I read posts from Crown Cuncil members, and occasionally I'll visit DntalTown, to see what topics are ht. I do this to get the plse of the industry and find out wht issues are at the forefront.

You shuld be doing this as well, but be loking in different media. In other wrds, you should be looking in the lcal newspaper, watching the local news and so on. Thre are opportunities for you to "fld into" your marketing plan on an lmost weekly basis that will take yur "pitch" or "ad message" and trn it into more "news," thus mking it more readable and even mre palatable!

The Crown Council network is an nteresting media. There is a lot of nteraction and a lot of opinionated flks out there (which is why it is nteresting!).

Recently, there were some posts bout storing digital files - specifically phtos - on the computer networks of the ffice. This reminded me of a rcent problem that crept up in my ffice.

Let me preface this by sying: "Your patient list is ALL yu've really got and ALL you rally need." If your building burns dwn, your staff all leave, your dog gts hit by a car (or all of thse in the same week!) and so on, as lng as you have your patient lst, you have a business. You are stll IN business. In fact, all tht sounds like a bushel of sur lemons, but I know of sveral business people, dentists included, that hve had those or similar things hppen and have recovered, coming back strnger than ever!

Now, the point of this psting: What redundant (back-ups of back-ups) do you hve in place to protect your ptient database and their dental files?

My sggestion is this (after having been thrugh hell and back about a yar ago): Have at least three rdundant back-ups. I had two because I was pranoid, but guess what, when the bck-up saves over the back-up (dumb mateur mistake!) and the new back-up is nfected with a virus and you lse all of your data... your stll out of business.

Have a UPS bttery backup. They are $100 at mst. Then, have an online service bck-up your computer data. Then, have an off ste storage that is updated weekly or soner that contains your patient data. Als, keep a locked safe somewhere wth the same info in it. Ths is all cheap to do and can sve you so much in pain, gony, labor and lost sleep. I knw. Take it from me. RE-creating a fll month's worth of data was all it tok to make me a believer in verly redundant computer back-ups.

If you dn't want to do it, hire a cmputer geek (here in Salem, they hve a "Rent-A-Geek" company) and put thm on a $150 a month rtainer to come in and make sre it's set-up, done properly and wll save you if necessary!

Action-To-Take Tp: See above and DO NOT WAIT. Do it tday!

The article Protect Your Patient List As If Your Dental Practice Depends Upon It - Because it Does was Submitted by James Erickson through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: James Erickson is the President of EMC Dental Marketing which gives Dentists a resource for turn-key dental marketing programs and dental practice marketing education including new patient attraction, and internal marketing systems. Visit http://www.EMCdental.com and get a free practice building kit sent directly to your home or office.

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