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The Marketing 32 Show

The Marketing 32 Show

By: Brett Allen
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 This is the Marketing 32 Show, a show that connects with leading dentists, influencers, and experts to explore strategies and innovations that help dental practices grow and thrive.The Marketing 32 Show (c) 2024 Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • "I Reduced My Overhead by 20% Just Like That": Why Private Practices Are Paying 60% More Than DSOs for the Exact Same Supplies

    "I Reduced My Overhead by 20% Just Like That": Why Private Practices Are Paying 60% More Than DSOs for the Exact Same Supplies
    Apr 28 2026
    What happens when a dentist who's been talking about becoming a dentist since he was eight years old (literally playing a dentist in a school play) builds a multi-practice portfolio, gets incredible vendor discounts due to economy of scale, then sells off practices one by one and watches those discounts dwindle—and realizes private practices are getting crushed while DSOs thrive on pricing advantages that shouldn't exist? Dr. John Montoya has been practicing dentistry for over 25 years in Boulder, Colorado, and after owning multiple practices throughout his career and experiencing both sides of vendor pricing (the economy-of-scale benefits and the single-practice penalty), he founded Dental Purchasing Partners to level the playing field. His revelation was brutal: single-location practices might think they're doing great with a 5% discount on supplies, but DSOs are getting 10-60% discounts on the exact same products—and the company is still making money at those lower prices. When he scaled down from multiple locations to one practice, his discounts disappeared, and he thought "this is insane—why is the private practice paying the most out of anybody in dentistry?" So he approached his vendors, asked what he needed to do to get those discounts back, built a formulary, and started Dental Purchasing Partners to help doctors stay independent while getting the same pricing as big corporations. In this eye-opening conversation, Dr. Montoya reveals how he reduced his own overhead by 20% with just a couple simple changes (money that immediately hit the bottom line), why practice brokers have to deliver devastating news to dentists producing $1-1.8M with 80% overhead versus 60% (the guy with 60% gets way more value at sale), and why dental schools desperately need to provide MBA-level business education since the lion's share of dentists graduate and open small businesses with zero clue how to run them. He shares how DSOs buy practices producing a lot but then strip out costs (supplies, credit card processing, payroll) to make investors happy by revealing the profit that was always there but hidden, why you could run a successful million-dollar practice with 80% overhead and still take home a paycheck but miss the much bigger paycheck waiting at 60% overhead, and why Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods both have coaches despite being at the top of their game—so why don't you? If you've ever wondered whether there's a better way to negotiate vendor pricing, how much overhead is really too much, or what it takes to compete with DSO buying power without selling your independence, this episode will completely transform how you think about supply costs, profitability, and what it really means to run a lean, profitable practice that's worth more when you retire. "I Reduced My Overhead by 20% Just Like That": Why Private Practices Are Paying 60% More Than DSOs for the Exact Same Supplies What happens when a dentist who's been talking about becoming a dentist since he was eight years old (literally playing a dentist in a school play) builds a multi-practice portfolio, gets incredible vendor discounts due to economy of scale, then sells off practices one by one and watches those discounts dwindle—and realizes private practices are getting crushed while DSOs thrive on pricing advantages that shouldn't exist? Dr. John Montoya has been practicing dentistry for over 25 years in Boulder, Colorado, and after owning multiple practices throughout his career and experiencing both sides of vendor pricing (the economy-of-scale benefits and the single-practice penalty), he founded Dental Purchasing Partners to level the playing field. His revelation was brutal: single-location practices might think they're doing great with a 5% discount on supplies, but DSOs are getting 10-60% discounts on the exact same products—and the company is still making money at those lower prices. When he scaled down from multiple locations to one practice, his discounts disappeared, and he thought "this is insane—why is the private practice paying the most out of anybody in dentistry?" So he approached his vendors, asked what he needed to do to get those discounts back, built a formulary, and started Dental Purchasing Partners to help doctors stay independent while getting the same pricing as big corporations. In this eye-opening conversation, Dr. Montoya reveals how he reduced his own overhead by 20% with just a couple simple changes (money that immediately hit the bottom line), why practice brokers have to deliver devastating news to dentists producing $1-1.8M with 80% overhead versus 60% (the guy with 60% gets way more value at sale), and why dental schools desperately need to provide MBA-level business education since the lion's share of dentists graduate and open small businesses with zero clue how to run them. He shares how DSOs buy practices producing a lot but then strip out costs (supplies, credit card processing, payroll) to make ...
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    24 mins
  • "Google Started Indexing Social Media in July 2025": Why Your Dancing Videos Won't Help AI Understand Your Dental Implant Expertise

    "Google Started Indexing Social Media in July 2025": Why Your Dancing Videos Won't Help AI Understand Your Dental Implant Expertise
    Apr 14 2026
    What happens when a treatment coordinator at a startup Denver periodontist practice spends a decade helping grow it from one doctor and three team members to five periodontists, 20+ team members, and multiple locations—then starts writing a blog about social media for dentistry that takes off and leads to speaking internationally about Facebook when it was brand new? Rita Zamora is a dental social media expert, speaker, and author of "Get Found, Get Liked, Get Patients: Making the Most of Social Media," and as founder of Connect90, she helps practices increase visibility, build trust, and influence which dentists get recommended in today's AI-powered search environment. But here's what most dental teams don't know: Google started indexing public social media content as of July 2025, which means social media no longer lives in the silos of Facebook and Instagram where only followers see your content—now anyone using Google or Gemini can discover your posts, and that changes everything about how you should approach content strategy. The cookie-cutter stock photography posts that dental practices have been scheduling for $200/month? AI knows it's stock photography, so you're not helping AI understand who you are or what's unique about your practice. The dancing videos and dental skits that went viral and got 10,000 views? If they're reaching people nationally or globally through Instagram's algorithm, how many of those viewers are actually going to drive to your practice? In this eye-opening conversation, Rita reveals why the old strategy of 80% social content and 20% dental content is being flipped to 80% strategic dental topics (what you want to be known for) and 20% human/social content, why alt text is a powerful backend signal that AI can read to understand your Invisalign expertise, and why the one word that matters most for dental marketing success is "habits"—creating consistent processes to capture photos and videos that tell your practice story. She shares how one dentist grew clear aligner therapy by consistently posting team members and patients holding aligner boxes (an "old idea" that works because it creates visual and textual patterns AI can recognize), why you need to think of social media as a publishing tool for overall Google visibility rather than just trying to win over platform algorithms, and why James Clear and Arthur Brooks are right that habits are the most powerful tool you have. If you've ever wondered why your social media manager keeps posting content that doesn't convert patients, how to help AI tools answer "who's a good dentist for me" with YOUR name, or what it really means to create content that connects with patients while signaling credibility to AI, this episode will completely transform how you think about social media strategy in the AI era. Rita Zamora's journey into dental social media began at a startup periodontist practice in Denver, Colorado, where she started as one of three team members alongside a solo periodontist. Over a decade, she watched the practice grow to five periodontists, over 20 team members, and multiple locations while she worked in various roles: front desk and admin, case presentation for big perio and implant cases (treatment coordinator was one of her favorite positions), then transitioning into marketing with referral marketing and direct-to-consumer strategies. When social media entered the picture, she started writing a blog about social media for dentistry that took off organically. She got invited to speak at local meetings about Facebook when it was brand new, which led to speaking engagements across the country and internationally. That momentum led her to start Connect90, her agency that now works with clients across the US, Canada, and Australia. But social media has changed dramatically, especially with the advent of AI, and Rita believes things have "kind of gone off the rails" for dental teams. There's a tsunami of AI coming into the picture affecting online visibility for dentists, and most critically, there's a massive change most dentists are unaware of: Google started indexing public social media content as of July 2025. Marketers have known this for months, but it's a game changer because social media no longer lives in the silos of Facebook and Instagram where only followers see your content. Now anyone using Google or Gemini (Google's AI tool) can discover your social posts, which means you have to think about social content in a completely different way. The main reason dental practices spend time on social media is for marketing—converting patients, attracting patients, and letting AI know what your practice story is. As more people use Gemini and other AI tools to ask "who's a good dentist for me?", practices need to ensure AI systems understand who they are and what makes them unique. Rita's three core action items: (1) Ditch cookie-cutter social media if you haven't already, (2) Stop using stock ...
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    28 mins
  • People Don't Buy Solutions to Problems They Don't Perceive to Have": Why 95% of Case Acceptance Happens Before You Ever Mention the Crown

    People Don't Buy Solutions to Problems They Don't Perceive to Have": Why 95% of Case Acceptance Happens Before You Ever Mention the Crown
    Apr 7 2026
    What happens when a business degree graduate joins his father-in-law's dental practice expecting to learn entrepreneurship for a few years, hates it for the first four or five months, then discovers mentors who show him there's a better way to avoid burnout—and eventually doubles the practice to a million dollars by 2000 by focusing on communication skills instead of clinical expertise? Eric Vickery spent over a decade managing dental practices before becoming a coach in 2001, and he's since coached more than 250 dental offices nationwide through All-Star Dental Academy, where he's now president of coaching alongside 13+ coaches working with approximately 150 offices monthly. His core philosophy is simple but powerful: most practices are MAG-level, level-10 clinical practitioners, but their communication skills are level five—and patients only perceive value at that level. Dale Carnegie said 85% of your success is in your people skills, not your technical skills. So when doctors look in patients' mouths and rattle off dental jargon—"You have an MODL amalgam with defective margins, class five on the buccal, you need a crown buildup and a crown"—all the patient hears is "dollar, dollar, dollar," and the doctor walks out thinking they crushed it because the patient said "no questions" like Ricky Bobby talking to the smartest person in the room. Then the patient immediately turns to the hygienist asking "what did he say?" and tells the front desk "it's not bothering me, I'm gonna wait." In this revealing conversation, Eric unpacks the 95-5 rule for case acceptance (spend 95% of communication on the problem, condition, and consequences, only 5% on treatment), why an 80% new patient call conversion rate is incredibly difficult to achieve without pressure tactics, and why practices shouldn't pay insurance companies 42% of revenue (working four months a year for free) when they could invest that money in their team, retirement, and fair compensation instead. He shares killer words that crush case acceptance (little, tiny, small, kinda, maybe, possibly), the reverse-engineered math showing that 20 new patients requires 40 converted calls which requires 80 total calls including after-hours, and why the hero's journey matters—because the patient is the hero and you're Obi-Wan Kenobi, not the other way around. If you've ever wondered why patients say "I'll wait until it hurts," why recording calls and listening to AI coaching feedback is non-negotiable, or how an analogy about a sledgehammer splitting a log can replace confusing dental jargon and transform case acceptance, this episode will completely change how you think about communication, value perception, and what it really takes to help patients get healthier faster. Eric Vickery never anticipated a career in dentistry—he had a business degree and was climbing the banking ladder when his father-in-law, a dentist, made an offer: come learn how to run a business, be entrepreneurial, and then go do something else. Eric managed his practice for six of ten total years in practice management, and for the first four or five months, he hated it. He thought joining dentistry was a huge mistake, couldn't believe he'd left banking for this. But he was blessed with mentors early on who showed him there's a better way to practice effectively without burnout, without the hamster wheel exhaustion. They implemented systems from 1998 through 2000 focused on communication skills and human skills—the soft skill side of dentistry. His father-in-law was an MAG-D level, level-10 clinical practitioner, but their communication skills were level five. Because of that gap, patients only perceived value at the communication level, not the clinical level. They doubled the practice to a million dollars (incredible at the time) by recognizing that Dale Carnegie was right: 85% of success is in people skills, not technical expertise. You need to be an expert clinician AND expert at people skills so patients can get healthier faster. Eric got into coaching in 2001, met Alex and Heather at All-Star Dental Academy around 2014-15, became partners in 2021 on the coaching and events side, and now leads 13+ coaches across North America working with approximately 150 offices live every month on KPIs, leadership coaching, phone skills, case acceptance, stopping cancellations, and insurance freedom. Everyone should be recording their calls—there are only two options: growing or declining, and the only people declining are coasting. AI will coach you at the end of sessions telling you what you could have done better. The minimum is picking two calls monthly: one you crushed and one that didn't go well, then identifying the difference. All-Star offers call grading services where team members listen to new patient calls, grade them, and send feedback to you and your doctor. An 80% new patient call conversion rate is very difficult to achieve, and most people don't understand how hard ...
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    32 mins
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