On September 3, 2022, she suddenly contacted me via WeChat, expressing concerns about the declining business of her clinic. With monthly sales of only around 10,000 RMB, she urgently needed to turn the situation around, fearing that she might not be able to sustain it any longer. She hoped I could provide some advice to save her and her husband’s business. Initially, I had no intention of helping her, as diagnosing a problem and drafting a plan would require several hours of work. However, coincidentally, I was free that day, so I agreed to help her.
After several exchanges on WeChat, I gained a detailed understanding of her current situation and history. Her clinic is located in Nanshan, Shenzhen, and has been operating since her father’s generation in 1999. Its main services include teeth cleaning, tooth extraction, tooth restoration, etc. While tooth extraction brings moderate profits, tooth restoration yields higher profits but lacks repeat business since it typically lasts for over a decade. The reason why the monthly income of around 10,000 RMB barely supports the clinic is that the clinic’s location is in their own property, thus no rental costs are incurred. However, there are also several newly opened clinics nearby competing for their business.
After understanding her basic information, I spent about 10 minutes contemplating and then provided her with a set of marketing plans that could revive her business within a month. Here’s the plan:
Step 1: Purchase a membership card management system and design a high-end VIP teeth cleaning recharge card priced at 160 RMB.
The current problem faced by the clinic is a scarcity of customers. Therefore, the first step is to design a “bait” product to attract precise customers. This recharge card is preloaded with 160 RMB, and these cards are distributed. Users can use this card to directly pay for teeth cleaning at the clinic, priced at 128 RMB. This way, users can still have 32 RMB left after using the card. The reason for this will be explained later.
Some may argue that this is wishful thinking. Teeth cleaning currently costs only tens of RMB, and pricing it at 128 RMB would not sell. However, it’s important to note that this pricing is not intended to be sold at all. It’s entirely for the purpose of designing an entry-level gift. Because besides labor, the cost of teeth cleaning is only a few yuan, making it a perfect fit for the positioning of a super bait. Let’s continue…
Step 2: Approach nearby tea houses, shops selling tea leaves, tobacco and liquor shops, late-night snack shops, restaurants, and other eateries, and offer the recharge cards as complimentary gifts.
Why target these shops? I remember a friend who once operated a high-end dental hospital telling me that initially, her dental hospital had very few customers because the expenses were high. Later, she had a huge breakthrough and earned a lot of money. What was the breakthrough? She became good friends with the owner of a company with hundreds of employees. She then created a 300 RMB teeth cleaning card and gave it to the owner as an employee welfare gift for their staff.
Then those hundreds of employees gradually went to get their teeth cleaned with the card. Once they got their teeth cleaned, it was game over because once they opened their mouths, all the problems emerged. Who doesn’t have cavities, wide gaps between teeth, wisdom teeth issues, or misaligned teeth, right? So, what kind of people have the most dental problems? It’s quite simple, generally, those who smoke, drink tea, indulge in late-night snacks without brushing their teeth regularly are most prone to having yellow teeth, tea stains, and tobacco stains, right? Just take a look at the teeth of people around you who have been smoking and drinking tea for a long time, especially the inner side of their teeth. Look into a mirror, do they need cleaning? Raise your hand if they do. You might wonder, why approach restaurants and eateries? The reason is simple because people who use toothpicks during or after meals usually have poor dental hygiene. So, if you offer them a 160 RMB teeth cleaning recharge card, they won’t refuse it. The purpose of this is to leverage the traffic of nearby shops to attract customers to your clinic. These nearby shops provide your recharge card as a gift to their customers, adding value, improving service levels, and gaining a competitive edge. You just need to have these shop owners say, “This place provides excellent teeth cleaning. It’s opened by my friend, and I’ve recharged a few cards specifically for our premium customers. Here’s one with money in it. You can go get your teeth cleaned and deduct the amount directly.” This way, the shop owner feels prestigious, and the customer feels valued.
Step 3: Have more elements in the shop that give a sense of professionalism and sophistication. Why do this? It’s actually to differentiate from new competitors. Newly opened competitors usually emphasize cleanliness, advanced equipment, and superiority. In this aspect, they may not have an absolute advantage, so you need to approach it from another angle, emphasizing the clinic’s long history and mature, stable technology to prove its professionalism. How can you make customers feel this as soon as they enter? You need to set up some things, such as certificates, medals, a wall of photos with historical customers, etc. Also, the service and attire should give customers a sense of professionalism.
Step 4: When customers come with the card, provide free teeth cleaning and show your professionalism through attentive service.
When customers come to use the card, you must greet them with enthusiasm. Don’t wear a frown just because it’s free; instead, provide excellent service. This is something physical stores often fail to do. I remember a friend who owned a restaurant. He offered some meal deals on Meituan, and many customers came. However, because these deals didn’t make any profit, his service attitude was mediocre. This led to the customers feeling undervalued, and eventually, they didn’t return for more purchases.
Therefore, always remember this point. Actually, as long as you plan the strategy well, it’s impossible to lose money. First, let’s look at your costs. Each card costs 1.5 RMB, so if you distribute 1000 cards, it’s 1500 RMB. If 10% of the customers come for teeth cleaning, that’s 150 people. The cost of each cleaning is 5 RMB, so the total cost is 750 RMB, making it a total of 2250 RMB, right?
Step 5: During the teeth cleaning process, identify any dental issues and provide tailored professional advice. Once customers come for teeth cleaning, everything becomes easier because most people have some dental issues. So, by asking targeted questions, customers will seek advice themselves. For example:
“Mr. Lu, I noticed that you have relatively large gaps between your teeth. Do you experience discomfort when eating fibrous foods like lean meat, enoki mushrooms, or garlic chives?”
“Miss Liu, it seems like you have an extra wisdom tooth on the lower right side. Do you occasionally feel soreness?”
Believe me, when you’re lying on the dental chair and a doctor in a white coat asks you questions like these, you usually respond with, “Doctor, what should I do?”
At this point, neither the doctor nor you should show eagerness to make a deal. Instead, provide advice from a professional perspective. Naturally, the customer will ask about the cost. This is the opportunity. For example:
“Mr. Lu, based on your situation, if we fill this gap today, it will cost 380 RMB. However, since you still have 32 RMB left on your recharge card, you only need to pay 348 RMB today to complete it.”
If out of the 150 customers, 100 have other dental issues, and out of those, 50 accept the advice and undergo treatment,Will it make money? Definitely, right?Up to this point, the plan has solved 80% of the problem. However, this is not enough because this industry has a low repurchase rate and a long repurchase cycle. Moreover, you can’t always rely on others to provide you with user traffic. Therefore, we need to have a self-circulating blood-making function. So please take a look at step six:
Give each returning customer a similar card, but with a validity period of one month, and ask them to give it to a friend for dental cleaning.
Give each customer who comes in the dentist’s WeChat, and then give them three vouchers worth 128 yuan each for dental cleaning. These vouchers can only be used for dental cleaning. Let them be used as gifts to their friends and bring in more real customers. This is a process of fission. Some may ask, why would they help you give them out? There are two reasons:
The clinic provides very professional services, and the teeth are washed very white and clean, making the customer feel very comfortable throughout the process.
Keeping them unused because a person only needs to wash their teeth once a year, and the voucher is valid for one month. So keeping it is equivalent to not using it, so it’s better to give it away or let family members come for cleaning.
Okay, that’s all for today’s sharing. If this article is helpful to you, please recommend it to your friends and colleagues for them to provide valuable articles. Maybe your friends also need it.
