality plays a very important role. How do patients measure the quality of our practice? Patients cannot judge how well we can fill a root canal or how nicely we polish a composite filling - instead, quality is effectively perceived from our patients by the below factors: 1. Appearance: the way our office and our staff look. 2. Securityofourclinic:Inwhichwaydo we increase our patient’s confidence that they belong in a safe place and can relax and trust us for the best? Some examples are the existence of safety signs and flash lamps outside the doors, laser safety diploma,