Dentist Goals For 2008

In a recent survey of dentists, Jim Du Molin of The Wealthy Dentist, asked dentists for their top New Year’s resolutions both for their dental practices and their personal lives.

Topping the list for the dental practice goals was to attract more dental patients, at 76% of respondents. For personal goals, the #1 goal was to maintain or improve their personal health, at 68%.

This is the breakdown of dentists’ top New Year’s resolutions for their dental practices:

1. Attract more new patients - 76%;
2. Cut costs - 53%;
3. Purchase new equipment - 47%;
4. Increase Internet marketing - 44%;
5. Expand treatment options - 38%;
6. Prepare for retirement - 38%;
7. Work fewer hours - 32%;
8. Get a new website - 26%;
9. Send patients a newsletter - 21%;
10. Hire additional team members - 21%;
11. Volunteer services in the community - 9%.

And the top resolutions for dentists’ personal lives:

1. Maintain or improve personal health - 68%;
2. Travel - 47%;
3. Lose weight - 41%;
4. Spend more time with family - 35%;
5. Work less - 32%;
6. Learn a new skill - 29%;
7. Get more involved with the community - 18%;
8. Offer oral hygiene talks in local schools - 6%;
9. Work more - 5%;
10. Quit smoking - 3%.

Some interesting facts can be inferred from this survey…

Even though 76% of the dentists surveyed stated they wanted to attract more new patients, only 44% were planning to increase their Internet presence, and only 26% wanted to get a new website. From this it’s quite clear that more than 50% of dentists perceive the Internet as an ineffective marketing tool.

Which isn’t at all surprising… since most dental websites are absolutely terrible at generating dental patients.

Unfortunately, most dental website design companies either directly or indirectly mislead dentists about what it takes to have a successful dental website, simply to get the sale. If you want to educate yourself about these deceptions and lies, simply read the posts in the Website Myths category… Hopefully, this valuable information can help protect you from getting burned.

-Tom N.