Sakaduski Marketing Blog

Do you send out promotional emails?  If so, consider this:  According to Marketing Sherpa, more than 60% of decision makers now read their email on a mobile device.  Although the number may be lower for notoriously low-tech dentists, the number of younger and/or more tech saavy dentists who use mobile devices to read email is no doubt climbing.

Why does this matter?  Because your carefully designed graphic-packed email promotions won’t look like much after the images have been removed and the messages garbled by the mobile device.  In fact, the email may be impossible to understand.  Some corporate email servers also block images. This may affect any communications you send to dental dealers, manufacturers, or large clinics and institutions. 

For this reason, consider plain text emails, which are easy to read on any device.  If you want readers to click on a website link, provide a spelled out URL like this one:  http://sakaduskimarketing.com.  Include a phone number (mobile phone users may be able to click on it to call).  If you include graphics, make sure to repeat any information contained in them as plain text as well.  Never embed critical information in an image.  As with any promotional message, keep it short, clear, and to the point.

By taking this approach, you will assure that the money you spend on email promotions won’t be wasted and your message will be readable, no matter what device the recipient is using to receive it.

In the June, 2008 issue of Proofs, there is an article on page 10 outlining the Dental Trade Alliance’s position on dental trade shows. The DTA’s position is clearly articulated and reflects what many in the dental industry know, that the number of shows is sucking the lifeblood from our business. Couple the vendor cost of supporting these shows with the extraoridinary costs and hassle of travelling, and you can see why this position makes so much sense. The DTA not only listened to manufacturers and dealers, but surveyed dentists as well. That certainly adds credibility to the findings. As I have said many times, we are a face-to face industry, but the trade show burden has begun to negate many of the advantages of pressing the flesh. When you are paying $400/night for a hotel room, and the customers you hoped to see are sitting in CE courses, it certainly creates a lot of ill will.

Kevin Henry, the editor of Proofs, is interested in your opinion. E-mail him at kevinh@pennwell.com. This issue is too important to sit idly by. Support the DTA on this matter!

For those of you who would rather read a good book than work (but would rather that the boss didn’t catch you at it), here’s a hilarious website that has taken great works (Fitzgerald, Twain, Dickinson, Tolstoy, etc.) and reduced them to PowerPoint presentations that, when viewed from a distance–say from the perspective of a boss strolling by–make it look as if you’re hard at work.

http://www.readatwork.com/

There is an excellent article in the Harvard Business School newsletter http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5957.html

on price increases.  The article is based on the (undoubtedly true) premise that, due to the nearly universal awareness of increasing oil prices and the cascading effects that is having on prices of consumer products, customers are more price conscious than ever.  As a result, people are looking for areas to cut back, reuse, postpone, or eliminate.

In the dental industry, the impact will likely be seen in several areas:

1. Dentists may postpone or eliminate discretionary expenditures, unless they can be depended upon to increase revenues.

2. Products linked to discretionary patient expenditures (such as whitening and cosmetic procedures) will likely take a downturn.

3. Dentists will be looking for deals (this may represent an opportunity for small companies able to undercut prices).  American companies will likely feel even more pressure from competitors in countries such as China that have lower labor costs.

4. Trade show attendance may drop even more, as dentists evaluate whether the expense is worth the value, when CE is readily available through other means.

5. The cost of a sales call will rise dramatically with increasing oil prices.  Companies able to sell online or through other means will have an advantage.

6. Customer behavior may change (both dental professionals and patients), so it will be harder to predict buying patterns.

7. Dealer relationships may take some heat as distributors try to keep costs down (or pass them on to vendors) while their sales expenses rise.  Vendors may also find dealers stretching out payment terms.

There have been a number of recent articles regarding the slowing of growth in the dental industry. Some of the dealers and manufacturers have seen slower sales in items such as braces, crowns, implants and veneers. This means a slowdown in spending for discretionary cosmetic procedures that often drive most of the profits in a high-volume practice. When the slowdown begins at the patient level, it means people are concerned about the future of the economy. You don’t hear people complaining about $3 milk or $3 bread, but everybody gripes about $4/gallon gas. We have seemed to have crossed a barrier once thought impenetrable. And I have not found anybody who thinks the price of gas is going down anytime soon. People know that $4 gas is not a good thing, and it gives them pause to consider where they can cut costs. So patients postpone procedures,dentists stop buying, dealers reduce inventory and manufacturers curtail production resulting in a general industry malaise.

Maybe there are some silver linings in these black clouds. Maybe we will see more products that are not marketed to make the dentist more money, but products that will make the practice better for staff and patients. Products that screen for oral cancer, for instance. Maybe we will see more movement to advertising on electronic media sites that offer great promotions and plenty of information to help the customer make an informed immediate buying decision (and I don’t mean silly videos showing people sitting poolside in dental chairs). And just maybe we will realize how inefficient dental trade shows (and dealer sales meetings) have become. Higher aifares, higher cab fares, higher hotel rates and higher convention costs to attract fewer attendees makes even less sense now than a year ago, and will make less sense a year from now.

It is hard to predict if and when the economy will improve dramatically anytime soon. What we may be seeing are permanent changes that will affect the way business is done over the next five-ten years. They may be just the kind of changes our industry needs.

The post-mortem on DPR World seems to be “A great concept, but no dentists”. It’s a shame, because someone finally stepped forward to try and do something about the iron grip that dental societies have on dental trade shows. For years, manufacturers have been the majority of financial support, and now that they are getting squeezed by high energy costs, something has got to give. As I have said many times, the dental industry is a face-to-face business. Reps travel to dental offices, dentists travel to shows and manufacturers foot the bill for everything. Next week, one of the major publishers will try a “virtual trade show” and maybe this will be one answer to this problem.

Manufacturers can begin taking matters into their own hands. Take a hard look at your convention budget. Calculate 20% of the total expenses. Now figure out what would happen if these monies were channeled into e-mail blasts, website improvements and electronic media ad placements. Even budget some of that money for gas cards for your sales reps. All in all, probably a more expeditious use of your funds. Nobody said you can only show your products and services to your customers at a dental trade show. Also, would the world come to an end if you did not spend a lot of money supporting dealers’ national sales meetings? Probably not.
With high energy costs, manufacturers are in a real bind. Dealers want more, and customers expect more, so some careful planning needs to take place. Think out of the box a little and try to different avenues to reach your customers. They will appreciate it, your reps will appreciate it, and you won’t have to take another airplne trip!

I just finished helping an organization create a new website and found myself giving them this bit of advice:  treat your homepage as if it were a billboard on the highway.  This is because people surfing the net often land on a homepage, take a look, and quickly decide whether to move on.  If you have done a good job, they will stay and look around.

When I worked for an advertising agency, the rule of thumb for billboard text was seven words.  That’s the number of words people could easily read, when speeding by on the highway.  Although I’m not recommending limiting your homepage to seven words, it may help you to think of it as a sign on the information highway that people need to be able to read as they whiz by. 

The first thing to do is make sure that people taking even the briefest glance at your homepage can quickly tell whether they are in the right place.  This means that your company’s name and a brief description of what it does should be prominent and instantly understandable.  This is not the place for artistically rendered text, vague statements about good service and quality products that could apply to any company, flash animations, or impressionistic graphics that evoke French filmmaking rather than dentistry. 

Next, make it easy for someone to find what they’re looking for.  Have clear, readily identifiable navigation.  Buttons that look like buttons, clear text labels such as “Products,” “Dealers,” “Technical Service,” and so forth, that are easily understood, even by people (as is increasingly the case) who are not native English speakers.

I also like to see contact information on the home page because many people go to the web to check an address or phone number and do not want to wade through pages of information to get to it.  Never make email addresses visible (increases spam), but providing a link that brings up an email message can be very useful.

Finally, consider all your audiences.  You have different kinds of people visiting your website.  These may include any of the following:  potential customers, existing customers, past customers, sales reps, dealers, consumers, investors, students, competitors, employees, job seekers, international visitors, local community members, and perhaps others.  If you create your website with only potential customers in mind, you will be limiting its power.  On your home page, make it easy for each of these audiences to find what they are looking for (except for the competitors!).  It helps to work in layers, making each page brief, with links to more extensive information.

Make your stop on the information highway a valued one and you will increase the number of both visitors and visits to your website.  It can and should be a vital part of your marketing program.

One of the fundamental marketing principles is that to increase sales of a product, you need more uses, more users, or more frequency of use.  With concerns about the American economy increasing, people are starting to think twice about spending money.  Even the formerly “recession proof” dental industry is starting to feel the pinch.  To counter an increasingly tight marketplace, it may be help to revisit this basic concept.

Most companies tend to rely on finding new users.  They advertise, attend trade shows, and send out sales reps in hopes of increasing the number of customers using their products.  Although this is certainly a tried and true approach, it need not be the only approach.

Frequency of use (think “you deserve a break today”) is a tougher strategy today than it used to be.  Many people are trying to reduce, not increase, the frequency of use for products (except in terms of reusables vs. disposables).  Nevertheless, there may be cases where this can be turned around.  Improved infection control practices (thank you OSAP) and well publicized disease outbreaks have no doubt increased the use of disinfectant and sterilization products, for instance.  However, the real opportunity for increased sales probably lies with finding more uses for your product.

One way to find new uses is to ask your customers.  It could be that customers are already using your products in ways you hadn’t anticipated.  You may also want to engage expert opinion leaders like Dr. Paul Feuerstein to test your products and determine whether they can be used in other ways or for different procedures.  While a sales rep may be content to have gotten the sale, it can be enlightening to go back and see how and where the product is being used.  A happy customer may well be interested in different ways to use the product.  There may be others in the practice who could use the product as well.  It could be that a product intended for a specific procedure might be useful in the hygiene room, or vice versa. 

Don’t limit your marketing options to finding new customers.  In today’s market, you will want to take advantage of all the opportunities you can.

I received the May, 2008 issue of Dental Products Report. On the front is the Styla. At first I thought it was a sonic scaler, until I realized that it is a soft tissue laser. On the back is the FLASHlite Magna from Discus Dental. Inside the back cover is the Midwest Caries ID from Dentsply. When you look at all three you realize what’s happening with technology in the dental industry. It is getting smaller, better, easier to use and, in some cases, less expensive. If you are a cutting edge office, my guess is that one or more of these products is already in your practice. When you think of the dentists spending discretionary dollars, this is where the money’s going, folks. These products help the dentist make the practice better for the patient as well. As I have said before, products that are easy to demo, easy to install, easy to use are easier to buy. Small technolgy is one area that will help the industry remain recession resistant. More to come!

Another CDA is history. The hall was full, the papers packed, and the vendors unhappy. It was the same story. Not enough traffic; not enough buyers. But for the first time in many years I picked up on a sentiment that came from dentists, dealers and manufacturers. Things are really slowing down. I spoke to dentists who have noticed a drop in new appointments. Dealers are already looking to the fourth quarter. Manufacturers had a decent first quarter, only to see the bottom drop out in April. Companies are cutting back on advertising and trade shows. From what I have heard, the DPR World Show later this month has seen some significant defections. It is harder still to see the value in paying $26,500 to attend a dealer sales meeting when times are this tough.

I know this sounds like a broken record, but the industry needs to realize that face-to-face selling at a time when gas is approaching $4 a gallon, and travel costs are soaring is not the most efficient way to do business. Patients are paying the same high prices for gas and food and the money has to come from some place. Cutting back on the dentist is one way to reduce household expenses. Even with Section 179 doubled, and lease rates low, dentists are loathe to overinvest in their practices. This does not bode well for equipment companies.

Is there a way out? Probably not soon.  It may mean that the industry rides out the storm, but nobody can predict how long that could be.So, find different ways to economically reach the customer. Study clubs and e-mail blasts are just a few. If you are using independent reps, make sure your products are getting their fair share of selling time. If your product generates 20% of a rep’s income, then they should be talking about your product at least 20% of the time. Sell value, value and when that does not work, value.

After nearly 30 years in the dental industry, it is uncomfortable to sit back and criticize an industry that has been good for me. But it is just as uncomfortable watching an industry refuse to change and wondering why things are not getting better.