January 20, 2021 by bettyhayden

Ten Ways To Keep In Touch With Your Active and Inactive Dental Patients

Hello Friends,

How do you encourage referrals and build relationships with your patients when the average dental patient comes in only 2 times per year for their continuing care hygiene appointment? Think about this, you get to spend 2-3 hours out of 8,760 hours per year with those patients. Are they even thinking about you in between appointments? 😉

Or perhaps you have some patients with unscheduled treatment plans that may not have said yes to schedule when the treatment was diagnosed and presented to them. Just because they didn’t say yes at that time doesn’t mean that they aren’t ready to say yes now. You reaching out to them might be the little reminder they need to get their mouth healthy again.

With all of life’s distractions and responsibilities, how can you ensure that they don’t forget about you?

Stay In Touch. Keep your name in front of them by planting little reminder “forget-me-not” seeds.

Today, I’m going to share with you 10 Easy & Effective Ways to Stay In Touch With Your Scheduled and Unscheduled, Active and Inactive Patients

Social Media – Active Social Media pages are a must. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, & Pinterest are excellent ways to engage and build lasting relationships with your patients. Remember to take advantage of your Google My Business listing too! If you struggle with what to post on your pages, visit here for social media content ideas.
Freebies – Give away free items imprinted with your office name, website, and phone number to each patient at their appointment. Such as; toothbrushes, magnets, calendars, pens, masks, hand sanitizer, and lip balm.

Cards – Send cards to your patients, Just Because, Thank you for your referral and/or Special Occasion cards. People appreciate getting an “old fashioned” handwritten greeting card via snail mail. Make it convenient by keeping a variety of greeting cards on hand.
Telephone – Pick up the telephone and call your patients. Here are a few reasons you may have to call: Continuing care appointment reminders, Thank you for your referral, Post-op (just checking in to see how well you’re doing), Refill reminders (due for a refill on whitening gel, toothpaste, electric toothbrush head replacement, etc), and Special Occasions. Right now, during this Pandemic a call to your unscheduled patients simply to check in and see how they are doing would be well-received.
Letters – Send out letters for incomplete treatment, congratulations on completed treatment, welcome to our practice, and thank you for your referral. Tip: providers and team members should personally sign their letters. Include a brief note or comment if appropriate.
Newsletter – Send newsletters out to your patients. Include sharable content, dental health tips, recipes, community news, office happenings, dental education, and special offers.
Emails – Dental Hygiene Tips, Office Happenings, Continuing Care Reminders, and Special Offers. Be sure to ask and record the email addresses of your patients. Periodic Email communication is inexpensive and easy. Just don’t spam your patients with too many emails.
Website – Keep your website fresh, easy to navigate, and attractive. Include videos, info & pictures about the doctor(s) and team, community events, special offers, ability to schedule appts online, FAQ, dental services and education, office hours, directions, social media pages, contact information, etc.
Local Businesses – Look for ways to reach out to and build relationships with the businesses in your community. Take advantage of the opportunities to engage with businesses on their social media pages, too. When you engage with the local businesses you’re not only getting your name in front of potential new patients you’re also keeping in touch with your patients at the places that they may work or do business with.
Community Involvement – Be involved in local health fairs, charity events, sponsor local sports teams, etc. Just a thought, when you and your team are out participating in community events, consider wearing t-shirts that clearly identify (advertise) your office and give away a lot of imprinted gifts. Or you can open your office as a drop-off location for donations of non-perishable food items, winter-gear, books, school supplies, etc. for those in need in the community.

Friends, do you know how many of your active patients have a future appointment and how many do not? Do you know how many new patients you are welcoming into the practice AND how many patients you’re losing each month? To help you get that data quickly, like within minutes – if your PMS is either Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or Open Dental you can request a complimentary, no-obligation practice data snapshot here: Game-Changing Awareness from Dental Intelligence – Within minutes we’ll identify your practice’s strengths and uncover hidden opportunities. I am happy to assist you with this at no charge and with absolutely no obligation to do anything further with me.

There you have it, 10 ways to stay in touch with your dental patients. Doing some or all of these things will help to build lasting relationships with your patients and encourage referrals.

Of course, the very best way to ensure your patients remember to come back and to refer their friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers is to get them talking about their experience after they leave your office. How do you that? Be consistently great! Consistently exceed expectations! Plan to make sure that each and every appointment is great from the initial greeting at arrival, during their appointment, and when you say your thank you and goodbyes as they leave.

Doctors, 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.

At your next team meeting, discuss what you are currently doing to stay in touch with your patients and how you can improve in planting more reminder seeds.

If you have an extra minute I would love and truly appreciate for you to please leave a review/recommendation for me here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK. 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.

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty

P.S. Please stop by and say hello to me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest

November 5, 2020 by bettyhayden

Dental Office Social Media Platform Tips and Content Ideas

Hello Friends,

Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, Oh My! So many Social Media Sites – Enough to wonder, why? (and maybe wanna cry). Seriously, don’t we have enough work each day at the office to keep us plenty busy?

It is quite busy that is true; however, Social media platforms such as, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google, Pinterest, Blogs, Online Community News Pages, YouTube and more “can” help to build your dental practice.

How Can Social Media Help Your Practice? Here are just a few ways…

Build relationships between your office team and potential new patients
Stay in Touch with your Active and Inactive Patients
Increase your Online Presence
Learn what your patients/potential patients want
Improve Community Involvement
Manage and Increase your Online Reputation
Great Way to Advertise Special Events, Office Specials, and feature Dental Products/Services
Excellent Dental Education Tool

Surely, you can see that in order to be effective and successful with your use of social media, it’s not a case of “if you build it they will come”. Yes, you must build it; however, you must also develop and nurture it. It takes time and effort to build relationships. The key is engagement. Just sporadically posting to your sites will not effectively engage your audience.

You effectively engage (build relationships) by;

Acknowledging comments and likes on your posts.
Interact with other local business pages, this means, visiting & liking their pages, commenting on their posts and sharing their content. Remember, every time you do this, all of the people (potential patients) that see these business pages will also see your office comments and likes. It’s planting little marketing seeds.
Post quality content. WIIFM (What’s In It for Me?) not you, but your target audience, your patients and potential patients. What content will capture their attention?
Be real – share information, pictures, and videos not only about your office but of you and your team. Show your audience that within the office building are real people, people who care about dental health, care about changing smiles & improving lives, care about each other, care about their patients and care about their community.

I understand that not all business owners (Doctors) want to nor do they have the time required to start and grow a social media presence. Take a look at your employees; do you have someone who is a good candidate to help you do this? Someone that you can train to be the “voice” of your practice?

If not, I happen to love working with social media as a dental marketing source. Fresh content and posts just for your office! Done in a way that your patients and potential patients believe it’s coming straight from your office. Sound good to you?

Contact me today bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com to set up your complimentary consultation.

Perhaps, your social media pages are set up, yet, you struggle to know what to post on your pages.

what to post to your dental office social media platforms betty hayden

Here are some quick ideas for you:

Dental Health Tips
Dental Emergency Instruction
How to Videos/link to YouTube
Testimonials/Reviews
Health Tips
Office Contest Information
Trivia Questions
Fill in the Blank statements
Quotes (Motivational, Funny and/or Inspiring)
Community News (Events, weather, sports news, etc)
Team Member News (work anniversaries, family news, etc)
Patient News
Product & Service Information
News/Photos about Dental Continuing Education Events/Classes
Employee Spotlight
Before and After Smiles
Pictures of team members having fun and being silly
Acknowledge all “likes” and “comments” on your posts
Share local business posts to your social media pages
Comment and like other businesses posts
Ask your audience to please share your page with their friends & family
Openings in Schedule (note: avoid saying “we have a cancellation” instead say something like: “__ has an opening in his/her schedule today at 11:00 for your all-important dental hygiene visit…” Whatever you say, saying a change in schedule is better than saying cancellation.

A few more tips…

Vary the times you post or share on your social media sites.
Don’t spam with too many posts in a day.
Occasionally boost your Facebook posts.
Use Facebook and Instagram Ads
Invite your patients to check-in on your office page.
If your team is active on social media sites, encourage them to engage with the office social media pages (ie: like, comment and share posts)
Ask your patients to please review your office on Google and recommend you on Facebook. (Hint: Don’t simply rely on third-party companies to ask for you – it is so simple to ask your patients while they’re in the office to please review the office or share their experience on Google and/or Facebook.)

Here, I will show you here how simple it really is to ask for reviews and recommendations: Did you enjoy these tips and ideas? I would love and truly appreciate for you to please take a second to leave a review/recommendation for me here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK

Easy, right? (I can’t wait to receive that verbal sunshine from you! Hearing your thoughts about the complimentary ideas that I share each month makes my day! Thank you!)

Are you following my complimentary dental leadership, marketing, and practice management ideas that are sent right to your inbox each month? If not, take a second and sign up. You can subscribe right here on this page or send me your email address to bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com and I can send you a link to subscribe. This way, you won’t miss a single idea!

Yours for Greater Success!

~Betty

P.S. Please stop by and say hello to me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest

August 18, 2020 by bettyhayden

Top 30 Little Things To Make BIG Things Happen In Your Dental Practice

Hello Friends,

It’s the little details, the little things that can make the biggest impact on your practice growth and the happiness of your team.

“Sometimes the little opportunities that fly at us each day can have the biggest impact.”
― Danny Wallace, Yes Man

Best of all, the little things (ideas) that I am sharing today are FREE or very low-cost and most only require seconds of your time. The fact that they take very little time is just what we need right now, isn’t it? It is hectic, stressful, and busy during the workday but now more than ever we need to do what we can to not let these little opportunities pass us by to have happier, successful, and less stressful days!

Here is a list of 30 little things you can do starting today to greatly improve your office and in turn, your personal life too! Win-Win!

Hello, Good Morning! – Make it a point to greet your fellow team members’ every morning. Let people know that you see them and acknowledge them with a hello.
Smile More – Smiles are contagious. Smile before you pick up the phone, smile to passersby, smile to your teammates, and smile in the mirror. Smiling will boost your mood, put people at ease, and makes you more likable. (Wearing a mask? Smile with your eyes!”)
Say My Name – Everyone likes to hear his or her name. Greet your patient’s by name. Use their name during treatment. Thank them by name for coming in or calling. (Tip: Ask the caller’s on the telephone what their name is and use it during the call. They’ll love you for it 😉 )
Thank you – Express your appreciation. Saying thank you improves your office, your health, and the patient’s experience.
Choose to be Positive – Your attitude is a choice and that choice is 100% within your control. Avoid spreading negativity by sharing bad patient experiences, personal problems, or problems with other team members. Choose to be happy and positive.
Be Kind – Be kind to your patients, strangers, sales reps, and callers.
I’m Sorry – Accept responsibility when you are wrong. Be honest; simply say “I’m sorry I/We messed up”. (Tip: Keep small ($5) gift cards for coffee to give to your patients when you’ve messed up, i.e. running late, lab case mistake, appt. mix up, etc.)
Friendly Greetings – Warmly greet every person that visits the office. Even if you’re on the phone or taking care of a patient, you can acknowledge the other person with a smile.
Say Please – Make it a habit to say please every time you ask for something.
Schedule Appointments – Make sure every patient leaves with their next appointment scheduled.
Check it Twice – Before you send that email, letter, or text, check it for spelling errors.
Social Media Sites – If your office is using social media sites be sure to like and follow the pages of local businesses within your community. Click the LIKE button or comment on their posts. This is an easy way to build relationships.
No Cell Phones – Turn down the volume and put your cell phone away while you’re on the clock. Ask your family and friends to call the office line in the event of an emergency. Be fully present during work hours.
Write it Down- Start and end your day with to-do lists. Write a note or set an electronic reminder to check on that claim, call your patient, check voice mail, etc. Writing things down prevents you from forgetting things that are important. (Tip: Avoid placing sticky notes around your workstation. Clutter is chaos to the patient. Place reminders in a notebook that you frequently refer to or set electronic reminders.)
Commendation – Commend a fellow team member when you catch them doing something “right”. Commendation boosts morale. (Tip: Commend & reward the behavior and actions that you want to see more of.)
Business Cards – Carry your business cards with you and use them! Get your team personalized business cards to hand out to patients and people they do business with. (Tip: Use the back of the business card with a call to action invitation.)
Stay on Time – If you’re often running behind schedule, investigate as to 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. Arriving at the office with plenty of time before the first scheduled patient, expecting your patients to arrive on time, never wait 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.
Patient of the Day! – Select a patient from the day’s schedule to be your “patient of the day”. Give them a certificate, a small gift and take their picture to share on your social media sites. This is a fun and inexpensive way to exceed your patients’ expectations. SEE Dental Patient of the Day Ideas
Post-Op Calls – Doctors and Hygienists, call your patients at the end of the day to see how well they are doing. (Tip: Call all patients that received an extraction, perio treatment, difficult procedure, were fearful or new to the office.)
Pre-Op Calls – Doctors and Hygienists start building your relationship with a new patient before they step foot in the practice. Call and give a warm welcome, let them know you are looking forward to meeting them at their appointment. It’s unexpected, takes only a few minutes, and will really make your new patient feel special.
Send a Card – In this electronic age, rarely do people get “real” mail. Send hand-written thank you, get well, thinking of you, anniversary, sympathy, and congratulations cards to your patients. They will truly appreciate it! (Tip: Keep a supply of cards on hand in the office.)
Everybody Clean Up – Pick up the piece of paper from the floor, dust off the plants, keep your workspace, and the restroom clean. SEE Clean Your Dental Office
Replace the roll of Toilet Paper – Even if there are still a few squares left to spare, replace it with a fresh roll. While you’re at, go ahead and fold the toilet paper into a pretty fan. #kiddingnotkidding
Huddle Up – The morning meeting is essential for a successful day. If you tried in the past to have a morning huddle and it didn’t work out… try again! However, this time, please follow these tried and true suggestions & tips for morning meeting success.
Negative Gossip – Refuse to listen to gossip and stop speaking & spreading gossip. Simple. As. That.
Dress the Part – If you want it to be a great day, start by looking great. Wear clothes that reflect the excellent care you give your patients. This means wearing professional, clean, and wrinkle-free clothes. Also, your hair and body should be clean and odor-free. (Yes, I went there.) P.S. Even with all the PPE there is no excuse to look sloppy and unkempt.
Verbiage Matters – Use these words often: Absolutely, I’ll be happy to, My pleasure, You are very welcome, Certainly, and Right away.
Acknowledge and Reward Referrals – For every patient you must have a referral source, how else will you be able to track what marketing works and what doesn’t? Especially if you want more referrals from your current patients, then reward the behavior that you want to see more of. Acknowledge and Reward your referrals.
Answer the office Phone – This one is KEY to your success. All of your marketing efforts lead people to the phone first. Answer the office phone during the times when patients and new patients are most likely to call. This includes lunch hours. SEE How to Effectively Answer The Dental Office Phone
Memorable Goodbyes – Make a great last impression with a friendly goodbye…be sure to use the patient’s name. Give them something good to talk about.

“I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually, they make the difference between winning and losing.”

~Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Do the right thing, as a team work together to implement these little things in your office every day. Print this list and review it at your next team meeting. Enjoy practice growth with a happier team and happy patients.

Did you enjoy these tips and ideas? I would love and truly appreciate for you to please leave a review/recommendation for me on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK

Seriously, your kind words always warm my heart! Thank you!

If you would like help implementing these or other ideas into your practice and daily life, contact me at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com to learn more about my personalized coaching services.

Are you receiving my complimentary Dental Practice Management and Marketing Ideas via your email each month? If not, please follow today or send me (bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com) your email address and I will send you an invitation to follow. This way, you won’t miss a single idea.

Yours for Greater Success!

~Betty

Dental Coach

P.S. Please stop by and say hello to me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest

June 1, 2020 by bettyhayden

Dental Practice Tips and Ideas for June 2020

Hello Friends,

The month of June will close out your second quarter for the year; and what a year it has been! It may not end as your best quarter ever, but it probably will win for the strangest and most challenging quarter ever. You know what though, we can work together to still make it your best June ever!

Here are some Dental Leadership, Practice Management and Marketing Tips and Ideas for June 2020…

Leadership Tips and Ideas

“A leader is someone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding the potential in people and processes.”
— Brené Brown

Finding the potential in people and processes takes time and effort but produces the most beautiful and successful teams.

Recess At Work Day: 18^th

Get outside for a few minutes with your team for some fresh air. If you can’t all get outside, open the windows and turn up the radio. How about a sweet treat to enjoy during “recess”? (ex: ice cream, frozen drink, etc.)

Practice Management Reminders and Ideas

Some questions to consider:

Of your active patients (seen in the last 18 months) how many have a next appointment scheduled and how many do not?
How many patients’ appointments were canceled due to COVID and how many still need to be rescheduled?
How many patients left the practice this year?
What can you do together as a team to retain more patients by consistently exceeding their expectations?
What can you do together as a team to help more patients say yes to your very best care? Remember, When your patients are healthy – the practice is healthy.

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. To help you get that data quickly, like within minutes – if your PMS is either Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or Open Dental you can request a complimentary, no-obligation practice data snapshot here: Game-Changing Awareness from Dental Intelligence – Within minutes we’ll identify your practice’s strengths and uncover hidden opportunities. I am happy to assist you with this at no charge.

Gift Certificates – Remember to offer gift certificates for purchase. (Graduation Gifts) Electric toothbrushes make great gift ideas. SEE: Dental Gift Certificates Make Great Presents

Dental Marketing Tips and Ideas

June is Oral Health Month and Smile Month

A great month to encourage the community to share more smiles.

Theme: Cruise on in for Better Dental Health

Focus: Preventive Care (Cleanings, Sealants, and Fluoride for Adults and Children)

Goal: Raise awareness for the importance of preventive dental care (getting patients back on track with regular dental visits), take better care of your current patients, increase production, and bring in new patients.

Give-Away/Gift Idea: Drawing to win a Car Care Kit (Bucket filled with car care supplies.) Or team up with a local car wash or oil change shop for gift certificate donations. Have a drawing that your patients can enter a free car wash and/or oil change.

Example of Scripting:

Sealants: “A Tooth Without A Sealant is like a Car Without A Seat Belt” Dental Sealants Protect Your Teeth Against Decay and Cavities.

~ Community ~

Summer Reading Programs – With many libraries still closed or are open with limited capacity they may not be offering the same summer reading programs that they have in years passed. Perhaps your office could host a virtual summer reading program with a chance to win fun prizes for the children in your community.

Or check with your local library to see if they are hosting any summer reading program incentives and offer to donate a prize(s). You can also design and print some fun bookmarks that include your office information.

Fun Community Gift Give-Away Idea – June 6^th is Drive-In Movie Day – Put together a drive-in movie gift basket. (Fill it with candy, salty snacks, flashlight, bug spray, blanket, etc.) Have people comment on your Facebook page with the first movie they saw at the drive-in or what their favorite movie is to be entered for a chance to win the gift basket.

~ Educational Opportunites ~

National Migraine and Headache Awareness Month & National Headache Awareness Week: June 7^th – 13^th / If it’s not your patient in the chair that suffers from migraines or headaches, it’s someone that they know. Great opportunity to share with them information about how you can help bring them or a friend some relief.

Men’s Health Week: 15^th – 21^st / Compared to women, men are less likely to visit a dentist, oftentimes, only seeing a dentist when a problem arises. Share dental health tips for men on your website, and social media sites.

~ Social Media Post Ideas to Improve Engagement During the month of June ~

Donut Day: 5^th

Corn on the Cob Day: 11^th

First Day of Summer: 20^th

International Body Piercing Day: 28^th

National Candy Month

Remember to have FUN!!

If you enjoy the complimentary ideas that I share each month, I would love and truly appreciate for you to please leave me a review/recommendation on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK

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 each month? If not, please start following us today. If you prefer, send me your email address (to bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com) and I will send you an invitation to follow my blog.

Yours for Greater Success!

~Betty – Dental Coach

P.S. Please stop by and say hello to me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest

Enjoy this blog? Follow me for more ideas.