Jo Phillpot shares some tried-and-tested methods to achieve a full appointment book…
Do you ever look ahead to the following week in the diary and feel disappointed about the amount of gaps you see? The good news is, you are not alone – most dentists will admit to doing the same. The bad news is, I am hearing more and more reports of bigger gaps appearing. While of course you want to retain some white space in case of emergencies, you still want to see an appointment book that’s as full as possible. The first step you need to take is to figure out why there are gaps in the first place.
Why are there gaps?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this – it depends on your practice. It could be that your local market is becoming increasingly competitive, or that patients are delaying treatment or staying away all together. It is worthwhile spending some time to find out what is causing the gaps to ensure you can take appropriate action that will have a positive impact.
Yet, some practices are always ‘too busy’ – so why are they booked up while others are struggling? You will almost certainly find that these practices are paying great attention to their delivery of care and excelling in the way that they communicate with each patient. That will come on top of having a first-rate appointment booking and recall system, a proactive approach to finding new patient services, and a focus on promoting those services.
Plug the gaps by delivering the care that patients want
Top of many patients’ list of what is ‘very important’ when visiting a practice is trusting the dentist and being able to access treatments that ensure the health of teeth and gums. How can you make sure you are fulfilling your patients’ priorities every time they come to see you? Below are my top tips to make sure you can deliver the care your patients expect, hit their ideals and ultimately, ensure that they book return appointments to keep your diary full.
Build trust
Trust is at the heart of any good relationship and, at its core, dentistry is a relationship business. Patients don’t want to visit a dentist that they don’t have a good relationship with, and won’t recommend the practice to others either. Your existing patients can be your biggest advocate – if they believe that you really care for them – helping you to fill your diary with not only their return appointments, but also with new patients that they have endorsed you to.
At your next practice meeting why not discuss how each member of the team can improve the way patients feel when visiting the practice. If each staff member is focused on making the patient feel special and cared for, that will create strong, trusting relationships and the patient will feel you have their best interests at heart and be more likely to accept advice without too much concern for costs.
Swap roles
As part of this discussion you can also ask each team in your practice, i.e. your receptionists, your dentists and your nurses, to imagine that they’ve swapped roles with each other – and then come up with recommendations of how to improve in their new role. This will give a fresh perspective on the way each team is working and enables constructive criticism.
Focus on health not just treatments
Most patients are hoping that their dentist won’t find anything wrong with their teeth, rather than walking in with a need for a specific treatment or desire for more attractive teeth and gums. This can often be at odds with practices who tend to focus more on promoting treatments, rather than celebrating a clean bill of dental health with their patients.
Why not use an 11, 14, or 16 point dental health check and hand over a report/summary card to patients? That way they can see the breadth, depth and benefit of the regular exam appointment to their dental health, and will be more likely to return for regular visits – especially if they have that positive, celebratory experience mentioned above.
Recommend your hygienist
Continuing the theme of focusing on health – don’t forget to recommend a hygiene programme, especially to patients who are at risk of, or are showing signs of, gum inflammation. It’s important when doing this to tell those patients why you think this would be good for their dental and wider health, i.e. because their health will be measured and any progress monitored at every visit.
I know that patients appreciate this approach. They feel that there is a positive focus on their dental health and are therefore more engaged, which makes them more likely to book and keep appointments and choose elective treatments.
