Reviewing your systems

I have spoken to many practices this week who are trying really hard to make a positive change to their work environment and the way they do things. Of all the practices that I speak to, the ones who are doing this are successful. The practices that have sat back and done nothing during the downturn are the ones – surprise surprise – that are now feeling the effects. They are panicking, in desperate need of new patients and urgently need to reactivate their old patients.

Look at your practice and your systems. What does your practice have to offer your new patients? And are your patients aware of this? What is your web presence – do you own the local area? Does your website have a nice message or is it just pretty or flashy?

For your website and marketing literature your content is king. Then when the patients contact the practice the systems are king. How is each new patient treated? What will keep your active patients attending?

I feel you should all be doing something different each month to attract new patients. What are you doing?

Ask you team what your systems are like and how, for example, the new patient system works. Then start to work together as a team to change your practice for the better.

Look at everything in the eyes of your patients – because that is what the successful practices are doing and doing very well.

Laura

www.laurahortonconsulting.co.uk

Being Unique

After reading Chris Barrow’s blog entitled ‘whinge’ I thought I would write a few comments of my ownThis blog made me realise that I am glad I am unique in the training that I provide – Treatment Coordinator training.

I spent a great deal of time thinking about setting up my own business (should I, shouldn’t I?) before I decided to take the plunge – the greatest risk of my life to date, because, let’s face it – being in full time paid employment, with a great basic salary entering my current account every month, 8 weeks paid holiday a year and amazing bonuses, is pretty risky to say goodbye to! Yet the reason I knew I could do this was because I had a unique service that I could offer the dental world. My first plan for my business was solely to provide photography training, in-house. I then realised that the Treatment Coordinator training was another niche in the market. Both of these services I had been undertaking for years in practice – as a client told me the other day, I walk the talk.

I could have set up my new business based on a copy of other successful consultants – I can teach sales skills, and communication skills etc but I chose not to.

Chris’s blog made me to say to myself – ‘I am glad to be unique’! The same should apply to dental practices. The dental practices that want to be different and capture the local market have unique USP’s. They are what I call forward thinking practices.

Unique USP’s are providing dentistry for busy people, having a treatment coordinator and providing free of charge consultations, providing new patients with a portfolio of their smile, half price whitening on Wednesdays etc, not as one team member recently told me “our USP is that we have a website”.

You do not want to be the same as all other practices in your area. You need to see what’s around you, spend time looking at other practices websites and constantly driving your business forward. Every day you and your team should be asking yourself: why should the new patients choose us and why should the existing patients remain active?

Sometimes practices forget that the patients pay their bills so that the practice can pay its bills – and the largest bill is always the wages!

So start thinking and get your team involved – what really makes you unique?

Laura