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Why Transparency Is So Important To Your Business

December 18, 2019

Recently, I had some unexpected time on my hands and thought I’d check out the corporate optometrist near me. I was curious what kind of shenanigans I’d get to witness. After seeing specials for $35 eye exam, I didn’t have much to lose. Of course the exam was next to nothing and the eyeglass section was abundant. Since they were 15 minutes late for my appointment (no biggie), I picked out my glasses before my exam.

The process was smooth, the doctor was very nice. All was well.

I picked out frames that were $190 and on sale 40% off. I went to pay it was just shy of $400. I paused, asked again the cost of the glasses and then again asked the cost of the exam. She said the glasses and exam were on sale. Now the basic exam was $50 (not the same as the sign outside) and the glasses were on sale from $190. I then asked to see an itemized breakdown. I’m no mathematician but $190 + $50 doesn’t equal $400. It equals something less than that. 😂

It was all digital and presented on an iPad. The descriptions of items were not things I recognized. I noticed the $300 coating on the lens and said “well we can definitely remove that”. The price didn’t change much. Everything else just adjusted its price to equal almost $400 again. Again, I’m not a mathematician but $400- $300 isn’t $400. I was then given a discount for having medical insurance (Weird! Especially since it didn’t include vision.)

Now my price was down to around $350. The math still wasn’t clear. I decided to take my now $59 exam and leave. I said, “this pricing just doesn’t make sense and I’ll have to take the prescription and move on.”

After I paid, in a last-ditch effort to sell me the glasses the woman said, “just so you know, the price of the frames is $190. The lens’ are not included in that price.” Now I know anti-glare coating and some other options cost money— but this was just crazy.

There was a lot of clever and somewhat sneaky things happening in that optometrist’s office that day and I know it’s very similar to how some dental offices operate. While I’m sure that some people may go along with the trick and get taken advantage of, I have to believe that most people would take the same course of action that I took. What could’ve been a higher sale and perhaps even a loyal customer, turned into much less because of their attempt to pull one over on me.

The same lesson goes for your dental practice. If you’re willing to lie and offer anything just to get patients in the door, you’ll lose something more valuable than business. You’ll lose your reputation and you’ll lose the trust of your patients.

Transparency, honesty, or even just being a decent human being are critical components of your business. Without them, there’s simply no way you’re going to experience continual growth and success. While it hopefully seems like common sense to most of you, I’ll reiterate for those who rely on false advertising – patients go to health professionals that they trust more readily and more frequently than they will ever go to someone who lies to them.

Later that same day, I took my prescription to a website called Zenni Optical and purchased SIX pairs of glasses for under $200. It wasn’t that I was unwilling to spend. It was that I was unwilling to spend with a company that wasn’t transparent. Your patients are going to be the same way.

If you want to work with a marketing company that places the same emphasis on integrity and transparency as you do, contact Identity Dental Marketing. We’ve been helping dentists create honest, ethical, and effective marketing for over 10 years and we can help you do the same. Schedule your complimentary marketing planning session with me online at https://identitydental.com/cmps/ and let’s have a conversation about you, your goals, and your transparency.

Dental Speaker | The Recipe For Successful Relationships: 1 Part Integrity, 1 Part Openness, 1 Part Trust

November 27, 2019

Have you ever met someone who is incapable of admitting when they made a mistake? Whether it is from fear of punishment, or a simple unwillingness to believe that they could be wrong, this inability to apologize is a serious hindrance on your business growth.

No one likes to mess up and admitting when you made a mistake can be difficult. However, doing so demonstrates an invaluable quality for any employee, or for that matter, any person to have: a strong commitment to integrity.

Integrity is the foundation of true growth and success. When someone possesses integrity, it allows you to depend upon them to get the job done, correctly and completely. That level of trust allows your business to do more and operate more efficiently.

Like any house, your relationships are built upon a foundation of integrity. When someone fails to honor a commitment, or doesn’t own up to their mistakes, it’s like taking a hammer and chipping away at the foundation you’ve established, bit by bit.

No, the house won’t fall immediately with a few chips in the foundation, but if these chips continue to occur over a long time, there will eventually, and inevitably, be a destructive failure.

Similes aside, the little promises we make to people throughout our day can add up. Whether this is in employee exchanges, a business partnership, or a marriage, all of your relationships are built upon your ability to trust that the little promises people make to you will be honored. If they are not, then you should also be able to trust that the person will be open and honest in their communication about their failures.

When looking at your own team, make a conscious effort to gauge the level of trust you have in each person. Who are the people you trust to see things through? Who are the people who could use some time to develop into a more dependable person?

Determining these answers is a big step to ensuring your team is a powerful and cohesive unit. When you count on your employees, you can delegate more responsibilities, freeing up your time to work on big picture business growth ideas. If any member of your team seems to be incapable of moving up on that meter, it may be a sign that they are not a fit. 

As a business owner herself, Grace brings her knowledge in management and team creation to speaking engagements across the country. Helping dentists build more successful practices is one of her greatest passions, and she is ready to help you find success of your own. Learn about her presentations for both single practice and multi-practice organizations at https://gracerizza.com/.

Grace Rizza Dental Speaker | Small Steps That Build Your Brand in Big Ways

November 26, 2019

When it comes to building a successful personal speaking brand, it may seem tempting to focus on the big picture. Booking the biggest gigs, meeting the most important connections, and speaking about the most interesting topics may be a few of those big picture items for you.

Doing these things are definitely worthwhile, and they’re part of the reason why being a professional speaker is so exciting, but they are not the only way to generate success. In fact, if you try to take on these larger projects before you’re ready to do so, it could be detrimental to your career. The old adage “you can’t run before you can walk” still holds true for most things in life, and your professional speaking career is one of them.

Here, we’ll outline a few of the small steps you can take to build your brand and explain why they’re critical to getting you to greater success.

Include video content to your offerings

Pay attention, because this is important: video content is one of the most powerful pieces of marketing content.

Allowing people to see you in action is how you get hired. Video content is a great way to build your brand while giving audiences and event planners a preview of the skills you deliver. What form that content takes is up to you and your brand.

You can provide instructional vlogs, you can respond to common questions in an interview format, or if you’ve already had a speaking engagement, you can expand upon clips from the event. While it may seem like the more free content you have, the less likely people will be to pay to see you in person, the opposite is actually true.

Chances are, you know an “influencer” who is already taking full advantage of this method to grow their brand. The first that comes to our mind are entrepreneurs, life coaches, and even fitness/makeup YouTubers. These individuals have been creating free video content that not only contributes to their brand exposure, but also makes people more inclined to purchase their products and travel across the world to see them.

Video marketing is a small thing, but it can yield big results when done right. All you need is yourself, a camera, and a strong message.

Why it’s okay to take smaller speaking roles

It would be a great thing if you could decide to become a speaker one day, and have an audience of a few thousand people the next. Unfortunately, it very rarely works out this way, and that’s okay. You shouldn’t be disappointed with these smaller roles, or turn them down in the hope that something better will come along.

Getting involved at smaller events you are familiar with can be a great way to practice your skills, test out new ideas or techniques, and network with more people.

Ask event coordinators about opportunities and try to be open-minded about the answers you receive. It may surprise you how beneficial something such as a panel discussion can be to your career and your speaking skills.

Focus on helping your audience

Speakers can get so caught up in their presentations and their careers that they often forget about why they became a speaker in the first place – to use their unique message to help more people.

When you focus on providing actual useful content for every person you talk to, you have a much better chance of succeeding than if you only thought about your own desires. People like to listen to useful things, not a sales pitch. When they trust that you deliver excellent content that improves their business and their lives, people will continue to come back for more.   

These little steps really do add up. Before you know it, you’ll have the background, experience, and influence to book the big events. If you have more questions, or want to get started on developing a marketing campaign for your speaker brand, we’re here to help support you. Feel free to set up a complimentary marketing planning session with our team at https://identitydental.com/cmps/.

Grace Rizza Dental Speaker | The SWOT Analysis is Broken, Long Live the GIST!

August 30, 2018

Dental Marketing Presenter

The SWOT analysis is broken. When working with companies, I have seen firsthand how the SWOT analysis creates redundancies in their business plans. Their lists of weaknesses and opportunities are often the same, creating confusion and unnecessary efforts. This is why I have tossed the SWOT analysis and created a fresh way to scale your business, making practice growth simple to understand and execute.

The GIST is a simple acronym that you can implement into your quarterly business meetings to evaluate your business. GIST stands for Growth strategies, Innovation implementation, System development, and Team cohesion that easily leads to accomplishing your desired growth.

When you look at these four areas of your business, it gives you a complete overview of your progress and what you are moving towards. Business plans often contain so much detail that the action items get lost. With the GIST, there is more action than detail which allows you to get your entire team on the same page. Only when a team collectively knows the goals of the business can they begin to work towards them and ultimately achieve them.

This is how you see dental practices go from good to great in the matter of months.

If you would like to learn more about the GIST analysis, visit https://gracerizza.com/GIST or sign up for one of my full or half-day GIST workshops. In these workshops, I will work with you individually to give you the tools and resources to create a GIST for your business.

For more information on Grace Rizza or her GIST Analysis workshops, contact her today.

Dental Speaker Grace Rizza | My Philosophy on Photography of Slides

June 7, 2018

Dental Marketing Presenter

In recent weeks, on Facebook, the issue of whether or not you should allow your audience to photograph your slides has come up. I see no problem in it. Of course, there’s always going to be at least one troll in the audience who thinks he or she can deliver your exact content.

In my opinion, a great speaker is not made only with interesting content. Great speakers have mastered their confidence in body language, their own personal flair, as well as the content shared. A great speaker can think on her toes and move an audience to action through story, examples, hard facts and stats.

There’s much more to a person than the images on his or her slides. So to those wanting to remember what I said and want the visual aid to accompany the information, I say, “Snap away!”

My only request is that you publicly share the photos so that others can also learn from the information shared during my presentation. The more lives we can touch, the better.

Educate, empower, entertain your audience with Grace Rizza.

Grace Rizza Dental Speaker | Communicate with Confidence and Concern

May 23, 2018

Nearly a decade ago, I worked in a dental practice for almost 2 years. I recall the unique experience of teaching the team basic sales verbal skills. I was shocked at how the dental team was repulsed by the word “sell”. To navigate this roadblock, I came up with a presentation titled: “Communicating with Confidence and Concern”.

The entire 90-minute presentation involved examples of communication I had witnessed. I boldly quoted team members and doctors and explained how their words were likely interpreted by the general public (patients).

The 3 C’s approach (Communicating with Confidence and Concern) was implemented and things began to change. Not only were sales a focus, but the commitment to the patient’s needs and desires became the forefront. The team learned how to endorse and support each other, creating a very high level of trust with the patient, which was very much deserved.

In sales, we’re always dealing with a transfer of emotion. Whether you are “selling” the patient on the important of his oral health or he is “selling” you on the importance of his money, selling is taking place. Simply put, selling is the transfer of emotion. If your team does not communicate with confidence AND concern, they are missing out on an opportunity to enrich the lives of your patients.

For more information on Grace Rizza or her availability to speak to your group, contact us. 

Entertaining in the Moment: Grace Rizza’s Speaking Style Explained

April 19, 2018

Whether speaking in front of hundreds or writing website content for a blog, there’s almost nothing worse than boring content. I live by the phrase, “Turn a phrase until it catches the light.”

When writing or developing content, I don’t think about merely sharing information, but look for ways to share content in an entertaining way.

When speaking at Chicago Midwinter, I was mentioning the importance of considering the psychology of color in branding. I was discussing the emotions one experiences after seeing a bloody red extracted tooth logo. Right at this moment, a very important man decided he needed to stroll down the center aisle to find his seat. Apparently for someone of his caliber side aisles are just too practical and respectful. As he boldly walked down the center aisle in his red sweater, I decided to thank him for illustrating my point perfectly. His bold red sweater was not only attention grabbing, but it definitely raised my blood pressure just a bit, as explained in my training.

I find it exciting and fun, not just for my audience but for myself to be engaged on a deep level when presenting. There’s nothing more exciting than watching the content twist to meet the needs of an audience.

If seeking a speaker who can educate, empower and entertain your audience, please search no further. Contact us for more information.

Dental Marketing Speaker Grace Rizza | Track New Patients to Track Success

March 19, 2018
Marketing Speaker

It is important that you have a system in place for keeping track of new patient referrals. Doing so not only makes it easier to report to your marketing consultant or practice management coach, but it also provides a way to measure your progress.

You can create a simple report that tracks the following:

  • New Patients from the Internet
  • New Patients from Patient Referrals
  • New Patients from Direct Mail
  • Number of New Patient Calls
  • Number of New Patients Seen

Train your front office team members to ask new patients how they heard about you each and every time. Recording this data can be a valuable tool to measure how your marketing efforts are progressing. If a direct mail campaign is successful, consider replicating elements of it in the future. If a direct mail campaign yields no new patients, invest your marketing budget in another way.

Having a database of new patient contacts can also be an excellent source for creating follow-up communications. If a particular patient is an excellent referral source, send a personalized thank you note and make them aware how appreciative you are for their help. You can create an email newsletter or direct mail flyer using only the names of interested new patients. You can tailor your message to these new patients in a way that will make them want to come back to your practice as a regular patient.

Keeping track of the sources of your new patients will make it easier to make marketing decisions in the future. It will also be an excellent source of information for your marketing consultant or practice management coach.

For any questions, comments, or concerns please contact us. 

Grace Rizza Dental Speaker | How Not to Upset Your Followers

February 7, 2018

Today, I am going to give you a couple of tips on how to not upset your followers on Facebook.

Tip 1: When broadcasting video, make sure you speak at an appropriate pace. When people talk too slowly, it loses the interest of their audience. Be sure to speak at an appropriate pace so that people want to keep watching to hear what you are going to say next.

Tip 2: Watch your use of “um.” It’s a very bad habit for a lot of people and it quickly turns off your audience.

Tip 3: Don’t private message a large group of people with your marketing agenda. No one likes to hear their phone ping for a conversation that they didn’t electively join.

Tip 4: Don’t tag people that you barely know just to leverage their exposure and get your message out. It’s a bit selfish and it can get annoying for them to be included in all the interaction on your post with people they probably don’t know.

When you’re thinking about your social media presence, simply treat people the way that you’d like to be treated. If you really want to gain a following, if you really want to make an impression then put out content that interests, engages, and helps people in some way.

Dental Speaker Grace Rizza | Learning to Let It Bounce Off

January 17, 2018

Today I’d like to talk about a concept that I call “Letting it Bounce Off.” This is one of the most important strategies that I’ve learned in business to keep me strong, on track, and focused on leading my team and my clients to success.

As your success continues to improve and people start to learn what you’re doing differently, you’ll see some people start to get “scrappy.” The truth is that you are your only competition. However, people who think they are your competition can sometimes do unethical things. We’ve all been victim to this at some point in our lives. Maybe you let an employee go and they wrote a bad review on Google while posing as a patient, or you had someone move in down the street and use a very similar business name to try and capitalize on your following and your brand. I hear these stories all the time, and I’ve got the solution for you: stay focused on you.

You need to stay focused on your brand and your mission, and you need to let these things bounce off. If someone is doing something illegal or actually lying to your clients or patients, you definitely should consider getting the advice of an attorney. However, don’t let it consume you, don’t let it drag you down, and don’t let ruin your day. Don’t even let it ruin a minute! Just let it bounce off. Once you embrace the fact that nothing in life is personal and everyone is just doing the best that they can, you can really harness this strategy. It will make you a stronger parent, friend, spouse, business leader, and a better person in general. So remember, what others say about you is none of your business, and when the competition starts to get “scrappy,” just take it as a compliment.

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