Retaining patients at your dental practice

In recent blog entries, we talked about ways to attract patients to your practice. If you have missed them, here is a link to the articles.

The first article was on how to attract new patients to your dental practice.

The second article focuses on more ways to attract patients to your dental practice.

However, as a business owner it is not just enough to attract new patients, you also need to keep them. Luckily, this isn’t rocket science; you can use the same methods that any other business uses to retain customers.

1. Staff – Having a competent staff is a no brainer. Equally important is making sure that your staff is friendly. I am in dozens of offices each week, and I am constantly amazed at how RUDE some of the staff are. Nobody likes coming to the dentist to have procedures performed, but everybody likes coming to a friendly business. If your business isn’t friendly, and people don’t want to have the procedure done – why would they come to you?

2. Contact – Keep in touch with your patients. Send out holiday cards (Christmas can be a touchy subject, but Valentines Day, Thanksgiving, Independence Day or New Years are all pretty safe bets). Also, make sure to send out appointment reminders. When contacting patients, remember that there is a hierarchy of contact. Face to face contact is best, followed by voice, and finally mail. When dealing with voice calls don’t use automated message dialers – spend the money for a warm friendly staff person to make the calls for you.

3. Book Recalls And Future Hygiene Appointments Now – Never, repeat never, let a patient out of your office without booking a follow-up appointment. Even if the patient has to move the appointment at a later date, book a tentative date now. Ideally I like to have the hygienist or assistant book the appointment from a computer right in the operatory, but if that isn’t possible, make sure the receptionist does it.

4. Personalized Service – You should always do your best to remember personal details about your patients. If you have a memory like mine, this isn’t always easy – but it’s ok to cheat. I keep reminders of personal details in my BlackBerry, but you can write notes about patients on their chart. During the procedure, have they mentioned that they are moving, expecting a baby, or going on a vacation? Make a note about it and ask them about it the next time they come in. Nothing tugs at our heartstrings like being remembered. A good dentist asks their patients if they are having any problems with their teeth; a great dentist says “Hello Richard, how is that new house treating you?”

Follow these 4 simple steps for a start & you will be well on your way to developing a long lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with your patients.