The Academic Foundation of chrisad, How it Works & How it Now Optimally Cares For Its Valued Clients
Chrisad’s message of practice growth hits Times Square. No matter your marketplace, from the Big Apple to Big Sky Country, we have the research & proven methods for achieving your practice dreams.
Chrisad was founded by John Roy Christensen in 1980. After graduating from University of California & attending Law School, John sought the finest graduate level education in the area of marketing & advertising. Having been involved in a number of political & governmental marketing efforts in his younger years, he sought the optimum formal education in this area. He was awarded a Master’s Degree in Advertising from Northwestern University in 1980. This field of study focused on research, copy, media & general marketing approaches developed & proven by the largest & most successful business in the world. The course was taught by recognized world leaders in this field. In a broad sense, the focus of the study was how to scientifically & “surgically” give the target consumer what THEY want in order to “trigger” desirable actions.
Chrisad Early Years…
Immediately after graduate school…late in 1980…John accepted a position at a Beverly Hills, California advertising agency. After a few months…in his spare time…he developed a significant “free-lance” advertising company which later became Christensen Advertising & soon after evolved into “chrisad”. Preferring Northern California to Southern California, John formalized chrisad in Marin County, California in early 1981. Early on, chrisad attracted many significant clients…ranging from Honda motorcycles & various construction companies…to electronic OEM suppliers & start up digital firms. In all cases, chrisad applied world class, state of the art, consumer research, copy, creative & media selection approaches to these mostly smaller businesses.
However, it was with the early dentists that chrisad enjoyed the greatest success. Successes were so substantial that chrisad grew to have hundreds of dentist clients in 20 states by 1995…from referral only…with no advertising or marketing. In the mid 1980s, chrisad limited its scope of work to dentist clients…& those that marketed dental related products/services. It eventually became clear that chrisad was the first & only firm (likely in the world) that was dedicated ONLY to marketing dental practices. Chrisad is clearly now the oldest & largest such firm in the world.
The Evolution of the Advertising Agency Approach
In the 1980s, the norm was that the advertising agency was responsible for the advertising…& the client was responsible for the configuration of the product &/or service. However…as we now understand…the level of managerial competence within most dental practices was dismal at best. Practice management was a far more significant variable in practice success than any amount or quality of advertising we could execute. Without chrisad’s intervention, many practices would fail…even if superior advertising were to be aggressively published. Accordingly, chrisad determined that all practice-patient-perceived “touch points” must be scientifically managed & optimized…both in office…& outside of the office…such as to deliver a dental service level that exceeded the promise of the research based advertising.
chrisad’s Academic Integration
Always striving to be at the top of his field, John has been invited to lecture at a number of dental schools & general universities worldwide. Most important to him is his relationship with Northwestern University…where he was honored with a distinguished award….& since the late 1990s has been invited to repeatedly lecture. Out of touch with Northwestern since 1980, it was in the late 1990s that John found that the advertising/marketing academic world had evolved similarly: “Advertising” academic programs were broadly changed to “Integrated Marketing Communications” programs. The business that is marketed must be similarly optimally configured from a marketing perspective. Chrisad was viewed as a prime example of this: One of the largest “Vertical” (one client type) integrated marketing firms in the world. Always striving to be at the forefront of our industry, John is in regular communication with leading marketing academics & business marketing leaders worldwide.
The Establishment of chrisad as a Business
While John had a superior marketing/advertising background, he was comparatively weak in the area of management. Accordingly, particularly in the 1980s, he read many hundreds of business books since starting chrisad. This led him to establish a formal managerial structure within the company. In addition, his military background led him to establish a regularly upgraded “manual” system that embodies the protocols of the company. Similarly, drawn from John’s legal training, one practice success provides a precedent for the masses of other practices. Drawn from chrisad’s continual study of the aviation industry, chrisad allows a mistake to occur once, but never again. For example, similar to an aviation industry Airworthiness Directive (AD), if an extraordinarily positive (or negative!) event occurs in one corner of the world…all clients dental practices in the chrisad network worldwide are made aware of it immediately.
Conducted in conjunction with Northwestern University, chrisad engineers regular & extensive dental consumer opinion & behavior research…as well as extensive data examination. These studies additionally objectively determine the needs, wants, mindset & awareness of dental practitioners. This four decade “trendline” of data provides the backbone of all client recommendations…as well as providing a continually upgraded structure of chrisad’s support.
The Optimal Integrated Marketing of a Dental Practice
Chrisad continually strives to configure practices such that all aspects of the patient perceived experience are optimized. All touchpoints are dictated by research & data. It is all integrated & scientifically optimized. There can essentially be no difference between that which is communicated thru the patient’s in office experience…versus the marketing that drove them in & back to the practice. Chrisad has never placed profit before client welfare. It is on this basis that chrisad charges fees…& selects media. All agreements are “flat fee” & severable at any time for any reason. Chrisad strives to exceed clients expectations. Chrisad does not want to be enriched if these expectations are not met.
Contrary to the world’s advertising industry, chrisad chooses media on the basis of cost efficiency of REACHING the target market (CPM) rather than generating income from media commissions. Chrisad selects dental marketing media on the basis of active & real REACH of the potential new & returning patient. Combined with scientifically configured copy & messaging…the result is stunningly omnipotient. Chrisad reaches nearly 100% of the United States & (less so) in many other nations with its combination of extremely cost efficient & scientifically engineered & UNAVOIDABLE practice (& other) signage & in local home mail marketing. Most chrisad clients use chrisad integrated & synergistic websites. Dental websites are a vital avenue thru which preexisting demand is processed. Chrisad’s research based websites feature an immediate & direct appointment avenue as well as a pioneering call intercept feature. Essential in-office integrated marketing “touchpoints” are similarly optimized…especially phone communications, patient retention management…& other key practice growth components. Chrisad conducts perhaps 5,000 staff trainings a year.
Systems That Perpetuate Client Growth & Prosperity
While John was the only Representative of chrisad thru the late 1990s, it soon became evident that a support team needed to be developed. This system emulated John’s extremely successful client care approaches of the past…& is continually evolving along a data-driven path. Chrisad now employs 14 traveling in office Representatives…each with a dedicated support team… with an average of 100 dentist clients each. The collective group is in the offices of up to 1,500 dental practices per month. While far from perfect, this system has allowed John to regularly remove himself from the day-to-day operations of the company…visit with clients & groups of clients…all while the company enjoys reasonable levels of growth. Because chrisad essentially does the same thing over & over, fewer employees are required…while training & production is simplified.
Chrisad quickly understood that dentists were essentially “robbed” of a business education. Accordingly, chrisad has developed what amounts to a “Dental MBA” for its clients. Similar to the “manual” system & on the basis of chrisad’s unique & pioneering four decades of dental-only research, experience & successes, John has written a large number of books & articles…& recorded videos…such as to better educate & advise dental practice owners on optimal managerial & marketing courses. Chrisad currently conducts approximately 40,000 “Secret Shopper” calls per year. Up to ten regional “No Limits” conferences are held annually…whereby successful local clients dentists explain to hundreds of other regional clients in the audience how they enjoyed extraordinary chrisad marketing related growth. In addition, chrisad is “online” with most clients’ practice databases & manually compiles vital monthly practice statistics with the rest. This data is continually analyzed & indications are put into action.
The Future
After four decades of chrisad’s pioneering dental-only marketing work, we are extraordinarily proud of our accomplishments. As a result of chrisad guidance, clients annually collectively produce around $5 billion collectively & are growing at an approximately 20% rate. Chrisad has opened nearly 700 “scratch” dental offices…with some starting from $0 & rapidly growing up to $80 million a year. One “scratch” office produced nearly $1 million in its first month alone. While chrisad is still working to further optimize existing client offices, none has evolved to a fully optimal level. There is still a great deal of work to do.
While many of the worldwide dental industry norms over the past four decades are as a result of chrisad’s pioneering research & resulting extraordinary practice successes…there is much more work to be done. There appears to be nothing that chrisad cannot accomplish in a dental practice…& chrisad looks forward to many more exciting & pioneering advances…& extraordinary successes into the future.