Dr. Seuss For Dentists: Keys To Connecting With Your Patients and Marketing Your Practice
Date: December 10, 2014Category: Author: Michael Brinson
Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest. Except when you don’t. Because, sometimes, you won’t.
For my son’s 5th birthday, just a few days ago, my wife and I got him a set of Dr. Seuss books. Since then he’s been asking me to read them with him as often as possible. Of course I’m happy to do this as often as I can, because I love my son, but as a bonus, I actually enjoy reading them to him even more than I enjoy most of the other books that he asks me to read. I remember loving these books when I was a child. Of course the rhymes and rhythm of the stories are fun, but as many others have noted there is much more to Dr. Seuss’ work than just cute rhyming and nonsensical words. There’s dental-social-media marketing gold in them thar’ rhymes.
So what is it about Dr. Seuss books that makes them so memorable, enduring, and cherished to all who read them? Well, let me tell you two stories.
First Story
” You’ve got a problem!” he hollered at Judith. He had said it before but now he was brutish.
“Surely,” he thought, “she already knew this. But apparently not, or she would not do this.”Now speaking aloud, and in such a state,
he says, “I’ll go to the doctor’s, to fix you up straight. I’m going right now; I’ll be back around eight.”Not waiting a moment to hear her response, he left in his Hoopity-Scoopity-Sconce.
So off he goes, and going, he went. Now back again, he starts with the most clear of intent.In his mind now he thinks, with a wee bit of cheer,
“You can’t hear a thing, Judith my dear. And now I will prove it with a method so clear, that you will not argue, bicker, or veer.
From here to there I will ask you 5 times, ‘What is for dinner?’ moving closer each time.
But I will NOT shout it, like I usually do. Instead I will say it in much calmer a hue.
Then you will see and I will have vanquished, the bane of my life – your dissonant silence!”“What is for dinner?” he says, 20 feet off. Not a peep, not a mutter, not even a cough.
5 feet closer, he says once again, “What is for dinner, you crazy old hen?”
Twice it’s the same, and then 5 feet more. Nothing again, it’s the same as before.
Now he’s down to the fifth and the very last time, “she’s more deaf than I thought, this is truly a crime!”
Then finally there comes to this old man’s ears, a stinging rebuke, with a meaning quite clear:
“I’ve told you 4 times but I’ll say it once more, WE’RE HAVING CHICKEN TONIGHT YOU OLD BOAR!”
Second Story
A man thinks that his wife has a hearing problem and he wants to get her a hearing aid. He asks his doctor how to handle this and the doctor tells him to speak to her in a normal conversational tone from different distances and see when she finally responds. The man goes home that night and asks his wife, “What’s for dinner?” 5 times from closer and closer distances and finally she replies, “I’ve already told you 5 times, CHICKEN!”
Of the two stories, which one is more memorable?
The first example paints a story in a rhythmic and entertaining way, while the second example merely relates a story in a very dry and unmemorable way. Dr. Seuss was a master at painting a story with his words.
So how can you apply this to the way that you interact with your patients and how you go about marketing your practice?
A few thoughts for you to consider:
- Storytelling IS marketing
- Your story needs to focus on the people whose lives are being changed for the better by what you do.
- Imperfect action is always better than perfect plans.
- A person’s a person, no matter how small
- The more you can do to show that you care about each of your patients as an individual, the better.
In connection with this last thought, here are some great tips for how to get people (like your patients) to like you.
Fortunately for us at Infinity Dental Web, our owner, Dave Hall, is an expert dental marketer who also has an extensive background in publishing. Of course, good story telling is really at the heart of publishing.
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