Although hiring and retaining top talent is usually not the first consideration when we think of increasing our marketing for dental implants, it is vital for your practice to think hard about the subject. Do you have the staff that you need to create a dynamic practice that will maximize your increased outlay of dental implant marketing dollars?
Dental practices have found hiring immensely more challenging in the last 2 years. Even though some corporations have recently begun to initiate some layoffs, the dental industry is still dealing with the effects of the pandemic. Those lockdowns of 2020 created a situation in which many people looked in the mirror and said, “What do I really want out of life?” And with the time and space to pursue something that they had always kept on a back burner, they moved on. In the process, 10% of the dental workforce was lost.
The aging workforce is, of course, another factor. Most Boomers (born 1946-1964) and some Gen Xers (born 1965-1980) are retiring. At this point, 60% of the dental workforce are Millennials (those born between 1981 and 2000).
The following graphic shows the rise of millennials in the overall workforce.
Generational change is to be expected, of course, but the problem right now is twofold. Due to the pandemic, the changeover is happening much more abruptly than normal and, on top of that, many Millennials have different expectations than Baby Boomers or Gen Xers. We’re going to dive into that topic more in the future but for now, remember this: If you will offer Millennials an experience that they truly want to buy into, they will line up outside your practice to buy it.
The other important thing to remember is that the top practices have pivoted since the pandemic and are actually thriving more than ever today. They are able to attract and retain enough top talent to take full advantage of the incredible results that dental implant marketing can achieve.
Crises, like the pandemic, have a way of revealing weaknesses. Many practices have discovered since 2020 that staffing was one of their weaknesses. It doesn’t have to stop with that discovery however. The difference between practices that continue to struggle and those who begin to thrive is simple: Thriving practices have taken steps to CHANGE and deal with the weaknesses that they have identified.
So how do we best go about attracting and retaining top-level talent in our offices so that our dental implant marketing efforts can be maximized?
1. Keep an abundance mentality. Avoid the mentality of scarcity, the belief that there is NO ONE out there to fill the labor needs in your practice. The proper mentality is that there are more than enough people to fill your needs if you reach out with the right message and the right package.
2. Present your business as an irresistible place to buy into and sell your practice to your internal customers, your staff. Why does this work? Because Millennials buy EXPERIENCES!
3. Establish a memorable employment brand and communicate it through your practice website and social media accounts. An employment brand is something that every office, regardless of size, can formulate with some diligent time and effort.
4. Look for people with a calling, not just those who need a J-O-B or even those who see dentistry as a career. Appeal to people with the offer that they, in your practice, can fully express their purpose. This is what you want to offer people. “Are you interested in being a hero as our hygienist, changing people’s smiles on good days and transforming their lives on the best days?”
5. Feature your employees on your office website and include what they enjoy doing both in and out of the office. This will both reward and recognize current employees and show potential employees the dynamism of your office culture. Showcasing a high-energy environment also has benefits for potential employees browsing your website as it will both attract those who might fit it and tend to repel those who might recognize that they would be out of their league.
6. Make sure your office actually IS a fun place to work. Don’t let an employee who spoils team spirit remain in your office even if they are a star performer. You could lose all your truly good employees by tolerating one bad apple. Also, the flood of new customers brought in through dental implant marketing will tend to increase the pressure on your employees. This pressure is seen as an enjoyable challenge to a healthy team but will strain a team mired in subclinical relationship issues.
7. Wrap your entire practice in a transforming purpose. In every interview and presentation, keep this overarching “reason for being” front and center. Employees, especially Millennials are practically starving for purpose in their lives. If you can offer a life-changing purpose to them as a member of your team, your staffing problems are over.
8. Consider the possibility of remote work where possible. This will not be an option for all positions, of course, but remain flexible enough to offer remote work at least several days a week to those employees for which it is feasible.
The post-pandemic staffing crisis is real, but it does not have to stop you from expanding through dental implant marketing. Like so many of the issues we face in life, the challenges before us in dentistry are not nearly as important as the mentality with which we meet them.
For one of the best dental implant growth partners out there, reach out to Client Connection Group and discover all the ways they will help grow your practice through dental implant marketing on social media channels.
Following the practices outlined here will mean that you and your staff are more than prepared to welcome the flood of new patients that CCG routinely generates for their clients’ offices.