To Sell a Product You Have to Accentuate the Positive…………..
In writing the posts that I place here on LinkedIn I am often searching for words to describe the marketing conditions that influence us in our purchases. While marketing conditions apply to many of the purchases we make, I am specifically interested in the endodontic market. Why is rotary so popular despite its increasing tendency to separate as pulpal anatomy becomes more complex? Why don’t we hear more about the inadequate cleansing of complex anatomy by rotary systems, as a side effect of the precautions taken to reduce the rate of breakage? The word that came to mind to maximize the acceptance of a system with well-documented limitations is "accentuated". Accentuate the positive. Well, that single word brought back my memories of an old Bing Crosby song, Accentuate the Positive. Listen and you will hear the basic principles of marketing. They can be applied to all products, but just for the fun of it let’s apply it to rotary NiTi and then go into the denial stage of any competitive alternatives.
Accentuate the positive- the reduction in hand fatigue, more rapid procedures, greater productivity (in simpler cases), less ledging, loss of length and canal distortions.
Eliminate the negative-no discussion regarding higher rates of instrument separation, inadequate cleansing of oval pulpal spaces as well as thin connecting isthmuses.
Latch onto the affirmative-reinforcement of the positive.
Don’t mess with Mr. In between-complete dismissal of alternative methods only muddies the waters and takes away from the positive messages that is being offered.
These words actually are quite positive in overcoming the vicissitudes of life. Stay positive and go forward without getting bogged down with a soul crushing emphasis on the negatives that life may have inflicted and I am sure that was the intent of the lyrics. Yet taking these same words and applying them to marketing, tells us in a rather simple way just what we are exposed to when the goal is to trade "our" dollars for “their” products. This old classic song can be a reminder to us to be aware of the techniques corporations will practice, in far more sophisticated ways, to mold our responses in making us more receptive to the products they make.
If a product is genuinely superior, it should not have to follow these tactics. Indeed, a full honest debate would be a tremendous marketing triumph if the products and techniques a company is offering are truly better. Challenges to alternative superior claims should and would be welcomed if the discussion flowing from these challenges further clarifies the reasons for their superiority. The workshops we are now offering to dentists give them ample opportunity to decide for themselves the merits of alternative systems, systems that the major manufacturers would like dentists not to be aware of, a negative they would like to eliminate because these alternatives not only bring to light the shortcomings they wish to ignore but, then go on to offer solutions to those shortcomings.
I am attaching the phone number dentist can call if they wish to take the 3 hour workshop that offers solutions to the limitations that rotary NiTi is associated with. The classes are small, no more than 5 people per class and the entire 3 hours is devoted to working on transparent 3D printed teeth where the dentists see for themselves that separation is entirely eliminated, undistorted shaping results and the canals are debrided in three dimensions followed by a simple three dimensional obturation technique. The tuition of the course is $275, about the lowest I could go to cover the costs.
The phone number to register for the course is 1212-880-2700. The location is 60 East 56th St. NYC, NY 10022.
Regards, Barry