Dental Economic 101
How is it that dentists have been so effectively targeted by marketing people who say
that they want to promote our practices, and why have we been so eager to buy into
the premise that more exposure brings in more money? The answer is “it works”!!! at
least for the short term. When the newness and luster wears off in a few months or
years, then we need to remarket ourselves with the latest and greatest marketing ploys
or treatments. The misconception I fear is how this will be perceived by our patients
and communities on the profession in general and on us individually when it comes to
providing their health care.
As we have promoted our services, we have also commoditized our skills. As we
have looked at the bottom line, we have made adjustments to lower our costs and
given less of ourselves to our patients because of time and money. We have fallen into
the trap which marginalizes the impact we have with our patients, communities and
practices.
The real worth of our profession is not in the work that we do, although those
standards must remain high, but in the relationships that we build. It is the
understanding of what our patients are telling us as we interact with them at a personal
level. It is by listening long and intently with a real effort to understand that we discover
their wants, desires and fears. Our ability to connect and understand them allows us to
mutually move forward to develop meaningful treatments that propel them to a healthy
condition. That is true Health Care Reform!
If the only reason for reform is to lower costs, then it is only about the product we
produce. When that fails, then so do we, our profession and health care in general.
That is the insurance model. It is through our relationships that we strive to achieve a
greater good for those we care about. Relationships sustain your practice and make
you a successful practioners in good economic times and bad.
Gregory G. Armi
President MPDS
How is it that dentists have been so effectively targeted by marketing people who say
that they want to promote our practices, and why have we been so eager to buy into
the premise that more exposure brings in more money? The answer is “it works”!!! at
least for the short term. When the newness and luster wears off in a few months or
years, then we need to remarket ourselves with the latest and greatest marketing ploys
or treatments. The misconception I fear is how this will be perceived by our patients
and communities on the profession in general and on us individually when it comes to
providing their health care.
As we have promoted our services, we have also commoditized our skills. As we
have looked at the bottom line, we have made adjustments to lower our costs and
given less of ourselves to our patients because of time and money. We have fallen into
the trap which marginalizes the impact we have with our patients, communities and
practices.
The real worth of our profession is not in the work that we do, although those
standards must remain high, but in the relationships that we build. It is the
understanding of what our patients are telling us as we interact with them at a personal
level. It is by listening long and intently with a real effort to understand that we discover
their wants, desires and fears. Our ability to connect and understand them allows us to
mutually move forward to develop meaningful treatments that propel them to a healthy
condition. That is true Health Care Reform!
If the only reason for reform is to lower costs, then it is only about the product we
produce. When that fails, then so do we, our profession and health care in general.
That is the insurance model. It is through our relationships that we strive to achieve a
greater good for those we care about. Relationships sustain your practice and make
you a successful practioners in good economic times and bad.
Gregory G. Armi
President MPDS
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