Month: April 2023

Marketing is at the heart of most business growth, but it is only the beginning. Even the best outreach efforts won’t advance your dental practice unless you can convert new leads into active patients. 

There are many reasons outside of your control that might stop someone from scheduling an appointment; however, make sure you are taking all possible measures to ensure they book with you and follow through. 

Here are four ways to help your team more effectively sell the value of your service to potential new patients: 

Be available and responsive: As a dental professional, you know what it’s like to be busy. Your patients have busy lives of their own, so it’s important that your team is available to take calls as

they come in and that you strive to offer flexible appointment times to accommodate the workweek. 

Offer a friendly and welcoming environment: As you well know, some people suffer from dental anxiety. Work to overcome this discomfort quickly by communicating in a warm, affirming and caring attitude with your marketing, over the phone, and in person. 

Make sure your team greets patients by their name and gets to know them. Ask patients during each step of a procedure how they are feeling. Offer sedation dentistry if you do not already. 

Don’t hard-sell a service: While you are expected to tout the benefits of the treatments you offer, patients are often turned off by pushy approaches, especially for elective procedures. Take the time to get to know each patient’s needs, treatment goals, and budget. Make them feel valued and understood, and you will increase the likelihood of treatment plan acceptance. 

Master the art of the follow-up: Repetition is one of the easiest techniques for cementing something into memory. If a potential new patient reaches out to your office, be sure to follow up if you don’t hear from them again. You never know the reason they didn’t call back; taking that extra step can offer a second chance to make a connection and help your practice stand out in their mind. 

Many dentists struggle to think about their practice as a business. It is likely that you chose dentistry because of a desire to serve and heal and did not think about sales and bookkeeping. Our dental CPA firm understands this so we offer ideas on tax savings, practice growth, and how to boost new patient numbers. 

Contact us today and see what kind of difference we can make for you!

Healthcare is a serious business fraught with stress and experts are now touting the value of levity in breaking the tension found in the workplace. Books and courses about injecting humor into business are springing up, including a Stanford Business School course for executives called, “Humor: Serious Business.” 

Scientific studies have shown that joking and laughter relieve tension, boost the immune system, and relax the muscles. Laughing can increase memory, energy and creativity, as well as elevate mood. It can knit teams together and create a psychological safe haven. 

While the addition of humor to the workplace does not remove deadlines or reduce performance expectations, it can help create a more enjoyable work life. Additionally, laughing can increase memory, energy, creativity, and elevate the mood. 

Any office can benefit from these effects, so why not consider adding some lighthearted moments to your team’s day?

Here are a few suggestions to help inject humor into your workdays. 

● Try sharing a tasteful, work-appropriate joke with your team to start the morning huddle and invite them to bring their own. 

● Post a board in a shared space and challenge everyone to bring a funny quote, image, or comic strip to hang. 

● Put on a silly shirt day once a month, decorate the office for a holiday, and allow holiday dress-ups during Halloween or holidays like Valentine’s Day. 

● Take funny photos or videos of you and your team and share them on social media. Keep your humor on-brand and non-offensive to all. 

If using outright humor doesn’t feel right to you, think about its cousin, levity. This is simply an elevation of mood that feels calming and light. Finding moments to share a laugh can invigorate the culture of your office. 

There will always be pressure to attract new patients, increase productivity, and handle emergencies as they arise. Consider adding fun into your daily routing when the time is right. It should put everyone at ease and make the serious work of dentistry more enjoyable for both your team members and patients alike. 

Far from making your practice look frivolous, experts say humor inspires confidence and loyalty. If you can make your patients smile, they will remember how you made them feel and will be more likely to stay with you. 

A happy team leads to a successful practice. Let our accounting team help you along the way with guidance, insight, and our custom-tailored financial services. Contact us today to see what we can do for you!