Teaching Your Dental Staff How to Get Your Patients to Come Back
If you just started dental practice, you must be searching for ways to increase the patient volume in your dental office. Over the years, more and more dental practices have opened up, and simultaneously there has been a decrease in patients' willingness to go to the dentist.
This is why every dental practitioner is thinking about how they should increase the patient volume in their dental office. Fighting competition can be very difficult unless you know the right dental marketing tips to attract and retain patients.
Here are a few tips on how to build patient loyalty and get more patients to your dental practice. Before we dig in, it is important that you understand that in order to attract new patients, you need to put into action. If you do not take action, these techniques and methods won't allow you to reach your goal. Patient retention requires a lot of hard work, and if allow it to happen on its own, then patients will start going to some other dental care office.
Get to Know Your Patients
You need to create a strategy and plan to help your staff remember different patients and their histories or specific circumstances, i.e., you could form a system where each patient has a specific file with their digital photo attached. The file could also consist of notes to summarize about their previous visits. Educate your staff members on the importance of remembering small yet important details the patients share with them. People who step into your clinic will always feel good about being remembered and valued.
Give Patients a Chance to Meet Their Doctor in Person
Understandably, your dentist's time is valuable, but most patients expect or wish to have a one-to-one session with their doctor. In case the doctor cannot check them, this may set an unappreciated tone for the patient as if they aren't of any importance. It is always a great idea to set some uninterrupted minutes for the patient to have with their dentist. In case the patient doesn't have an appointment with the dentist that day, try to arrange a few minutes when the doctor can say hello!
Keep a Check on Your Patient’s Hand-offs
There are many times when patients are unaware of a complete scenario or even a treatment plan because messages are not correctly conveyed between staff members. If there is a patient who is considering if they should or shouldn't go with a specific procedure, there is a high chance that the communication had some issues. Communication is always the key. Make sure to make use of your patient's name in front of the staff members during the patients' hand-off. Reiterate the patients' needs and protocols with the staff members. Reinforce your patients’ values and needs for all the steps that follow in their care and treatment.
Keep Updating and Modifying the Financial Policies and Protocols of the Insurance
It is always important to have a pre-established financial protocol to minimize past-due accounts. However, if such policies are not resulting in patient retention and are causing patients to avoid returning to your clinic, you certainly need to revisit them. Take a step back and overview the circumstances of your patients; thinking you’re one yourself who has no experience in claims management.
Evaluate if there are protocols that need to be changed. Are there improvements required in how the policies are being communicated to your patients? Explain terms and protocols to your patients in understandable ways that do not overwhelm them. Informed patients mostly comply more with various financial policies as those who have no idea what they are in for. Educate your patients while also keeping your eyes open at all times.
Keep the Door Open
Keep your door open, and having a sign at the desk is always a good idea to keep the patients updated upon your schedule. A note of the sort, “We’ll be right there with you. In the meanwhile, please sign in or go through the documents provided.” Allow the patients to come in and settle using their time and comfort. Make it a point to provide maximum comfort and understanding to your patients.
Many times patients tend to feel as if the staff members are more concerned about their time slots than about the patients coming in to be cared for. In most cases, if patients feel a lack of commitment and understanding due to the attitudes, they receive from the staff. It is always a good idea to prioritize the patients' comfort at all costs.
Be Punctual
If you want to make your patients feel confident, make sure to use scheduling strategies. Patients trust their doctors with their oral health, and therefore it is essential that you do not run behind every session. Make them feel valued, prioritized, and cared for. Patient retention is real phenomena that always have margins for improvement. Do not make the patients wait long for their appointments, and stand true to your claims and commitments at all times.
Always Take Care of Patients’ Emotions
Always make conscious attempts at devising a treatment plan that sits well with the patient's emotions instead of their intellect. As a general principle, people tend to always find ways to pay for what they want instead of what they need. You may ask them questions to carve out what creates motivation for them. Figure out every patient's needs and interests separately and work towards fulfilling them.
In order to achieve the best results with the treatment plan, it is always a good idea to discuss with the patients as to what will happen if they do not follow the treatment plan as it is or revisit again. However, keep a fine line between scaring patients off and giving them a clear picture about the treatment plan and its consequences if not followed.
The Bottom Line
All of these steps and considerations are extremely important when it comes to taking the best care of your patients, from providing them with the best oral clinical experience to their needs being understood and met.