188 How to Get More Dental Patients As An Introverted Dentist

Hi guys, and welcome to another episode of the Delivering WOW Dental Podcast. I am so excited to be here. So today, I'm going to talk about something that is pretty real and honest, and it is about being an introverted dentist and how can we get more dental patients if we are an introverted dentist. So question for you, are you an introverted dentist? And the reason why I ask is that I, interestingly, am. So many people look at me and they're like, "Oh, Anissa, you're so extroverted. Like you get out there, and you're doing Facebook Lives, and I see you everywhere, and you're on social media, and you're having summits and doing all of this stuff." And people actually assume that I am an extrovert.

But what's really interesting is that if you go back to the first episode of this podcast, what you will hear, and it's almost embarrassing, is that it actually sounded like I was reading. And so my office manager, at the time, comes to me after my first episode, and she says, "Dr. Holmes, I listened to your podcast, and it sounds like you're reading." And I was like, "You know what? I'm not going to delete it. It's okay." And what I said to her is perhaps the turning point, and will be the turning point for you, and it's been for so many people that have been through our challenges where I'm challenging people to step out of their comfort zone and do a Facebook Live. What I said to her is that, "You know what? There's something that I have inside of me that I have to give. I have knowledge of how to help people. And what's really important for me is that they find me, that they hear my voice so that I can help them."

And so I continued to do my podcast. And as Facebook Live came out, I started to do Facebook Lives. And now it's really simple for me to do that. And I'm still an introvert, by the way. But what I recognize is that I have a gift and people need to hear my message. You're on this podcast right now. And if I had let being an introvert stop me from getting on the microphone and delivering the message, we may not be obviously where we are today.

So I wanted to really look at that for you and really ask you that question. And the question is do you have a gift? Have you taken time to learn how to place implants, or how to help so many people, and actually save lives, and help marriages as well by understanding how to help patients who have sleep apnea? Have you made a time investment in understanding how to do beautiful cosmetic cases? Because so many times we have introverted dentists that love to learn. You're at conferences, you're taking the courses. Your hands are amazing. You can do beautiful dentistry. And what happens is that no one knows who we are.

And so if you know that you have a message and a gift, it's almost your moral obligation to step out of your comfort zone, to do something that you've never done before, and to go ahead and put yourself out there, because that's the only way people will know about us. One of the fastest ways that I have found, at least to have people to start overcoming their shyness and their introvertedness and putting on an extroverted face, is by focusing on doing Facebook Lives. And what's been so amazing over the years, working with practices, and over the last year or so, working with practices in our marketing and practice growth challenges, I will from day one say, "You know what? I want you to come on. Do a Facebook Live. And guess what? It's okay if you do your Facebook Live and you stumble. It's okay if you stutter over your words. It's okay if the video is sideways."

It's okay, because if it's not perfect, you're learning. And when we learn, we figure out what we need to improve on and we keep getting better. And so even in that group, what I'll say is, "If it's sideways, that's okay. Get in there. We'll show you how to fix it." And guess what happens? Even now, I've been doing, I can't tell you, hundreds of Facebook Lives, and there are times when I get on and I start fumbling over my words. And what do I do? I just delete it. I delete it and I start over. And guess what? You can continue and not start over. You just keep going. And guess what? The next day is another day.

And what's been really interesting is seeing practices and owners and team members to start utilizing, using Facebook Live. And what happens is that now they get more clear with their message. It makes people think more about what is it that you want to say. And interestingly, a lot of the same things that we're doing on Facebook Live we're actually taking into the [inaudible 00:05:59]. And so when we're doing a Facebook Live about let me talk about three different ways to replace missing teeth, or here's why you actually need to go to the dentist. The difference between doing it at home and doing it in the office. Or anything that you're doing. Getting out of your comfort zone, doing the gift card giveaway to go ahead and get gift cards from other businesses. Man, that's really hard for people. A lot of times people are saying, "I'm very nervous to go and ask another business for a gift card."

And all of a sudden, I'm challenging you, yes, I am, to go ahead and do it anyway. And now you step out of your comfort zone and you realize, "Wow, that actually wasn't that hard. I asked someone and they said, 'Yeah, I would love to do that.'" And guess what happens? Now you get more confident and you can do it again and again and again, and build more relationships and market your practice.

And so again, today, I really wanted to talk about this because I see so many dentists who are introverted, including myself. But if your business matters to you, if your practice matters to you, if your patients matter to you, and people in the community that need to find you, then it's really urgent and important that you step out of your comfort zone and you do it anyway. So hopefully this serves you. I love helping you to be able to step out of your comfort zone. And so hopefully with this, you will take that next step.

All right, guys, hopefully this was helpful. I look forward to chatting with you guys again soon. If you haven't yet signed up for our Marketing and Practice Growth Challenge, you definitely will want to do that, deliveringwowchallenge.com, so that we can help you get to the next level. If you're using the code dentalbosschallenge, the challenge is completely free, so we'd love to be able to help you with that. Again, thank you so much for being a listener to our podcast. If you are a member of our Dental Boss Movement Facebook group, I look forward to seeing you every week where we have free training for you and your practice. And if you haven't yet joined us, make sure you're joining us in that group as well, dentalbossmovement.com. All right, guys, thanks so much for listening. Take care and we will chat next week.

If you're ready to take your practice to the next level, I invite you to join me inside of our next Marketing and Practice Growth Challenge. Inside of this challenge, you're going to create a full 12-month marketing plan, launch a marketing campaign that's going to allow you to be able to connect with your community as well as other local businesses. And I'm also going to show you how to use our whiteboard strategy that we've used with practices to be able to actually double their production, focusing on doing more high-value services. Again, I look forward to working with you, as well as your team, inside of our Marketing and Practice Growth Challenge. And to get started, all you have to do is go to deliveringwowchallenge.com.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Delivering WOW Podcast, with Dr. Anissa Holmes. We'll catch you next time.