Ads Thanki shares his tips for attracting patients, improving treatment acceptance rates and growing your business.
For a practice to thrive and expand, it requires the operation of various elements such as systems, processes and essential skills. These components work together like a oiled machine aiming to achieve the practice’s objectives and long term vision.
However, in times of stagnation or decline in growth, profitability and professional achievements, it becomes imperative to focus on business aspects.
The below highlights business foundations that can be reinforced to attract patients, improve treatment acceptance rates and overall practice development.
Attracting patients
To sustain a flow of patients, practice owners need to market and grow their practice through internal and external initiatives.
It is recommended that 60% of patients should originate from referrals, underscoring the importance of word of mouth recommendations, reviews and similar avenues.
Establishing communication channels with existing patients is crucial for increasing patient numbers each month. Internal marketing strategies encompass leveraging written communication skills, like emails, texts, social media and monthly campaigns.
Consistent efforts in marketing play a role in engaging patients by effectively encouraging referrals and reviews and educating patients about the services offered by the practice.
Once internal objectives are achieved, practices can focus on strategies such as optimising their website monitoring platforms like social media, content marketing and enhancing organic reach to ensure visibility when potential patients search for dental services.
Patient retention
Prioritising patient retention over acquiring patients is a more sustainable approach. The emphasis should be on delivering value and building relationships to turn patients into long term advocates of the practice.
Our goal is to introduce the concept of the ‘four pillars’ for a patient practice partnership: trust, need, urgency and value.
Enhancing experience and communication skills is vital for reinforcing these pillars. This involves employing aids honing verbal communication skills and focusing on every aspect of the patient journey, from booking appointments to facility ambiance, branding consistency, post-visit follow-ups and ensuring accessibility.
Expanded services
In a dynamic dental industry, landscape practices must continuously diversify their service offerings to meet evolving patient demands. By broadening their range of services provided, practices can potentially reduce the need for patients to seek treatments elsewhere.
Providing healthcare services at the clinic not only helps patients, but also improves overall productivity. By offering convenience and addressing patient scheduling constraints, clinics can enhance care and remain competitive.
It is essential for clinics to identify areas where they can attract and retain patients and improve their service offerings to ensure continuous growth. Effective communication skills are key in this process of enhancement.
In conclusion, a thorough evaluation of patient attraction, retention and service offerings is vital for clinics looking to expand. Good communication skills, whether spoken or written, are crucial for progress in these areas. Focusing on these elements will lead to growth in the present and future for the clinic.
Read more from Ads Thanki:
- A guide to launching a dental practice
- When should you start your own dental practice? – part two
- When should you start your own dental practice? – part one
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