Established or New Dental Patients – Which is more important for practice growth?

Established or New Dental Patients – Which is more important for practice growth?

Hello Friends,

So which is more important to your practice growth – obtaining new patients or retaining established patients?

The short answer, both are very important to successfully grow your dental practice.

Yes, new patients are very important, in fact, we should have a monthly new patient goal that we are working toward each month. Offices love new patients. I hear doctors and teams all the time saying “We need more new patients!” They believe that is the answer to all of their scheduling, production, and collection woes. But is that good enough to grow your practice, just ensuring that you’re getting fresh new patients each month?

Well, if you want to spend lots of money and ultimately work harder instead of smarter, then yes. But, I think it’s safe to say, that isn’t your intention or end goal.

And yet, that is exactly what I am seeing many doctors doing in their practice. They are investing time and money to bring in new patients but are not giving the same attention to retaining those new patients. Like they are just spinning their wheels and will eventually just burn out.

Oftentimes, I will see healthy new patient numbers each month, and yet, the office isn’t growing at all and their production is weak. Why is that? When I examine the data, I learn that far too many of their new patients are one-timers. They left the office without scheduling a future appointment. Why is this a bummer situation? Calling, emailing, texting, and snail-mailing our patients to get them to reappoint can be a drag. It’s tough to reach patients once they leave. It’s possible of course, but it takes money, time, and energy that could be better spent elsewhere. Unfortunately, we don’t always see those attempts being made to reach out to those unscheduled new patients. No one really knows what happens to the patient after their first visit. Or they make minimal attempts to reach out to the patients before giving up after a couple of months.

What does your new patient experience look like from the initial call, and first visit, to how you stay in touch with them after they leave?

Do you know what your new patient retention numbers look like?

So if the most expensive patients to acquire are your new patients, the easiest and best patients to fill your schedules are those who have come to you before.  But, you may be thinking… that takes time and money to reappoint established patients too. That’s true but you have a huge advantage when reaching out to established patients of record; It’s the power of pre-existing relationships.  (Oh, by the way, on average, it can cost up to six times more to gain a new patient than it does to retain an existing patient.)

What does retaining, reactivating, and reappointing established patients mean for you and the patient?

  • We are creatures of habit.  It’s easier to do something we are already doing than to do something different.
  • Established relationship. (They already know, like, and trust you. You just need to focus on strengthening that relationship)
  • No marketing costs – you’ve already paid the initial investment in getting the patient.

What are you doing to keep track of your established patients? What are you doing to ensure your established patients don’t slip through the cracks?

What are you doing to keep your new and established patients loyal to your practice?

Loyal patients, isn’t that what we want? Patients that return year after year, accept your treatment recommendations and refer their friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. They are loyal to your dental practice because they like and trust you. You’ve earned the privilege to serve them not just for a moment but for life.

Is it really a privilege to serve them? Absolutely! Any office that struggles with getting and keeping new patients, struggles with getting patients to accept their treatment recommendations, struggles with the hygiene department’s continuing care reports and Swiss cheese-like appointment schedules, struggles to keep up with all the record transfer requests from patients for their new dental office, will learn (hopefully quickly) that having loyal patients in your practice is an earned privilege. The best part with loyal patients is the aforementioned struggles are greatly reduced or eliminated altogether.

Of course, this takes some work – implementing and following closely, effective office systems/protocols are critical to you successfully retaining your patients and reaching/exceeding your practice goals.

Practice Owners, if you would like to grow and improve your dental practice and have wondered what it might be like to work with me and what coaching is all about… please feel free to reach out to me to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation coaching call at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

Have you signed up to receive my complimentary dental marketing and practice management ideas that are sent right to your email inbox each month? If not, take a second and sign up. Or send me your email address (bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com) and I will send you an invite to follow. This way, you won’t miss a single idea

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty (Dental Coach)

P.S. If you enjoy the complimentary ideas that I share or if they’ve been of help to you and your practice –  I would truly appreciate it if you would please take a second and leave a review/recommendation for me on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you!!

Dental Office Management, Leadership, and Team Building Ideas for February 2023

Dental Office Management, Leadership, and Team Building Ideas for February 2023

Hello Friends,

Today, I am sharing some office management and leadership tips and ideas to help you enjoy a fantastic February.

Are you looking for ideas to celebrate Children’s Dental Health Month? Check these out: February’s Children’s Dental Health Month 

Looking for other dental marketing and practice growth ideas for this month? You might like these:

Dental Marketing Ideas for February

February 2023 Management and Leadership Tips and Ideas

Leadership and Team Building Ideas

Team Building – You’ll notice a little trend with the team building ideas for February as they just so happen to revolve around food & drink. 😉

National Pizza Day: 9th – Bring in a pizza lunch for the team today.

National Drink Wine Day: 18th  

National Margarita Day: 22nd

National Chili Day 23rd – Have an in-office chili cook-off lunch. Everyone brings in a crockpot of chili. Have prizes for the best tasting, most unique, etc.

Random Acts of Kindness Week: 12-18th – Do something special for your employees this week. Bring in an unexpected sweet treat or small gift to let them know just how much you appreciate them. (By the way, if you’re an employee reading this, your doctor would also appreciate an unexpected act of kindness this week!)

February is International Boost Self-Esteem Month. Negative people are the greatest destroyers of self-confidence and self-esteem. Avoid office negativity, it’s toxic and will infect your team – Rather, focus on and share positive experiences. See more team-building ideas here: Dental Office Team Building

Practice Owners – I would love the opportunity to work along with you and your team to help you set and exceed your practice goals. If you would like to schedule a no-obligation, complimentary consultation to learn how our coaching program works, please email me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

Practice Management Reminders and Ideas

Reappointments and Reactivation – Now is a great time to reach out to your unscheduled patients both active and inactive patients. Do you know how many of your active patients are unscheduled? (If your practice management software is Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or Open Dental I can help you quickly get those numbers. Just send me an email to bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com and let me know that you’d like to get the FREE data analysis.)

Take advantage of all the different communication methods to reach your patients – telephone, text, email, letters/cards, and your social media pages.  You’re planting little reminder seeds that you’re thinking about them. Hopefully, it will be the gentle nudge they need to schedule an appointment.

Insurance – Have you carefully reviewed the 2023 CDT changes, additions, and deletions? This is important not just for filing insurance claims but because CDT codes are procedure codes, and every clinician is responsible for using them properly.

Speaking of Insurance, what does your insurance aging report look like? How often are you checking on outstanding insurance claims? Who is monitoring and working on your aging reports, daily?

February is National Time Management Month –  “ Either you run the day or the day runs you.

Start with the office schedules/patients’ appointments – Are they chaotic, unpredictable, and stressful? If they’re running you and your team crazy, it’s time to evaluate what’s not working and make changes. Design and run the schedules for success.  Remember, you are (or should be) in control of how, when, and where patients are scheduled. Keep them full, healthy, and productive.

Would you please do something for me? If you enjoy the ideas that I share or if they’ve been of help to you and your practice –  I would love and truly appreciate it if you would please take a second and leave a review/recommendation for me on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you!!!

Don’t miss out on any of the ideas that I share each month! Are you receiving my complimentary Practice Management and Marketing Ideas in your email inbox each month? If not, please start following us today. If you prefer, send me your email address at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com and I will send you an invitation to follow my blog.

As always, wishing you a happy, healthy, and productive month!

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty (Dental Coach)

P.S. Please stop by and say hello to me on  FacebookTwitterInstagramLinkedIn, and Pinterest

Dental Office Management and Leadership Ideas for July 2022

Dental Office Management and Leadership Ideas for July 2022

Hello Friends,

July starts your third quarter for the year! Now, is your opportunity to really make the rest of this year count. Make it your BEST year yet!

Here you’ll find some tips and ideas for how you can enjoy healthier, more productive schedules during the month of July and beyond.

Office Yearly Goals – Where are you at with your Production, Collection, Patient Retention, and New Patient Goals for 2022? Are you growing and improving? If not, take some time to evaluate what you can do differently to exceed your goals. Remember, what you’re not changing you’re choosing. And what you allow, you encourage.

Reactivation and Reappointment – How many of your “active” patients have their next appt scheduled and how many do not?  Make sure none of your patients are slipping through any cracks. A solid reactivation and reappointment protocol is key to keeping healthy schedules and healthy patients.

Friends, if you do not know what your office numbers look like, please examine, record, and measure these and other important key practice indicators. You need to know where you’re at currently to know how to best care for your patients and what your potential for growth is.

Doctors, I would love the opportunity to work along with you and your team to help you set and exceed your practice goals. If you would like to schedule a no-obligation, complimentary consultation to learn how my coaching program works, please email me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

Employee Appreciation – July 7th is chocolate day. Surprise your team with a special chocolatey treat.

Reduce Cancellations – With the awesome summer sun and fun activities, patients can sometimes be tempted or inclined to want to last-minute cancel (or miss) their dental appointments. What can you do to reduce last-minute changes to the schedule?

  • Send appointment reminders well in advance of their appointment and be sure to send same-day “looking forward to seeing you” friendly reminders even to patients that “confirmed” their appointment. People often get distracted and can easily forget their confirmed appointments. Your appointment reminders should say that this time has been reserved exclusively for you.
  • Create and take advantage of Same-Day Dentistry opportunities. While you have the patient there, if your schedule allows, and they are agreeable go ahead and take care of those sealants, fillings, or ortho scans instead of re-appointing them.
  • Encourage them to keep their scheduled appointments by having a drawing/contest for a great prize (gift basket, tickets, gift cards, etc). When they come in for their appointment they’ll be entered into a drawing to win a prize.

Family Friendly Offices – July is Get Ready for Kindergarten Month. During the month of July share dental health tips for parents of school-aged children on your office’s social media platforms. Depending on your schedules’ opening availability, consider setting aside one or two days for “Get Ready for Kindergarten with Healthy Smiles” visits. Make it a fun experience for the children.

If you’re looking for dental marketing and practice growth tips & ideas check these out: July 2022 Marketing Ideas

It would be AWESOME to hear from you! If you appreciate and enjoy the complimentary ideas and content that I share each month  – I would LOVE for you to PLEASE leave me a review/recommendation on Google or Facebook. Simply click the following links.    GOOGLE   and/or  FACEBOOK Thank you so much!!

Are you receiving my complimentary dental marketing and practice management ideas that are sent right to your email inbox each month? If not, take a second and sign up. This way, you won’t miss a single idea! Feel free to email me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com and I will make sure you receive an invitation to follow my monthly ideas.

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty – Dental Coach

Before you go, would you please do something for me? If you appreciate and enjoy the complimentary ideas and content that I share each month  – I would LOVE for you to PLEASE leave me a review/recommendation on Google or Facebook. Simply click the following links.    GOOGLE   and/or  FACEBOOK Thank you so much!!

February 2022 Dental Practice Management and Leadership Tips and Ideas

February 2022 Dental Practice Management and Leadership Tips and Ideas

Hello Friends,

I hope that this year is off to a happy and healthy start for you and your team. Are you on track to meet or exceed your first quarter goals? Today, I am sharing some office management and leadership tips and ideas to help you enjoy a fantastic February.

Are you looking for marketing and practice growth tips and ideas for February 2022? Check these out: February’s Children’s Dental Health Month and Marketing and Practice Growth Tips & Ideas for February

Do you enjoy the complimentary tips and ideas that I share each month?   I would love and truly appreciate it for you to please take a second to leave a review/recommendation for me here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK – Thank you!!!

February 2022 Management and Leadership Tips and Ideas

Team BuildingNational Chili Day 24th – Have an in-office chili cook-off lunch. Everyone brings in a crockpot of chili. Have prizes for the best tasting, most unique, etc.

Random Acts of Kindness Week: 13-19 – Do something special for your employees this week. Bring in an unexpected sweet treat or small gift to let them know just how much you appreciate them. (By the way, your doctor would also appreciate an unexpected act of kindness this week!)

Reappointments and Reactivation – Now is a great time to reach out to your unscheduled patients both active and inactive patients. Do you know how many of your active patients are unscheduled? (If your practice management software is Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or Open Dental I can help you quickly get those numbers. Just send me an email to bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com and let me know that you’d like to get the FREE data analysis.)

Make a plan to reach out to your unscheduled patients. Rather than just calling to ask if they would like to schedule an appointment, use this occasion to simply check-in to see how they’re doing and let them know you’re thinking about them. This is about building and strengthening relationships

Take advantage of all the different communication methods to reach your patients – telephone, text, email, letter/cards, and your social media pages.  You’re planting little reminder seeds that you are still here for them during these crazy times.

Please stop by and say hello to me on  FacebookTwitterInstagramLinkedIn, and Pinterest

Insurance Claims – Send out “clean” insurance claims with the correct information, provider, date of service, Xrays, attachments, and documentation.  Your goal is to not have any unpaid claims sitting out there past 30-60 days.  (Did you know that your collection percentage drops significantly after 90 days past due? Over 120 days past due it drops to about 30% – you lose a lot of your money the longer these claims sit out there. Worse yet, you run the risk of the claim not being paid at all!)

What does your insurance aging report look like? How often are you checking on outstanding insurance claims? Who is monitoring and working on your aging reports, daily?

February is National Time Management Month – Respect others time and your time will be respected

Review your office systems and protocols to ensure that everyone is using their time efficiently and effectively. Arriving at the office with plenty of time before the first scheduled patient, expecting your patients to arrive on time, never waiting on hygiene exams, calculate the actual amount of time it takes to do procedures, control the schedules, these things will help you stay on time.

If you’re often running behind schedule, investigate the reason(s) why. If you know the why… change whatever it is causing you to stray from the schedule. Running behind schedule sends a message to your patients AND your team that you don’t respect their time. Respect your team by sticking to the scheduled work hours. Be sure that they are not habitually working through their lunch or having to work late. They need breaks to refresh and refuel. Give them that.

Have you signed up to receive my complimentary dental marketing and practice management ideas that are sent right to your email inbox each month? If not, take a second and sign up. Or send me your email address to bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com and I will send you an invite to follow. This way, you won’t miss a single idea.

I would love the opportunity to work along with you and your team to help you set and exceed your practice goals. If you would like to schedule a no-obligation, complimentary consultation to learn how our coaching program works, please email me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

As always, wishing you a happy, healthy, and productive month!

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty (Dental Coach)

P.S. Please stop by and say hello to me on  FacebookTwitterInstagramLinkedIn, and Pinterest