I am always looking for ways to grow my practice. A while ago I had a practice consultant tell me that internal marketing is always the most effective way to get new patients. Internal marketing has many facets, but is primarily based on treating the patients you have so well that they can't help but talk about you to their friends and family.
Thus, we do our best to treat our patients the way we would want to be treated. In my office, that means scheduling individual appointment times for each patient so that patients are never made to wait. I diagnosis based on the patient's wants and I assist the patient in making informed decisions on their proposed treatments. I have surrounded myself with friendly staff that have a similar mindset and go out of their way to assist our patients with everything from pain management to financing options.
To reward our patients that do refer their friends and family we have started a program called "Care to Share." Each month we have a drawing for two $50 gift baskets. For the month of April we are giving away Dodger tickets. Both the person that referred the new patient and the new patient are entered into the drawing. It is our way of saying thanks for thinking of us. Also, we give every referral source two mann movie tickets, each time they refer a new patient.
We implemented the Care to Share program this past November and so far so good. We have seen an increase in our word of mouth referrals from our patients.
Kari Ann Hong, DDS
1000 Newbury Road, Suite 190
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
www.dentist4smiles.com
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Sleep and Babies
Time Magazine online published an article today on "How Not to Get Babies to Sleep." My husband lovingly emailed me the link to the article this morning. This article is particularly poignant to me right now since I haven't slept much lately. My son is ten months old today and he has slept through the night only once in ten months.
According to the article, "Every new parent knows how difficult it can be to get a fussy baby to sleep, but new research suggests that a parent's best efforts may only be exacerbating the problem — and that inadequate sleep in childhood can have long-lasting health effects. "It is very hard to let your child cry it out when they are toddlers," says Dr. Elsie Taveras of Harvard Medical School, referring to parents' tendency to pick up their children or bring them into the family bed to help them sleep. "But if you approach it differently — 'I am not even going to start my child making these sleep associations' — it's much easier to prevent [future problems]."
It is wonderful to know that in addition to the fact I am struggling with making my son sleep in his own bed, through the entire night, I now need to worry about the long-lasting health effects of his poor sleep habits. Before my son was born I swore I would encourage good sleep habits and that he would be sleeping through the night in no time. I read Baby Wise and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby. In line with the thinking in those books I have tried to be consistent with a bedtime, nap times, and feeding times. I have tried a bedtime routine of bath time, reading, and feeding. I have let him cry himself to sleep since he was three months old.
The problem seems to be when he wakes up at 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the morning and I am totally exhausted. My first inclination is to feed him. Although at this age I don't think he is really hungry in the middle of the night. Sometimes I let him sleep with me in an effort to get some sleep myself. I feel like I am doing everything wrong when it comes to getting him to sleep through the night. At this point in time I think I am almost encouraging the night time waking because I am SO attentive to his needs.
Kari Ann Hong, DDS
1000 Newbury Road, Suite 190
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
www.dentist4smiles.com
According to the article, "Every new parent knows how difficult it can be to get a fussy baby to sleep, but new research suggests that a parent's best efforts may only be exacerbating the problem — and that inadequate sleep in childhood can have long-lasting health effects. "It is very hard to let your child cry it out when they are toddlers," says Dr. Elsie Taveras of Harvard Medical School, referring to parents' tendency to pick up their children or bring them into the family bed to help them sleep. "But if you approach it differently — 'I am not even going to start my child making these sleep associations' — it's much easier to prevent [future problems]."
It is wonderful to know that in addition to the fact I am struggling with making my son sleep in his own bed, through the entire night, I now need to worry about the long-lasting health effects of his poor sleep habits. Before my son was born I swore I would encourage good sleep habits and that he would be sleeping through the night in no time. I read Baby Wise and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby. In line with the thinking in those books I have tried to be consistent with a bedtime, nap times, and feeding times. I have tried a bedtime routine of bath time, reading, and feeding. I have let him cry himself to sleep since he was three months old.
The problem seems to be when he wakes up at 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the morning and I am totally exhausted. My first inclination is to feed him. Although at this age I don't think he is really hungry in the middle of the night. Sometimes I let him sleep with me in an effort to get some sleep myself. I feel like I am doing everything wrong when it comes to getting him to sleep through the night. At this point in time I think I am almost encouraging the night time waking because I am SO attentive to his needs.
Kari Ann Hong, DDS
1000 Newbury Road, Suite 190
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
www.dentist4smiles.com
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