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This Dental Specific Podcast is dedicated to the Dental "Entrepreneur" Michael Dinsio, Founder of Next Level Consultants, delivers #TRUTH when starting up a dental practice. From the very first step to getting the keys of a dental practice, Michael shares his raw & unscripted playbook with you. Not only does this podcast provide you with "What To Do" but more importantly "What Not To Do". With over over 15 years of experience & over 150 past clients, Michael delivers an educational and informative program in a real and genuine way. Start w/ Episode 01 - as we go through a STEP by STEP process.
00:09
Startup Unscripted, the questions you have with the truths you need to hear. Now your host, Michael D'Incio. All right, all right, guys. Welcome to the Encore series. Mike Dinsio here with Next Level Consultants, founder of Next Level Consultants. Startup UNscripted has been a phenomenal, phenomenal resource for all you guys. We decided to start.
00:37
and start another series inside that season one called the Encore series. you know, Michael here, my next guest is someone that I've been listening to and following for a while. And I'm super excited to have him on the show. And I talk about this topic all the time with my clients. It's, you can't just do the bare bones. have to elevate yourself above what everybody else is doing.
01:07
I think this particular episode is gonna help you do that. without further ado, let's just get into it. Startup unscripted Style, No BS, just get right into it. So Michael Arias with the dental marketer. I probably totally butchered the last name. I practiced it a couple of times, Michael, but thanks for being on the show, man. No, man. Thank you for having me. It's funny you mentioned like, No BS. Today I heard like somebody say like the only BS I want is it's a song, Beers and Sunshine.
01:36
I was like, I'm going to say that now. But yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me on. Yeah, no, we're lucky to have you, dude. So for those that don't know you, man, just give it to us. What do you do? And what can you provide our followers? Give me a, I guess it would be the two minute elevator speech. Yeah. So it's going to be the shortest elevator ride guys. So I just,
02:05
I'm host of the Dental Marketer podcast, also co-host of Dental Drill Bits with Sandy Pardue and also host of the Making of a Dental Startup podcast. So where we document a startup. I learned a lot in that startup process, but I mainly, most people know me. If you just Google ground marketing, you'll find me. mean, I'm the only guy talking about it really. So that's what I mainly primarily do. That's all I know is help practices with their ground marketing, how to get new patients.
02:35
with ground marketing because like I, that's what I had to do, right? For the first couple of years, when I first started out in dentistry, that's what the practice owner wanted me to do is like, Hey, you have like four days to get five new patients, right? Or else like we're all going to be, you know, they would give me like ultimatums and I'm like, Oh my gosh, I gotta hurry up and do it. And so that's what I couldn't, I didn't have time to like wait for. Yeah. And then everybody in the team was like, hurry up Michael. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, I gotta do this. Right.
03:05
And then, yeah, just focused in on learning the strategies, learning the specific ways to get into like Costco, banks, Wells Fargo, realtors, apartments, all these things, right? And perform, yeah. And then just bring back new patients. So that's mainly what people know me about. Full disclosure, dude. Number one, I'm going to interrupt you. It's what we do on this show. That's okay. You get to, you get to interrupt me too. But number, number two is.
03:32
I use ground marketing as like a word now. can I like having you on the show, do I need to like sign anything or like you own it? do I need to, can I sign something? The word ground marketing. Yeah. Do you really, do you really use it? Well, I started saying, I say grassroots marketing. It's kind of another way of saying it, but I think yours is way more fancier and sophisticated. So we'll get into it today.
04:02
What is ground marketing? But yeah, dude, thanks for being on the show. Let's get right into it. I've learned in the podcast world and you're much more experienced at it than I am. But if you hold people's attention for five to seven minutes, you're doing okay. And hopefully they listened to the whole episode. So let's get right into it. Ground marketing. So let me define this because as you all know, we've worked our way through
04:31
the entire process of a startup from vision all the way through to opening day. And now you're open. So if I'm setting the stage, now you're open. And I think we just finished financial planning and some of the business things that you need to get up and running before you're officially open. But now you got to get new patients. And of course we had to affordable image on and that was a part two episode. If you miss that, absolutely have to listen to those.
05:00
know, that is setting up the foundation, as I call it, the website, and, you know, your branding and starting the SEO and all of that. So all of the foundation is now complete. But you're still lacking the new patients. So what can you control other than this weird digital effort that a marketing company like Affordable Image is doing for you? And that, and that is going to be our topic today is
05:27
what can you do on a ground level, suppose. So Michael, how'd I do on the description there? it to the next level, man. Like how would you describe ground marketing? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, that's good. Just a hundred percent, if you're in the startup phase and you are going to be open, we highly recommend like start three months before you're going to be open, right? Because you want to open your doors and have the schedule, like patients coming in. You don't want to open the doors and then start marketing. Cause then you're like, crap, I got to...
05:56
My free rent is almost up or whatever, right? Like, then, know, construction delays and all these things happen. So, I mean, you really want to open those doors in and already start seeing people come in. So ground marketing, um, the easy way is like, it's a sophisticated way of guerrilla marketing. What I mean by that is like a lot of people think you have a gift basket. You go to a business and you're like, Hey, hi, I'm, Dr. Bill, right? And I'm just opening across the street and I want to introduce myself. Here's some treats.
06:24
blah, blah, blah, right? And then you continue with that. But that's not ground marketing. That's just you dropping off gift baskets, referral pads and stuff like that. And you're hoping, right? Like, hey, I hope you guys give me a call and, and it can work here and there. But no, no, ground marketing is where you actually have like a strategy where you're getting names, numbers, you're getting people, you know, for a fact, you have something tangible. have something like, just got three people who are interested. Their names and numbers are right here on the practice management software or on my signup sheet or whatever.
06:53
And we're going to give them a call or they're coming in today or tomorrow. Right. Um, that's what ground marketing is. So it's more you, every single thing, every restaurant you go to, every specific, uh, small business corporation, Amazon fulfillment centers or whatever. They all have a specific strategy where, know, you're going to go in there, either be a part of their events, lunch and learns team meetings. I mean, you guys, for anybody listening, you'd be so surprised how many hotels like Marriott's Hilton's.
07:20
have team meetings at 8 a.m. where they're like, yes, please come on in, set up a small little booth and you can talk about your in-house membership plan or whatever, because they're housekeeping. A lot of other people, they don't get those full-time benefits and you can be offering that. So there's so much potential out there. You just gotta execute. You just gotta go and do it. I love that. It's just so everything about what I want my clients to do. I'd say,
07:49
You you got to put the work in doc. Like these are great ideas, but if you don't, if you don't hit the street, it's, it's not going to just happen. Right. Um, uh, uh, it, have to do what everybody else is, is not willing to do to get those patients. It's not just putting up a website anymore. Um, or putting up a shingle as they used to say it in this industry, you can't just do that. There's no, there's no sign that says dent dentists on the side anymore. That used to actually work 20 years ago, 30.
08:18
maybe even 40 years ago. yeah, you just dropped some fun ones. Give me your of your favorite ones, like the most output. Like you just said hotels and banks and one of my favorites is gyms. Like give me your top three, dude. Like if you're beside Planet Fitness, is that a top three for you? Like what's your top three?
08:48
Well, depends on the community and where you're at. if it's like, for example, I'm just going to say California, right? You'll have like Equinox. I would prefer Equinox gym over a planet fitness. A planet fitness, for example, is like, dude, they're not going to, a lot of the times you just have to say, look, I just want to hang, hand out information. They're not going to allow you to like do a lot of like, you can't market, you can't hand out your information. This you just want to say you want to hand out oral health information, not your business information. When it comes to like planet fitness, they're a little bit more strict.
09:17
But yeah, Jim's is one of them. Apartments would be a next one. And then I'd probably really, really niche down into, I either do like an EPA, an existing patient analysis, where you look at your patients that you like, or maybe you have a patient that came in or a friend that you know, maybe you're not open yet, but they, they work for, I don't know, like Google. And you're like, man, I would love to get in there and talk to the employees. Right. Then you know, you have like a strategy to get in there. Right. So those are the three that I would, um,
09:46
kind of do if you don't have an existing patient database and think about it, like, where are you going to find the most right patients? So then yeah, there's a big pool of people at gyms, there's a big pool of people at apartments. And then you can either do, I would probably do schools or if you're a pediatric, yes, schools and daycares. If you're not a pediatric, then maybe like restaurants or I mean, there's so much there's so much you can do, right? Just walk outside your practice. Coffee shops are huge. Starbucks are huge. So yeah.
10:12
I always talk about influencers at these spots. Okay, so let's say, okay, now we got a score. We do a lot of pediatric coaching at next level. So let's talk about pedos for a second. You just said it, so schools, daycares. So I was talking about, okay, now you've got the partner that you want to approach. And like you said so perfectly, dropping the gift basket is not really a strategy. That's just like a nice peace offering.
10:41
Yeah, that point though, there has to be a strategy. It's got to be a strategy of how you're fishing, right? So that just is the peace offering. But it doesn't get you a conversation or doesn't win you an influencer relationship. So I talk about influencers, find the influencers that touching multiple people inside that organization, and maybe invite them into the practice or let them experience your practice so that they can talk or gosh, even a referral program if that doesn't feel uncomfortable for you, but
11:10
Okay, so you got the location or you got the partner in mind. Tell me like, what's the strategy there that you suggest these folks take? Because it's not just the gift basket. It's the process after the gift basket, right? Yeah. And honestly, I would, the less you have, the better, right? What is that saying where they say like, knowledge is when you're adding things, wisdom is when you start subtracting things. So like,
11:40
literally the less you have to in your startup, you guys are all like for the startups, it's scarcity, right? Like that's the economics in your practice right now. It's scarcity. like, oh my gosh, I need to go out there. You have the time. You don't have as much of the budget. Like I'm going to spend a ton on marketing. I'm going to hire thousands of ground marketers to go out. No. So like, let me ask you, what's the nearest bank near you right now? Oh, let's say Chase Bank, right beside.
12:09
Chase bank. Okay. So like, it's as simple as this guy's like, you walk in, you're just standing there, right for a little bit, looking around, mainly the banker in the front or somebody's gonna be like, Hi, how can I help you? Do you need anything? And they're gonna be like, you're this is what you're gonna say. You're gonna say, Yeah, you know what, I was just wondering, can I have some of your information? And that's it. And then they're gonna say,
12:32
What do need information for on what? What are you looking for? Oh, you know, I just wanted some of your information, maybe like loan processes. You see where the dental office right down the street from you guys. And I wanted to have some of your information on hand for our patients. So in case they want to pay for procedures or they want different types of payment plans, I have your information on hand. Then they're like, oh my gosh, yes. Here, come sit down. Let me, let me, you need to talk to this loan officer. You need to talk to this person. Let them roll out the red carpet for you. You know what mean? Let them do whatever you want. And then once they give you the
13:01
stuff they're probably going to give it to you in a folder of flyers, papers, things like that. Their business cards then say, thank you. This looks like enough. I appreciate it. Do you know, would it ever be okay if I combine give you guys some of our information as well too? Now in the history of history, nobody's ever said like, no, I don't want your stuff. Just take my stuff. Right. They're not going to say that. Let me help you, but we're not going to help you. Yeah. Yeah. They're going to say like, yeah, definitely come by and give you your stuff. Bring us your stuff.
13:28
go to your car and get the stuff and you want to have it somewhere that unless you really are right next to them, get it, get it from your car. Right. Because so many times this has happened to us and so many members and our, and our, um, community is where they'll go to the practice. Something happened, right? They get a phone call, whatever, blah, blah. They come back maybe like an hour later, two hours later, or maybe they come back the next day. The person's not there anymore. Right. And then now you're there. Like, what is this information? What do need it for? Who, uh, you know, people are lost. So.
13:58
I recommend cut that time in half, like as short as possible. Yeah. Just go to the back, go to the car, grab like a couple of flyers, right? A couple of hygiene kits. I always recommend never more than five, even if like this is a corporation and you're like, well, corporation strategy is different. So we'll go talk about that another day. But like if you're going to the car, get some hygiene kits, flyers, right? And here's the key. You want to come back and then say, thank you guys so much. Here's some information for you guys. And what
14:27
I wanted to do, or what my team and I wanted to do is give all the employees here and their families an incentive, right? And that's where you have like an actual tangible signup sheet, number one to 10, best time to read or name number, best time to reach out or call or text message, right? And then you're just going to have the incentive on there. A lot of the times the incentives we give out is free whitening. But everybody's different, right? We have members who don't give anything out for free. They're just like, if you need a dentist here, then they're going to be like, cool. Thank you so much.
14:56
you ask them when's a good day to come by and pick it up. And here's where you'll determine if it's going to be a good partnership. They're like, you can come by tomorrow. Then, you know, it's probably going to see like one or two names, but if they're like, you know, come by next Monday, next Monday is a good time, like around this time, then you're like, Oh, you have some people in mind. You're thinking about everybody, right? So, okay, I'll come back next Monday. And that's your second date, right? And you continue to build this rapport, you continue to go grab the signup sheet, say thank you. Awesome. Cool. Maybe grab more of their information.
15:26
You're going to call them, get them to come on in. You're getting the employees now to come on in, right? Bank tellers are huge. They, they care so much about their cosmetics. mean, that's just the bank strategy, but do you see how like you didn't spend any money? Like doing it's a conversation. It's it and, I have been literally in parking lots with dentists before with side by side and looking at the businesses right across from them.
15:56
Okay, let's go and talk to them. And they're literally having a panic attack right beside me. I'm sure. I mean, I, I'm not sure how you execute your, your services and maybe we should get into that, but like, um, literally it's, it's almost a sweat factor instantly. And then I'm like, dude, just relax. Like it's going to be fine. Everybody needs a dentist. Right. And why not you? And so, uh, uh, my favorite thing about what you just said,
16:25
is the approach. The approach is key because one of my favorite things is the word how. Such a powerful word, how, right? In negotiation, how can I get there or help me understand? It's very non-intimidating, but it also is very powerful. so how can I help you guys?
16:54
You started that conversation with a very unselfish motivation to get information from that bank about them. Everybody wants to talk about them. They're in their jobs. They're, they're, got their gear on. They're ready to talk to people about loans. You just said it, right? So you're, you're giving them that opportunity and then you're asking them afterwards after you truly understand what they're trying to do.
17:23
then you're going to ask for what you want. So it's the easiest icebreaker, right? Yeah, it's reciprocity. But that's the thing, Michael, like I think you hit it. You got to be simple guys. Like you got to be as casual as possible. Like almost as if like you're just coming back from lunch and you're passing by like, oh, look, I've always meant to pass by this chase really quick. I'm just going to go in just really fast and ask them. You know what mean? Like that, not like, oh my gosh, I got to put on a tie suit, clipboard, everything, make sure. No, not like that. got to
17:53
Make sure, yeah, you want to just be like super casual as possible and then execute. Execution is so, it's everything. You know what mean? It totally is. For those of you that, know, Michael and I are on Zoom right now, so you can check us out on YouTube and actually watch our stupid faces talking. So join us on YouTube if you're...
18:21
really interested, but I love that. I think simplicity is definitely the key. The other thing that I love about your process that really that I honed in on when listening to you in another episode of the different podcasts was one of the things that I always remember when I was in sales before where I'm at today, been in sales my whole life was the leave behind, right? And like you said, less
18:51
upfront is always better because it leaves you an opportunity to come back. I was a banker, ironically, keep talking about banks. Everybody knows my background and I was at the bank. you know, if you're trying to work somebody in trying to build a relationship, is a better way saying that, then you need excuses to go in.
19:16
you can't just walk in every time and say, Hey, I just passed them by. never seen you guys before. You can use that one time. Yeah. You can use that line one time. That's it. The first time the next time. Okay. I love your process. It's the signup sheet. The next time it might actually be giving something the next time the next time it might be whatever, but it's, it's the repetition. It's, it's the touches. It's the touches. So
19:44
That's what I love about your program is you have to have a strategy and you have to have a multiple touch program. Right? Yeah. No, exactly. Like, that's the thing, like so many times when I would go to, like, let's just say coffee shops or anything like that, or let's just say the bank, right? I would the third time I'm like, Hey, I'm just back here to pick up some more information. didn't need more information, but I just grabbed some, right? Like, it's not like it's coming out of their paycheck. So I was like, yeah, let me have some like a little bit more business cards. I'm going to put it in the hygiene kits that we give out at an event coming up. Right.
20:13
And you're like, Oh my gosh, yeah, definitely. Thank you so much. And you're creating more rapport. You're talking to them be like, Oh, by the way, you know what we're doing this, this month, just for this month, we're just offering this. I'm gonna leave a sign up sheet for you guys. Right. Boom. then, you know what mean? People sign up for, for the month. Although it's a thing that you've done all year long forever, like a hundred dollars off in visit line. You can just let them know that that time. Right. And then people come in. So yeah, you are building a ton of a rapport, but it's all about, cause you're building a relationship. So there's a lot of dating going on. You know what I mean?
20:42
Like you gotta continue to see each other and they gotta get familiar with you and you gotta get familiar with them. Yeah, it's perfect. That's my favorite. So yeah, it is a relationship. Here's my next question, Michael. So we're talking about like popping into Chase or we're talking into popping into smaller businesses. I wanna talk about membership plans, cause I utilize membership plans in these conversations a lot.
21:12
So don't let me forget that before we end today. But let's talk about official partners before we get to memberships. And what I mean about official partners is what is your idea or what are your thoughts about like approaching a company, maybe a corporate as maybe you called it, and actually putting together a program where it's official, where like I'm working on something right now for a PEDO.
21:39
in California where we actually are partnering with the zoo and we might give away one year membership if you're a new patient and if it actually pencils so that the zoo's selling us and we're selling them and it's an official program. Do you have any strategies or ideas or maybe that's a terrible idea? Well, give me your thoughts on like those official partnerships. Do you like them? Are they harder? Yeah, it is harder because like
22:07
It also kind of, uh, well, it depends on like what the terms and conditions are, right? As far as that, but I mean, I, I'm not against it at all. Right? Like I think that's a great thing. You want to partner up with it. You can utilize it to your advantage, right? You can say like, Hey, we're part of the zoo, blah, blah. You can see how you can poke around more, um, with that type of partnership and be like, Hey, you know what? When do you guys have like a busy zoo day or something? Could we ever just set up something small in the entrance for like the busy hours and just.
22:36
give out information to the people like, Hey, look, I know you guys are coming in. Here's like your tickets and, and a pamphlet, right. And then your information as well. Um, and then have a signup sheet there and be like, Hey, this month is you and I decided to partner up and we wanted to do this. Right. Like you, once you have the partnership, perfect. So like, if you create a partnership is beautiful. See where else you can go with that, where you can actually like be there, talk to people, see, mean, how convenient would that be? You know I mean? Especially with your pediatric practice, your kids going in there and like, Oh my gosh.
23:04
there's a doctor right there really quick, Billy, let me just talk to them. Let me open your mouth, open your mouth really fast. Like I want to show them something right? Like that happens all the time. So, I mean, that would be huge. And I think that's something we got to think about is like how, once you get your foot in the door and you you're building this relationship, what else can we be doing where we can actually get names and numbers? And that's the thing I think clear intent leads to alignment.
23:33
And if you're just big direction that produces misalignment every time. So if you're just like, we have a partnership, what is the zoo doing? You, you never were clear, right? But if you're like, okay, my clear intent is like, I'm going to try and get 10, at least 10 people this month from the zoo, right? I'm a partnership. Let me see what else I can do. Hey, could we, we're partnered with you guys. Could we just set up a really small thing? You know, we're not selling anything. We're not doing anything. We just wanted to give out more information and it's freebies for them. Right? Let's like,
24:00
February, isn't it like national health value? It's value for you. It's value for you and it's value for me. It's, it's a win-win. It is. It's a total win-win. So I would definitely no partnership is a bad partnership unless you just leave it there. Right. I think it can be a good partnership if you decide to get the ball rolling and like start seeing what else you can do with their customers, their employees, their people, you know? Yeah. It's another reminder that even when you score a great opportunity with a zoo,
24:29
as big as the zoo is with the kids program, you have to penetrate it deeper than just saying we're partners with the zoo. Because what you're doing with the opportunity, the access, know, if you, there's been so many partnerships I've put together that weren't great partnerships, and it's because you didn't take advantage of the opportunity once you did, you got the signature, but you didn't take advantage of the opportunity, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I think like,
24:58
a lot of the times like, like, are you paying for that too? Or no, like, are they paying for the zoo? So I don't actually, now that I think about it, it's a museum. It's like one of those science and technology museums for kids. It's a kid's science and technology or whatever. And their membership was like 150 bucks for the year is super cheap. And I was just like, well, you're you know, you could do a print, you could do a mailer, you could do Google AdWords, you could do all these things.
25:27
know, statistics say that the cost of a new patient acquisition is going to be somewhere between two to $300. So if you put a partnership together with a museum and it's going to cost you a hundred bucks and they're going to send you patients, that's a win, right? So yeah, there's the cost if it actually does get executed. So why, where were you going with that? Cause like, I know for a lot of startups, like at least I get this question almost like
25:53
a couple of a week like, there's this event happening or something at the zoo or whatever, right? But it's a sponsorship fee and I have to pay like a thousand or 2000 or something like that, right? Or like a community college is doing a thing, a thousand. I don't think you should. I don't think you should pay and sign up. You could if you want to, if you feel like, I need to. A lot of the times we do still today is we just go in there as an attendee because it's free for the attendees, right? And we just start getting
26:22
all the vendors business cards, all the vendors information, talk to them for like about five minutes, say, okay, cool. We're the dentist right down the street. We're the dentist right down the street. Right. Yeah. Cool. The next day just go to their place of business and I'm like, Hey, remember me. What's up? Yeah. Thank you so much for your information. Thank you for, I wanted to give you some of our stuff too. You know what mean? Oh, awesome. And then I leave them a sign up sheet too. Right. And then their employee sign up, but I'm actually like penetrating more digging deeper. Right. I didn't have to pay to try and get people walking by towards all the vendors, although that's still good. But at the same time, like
26:52
I, you don't have to pay is what I'm trying to say, right? There's, many ways to work around this. Yeah. Yeah. No, we are not paying on this particular opportunity, but I love what you're saying because I folks, do you notice how Michael's talking about the business, the small business play? This isn't, this isn't fishing particularly for patients walking in the street or at the zoo that coming up to your booth, you know, zoom attendees.
27:22
Michael's whole strategy and he's got lots of strategies. It's just one, I'm sure, but it's approaching those small businesses. So it's a perfect transition point in how I utilize a membership plan. How many companies don't have dental insurance? Okay. Next level doesn't, as a consulting firm, don't. Shame on us. Well, we've got plenty of dental clients that can help our employees. That's bad example. But the point though is
27:52
There's so many CPAs, Uber drivers, restaurant workers. We talked about Chase Bank workers, that's a bad example, but people don't have benefits. And so why not partner with a local dentist? Why not structure a deal with an HR director or a small company CEO of some sort and structure a deal where you're serving those, their employees. Maybe they pay for it, maybe they don't.
28:22
But membership plans are my absolute favorite for that. Michael, thoughts about that? Is that another strategy in your approach? Yeah, definitely. Lately, it's 100%. I've been big on membership plans as far as like, there's a of people, a lot of practices we talk to that when I start dropping PPO's, right? And I 100 % feel you, the fees are changing, know what I mean? Things are happening and they just think of insurance as like
28:52
coupon, a marketing, it is just marketing insurance. So you make a coupon and you say, this is going to happen. You're going to get this much a percentage off every time for the rest of your life, as long as you have this. Right. And so like, you're kind of like, dang, I don't want to do that, but I have to to get new patients. Right. So that's why the in-house membership kind of plan kind of comes in. For example, my editors, they're like, Mike, do you know any, uh, uh, dentists in like the Portland area where,
29:19
They have in-house membership plans. And I'm like, yeah, we've interviewed a couple of me goes, you know what mean? And he, that's what he was looking for. You know what I mean? Like straight up. And he's an editor. So I was like, cool. Awesome. So I think it's huge. There's a ton of businesses guys out there and there's a lot of them who even, even if they like, for example, here in California, we have like in and out, we have other places like Starbucks and stuff where they're like, you know, I want to step off of this because I need, I don't want it to come out of my paycheck all the time.
29:48
I want to stop taking their insurance. Um, some people, and then I just want to have an in-house membership plan, right? There's a lot of, like I said, hotels or small businesses, there's, um, part-timers everywhere, right? Where the manager is nice enough to be like, come in, do a lunch and learn. And I want you to present this to our team, but you also want to make it seem like it was their idea. Like when you're at that meeting, you want to be like, he brought us in and he's like,
30:14
make a deal with our employees. So what we decided to do was this for you guys, right? And then they're like, Oh my gosh, I love our manager. He's so great. He gave us some insurance plan. And you're like, yeah, he did. He made this for you guys, right? And then the manager loves you too. yeah, there's, there's opportunity. so manipulative, but so smart, so smart. It's gotta be their idea. I'm joking, but it's gotta be our, when it's somebody else's idea, they're going to follow through with it. We always say that as, as dental coaches.
30:43
consultants, if we come into your office and tell you all what to do, what to do, yeah, you're going to maybe take 10 % of it away. But if we came up with the solution together, you're going to you're going to take hold of that change. so I love that. And so getting them to think about it, another huge, huge tip. So membership plans, I get and by the way, get creative, right? So if you have a membership brochure,
31:13
Why not create a membership brochure for another company? Put logos on it. you know, like there's nothing, quit boxing yourself into the resources that everybody else uses. I have literally created brochures for our clients that have that company's logo on it it's their program. Well, it's the same as everybody else's program, but.
31:38
just because there are brochures on it. They're feeling like that's their company's dental package, right? So get creative with that. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. What else, Michael? What am I missing? One thing I want to kind of touch on that you kind of alluded to a little bit in the beginning was when you're standing next to a dentist and they're like physically nervous, right? They're like, I can't do this. I can't go in there.
32:08
Um, guys, like I know it's, it's nerve. You might have to do it at the beginning, right? Then you can eventually delegate that to your front office team member, right? Someone who's bubbly outgoing or a go getter. That's who you want to delegate it to. But if it's you, like, I think you, when you're in that position, when you're like, it's now or never, like you, really have to, right? You really have to start building this relationship with the people. And it's all about that confidence and.
32:35
There's YouTube videos of me doing this. strap a camera on myself and I'm like, I'm to walk into the LA fitness and just see what happens. Right. I'm going to walk into this apartment and see what happens. So you guys can Google it. Like there's videos. I'm so nervous still. Right. But if you sit there and start thinking about it, you're like, what can happen? What if this happens? What if that happens? Oh, then you're not going to do it. A hundred percent. You're to be like, Oh, you know what? I'm going to just do it the next day. But if you're just like, there's that Mel Robbins world, what five second roll, right? Where you're like, Oh, you just got it.
33:04
If I'm at three seconds and I'm still thinking about it, I better hurry up and go. So just go do it. It's practice. It's a muscle, right? You got to grow it. then, I mean, when you're at, we have members in our community where they're like at target, they're in the cash register and they're getting new patients. They're getting the cash register, right? It just becomes a muscle wherever you go, you start bringing in these people and that's, that's the goal for you, right? I want to be able to be like, Oh my gosh, how'd you get in there with, with you and
33:33
Like Costco, example, Costco is huge. don't think a lot of people understand if you have a Costco near you, like they allow you to set up a booth in their break room while people are always coming in, taking breaks and everything like that. You can be there for like five to six hours, just sitting up there. You can do that in the post office too. They allow you in the mornings to set up a little booth and people come in and like, what do we have here? Oh my gosh. It's a toothbrush, toothpaste, right? But then they're like, Oh, I've been looking for different, you know, I have, I just got benefits, blah, blah,
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They allow you to do this. There's so much that businesses allow you to do. We just never ask because we're in our heads and we're like, oh my gosh, they're never going to do it, but they're never going to allow us to do it. And just because we get rejected one time doesn't mean six months down the road, we might get rejected. We probably talk to the wrong person who doesn't know anything. So we got to wait a little bit and then talk to the right person. I nailed it. But know the benefits to if you are in Costco.
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and they have dental insurance, no Costco's benefits. Then you can actually talk to them about their own benefits and teach them, hey, did you know you get three cleanings, not two? Did you know you get fluoride and night guards? Do even know what a night guard is? That's a benefit you get from Costco. Know the benefits because you can have real conversations about them. Again, anytime you're trying to approach and win somebody's business, you wanna talk about them.
34:57
People love to talk about themselves. Let's end on this, Michael. By the way, money, right? This is exactly what I wanted this interview to be about. And folks, if you're not following this dude, you need to. He's got three very successful podcasts. That's how I heard him. And so just follow this guy, because you'll pick up something every time you talk to him.
35:26
Give me one more thing, Michael, if you'll let me. Every office that we set up, almost every single one, is around residential areas. HOAs are so easy to approach. The HOAs or the agents that are selling those houses or condos. Favorite strategies specifically for residential
35:56
residential, the residential play. Like not, not apartments, right? Maybe apartments, maybe communities, like actual homes. To use different apparently. Yeah, they're different. Yeah. They're really, really different. You're to get granular. So, uh, choose one and then follow Michael on the other, on the other one. Okay. I'll choose, I'll choose apartments just depending on like a lot of the people's, uh, cause you're probably going to get a little bit more out of apartments. So like, for example, you go into an apartment,
36:27
You can even call you can call and actually yeah Just right now if you want as soon as you finish hearing this press pause and do this so like You're gonna call an apartment, right? You're gonna Google luxury apartment near me or whatever your zip code luxury apartment Find one call them and then say hi. I was wondering if you guys have new move-in packets So that's new move-in packets They might either say yes, we do they might say no we should or they might say what is that right new moving packets? Then you're gonna say
36:55
Oh, it's like a thing where you guys give new move-in information like, you know, about the apartment, maybe it's stuff around the community. Then, oh, our new move-in folder or whatever they call it, right? Yeah. I mean, you're like, yeah. Then you're to be like, yeah, definitely. Yeah, we do have that. Oh, awesome. Would it ever be okay if we could participate in that? We just give like, you know, the new residents there a bunch of free stuff if that's possible. Like, you know, whatever you want to mention, right? Any free incentive or you say free winding or just a new move-in pack. I mean, a new move-in hygiene kit or whatever.
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just flyers, right? They're gonna be like, yeah, definitely come on by, drop it off or whatever, right? You can even do this in person. So then you go by, you drop it off, try and do that in the shortest amount of time as possible, right? Let them know, okay, I'll be there like in 10 minutes, 20 minutes, right? I'll be there right now. You go, you drop it off. I mean, you go, you walk in, hi, I'm Michael, right? I'm here to give you guys some of the information. Cool. You give them like your flyers. Now this is where I really like what you said, Michael, is like where
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you want to make it tailored maybe to them, right? And it can say for the new movements, right? It doesn't have to say for the new movement specific apartment. It can just say for new movements, welcome to the family or welcome to the community, new movements. And then that's the flyers, right? And then you're to give them maybe five to six flyers. Don't give them a hundred. Give them like five to six, then bring like five to six hygiene kits for them. Right. Then you're like, here's, here's some information.
38:14
And here's some of our flyers and here's some hygiene kits. And at the same time, what I wanted to do just as a thank you, just as thank you for letting us do this is I wanted to give the employees here, boom, an incentive. Then you can leave a sign up sheet with them, right? And then say, just put your name and number down. I'll just give you and your families this specific incentive and whatever the incentive is, right? And they're like, Oh my gosh, cool. Thank you so much. Yeah. And then as soon as you are about to leave, because remember you only gave them five flyers. So you have a reason to come back. You're like, Hey, I know next week five flyers are going to go by like crazy. like.
38:44
I'm going to bring more, right? But when you're about to leave, you say, Hey, I was wondering by any chance, do you guys do events for your residents? And almost every single apartment, especially luxury apartment complex does like wine and cheese day, pet day, pool day, whatever. Right. And they're going to be like, yeah, we actually, we do, we do do events. Cool. How can we participate in that? How can we give all the residents here just a bunch of free toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, things like that. Cool. Set up a booth in our next wine and cheese day. Awesome. Cool. We'll be there. Right. Now you have.
39:13
an event to be at, right? Where you're talking to the residents and everything like that. You're signing people up. You're showing your face in front of new movements. You're coming back to pick up the signup sheet as well for the employees who signed up. you're three, three things going on in one complex. So imagine doing this with every single apartment complex. Like it is going to be good. It can't be too easy. It can't be that easy. mean, it can't be, but it is.
39:40
I want everybody to try that if you can, please. Guys, I am so big in being a business owner. Like you guys are so good at being clinical, so good at what you do. You're so smart at it. What you guys aren't good at is business. And what we're talking about is business. It's having conversations. It's being a community vendor. It's supporting the community. It's doing deals. It's having conversations.
40:10
I know that it doesn't come natural, but it's what you have to do. Every great organization has great salespeople. Anybody that's selling stuff has great salespeople or has some sales process of some sort. Sales is just as important as fulfillment. And too many people think, my clients, think that if you're a great fulfiller of the product or maker of the product, that you're going to be successful. We all know many
40:40
Amazing dentists that do amazing work have failing companies. We know those people. We also know the other extreme crazy salespeople, but not good dental. But Michael and I can't fix if you're a bad dentist, we can't fix that. But what we can do is we can help you be better business people. And that's just simply getting out of your comfort zone, having great conversations, trying to do deals and
41:09
and agreements and have partners and hell invite them over for dinner. have an open house just for influencers in the area. mean, once you get on that level with people, you know, it's great. this has been a treat, man. This has been a treat. Final closing thoughts, man. It's exactly what I wanted for my peeps. Yeah, no, I appreciate it, man. Thank you for having me. Truth?
41:38
Michael, guys, is good at business. Me, I suck at business too. So like I have so much. I'm just good at asking questions. So I just go deeper and nosier and nosier. And this is what happened. So thank you guys so much for listening to and keep listening to Michael. It's really, really great podcast, man. I appreciate everything you're doing for all of us here. You know what I mean? Like it's really, really great stuff. And yeah, that's basically it. All right. I'm going to have all his info.
42:06
below links, websites, follow this dude. I'm telling you, follow him. You'll pick something up. You'll be a better business owner. It's just, again, I'll stress it. Just, you know, everybody relates business to financials and, you know, the collection reports and adjustment reports and all the dailies that you should be pulling. Yes, that is absolutely business that you need to learn. But this is the other part.
42:34
of business that you need to also learn and it's marketing and marketing and financials go hand in hand. anyways, follow this dude. Thanks for following me. Stay tuned. The Encore series will continue. And Michael, again, it's been a real treat, brother. I appreciate you and everything you're doing. So thanks again. Thank you for having me, Talk soon. Talk soon.
43:04
Thanks for listening. Tune in next week for another true-filled episode of Startup Unscripted.