Do's and don'ts for patient marketing: Ask for patient testimonials and reviews

Treat patients well, in terms of both clinical care and customer service, and they'll have good things to say about you. But you can't expect them to go around praising you to everyone they know. What you can reasonably expect is their willingness to write a testimonial or online review. Ask them to do so and you'll soon have excellent word-of-mouth advertising to help you achieve greater practice success.

Make it easy for patients to help promote your practice. You and your team members should always be on the lookout for patients who would be willing to write a testimonial or favorable review. Help them with testimonials by providing a printed form for them to use before leaving the office or by offering to send them an email for the same purpose. For social media likes and comments, give out simple instructions.

Don't expect happy patients to write a testimonial without prompting. As with patient referrals, asking for testimonials is vital. Praising your practice -- no matter how pleased they are -- is just not a priority. Bring up the subject in a polite, pleasant way and many of your patients will be happy to comply.

Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the founder and CEO of Levin Group, the leading dental practice consulting firm in North America. For the complete list of dates and locations where you can attend his latest seminar, visit www.levingroup.com/gpseminars.

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