Education

Happy Holidays!
Just two months until Lab Day Chicago 2014. Check out the Nov/Dec issue of LMT to see...See more what is being offered for your educational benefit. In the January ssue you will see more details of the programs and their scheduled times. Just a reminder, if you are not providing CAD CAM and Custom Abutment Implants to your dentists, stop by my seminar on Saturday, February 22, 2013 from 7:30am - 8:30 am or 8:30 am - 9:30am. The subject is "Evolution of Outsourcing: CAD/CAM, Custom Abutments - How does this fit into your business model"? It is getting more difficult to gain new accounts and I may have a few ideas for you which will be discussed during this program. Come join us, there is No Charge and you will get 1-Scientific CDT credit for attending! See you there.

My fellow technicians, anyone interested in collaborating with like-minded professionals from the lab...See more industry and clinical industry should consider this program. Many of us complain that there isn't enough collaborative educational opportunities to elevate ourselves in our clinical peers' eyes... well, this one is slated to be great! AND, it's absolutely free admittance to the laboratory profession at large. If you're well on your way into the digital age of dentistry, cautiously considering it or not sure... join our professional partners and explore the possibilities...!!!

Just a heads up to let you know that if you register for the Master Implant Esthetics With Lee Culp course...See more by or before September 1st, 2013, you will receive a special discounted price of $499 instead of the regular $699 tuition. That’s $499 for 21 CE credits and a great course with one of the masters of our modern industry!

Please visit the website- www.ivoclarvivadent.us and select "education" to see the course description. If you want to register please contact me at 800-533-6825 ext. 2902

Get a free product sample and a chance to win an iPad mini!

All you have to do is become a member of...See more our MyDental360 community. You'll get the latest industry news, educational opportunities, exclusive product offers, specials and so much more.

Just click here to register: http://mydental360.com/profile Get a free product sample and a chance to win an iPad mini!

Quick reminders:

The seminar attendance is filling out fast.

The refreshments will be served in...See more room N 403 at 5-6pm and the seminar will take place in Atrium Amphitheater 6-8pm at NYCCT.
Please ask security guards for guidance on how to get to these locations.

Greater New York CDT Study Group is providing 4 educational and 1 infection control seminar during academic year. Refreshments are provided from students and dental professionals membership fees to our organization. Therefore, upcoming event is free for members but the students will be collecting membership fees from dental professionals. For more information email Renata Budny at rbudny@citytech.cuny.edu.
GNYCDTSG members should have their membership card and the attending CDTs please make sure to have your CDT number to receive 2CDT credits for the seminar.

Thank you very much and we are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday.

I recently started looking for new techs for my lab. I have some prospects tell me they are a grandfathered...See more CDT. They haven't taken any tests nor do they educational hours required by the industry. So politely I ask for documentation for this grandfathered in. Of course they don't have any.
Does anybody run into this?

Last week our lab sponsored Dr Howard Farran (CEO of dentaltown.com) to over 100 dentists and 14 vendors...See more exhibiting; It was ,as usual with Dr Farran, a raving success. Howard is a staright forward power-information type of guy that tells it like it is,and teaches the dentists how to succeed in a challenging economy.

The point is that it is events like these that can build your laboratory. Is it for everyone,of course not. But even if you do not 'want to' or 'cannot' get in front of a group to speak, let alone simply make an informercial and introduce your speaker, then all is not lost: simply have someone do it for you,perhaps your most outgoing tech, an outgoing office staff person,etc. However, I have to tell you, our lab is connected to 100 (yes,100) events a year, with study clubs, county societies, our own seminars directly sponsored & marketed by us, and with specialists looking to build & maintain their referral base.

Think about how long it would take you to be in frontof 20 (let alone 100) dentists and have their attention! Here you can do it, in a most memorable way, and at NO cost to you. (Should I repeat that: no cost to you)
Our lab has been using education honestly not just as a marketing tool, but as a genuine way of upgrading the dental community here in our target market(NJ), sometimes changing dentists lives(yes,I'll explain this in later posts), and filling a true void in continuing education,since we only have one dental school in the state.
I will talk about negotiating with venues,how to select venues,speakers:negotiating and selection, how to market & guarantee you'll fill up your seats, using telemarketing,direct mail,and networking to market your events but in a very cost effective way, and partnering with 'vendors' who want exposure to the dentists at your events! (I hope to write a detailed article for LMT on this)
Over the years our lab sponsored over 1000 events,including week long cruises to Carribean,Alaska and Mediterranean,and several weekend trips to Las Vegas.
Over half our clients come from continuing ed events,and it is also an opportunity to bond and maintain relations by seeing your current clients at these events,
Whether you are thinking of getting started in this arena, or you are a seasoned event planner,I am confident you'll find some pearls in my upcoming posts. But it's pretty late having driven back from an evening seminar tonight so,see you guys soon!

A new client of mine who has decided to make an educational commitment to be among the top 1 percent...See more of Dentist in our country just sent me a full mouth wax-up from a prominent American laboratory…….. I'm speechless and saddened.

Escape to some place warm this winter- Introduction to Press Technology course in Sarasota, FL on March...See more 21 & 22. Please call 800-533-6825 ext. 2902 to register. For information on all of our education courses please visit www.ivoclarvivadent.us

The Annual AACD Scientific Session (April 24-27, 2013 in Seattle) is well-regarded for facilitating communication...See more between dentists and laboratory technicians and encouraging the highest standards of excellence and patient care. For AACD 2013 Seattle, the educational program will offer more than 15 courses geared towards the dentists/lab tech team, including:

• Drs. John Cranham and Leonard Hess â€�" Lost in Translation? Communicating Incisal Edge Position with Your Laboratory
• Dr. Frank Milnar and Jennifer Wohlberg â€�" Composite Artistry: Advanced Layering Concepts Combined with the Artist Palette to Create a Composite Veneer
• Drs. John Kois and Betsy Bakeman â€�" Achieving Esthetic Nirvana vs. Functional Misery

And the AACD is once again offering its First-time Laboratory Technician Attendee rate�"a deeply discounted tuition fee of only $695. Register now at www.AACDconference.com.

. . .Good Tuesday morning to each & everyone here on the Bridge! I want to take a moment of your time...See more prior to thei up & and coming Thanksgiving Holiday to Share a couple of thoughts with "YOU". I am Thankful for this 'GREAT Country we live in even with the "Problems " we now Face! I am Thankful for being a part of a great Career . . .the "DENTAL (PASSION) CAREER", and even though I may not be at the point I would like to be in this Field , I know that My creator will take me to another Level in HIs Time . . .Not mine ! I am Thankful to LIVE in a Country where we have People & Groups such as "HELPING HANDS "where they reach out & touch those that are Hurting ( I do the same in a smaller Way). However, most of all I am Thankful for living in a Country, where I can go to Church . . .where I wish , where I can go & Get that EXTRA EDUCATION to ADVANCE My FIELD, But most of all I am Thankful for the "FREEDOM " that this country affords me to live this LIFE the WAY I WANT TO LIVE IT, and most Importantly . . .I am THANKFUL for FRIENDS . . .Friends like those here On the BRIDGE, and other social Networks as well !Thank you LMT. . .Thank YOU BRIDGESTERS. . .I wish each & everyone of you & yours a "HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON ! Peace. . .Patrick!

Just like most of you, I believe in getting high value for my well spent dollars, as a matter of fact....that's...See more exactly what our customers are thinking every minute,particularly in today's challenging economy, so...

1. Choose TOP notch speakers for your events(and I will be listing my favorites of course): obviously ask your speakers which companies or vendors they might mention or who has supported them before,contact those companies and 'partner' with them, meaning charge them a small 'fee' for having a display table at your event to help defray the costs.

What costs am I talking about: the speakers' possible honorarium,travel expenses, audio visual rentals, any meals or refreshments, room rental of the meeting venue,marketing costs.

CHARGE money to get in(to the Drs & staff),offer a discount if paid in advance,higher fee at the door,many reasons for this. And charge enough to anticipate your costs,get a feeling how many you expect to register.

2. Choose a beautiful venue,just like most of you, your dentists want to come to a new place, a beautiful hotel, or a gorgeous restaurant that they normally would not stop at too frequently. They want a great meal with top service. In general I don't believe in including alcohol,and depending on the venue there may be a cash bar for those that must have that glass of wine with dinner. Alcohol adds to the expenses, and can interfere with the meeting,I don't see any benefits with that.

3. Partnering with vendors to market your event and offset expenses; Part of the 'deal' in letting other non-competitive vendors at your event is they must also pass out your flyers/newsletter or announcements to prospective registrants,maybe even 'stuff' it in their outgoing packages(particularly if its a big supply house). Or their reps can hand them out on their office visits to Drs.

I will go into many details on the above,including how to save $,how to maximize your marketing dollars, and insure a successful event.

For now, the largest piece of advice, is that if you are going to do this on a continuous basis, seek approval for providing education credits either with CERP (the ADA) or AGD,they are highly recognized by state boards for approving courses,etc and carry a lot of weight, as their 50page application may dictate! They have very high standards and rightly so, as you will be entrusted to provide a very objective service to their profession. But once you are an entrusted provider of continuing ed credits, it will open many doors for you. Again,details to follow. Meanwhile,feel free to comment or ask questions,Sincerely,Marc

(PS) you are welcome to check my website: asteto.com and look under 'resources and see our newsletter for samples of upcoming events,etc. — tagged Marketing

As summer winds down, continuing education offerings pick up! This course from Dr. Scotty Bolding shows...See more how digital dentistry is changing the workflows between the laboratory technician, surgeon, and restorative dentist. As a laboratory technician, digital dentistry places you in the center of the workflow and offers opportunities for improved collaboration. 6.5 hours of CE Credit is available!

Looking for an inclusive education program on digital dentistry? Our last session at U of Florida was...See more summed up in one phrase: fantastic! eMail education.us@straumann.com for information on special discount pricing for our University of Louisville DDEC program! Digital is here to stay - how are you preparing your laboratory to remain competitive?

Looking for quality education and ADA credits on digital dentistry? Learn the latest in guided surgery...See more planning & template fabrication, CADCAM and intra-oral scanning for your laboratory. It's not too late to join a 2-day course sponsored by the University of Florida Friday, June 22 and Saturday, June 23: seating is available!

Weekly Web Tip: When working on your website you work with a lot of the marketing fundamentals for your...See more business. There are some steps you should take before even thinking about what content to put on your site and what search terms you should target:

1. Who are your customers/target market - this one is just a general context the obvious answer being dentists (simple I know, stay with me).
2. Who are your customers REALLY - do you want to target local dentists, national dentists, source internationally. Do you specialize in quality, price, turnaround, service, added education and chair side assistance?
3. Once you've really thought about who you want to target, now you should have an idea of the people that will be searching for you. Sit in their chair, what would your target market type into a search engine to find you?
4. Search the terms you think people will use to find you - compare what your competition is doing to be at the number one spot. This will also show you if your search terms are relevant.
5. Add these qualified search terms to your site - in content, links, meta description, title page, headings, site index's, basically wherever you can.
6. Search yourself using the search terms you are targeting to ensure your making progress - this will keep you motivated and let you know if your on the right path.
7. If it ain't broke you still gotta fix it. Search terms (AddWords as google calls them) are to be integrated frequently, if your competition/target market shifts then you have to be there, searchable and ready to accommodate more business. Add different types of search terms, you don't just target 'dental lab' almost every dental lab site has that in their URL. You need terms that include your products and services, your competitive advantage (what you do better than others) and anything else you think is worthy information that will appeal to your audience when they are searching for a dental lab.
8. Ask your friends! - You should always ask your friends (and your dentists), "What would you search if you were looking for a lab?" That question can give you an immense amount of feedback.

Learn your dentists, know what they want, what they think they want and what they don't know they want and then add it to your site. Websites, like all marketing is a numbers game. Get 1000 hits get 10 new customers. The more accurate search terms you include on your site, the higher that number will be.

The weekly web tip is designed to help dental lab owners develop their websites to get more value from their web presence. If you have any points you would like to share please include them in the comments section!

Last week at the Implant Esthetics Center of Excellence we hosted our first International education program...See more in partnership with Ivoclar Colombia. New Dimensions in Esthetic Dentistry was instructed by Rafael Santrich, CDT. The first course was on June 4 & 5 and the second course was on June 7 & 8. I will be posting photos soon! — tagged Ivoclar Vivadent Inc.

http://www.speareducation.com/spear-review/2012/04/three-ways-to-ruin-the-relationship-with-your-technician/?goback=.gmp_3740144.gde_3740144_member_109354992

We recently updated our Continuing Education classes for May and June. Click here for a class near you!

It's early but we're getting ready in Sheraton Ballroom 1! Stop by and demo the brand-new CARES System...See more 7.0 software with validated and external workflows for your laboratory, and enter to win free tuition and a travel voucher (up to $500) to any Digital Dentistry Education Center (DDEC) course across the US in 2012! Stop by anytime today!

The Best B-to-B Email Marketing Practices

We hear e-mail marketing is becoming obsolete and social networking...See more is morphing into the medium of choice for online communication. But in the B-to-B community, it hasn’t happened yet.

So, what are some of the best practices in B-to-B e-mail marketing today?

A. E-lists

To begin, instead of renting lists and sending emails to cold prospects, get people to opt-in to your e-list. Then concentrate on email marketing to your house file.

Emails to house file lists generates two to three times the click through rate (CTR) or higher than outside lists. And emailing to your own list eliminates the list rental charges.

The most popular method to building your own opt-in e-list is by offering a free subscription to an online newsletter, a free webinar or white paper report.

Determining how often you should e-mail your subscriber list has been the biggest worry among marketers, as they are worried about offending people. Studies shows that the biggest mistake marketers make is not emailing their list enough.

Here is a method you can use to determine the email frequency to your e-list subscribers.
Measure the opt-out rate, which is the percentage of subscribers who unsubscribe after an email is distributed to the list. As a rule of thumb, your opt-out rate should be 0.1 percent or less.
To increase e-mail frequency, add one more email to your weekly or monthly schedule. If opt-out rate stays the same, you can safely increase email frequency to the new level. If it spikes, cut back to the old frequency.

One reason for the opt-outs other that frequency is the quality of your emails. A good rule of thumb is that at least 50% of your email message should be content. If the ratio of content to sales falls below 50%, your opt-out rate will increase and your open rate will decrease.

B. Email Content

Here are a few tips to finessing your email copy.
1. Begin with an engaging headline or lead-in sentence. For instance, a dental laboratory provides dentures, partials, and crown and bridge restorations. They sent an email to past customers who once used the laboratory for one of the above services but had dropped off the customer and email list. The headline: “You Are Still Practicing Dentistry, Right?” It struck a chord because, of course, in almost every instance, the recipient still practice dentistry. The open rate was 52.3 percent and the click-through rate was 34.6 percent. Dozens of old customers were reactivated.
2. In the first paragraph, deliver a mini-version of your complete message. Readers should know who you are, what you are selling, and why they should be interested.
3. Within the first couple of paragraphs, state the offer and provide a link to a landing page or another immediate response mechanism.
4. After the first paragraph copy, present expanded copy covering features, benefits, and other relevant information.
5. The offer and response mechanism should be repeated in the close of the email.
6. Take it easy on the ALL CAPS. Words in all caps give the impression you are shouting
7. Use wide margins. Limit yourself to about 60 character width per line.
8. The tone should be helpful, friendly, informative and educational - not promotional or hard sell.
9. Be concise. Readers are quickly sorting through many messages and aren’t disposed to stick with you for a a long time.
10. Regardless of the length, get the important points across quickly.

Furthermore, an effective way to organize your email copy is to use the following motivating sequence:
a. Get attention
b. State the problem your prospect has
c. Position your product or service as the solution to that problem
d. Offer proof that your product or services is indeed a superior solution, and
e. Ask for action.

Keep in mind you don’t need to fit all of your product copy and sales points within the email itself. Shorter emails are always better emails. Have multiple links throughout your email. Once at the beginning, one or more in the body, and one at the close.

In conclusion, studies found that one of the biggest influences on open rates and click-through rates is the subject line. Tests of subject lines have shown click-through rate differences of 25% to 50% and in some cases higher. Craig Stouffer, general manager of B-to-B email marketing solutions, says that subject lines 40 to 50 characters in length significantly outperforms subject lines 70 to 80 characters.

LMT offers so much at Lab Day Chicago it's impossible to pick a starting point! Straumann has it all...See more - new material offerings with 3M ESPE for resin nano-ceramics, screw-retained bars and bridges via CADCADM, our new CARES System 7.0 and exclusive giveaways to day-long seminars on Digital Dentistry Educational Centers at the nation's top university's throughout 2012! Visit http://labday.straumann.us to learn more!

Heraeus Education is proud to announce that the 2012 Webinar Schedule is now finalized!
Webinars offer...See more you and your team an exciting opportunity to learn about the latest restorative and prosthetic materials and technology from the comfort of your own office. Our world-renowned speakers are committed to providing you with the newest strategies for transforming patients’ livesâ€�"and for growing your practice or laboratory through esthetics.

If you enjoy learning the latest innovative esthetic techniques and practice/business building strategies�"Register today!

And don't forget to access our growing library of archived webinars�" available for viewing ANY TIME!

Visit www.heraeusdentalusa.com

It has been a great start to my new role at DTI/Microdental. It is so good to be back with these folks....See more I oversee Clinical Education, a Sales Team and I am back Buying Dental Labs. Sales are up, Lecturing with Lee Culp and Rob Kreyer has been fun and we have acquired/merged with over 8 million in new business so far this year. DTI/Microdental will likely partner with another 2+ million before the year is over. Talk about keeping busy! The Thanksgiving break was well needed.

LAB DAY 2012 educational clinics are now live on The Bridge! Just visit the "LAB DAY Chicago/Clinics"...See more tab to see the up-to-date listings. Click the "Schedule" tab to see the programs in chronological order.

When you choose the seminars you would like to go to, click the attend button (or register directly with the sponsoring company).

The clinics and schedule will be updated daily, so please continue to check back.

Please feel free to share this CE course listings page with dental professionals you think would be interested...See more in attending. The live continuing education courses are held at the new Glidewell International Technology Center in Irvine, Calif. Thank you, and Happy Monday everyone! http://www.glidewelldental.com/dentist/education/gitc-courses-glidewell-international-technology-center.aspx

This Fall, LMT's focus is on education. Got something interesting to share about your educational endeavers?...See more Share it with us here and we may contact you to feature you in an upcoming issue.

Jim Glidewell had their grand openning celebration for the new International Technology Center on July...See more 14th. My brother and I were fortunate to be invited. With seating for 40, and enclosed operatory behind white opaque glass that turns clear with the flip of a switch, and audio visual equiptment to rival all the major education centers we enjoyed food and beverages, tours of the facility and implant lab while spending time with several wonderful doctors, technicians and of course a great host, Jim Glidewell. Check their web site for some great education to come. www.glidewellce.com I'm looking forward to attending the short course demonstrating their new intra-oral impression scanner system, IOS FastScan.