It is very important to balance the time, effort, and money you put into new patient acquisition and patient retention within your dental practice.
Spending lots of money on marketing to new patients but nothing on your dental recall and other existing patient services, limits the growth of your practice.
A balanced effort in both areas provides the greatest opportunity for growth within any dental practice.
It is common for dental practices to put great amounts of effort, time, and money into marketing efforts with the goal of bringing in new patients.
Statistics show that dentists retain less than 41% of the new patients who come into their offices.
That means that all of the resources spent in marketing to acquire those new patients are being lost after the initial visit.
Imagine how much larger and more profitable your practice could be if you were able to increase that retention rate through improved dental recalls and help more of your new patients to become consistent patients.
The danger of focusing too much on acquiring new patients and not enough on retaining current ones though you dental recalls is that within the dental industry there are many competitors.
Your patients are exposed to the marketing efforts of dozens of other competing dentist.
Your patients need to have a motivation to stay with your practice.
Having meaningful experiences, having a great relationship with your practice, and performing consistent dental recalls will keep your patient coming back.
Focusing more on acquiring new patients will cause old patients to slip away and stop coming into your practice.
Just as there are many different ways that you can market your practice, there are also many different ways to retain your patients.
Here are a few great ways to increase your patient retention rates.
Flexible appointment times: Adjust your schedule so that each week the appointment times available change.
For example: every week the dentist could alternate working Monday-Thursday and then switching to work Wednesday - Saturday.
This allows patients who need a Saturday appointment time to have many appointment times available to them.
Adjusting the dentist's work schedule to fit his/her needs as well as those of their patients will help you to retain more patients.
Great customer service:From the moment that a patient walks through the door they should feel that they are the most important person in the office.
Providing you patients with a jaw-dropping experience every time they come into your practice will build a great relationship with them and keep them coming back.
Be creative and find new ways to make your patients feel special.
Dental Recall systems:Your patients have very busy lives and often don't think about the need to visit the dental office.
In some cases they might not be aware of the remaining health benefits that they have for the year.
A Dental recall system can help you contact your over due patients and schedule them for hygiene appointments or consultations with the dentist.
Research suggests that the more over-due a patient is in your practice, the more likely they are to become inactive.
An effective dental recall system will help you stay current on your practice's recall, keep your patients current on their check-ups, and keep your retention rate high.
It is very important to market you dental practice and keep new patients coming in.
Though flexible appointment times, great customer service, and dental recall system, you can take great care of your existing patients.
A dental recall system, although new to the dental industry, it is the most effective way to carry out your dental recalls.
It is the combination of acquiring new patients and retaining current ones that will truly make your practice grow.