If you want to grow your practice, you should be laser-focused on two different areas in your practice; maximizing patients through the front door, and minimizing patients out the back door. Patient retention is often an overlooked aspect of practice growth. According to “The Dentist’s Quick Guide to Medical Conditions,” approximately 50 percent of patients are lost due to lack of follow-up. Connecting with your patients can be challenging because the patients of today are always on the go. An inability to communicate with your patient could lead to missed opportunities and, in some cases, the loss of a patient altogether.
If your patients do not feel valued, they may seek dental services elsewhere. Patients visiting your practice with months in-between visits may have unexpected occurrences like a job lay-off, change of employment and/or a change in their insurance coverage. These patients may be enticed by the coupons they receive in their mailboxes promising them low-priced specials.
Dental patient follow-up is essential, but phone calls may not be enough
Superb dental care may not be enough to keep your patients from exploring other options; however, providing your patients with personalized care, as well as thoughtful follow-up may be the answer to this dilemma. Below are some tips on how you can give your patients the personalized care they want.
Recognize special occasions
Acknowledging special occasions is one of the easiest ways to let your patients know that you care. When your patient has a birthday, gets married, graduates, has a baby, etc., send a personal note or card that is personally signed by you and your team. If you know that your patient has suffered a setback, such as a job loss, illness or death in the family, send your condolences to let him or her know that you care. Timeliness adds to the impact of your acknowledgment.
Offer relevant information
When you know your patients, you can discuss relevant information or suggest books and articles that you think they will enjoy. For example, if you know that your patient has a child that plays soccer, ask about his or her most recent game.
Show your gratitude
You can build stronger relationships by adding value to your interactions with your patients. For example, a personal note acknowledging the fact that a patient referred you to a friend or family member goes a long way.
Reasons dental professionals choose Weave
Weave can help dental professionals build stronger relationships with patients through communication; thus, increasing patient retention rates. Weave accomplishes this through a centralized system that combines texting, calling and emailing, which makes communicating with patients easy.
We have less empty spots in the schedule. We are able to fill our openings either that are empty to start or happen last-minute with cancellations without having to make a ton of calls " -Weave Customer
Reduce Slow Days Significantly with Increased Bookings
Automation
Weave makes it easy for dental professionals to build strong relationships with their patients. Weave software uses Smart Lists to automatically send patients appointment reminders and birthday wishes. It also allows patients to text back.
Customer quote:
“It took me less than ten minutes last night to fill three last-minute hygiene openings I had for today by using my Weave Recall list! Patients respond so quickly to texts – it is so much faster than calling them, leaving them a voicemail and hoping they check it and get back to me.”
Seamlessly syncs with current dental software
Weave syncs with existing software so when current patients call, everything needed to address the patient’s concerns automatically pops up on your computer screen.
Unlimited calling capability
Current phone providers are replaced by Weave. This allows dental professionals to enjoy unlimited lines, local calling, and long-distance. All of these features in one convenient package.
Texting
Taking the dental texting status-quo to next level, Weave’s two-way text messaging allows dental professionals and office staff to send texts to and receive texts from their patients.
Another Resource:
If you found this article interesting, you may enjoy another post on Patient Retention.
Source:
1 Weinberg, M. A., Segelnick, S. L., Insler, J. S. and Kramer, S. (2015) Radiation and chemotherapy, in The Dentist’s Quick Guide to Medical Conditions, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, Hoboken, NJ. doi: 10.1002/9781118991473.ch14
