CDA Show Report: Simple tips to make your practice more profitable

ANAHEIM, CA - Does a patient walking into your reception area see candy wrappers on the floor? Is your office staff shouting at each other in front of the patients? Is your receptionist unfamiliar with the services you offer?

These may be minor problems, but they could have big implications. Patients encountering scenes such as these will likely not come back to your practice, explained Sandy Pardue, a consultant, lecturer, and published author, today at the California Dental Association (CDA) Spring Scientific Session.

In a seminar on maximizing productivity and practice growth, Pardue offered real-world advice on making dental practices more profitable.

The key to a thriving practice is a courteous, trained staff, Pardue said. A live person should always answer the phone in a friendly, helpful way and never turn away a patient. If someone calls and asks for a special service that your office doesn't provide, the caller doesn't need to know that. Offer an alternative and say, "We found something that works better." It piques interest and brings in new patients. Patients should never be put on hold, and also avoid asking them embarrassing questions, such as "How long has it been since you last went to the dentist?" she said.

Appearances make a difference. The office needs to be clean and welcoming, not just from the inside but also from the outside -- that means no beer bottles in the parking lot. Create a pleasurable ambiance. Try aroma therapy fragrances, and make sure the office does not reek of cigarettes or medicine.

The reception area also should be clean and professional, Pardue said. A tip: Make sure the front-desk staff is wearing a phone headset instead of grappling with the handset, and the technical staff should not be milling around, distracting the staff member from calls and customers.

Customer service is crucial to a profitable practice. Getting a new patient is five times harder than retaining an existing one, according to Pardue. An upset patient will tell 14 people about his or her experience, and a very upset one will tell 20 people, she said. Treat each patient like you would want to be treated yourself.

Making new patients comfortable and offering them convenient treatment plans are also important. "If someone has not been to a dentist their whole life and they have decay and periodontal disease, and you tell them they have to pay $25,000, you will see a back," Pardue said. "Fix their main concern first, win them over, and then do the rest of the treatment."

Pardue quoted a survey that found that 68% of patients leave a service or business when they sense indifference. A few ways to show concern are to make it easy for patients to get emergency care, have a good recall system, promote same-day dentistry (try to get most of the work done in one day so the patient doesn't have to keep coming back), and keep convenient office hours.

Internally, the office staff should maximize their productivity. They should use walkie-talkies for efficient communication, instead of having to walk all over the office. Another useful interoffice communication tool is Amtel. Do a morning huddle in which the dentist should be the guest. The huddle should not be longer than 10 minutes, and office staff should come fully prepared with the day's agenda.

Being courteous to patients is important, but make sure you collect on outstanding patients. Pardue suggested keeping notes on individual patients so you can track whether they have a trend of breaking appointments or have trouble paying. Also find out who has been coming to your practice for more than three years, get an actual count of patients who need to come in for follow-up treatment, and send out recall cards.

Make sure the recall cards are of a bright color that catches people's attention, and make them friendly. Show your patients they are valuable to you. Start with a message like, "Dear Marsha, we miss seeing you in your office." Don't threaten patients, gently remind them that their dental work is crucial to their health, and outline the consequences of avoiding it, Pardue said.

And be persistent. Mail recall cards out three months in a row. If patients see the same card and the same message over and over, it will hit home, she believes.

Have a daily production target and a standardized periodontal program, and do not inactivate patients too quickly. Also have an office policy manual, listen to patients' complaints about their accounts, and practice good dentistry!

Pardue maintains a Web site at www.classicpractice.com where a number of resources and other materials for improving productivity are available.