“We interrupt this broadcast for the following breaking news.” That is how I feel about interrupting my series of posts on dental practice transitions in order to comment on Google’s recent policy change regarding patient reviews. In my opinion, this was done because Google wants to grow their review base, while at the same time guaranteeing consistency and compliance with how their search engine optimization programs work with rankings.

In a format change to the local Google Business Map display, patient reviews from companies like Demand Force and others have been moved to a much less prominent position below the name of the office. They have been replaced – to the right of the practice name – by the word “reviews” and “Place page.” When you click those words, a screen opens where you are prompted to write a Google review. As you add Google reviews, all other reviews from Demand Force or Bing or Yahoo are pushed lower and lower down on the page.

I am still a big advocate of the Demand Force review protocol. Their reviews should still continue to be collected because they remain extremely important. And even with this new arrangement, Demand Force’s special relationship with Google means that Demand Force is a relevant and an important player. But accumulating Google reviews now becomes  an absolute priority.

I am suggesting that someone at your practice – while the patient is still at the office – helps the satisfied patient to write a review from the office computer. Asking a patient to do this from home is an exercise in futility. It is too complicated except for the most computer literate.

I have developed a flow chart for how to do this easily. I suggest that you immediately make the process of obtaining reviews in the fashion I describe a number one action item in order for your dental practice to maintain high visibility and positioning on the local Google business map. As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.

The easiest practice transition is an outright sale. The legal documentation is way simpler than a partnership. It is basically a purchase and sale and a covenant not to compete. The success is predicated on the ability of the seller to transfer the goodwill to the buyer. Here are ten common pitfalls to avoid.

1.Arguing about the price – it is not really that difficult to calculate a fair price. As long as the price is reasonable, I never advise my clients to try to beat up the seller on price. I want the seller to be happy so that he/she can enthusiastically transfer the goodwill.

2.Not understanding the allocation of goodwill for tax purposes- this has to be agreed on before the pricing. Typically 75-80% of the sale price is attributed to goodwill. This is favorable to the seller who pays a capital gains tax which is currently 15%. The balance of the sale price is taxed as ordinary income.

3. Failure to retain key staff members. It is OK to change doctors – it is not OK to change staff.

4. Failure to review obligations and commitments. The practice has to be transferred debt free.

5. Misjudging the size of the practice – it is critical to know how many patients are in this practice. My definition of an active patient is someone with an appointment. Unfortunately, many times I get called in as a consultant after the fact – when the buyer is very unhappy – because the patient base they thought they were purchasing is nowhere to be seen.

6. Failure to educate on telephone technique – failure to review scripting for the front desk regarding the new doctor.

7. Aggressive dental treatment – I recommend that the buyer does not suggest treatment unless something is broken or decayed. Once that patient has come back a few times, they really become your patient and then it is fine to recommend more elective treatment.

8. Not slowing down – every patient that you see in this practice is a new patient for you. Take the time to slow down your schedule so that you have the opportunity to interact with these patients and start to build a relationship. Remember that you never get a second chance to make a great first impression.

9. Inadequate letter – a great letter – written by the buyer – which comes from the seller – is the principal way that goodwill is transferred.

10. Retaining the selling doctor for patient introductions. My feeling is that we do not want the seller there at all after the sale is consummated. There is no need for the seller to stay on for 4 to 6 months to introduce patients. It is virtually impossible to get patients to go see the new doctor if the old doctor is still there.

Next time – I will go into more detail on some of these common pitfalls.

In January 2011, I began my 15th year of management consulting and coaching to dental practices on a full-time basis.  So many positive experiences, countless situations and challenges, fortunately lots of success stories, but of course those instances where just when you thought you’d seen it all, something would come along and humble you.

A definite trend in my business is that I have become increasingly involved and spending much more of my time as a facilitator for dental practice transitions. In the Northeast part of the country where I do the majority of my work, I can tell you firsthand that very few dentists are brave enough to start a practice from scratch. The most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression has reinforced that rationale. Even strong well-established practices with marketing dollars to spend are fighting for their fair share of new patients. So for a dentist to secure an equity position in a practice, there are basically two choices: buy an existing practice from a retiring dentist, or buy into a partnership.

It will be my purpose in this series of blog posts to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of dental practice transitions. Done well–with incredible attention to every detail–a change of ownership can be profitable and successful. Done poorly–and I’ve seen this far more often than I ever would have imagined–you are talking nightmare. So please take good notes as I try over these next few months to help you avoid preventable, irreparable, costly mistakes that will dash your hopes and ruin your dreams.

Over the years, I have found this subject of practice transitions to be a big mystery to dentists. It would be my pleasure to share information with the dental community at large. As someone who reads my blogs, your endorsement would be most appreciated. Please forward this post to five of your most respected dental colleagues. They can click here and be sure to get some useful information.

Starting next week, I will be publishing an entire series of blog posts devoted exclusively to the topic of dental practice transitions. Whether you are buying a practice or selling a practice or hiring an associate or forming a partnership – these are critical decisions and not actions that you take every day. Over the years, I have found the business side of these kinds of transactions to be a big mystery to the average dentist.

It is my serious desire to share useful information on practice transitions with the dental community at large. As someone who reads my blogs, you could really help me out – and I would be most appreciative – if you would forward this message within your dental network – perhaps to four or five of your peers or colleagues. They can click here to receive ideas and strategies that based on my experience should help them avoid costly mistakes. Thanks for spreading the word.

Over the past three months, in a series of eight blog posts, I have been discussing my ideas and strategies on how to ultimately attract more new patients to your practice using the Internet. For most dentists, creating a website and utilizing social media to grow a practice is still a relatively new concept. No question about it –getting a new patient “the old-fashioned way”– as a referral from an existing patient–is still the gold standard. And we never want to abandon the relationship building that we do with our patients that  encourage those referrals to take place.

But to ignore the power of the Internet, and to not have the opportunity play in that space, is a huge and costly mistake. Every day, thousands and thousands of people do a Google search for a dentist. Every day, people are asking their friends on Facebook about recommendations for all sorts of professionals. Don’t you think that some of these people live in your neighborhood?

So as I close this series for now, I implore you to take action. Immediately! It won’t happen on its own. Hope is not a strategy. Re-read and print out this past series of blog posts. Then lay out and write down a detailed plan with a timeline. A goal without a plan is just a wish. Hire a company to help you build a great website, and then promise to keep adding interesting content. Take a course or two and learn about social media opportunities. Get your staff involved because you can’t possibly do this all by yourself.

It is all about making the commitment. With bacon and eggs, the chicken is just engaged – but the pig is truly committed. So doctors- don’t just dip your toe in the water on this – dive in head first!. The opportunities for significant growth are far too meaningful to ignore. Recognize that your commitment to Internet Marketing must be ongoing. Stay alert–be consistent–be creative – and start to reap the rewards.

P.S. – My next series of posts will be on the subject of dental practice transitions. Over the years, I have found this subject to be a big mystery to dentists. It would be my pleasure to share information with the dental community at large. As someone who reads my blogs, your endorsement would be most appreciated. Please forward this post to five of your most respected dental colleagues. They can click here and be sure to get some useful information.

I have been writing a series of posts on the positive measurable value of dentists publishing a blog two to three times a month. And in my last post,  I talked about building your audience by getting your patients to sign up to your Feedburner feed so that they can receive your information by email.

Another very relevant way to build your audience is by developing a social media presence on Facebook. Creating a professional Facebook Page for your dental practice is easy to do. You then can have your webmaster set up what is called the network blog application so that whenever you publish a blog, it is automatically sent to the Facebook page of every person who follows your practice (Likes).

After expending the energy to get all these people reading your thoughts, you now have taken on the responsibility of writing good material. It can’t be pablum. You want to develop a style that is easy and fun to read. I see too many examples of topics being treated as if they were articles for the JADA. I also hate material written in the third person. “Dr. Smith will do this or that.” I suggest that the material be written in the first person – right from you – right from the heart. It is helpful to be low key and conversational and even humorous. And you certainly don’t want to give the impression that you are selling something.

Very important – spend some time creating a catchy title. That is how you grab someone’s attention and draw them in to read your message.

Every day I read three blogs that have been influential in the development of my own writing style. Seth Godin – who is not a dentist-more often than not has something applicable to say about business and marketing strategy. Dr. Lorne Lavine writes an excellent blog about technology. And my good friends Rich and Dave Madow have an insightful and edgy style as they discuss information to help dentists grow their practices and perhaps more importantly, get more enjoyment out of their lives and work.

I also read two sources that come out monthly. Max Gotcher of Summit Practice Solutions publishes a monthly e-newsletter that is very thoughtful and filled with informative material on a host of practice management issues. Bill Rossi, the founder of Advanced Practice Management has a great sense of humor and supports his ideas on practice management with sound statistical analysis.

I would strongly encourage all of you to follow these experts – you will not be disappointed.

For my last few posts, I have been talking about the numerous benefits of blogging. I mentioned specifically the help you get with search engine optimization because you are adding new content to your website. And when you discuss and comment numerous times about a particular procedure, Google references this and drives potential buyers for those services to your site.

But probably the most important reason to blog is to easily and effortlessly and inexpensively disseminate important and useful information to your patient base. You can send your thoughts on clinical topics, new services that you may be offering, health care updates – the list is pretty long. In the old days, we used to do this by snail mail, perhaps by mailing a quarterly newsletter. Very costly and very time consuming.

My favorite way today is to use a Google company called Feedburner to send out your blogs – at no cost – to every patient’s email address. Since you are receiving this, you can see how the presentation is professional and distinctive – not like a normal email.  Of course, if you don’t have email addresses, you can’t send out your message. You could be writing the most eloquent and interesting blog posts, but if nobody is receiving them, it is like singing in the shower. Nobody is listening!

On your website, have your webmaster install the orange reader icon that says “subscribe to our blog by email”. When you click the icon, it opens to a page where you enter the email address and follow the simple security directions. Someone at the front desk needs to sign up every patient at the beginning or at the end of an office visit.  It takes literally thirty seconds, and very quickly you will have built your audience. One very important point – you need to tell that patient to check their email today and be sure to verify the request they will receive from Feedburner asking them if they want to receive the emails from your office. This is an anti-spam thing to protect us from getting junk email that we don’t want. Once a week you should access the Feedburner account in order to manage your subscriber list and be certain that the patients are verifying.

The ultimate challenge for writing the blogs is to be informative and useful and relevant – more on that next time.

In my last blog post, I talked about the use of a Blog to improve website position. That is because the blog format is an easy way to add new content to your website, and Google rewards sites that add new information. But an even bigger advantage for you is that with the blog, you can express the exact message that will drive people you WANT to your site.

For example, let’s say you love Invisalign and want to do more cases. You probably have selected some keywords that include Invisalign with your geographic area so that when prospective patients search for that particular service, they find your website. But if you write a blog two or three times a month on invisible braces including the benefits,  the applications, the success stories you have created, etc. – in the process of writing you will be using hundreds of keyword phrases that relate to Invisalign, and Google is able to reference all of them. This is an amazingly powerful way to push your website to the top for this particular service.

One last suggestion – it can be very effective to write a series of posts about a particular topic. Don’t try to cover the entire gamut in one 300 word piece. When the mood hits, sit down for an hour and write a long dissertation on your topic. Include lots of thoughts – and it doesn’t have to be totally perfect just yet. From this large body of information, you should be able to chisel out a specific pearl or two that will form the basis for an effective post.

If you and your staff are truly going to make the commitment to blog consistently, then it is comforting to always have two or three posts “in the can”. This way you avoid the stress of the inevitable writers brain cramp that plagues us all when we are panicked about a deadline and a topic for the next post.

Google drives search engine marketing,  and it rewards new content with higher placement and more recognition for your website. Pardon me if I don’t even mention Bing and Yahoo because combined they only have ten percent of the search engine market.

In my opinion, the easiest way to add new content to your website is through the use of a Blog Page. Your webmaster can set up the blog so that graphically it looks exactly like any other page on your website. You write your material and publish it from a dashboard. Very easy to do. Each new post appears on the top of the Blog Page. The older blog posts move down and continue to be archived and retrievable. By blogging two or three times a month with relevant, informative, and interesting material, you are adding new content to your website two to three times a month–and that is great for SEO. Google says wow–this site is relevant!

But here’s a great tip I learned a few years ago that has skyrocketed my website so that I actually dominate the search engine results page for dental consulting and dental practice management in my geographic area.  I added what is called an RSS  feed to my site. If you look at my website, the RSS feed says “latest blog posts” and it is right up there to the left of my picture. It lists my two most recent posts. When I publish a new post, the RSS feed automatically changes, and the new post title replaces what was formerly first. And that former first post title goes to the second position. The post that was in second position goes into archives.

Now here is the magic.  Since the RSS feed  is on the top of EVERY page of my website, when I publish and the feed changes, EVERY page on my website changes–not just the Blog Page. Big difference! Click on any number of pages within my site and you will see how the feed remains on every page.

This is truly a powerful tool to use. Try it–and watch what happens.

About six months ago, Google changed the format of their search engine results page (SERP). The page previously had been dominated by a listing of websites arranged and ranked organically by some algorithm that recognized relevance relating to original content, new content, and new information. The challenge has been to use multiple techniques and strategies called search engine optimization  (SEO) to try to move your site to the top of the page.

Currently when you type a request into the Google search bar, the page looks totally different. The top seven spots (A through G) are from the Local Google Business Map. The Map is now the dominant feature. The SERP  results are now placed BELOW  the map results. So unless you are in the top three or four of the SERP, you all of a sudden find yourself demoted to the second page. And we all know that unless you are on the first page, you might as well forget about being found.

The good news is that it is much easier to get to the top of the Local Google Business Map than it is to reach the top of the SERP. Placement on the map seems to be most influenced by favorable patient reviews. I am in love with a company called Demand Force that makes the process of obtaining patient reviews an extremely easy one. And they magically get a lot of these reviews read by Google fairly quickly, thereby moving your practice to the top of the map.

The density and competitive environment of your particular marketplace will of course be an influencing factor as to how quickly you progress. And it is still absolutely essential to be optimizing your site with new content and not be solely dependent upon patient reviews. But I can report that in the last 16 months I have referred over 40 clients to Demand Force- in big towns and small towns–and every single practice–usually within 4 to 6 months–is middle to top of the business page.

So go check out this amazing company.