It’s no secret that dentistry practice management requires top-notch organizational skills. If we want to keep existing patients and bring in new ones, we have to provide an excellent patient experience. That’s why patient care, office cleanliness, and staff efficiency should be the core values of our practice.
Going forward, we’re going to talk about some of the most useful dental office management tips we’ve come across. For example, simply having a welcoming dentist office design is one of the best ways to keep your patients coming back. If you click here, you’ll see that hiring a dental office designer can make all the difference.
But of course, that’s not the only way to maximize patient retention and boost profits. So let’s talk about some other ways to maximize productivity at a dental clinic.
Getting Started With Basic Dental Office Management Tips
If you wanted to learn the basic tenets of management, you could just read the Wikipedia page about the topic. But we’re here to tell you something you won’t see on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management — so let’s get into it.
For example, did you know that healthy dental office culture is crucial for running a business? That’s why businesses have employees wear the same uniform — or at the very least the same kind of clothing. The dress code doesn’t need to be boring, just consistent. Still, having everyone adhere to the same standard helps set the mood.
The same principle should guide other aspects of your dental clinic culture. All employees should share certain company values. And, as we have established, those values should include caring about patients, office cleanliness, and efficiency above all else. To that end, the aim of dentistry practice management should be to:
• Teach front desk employees how to answer calls to maintain an influx of patients
• Provide training to staff members to expand the list of services the clinic offers
• Acquire the latest dental machines and treatments on the market
• Figure out a way to expand the clientele through marketing
• Engage existing patients through newsletters, texts, and personalized care
With that being said, let’s talk about how we can achieve the goals we’ve listed.
Keep New Patient Call Log at the Front Desk
To begin with, let’s go over the rules of engagement for the front desk employees. Ideally, the practice should have a system in place for screening and answering calls. If necessary, we can even work up a script for different kinds of callers and even missed calls.
To that end, the front desk workers should know how to keep a record of everyone who calls in. They should write down the callers’ names, phone numbers, and reasons for calling. Additionally, if the caller is a potential new patient, the front desk staff should make a note of how they heard about the practice. That should help us figure out which marketing strategy is working — or where new patients are coming from.
Having more in-depth conversations with callers should translate into a higher conversion rate of new patients. Ideally, between 80 and 100% of first-time patients should become regulars.
Improve Patient Care
There’s nothing more uninviting to potential patients than having rushed conversations with clinic representatives. But patient conversion doesn’t end at the front desk of the dental office. Teaching the rest of the team how to approach patients is just as important. With that in mind, we need to develop and enforce policies and procedures that ensure staff accountability and consistency.
The patients that come into a dental clinic should receive the same quality of care from their first appointment, through specialist consultations, and consequent checkups. They shouldn’t feel as though their dentists are rushing to get to their next patient. That’s where dentist scheduling comes into play.
Every staff member should be scheduled to spend at least 5 or 10 minutes more with each patient than is strictly necessary. If nothing else, that would give dentists time to connect with the patients and get them to recommend the clinic.
Generate Referrals
Even though dental work makes conversation difficult, dentists can still get to know their patients before and after treatments. It may sound obvious, but talking to people and even putting tidbits of information in our patient notes can help us convey that we care about patients. For example, if a patient tells us that their daughter is going off to college, we can ask about how she’s settling in during their next checkup.
More to the point, asking about a patient’s family is a good way to get new patients. Obviously, we don’t want to target people who are already happy with their dentists. But according to some statistics, a third of Americans don’t have a dentist they regularly visit. So in the interest of oral health promotion, it doesn’t hurt to ask patients if they know anyone who needs the services of a dental clinic.
Set Up A Website And Use Scheduling Software
The management of a dental clinic should also involve taking charge of its online presence. In addition to claiming the official company profile on various review aggregate sites, they should also maintain a functional website. It should contain pertinent staff members’ biographies, a list of services the clinic offers, as well as a way to set up appointments online.
On top of that, we can also mention any payment options the company offers. Most clinics take cash, credit cards, and checks. Moreover, a growing number of them is incorporating online payment options. Aside from that, we can use the website as well as social media accounts to advertise referral schemes and discounts.
The website should also be connected to a scheduling software, allowing front desk employees and dentists to track appointments. The same program should also be able to manage patient records and collect data. Some of them can even connect to the office phones. All these things should greatly improve the efficiency of the company, thereby making it more productive and lucrative.
Fix Up the Office
Last but not least, it’s important to consider dentist office design. The clinic should have natural light but not too much of it. We don’t want patients to feel like they’re fish in a bowl. As we keep stressing, the place should look clean and neat, but it should also feel comfortable and not too clinical.
For example, the waiting room should have comfortable seating and some basic amenities like magazines and a water dispenser. But ultimately, if you implement the other dental office management tips we’ve mentioned, patients won’t spend much time in the waiting room anyway.
If Nothing Else — Hire a Dentistry Practice Management Company
If you find yourself struggling to implement the dentistry practice management strategies we’ve mentioned, call in the cavalry. There are plenty of management companies that specifically focus on optimizing dental practices. Similarly, you can hire a dental office designer to make the place more efficient and inviting.
