The Invisalign Expert – the three most common questions about Invisalign

Invisalign ExpertThis month’s article sees our Invisalign Master, Dr Sandeep Kumar, answer the three most common questions he is asked.

I know I want to treat more patients with Invisalign but where do I start

Understanding, and if necessary shifting your mindset is key. Most people in business are one of two types – those with a fixed mindset and those with a growth mindset.

People with a growth mindset have a willingness to learn and adapt to new ways of doing things, and that’s when you can really start to realise your goals and ambitions.

It’s perfectly possible to develop a growth mindset, even if you don’t have one to begin with. If you feel it’s not your natural way of thinking, you can start out with small steps.

Set yourself a modest target for increasing your Invisalign cases. Once you’ve achieved that, you’ll probably find you have the appetite to drive harder in the future.

Be open-minded, review your processes and procedures, analyse your team and be bold and brave. Take advice from those you admire, embrace change and the possibilities are endless.

How do I market Invisalign in my area?

Firstly, you need to adopt an inside-out approach. Is your practice and team ready internally to receive, manage and convert leads? If not, don’t spend a penny on marketing until this is in place and working smoothly.

Once you’ve agreed roles, responsibilities, processes and workflows, then look at utilising your existing patient network. Marketing isn’t always about going outside your practice to find new patients – your existing database is a hotbed of potential.

Use your Itero scanner to scan every patient, every visit – this is the easiest way to initiate a conversation. Let the power of the scanned images be your selling tool. You’ll be surprised how many patients convert once they see what their smile could look like with Invisalign.

Once you feel you have made all your existing patients aware of your Invisalign offering, it’s then time to consider external marketing or lead generation. To do this well, you need to understand:

  1. Your target audience. Knowing your ideal Invisalign patient is important so you can tailor your messaging accordingly. You want to be sharing the right message, to the right audience at the right time. Analyse your existing Invisalign patient data and create a persona of the type of patient you want to be reaching
  2. Your local competition. Put yourself in your potential patient’s shoes. Who else are they being targeted by? What other messages are they seeing? How can you differentiate?
  3. And finally, what makes you different? There are thousands of practices offering Invisalign in the UK, and that’s a lot of choice for potential patients! Why should someone enquire with you? Spend some exploring your unique selling points. They will make a difference.

Transparent and open

Once you have a plan in place, you can start to test channels. Paid social (Facebook and Instagram) will help you reach the widest audience, while paid Google campaigns will help drive a higher quality of lead as these enquiries are actively looking.

When it comes to marketing execution, it is possible to manage a marketing strategy and plan on your own. However, it’s always an option to partner with the experts. If your strength is clinical dentistry, with the best will in the world, it’s unlikely you’ll ever reach the same outcome as a specialist marketing team.

Take the time to find someone you gel with. Ask to see their track record and speak to other customers of theirs before you make a commitment.

The right agency will advise you on your overall strategy, help you with the points above, help you get your website and landing pages working well, and will be transparent and open with results and ongoing plans.

How can I use technology to improve my patient journey?

It goes without saying that technology is playing a critical role in every industry, including dentistry. As you start to treat more and more patients with Invisalign, your time will become even more precious. Adopting automation and digital workflows will not only allow you to become more efficient, it will also offer your patients a better experience.

There are a number of technologies and apps to use at every stage of the lead to patient journey.

  • Dengro to capture and nurture your leads. Dengro is a lead management system which helps to keep track of all patient enquiries, it supports with follow-ups and uses the data to create really easy to understand reports so you can analyse your overall lead conversion performance
  • Invisalign’s SmileView shows a lead what their smile could look like with Invisalign treatment, and gives you and your team a heads-up on the type of case the patient is before they come in for their consultation
  • Using the Itero scanner both before and during a patient’s treatment – the Smile Simulation tool, In-Face Clincheck visualisation and the TimeLapse feature to track oral health and treatment progress afre all invaluable tools
  • Encourage your patients to download the Myinvisalign app to track their treatment progress at home and be accountable for their Invisalign journey
  • And Dental Monitoring or Virtual Care provide peace of mind that your patient’s treatment is tracking as it should, and reduce the onus on the patient to make multiple practice visits.

If you are at all serious about your Invisalign growth, adopt and integrate technology into your patient journey.

Investing in an Itero scanner is an absolute must and if you adopt the ‘scan every patient’ philosophy, the investment will pay off 10 fold in years to come.

For more information, or to join Sandeep’s ‘Mastering your Invisalign Business’ experience where you can learn more about his secrets to Invisalign success, please visit masteringinvisalign.co.uk.

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