3 Easy Way To Keep Patients Coming Back More Often

Success in any dental practice is all about the human touch. Something that’s unfortunately missing in most practices today.

It’s important to remember that your patients are all human beings who have a wife or husband, kids who don’t listen, a mortgage that’s too big, a house that’s too small, a swimming pool that needs cleaning and a garden that needs weeding.

Just like you, they are concerned about their health… they like to laugh, eat out, go to the movies and want to be happy.

And so the more you treat your patients as friends, the more they’ll talk about you to others and want to do more business with you.

So here are 3 simple ways for making friends with your patients… and turning them into life-long advocates for your business.

1. SEND BIRTHDAY LETTERS

Everyone likes to be remembered on their birthday. Personal birthday letters are the easiest to implement. But why not send a little gift? Or maybe a gift voucher to a local restaurant. (The restaurant should give you the voucher FREE or at least a 60% discount since it introduces a new customer to them at no cost.) Or perhaps a couple of movie tickets or whatever… The options are endless.

2. GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS RECOGNITION

Get photos of your patients at your practice together with a written testimonial about the results they got by using your services. Put these on your reception and office walls. They’ll be flattered and will talk to their friends about it. How do you get them to agree?

Simply say, “               , you got such great results with your ______ treatment that I’d like to get a photo of you and a testimonial to put up in reception. Would you be ok with that?”

3. SEND LOTS OF THANK YOU LETTERS

Thank your patients for everything. Especially for paying their bills on time. Thank them for referring people to you, thank them for coming to see you, thank them for giving you their business. What you reward is what you’ll get more of. So reward your customers by thanking them often. When is the last time someone thanked you for spending your money with them? Why not get your staff to send a little note with:

“Hi , thank you for taking care of your account so promptly.”

And attach a bag of… jellybeans. Remember, what you reward is what you’ll get more of. Thank your patients often and they’ll respond by talking about you and giving you more business.

IMPORTANT… All the simple ideas above will not work unless you do them. Make someone in your practice responsible for making sure that whatever you decide to do actually happens – every time. Make it into a documented system, outlining exactly who is going to do what. If McDonalds can do it with 14 year old kids, so can you.

And hey, don’t stop there.

I’m sure you can think up your own ways to make customers feel special… and to make your practice a lot more fun. So do it.

Loosen up a bit. And watch the enthusiastic response from your practice go straight to your bank account.

Life Time Value of a Patient

Most dentists I’ve consulted with are always looking for the next patient. They forget about the patients they’ve already got. And that’s a big mistake.

You see, it costs you eight times more to get a new patient than it does to get an old patient to come back to your practice. That’s the bare bone maths of the situation.

So there’s no point flooding your practice with a ton of new patients unless you’ve got systems in place to maximize their value.

Once you work out Patient The Lifetime Value (LTV) of each new patient, this concept will really sink in. To work out your lifetime value, just multiply the number of times per year a patient uses your service, times the number of visits, times the number of years they stick with you.

Average it all out and you’ve got your LTV.

Here’s a rough example to illustrate my point…

Patient Tom Smith sees you twice a year at an average cost of $250 per visit. He sticks with you for 6 years, and he refers just 1 new patient to you.

So Tom’s LTV to you would be…

($250 x 2) x (6 years) x (1+1) = $6000.00

Now that’s a rough ballpark figure. Many patients will be worth less, some patients a heck of a lot more.

The point is to find the average LTV of a patient in your practice. Once you have that number, you’ll know exactly how much you can spend to get a new one.

But to really make this work, you’ve got to build a strong rapport with each and every patient you see. This way, you maximise the amount of times they see you each year, and you maximise the number of years they stick with you.

And by following just a few of the techniques that we’ll cover in future posts, you could easily double the LTV of all of your patients.

How To Get An Instant Cash Flow Surge

Most Dentists I’ve met are good people. They’re honest, hard working; with a genuine concern for their patients.

And most are damn good at what they do.

Trouble is, most are too busy working to make any real money. And holidays are a thing of the past.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

You CAN create real wealth from your practice. And you can unshackle yourself from the day to day operations so you can take more time off and start to enjoy your life again.

But you need systems in place to make sure your business runs like a well-oiled machine.

You need…

*A system to get new patients.

*A system to retain patients and get them spending more, and more often.

*A system that builds a reliable team that works without constant supervision.

*A financial system.

These are just four that come to mind.

To create these systems is easier than you think, especially when someone shows you how.

And to start with, I’m going to give you one simple idea that gives your business an instant cash flow surge.

This technique involves all of your old, inactive customers. These are those people who have used your services at least once in the past.

So what happens to these people? Why do they stop using your services? Well, there are many reasons. People move, some die, some aren’t convinced of the merits of what you provide …. there’s a whole bunch of reasons.

But for many people, it’s simply apathy. It’s the old “out of sight, out of mind” scenario.

So it is critically important that you keep in contact with these people. Stay in contact. And the best way to stay in contact is by using good old fashioned mail. Whether it’s a newsletter, post card, or a letter, make sure you stay in contact.

And always include a special offer in your mailings …some kind of incentive to come back to your clinic.

Do this right, and the results will simply amaze you.