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You are listening to Hooked On Startups, where every week, you’ll hear from some of the most talented, inspiring and successful entrepreneurs who share their real life stories, how they overcame challenges and failures and how they’ve mastered success. Get ready for some of the best business tips, tricks and tactics and some frank unscripted discussions. Here’s your host, Matthew Sullivan.
Matthew Sullivan:
On Hooked On Startups this week, we have none other than the illustrious Chris Pistorius. Chris, welcome to the show.
Chris Pistorius:
Thank you. Thanks for having me. And you got my name right the first time. So it’s always a good sign.
Matthew Sullivan:
Well, I tell you what, it’s such a, it sounds like victorious.
Chris Pistorius:
Yes, I like that.
Matthew Sullivan:
It’s a combination of luck. I actually did look it up because I’ve got so much time on my hands. Apparently is Latin, pistor is Latin for baker, I believe.
Chris Pistorius:
I’ve heard that. I’ve heard a couple of different versions between German and South African and Greek, I don’t know. It depends where you at.
Matthew Sullivan:
It’s latinized. And of course that was that famous, was it Oscar Pistorius?
Chris Pistorius:
Yes.
Matthew Sullivan:
The guy with the blades.
Chris Pistorius:
Yes. Blade Runner?.
Matthew Sullivan:
Absolutely. Well, welcome, and all of you, welcome.
Chris Pistorius:
Thank you.
Matthew Sullivan:
So I’ve got your mind cheat sheet here, which really, all it talks about is just skill in marketing, design, ads, digital marketing, digital strategies. As you can see from your hat, you’re CEO, and owner, founder, boss of Kickstart Dental Marketing. So first of all, what got you involved? What made you get started into dental marketing?
Chris Pistorius:
I’m asked that a lot, actually.
Matthew Sullivan:
Was it the love of the sound of drills? Did you watch Mountain Man over and over again thinking, I just have try and recover this.
Chris Pistorius:
No. What’s ironic is that I really hate being in a dental office at all, even when I go to visit my clients. It’s like, I’m not a dentist person. I mean, I go to the dentist, of course, but I don’t like it, okay. So it wasn’t because of my love of dentistry, let’s put it that way. But no, when I first started this agency, almost, I guess a little over 12 years ago now. I left Corporate America and i had a nice job. And it was pretty safe. And at the time, I had two little kids at home. And I decided to jump ship and start my own agency.
Matthew Sullivan:
Is that because you wanted your wife just to go, “Chris, what a brilliant idea.”
Chris Pistorius:
It was quite the opposite of that, actually, she thought I was nuts. It was just, I knew I wasn’t wired for Corporate America my whole life and the grind. And I just wanted more out of my career, really.
Matthew Sullivan:
Yes.
Chris Pistorius:
But what’s funny is that when I started the agency, and I took on anybody I could, anybody that would pay me and would be willing to let me learn.
Matthew Sullivan:
Sorry to interrupt, but when was this? When did when did you, now, of course, big question, did you make the leap or were you pushed? You don’t have to answer.
Chris Pistorius:
No, I wasn’t pushed at all, no, no. But I made the leap. I knew I was going to do it. It was 12 years ago, this month, actually, this is our 12th year anniversary, but I knew I was going to do it a few months prior. So I had some ducks in a row in terms of having clients at least ready to be on our platform, if you will, right.
Chris Pistorius:
But, it was a lot of winging it, and just trying to figure things out in the beginning, but that’s how I got into dentistry is that, we took on anybody that would pay us and every time we did another industry, we’d have to learn the industry, right? Like the lingo and what works, what doesn’t. And sometimes, unfortunately, by the time we figured it out, it was too late and the client wasn’t getting the results that they wanted. So I was like, “Look, we’ve got to niche this down and really be an expert in something, right?” Not just try to figure it out.
Matthew Sullivan:
How do you market dental offices? Do you have an ad that says, “I promise you it will hurt you more than me?” Just kidding.
Chris Pistorius:
I might use that, that’s pretty good, actually.
Matthew Sullivan:
In brackets, just kidding, come find out.
Chris Pistorius:
No, we’ve got a lot of cool strategies that we use. Everything that we do is digital marketing. So think of us as like the website, social media, review management, online presence kind of people. And we get pretty creative with that stuff. And we actually have clients in Canada as well.
Chris Pistorius:
And what’s interesting is that they have a set of laws in Canada that really restricts on how you can market a dental practice. You can’t do certain things like you can do here in the United States. Just learning nuances like that and legalities in the U.S. in terms of like HIPAA laws, things like that, is huge and specialized.
Matthew Sullivan:
It’s brilliant over here. Because I’ve been over here for seven or eight years now. And it’s great. The marketing, as a dental office, you can say, “Don’t go down to Dr. Schwartz. He’s awful. We’re much better, come to us.” And you got to say stuff like that. So you got much more flexibility, but 12 years ago, so that would have been what? 2007? Something, is that right? No, 2009.
Chris Pistorius:
2009, right.
Matthew Sullivan:
I was applying a different set of mathematical rules.
Chris Pistorius:
Right. I could tell, it’s advanced mathematics.
Matthew Sullivan:
Advanced mathematics, the world will catch up at some point. So that way, I’m just trying to think about who were the major players in terms of digital? Because this whole concept of digital advertising, then, probably would have been something like ad words, or because, I don’t think Facebook had any real defined platforms. So you started off with a new client base, you’ve got to think of new strategies, and you’ve got a completely open field in terms of what’s out there. So where did you start?
Chris Pistorius:
With a blank piece of paper for the most part, but no, I mean, I had been in marketing for years, I used to work for America Online, AOL, back in their heyday, that’s really where I got my start in digital marketing. And back then really, nobody knew what the heck to buy or sell online, they just knew they needed to be a part of the internet, right. And so we sold basically, back then it was just banner ads.
Matthew Sullivan:
That’s right, God, I remember.
Chris Pistorius:
So we just put them anywhere we could and hope for the best for our clients. And we track things like how many times somebody saw the ad, or how many times somebody clicked the ad, basic things like that. And everybody thought we were heroes, and we weren’t. In terms of dental marketing strategy, I’ve been working with local businesses pretty much all my career. So I understood that, it’s not so much about branding and building a brand. I mean, that’s important, even in local marketing, but really, it’s all results driven marketing and direct marketing, and getting people into your store, into your office, whatever it may be. And so I sat down and designed a set of strategies that I thought could do that. And it’s worked out very well thus far.
Matthew Sullivan:
And you stayed with dental marketing. I mean, obviously, it’s a very big, I’m not sure if you would describe it as a niche business. But are you not tempted to move into other verticals like doctors, dentist, obviously, there’s other types of health care providers where, I guess, their skill set is pretty much focused on drilling large holes in your teeth, as opposed to figuring out how to market themselves.
Chris Pistorius:
Well, that’s it, and you just hit the nail on the head. I’ve entertained ideas of broadening it, but I’ve never really seen a need for it. In fact, I was very close to doing a veterinary marketing business, because I’m very passionate about animals and an animal lover, and I’ve really wanted to try that, but I didn’t do it. But the thing is that these kids that go to dental school, they come out as dentists, right, they’re very good at that. The problem is that they learned very little about business or running a business.
Chris Pistorius:
And one of those things is marketing. And in the United States, that’s one of the biggest killer of small businesses is knowing how to be a technician in your business and doing the work really well, but not understanding how to grow and scale and hire and fire and all of that other stuff, marketing, certainly. And that’s why most businesses fail. So there was definitely a need for this in dentistry, because like other small businesses, maybe even more so, these dentists just want to be a dentist, they don’t want to figure out how to market themselves and spend money here or there or anywhere else. And that’s where we fit in nicely for them.
Matthew Sullivan:
And I think really, that’s true, because you’re absolutely right that running a dental practice is a business. Now, you can come in as an associate or as a partner, and in many cases, the practice that you join will probably have that infrastructure in place. But as you grow, and as you set up your own business, this whole concept of digital marketing. If we look at where we are today, where are the most effective strategies for this vertical? Because I would imagine if it works for something as narrow as dental practitioners, you could apply that same logic to others.
Matthew Sullivan:
And I’m sure that my listener, or my viewer, because I’m sure I have at least one on this show, will be absolutely fascinated to find out, is it AdWords? Is it Facebook? Is it a combination of online and offline? Is it Instagram, showing pictures of before and after? Where do you find the real impact and what’s most surprising? I’m going to continue with questions, I’m never going to let you answer. But what is the most surprising outcome of all of the work that you’ve done, the thing that really made you think, “I never expected that?”
Chris Pistorius:
The thing that really impacts me the most is, we have a motto here of leaving dentists better off than when we found them, in terms of their overall financial health, in terms of their business, and also personally, in terms of what are 10 more patients a month mean for you personally too, right? And so I think what really keeps me going and motivated are the folks that we pick up that are struggling with one practice, maybe. And we see over months and years if they stay with us, and they grow, and not only is that practice successful, but they buy other practices.
Chris Pistorius:
And so now they own two or three or even more practices. And in a very short amount of time, they’ve gone from struggling to that. And I know that we at least have a small part in that, and that is really cool. And that’s what really keeps me going every day is that, we have tons of stories like that. And it’s just cool. We’re a startup atmosphere, even though we’ve been here 12 years. We’re a boutique agency, we only take on so many new clients a year, and we try to keep it really close knit and done from scratch type marketing. But that’s the thing that really gets me going.
Matthew Sullivan:
And what is the difference, because I would have thought that referral marketing would be a very powerful, so that’s very offline. And how much of a role has referral marketing played, because digital marketing is where you’re casting your net very wide. And you’re trying to bring in people really using a different set of messages than you would do. So how much of your overall strategy is based on referral, as opposed to general digital marketing?
Chris Pistorius:
You’d be surprised at how much digital does blend into referral, though. And you’re right when you say that, especially with the dental practice, almost always, the majority of their new patients come from referrals, come from family members, friends, whatever may be, and that should be that way.
Chris Pistorius:
However, we’re in this digital age where everybody can see everything. So if Aunt Sally refers me to a dental practice, I’m not just going to take her word anymore, pick up the phone and call. You know what I’m going to do, is I’m going to go online, I’m going to check them out, I’m going to look at their website, I’m going to look at their online reviews, I’m going to look at all kinds of stuff before I even pick up the phone and call them.
Chris Pistorius:
So a lot of what we do not only attracts new patients, but it also tells a compelling story for people like referrals to us that, they’re not just found, but they’re also want to be chosen. So we help them build great online reviews from their patients. In fact, we’re about ready to launch a brand new way to get video reviews from patients, and just help tell their story to people. So there is a blend there of even digital marketing helping out with referral patients too.
Matthew Sullivan:
Excuse me. Do you think that people trust other referrals less now than they trust online reviews? So historically, you’d say, you knock on your neighbor’s door and say, “Do you know a good dentist?” If I’ve just moved to the area. Now, do I trust that person more or less than the Trustpilot reviews or the Google reviews?
Chris Pistorius:
That’s a good question. I think it depends on the person. But I also believe that it depends on the source. Google reviews are pretty legit. A few years ago, they had a little spam issue where people could go in and fraudulently put reviews, that’s become harder to do now. Yelp is really the leader in that, they’re so strict with their reviews, that sometimes a lot of actual real reviews get filtered out because they show them as spam.
Chris Pistorius:
But there’s other sources that aren’t as reliable, that still will allow those types of reviews. But I think on a trust factor, I think we’re in a pretty good landscape now where people are believing those reviews, and especially the video reviews where they can actually see somebody and feel the emotion and see what they went through. Video reviews help a ton.
Matthew Sullivan:
And those video reviews that you put together, and those are the ones that you feature on the… I mean, because all of these things that you’re talking about here are relevant to all sorts of other businesses, businesses where trust, I think is the primary driver. So you’ve got price driven decisions, you’ve got trust driven, you’ve got location, all sorts of people buy things for all sorts of reasons. But would you say that trust is a primary driver for your particular vertical?
Chris Pistorius:
No question, especially with COVID. People want to be able to see and feel where they’re about ready to take their family for a health related service, right? So video allows us to show them that, and we really do our best to get doctors to do a quick two minute video on their iPhone if they need to, just to introduce themselves to the practice. Because at the end of the day, people still buy from people. And I know dentistry you don’t feel like you’re buying something, but you really are. And if people do buy from people, and you really believe that, then you need to make your online presence as personable as possible and video is a huge way to be able to do that.
Matthew Sullivan:
So that’s amazing, because the traditional understanding of digital marketing is essentially distanced marketing or depersonalized marketing where you’re trying to game the system to a certain extent. And what I mean by that is that you’re using Google AdWords. So when someone types in the word dentist, you go, “Aha, here’s an ad.” So we’re saying, this has now evolved, so is almost gone full circle, where you’re just moving back to people dealing on a Mano-a-Mano basis, but through a digital medium.
Chris Pistorius:
That’s absolutely right. I mean, we do Google ads as well. And it’s a very complex beast, Google ads. And for us, just typing in the word, a dentist, and a city isn’t necessarily going to be a dental patient, right? It could be some kid writing a term paper. So we really try to take some strategy and bid on long term keywords like, how much is a root canal? Or how many days do I have to have Invisalign on? Long term search words like that. But yes, you’re right. And we try to make this whole strategy as personable as possible.
Chris Pistorius:
There’s 100 dentists in every city, right. And we don’t believe a dentist is a dentist, we believe each dentist has a unique selling proposition of why they’re different and why they’re better than their competition. And the more clear that story is, the easier it is to market that practice. So that’s where we really try to start. And then we market to whatever we can with that USP. And in some cases, we just signed on with a dentist who does at home dental care, they do house calls, which is unheard of. They do some special needs dentistry, things like that. So we really try to target that type of a market to help them stick out from the crowd a little bit.
Matthew Sullivan:
And how much of those decisions are driven by you and how many are driven by them? So in other words, how many dentists say, I think this is going to be my unique selling point. How many people that you come across are not familiar with that term, with that concept, with that need?
Chris Pistorius:
I would say 98.9% of people have no idea what I’m talking about when I say unique selling proposition, dentists, especially because again, they’re not in the mindset of selling a product or a service. And they shouldn’t be, they’re really not. What they are, though, is they’re selling a solution to a problem. Somebody has a toothache, somebody wants to have a better smile. That’s a solution to a problem.
Chris Pistorius:
And so sometimes I’ll pull analytical data and I say, Dr. Jones, there’s 112 dentists within a three mile radius of your office, what are we going to do to be able to compete with those people? And I get that deer in the headlights look and say, well, that’s what we have to figure out first. And that really is the first step of our process.
Matthew Sullivan:
And you’ve got a certain advantage as a dentist, because it is a person to person transaction. The transaction is do I trust this person with my dental care? Now, how do your programs work with the industries which don’t have that personal touch? So let’s take something like, I don’t know, like finance, for example, or something where there’s still that requirement for trust, but you haven’t got the benefit of actually having the ability to, maybe it works, do videos work just as well with someone who’s not going to be having that same close interaction with you?
Chris Pistorius:
I mean, studies show that it does. I mean, obviously, I haven’t done a marketing campaign outside of dentistry for a while. But I do know, I’m part of a group that’s a bunch of other agencies like mine, but they focus on different industries, and we get together every quarter and talk about trends and best practices and things that are working and things that aren’t.
Chris Pistorius:
And I can tell you that across the board, video is a big, big way. I mean, I know a guy that runs a marketing agency for Tax Pros, right? And they’re using videos. I think if a Tax Pro can use video and benefit themselves, just about anybody could.
Matthew Sullivan:
And do you think that’s a result just generally of people being saturated by ad after ad after ad, saying the same thing in whatever industry you care to mention?
Chris Pistorius:
Yeah, without question. I mean, the big news in marketing right now is the latest update to the iPhone, right, where people are able to opt out from Facebook, tracking your every move and serving you ads based on your behavior, right? And I think a lot of businesses that relied on that type of marketing, which we did not, are going to have a tough time at it, and they’re going to have to probably change their ways.
Chris Pistorius:
So I think what we’re seeing in the market is people are tired of going to a hotel’s website and then jumping onto Facebook, and all of a sudden you see ads from that hotel for the next few days. It’s creepy a little bit, but I just don’t think people like it. And I’m not sure that’s the best way to effectively market a local business.
Matthew Sullivan:
I mean, you should expand on that, because that’s actually a fundamental change in the way that Facebook has to operate. I mean, can you tell us a bit more? Because it is, I think it is. I mean, certainly, it’s the beginning or it’s the definition of the tension between those two huge companies, between Apple and Facebook. And this will impact millions of millions of advertisers who rely on, precisely that, the ability to serve ads based on cookies, based on you go into a site, picking up this cookie that says, “I looked at this hotel for ever more.” So explain what’s happening, because it’s only recently happened.
Chris Pistorius:
So what’s happening, you just said it. I mean, essentially, in the past with Facebook, especially, they can track where you go, what you do, and these cookies are put onto your local computer, if you will, in a sense, and they know what websites you’ve been to. And so then when you hit Facebook, it can read what products and services you’ve looked at or shopped for, and it can then serve ads to you personally, based on your search history.
Chris Pistorius:
Well, now with Apple’s most recent update, they can’t do that any longer, you have to physically opt in to allow that to happen. And most people don’t want that to happen, so they don’t let it happen. Now, the other side of Facebook, though, the way that we use it, for our market, is that when you sign up for Facebook, you pretty much tell them your life story when you sign up. They know how old you are, where you live, how many kids you have, all kinds of stuff because the brilliance behind it is because other people are going to see that, people that you haven’t seen for years, and you want to keep them up to date on what’s going on. So that information is very accurate.
Chris Pistorius:
So when we use Facebook ads for a dental practice, we target things like age, if they own their own home, where they live, if they’re brand new parents. And that’s the data that I believe anyway, really drives results. And that’s the way that we use it. We don’t really do remarketing in terms of where they’ve been and where they’ve shopped, we’re more interested in the fundamentals about their demographic profile.
Matthew Sullivan:
And on that note, you touched on two things. You talk about audience selection, and you talk about copy or there’s the message, what is more important?
Chris Pistorius:
Both.
Matthew Sullivan:
You can’t say that.
Chris Pistorius:
If it’s either pick one or the other, it would be the copy for sure.
Matthew Sullivan:
I think so. Because the question is that you still have to have that message. So even though you can target specific demographics based on age, geography, the fact that I like watching The Wives of Dental Officers in New York, there’s some new show, I wasn’t there. But it is the copy, the message. And what do you think is the message that resonates best with all of the ads that you run? Is there some magic or some clear strategy that works pretty much across the board for most now [crosstalk 00:23:54]?
Chris Pistorius:
There isn’t. There really isn’t. What works for one dental practice may not work for another. Each market is a little different. That’s one of the benefits of partnering with a company like mine. Shameless plug.
Matthew Sullivan:
Good stuff, dental marketing.
Chris Pistorius:
Yes, right. We’ve got 12 years of experience in running these types of campaigns, and in all kinds of different size markets from tier-1 cities to tier-3 cities. And we’ve got the history of those campaigns. And we can see what’s worked well, and what hasn’t worked well in the past for similar size markets. So that allows us to hit the ground running. We still test everything, and we make changes on the fly as we go. But we have a pretty good idea what’s going to work. It’s not always that simple, but it definitely helps.
Matthew Sullivan:
And you’re right. I mean, the key word there is testing. Because there’s a lot of assumption that goes into marketing. We assume, based on an audience of one, or a sample of one, in other words, me, that if I like this than everyone else, out there will like this. And so from your perspective, talking to dentists, how difficult is it to get across that? Or to get over that view that the dentist always knows best?
Chris Pistorius:
I’m surprised by it, because it doesn’t happen very often in dentistry, maybe we’re getting a little bit better at setting the expectations of, “Hey, we’re the experts, follow our lead here.” But when I was doing other industries, it was hard sometimes, like attorneys especially, is that, “Hey, this is a type of television ad that I like, this is the one that I want to run.” Well, it doesn’t matter what you like, it’s what the consensus of your potential customers like.
Chris Pistorius:
And sometimes that’s a tough conversation to have. And early on, I’d made the mistake of allowing that to happen, because guess what, I wanted to be paid, right? Well, now that we’ve got at least a little bit of success, we have those conversations of, look, you’re not going to run this show, you need to rely on us to do this for you, we will get better results. And if that’s not the way you want it to run, then maybe we’re not the best fit. So we have very candid conversations about strategy. And most of the time, we don’t have any feedback at all from that, they trust us, and we’ve been around for a long time. And I think that that helps, too.
Matthew Sullivan:
And again, that also touches on something else, just on a wider spectrum, just dealing with people where the tail doesn’t wag the dog. So in other words, you start off in any business where you just want the customers, you want the clients, so you’re willing to do what you think they want. But the problem, then is that the outcome, as you were saying, it doesn’t always work. So how hard is it? And what advice have you got for people who are in that stage where they’re building something, maybe it’s a business like yours, where they feel that the customer is tugging them in a direction that they don’t necessarily want to go?
Chris Pistorius:
My advice would be stick to your guns and be passionate about what you do and be nice to them. But let them know that you’re the expert and that’s why they’re hiring you, right? Is for that expertise. What I’ve found is that if you don’t do that, we’ve got clients that have been with us nine years, right? And we have clients that haven’t been with us nine years, and some of those people that have left us have been like that. And what I found is that the people that do push back and want to enforce their own strategies are the people that probably aren’t going to be with you long term.
Matthew Sullivan:
But do they come back? Ultimately, cap and gown.
Chris Pistorius:
I’ve had several come back, yes.
Matthew Sullivan:
Which is good, because that proves that you are an expert. And did you think, 12 years ago, that you would still be doing this 12 years later? In the same group of people? Or did you have visions of becoming an agency dealing with all sorts of different verticals?
Chris Pistorius:
Well, certainly in the beginning, I didn’t have any idea that I was going to niche down, that really wasn’t had anything to do with any of the business plan. And in fact, our first very business plan was just to be a social media company. And while that’s certainly an aspect of what we do is what we found out is that people don’t just want one service from one company and another marketing service from another company. They’re really looking for somebody who can handle most of their marketing in one place. And that’s where we made that adjustment. But I don’t know, I don’t think I was thinking 12 years ahead about anything. So I don’t think I am now. So it’s like I’m trying to get out of the month to month type thinking versus the hour to hour, I guess.
Matthew Sullivan:
Long term strategies like next month.
Chris Pistorius:
Right, exactly.
Matthew Sullivan:
I think what you’re doing, though, is something that is really admirable. In other words, being able to become a specialist in a particular field because it’s so easy to try and be all things to all people and I think the money is actually finding a niche, or a niche, I believe as it’s pronounced.
Chris Pistorius:
Either way.
Matthew Sullivan:
One of those two things, and just becoming an expert in that area, because ultimately you outlive everybody who’s tried all sorts of different things, and you develop so much expertise, and so much experience based on just real life feedback. And so ultimately, you then become unassailable. So no one is going to have the same amount of experience as you do, because they haven’t been doing it for as long. So that creates success. I’m going to stop talking now, sorry.
Chris Pistorius:
No, no, you’re right on, that’s absolutely correct. And my advice would be anybody that’s starting a marketing company like mine right now is find that niche as soon as possible and just go with it, make it work. Dentistry is one of the most competitive places to sell anything to, right? And it’s one of the most elusive because you can’t just walk in or call a dental practice and talk to the doctor, you’ve got like three or four gatekeepers that are trained to keep you out of there.
Chris Pistorius:
So it’s very competitive, it’s hard to sell to them. And there’s tons of people trying to do it. So I picked one of the hardest ones. But is it was a big deal when we niched down and we can really talk results about other dental practices in specific like there’s and it helps a ton. So my advice would be definitely pick a niche and go for it.
Matthew Sullivan:
Yes. And also, you can then see results. So the most important thing is that, as far as the dentist is concerned, when the results start coming in, presumably, you get that movement from being skeptical to like, “Oh, my God, please, here’s [crosstalk 00:30:49].”
Chris Pistorius:
Because we pick up a lot of clients that have unfortunately been burned by other companies, and they haven’t gotten the results that they wanted. So it’s like the sales process and those first couple of months, people are like this, right, in defense mode. And they’re like, “All right, I’ve been through this before, I’m not getting burned again.” Type thing. And we’ve got to work through that.
Chris Pistorius:
So we’re very transparent with what we do. We have strategies that work short term, and then while we’re also waiting for a longer term strategy to take effect. So we have the ability to help bring patients in quickly, while we’re working on a longer term strategy, which will probably be more cost effective down the road. And my client success managers, these are the people that take care of our clients. They’re awesome. They go over above and beyond, just answering questions and making sure they’re updated on what’s going on. And that’s been a huge, huge contribution to our success.
Matthew Sullivan:
Yes. You mentioned earlier that, obviously, dental surgeries are a business, you provide a particular service. Do you see yourself expanding within that dental framework to other areas, like tax? Just general business advice in terms of growth, acquisitions? Or do you think what you’ve got is something that’s going to keep you busy forevermore?
Chris Pistorius:
What we’ve got now is going to keep us pretty busy. But what I try to do is, I told you, I’ve got a podcast show as well, I do on a weekly basis. And what I try to do there is bring in people like you just mentioned, like dental brokers, they help dentists buy and sell practices, right? Or insurance people or other people in the industry that can provide great information to my base, and people are potentially going to hire me.
Chris Pistorius:
And so that’s how I try to tackle a lot of that. And so we do that weekly podcast show. And that helps a ton. But I like to be the innovator, right? I like to be the cool tech guy. And in fact, I was just working on this new software, I just mentioned a little bit of it, where we can actually just send a link to a potential new patient. And they can tap on the link, and they can use their phone and actually leave a video review for the doctor. And that’s cool, because we have the doctor shoot a quick little video saying, “Hey, thanks for doing this. Here’s the questions I’m going to ask.” And it takes them through step by step.
Chris Pistorius:
And that’s going to be the next cool thing. I think, not just in dental, but I think that’s something that can be applied to just about any business. So it’s things like that, where I think I’m going to see the growth within dentistry and just adding on and innovating what we have now. The other thing with that is that what we find is sometimes with dental practices is that their front desk are great people, but they’ve never really been professionally trained on how to deal with new patients that call them and don’t already know who they are. So they’re just finding them online, right. And so that’s a different conversation than when Aunt Betty calls in as a referral. Right?
Chris Pistorius:
So we also have developed an online training course for front desk professionals to go through and teach them on how to close, if you will, more new patients when they call in just asking general questions. So we’re trying to go full circle, as you, I believe you said from, I will help you generate more leads and get more patient conversations. But we’re also going to help you close those new patients too, and actually get their butts in your chair.
Matthew Sullivan:
And that’s, again, a hugely important part, because, as you mentioned earlier, the front desk, and it was almost like it’s a particular breed of person, like a sales prevention officer. So you’ve got to try and unravel decades of training that’s designed to fend people off rather than invite them in. So I suppose that’s probably the hardest challenge, isn’t it? Getting the front desk people to smile, or to?
Chris Pistorius:
Well, I’ll tell you we actually help sometimes with hiring, so we’ll run Facebook ads, trying to get front desk people or hygienists, whatever it may be, and they ask us our opinion on that. And with hygienists, obviously, you got to go to school for that or anything like that. But with front desk people, a lot of times we recommend hiring people with no experience. And they look at us like, “Are you crazy?”
Matthew Sullivan:
There’s no predefined view of this is how I should act.
Chris Pistorius:
You can get them cheaper, and then you can train them just the way that you want them. You got to spend a little bit more time and training. But what we found is that if you have somebody that comes in with 10 or 15 years of experience, it’s hard to mold them into the way that you want them and to teach them new tricks, if you will.
Matthew Sullivan:
Now, do you think that because of the intense personal relationship that the dentist has with the patient, at the time that they’re doing the surgery, and the amount of trust that’s involved, and the amount of cost that’s involved. I mean, these are potentially big ticket deals, these aren’t small purchases, 1000s and 1000s of dollars. So, do you think the marketing that you’re bringing to this group is actually at the cutting edge of digital marketing? In other words, your doing over the next few years will trickle down into other verticals that have that same trust requirement?
Chris Pistorius:
Without question. I think it already is. There’s a fine line between cutting edge and what works, right? Like for instance, we won’t actually deploy any strategy with one of our client’s money without knowing that it’s going to be effective. And right now, we’re testing on our own dime. TikTok and marketing, then. There is a segment of the population that it does very well for, and we’re still trying to figure that out. But we’re going to be one of the first dental marketing companies and there are others, that will go into TikTok and be able to produce results out of it. Most companies are unable to do that.
Matthew Sullivan:
And I get that, that’s what I mean. You’re spearheading all your, I know exactly what you mean. What you don’t want to do is have your clients be the guinea pigs because you’re all about results. But I just think just listening to what you’re saying that there’s so many ways that people market their services, and it’s stale, and what you’re doing is innovative, is delivering results. And it’s something that is very transferable to other types of businesses, where trust is important, where the ability to train people how to react, where your video concept. So, I think that’s really interesting. Well, I’m pleased to say actually, Chris, that we’ve now graduated to the final part of the interview, this is where I ask my quickfire questionnaire.
Chris Pistorius:
Oh, I’m in trouble. I didn’t study.
Matthew Sullivan:
No. These are one word answers.
Chris Pistorius:
All right.
Matthew Sullivan:
That’s fine. There are 10 questions. Don’t worry, it’s simple, though. And we have the power of the edit.
Chris Pistorius:
Perfect. That’s true. This isn’t live. I like that.
Matthew Sullivan:
No, that’s fine. Well, we can pretend it is live.
Chris Pistorius:
Oh, yes, it is live. That’s right.
Matthew Sullivan:
Exactly. But anyway, so my 10 questions. Just to wrap up what has been an incredibly interesting interview. Question number one. Chris Postorius, what is your favorite word?
Chris Pistorius:
Favorite word is innovation.
Matthew Sullivan:
Perfect. Number two, what is your least favorite word?
Chris Pistorius:
Anything negative. I just don’t like negative people and anything with a negative tone. Take you’re pick.
Matthew Sullivan:
Number three. What are you most excited about right now?
Chris Pistorius:
All this business. 12 years ago I started and hopped out of bed and couldn’t wait to get started and I still have that feeling.
Matthew Sullivan:
That’s great. Every day you still have that driving, that passion.
Chris Pistorius:
Absolutely.
Matthew Sullivan:
So number four, what turns you off right now?
Chris Pistorius:
Negativity. I hate social media. I’m in the business. The only reason I’m part of social media is because I have to be, but what I’ve experienced over the last few months with politics and COVID, and what I’ve seen and how other people act is just repulsive. And it’s horrible. And I think that’s probably my biggest thing there.
Matthew Sullivan:
Number five, what sound or noise do you love?
Chris Pistorius:
Whenever we bring on a new client, there’s a little noise that my contact management software makes and I always love to hear that.
Matthew Sullivan:
Ka-ching!
Chris Pistorius:
Well, it’s not bad, but it’s similar. I can’t describe it.
Matthew Sullivan:
Question number six, what noise or sound do you hate?
Chris Pistorius:
These guys that have these little, my apologies if you are one of these people, but these people that have these little cars that they souped up, and it sounds like a weed eater, like the rrrng nngg! And it’s a car that’s going by, I’m like, “What’s going on there?” So I don’t like that.
Matthew Sullivan:
I used to do that when I was a kid. I used to drill holes in my exhaust pipe. But you graduate from that when you’re about 16 or something.
Chris Pistorius:
Right. But that makes more of a like a manly girl sound. These new things with these little street racers, they sound like weed eaters, they really do.
Matthew Sullivan:
You’ll like this, number seven. What is your favorite curse word?
Chris Pistorius:
Wow.
Matthew Sullivan:
You can plead the fifth if you like.
Chris Pistorius:
That’s a toughy, because I can go deep there.
Matthew Sullivan:
No one listens to this anyways, so we’re fine.
Chris Pistorius:
I’m going to go with the S word. I use that a lot, it seems like.
Matthew Sullivan:
It’s good. I mean, these good, multifunctional words. Number eight, what profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Chris Pistorius:
I’d like to be a manager of a professional baseball team. I help coach my son’s little league team now, and I know that’s nowhere near, but I played baseball in high school in college. I think that’s what I’d like to try.
Matthew Sullivan:
That’s fantastic. Number nine, what profession would you not like to attempt?
Chris Pistorius:
Geez, anything that’s just like a daily grind, I think. Anything in Corporate America, I’m pretty anti that. But specifically, probably like a management type job.
Matthew Sullivan:
I can imagine that, just hell on earth.
Chris Pistorius:
I don’t think I can do it.
Matthew Sullivan:
Now talking of that, question 10, the final question. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates, cut.
Chris Pistorius:
Welcome in, would be good, I guess, take care.
Matthew Sullivan:
Here’s a star.
Chris Pistorius:
Versus the wrong exit, you got to go the other way, I think.
Matthew Sullivan:
That’s pretty. Well, Chris, thank you so much for being such a brilliant guest. Final question, how do people get hold of you? What’s the best way of contacting you and kickstart and learning more about how you can benefit their practices and their businesses generally?
Chris Pistorius:
The best way is just go to the website, kickstartdental.com. There’s several opportunities there to schedule what we call a strategy session, that’s our first stop. And actually it’ll be with me personally, I talk to every new client in the very first conversation. And we’ll go over, I have some questions and just see where it goes and see if we might be a good fit for what you’re trying to accomplish. So kickstartdental.com.
Matthew Sullivan:
Fantastic, good. Thanks once again, it’s been an absolute pleasure having you on and I look forward to following your progress and staying in touch.
Chris Pistorius:
Thanks so much for having me.
