Innovation Determines Which Practice Patients Will Choose.

How do you compete for patients and get them to choose you over your competitors?

The answer – Innovate – innovate your practice and offer extraordinary value by creating a “market dominating position”. Consider this. Every choice your patients make when deciding on a new dentist or the products and services offered by your practice represents a point of differentiation between your practice and your competitors. These differences, whether subtle or distinct, determine which practice patients will contact first and which practice they will decide to join.

I want you to think about examples outside the dental industry – as there is lots to be learned from other industries that face tough competition! Consider the well documented case of Domino’s Pizza. Why did Domino’s become a billion-dollar behemoth in an overcrowded market in just a few years? Did Domino’s make the best pizza? Not even close! Did they offer comfortable in-house dining? No way! Did they offer the largest selection on their menu? No! They offered the exact same pizza as ALL of their competitors! They dominated by adopting and implementing one major strategy. They created a market dominating position, which was fast hot pizza, targeted specifically for hungry college kids. (Hint: they also made sure that their restaurants were close to university and college campuses!)

So now ask yourself what, if anything, makes your practice different from your competitors as perceived by your targeted prospects and patients? When you create your own market dominating position, you will consistently get patients to choose your practice over your competitors. But what exactly is a “market dominating position?” It’s simply any value-added patient perceived benefit, or a combination of benefits, that differentiates you from your competitors; and does so in a strong enough manner that it makes your practice the logical choice in the minds of your prospects and patients.

The key to adding value is determining what your patients and target patients see as valuable. You must understand their needs, wants, troubles and inconveniences in order to entice them with solutions through added value products or services. Adding value will also add to your profits, but if you don’t focus on genuinely helping your patients you’ll have a difficult time attracting them.

A simple way of looking at this is to compare a mom with two preschoolers looking for a new dentist because they just moved into town compared to a couple in their early 60’s who recently retired and moved to town. If you think it through – there are some similarities in the dental needs of these two groups but what they would perceive as “added value” is very different.

Creating A Market Dominating Position Involves a Five Step Process

Step Number One

Determine your strategic position in the market. What specific niche market or segment of the marketplace should your practice focus on?  That mom with two preschoolers or the couple that just retired? This doesn’t mean that you will not provide services to all prospective patients, but a strategic position in the marketplace helps focus your marketing to attract those specific patients you are looking for.

Again, get clear – is your focus 45 to 55 year old women with disposal income for cosmetic dentistry? Is it families with young children? Is it the aging population that are higher risk for health issues related to the body mouth connection? Determining this involves combining the skills your practice has with the unmet needs of your targeted prospects and then designing your product or service to fulfill those needs. Domino’s strategic position was “fast hot pizza for hungry college kids.” For Starbucks, “delicious hand-crafted beverages that makes life better.”

Step Number Two

Determine your primary market dominating position. This is the most dominating advantage that separates you from your competitors. Domino’s claimed it could deliver its pizza in 30 minutes or less, or they would give it to you for FREE! This was the primary advantage that met the needs of their newly defined market position – hungry college kids that wanted food fast.

If I said I was looking for the dentist or dental practice in Mytown that was the expert in cosmetic dentistry or family dentistry or preventative dentistry would you put your hand up and self identify? Could I tell from your website, your brochures or your patient reviews that you were the best? Here’s what I want you to hear – if you don’t put your hand up and identify you and your practice as The Best, The Experts – then no one else will either!

Step Number Three

Determine your supporting business model. How will you specifically deliver what your strategic position and primary market dominating position promises? What changes, if any do you need to consider making to your practice to ensure you deliver consistently on your position and your promise?

Domino’s built a supporting business model that enabled them to consistently provide their promised primary advantage, which was fresh hot pizza delivered within 30 minutes. To make good on this promise every time, they were forced to create a supporting business model where they built low-cost, plain vanilla stores strategically located near college campuses. And since college kids aren’t the most reliable workers on the planet, they were forced to hire additional delivery staff and have additional drivers on a stand-by basis. Together, these innovations allowed them to consistently meet and often exceed their primary market dominating position.

What innovations can you implement that will allow your practice to meet and even better exceed your primary market dominating position? When patients walk through your door can they see your expertise – where you are the expert – the only logical choice for patients like them?

Step Number Four

Determine your secondary market dominating position. What additional competitive advantages does your practice offer that your patients will perceive as being different from your competition? Domino’s secondary benefits might include special pricing, assorted sizes, a much broader selection of toppings or additional menu items. The point to remember is that if you don’t give people a clear reason to choose your practice, they won’t figure it out for themselves.  Be clear about why you’re the best choice.

Step Number Five

Create your market dominating position statement or elevator pitch. This is a simple statement you can create by combining steps one through four. This helps you to state unequivocally what differentiates your practice from your competitors to your targeted prospects and patients.

Domino’s market dominating position is neatly summed up in its slogan, “fresh hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, or it’s free.” An expanded version of this might say: “Domino’s provides busy customers with fresh hot pizza and other food items within 30 minutes or less. Our assorted pizza offerings combined with our value pricing makes Domino’s affordable to everyone.”

If you’d like help developing your market dominating position and putting a practice growth plan in place – let’s talk. It’s simple – go to http://stopcompetingforpatients.com/customized-practice-growth-plan/ fill in the questionnaire!

As always I am dedicated to your success,

Kathy D. Harris