Dedicated to helping doctors and their team have an office that is not only highly productive and fun but one that allows them to consistently exceed patient expectations.
Take a good look at your employee break room (or space). Is it past due for a good cleaning, decluttering, painting, and/or organizing? Might not seem like an important space to give attention to but it is! Why? Because you and your employees deserve to take a break (& eat) in a nice, relaxing, and clean space.
Tips and Ideas to Spruce up the Lunch/Break Room/Lounge
Declutter & Organize the countertops, table, shelves, cabinets, and drawers.
Décor – add some nice pictures to the walls and freshen up the paint
Add some Extras – condiments, snacks, drinks, dishes/silverware, storage containers,
Charging stations for electronic devices, etc.
Bookshelf – add a bookshelf and some books to read during the breaks.
Baskets & Hooks – If this area also stores employees’ clothes, jackets, shoes, and purses/bags be sure to have labeled baskets to store personal items and hooks to hang coats.
Messaging Center – Hang a whiteboard or corkboard to share team news/messages, office happenings, team meeting dates and agenda, employee work anniversaries, etc.
TV Monitor & Computer – Install a large TV monitor for team meetings and continuing education courses. (A webcam/microphone is helpful too.)
Cleanliness Reminders for the team – Be kind & thoughtful – do your own dishes, wipe up spills/crumbs, refill the paper towel dispenser, don’t leave expired food in the fridge, and wipe down the microwave, or toaster oven after each use.
Beverage Containers – Rather than having unsightly, random water bottles, coffee mugs, and carry-out drink containers around the office – invest in some nice water bottles and coffee mugs imprinted with your office name for the team to use at the office.
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.
Need a little inspiration? Check out my dental office design Pinterest Board
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.
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!!!
Are same-day broken appointments stressing you out? You leave the office at the end of the day with a beautiful, full schedule for the next day and arrive back at the office in the morning only to have the schedules fall apart at the last minute. Ugh! If this ever happens to you I know how frustrating that can be. Not to mention, it kills production.
In this article, you will find several ways to greatly reduce last-minute schedule changes. I am certain that if you follow each step, you will stress less, make more money, help more patients, and have more fun. Please print it out and share it with everyone on the team. We need everyone in the office to follow the same protocol/system for you to be successful. Consider reviewing this at your next huddle or team meeting.
Tips and Ideas to reduce last-minute cancellations and no-shows:
Consistently Be Great! – Do everything to ensure that each and every patient has a great experience during their appointments. Give them something good to talk about and a reason to keep coming back!
STOP moving appts around! A sure-fire way to aggravate patients, cause them to disrespect your time and the schedule, or for them to think you don’t know what you’re doing is by moving their appointment times. Unless, of course, they have asked to be on your Priority List. Calling patients to come in early, come in late, or come in on a different day is annoying and I promise you it is hurting your schedule and production. I can’t emphasize this enough – Respect their time and they’ll respect yours.
Appointment Reminder Systems – Ensure that you have an effective interval set up to remind patients of their appointments and that your message is helping not hurting the practice. For example, Don’t say “Calling to confirm” – it should be “We’re looking forward to seeing you on ____ at ____. OR ____ is looking forward to seeing you…” When is the last time you reviewed your electronic appointment reminder messages and intervals and your appointment confirmation protocol?
Unconfirmed Appointments – If it is 1 day before the appointment and you have a patient or patients that haven’t responded to your appointment reminders, you must pick up the phone and call them. You shouldn’t be able to look at the day’s schedule during your morning huddle and see unconfirmed appts.
Cancels – Using the word cancel or cancellation sends a poor message to your patients. It tells them that cancellations happen and are expected. We don’t want that. You can say ”this doesn’t happen very often but if for some reason you need to change your reservation with ___, we ask that you please provide us with at least 48 hours’ notice.”
Stay on Time – See your patients at their appointment time. This means they should be seated in the treatment chair on or before their appt time. Avoid running behind schedule. Don’t keep them waiting too long in their chair either (ie: waiting for the doctor to come in for the examination).
Appointments ASAP – If a patient calls (especially a New Patient) to schedule an appointment and they can’t get in for 2 or more weeks you are at risk of that patient calling somewhere else to get an appointment sooner or other life’s distractions and priorities getting in their way moving them to cancel last-minute or no-show. If your schedules are so full that patients are having to wait to get in they might feel like you’re too busy for them or that their dental care needs are not important. If you do not have an immediate opening let the patient know that you’ll place them on your priority list and while it doesn’t happen very often if there is an unexpected change to the schedule and you can see them sooner they’ll be the first to know.
Doctors, if you’re struggling to reach your practice goals or that there is too much chaos in your practice– feel free to contact me for a complimentary, no-obligation 30-minute telephone consultation at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com to see if a coaching relationship is right for you.
New Patients– Don’t rely on electronic reminders for your new patients. Instead, call and let them know you’re looking forward to meeting them and briefly share with them what to expect during their first visit.
Bad Appointment History – If a patient has a history of not showing up or canceling last minute, please don’t schedule any future appointments for them.
Treatment Plans and Financial Arrangements – Every patient that has an appt. scheduled with the doctor for treatment must have a copy of their treatment plan AND a financial agreement before the appt. DON’T ASSUME that the patient is OK with their financial responsibility simply because you gave them a copy of their treatment plan and they didn’t question the cost. What often happens is they say OK and schedule and then will no-show or cancel at the last minute.
Hygiene Patients – Schedule their next 3, 4, and 6-month appt when they are at the office. Preferably, the hygienist should always schedule the next appointment from the treatment room. Take a second to stress to the patient how important this appointment is and what you’ll be looking for at their next appt. (It’s not just a cleaning and there is a reason for the recommended appt interval.)
Scheduling Appointments – When scheduling appointments for your patients let them know that this time is being reserved exclusively for them. Also, consider having patients pay their co-pay or leave a deposit at the time of scheduling. Especially, if you’re reserving more than an hour on the doctor’s schedule.
VALUE – Walk-Out Statement – Consider itemizing the hygiene appt walk-out statement to include the no-charge services… ie: Oral Cancer Screening, Nutrition Counseling, Oral Hygiene Instructions, Etc. It is so much more than just a cleaning. Be sure to ALWAYS give the full fee for that day even if they have “100 %” coverage with their insurance. They need to hear the actual dollar amount for each visit. Helps to put more value on the appt.
No-Shows / Late Arrivals – Always acknowledge your no-show/late patients with a call 3-5 minutes past their appt. time. If you get a voice mail – let the patient know you’re concerned because they missed their reservation. Have a system in place for following up on broken appointments. Don’t allow these patients to slip through the cracks.
Telephone – The dreaded telephone calls for same-day cancellation attempts from your patients. They can destroy a perfect schedule in a matter of minutes. Stay in control of your schedules. Create a system for how to care for and respond to same-day cancellation attempts. Cancellations are not OK. Work together as a team to come up with scripting guidelines that work for your office. Think of all the different scenarios and reasons patients call to cancel (cost, illness, work, no babysitter, schedule conflicts, etc.) and role-play the best responses. Your goal should be, if appropriate, to respectfully help the patient find a way to keep the appointment as scheduled without threatening or embarrassing them.
If you currently leave it up to the patient to call back and reschedule you are not only creating more work for yourself but you’re putting the office at risk of losing that patient due to inactivity. Reschedule/reappoint the patient while you have them on the phone.
Whatever you do and no matter how desperate you are to fill the schedule DO NOT REAPPOINT habitual offenders! You should never be able to look at the schedule and point out who will most likely cancel or no-show. I’m sure that’s never happened in your office, right?
If you appreciate and enjoy the complimentary ideas and content that I share each month – I would LOVE for you to PLEASE take a quick minute to leave me a review/recommendation on Google or Facebook. Simply click the following links: GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOKThank you so much!!
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.
Sending you wishes for a full and productive schedule… one that doesn’t fall apart!
Friends, if you do not know what your office’s broken appointment and reappointment numbers and percentages look like, including how many of your active patients are unscheduled; please take a good look at what those numbers look like and what systems you have in place to track these patients. 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. If your practice management software is Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Practice Web, or Open Dental I can help you quickly get that data. Just let me know via email at bhaydenconsulting.com
Before you go, would you pretty please do something for me? I would LOVE for you to PLEASE leave me a review/recommendation on Google or Facebook. Simply click the following links: GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOKThank you so much!!
For many dental offices, September can be a slower month. Even for some of the offices that start the month with a full schedule report that as the month progresses the schedule tends to fall apart. There could be many different reasons why this happens every September. Perhaps for some, it is because families are still adjusting to the back-to-school schedules and don’t want to bother adding a visit to the dentist to their already too-hectic days or it could be because you and your team expect September to be a slow month and that there isn’t anything you can do about it. Whatever the reason, it hurts to have holes in the schedule. Yet, I have some offices that tell me September is always a great month for the schedules and production. I want you all to have that experience – full, healthy, and productive schedules.
The marketing (growth) ideas that I am sharing with you for September will help you reactivate and reappoint patients, attract more new patients, build relationships within the community, as well as exceed your current patients’ expectations. With the ultimate goal of helping you to have more fun and less stress at work.
September 2022Dental Marketing and Practice Growth Tips & Ideas
Theme: Fall in Love with a Beautiful & Healthy Smile
Focus: Preventive & Cosmetic Services
Giving-Away – Drawing for a Fall-Themed Gift Basket / Patients can enter the drawing by leaving a review on Google and/or Facebook, referring their friends & family, and for coming in for their appts in September.
For offices that offer Clear Aligners/ Invisalign: September is Self-Improvement Month– “If you’re an adult who has been putting off having your teeth straightened because you don’t want to endure the discomfort and the unsightly metal construction of traditional braces, we’re pleased to offer clear aligners – an “invisible” orthodontic alternative.”
Local Business Marketing (Relationship Building) Opportunity:
September is National Honey Month: Give away little jars of honey with a label or tag that says, for example, “Thank you for Bee-ing an Awesome Neighbor!” or “Our Neighbors are Sweet as Honey!”
Here are a couple of examples… (From King Dental and Dr. Bruyere’s office)
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.
September is National Fruit & Veggie Month – You could do a quick Facebook live video and/or post content to your social media platforms all about Nutritious School Snack Options. Perhaps, you could even create a cute, simple hand-out for your patients with a list of nutritious snack options and surprisingly unhealthy snacks.
Social Media Post Ideas to Improve Engagement during the month of September – what do your Facebook, Instagram, and Google pages look like? If you’re not keeping them up to date with fresh photos and content you’re missing out on some great opportunities to engage with your active patients, your inactive patients, and your potential patients in the community.
National Cheese Month
Whole Grains Month
Random Acts of Kindness Day or Be Kind Day: 1
World Coconut Day: 2
Grandparent’s Day: 10
International Chocolate Day: 13
Autumn (AutumnalEquinox): 23
National Coffee Day: 29
Family Health and Fitness Day USA: 30
So there you have it, some fun practice growth ideas for the month of September. Please, be sure to stay in touch with me and keep me updated on any of the ideas that you use. If you have some thoughts on how to take these suggestions to the next level or just ways to improve on them I want 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 take a quick minute to leave me a review/recommendation on Google or Facebook. Simply click the following links: GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOKThank you so much!!
Are you receivingmy 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.
Wishing you all the healthiest and happiest September!
Yours for Greater Success,
~Betty – Dental Coach
Before you go, would you kindly do something for me? I would LOVE for you to PLEASE leave me a review/recommendation on Google or Facebook. Simply click the following links: GOOGLE and/or FACEBOOKThank you so much!!
As you’ve entered the last month of the second quarter for this year, are you happy with where your practice is heading? Do you know where you’re taking it?
I hope that you are happy with where you are taking your practice! However, if you’re not happy or you feel you could be “happier” there is good news, you still have some time to make that happen. To do that though, you need to know where you’ve been and where you’re at now.
“If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going.” – Maya Angelou
Knowing your practice numbers and doing something with what you know about those numbers is key to growing and improving your practice. Numbers tell a story. Numbers tell you if your practice is healthy or unhealthy.
Get a baseline of where you’re at to set goals for where you want to go. For example,
Overhead – Evaluate your true costs of doing business. What does it cost you per hour to keep the practice running?
Supplies – What is your supply budget vs what you are actually spending?
Payroll – What is your payroll percentage? Are you hygienists producing 3.3 times their salary?
Collections – Are you collecting what you produce and how long is it taking to collect your money?
Adjustments/Write-Offs – Are you closely monitoring your adjustments and write-offs?
Production – What are your hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly restorative and hygiene production goals?
New Patients – How many new patients do you want per month? What are you doing to welcome more new patients each month?
Attrition – How many patients are you losing each month and why?
Treatment Acceptance Vs Diagnosis – How many of your patients are saying yes to your best care? How are you keeping track of your unscheduled treatment plans?
Office Culture – Do you have high employee turn-over? Do you have an attractive office culture? Do your employee fully and willingly support your mission, vision, and core values?
Broken Appointments – What is your monthly broken appointment percentage?
If your numbers reveal unhealthiness be quick to act and get help to restore your practice to health and happiness.
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.
One more question to help you take your practice in a successful direction – where do you want to go? What is your mission and vision for the practice? If you’re not sure or you haven’t taken the time to define what that looks like, consider the following:
Mission, Vision, Core Values – Knowing why you show up every morning will help to create a culture of happiness and excellence.
Mission – A clear definition of the purpose and focus of the practice today.
Vision – It is about what you want your practice to be in the future. It is the outcome/result of your mission.
Core Values – Core Values represent the beliefs and principles that define your practice, your team, and the patient experience you aim for in your dental practice.
Clearly defining your why and inviting your team to support you will help to keep everyone on the same page, working together for the greater good of the practice.
It always brightens my day to hear from you! I would love for you to please take a minute to leave me a review/recommendation 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 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.
