dental systems

Is Obtaining New Dental Patients More Important Than Retaining Established Patients?
by

Is Obtaining New Dental Patients More Important Than Retaining Established Patients?

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 even 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? Here are some ideas and tips for reactivating and reappointing your patients: https://bettyhaydenconsulting.com/2019/12/31/dental-patient-reactivation-and-reappointment-tips-and-ideas/

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. 

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.

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.

Do you enjoy the dental leadership, management, and marketing tips and ideas that I share each month?   I would love and truly appreciate for you to please leave a review/recommendation for me here on GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOK

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

by

Tips to Improve Your Dental Office Part 2 – Make a Change!

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” –
 Albert Einstein

Hello Friends,

End the insanity – If you’re unhappy with your production & collection numbers, toxic team members, the schedule always falling apart, not enough new patients and a run down, out dated practice… now is a great time to make a change or 20 changes.

dental marketing tips hayden consulting

Remember,    “If you don’t like how things are, then change it! …you’re not a tree.” – Jim Rohn

The following suggestions were taken from a recent email from The Madow Brothers regarding change…

“In your next team meeting, identify something that you have been doing for such a long time that it has become part of the fabric of your practice – but something that needs to be shelved, stopped, or radically changed. Review everything you do with one question in mind – “How can we make this better for the year 2016?”

 Don’t be afraid to throw away traditions that are no longer working. Remember that the phrase “we’ve always done it that way” is the enemy!!”

Great advice from The Madow Brothers!! If you don’t currently follow them, I highly encourage you to visit their website. Here is the link: www.madow.com.

So let’s get started!

Areas to investigate for Possible Change: (Note: This is not a fully comprehensive list but it will get you started in the right direction.)

Current Protocols –  Hygiene Continuing Care , Incomplete Treatment Reports, Confirmation, A/R-Collections, Greetings, Patient Hand-off, New Patient Welcomes and Referral Thank you’s, etc.

Paper Communication Materials – Intake form, Letterhead, HIPAA forms, Financial Policy & Postcards

Job Responsibilities/Descriptions – Have every team member write down a detailed list of all of their job responsibilities. This is VERY helpful in determining more effective ways of doing things as well as finding out what is NOT being done.

The Team – Under/over staffed, Uniforms/Dress Code, Attitudes (adjusting or removing the toxic, crabby & lazy ones AND) acknowledging and rewarding the positive, happy, hard-working ones), Employee Benefits and Expectations, Team Meeting/Morning Huddle Effectiveness and Frequency.

Office Appearance – Furniture, Wall Decor, Lighting, Window Treatments, Smells, Cleanliness and Curb Appeal on the Exterior (See also Part 1 in the Improve Your Office Series)

Equipment/Technology –  Computers, Software, Internet Speed & Access, Printers, Copiers, Telephone Systems, TV’s, Postage machines,  including…dare I say, type writers?  and all other “must have” Equipment/Products that were purchased at dental seminars or from sales reps. Check treatment rooms, lab, closets, shelves and work stations for any equipment that needs to be updated, repaired or tossed! While you’re at it, if there is anything that isn’t be used properly due to lack of education/training, go ahead and schedule time for continuing education/training.

I’m sure as you were reading this list you thought of other area’s to investigate. Maybe you knew right away of things that have been nagging at you for a while now, things that are driving you insane. Change them. Don’t wait. You will be so happy when you accomplish these necessary changes.

Change isn’t easy, it can be difficult and uncomfortable but know this…

 “To Change is Difficult.  Not Changing is Fatal” – William Pollard

If you feel like this is all just too much for you, or that you would rather focus on taking care of your patients, I’m here to help you. I happen to LOVE helping Dentists and their Team Members make changes. Contact me for a Complimentary Consultation – email: bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

Please keep me updated by sharing your success stories of change. Or if you have any questions, comments or concerns, I’m happy to help.

Are you receiving my complimentary Practice Management and Marketing Idea’s in your email inbox each month? If not, please subscribe today. Feel free to tell your dental friends all about us so they can start benefiting from these dental idea’s too.

Yours for Greater Success,

~Betty