80% of New Patients Should Be Scheduled Ahead

It is very common in dental offices to be frustrated with the effort to get ideal new patients coming through their doors. What is ideal for you? Patients who come in on time, accept recommended treatment, refer their friends and family to your practice, and pay for their services? These are typical ideals for most dentists. Most practices work so hard for their new patients, yet typically over 60% of new patients are no longer active with the practice one year after their first visit. In fact, the biggest drop-off is between their first visit and the 6-month hygiene appointment. They may still be a patient of record, but they are not in an active relationship with the team, the practice or their ideal oral health.

What are you doing in your office during the new patient visit to get the patient excited about returning to your practice as their preferred provider? How is your practice different from the practice down the street?

Morning huddles are the best time of the day to talk about the new patients coming in today. How did they hear about your practice? Why are they coming in? Did an existing patient invite them? These are all valuable questions to ask and understand at your morning huddle to help ensure everyone on your team is prepared when that patient walks through the door. Welcoming your patients with a smile, completing a tour of your office and truly being excited that they chose your practice are key in new patient retention. Everyone wants to feel valued, welcome, and wanted … not just viewed as a commodity.

Existing patients are the foundation of your practice and new patients can help you grow your active patient base. It is necessary to have good systems in place for scheduling ahead in hygiene and tracking how successful you are towards your retention goals.

Look back at the new patients you saw in your practice nine months ago. Are they still scheduled in hygiene? If they are not scheduled, what follow-up system is in place to get them scheduled? It is important to understand your new patient retention and if it isn’t at least 80%, review the patients’ files and understand why they are not returning to your practice.

OnTrack offers resources that will help implement this strategy and track your results. Please visit www.myontrack.com for more information or speak to your Patterson representative about how to sign up to use OnTrack in your practice.

About Post Author

Kathy Brodal

Kathy has been in the dental industry for over 25 years and her experience spans all areas of the industry — from certified dental assistant to office manager, practice consultant and director of continuing education workshops. Kathy joined Mercer Advisors in 2004, Kathy has used her knowledge of dentists and their professional needs to bring the organization to higher levels of excellence; first as a practice analyst, then as director of workshops, and now as Education Manager. In her current role with Patterson Dental, Kathy is responsible for maintaining relationships with Patterson managers and territory reps, and for supporting them in their clients’ practice success.

http://www.pattersondental.com