We are delighted to share with you this testimonial from Dr Robert Irvine, specialist orthodontist and owner of Borders Orthodontics. We started working with Robert and his team at the end of 2019 and not long before the first lockdown.

I was happy with my level of income and my sphere of practice. I was aware we could do more private work and improve our profile but as a single-handed practice with a therapist, I was reluctant to be taken out of my comfort zone. I was happy with my staff and the good standard of service we provided. I was a Luddite to social media and marketing and was not into “ethical selling” viewing myself as an old school pre advertising professional. I was aware that my website was hopeless but didn’t care.

I was frustrated however at seeing adults who had had STO orthodontic options, provided locally, that was not up to the standard of care of a specialist orthodontic practice. I realised that I had culpability in this, as, how could I expect patients to know the difference if we didn’t tell them and they did not know we existed?

Being a predominantly NHS practice that provided some private adult orthodontic care it was clear that we just didn’t need internet traffic sent to a new website. We needed to change culturally as a practice and I needed to bring the staff with me, which would require them to feel involved and connected to the journey. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it but I knew that it was a change that I needed to take for the community at large, the longevity of the practice and provide a brighter more involving environment for the staff.

It was at Glasgow BOC 2019 that I bumped into Neil and Sarah from Hillyard MacDonald. I asked them to speak to my practice manager to get an idea of what she felt needed to change at the practice. We discussed our goals and their methods. They agreed to look at us and see if we were the type of practice they could work with and we arranged a follow-up meeting.

We have been in a partnership ever since with a shared goal of where we need to get to. We want organic growth of the private side of the practice, recognition and enhancement of our reputation as a friendly practice driven by quality clinical outcomes and a profile as the first place to come for orthodontic enquiries.

This is exactly what Hillyard MacDonald deliver. Neil has immersed himself in the people and process of the practice identifying things we do well and areas that we need to address to improve patient enquiry and acceptance. We have had to ask difficult questions of ourselves. By putting the experience of the patient first and foremost we are moving to a position where our patients can do our marketing for us. 

Through the pandemic Neil was excellent in handling the comms of the practice enabling us to communicate with our patients making them feel valued and important to us, not abandoned. Despite most of our journey thus far being through a pandemic, the private income of the practice has doubled.

If you just want to drive traffic to your website then Hillyard MacDonald are not for you. If you want to improve the culture, turnover and pleasure of your practice life then give them a call.