Dean Steinman
Well, hello everybody in podcast land this is Dean Steinman and guess what we are back with another podcast for you that's right and very very very very excited to have back one of my favorite people in the whole entire world all right I got my partner in crime a PSE on the right hand John Izzini who is a director of accounts here at orthomarketing and we're here to talk today about not one not two but three cardinal rules working with an agency Johnny how are you today?
John Iuzzini
I am doing fantastic coming out of a long and grueling winter we've had a the weather in the in the 70s the past couple of days so see the light at the end of the tunnel there
Dean Steinman
all right as the great George Harrison said it's been a long cold lonely winter
John Iuzzini
oh yeah
Dean Steinman
but it's we're we're back all right so we're gonna jump right into it Johnny so you know you've been with us for a long time at orthomarketing here and you've seen a lot of changes going on so right now in the middle of 2026 all right we're talking about three most important things that you need to embrace as a dentist or orthodontist when working with the agency and if you're not working with an agency you shouldn't all right focus on what you do best
focus on changing people's lives keep making their making them smile better change it changing the way they feel about themselves so we're gonna talk about the three most important things for a practice and what you need to do to embrace change brace technology and embrace your partnership with us or anybody else out there could be there should be working with with it with it with an agency
so Johnny the first rule the practice has to understand is my eyes right I'm wrong is you have to have a budget you can't just sit back and hope that people are gonna find you now you'd have to be aggressive in your name out there so you know what advice would you give a practice if they're trying to figure out how to come up with a budget and what's a good budget and how to see if it works
John Iuzzini
yeah Dean, so it's pay to play you know you need to pay to get seen
so you need to make sure that you have a budget that allows you to be shown where and when you need to be you know in front of your ideal audiences, so I mean orthodontics is extremely competitive saturated so you know if you're not running you know Google Ads and meta ads if you're not being put out of there your competitors are,
so what we do to kind of help you know create that game plan for you is we do competitor research we take a look at your areas we take a look at your demographics, we see that competitive space and we can see what people are running so we're gonna know based on the research that we do what you need to run in terms of a budget in terms of staying competitive being seen and you know as you know you know the competitive landscape between meta and Google are just
so different you know when it comes to Google it's an auction so you can easily get outbid if you don't have the correct budget so we need to make sure that you know you're being seen and that people really know what you offer and obviously that you're being you know put out there in the right light
Dean Steinman
right you know so how do you even come up with the right budget for a practice because the lesson you want to do is spend too little because it's a waste of money so your practice is gonna say if you're in LA and you're spending $1,500, $2,000 a month don't bother it's gonna you know it'll just not gonna get the results out of it so you know but same time you don't have to spend $20,000 either so how do you actually figure out the right budget for the practice?
John Iuzzini
Yeah so you know like I said you know earlier it really comes down to the the competitive research so once we put you in the program just like anything else right it's an algorithm and it's an AI back there in terms of like Google and meta ads
so you know your first you know 60 to 90 days is a real test period you know we have a base that we put out there for you know your budgets and what we'll do is you know in the first couple of weeks you know Google's program will let us know some feedback based on how the ads are running so we can see if you need to kind of fluctuate with your budget if you need to increase if you need to decrease if it's just right but essentially you know we're gonna get insights from the program as we start running the ads but usually like I said we start with a base and then we can kind of fluctuate from there
but you know they might tell us that our ads are restricted by budget so and then what we would do is we would come back to you and we would say hey you know it says we're being restricted by budget your competitors are spending a lot more we need to increase because again when it comes down to that it's mostly an auction so we want to make sure that you're winning those bids that you're getting those keep those high intent keywords you know say like you know braces Invisalign you know orthodontist near me we want to make sure that you're getting found for those things we don't want to get outbid and again we just want to make sure that your ad is getting the impressions that they are needed to get in order to get those clicks to get those booked appointments and to get those starts awesome
all right so now let's talk about that's a perfect segue into booked appointments you know at well for marketing we're really good at getting people getting you found and then getting people to you know show up and get that we say butts in the seats but then from there what does a practice need to do in order to then take things to the next level because there's so many no-shows now and there's some and you have to respond immediately
so if any one bit of advice to a practice to adapt its change in technology what would you say they should do because you can't it's not all school anyway you can't just have a spreadsheet or you can't just respond to a lead three hours later or three days later and leave a voicemail expect it to work so you know what's what's one bit of advice you give a practice you know in order to look at what they're doing now and say wow this isn't working and to change
John Iuzzini
I could talk about this for hours I really could but when it comes down to it you really have to make sure that your process is buttoned up it's all about that speed to lead so when it comes down to it somebody fills out a form on your website you want to make sure that you're getting back to that person you know within the first five minutes and then the same thing if you miss a call you want to get back to them immediately so we're talking about threes today so when it comes down to it you need to remember they're not just gonna be contacting your practice alone they're contacting at least two to three other practices as well so you need to make sure that you're getting back to them so you get back to somebody the next day think about it you don't you don't get a call back you know you're chasing them down they definitely called somebody else they already got on the calendar they don't want to be the bearer of bad news
Dean Steinman
so you know so so an awful marketing we have automation your own programming place called smile hub and that's kind of what we do is we take it out of the hands of practice you know you know so many practices as I just said you know we'll call up leave a voicemail and say that's a bad leak but no you got to call them text them email them follow up constantly you know we did this eight times in eight days and we have to continually reach out to people you know great stat that we have here is we handle this for a lot of practice and we handle all of the leads and phone calls and everything and last month 58% of the appointments that we booked for practices took four or more touch points all right four more that's five six seven eight nine ten can you afford to lose 58% of your potential new business because you're gonna process in place so you know how would you suggest the practice to do that and as far as following up you know just old-school that I have a spreadsheet just leave a voicemail or how do they do it or should they be looking at integrating technology
John Iuzzini
technology 100% so smilehub is fantastic you know our clients here at ortho marketing use this with ease and when it comes down to it if you don't have the manpower to give that person a call right away our system is going to be sending out nurture emails, nurture texts on a daily basis and then on top of that so you miss a call you get a form in our system will actually call your staff and connect you to that lead right there and then so it's pretty fantastic
but it's not it's not only that right I mean say we pass that point say we booked the appointment you know like you were talking about earlier Dean right you know there's practices that complain of no-shows and things like that right now I work with a lot of different practices now again it's about being upfront and as real and giving that five-star service you know for the patients that are coming into your practice now if you book somebody and you know you are giving them reminders for their appointment and the only thing that you're sending an out to them is a text or an email when it comes to reminding them about that appointment you're dropping the ball we find that an actual touch point like a call is really going to make the difference
it's it's not a you don't want to you don't want to remind them, going to confirm with them all right you have to have a two-way communication by just sending it an email or a text out and say you have an appointment tomorrow at 10 a.m. with Dr. Jones that's not gonna make sure they show up but if you actually make sure they do something and respond back yes I'll be there or call and say yes I'll be there you have a much much much higher chance of getting them to show up because the no-show rate is astronomical now for practices because you push booking out so far ahead so in order to get them in you have to confirm it not remind them you know and that's a real important again that's what a technology comes in is this is this is taking care of for you guys focus on it um you know and now the last part John my eyes and probably the most important is your TC is your staff you can't just put somebody in there and just hope they get it this is a really high-end sales job is what that that is
so um you know what bit of advice again would you give a practice to make sure that their treatment coordinator is up to snuff and and getting in because when somebody's in that seat unless they can't afford it or at the insurance certification or haven't been to the dentist in two years do not let them leave okay because what's the so you know you get them there picture yourself as a car dealership are they gonna let you leave no they understand sales and understand salesmanship and try to overcome objections so what would you what advice would you practice for that instead of just putting just some you know girl in place has never done this before how can how can we help a practice or how can a practice help themselves by understanding the importance of the treatment coordinator
John Iuzzini
yeah I mean you know there's a couple ways that you can slice this so when it comes down to it you know inside the practice you need to make sure that the doctor and the TC are bonded like this with the information in terms of you know what they need to sell you know a new patient when it comes down to it I have seen the disconnects where you know a doctor you know might listen to a call or they might look at the records and say well why did you say that this person needs to come back in for this we could have done that so when it comes that they need to be on the same page because the doctor may see something that the TC doesn't see and said we could have easily started that person they walked out the door
Dean Steinman
All right, the most important my eyes the most important person besides the doctor in the practice is the TC it is getting this new blood in you know a dental practice then it's very different the lifetime value of a dental patient is very high you know somebody be worth you know six figures over the course of a lifetime as I come in for implants veneers laminates cleanings for 15 years whatever it is what's not this you're coming in you're getting invisalign getting your braces and that's it you know so you you need to obviously get referrals and work off it but one person once I'm in treatment it's gonna be hard to upsell them some more or get them to have more services so you know the life of any you know orthodontic practice or any dental practice that offers orthodontist is your treatment coordinator and getting new butts in the seats there so like how involved as a doctor or she should you say should be when it comes to their TC because they're busy but they have no choice but to focus on this so how important is it and how much time should a doctor be focusing on with the treatment coordinator
John Iuzzini
The doctor the treatment coordinator should be having huddles once a week so they can look at the opportunities to see what they missed what they closed on so they can come up to on game plan so they can understand well why didn't you know X amount of patients start you know so they can actually see those opportunities and they can come up with game plans to actually overcome those opportunities in the future I mean I get it but doctors doing a lot but doctors you know seeing all the patients checking in on you know all of these different cases so it's, it's a lot for them so I've noticed a lot of you know orthodontic business owners do get out of touch and then sometimes when they you know take a magnifying glass and look in they say what's going on so you really want to make sure that you're super close to your PC because you might say dang we could have started you know five or six you know patients in the last two weeks you know if you just had this information for me so they just need to be they need to be tight
Dean Steinman
I think about that you know just six patients that's six gram right there is 36,000 that's for two weeks you get that times two you got 77,000 that's almost a million dollars of business a million you know X rapidly over the course of the year just by having your hands in the pot and making sure that things are moving the right way and she's up to snuff on the up-to-date processes when it comes to you know sales comes to communication come to customer service and getting them you know getting them in making them feel comfortable you know you're in the smile business you're in the aesthetic business you know your job is to show results and and that is very hard thing to do but if you have somebody in that chair all right it's never should be about price it's about results and and the communication that you have there and how important it is to have to feel comfortable you know in the office you know John so if in closing if you had to give you know who was listening to this what a bit of advice and if they're looking you know not get if they're not checking off all three these boxes with with a company they're working with now what should they do
John Iuzzini
Honestly, you know like we're talking about here agency help will lift that weight off of your shoulders and you know working with an automated system like we have like smile hub you know you have two people in the office this will be like adding an army so you know it will really stack your team and you know when it comes down to it you know we also have our in-house call center so we can actually see you know what's being booked because we're booking it and then at the same time we can let you know your opportunities because we'll be able to see books versus stars so we can let you know those list of people that you need help with and we can reactivate them for you
Dean Steinman
Exactly, help you need to help us help you you know when practice we you know just didn't update it for us the next thing you know we saw a potential $500,000 of business in there standing up they did in the last month.
we went in and did it and we got a ton of people back in because we were able to just to push the button and know what to say to them so what you help your agency more that we can help you
so you know closing Johnny if you want to tell about their podcast land you know why they should be calling local marketing today what would you what would you say to them
John Iuzzini
It's simple we're super white glove with our with our clients you know we really get down into the nitty-gritty it's like having again one of our people a part of your team it's just again it's just so up close and personal you know we know you who you are you're calling the same person every time you know for advice you get a dedicated account manager again that person has been compared as adding a staff member to help get insights on your work and then obviously you know just show you your ROI we're very transparent with those things
Dean Steinman
Appreciate it great all right so everybody thank you so much hopefully just check off your your you know these checks here and look at what agency I need to have the right budget in place you're getting a good return on investment do you have automation of technology in place and is your staff helping them help you and your staff doing the right job if not reach out to us on the market I'd love to help you talk to you see if we have the right ability to work with you sometimes not a good match and you're good with where you are we can at least show you that but what you got to lose
so Johnny thank you so much for all the insight appreciate everybody in podcast land thank you so much always for all the response following us and all the comments we love it everybody out there peace out.
