9 Dental Business Tips That Will Make Dentists Smile
Did you know only 65% of Americans see a dentist regularly?
Going to the dentist is scary for many people, and many people think they think they cannot afford it.
If you own a dental business, you need to make the most of all of the patients that come through your doors. Read on to learn a few dental practice tips.
1. Focus on Office Culture
If you want your dental practice to succeed in 2020, you need to do more than focus on forming a relationship with your patients. You need to focus on promoting a happy office culture. When your employees are happy, your patients will be happy too.
After all, your employees have interactions with your patients from the moment they walk in the door.
2. Build a Great Website
Before your patients walk into your dental practice, they most likely looked at your website first.
In fact, 75% of people will judge your credibility based on your website design rather than your field experience. Your website must make a great first impression if you expect future patients to make an appointment.
For starters, when was the last time you updated your website? If it has been more than a few years since you updated your website, it’s ready for a facelift.
When in the process of re-designing your website, check these things off your list:
- It should be mobile-friendly
- It should load quickly
- It should be better than your competitor’s
- It should help you bring new patients
- It should rank well on Google
Although there are many things to keep in mind, this checklist should give you a great place to start.
3. Hire the Right Number of Employees
If you’re understaffed, your practice will suffer, and if you hire too many employees, your finances will suffer. Hiring the right number of employees is the best way to ensure your dental practice thrives in 2020.
Although there’s not an exact formula to calculate how many people you should hire. You should hire a front desk employee for every $350k to $400k you make. Also, hire a dental assistant for every $250k your practice makes.
4. Give Your Team the Proper Training
As we mentioned before, your team is an essential part of your dental practice. To ensure your patients receive the best service and treatment, it’s essential your team gets the best possible training.
Even if you onboard them when they start working at the practice, ensure your brush up on their skills. Having meetings and trainings often with your team will ensure they’re always at the top of their game.
5. Make Your Dental Practice Unique
There are many dental practices for your patients to choose from, so it’s important your practice sets itself apart from the competition. Start by naming a few things that make your practice unique.
If you’re having trouble coming up with some facts that set your practice apart, then you have some work to do.
You might not know off the top of your head what sets your practice apart, but they might be right in front of you. For starters, do you have state-of-the-art technology?
If you have special imaging technology or new techniques, it’s important you let your patients know.
6. Use Automated Scheduling Solutions
If the only way for your patients to schedule an appointment is by calling, you could miss out on opportunities.
Many people don’t like calling places to make an appointment over the phone due to hold times. Also, if they want to make an appointment outside office hours, they won’t have an option to do so.
Adding user-friendly scheduling on your website so your clients can schedule their own appointments will ensure you never miss out on business. It’s worth investing in scheduling software if it will help you give your clients the best service possible.
Your team will work more effectively with the right software, tools, and equipment. Look for the best business laptops for your dental practice.
7. Make the Most of Working Hours
If your practice is extremely busy, you might wish you had more hours in the day to schedule your patients. Unfortunately, while you cannot work more hours in the day, you can make the best of your hours.
For starters, you need to manage patient cancelations. Many patients cancel last minute, which causes you to lose money if you can’t fill in the spot right away.
If you have not implemented a cancelation policy, now it’s the time to do so. When a patient cancels with less than 24-hrs notice, you can charge them a fee.
Also, because some people might not be available during the week, it’s essential you add some office hours on a weekend day or some evenings.
8. Provide Dental Financing
Although most dental insurance covers basic and preventative care, it’s a fact it quickly runs out. Some dental work is not cheap, and not everyone is lucky to have dental insurance.
If you have to give your patients the bad news that their dental care will be expensive, you should also give them the good news by providing them with special financing.
Partnering with medical financing services such as CareCredit will help simplify the life of your patients.
9. Make the Most of Patient Referrals
If your patients are happy with the care you provide them, they will tell their friends and family about you. However, this doesn’t mean you cannot help motivate them.
You can start a referral program and reward your patients when they refer someone to your practice. For example, you can give them $25 off their next visit for every person they refer.
Start Applying These Dental Business Tips Today
Now that you know about these dental business tips to apply in 2020, it’s time you get to work. Start by focusing on office culture, upgrading your website, training your employees, and providing dental financing.
If you enjoyed these tips and would like to learn more business tips, check out the rest of our blog.
