I want you to suspend your disbelief for the next few minutes and take part in a mental exercise with me.

• think of your top 5 patients from last year with reference to
  1. their level of investment – which were your 5 biggest treatment plan sales
  2. their level of affluence – which were the most “well to do” (as my parents would have described them)
  3. their level of networking – which were the most well connected in either professional or personal circles

Stop reading this now – grab a pen and paper – think…

Patient 1:

Patient 2:

Patient 3:

Patient 4:

Patient 5:

• plan to allocate some time before their next extended visit to do some research on them – via the web and through open forums and social media sites like Facebook and Linkedin;
• plan to allocate the time to get to know them better this year – longer appointments during which you will be able to engage them in conversation about their lives
• plan a series of VIP patient dinners later this year
  1. an evening dinner
  2. in a private dining room
  3. in a high quality local restaurant
• invite the first 5 to your VIP patient dinner AND ASK THEM TO BRING ALONG A GUEST AT YOUR EXPENSE
  1. make a promise that there will be no talk about dentistry and no sales pitch – it will simply be an informal dinner to chat about life, the universe and everything
  2. ask them to invite guests who fulfil the second two criteria with which we began – well to do and well connected
• after the dinner, simply send a hand-written thank you note to all the diners with your contact details for future reference and request consent to add them to your email newsletter database
• make the VIP dinners an event in your calendar 3 or 4 times a year – with a different set of patients and guests every time

If this sounds like a mad idea that could never work in dentistry – then good, I’ve achieved what I set out to achieve.

Where did this mad idea come from?

Simply through working with a very successful North West asset management company and looking at the ways in which they generate word of mouth recommendations via:

• briefings
• seminars
• VIP dinners

in order to become one of their client’s Principal Trusted Advisors.

Then asking myself – “is there any reason why a dentist couldn’t become a patient’s Principal Trusted Advisor?”

I wonder if any of you will have the vision and cojones to do this?