DON’T LET “STUFF” BURY YOU

A story is told of a farmer’s mule that fell into a well.  The farmer couldn’t figure out how to extract the mule, so the solution seemed to be to just bury the mule in the well.  Truckload after truckload of dirt was brought to the well to bury the poor animal; but with each load, the mule just kicked and snorted and worked his way to the top of that heap.  All afternoon the farmer brought truckloads of dirt thinking he’s put his animal out of its misery.  Finally the dirt reached the top of the well. The mule gave a final few kicks, stepped on top of that last load of dirt, snorted and walked away, dirtier but wiser.  What was intended to bury him just brought him out on top.

Think about this mule the next time a load of “stuff” dumps on you.  Kick. Continue to climb up. Eventually you’ll come out on top.

THINK MARKETING YOUR PRACTICE THROUGH DIRECT MAIL IS A LONG-GONE TOOL? THINK AGAIN!

In years past, dental practice management experts often advised mailing information about your practice to residents in selected zip codes from which you wanted more patients.  Then with e-mail and various forms of social media, the concept of marketing through direct mail waned.

In a recent study, ExactTarget, an international company that specializes in interactive marketing, asked almost 1500 consumers of all ages and demographics how they like to receive 11 various types of information.  Direct mail led or tied in six categories and came a close second in four others.  In another such study conducted in 2011 by Epsilon, a multi-channel marketing service, more than 1/3 of the 5000 respondents preferred receiving information via mail over a multitude of other channels.  Incidentally, 18-to-34 year olds were well represented among those polled.

Among reasons respondents gave for preferring direct mail:  It’s tangible so it can be retained for future reference and use.  It’s more trustworthy than other channels. People like opening mail; a piece in their mailbox provides a sort of psychological boost.  Summary:  Direct mail is popular and it works, delivering better response from recipients than any type of electronic media.

Need more patients?  Revisit the ways direct mail can attract them.

The Magic of Social Networking

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your blogs and posts about our 2013 Practicon Frasaco calendar.  We could never have imagined having a product on our hands that could go viral, and saying that these past few days have been a total surprise to us would be the understatement of the year!

The story behind the calendar is quite simple.  In response to a request from our Frasaco sales team, our design team created the mannequin-themed, quirky desk calendar for the first time last year.  It was such a hit with our dental education customers that we decided to do another one for 2013.  Evidently one of our customers scanned and posted images of the calendar to a couple of image sharing websites, and literally within hours we had hundreds of calendar requests on our Facebook page, in our email inboxes, and on one of our team member’s Reddit accounts.  The rest as they say is history (even though that history is just a few days old!).

It's now on our website to purchase here- http://practicon.com/product.aspx?id=59118

And that's the magic of social. Again, thank you all for giving us the opportunity to serve you, our customers, in ways we never expected. 

We wish you all Happy Holidays!

FLASH: NEW OSHA HAZARD COMMUNICATION STANDARDS

In March, 2012 the U.S. Department of Labor published a final update of the Hazard Communication Standard in order to make the US standard adhere to the United Nations’ “Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals.”  Incidentally, if the reader is familiar with Agenda 21, the UN global initiative to promote one-world sustainability and order, one may question if, in fact, this initiative is one more way that the UN is seizing control of multi-layers of our lives.  Nevertheless, the standard is now a reality and dental practices as well every other organization in which hazardous chemicals are used must adhere to new rules and regulations.

GHS (Globally Harmonized System) is an approach to hazard communication that is recommended internationally under the auspices of the United Nations.  When fully implemented, the GHS will provide a single set of criteria to classify the health and physical hazards of all chemicals worldwide. 

Changes include:  Material Safety Data Sheets with which every dental professional is familiar will be replaced by standardized formatted “Safety Data Sheets.”  Additionally, labels used by chemical manufacturers will be changed and standardized internationally.  The new labels will have (1) pictograms (a total of eight different designs will be used), (2) signal words that are to communicate the severity of the hazard, and (3) precautionary statements that give measures to minimize or prevent adverse effects when chemicals are handled. 

Chemicals will be re-evaluated, presumably by the manufacturers, based on specific criteria and labeled accordingly.  By December 1, 2013, one year from now, all employees who utilize hazardous chemicals must be trained on the new hazardous chemicals’ labels and Safety Data Sheets.  By June 1, 2016 all employers using hazardous chemicals in the workplace must have appropriately labeled chemicals with updated Safety Data Sheets for each one.