Making Great First Impressions
Making Great First Impressions
Making Great First Impressions
How important is the first impression you make on a patient?
More importantly, what do you want a new patient to take away from their first phone call with or first appointment at your practice?
There are many components to a successful marketing campaign but none is as important as a prospective new patient's first contact with and first impression of your dental practice. Your practice works hard and many times invests significant resources into marketing efforts to produce a new patient appointment. Most general dentists are spending $200-$600 in marketing to produce a new patient appointment. As we all know, an appointment is just the first step in assimilating a patient into the practice. It often requires significant effort to produce a new patient but the real work begins when the patient walks through your front door.
For most dentists there are multiple goals for a new patient's first appointment:
Make a great first impression
Building Trust & Rapport
Treatment Acceptance
Scheduling Follow-up Appointments
Conversion to a lifetime patient of record
Earning referrals from patient's family, friends & co-workers
It is very challenging to achieve all of these goals in a single appointment with a patient, but keeping these goals at the forefront of focus for yourself and your staff is paramount to having them accomplished.
"You never get a second chance to make a first impression."
I know, you have heard that thousands of times and probably said it a few times yourself. It rings true across both our personal and professional lives.
Q. Are there exceptions to the rule?
A. Of course there are; some people are patient and will give you the benefit of the doubt.
Q. Can you change someone's initial impression of you by showing them something different?
A. Yes, if they will give you both time and opportunity.
The primary goal for a new patient's first appointment must be to impress them with your practice and yourself to the point where they want you to be their dentist. You and your team have to create an environment that makes people feel comfortable. The patient needs to feel a level of comfort and trust with:
1. You
2. Your staff
3. Your office
The Dentist
You are the most important person in your practice in the eyes of your patients. How you connect with your patients either attracts them and solidifies their desire to be your patient and accept continued treatment or it does the opposite.
Patients are individuals and individuals need real communication to make them feel valued and appreciated. Take the time to make sure that your patient understands you and that they have the information they need and different options to choose from when asked to make a decision to engage your practice in treatment.
The Staff
Treatment Coordinators, Hygienist, Office Manager and Reception staff members have a much higher rate of patient contact than a dentist does. It is vital that your staff be strategically aligned with the culture and goals that you have for your practice.
Every staff member is on stage every moment of the day there is a patient in the practice. Details matter. Phone calls matter. Emails matter. Attitude matters.
It is challenging to recruit staff members that have high degrees of competency in their professional skills as well as their personal/people skills. However, it is far more expensive and challenging to operate a successful, growing dental practice without them.
The Office
Take an objective look at your practice and make sure that you are representing yourself in your environment that way you truly want to be perceived.
Are the new and current patients you are working so hard to build your practice with comfortable in your lobby, operatories and other areas of your office?
There will always be patients who are the exception but the goal is to create a great environment for dentistry that the core of your patient base will be comfortable in and proud to refer their family, friends and co-workers to.
Homeruns and Base-Hits
I know, it's a sports metaphor, but I think this may "hit" home.
New patients are expecting a "pitch" from you for treatment; especially if it has been a while since their last dental appointment. What makes a bad first impression is when they feel like you are trying to hit a homerun with their mouth and wallet at the very first appointment.
People do not like to be "sold", even by a person whose title is "Dr." They want to make a choice to engage your services because they believe they are choosing to improve their dental health and/or appearance and are being fairly treated and fairly charged in the process.
If your goal is a "Base-hit" every once and a while you are going to hit a "Homerun". If your goal is to hit a "Homerun" you are going to "strikeout" more often than you "score."
OK enough with baseball. Hopefully my point is understood. It is much more important that a patient engage you (period) than it is that they engage the "Master Treatment Plan" you could propose to them.
Keep your treatment proposals achievable. Present them softly with options and then deploy friendly follow-up. Never let a patient leave your office without understanding what you have asked them to engage you for.
Getting the Second Date
Ok now a dating metaphor with an 80's music twist.
You want them to want you; you need them to need you but don't ever beg them to beg you. The goal of the first appointment is to earn your right to the second appointment and beyond. Never assume that you have done enough to make the patient want to come back.
Don't just follow-up; follow though.
No one wants a stalker but people do want follow-up communication. An old fashioned personal phone call from the dentist thanking them and asking if they had any questions goes a long way in bringing that patient back.
Set yourself apart from the crowd by doing the little things that truly make a big impact on patients.
Success is achieved by executing on the basics. Take the time to make a great first impression on your new patients and you will find yourself earning the right to future appointment and treatment acceptance.
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