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Encouraging referrals
THE FRONT OFFICE Practice Promotion Encouraging referrals Background.—Increasing patient referrals requires some strategic planning and a bit of effort but the payoff can be significant. Motivation to spend the time and energy needed can come from visualizing each patient followed by a line of friends, family members, co-workers, and acquaintances—all of whom can be influenced by the patient to choose you as their dental care provider. After clearing away the myths about patient referrals, taking a few quick steps can help to maximize your new patient referrals. Myths.—Three myths must be debunked to clear the way to take action. First, although conventional wisdom says only long-term patients refer, in actual life, patients who are new to the practice have the excitement of an excellent first impression and are more likely to tell everyone they know. Dentists should start asking for referrals as early as 1 week after the patient’s appointment. Second, patients don’t need an especially impressive result to make a referral. If they enjoy their routine checkup, they can be willing to tell others. Sometimes just anticipating a good result can be enough to make them excited—and that is the perfect time for them to make a referral. Third, patients who referred in the past can still refer— there is no ‘‘once and done’’ effect in telling others about a dentist. As long as patients are happy with their provider, they will continue to make referrals, especially if the dental office begins a rewards program for frequent referrals. Strategies.—Five strategies can improve your patient referrals. All create a great referral program and expand your patients’ loyalty to the practice. Set a clear referral goal for the office. After reviewing your referrals over the previous 6 to 12 months, determine the average monthly statistic and aim for a goal about 10% higher. The goal should be attainable and manageable, but also motivating. Check out the office to make sure it is a place where patients would want to refer their friends. This begins with the parking lot, the building exterior, and the practice signage.
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Dental Abstracts
Do they convey a sense of being well cared for, attractive, and modern? Next, you should walk through the front door and try to get a first impression from the patient’s perspective. This view will significantly influence the patient’s likelihood to refer others to your practice. Some amenities patients appreciate include having someone greet them in person, having refreshments available, and maintaining a tidy and up-to-date decor. Let patients know that the office is looking for referrals. The request should be sincere and direct and always in person. If you’ve provided excellent service, patients often feel motivated to reciprocate with a referral. Begin sending out a practice newsletter if you don’t already do so. This allows the practice to reach a huge number of people in a day—some of whom will be looking for a dentist. Each newsletter should include several requests for referrals and include a promotional piece about your referral program. Encourage patients to share the newsletter with friends by offering a special bonus offer. Make extra copies available so that they can share them with neighbors. Conduct a contest among the staff. Once you’ve set a goal, choose an incentive or prize that will be motivating. Considering the effect referrals can have on a practice, the incentive is an investment with an enormous value for you and your staff. Don’t just mention it once—market the contest to the team so that they get excited, too. Results.—Make sure that the staff is tracking their referrals. If the level increases, keep doing what you’re doing. If none of the efforts work, the most common problem is in responding to new-patient calls. Training the staff in how to effectively manage these first contacts will be in order.
Clinical Significance.—Dental offices work hard to deliver excellent care and maintain their patients’ healthy smile. New patients are an important part of all practices, and some effort is required to encourage patients and staff
to make referrals among their family, friends, and acquaintances. Just a few steps can help to make referrals a daily occurrence.
Geier J: 5 strategies for maximizing new-patient referrals. Dentaltown, Aug. 2015, pp 30-32 Reprints not available
High-tech for pediatric dentists Background.—High-tech methods are not commonly found in pediatric dental practices, but some new options might change that. Pediatric dentists tend to have few or no lab fees as well as less expensive supplies, and the innovations may cost a bit. However, they can lead to greater profitability with better efficiency—and maybe more patients. New Methods and Devices.—Caries management by risk assessment (CAMBRA) helps in the diagnostic and treatment planning efforts of the dental team. In this method, the dental health of the child, parents, and siblings is evaluated to establish the risk for new caries and caries recurrence of the patient. Based on these data, correct treatment plans can be developed using minimally invasive care rather than more aggressive interventions. Isolite Systems offer high-tech illumination, soft-tissue retraction, evacuation, airway protection, and aseptic conditions, while saving time for pediatric dental cases. Patients and their parents can also be impressed by the treatment that is delivered. When nonbuffered local anesthesia is delivered, the child experiences some stinging and is then left for 10 minutes for the onset of action. Adding an 8.4% solution of sodium bicarbonate to the syringe of local anesthetic alkalinizes the acidic local solution to that of body tissues, diminishing the pain of the injection and hastening the onset of anesthesia. Care can begin in a few minutes and children learn they don’t need to dread the injection. A mixing pen system is available that can easily buffer local anesthetics at chairside. For children requiring pulpal therapy (therapeutic vital pulpotomy), current options use formocresol, ferric sulfate, hypochlorite, calcium hydroxide, glutaraldehyde, lasers, and electrosurgery. Adding mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) has increased the success rate of the procedure and saves time. Crowns for primary teeth have used preformed metal, preformed resin, and resin-filled strip crowns, but zirconia is a preformed ceramic that offers non-metal construction
and can be more acceptable to parents. It is also durable, maintains color stability, and offers ease of placement. Preformed pediatric zirconia crowns are cemented with bioactive cements, but retention is significantly enhanced if hydroxyapatite formation and ionic release occur. When an extraction is done, a space maintainer may need to be placed to hold the place. Immediate spacer maintainer kits are available for selection of a molar band with attached tube and a connector wire placed into the tube to extend to the opposite tooth. With these kits the dentist can avoid lab-processed appliances, lab fees, and an additional appointment for cementing. In addition, a non-metal unilateral space maintainer using bonded glass fiber reinforced composite resin materials can be used for chairside fabrication of a space maintainer. Both the child and the dentist can benefit from the use of minimal conscious sedation with orally administered sedative and the amnesic drug midazolam supplemented with nitrous oxide analgesia. The child will not remember the invasive dental procedure, which improves his or her dental experiences in the future. This is also a positive approach that can be used in marketing the practice.
Clinical Significance.—Dental practices that treat children can benefit from adopting some of these newer approaches. In addition, offering these options will serve as incentives for parents to choose your practice if they are properly marketed. The child and parents benefit from faster, easier care delivery, and you and your staff will benefit from a more cooperative and happier patient along with satisfied parents.
Sanger RG: Game changers in pedonomics: Think profit, not overhead. Dental Economics, 105:64-68, 2015 Reprints not available
Volume 61
Issue 2
2016
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60
Dental Abstracts
Do they convey a sense of being well cared for, attractive, and modern? Next, you should walk through the front door and try to get a first impression from the patient’s perspective. This view will significantly influence the patient’s likelihood to refer others to your practice. Some amenities patients appreciate include having someone greet them in person, having refreshments available, and maintaining a tidy and up-to-date decor. Let patients know that the office is looking for referrals. The request should be sincere and direct and always in person. If you’ve provided excellent service, patients often feel motivated to reciprocate with a referral. Begin sending out a practice newsletter if you don’t already do so. This allows the practice to reach a huge number of people in a day—some of whom will be looking for a dentist. Each newsletter should include several requests for referrals and include a promotional piece about your referral program. Encourage patients to share the newsletter with friends by offering a special bonus offer. Make extra copies available so that they can share them with neighbors. Conduct a contest among the staff. Once you’ve set a goal, choose an incentive or prize that will be motivating. Considering the effect referrals can have on a practice, the incentive is an investment with an enormous value for you and your staff. Don’t just mention it once—market the contest to the team so that they get excited, too. Results.—Make sure that the staff is tracking their referrals. If the level increases, keep doing what you’re doing. If none of the efforts work, the most common problem is in responding to new-patient calls. Training the staff in how to effectively manage these first contacts will be in order.
Clinical Significance.—Dental offices work hard to deliver excellent care and maintain their patients’ healthy smile. New patients are an important part of all practices, and some effort is required to encourage patients and staff
to make referrals among their family, friends, and acquaintances. Just a few steps can help to make referrals a daily occurrence.
Geier J: 5 strategies for maximizing new-patient referrals. Dentaltown, Aug. 2015, pp 30-32 Reprints not available
High-tech for pediatric dentists Background.—High-tech methods are not commonly found in pediatric dental practices, but some new options might change that. Pediatric dentists tend to have few or no lab fees as well as less expensive supplies, and the innovations may cost a bit. However, they can lead to greater profitability with better efficiency—and maybe more patients. New Methods and Devices.—Caries management by risk assessment (CAMBRA) helps in the diagnostic and treatment planning efforts of the dental team. In this method, the dental health of the child, parents, and siblings is evaluated to establish the risk for new caries and caries recurrence of the patient. Based on these data, correct treatment plans can be developed using minimally invasive care rather than more aggressive interventions. Isolite Systems offer high-tech illumination, soft-tissue retraction, evacuation, airway protection, and aseptic conditions, while saving time for pediatric dental cases. Patients and their parents can also be impressed by the treatment that is delivered. When nonbuffered local anesthesia is delivered, the child experiences some stinging and is then left for 10 minutes for the onset of action. Adding an 8.4% solution of sodium bicarbonate to the syringe of local anesthetic alkalinizes the acidic local solution to that of body tissues, diminishing the pain of the injection and hastening the onset of anesthesia. Care can begin in a few minutes and children learn they don’t need to dread the injection. A mixing pen system is available that can easily buffer local anesthetics at chairside. For children requiring pulpal therapy (therapeutic vital pulpotomy), current options use formocresol, ferric sulfate, hypochlorite, calcium hydroxide, glutaraldehyde, lasers, and electrosurgery. Adding mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) has increased the success rate of the procedure and saves time. Crowns for primary teeth have used preformed metal, preformed resin, and resin-filled strip crowns, but zirconia is a preformed ceramic that offers non-metal construction
and can be more acceptable to parents. It is also durable, maintains color stability, and offers ease of placement. Preformed pediatric zirconia crowns are cemented with bioactive cements, but retention is significantly enhanced if hydroxyapatite formation and ionic release occur. When an extraction is done, a space maintainer may need to be placed to hold the place. Immediate spacer maintainer kits are available for selection of a molar band with attached tube and a connector wire placed into the tube to extend to the opposite tooth. With these kits the dentist can avoid lab-processed appliances, lab fees, and an additional appointment for cementing. In addition, a non-metal unilateral space maintainer using bonded glass fiber reinforced composite resin materials can be used for chairside fabrication of a space maintainer. Both the child and the dentist can benefit from the use of minimal conscious sedation with orally administered sedative and the amnesic drug midazolam supplemented with nitrous oxide analgesia. The child will not remember the invasive dental procedure, which improves his or her dental experiences in the future. This is also a positive approach that can be used in marketing the practice.
Clinical Significance.—Dental practices that treat children can benefit from adopting some of these newer approaches. In addition, offering these options will serve as incentives for parents to choose your practice if they are properly marketed. The child and parents benefit from faster, easier care delivery, and you and your staff will benefit from a more cooperative and happier patient along with satisfied parents.
Sanger RG: Game changers in pedonomics: Think profit, not overhead. Dental Economics, 105:64-68, 2015 Reprints not available
Volume 61
Issue 2
2016
61