Offering improved services and value is how you can improve your dental practice. It isn't just about providing good oral cleaning. It isn't about being able to offer braces or invisible braces to patients. You need to provide customer service to comfort and add increased value to your patients.
Only then can you build up a robust list of patients and encourage them to visit on a regular schedule. People tend not to visit doctors or dentists unless something is wrong, but for the sake of their health and their smile, they need to visit the dentist on a regular basis. How do you convince them to do that? With these tips:
Invest in Improved Patient Reminders
Almost half of the patients will forget their dental appointment, meaning that 40% of patients will fail to show up. You don't earn money when they forget, so it's a double loss for you even if they reschedule later on.
A good way to avoid this loss of income and to improve the level of customer service that you provide is to use a reminder service. You can learn more about why and when to send reminders to your dental patients. In general, sending out a reminder via their preferred method of communication in the week or days leading up to the appointment is a good place to start.
You can double confirm as well, so if they need to reschedule, you can open up that slot in your own schedule and bring in a new patient to fill it. It's the best way to keep your practice efficient and successful.
Train Your Staff on Communication
Train your staff on how to communicate and serve patients. Conflict resolution is not something most people are naturally good at. By having training and giving them avenues to use when an issue arises, you can protect your staff and provide good quality services to your patients.
Strive to Expand Your Service Offerings
Try to be the go-to choice for all of their dental needs. This could be as simple as partnering with orthodontists and other specialists so that if a patient needs them, you can arrange for those specialists to make a visit to your clinic. It could also mean going through training to offer braces or other cosmetic dental fixes so you can always be the best choice for your patients.
Work With Kids and Adults
People are typically very loyal to their dentists. After all, a good dentist is hard to find, and once they do, they like to stick with that person they trust both personally and professionally. This means that you will often have patients with you throughout their lives, so to continue to serve them, you need to offer services to both kids and adults. Pediatric dentistry is slightly different than regular dentistry, so work to expand not just your services but who you can provide those services for. This way, you can continue to offer generational support to your most loyal patients.
