By Keaton Marks
May 8, 2013
I was recently speaking with an experienced dental marketing specialist. Surprisingly, traditional and inexpensive marketing is his favorite method, and he’s very intentional about tracking the results of his marketing, from the number of people called to the number of patients in the practice management system.
3 tactics to improve your phone skills in the dental office
Simple tips on handling tough questions from potential dental patients
He showed me a simple sheet of paper with no logo or branding – just an advertisement consisting of text and a few simple drawings.
“This free standing insert that I placed in a local newspaper is extremely inexpensive. On the first day, my office received 18 calls and we booked 23 patients.”
Wait. Out of 18 calls, his team booked 23 new patients.
At first I was sure I’d misheard him, but a minute later, it all clicked. The simplicity of it was astounding.
Instead of scheduling the appointment and hanging up, his team followed up with another question: “Is there anyone else in your household that would be interested in scheduling an appointment?”
Lesson learned: Every office should be asking this question after each patient booked. You never know how many prospective patients you could be losing by failing to follow up.
