Jo Phillpot celebrated her 30th anniversary of working in dentistry in 2019.
During her 19 years working in both NHS and private practices she has been a dental nurse, oral health educator and practice manager. For the past decade she has been a Business Development Consultant at DPAS where she uses her expertise to support practices.
Below, she shares her experience, including being in a practice that left the NHS and a stint on Radio 1, and her thoughts on how to stand out from the competition…
What is the most challenging experience you faced while working in practice?
Converting from the NHS to a private practice around 1990 was quite a challenging time. What worked best for us was that the whole team bought in to the changes and supported each other through the process. Overall the transfer went as well as could be expected and we achieved the conversion we needed to.
What has been your most memorable experience whilst working in a practice?
We were Simon Mayo’s Confession Posse on Radio 1 for a whole week back in the nineties. We had great fun listening to the daily confessions with patients that were booked in and then passing judgement. We had a brilliant week and it certainly helped relax patients. Sometimes it’s the little things that can make all the difference and help to build relationships between the team and with patients.
What are the biggest issues facing practice teams today, and how can they deal with them?
Competition and being able to make yourself stand out from other practices is a big challenge. Patients are savvier than they used to be and tend to shop around more when searching for a dentist. Practices need to be confident about their services, their brand and why they are worth the prices they charge and ensure the patient journey/experience is the best it can be for the patients.
What advice do you have for practices looking to grow their business?
Make sure you know where your new patients are coming from and invest your resources accordingly. When new patients come into your practice make sure you ask them, either face-to-face or via a form, how they heard about you. If it’s by word of mouth you may want to introduce a family/friend referral scheme to reward these patients, or if your Facebook page is a popular option, ensure your page is kept up-to-date with the correct information and regular posts.
As I mentioned above, patients like to shop around to find the right practice for them. More often than not, the first place they will start shopping is online, so your website must be attractive and convey what you need it to within a few seconds of someone landing on it. At the very least it needs to be clear, easy to navigate and up-to-date with the services you offer, your price list and any plan information.
If you could only pick one thing that practices should be doing in order to succeed what would it be?
Talk to your patients about the services you offer. It sounds simple, but it’s not unheard of for a patient to turn up at their regular practice for a routine exam after having had a treatment carried out by another dentist, because they just didn’t realise that their usual practice offered that service.
The moral of the story is, don’t assume that patients have seen your posters or read your brochures, etc, tell them face-to-face in conversation about what you have to offer.
What key business lessons have you learned from your time in dentistry?
The patient journey is extremely important, more so now than ever – which, again, goes back to the savviness of patients and their high expectations for the entire experience in practice, not just the clinical treatment. Ensure your patient journey is well thought through, moves with the times, and delivered to an excellent standard at all times.
Another thing that can make a big difference is being confident and proud of what you offer to patients. Do you believe what you offer is good value to your patients? If you want your patients to value your services, you need to make sure that you – and your dental team – also do so.
What do you enjoy most about working in dentistry?
The team of people I work with and the practices I support, building those relationships is really important and a lot of fun! But also, every day is different, it’s a constantly evolving profession.