By Sharon Williams
Running a dental care practice is challenging. While you may provide excellent services, it is not enough for the business to flourish. You need to find ways to enhance the patient experience of the existing customers while attracting new ones. Here are a few ways you can achieve that.
- Train the Staff
Before the patient even meets the orthodontist, they will come in contact with the staff like the receptionist, members of the front desk or the medical intern. The way your staff interacts with the patients will set the tone of their experience. The staff’s attitude, professionalism and communication skills can leave a lasting impression on the patients — therefore, ensure that the first impression is a positive one. The training programs should include advanced communication skills, technical expertise, customer service techniques, etc., to ensure improved patient satisfaction and more appointments for cosmetic dentistry like teeth straightening.
- Offer Flexible Financial Options
Don’t insist on having just one payment option. Offer a wide range of payment options so that the customers will be more inclined to accept the different treatment recommendations and return for future dental care. Apart from insurance coverage, you can offer flexible financing options that include credit, debit, cash, personal check and other special financing options that don’t interfere with dental health care decisions like when to get braces for kids.
- Encourage Referrals
You can employ various marketing tactics to attract new customers but nothing beats a word-of-mouth referral. By offering excellent orthodontic services and keeping your current patients happy and satisfied, you can be assured of them bringing in new referrals. While you can rely on the existing customers to refer your practice to their friends and family, you need to be proactive in asking for patient referrals as well in order to grow your business.
Give the existing customers referral cards and offer a referral bonus as an incentive. Provide patients with quick links to the online review sites so that they can leave positive reviews regarding your practice, thus encouraging the online customers to use your services. You can even incentivize the employees to bring in new customers to grow your practice. Regardless of which referral option you choose, it is critical that you follow up for assured results.
- Upgrade the Scheduling System
People no longer go to clinics to make their dental appointments. If you still schedule appointments that way, you need to upgrade it. Having a quality dental scheduling system will allow you to book appointments for orthodontic treatment more efficiently. Additionally, you can create better patient flow, maximize productivity at work and make scheduling a lot easier for the customers as well as the staff. All this will give you an edge over your competitors.
- Make it Fun
One word patients won’t associate with dentist visits is — fun. However, you can indeed provide an enjoyable experience for your customers. You can host themed events that can range from an information seminar along with food and drinks to a fun photo shoot for patients that received cosmetic treatments. You can even run exciting contests on social media and put up a refreshment pitstop for local events like charity runs or parades. It would be a fun way for your customers to learn about the clinic’s various offerings like different types of braces they can get to other dental health care tips.
Make a strong marketing plan, identify which tips work the best for your practice and work on the weak spots. In no time, you will see an influx of new customers that will keep your clinic busy.
Author Bio:
Sharon William’s day job is to handle digital marketing for Koch Orthodontics in Lawrenceville, GA. With a flair for creating compelling content that clears the clutter and connects with the audience in an instant, she writes about dental topics to educate and help her readers. She truly believes that a genuine smile can win a million hearts and talks to her readers about improving their smiles and overall dental health, as well as enhancing their overall lifestyle. In her free time, she likes to organize small meets in her neighborhood where she brings people together to discuss various topics that she writes about.