Bite-sized dental wisdom in under 2 minutes.

Just Two Minutes: The Coffee

We recently had a dentist on the podcast who told us one of my favorite marketing stories.

He had opened a new practice and needed patients. And if you have ever opened a practice from scratch, you know exactly where the PTSD flashbacks come in.

You have the chairs, equipment, front desk all ready to go…

And then you look at the schedule and there is just…nothing.

So he started thinking about how to get in front of people. His office was near a King Soopers, and from the entrance of the grocery store, you could see his practice. So he had an idea.

He went into the Starbucks inside the grocery store and asked to talk to the manager. He wanted to buy coffee for people that walked in that day.

Seems simple enough. When someone ordered a drink, the barista would hand it to them with a sticker on the cup that said the coffee was from his dental office. Then the barista would tell them, “The dentist across the parking lot bought your coffee today.”

That was it.

Just coffee, a sticker, and a dentist willing to introduce himself.

Of course, the manager said no. So he waited, and then asked again. Still no. So then he waited a bit longer and asked again. Eventually, they said yes.

Then he stood outside the King Soopers on Super Bowl weekend, in the cold, and talked to people as they walked out with their Starbucks.

He would introduce himself, point to his office, and say something like, “If you don’t have a dentist, we’re right over there. We’d love to see you.”

Most of us hear a story like this and immediately start explaining why it only worked for him.

His office was visible from the grocery store. It was probably a small town. Maybe there weren’t many dentists nearby. Maybe his Starbucks was just nicer than mine.

But it wasn’t a small town, and he was not the only dentist around.

He thought through the location. He asked the manager. He kept asking. He bought the coffee. He stood outside in the cold. He talked to strangers.

Could it have failed?

Yes. Absolutely.

A lot of things fail. But that is not a reason to do nothing.

It just means you try it, see what happens, and then decide what to do next.

If it does not work, now you know. If it does, you may have found something worth repeating.

The point is not that every dentist needs to go buy Starbucks for strangers.

The point is that out-of-the-box thinking sounds great until it requires you to actually get out of the box.

…And that is usually where the excuses start. We say it would not work for us. Our area is different. Our patients are different. Our town is different. Maybe.

Or maybe we just do not want to stand outside in a parka on Super Bowl weekend and risk looking stupid.

That might be the only cost of finding out. Because even if it fails, you still get something: information.

And if it works, great. Now you have something to repeat.

So yes, the idea matters.

But the follow-through is what makes the real difference.

Because a lot of people are willing to think outside the box. A lot fewer are willing to stand outside of King Soopers in the cold and actually test it.

-Dr. Alex

P.S. The same thing happens inside a dental office.

Most teams do not need another meeting about what they should be doing. They need a simple way to actually do it, every day.

Milo turns the processes you want your team to follow into assigned checklists, so good ideas do not just become another thing you meant to start.