Leanne Rose shares her approach to creating memorable experiences for patients…
‘The patient is king’ is a lesson I learned early on in my dental career, particularly during my time as a Treatment Coordinator (TCO). I also know that, in the midst of day-to-day practice life, it is a lesson that’s easy to lose sight of.
But when you consider the value of each patient to your practice, it is important to try and keep that ethos at the forefront of your and your team’s minds. The value of a happy, satisfied patient is not just monetary. A patient who feels they have been treated like a king will not just be more likely to stay loyal, and generate further income during their time with you, but they will also potentially become a great advocate for your practice and a source of referrals.
Ensuring patients feel valued and recognised for their worth is essential to retaining and winning new business, and can be achieved by the experience you provide.
Throughout my time as a TCO, and then as a Practice Manager, this was a lesson I really took to heart and below are three ways I worked with my team to deliver this kind of experience:
Mystery calling
As a practice manager I would ring my own front desk posing as a potential new patient and see how the enquiry was handled. This is also something I do now as a Business Development Consultant with the practices I look after. It provides you with a real opportunity to stand in the patients’ shoes and gain an accurate picture of their interaction with you. From there you will be able to identify what is going/not going well and where there may be a need for further training.
Remember the details
You can build a human connection and strengthen your relationships with patients by remembering any personal details they mention to you. For example, during their visit they may mention an upcoming wedding, that they’re training for a triathlon or that their first grandchild has been born. Those details can be recorded and then shared with the team, which could be via the practice management software or simply in a notebook that you go through at a meeting the day the patient is due in, and your team can then ask the patient about it during their visit. By remembering these details about their lives, you will make those patients feel special.
Think more spa, less surgery
Regularly review the surroundings of the practice and, similarly to the above, try and view them from the patients’ point of view. It’s easy to allow things to slip – such as the magazines or posters in the waiting room becoming outdated, the furniture beginning to look old – but these small things can make a big difference to the impression you make and the experience your patients have. Think about how you feel when visiting a spa or a nice hotel, and how you can bring some of those elements into your practice (e.g. having fresh flowers, using a reed diffuser) to elevate it beyond the ordinary. Today’s patients are more consumer savvy than ever and they will appreciate these little differences that help you stand out from the competition.
These three top tips are simple to implement, not to mention cost-efficient, and can help your patients value their relationship with you, as much as you do with them.
