Patient care & consistency. Unparelled patient care and reliability. Isn’t this what your patients want?
There are over 160,000 dental practices in the United States. What sets your practice apart from the rest? Why should a patient choose your practice as their dental home?
First and foremost, patient care will set you apart from the rest. Superior patient care. “Nobody has ever treated me so well” kind of patient care.
From the first phone call, to entering your practice for the first time to the well executed hand – off, the goal is to make your patient feel better leaving your practice than they did when they walked in. We want to erase any preconceived notions they had, any anxiety, make them feel welcome and like a guest in your home. We want the patient to walk out signing your praises and tell anyone they encounter what a fabulous experience they just had at, yes, their dental office!
With this being said how does your practice measure up?
- Are your phones answered promptly with a warm, welcoming smile? (It’s a great day, How can we make you smile?)
- Do you offer 40 hours a week phone availability to your patients?
- Are new patient intakes focused on the patient and not so much finances/insurance?
- Are new patients greeted with a welcoming handshake and tour of your practice upon arrival for their first visit?
- Are patients being “pampered” with warm blankets out of the dryer during treatment, neck wraps, small pillows for underneath their knees, facial towels? I even recently saw an ad for individual disposable gloves for the patients to wear during treatment to soften their hands.
- How about birthday acknowledgements? Do your patients receive the standard postcard or boring email that they probably don’t even read because there is nothing personal about it? Handwritten thank you’s signed by the whole team, or better yet if the patient is in your office during their birthday week, a mug (with your logo on it) filled with dental goodies and a balloon?
- Do you make post-op calls to every single patient who had treatment/anesthesia for the day?
- Do you call patients who have been presented with larger treatment plans that evening to inquire what further questions they might have?
- Is your office immaculately clean, smells good and is inviting in decor?
- Is your office up to date with social media? Patient forms on line? Request and confirm appointments on line?
- Do you completely support your patients in utlizing their insurance benefits? (Actually contacting the insurance companies to get breakdowns – most patients don’t have a clue what their benefits are?
- Does your team (and you) invite each patient to share your practice information with friends and family?
- Does each member of your team (including you) write “warm fuzzies” at least once a week?
These are all simple things, but make a big impact! The key is to do them consistently. Not when you remember. Not when you feel like it. Consistently. The same goes for your team members.
What gets measured gets done. Leave it to chance and you will see no return. Every patient, every visit.
Make today a great day!
Kind Regards
MB
Helping Grow Practice Profitability One Appointment at a Time!