The Right Way to Think about New Patients

The Right Way to Think about New Patients
(and how to get more of them)

Okay, buckle up, today I bring you the fast track, gas pedal, full speed ahead way to get new patients into your office.  And believe it or not, you don’t have to invest one extra dime in new patient marketing to get it.
How does that sound?

Are you ready?

Well, hold on a minute, not so fast, before I give this soon to be ‘obvious’ secret to you I would like to ask you three very specific questions.

How many new patients must you generate every month in order to accomplish your goals and objectives both from a production and growth stand point?
Right now today, do you know where at in your schedule you book new patients who will be coming into your office for the first time?  And how many weeks into the future are those appointments filled up?
Are you scheduling for time or for procedure?  Are you treating all new patents equally?  Are you booking your schedule so that  your income is predictive each and every day?
Bonus question: do you actively cross promote, educate, and influence your existing patients to come back in and visit your practice other than for hygiene and recare visits every 6 months?

You do realize that a practice based on hygiene alone is a great way to pay the bills but it’s not a way to get rich or to achieve any financial independence.

That is why what I am about to share with you is so critically important, new patients are the life blood of any practice and are what make a practice valuable and healthy and growing.

BUT

And this is a big BUT (no pun intended),

You can’t become successful on new patients alone, if everyone comes in for a new patient visit and you are just churning and burning through bread and butter dentistry you are going to be a salve to your practice like a puppet can’t move without it’s master.

That is no way to get rich either.

That is why the PATIENT MIX is so critical and the REVENUE (or production) MODEL of your practice must be managed and strategically orchestrated to achieve your goals.

It is a combination of NEW Patients moving into complete dental care treatments and CURRENT Patients expanding their dental service within your practice plus the hygiene as glue to the retention of your office.

If all you do is live off existing patients you have a dying practice that is losing value every year EVEN IF you are actually making more than the year before.  It’s about what you are investing in for FUTURE value that matters.

That is why this can’t be left up to chance, ever.

Yes, there is a very specific formula that will determine exactly what each aspect of this needs to be based on your goals and objectives, your overhead and your desired income, and your future value and wealth accumulation.

And that is why you are crazy (and irresponsible) if you do not focus on optimization of each area of your practice and maximization of each new patient stream and current patient relationship.

Your Hygiene protocols and recare visits are not enough to make a patient loyal to you – just ask your Front Desk how many patients should have been in last year, last 6 months, last 30 days that didn’t and respond with exactly what you are doing to make sure that they are stuck to you like glue and committed loyal referring patients like an obsessed sports fan during the World Cup or Super Bowl.

It all starts…at the beginning.

THE VERY FIRST POINT OF CONTACT with You, Your Team, Your Office.

That is where the relationships truly begins.  I talk to a lot of Dentists, more in a week than the most thriving practices do in New Patients and I know that unequivocally most Dentists focus on the Patient Experience once they arrive – very very few do anything before they arrive.

And in fact, even if you have the an appointment reminder sequence or your patients forms on your website it’s often set-up just like any other practice in your city has it set up.  Sure the website might look a little different, your picture is not the same as the other Dentists’, but aside from that the “experience” is all about the same.

Phone call, Appointment, Reminder, and there you have it.

Same as everywhere else they might want to go or have been before.

And that is why I am here to say and tell you – bluntly – it’s not enough.

Your relationship with your patient begins when they wonder onto your website for the very first time, when they enter their information into the web form, then finally decide to call your office and then after they hang up, still they are judging your relationship and care over them.

Most of the time we do a great job once we get them, but, that’s too late in the game, you are missing most of the opportunity before it ever walks through your door.

That is why with my 7 step high-touch patient relationship experience system we can take visitors to your website, prospects that encounter your social media, review sites or other online sources and close the gaps in your funnel by capturing more patient leads, nurturing them and differentiating you from the ACTUAL 1st point of contact.

Then we move to the Phone, no matter how aggressive, professionally trained and Scheduling-Instituted your front desk is – the phone call means nothing if you don’t immediate continue the experience and education and relationship back both through the mail and online, in their email and with follow-up communication.

Lastly, you should know this, case acceptance is decided more prior to the patients arrival to your office than it is inside you practice, I mean, you’re good right, you know what you are doing, your staff is friendly your office professional, so why then do some people not show up and why do some people not become patients or accept your treatment plans even though you’ve made it obvious they should.

That is because we need to be playing the game seriously in the warm-up not waiting until half time to make our move.

Close the gaps, complete the funnel, create REAL relationship and memorable, differentiated service and experience with your future patients WHERE and WHEN they first come in contact with You and Your Practice.

You wait, too late, opportunity lost, new patients squandered, money wasted.

More patients, more profit, right here in this article without any money out of your pocket.  You’re welcome 😉

There’s plenty more where that came from, in fact, tune in next week, or be proactive and take action at the website below…winners win and losers lose, you get to pick the side of the ball you’re on in life.  Make today count.