Last week, a few members from VivioSites went down to NYC to attend the 2013 Greater New York Dental Meeting (GNYDM). We had a tremendous time meeting with doctors, speaking with other exhibitors, and exploring Times Square. While we attend other large dental meetings throughout the year, like the CDA in Anaheim, the Yankee Dental Congress in Boston, and the Midwinter Meeting in Chicago, GNYDM is the most looked forward to dental meeting by all of our team members.
The Greater New York Dental Meeting is the largest healthcare and dental event in the United States, attracting over 50,000 attendees from all 50 states and 130 countries. To make a great impression, we rolled out our 10×20 booth and set up shop, hoping to speak with a ton of dentists about how our services can help grow their practices. We were not let down! Not only did we get to catch up with over a dozen of our clients that stopped by to say hi, we were able to speak with many dentists about their web presence situations.
What we took away from the meeting…
Dentists HATE contracts! I once made the mistake of not opening with, “we don’t believe in contracts” and once I did finally say it, I was stared at like I had five heads. Needless to say, that particular dentist signed up for one of our services.
A lot of the doctors we talked to wished they didn’t sign into a contract months ago. Most of them are stuck with services that are overpriced, under-performing, and just a hassle to be a part of.
SEO companies are bamboozling their customers. We had a promotion at the show. If you were to test your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) at the show, we would give you a Starbucks gift card.
The typical exchange went something like this:
Me: Doctor, how does your website rank on Google?
Doctor: I was told I rank near the top, on the first page!
Me: That’s great! Would you like to make sure? We will check your ranking with the same keywords your patients would search for and see where you are. For taking up a couple minutes, you’ll get to enjoy a cup of Starbucks coffee on us.
Doctor: Sure, why not.
…
…
Doctor: I don’t see my website coming up. I was told I was on the first page… We are on page 3 and I still don’t see it!
Without full transparency, full reporting, and live customer service to answer any questions, dentists are getting ripped off by SEO companies. The worst part is, a lot of companies are enforcing long-term contracts on monthly fees that are way too high.
Not having an up-to-date website is hurting their practice. We had a number of dentists come up to us asking about what we could do for their web presence. What we usually do is pull up their current website and go from there, asking what they like about it, what they’d change, etc. Unfortunately, many doctors told us not to open their website because they are embarrassed.
If you feel embarrassed looking at your website, imagine what potential patients on the internet are feeling. Most doctors know that their website is the first impression a practice makes on a patient. Having a website you aren’t proud of isn’t just embarrassing to the doctor; it’s costing the practice valuable revenue generated from patients on the internet.
Everyone has an opinion on Social Media. Some doctors love it. They see great value in engaging patients throughout each week with interesting content on Facebook and Twitter. They also love the SEO blogs provide with keywords and links back to their website.
Some doctors aren’t fans. It’s easy to think that it’s a “fad” or a “young person’s game.” Some also believe that just having a Facebook profile setup is good enough. It is also difficult to track your exact ROI from paying for social media management services or finding the time to do it yourself.
Regardless of how each dentist felt about social media, we enjoyed the discussion!
NYC Food is GREAT! What do you do with 5 nights in NYC? Go out and eat of course! Greek, Italian, Burgers, Pizza, and fried chicken. We went out looking for the best food we can find and we were not disappointed.
All in all, we had a great time. Thank you to everyone that came and saw us and we are definitely going to be back next year!
There’s never been an easier way to find the professionalism and reputation of a dentist than it is now. Patient reviews go a long way towards building credibility and a strong patient base of your practice. Think about it. When you’re in the market for a new product or local service, where do you go?
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