Dental practice was always one of the most sought out, easiest to launch, and coziest corners of the medical landscape you can imagine. It’s also one of those medical fields that are knee-deep in the beauty market, so it’s really no wonder that the global dental service market size is estimated to be USD 371.4 billion.
If you have decided to start your own gig in this profitable sector we can do nothing but salute you.
But, as you are probably aware, finding a good dental practice is not that hard. This sector also has solid patient retention numbers. If you want to pop on the radar and draw patients away from the competitors, your practice doesn’t only have to be good – it needs to be excellent.
Let’s take a look at a couple of tweaks that will solve this problem.
Foster patient engagement
A bit earlier, we mentioned that the dental industry packs a very healthy, above 70% patient retention rate. However, sitting on these laurels and simply counting on the positive experiences to produce invaluable repeat revenue is simply not good enough to keep you in the game. A more proactive solution can be found in building a stronger online presence and fostering a following that doesn’t revolve simply around the dental chair. An active, fun, and informative social media profile as well as turning your website into a valuable source of knowledge for all things dental is a good place to start.
Enhance the efficiency and performance
Don’t get us wrong, all patients should get due time and attention, especially when they sit in the chair. But, all things surrounding the interventions can be optimized to make the patient experience simple and worth the time. Do your best then to streamline the client service and appointments, reshuffle the items around the premises to make the workflow simpler, and try to make all things move faster with the standardization of protocols, instruments, and procedures, These small touches may sound menial, but they can move mountains in terms of how your practice performs on a daily basis.
Use the latest-gen tech
Over the last couple of years, AI and other novel technologies completely overhauled pretty much all facets of human society making them more efficient, streamlined, and, why not, more enjoyable. Well, there is no reason why you wouldn’t want to produce these same qualities in your practice. Fortunately, you have plenty of options to choose from. For instance, the new cutting-edge dental software by Podium will help you to easily manage reviews, other platforms will handle electronic records, while some of them excel in 3D modeling. All of them are invaluable for a small dental practice.
Build a great team of professionals
Sure, this is something seemingly not worth pointing out. But, great junk of patient experience boils down to dentists who perform interventions. They don’t only need to be extremely good at what they do – they also need to be pleasant, have excellent social skills, be ready to evolve, and, most importantly, be extremely well motivated. So, do your best to turn your practice into a comforting work environment, stimulate your workers with good compensations, and enable them resources from professional development. This is the only way to foster all the things we have talked about above long term.
Constantly improve your marketing efforts
Putting out ads and hoping people will take notice and come knocking at your doors is aimless, and as such, inevitably produces poor results. Your marketing efforts need to be rooted in hard data, excellent knowledge of the market, and a rock-solid marketing plan that will take into consideration target demographics, available marketing channels, financial projections, and so on. Furthermore, you should also think about KPIs that will help you to constantly keep track of and evaluate the results of your efforts. This way, you will be able to make quick course corrections at the first sign of trouble.
Build relationships with other professionals
We are, of course, talking about the clinics that don’t present direct competition like chiropractors, pediatricians, optometrists, and similar. Starting professional relationships with each other will allow everyone involved to pass recommendations, share marketing resources like maligning lists, start joint marketing efforts, and even consider joining a partnership. But, why limit your scope to medical professionals? Reaching out to local restaurants, hotels, wellness centers, and gyms may prove to be just as beneficial. There is really no bad place to find a good dentist when you need one the most.
Conclusion
Well, there you have it – 6 small tweaks that will completely change the appeal of your dental practice and help it produce more mainstream traction. Dental medicine is a very competitive field of work, and people are doing their best. It’s much harder to find a bad dentist than to stumble over a decent one. So, keep in mind that your hard work won’t always shine true and that the race to the top of the market may be decided by nuances. Well, now you have picked up a couple of tricks.
Be sure to put them to good use.
