Optimize Your Orthodontic Practice for Growth

[00:00:00] Welcome! You're listening to the GrowOrtho Podcast presented by HIP. This podcast is dedicated to orthodontists who want to stand strong in their market and be leaders in their community. Now, on to today's show. Welcome to the GrowOrtho Podcast. Today, we have a special episode for you.

[00:00:22] You're going to be hearing from some of the amazing partners that we got to meet up with at AAO 2024. I'm excited for you all to hear all the wonderful things that they have to say and how their practices have grown

[00:00:34] because of the systems and processes that HIP has helped implement into their practices and all the hard work that they have put in themselves and their team into making those systems and processes work. So check these out. Dr. Kramer Sherman, always good to see ya.

[00:00:52] Sherman and Balehoff, Baton Rouge, we've been working with you guys since 2020. How would you describe just the whole relationship with HIP? We were kind of in a unique situation where dad and his partner, David Balehoff, had been working together for a long time.

[00:01:06] They were a big name in the community that was relatively stable. I'd say they were growing but not to the level that we needed. So we needed to take a pretty stable growing practice from a two doctor to a four doctor practice within 13 months

[00:01:17] and grow to accommodate those doctors. And so we were struggling to think of ideas of how to do that. Our friends at Austin Counter DeskBot reached out to us and was like, hey man there's this company that I'm not sure what they're doing but it works.

[00:01:28] So we reached out, we talked to Harrison and Luke and we're like let's give this a try. From the start some of the language they were speaking was a little bit kind of over our head but I kind of just trusted y'all.

[00:01:39] We dove head first and saw some immediate results. Now what happened after that is we really saw things plateau or even decline and really we're like what's the deal here? Is this worth it?

[00:01:49] And I think what we've learned over time is it's not about just signing up with hip and it's not about flipping a switch because you're going to get some immediate leads if you're not doing it before and it's going to be awesome.

[00:01:59] But it's about implementation, it's about mindset, it's about following the process and Carter Thomas talks about this a lot. You one of the more educated people who look into lead management for practices and how to do things in the country right now

[00:02:13] and we think that our way to do things are the best way. We're like no we're going to text them instead of call them or we're going to reach out whenever it's convenient.

[00:02:21] We think that how we treat braces is the best and how we call patients is the best. It doesn't work like that. It really becomes a mindset implementation of listening to the specialist and it works. Even this year you know you had mentioned kind of plateauing

[00:02:34] or not seeing the same amount of growth, mild growth last year which is still really good considering where we're at. But obviously you always want the business to be growing faster and as entrepreneurs. So we had a conversation really with everybody talking about

[00:02:48] hey what if we could pivot and try this and see how this really works and how did that work you know going back to pricing same day starts? Yeah so we were like hip's not working, we got to make a change

[00:02:59] and I think what really needed to change is our mindset of how we were doing things not what we were doing with our relationship with y'all. So we changed from calling the leads how we thought we should call them

[00:03:10] to following the secret shop reports reaching out to the leads more often and we've gone from down 22% to roughly up 20% which is quite a swing for February to now May and it's been crazy, it's been awesome.

[00:03:24] And it really just shows we need to focus on treating patients not finding patients if you're going to hire somebody to find the patients for you let them tell you how to do that. We were in a practice that really didn't know advertisements for 30 years.

[00:03:37] That change was big. Because back then you couldn't advertise. You couldn't do anything, yeah. So now doing advertisements and then how we need to word things and how we can change things up we were pretty stagnant with getting maybe four or five thousand impressions a month.

[00:03:49] Our ads were always the same and weren't creative. We decided to change the language up to make things more affordable. We went from probably four thousand impressions to 125,000 impressions in a month from listening to y'all's advice and the amount of patients that's brought to the door is tangible.

[00:04:05] Well and I love too with that type of messaging and language how it reframes and gets them ready for a same day start because it's a much easier decision. So you have way less resistance. Yeah, I think whenever we first started using HIP

[00:04:17] we had a very cautious mindset that trying to reach out and grow your practice with more leads somehow some way had a correlation to less value or less quality treatment because you were just trying to get patients in the door.

[00:04:32] I think over time we've talked to some great practices who treat exceptional quality orthodontics and learned that that's just getting the patient in the door. What you're doing clinically doesn't have to change. Right. And really it allows you to help more people the right way. Exactly.

[00:04:47] That's awesome man. Yeah, last year we were at probably 40% same day starts maybe a little bit under that and this year we're a little over 80%. Whoa. Which is pretty crazy. Wow. So just making things more affordable, coaching our team members

[00:04:59] and our patient call center to know how to handle or set them up for success coming into the office and financing has been huge. That's awesome. Always great to see you. See you. Congrats on your success. Thank you very much.

[00:05:12] Dr. Rochford, we've been partnered for a little over a year. Okay, yep. Explain to those watching just what's been the experience with HIP. Totally. So prior to onboarding with HIP we were not doing any paid marketing at all. So it was organic, it was people in the community,

[00:05:28] which was great, but like we wanted to grow. We needed some help. I knew paid advertising was going to be important, but how to do that, how to do it well was something I didn't know about.

[00:05:36] So being with HIP, it's not just the ads and the targeted marketing but it's the whole ecosystem of how we're following with the leads we're generating. You know, I can pay for Google out of my own,

[00:05:45] but it's not going to lead that person actually be sitting in my office and that's what's HIP really done for us. Yeah, that's so awesome because that's our goal you know and we realize that there's a just a massive gap.

[00:05:55] You can get leads, but you have to know what to do to turn those into starts and it's a process. It's not like we just flip the switch and everything worked perfect. We had to work with each other. And we're constantly working. Yeah. It's great.

[00:06:09] You know, we would love to think that our staff is all with us for 20 years. It doesn't happen. So having a system of expectations of what we want our staff to do to follow up on every single lead, when they're doing it,

[00:06:16] how we're doing it and then tracking that. So we not only have that expectation with our staff, we have accountability. That's just really made a difference for us. And how has this allowed you guys to be able to help more people in the community?

[00:06:27] Yeah, I mean that's exactly what their goal is, right? And so getting our name out there, having those touch points in the middle of places that we can have them and then getting those patients not only clicking on the link, but in our office as quickly as possible.

[00:06:38] Obviously one of our tools, practice beacon, helps us really track okay, what is happening in the new patient process. I believe you're somewhere around 800% ROI. That's it? It's not the case with everybody, but really great results. And again as part of that accountability and transparency

[00:06:57] is we want to make sure things are actually working. I think what was cool for our office and every practice is going to be different, right? But we are an established practice. We've been in the community for over 60 years, which is nuts. So people know who we are.

[00:07:09] So it's like well why do you even need to do marketing? But that shows exactly like the number of patients that weren't coming to us and maybe didn't know us that we're now able to help. That's so amazing. Well thanks so much. Of course. Yeah, continued partnership.

[00:07:20] Thank you. Dr. Leland thanks so much for coming by. It's been awesome to be partnered with you guys and see what you're doing. Tell everybody who may watch or listen just an overview of what it's been like to partner with him. For sure, yeah.

[00:07:35] So ever since we partnered with you guys kind of transformed how we do the new patient process, onboarding process, consult process. It used to be an hour long per consult and the TC basically handled the entire thing. Records, consult, financial presentation, all this stuff.

[00:07:54] You guys have helped us to shift that. So now a consult is a team effort and so we're down to 30 minute consults which is like 30 minutes on the schedule but the patient's actually there for a little more than 30 minutes.

[00:08:05] It's just the TC is with them for 30 minutes, 30 minutes, 30 minutes. But since it's a team effort, someone else taking the records, someone else is doing the financial presentation if they want a same day start. And it's just, it's really effective for today's market

[00:08:18] getting people in quickly, increasing show rate because they're not sitting on the schedule for two or three weeks because we were backed up, you know, that we're getting them in next day, two days later. So it's been a game changer that way.

[00:08:29] I love that because it's not really just about marketing and that's why, you know, all these books are behind you. Why we created this stuff and we preach this stuff is we see if there's no adoption on these processes

[00:08:42] that you're talking about, it's very hard for marketing to work, you know? Yeah. So I love that you guys are experiencing that and what have been some of the practical ways, you know, some people may think, okay, I partnered with this company, I should be growing right away.

[00:08:57] What'd you see in more of a realistic, holistic path for that? About a year ago, we had a lot of turnover. We had a TC move on, we had an office manager that had to move on

[00:09:10] it was a tough time and I ended up hiring you guys early on in that process because Harrison said we're not just a marketing company, we're a consulting company. It started to explain how you guys could help train people and stuff like that.

[00:09:24] The first few months were not that much growth because we were working on the consult process and the new patient process that I described and then also training the new TC kind of from scratch and in fact, we went through a couple even during that process

[00:09:38] so my wife became the TC for, I mean it was all over the place. So to answer your question, we didn't grow a ton in the first few months with you guys but I knew that we were building out that process

[00:09:48] that would eventually allow it to really take off and since then it's been going well. What's that look like just in terms of some growth because a lot of people, you know, specifically starting in last year have seen the opposite happen, you know, based on the market.

[00:10:03] So what have you seen with making some of these changes maybe being open to being adaptable? How that is working even in a down economy? Right now, Gage tells me we're up, I want to say it fluctuates to the level of 55% which granted,

[00:10:19] that's over same month last year. One year ago was a really rough time for practice so that's a little bit inflated but I mean point being we're growing quite a bit. If we stay in this trajectory, we'll be way higher than

[00:10:30] the goals I had for this year which were relatively, I don't really, I always set aggressive goals, that's just how I am. So I'm trying to figure out how we're going to handle the growth from a clinical perspective and everything like that.

[00:10:42] Really good problem to have so that's where we're at. That's how it's kind of panning out. That's awesome. Anything else you would say maybe to appear or somebody thinking about this not sure? I think it's great.

[00:10:55] You guys are awesome as long as you go into it with the mindset of I want to fully integrate this process. That means I need to, if I don't have a dedicated scheduling coordinator, I need to move someone into that role or I need to hire one.

[00:11:08] I need to take the speed to lead seriously. I need to be all about practice speaking and use it as effectively as I can and stay on top and have team members that are bought into it. I need to be ready to reformat my consult process

[00:11:22] so that we can get more consults in and if you're bought into making those changes which are a lot of work, it's amazing. It'll work really well. If all you want to do is hire a marketing company, you have them flip a switch and have your practice grow 100%,

[00:11:36] I don't think that's realistic at all. I think it's not going to pan out how you want it to. Exactly. Yeah, you got to do the work, go through the pain and you experience that pain, but on the other side of that, now you're experiencing growth.

[00:11:49] So I love that. Thanks so much. Excited to see you guys grow. Appreciate it. Dr. Brown, thanks so much for coming to chat with me today. You've been partnered with HIP a little bit more than a year.

[00:12:01] Just explain from your perspective how has it been to work with HIP? It's been great. Y'all are super responsive. Take my feedback previously. I'd worked with a couple different companies and stuff and it was like, no, this is our program, you do this. It doesn't fit right.

[00:12:15] One size fits all just wasn't for me. You guys have really customized what we're looking for. Exactly. Our goal is to align what we do with your brand, your operation. So it's awesome to hear that our intention is actually working. What's it like to work with the team?

[00:12:30] You know, we've really value service. So how was that like with you guys? It's been great. There's been kind of different phases. You guys read at our website and stuff. And so we were working with the web design team and you guys helped me redesign our logo

[00:12:42] without doing a full like brand shift. Taking that to the next level, that team was great. And then Zeta has been phenomenal kind on the practice management side. Some of that value added stuff. More than just the marketing piece or the website piece and stuff.

[00:12:53] It's been a good, complete package. Obviously with the Zeta piece, the curriculum, we really want to identify the opportunities and also what needs to be fixed within the practice for marketing to work. And just in terms of value beyond marketing,

[00:13:08] how has that really helped from a practical standpoint? It's been great because with increased marketing, we've seen substantial growth and with that growth comes different pain points. Like how do we handle this? And having you guys on that in helping us with that,

[00:13:22] it's not like well, you've grown. We did our job. Y'all figure it out from here. It's like okay, what do we got to do scheduling-wise? Or who do we need to train? Or who do we need to empower? And how do we redistribute these roles

[00:13:33] to become necessary with the increased patient flow and growth? Yeah, constantly looking at the breakpoints or what we need to improve to take you guys to the next level. And even beyond that, we didn't have a perfect practice and stuff. And so stuff that we needed fixed,

[00:13:48] having some outside eyes looking at our numbers, looking at our schedule, looking at conversion rates and stuff like that. What do we need to tweak and how do we continue to grow? And how has that helped your practice specifically just help more people?

[00:13:59] We're able to serve more people, continue to have impact in our community. And it's been good. We had established practices and Kent-May-Bink Athens and stuff and then brought y'all on board with the acquisition of two new ones that kind of coming into a new market

[00:14:13] and getting our name out there. With Practice Beacon in place, how does that help you guys see what's working and just up-to-date information? Yeah, I mean, it's instant information, which is great and lead tracking and just knowing what's coming in, how that's converting. I like data.

[00:14:29] I'm on my gauge all the time just seeing what's going on and stuff trying to stay more on top of it. If you're not tracking your leads with something like Practice Beacon and stuff, I think you eventually get that information

[00:14:39] but it's not as complete and it's not as instant. You see what's coming in, you see what's showing up, you see what's converting and being able to tie that back to add specific ads, specific offices and just stay on top of it. It's been great. Just with growth,

[00:14:53] what does that look like pre-hit and now a year in? So we brought on another doctor to be able to open the office a few more days a week and stuff to be able to handle the flow and be more available. And I think it's kind of accelerated.

[00:15:05] That was always the intention but it accelerated to a point that was kind of two years down the road and it just kind of hit the drain and stuff and it ended up being like nine months in. So kind of hit fast forward on our future plans.

[00:15:16] Faster and easier, hopefully. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Awesome. Well, thanks so much. Looking forward to our continued partnership. Yeah. Orthodontist, are you feeling burned out from trying to manage every aspect of your practice yourself? If so, you're not alone. Many doctors try to take on too much

[00:15:35] neglecting their own well-being and limiting their potential for growth. But there's a better way. We all know that successful orthodontists understand that leveraging systems is key for sustainable growth. By implementing the right marketing, patient acquisition and training programs, practices can operate efficiently

[00:15:53] without depending on the doctor's constant involvement. This allows the doctors to focus fully on what they love and not seeing patients. Those systems don't have to be complicated. We know this because we designed a three-step marketing, retention and training framework to help doctors transform the lives

[00:16:11] of hundreds of orthodontists nationwide. If you want to learn how to use this same system to make more without working more, I suggest clicking the link below and schedule a time to speak with one of our senior practice advisors now. They'll walk you through the whole thing

[00:16:27] and give you a better idea of what we can do for you. They'll even leave you with a personalized 12-month growth plan that you can implement immediately, whether you choose to move forward with us or not. But be warned, we only have two practice advisors

[00:16:42] dedicated to taking these calls and their schedule builds up fast. So if you're interested in learning more, I suggest scheduling your call now. Hi, I'm Monica. I practiced in Apple Valley, California and I've been working with HIT for about six months.

[00:16:59] We met them last year at the AO and picked up a few books that they have for free. I listened to all of them on YouTube. It's really cool that someone was giving out so much information for free.

[00:17:12] I was curious to see how much more they could offer. To me, it was a no-brainer just implementing some of the things that they recommend in their books. We're very helpful for us. It made a huge difference in our office.

[00:17:25] It is really cool to know that we can help all the community, not only the ones that are referred to us. I would say they're more than partners or friends. They're very helpful. Every time we have a question, they help us right away. It's helping us with coaching.

[00:17:39] They helped us with a new website. I don't know why I didn't do this earlier. It's been a great experience with them. I have nothing but to say about them. So don't think about it twice. I definitely recommend them. Dr. Justin, Dr. Andrew Cooper,

[00:17:56] just give us an update. How would you explain to a peer what working with HIP and partnering with HIP is like? We were a bit of a mess, I would say, in terms of order and knowing what we're doing marketing-wise.

[00:18:10] You guys came in and really helped give us structure, assign roles and responsibilities, really get us back on track. So that definitely helped us, because we're not too organized. Just in terms of customer service, that's something we pride ourselves on. How would you describe that aspect of

[00:18:27] maybe there's something you guys need to know about or communication needs to happen? What's that been like with HIP? We're fortunate enough to have a lot of staff members, I think, that work with your team. And your team definitely is probably the most responsive.

[00:18:41] Anytime you send an email, someone's always responding back, willing to follow up with a phone call. If we want quarterly meetings, if we want monthly meetings, there's a lot of flexibility and further delve into numbers or to ask questions or get suggestions. With Practice Beacon,

[00:18:53] I know recently you guys cleaned it up. A lot of production there. How is that having a tool where you can have that visibility on leads actually turning into patients? I think it does a good job. There's multiple columns. And so it does a good job

[00:19:08] organizing possible future production. You can see patients who have come in through the website. How many of them had started and what that production was. So it's a good, quick visual to see what the website has done for the practice. I think also, you know,

[00:19:23] like we have like a call center and so we have multiple people in our practice that actually have access to it. And it helps them understand the importance and their role in getting patients in certain categories, et cetera. And it helps them visualize

[00:19:37] what that feedback loop looks like and really helps with accountability. So it makes sure that things are getting done, follow-up is getting done, and processes are in place where they know that they have to answer a call within a certain period of time or whatever.

[00:19:49] Someone's looking at those things. They know that secret shopper call is coming and they don't know when. So it's just that extra little thing in the back of their mind that they always have to be on. What I'm hearing is the partnership as a whole,

[00:20:01] which is our goal, is just to allow you guys to be able to sleep at night knowing that there's transparency, accountability is in place and really why most people become orthodontist is to help patients. So that's one thing that's big for us

[00:20:15] is just you guys being able to help more people. Marketing is the hardest thing for us. And so knowing that we have someone else taking a chunk of that marketing aspect away, whether it's the Facebook ads, all those things. And you've even been receptive to ideas

[00:20:31] that we have had where we'll say we want to run this promo. You guys have been honest and said, well, we don't think it's the best idea, but let's try it. Whereas in the past, we've been maybe spoken down to

[00:20:40] that this is how you're going to do it. You've definitely been open to running with our ideas, giving the feedback as to whether it's working, it's not working, and then changing it if needed. I think that's definitely one of like the most impressive things that we've seen,

[00:20:53] especially recently was there was a situation where we were doing a lot of spend on, you know, Google ads, Facebook ads, et cetera. We ended up hearing towards a lot of Facebook ads and your team came to us and actually suggested a reduction in our spend,

[00:21:07] which is something that you usually don't hear from some outside company. And so there's an honesty behind that and there's like a credibility behind that. Thanks so much. Great to see both of you and just looking forward to continuing our partnership. Same here. All right.

[00:21:21] Thanks for everything you do. Before coming to HIP, what was your experience with growth and maybe what were some of the key factors that made you start to realize we need to look at HIP in a partnership more seriously? I was like flat.

[00:21:37] I know there were others that were down. I just didn't feel that I could open more days and bring more staff in and take on more salaries and more payroll without having the influx of new patients. So I had used a couple different people.

[00:21:53] I just wasn't happy with the quality of the leads. I had kind of struggled with the lead management side of things. We had some other systems that were meant to be lead management platforms, but nothing that really was, I was super excited about.

[00:22:06] That was really why we ended up calling. And with leads obviously, you know, the flow, those leads turning into patients that could be defined by marketing. But what are maybe some of the things that you guys may have been pleasantly surprised with joining HIP? Well organized, excellent communication,

[00:22:25] sticking to the timeline. Not just you guys upholding it, but demanding basically that the partner uphold our side, because it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle on, but HIP was very organized. I found each individual we've worked with has been rather pleasant.

[00:22:40] You mentioned something a minute ago about being prepared for the framework, the leads, the whole process and even having to make some changes or rather additions to get ready for this. What did that look like?

[00:22:51] A lot of it had to do with me just kind of always keeping an eye on the financial health of the organization and understanding what does it look like bringing an entirely new salary on an annual basis and how those things add up and escalate.

[00:23:04] At some point or another be like, okay, it's just time to take that leap of faith. You know, you got to put out a significant investment right now in order to be ready for what HIP was saying was to come. One thing that Harrison did, for instance,

[00:23:17] is really put me in a mindset to expect exponential growth. I kind of took from it, we've increased our staff by 30%, but yet production is up 45%. So those numbers work. So many people don't staff up and they don't get their team ready.

[00:23:34] They may not educate or train their team or certainly rather we have some things to help with that like our courses, our books. But the team has to really buy in and so hearing you talk about your culture, adding team members, getting ready,

[00:23:47] that is the key thing and just getting better. And so it's really cool to hear your story in terms of results, whatever you're comfortable with sharing what has that looked like? We really went live in January. So how does this year look? Last month for instance,

[00:24:02] we were up 95% month to date on that particular month. Almost essentially doubling. We were flat on collections in 2023. That had a lot to do with a pretty slow November, December for us. That was one of the reasons why we jumped and moved to HIPAAZ.

[00:24:21] We just saw trend the wrong direction and we wanted to try something new. So we did and then come January, February, March things have picked up. So now net collection are trending at about 14% up but I anticipate that to continue to climb

[00:24:34] as we have these positive net production. I was a one man shop for a long time. Then I got an associate and couldn't really do enough to have that associate full time. And now here I am, I have two full time

[00:24:47] and I'm looking at bringing on a third orthodontist. So it's exciting to have so many leads to work and we changed a lot of our systems. I mean we're going with pretty much full digital which is nice. That lets you be more efficient. The goals are high.

[00:24:59] That's how you elevate is you have to set your goals high and then go for that. So that's kind of where we're at. Yeah for sure. Think big. Dr. Sackowitz, thank you so much for taking the time to chat today. You're welcome.

[00:25:12] I believe we've been partnered for a little bit over a year, is that right? A year and a couple months. Explain just for those watching, listening what has the partnership with HIPP been like overall? It's really been a great experience from the beginning.

[00:25:26] I thought that there was just a lot of education, hand holding, training, getting us up to speed on methodologies and then as time went along, we figured out you know where we're doing well, where we're dropping the ball, continue to work with us to guide those areas

[00:25:41] that we could be doing better on and we're able to continue to improve the process and really from the first six months that we started until like the second six months there was a dramatic improvement in terms of the success of everything that's been done.

[00:25:54] Talking about the training, I think that's a big differentiator is our curriculum. How did that really create team buy-in? I'm not a doctor. I'm busy. You know I don't have time to have my hands in every single thing in the office.

[00:26:06] So a big part of it for me was being able to have a trusted team that I could delegate a lot of the training to and a lot of the systems to help get everything to where I needed to be. And on top of that,

[00:26:18] to have an opportunity for someone to be checking in. So it's not just me taking a look at the more eyes that we have on it, the less likely already be dropping the ball on something that is costing money. Just looking at the partnership,

[00:26:31] you know the previous year 2022 compared to 2023 what did growth look like for you guys with our partnership? Well we had tremendous growth in 2023, over 50% and it was a fantastic year. There's a portion of the revenue that can be directly attributable

[00:26:48] to the advertisements and the efforts that are being done. It's a joint effort here. We have an important part of that for us too. But you know I'm not running the ads. I don't get the people to click on the button. We get them through the door.

[00:27:00] That's our partner. Obviously we have a piece of software and a powerful tool, Practice Beacon. And so you're talking about tracked production. That's where we track that. How has that really helped in terms of real-time information at your fingertips and just knowing what's working?

[00:27:16] Well I think having different categories available to really just categorize where a lead comes from, what status that lead is in in terms of whether they've been contacted or communicating with them. If they have declined treatment, they started treatment and everything in between. I'm a data person.

[00:27:35] I love having an eye on what's happening and it's hard numbers. We're not talking about cut feelings or guesses. We can actually see the number of people who have come through the efforts. Whether it's an advertisement or a website,

[00:27:49] we see if they come from the form that they've completed or monthly payment estimates. There's a lot of different methods. By the end of the day, being able to track it makes it a lot easier to know what's working and where it's not working.

[00:28:02] Obviously there's a billion marketing companies out there and marketing can be quite a commodity these days but with our curriculum, our training, coaching, our advisors, our software, we aim to really be a partner for the life of your practice. How do you see HIPP

[00:28:18] being a growth partner for your practice? With HIPP it was the first time that I actually saw that we were getting not only people responding to the ads but people that came into the office being blown away by the effectiveness of the advertising efforts.

[00:28:33] You guys are far above and beyond any marketing company that I've ever worked with and I know it costs a lot. In my mind, as long as it's break-even, it's worth it because even if I'm doing dream it and not making anything off of it,

[00:28:46] at the end of the day I know it's building reputation, it's getting more people to the door and working us towards that work of mouth which is so important. There's a cost to growth. Once I started talking more with Harrison

[00:28:57] and now you have Zade Onboard which is great because we're doing more frequent check-ins. When I started having some conversation with James about strategies they felt like that's really where the partnership began. I want to be a pioneer and pave the way to new strategies

[00:29:12] to stay ahead of the competition. What has it been like as a whole to work with HIPP from the sales process? I believe that was with Harrison, to onboarding and to the results that you're seeing now. A few years before I actually approached Harrison

[00:29:29] and had a conversation with him about what it would take financially to work with it and I always felt like the cost was a barrier. I finally had a friend, he's doing it and he talked about the success that other people have had

[00:29:40] and I finally made that dive into being a full partner with HIPP. After I was initially just a partner for advertising then I became a full partner once I saw the results. In 2023 I wrote down a few numbers. Our numbers were 39% higher than they were the year before

[00:29:54] I guess my 8th year in practice 39% higher in production and my collections were 30% higher so it definitely paid for itself in that first year and more and even this year I'm seeing an increase of about 10% through April. The one thing with HIPP

[00:30:09] is that it's really put my name out there I've been able to get more patients that have been referred other places and they're like, hey you know I see his ads let's check them out so I'm getting a second opinion and usually I'm closing with those patients

[00:30:21] and it's definitely just growing my business and I'm seeing more than what my expectation was when I talked with Harrison. You know the biggest thing I can also say about HIPP is whenever I started patient with HIPP or you know the cost per acquisition of a new patient

[00:30:34] I really don't see it as just that one patient I see as referral for two or three patients and so I think it's a tangent like you just don't look at that number of like a certain amount of growth or a certain number of patients you've started

[00:30:46] like I'm looking for long term and in orthodontics it's not about just that one patient it's that one patient's experience and then their neighbor or their friend that they refer. Referrals is the warmest patient you can get and so creating that experience

[00:31:00] you know just making sure that customer service is top-notch is key it seems like you're looking at it from a really great perspective as well. Yeah I mean that's what we focus on in certain ways I do it but our fee has not changed much

[00:31:12] from what our initial fee was for those patients that don't have insurance but the value we add is that our practice culture and I think we present that well with our website from HIP we also present it well when they come into our office

[00:31:24] so they really know what they're getting and they all have a great experience in our close rate is very good so we probably close the patients that actually need treatment we probably close like close to 90% of our patients that come in. Wow.

[00:31:35] The biggest thing that I love about HIP is that I don't really have to worry and I know that it's being done and so I take solace in the fact that I like I know where my patients are coming from because I am sandwiched in between

[00:31:46] a bunch of corporate offices that do a ton of Invisalign and I got patients coming in that are like eight years old like oh yeah they said they could do Invisalign and I'm like yeah probably not the best idea and trying to explain things to them

[00:31:57] but I'm definitely not worried so much about the general dentist not sending me patients anymore because people know who I am they know I'm here and they see that you know I have some discounts on treatment that they can take advantage of so you know I think that

[00:32:09] having you guys work with me and having you know that it's being done and that patients are coming in I mean you guys are doing a great job instead of just sending you names and phone numbers like every other marketing agency our team will work with you

[00:32:53] to make your ads handle all of that marketing generate leads for you and fill your practice with ready to start patients every week our goal is to take the marketing off your hands so you can focus on what really matters seeing more patients now typically if something

[00:33:12] sounds too good to be true it probably is but our team has been building and perfecting this patient getting system for over 10 years this isn't theory it is a battle tested blueprint that grows practices so if you're interested in growing your practice the new way

[00:33:32] by getting ready to start patients sent straight to your front door click the link below and hop on a discovery call with one of our senior practice advisors now they'll walk you through the whole process they'll give you a better idea of what we can do for you

[00:33:47] and they'll even leave you with a personalized 12 month growth plan that you can implement immediately whether you choose to move forward with us or not but don't wait because spaces for our free discovery calls fill up quickly so I suggest clicking the link below

[00:34:03] and schedule your free discovery call now before it's too late thanks for listening if you'd like to learn more about hip or any of the topics in this episode send an email to hello at hipcreativeink.com that's hello at h-i-p creative-i-n-c dot com

[00:34:25] or jump over to our website at hip.agency