What sets your dental practice off from all of the competition? What is your unique value proposition that keeps patients coming back and motivates them to refer their family and friends to your door? “We provide great oral healthcare,” you say. “But,” I challenge, so do the guys down the street – and across town, and in the next township over. I would say that merely providing really good healthcare is not enough to brand differentiate your dental practice from all of the competition. Of course, this is something that every dental practice should be striving for. In fact, I’d contend they should be striving to provide exceptional oral healthcare. However, in an environment where dentistry is viewed as a commodity there has to be more to your brand beyond exceptional care. The entire dental experience must be exceptional.
The hard part of building a business is in identifying that unique element that sets it apart from all of its competition. We call this the “defining touch” of the business. Once identified the business must have a specific plan on how to shape, hone, and refine this touch into the sharp sword of excellence that will give it an edge over the competition. It is not enough to be good at one does. One must strive for excellence in order to attract new patients, retain the ones you’ve got, and build a practice that flourishes. Of course, we firmly believe that the design of the dental office is integral to this defining element and that success cannot be achieved without weaving the design of the physical space and the design of the patient service together into a symbiotic whole. All three legs of the dentistry, service, and office design “stool” must be strong if it is going to support a winning team.
