Professionals also need marketing
Written by Shirley Lichti for The Record, March 15, 2000

How many dental offices have you visited where children cry when it's time to leave? That was the scene I encountered recently when I met Kitchener dentist Dr. Gordon Scott. And I couldn't help but be impressed.

Marketing a professional practice can be difficult. Product marketers deal with tangibles, but you cannot see or touch a professional service. In fact, it's often difficult for customers to judge services since most don't even exist until they have been delivered. As a result, marketing plays a crucial role in building service businesses.

I thought it would be interesting to examine how three practices - a dental office, massage therapy service, and chiropractic clinic - use marketing to overcome the challenges of selling the invisible. While taking slightly different approaches, each has used creative marketing to build a healthy business.

According to Scott, internal marketing is key to the dental practice he shares with fellow dentists Doug Jones, Michael Kalbfleisch and Blair Haley. Most new customers arrive because of referrals from current patients.

Scott got his start in 1984 by joining an existing practice, that of Dr. Jones. The two other partners have joined them more recently. When the four outgrew their space, they saw it as an opportunity. They designed a new clinic that allowed them to increase their focus on internal marketing by making customers as comfortable as possible in every aspect of the service delivery.

The new location has a fireplace in the waiting room, plus a private area where busy people can make phone calls. Children can entertain themselves with videos, toys, and books in an enclosed play area. A computer equipped with a CD ROM and a customized newsletter provide educational information on services such as implants and teeth whitening.

A new digital x-ray system reduces the amount of radiation customers are exposed to by up to 90 per cent and the dentists use state-of-the-art sterilization equipment.

External marketing is minimal. As the newest dentist to join the practice, Haley uses the Welcome Wagon to build his practice, attracting about two new patients a month. Yellow Pages advertising highlights another important marketing tool - expanded hours. The office is open weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays until 1:30 p.m.

When Mélodie and Chris Porter moved to Kitchener in 1987 to open their massage therapy practice, A Hands On Approach, they needed to get to know the community fast. By reading The Record, they said they learned about business and marketing seminars offered at the Small Business Self-Help Office (now the Business Enterprise Centre) and the Kitchener Public Library. They were impressed with the number of community resources available and found the seminars useful for meeting new people.

The Porters also joined a Business Network International group that offered business leads. And they participated in many local health and wellness fairs, where they met potential clients and other health professionals.

The Porters had their business listed in the New Ventures section of The Record, allowing them to inform the community about their new business at no cost. This announcement was followed with ads and a coupon, which gained them new clients. While coupons often tend to attract price sensitive customers without building loyalty, this was not the case in the Porters' business.

Another useful marketing tool has been Yellow Pages advertising, the said. Because their service is personal and hands-on, they include their photos in the ad. "When you are selling massage, you are really selling yourself," says Mélodie. "It's important that clients feel comfortable with who is providing the service."

Their strategies worked. In two short, but busy months, they were able to build a healthy customer base, helped by referrals from a local naturopath and other health professionals.

Dr. Scott Martin, started his Waterloo business in 1987 by purchasing an existing chiropractor's practice. Although it was a successful business, he still focuses on marketing to keep existing customers and attract new ones.

Martin's biggest marketing tool is education. He offers free back care workshops which introduce the concept of chiropractic care, explain why and how it is done, as well as how it fits in with the traditional health care system. The workshops help current and potential customers to take care of their spines. And they also help to generate referrals.

Like the Porters, Martin feels that Yellow Pages advertising has been useful in building his practice, as has networking. College classmates have given him referrals when their patients relocate to the K-W area.

Because of his proximity to both Waterloo universities, Martin also markets to students. He uses an outdoor sign to welcome students back to the community at the beginning of each term. His rationale is that students who see a chiropractor in their home town will also want to see one while they are away at school.

Lastly, Martin attends seminars sponsored by the Ontario and Canadian Chiropractic Associations. "Your practice evolves and I practice differently now than I did when I first graduated. The customer service side of the business takes time to learn."

And as the above businesses demonstrate, when you are selling a professional practice, intangibles like customer service make all the difference.

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