Come with us, if you will, on a journey across the universe. A journey to a place where dentist-patient relationships don’t matter, and where best practices are out the window. Buckle up, because we’re about to enter… The Shopping Zone.

Consider, for a moment, The Shopper. He needs a crown. He’s not looking for the best crown. He’s looking for the cheapest crown. He’s on a race to the bottom.

Now, meet Betty. She’s worked in the dental office for 25 years, and frankly is counting the days until she can ditch the place. Here’s how she handles The Shopper:

“Dentist’s office.”

“Hey, how much are your crowns?”
“$795. We ship them overseas.”

“Okay, thanks.”

And the patient was never heard from again.

Let’s go to the other side of the universe and meet Nancy. Nancy loves her job, and is curious about patients. Let’s see how she handles The Shopper:

“Thank you for calling...

Dental patient referrals represent an important way to grow your practice, but a lot of dentists struggle to achieve them on a consistent basis. By following just a few steps, you can increase your referrals and grow your practice, leading to a more vibrant and profitable business.

Below Are Five Steps To Increase Dental Patient Referrals To Your Practice:

1. Be on time: When you are not on time, it communicates to your patient that you don’t care. No matter what words are coming out of your mouth, your ability to be on time is essential when developing a relationship with a patient. When you are on time, you show respect to your patient and establish trust more quickly.
2. Say please and thank you: Establish a culture of gratitude not only with your patients, but also with your team. Great companies and billion-dollar brands prioritize the idea of saying please and thank you so that their customers know they are valued and appreciated. Get your entire...

Did you know that only one third of all new dental patients calling a dental office today will actually schedule an appointment? What if you improved that figure to one-half or three-quarters and add more new patients to your dental practice?

Even that small change would have a dramatic effect on your practice—and it’s not out of reach. With just three simple steps, you can increase the rate of new patients you bring on board each month:

Here Are The 3 Steps To Add More New Dental Patients To Your Practice:

1. Collect the data: The first step is to collect the relevant data so that you can analyze it and make a plan. Have one of your team members collect the data and present it to you on a weekly basis. You need to track how many calls you get in a week, how many calls each week are actually answered, how many calls are returned and how many calls are converted into new dental patients. These insights will inform your plan.
2. Analyze the data points: Once you have...

Dental practices are continually faced with the challenge of attracting and retaining new patients. In today’s competitive market, where providers see substantially less patient traffic than in years past, what makes one practice more desirable than another? How can a provider bring in fresh revenue? While there’s no magic to adding hundreds of patients to your practice instantly, there are multiple strategies you can implement to expand your monthly and annual patient base. What’s better? You don’t have to spend a ton of money to do so — just use these seven tips to get started.

Pick Up The Phone

According to Dr. Christopher Phelps, up to a third of new patient calls are never answered by an office team, and it’s easy to understand why. Universally, the small, collaborative groups running a private dental practice almost always have their plates full. However, data has illustrated that many new patients call during office downtime or busy time,...

There is no shortage of dental practices; that’s for sure. As a patient, that’s excellent news. It means you probably have multiple options located near you from which to choose. But, for a dental practice, this means stiff competition.

So, what can you do to stand out from the crowd, boost your visibility, and persuade patients to choose your services rather than those of your competition?

Enter marketing.

With the widespread availability of marketing tools and knowledge sources today, almost anyone can get started with marketing fast and easily. While some simple tips such as creating quality content can prove to be quite helpful, other things aren’t quite as intuitive. A lot of the time, small business owners tend to overspend on their marketing campaigns, focusing on tactics that ultimately don’t bring in the desired effect. They also assume that it’s OK to spend more in the beginning because the new customers they’ll bring in will make...

If you’re a licensed dentist, you don’t need to be reminded of the basics of dental work. After all, dental school is serious, sober affair.

The competitive surge in market settings today has many patients searching for more than “just” a dentist.

What Does That Mean?

Focusing on customer service is quintessential in the dental industry. Pleasantries such as a friendly demeanor, reasonable wait times, helpful team members, and comfortable office space are all minor services that can make a tremendous impression on clientele. Most importantly, cultivate strong relationships with your patients. Doing so can increase new-patient numbers and ensure more loyal patients.

Let’s look at the ways dentists can accomplish this:

Create A Warm Environment

First impressions matter. The atmosphere of your practice has a tremendous influence on both new and current patients. For some, a warm, inviting setting and pleasant administrative team is equally important...

Running a dental practice is no different from running any other kind of business. The same rules apply. You should focus on offering the best services to your patients, value them as primary assets for the success of your business, and constantly try to get ahead of the competition.

But with so many practices fighting for the same patients, gaining an advantage might prove to be a rather difficult task. You’re probably always asking yourself: How can I reach more patients and increase my profits?

Well, one solution would be taking a swing at Facebook ads. True, this is probably the last thing on your mind. You are running a full-time business, after all, and you have more on your plate than you can easily handle. How do you find the time to conceptualize and implement a successful Facebook campaign?

The good news is that it’s not that hard.

Here are the steps you need to take to attract more qualified patients from Facebook ads.

Step #1: Build Your Online...

What if I told you I could show you how to get more patients into your practice – even double the current amount?

What if you just had to make some changes to your approach, not double your abudget?

At ACT Dental, we’ve built our reputation on giving our clients real strategies that produce real results without substantially increasing their overhead at the same time. Today’s list of advice is no exception.

How To Get More Patients Into Your Practice In 7 Steps

Even if you’ve spent a lot of time reading other articles and books on the topic, you’ll definitely find something new from our 7 strategies below. Most importantly, it’s actionable advice you can begin using right away.  This process was articulated really well in a fabulous podcast we did on the Best Practices Show recently with Dr. Chris Phelps.  You can listen to it here. 

1. Answer. The. Phone.

This might be the most controversial strategy on the...

What does dentistry have to do with coffee mugs? Take a look at our example in the video, and ask yourself:

“How well are we conveying the value of our dental expertise?”

While we can’t choose treatment for patients, we can present the benefits that influence their decisions to move forward.

Remember, patient apprehensions are typically centered around time, money or pain.

With a carefully crafted message and strategized language, we can get them past those apprehensions, and into the chair!