You do realize that Halloween is as big of an Adult Holiday as it is a Kid Holiday. More time and money are spent and put into play with adults than with children. Of course, this spans movies, haunted houses, decorations, parties, and treats.
I’m sure you might very well have some plans to celebrate next week. But more importantly, don’t forget your patients, they like to have fun just like you. As I always tell you that, from the patients’ perspective, they can get everything you do somewhere else from someone else. The ONLY THING they can’t get at another office is YOU (the Doctor and Team). The relationship is always the most valuable asset.
So, how do you make ‘relationships’ come to life and how do you anchor the attachment your patients have to you?
It is by trust, of course.
It is by quality service, of course.
It is by consistency, of course.
Ultimately, it is through the HUMAN connection. Treating patients like people not just patients and connecting with them on an everyday level.
This time of year I always get the “it’s slow because of the Holidays” or “people are saving money for Christmas” or whatever. Then on the very same day with another Doctor or Team I will hear the opposite “we are so busy because everyone wants to come in before the end of the year.”
Well I can tell you this: there is always an EXCUSE for patients to not move forward right now, and yet, there is always at the same time a REASON to get them excited and engaged. If you focus on the reasons, it’s much harder to justify the excuse.
The reason could be a holiday, season, topic, theme, or time of year that you have at your disposal to utilize and embrace for connecting on a human level and strengthening your relationships with your patients.
This month it’s Halloween, next month Thanksgiving, last month Labor Day or back to school.
I know Doctors that throw Halloween Parties as Patient Appreciation Events or who dress up or hold Fall Cookouts.
The main point here is: use what you have got. Don’t be afraid to connect, to be real, to have fun, and to engage your patients in things other than Dentistry.
If you really want to blow up referrals then give your patients more reasons to refer. If you give them more things to talk about, they will talk about you more. Post pictures, have them tag you in their social media, give out “trick or treat” referral cards, hold a costume contest. Be willing to promote your practice at your social gatherings, at your Kids’ Halloween Parties, and around your neighborhood.
Back in the day during my Martial Arts promotion, every student and parent would volunteer to take “trick or treat” referral cards to their school and give to their friends. We’d even buy the candy for them and attached it to the card. They didn’t have to do ANYTHING but pass out free candy.
We’d do a ‘bring a friend’ Halloween Party. We’d host a Kids Night so Parents could go out. Yes, we are talking about Martial Arts and promoting to Kids – but every single idea still applies and can be modified to your Practice and Patients.
You just have to be creative. For goodness sake, the calendar gives you everything you need to have every possible excuse, reason, means and method to double down on your referrals, to create patient loyalty, and to further solidify your relationship with them.
Have some fun with it. Take a page out of Casper’s book and be a friendly Ghost that gets everyone involved, not a scaredy-cat this Halloween with your patients.
As a team, brainstorm every way possible you can use this Huddle to stimulate ideas that lighten things up a little, help you and your patients have more fun, make their experience more interesting, and grow your relationships like never before.
And the best Practices will rinse and repeat every month in different ways with every chance you get to bring this to life in your practice!
