Some prospective patients and their parents come to your practice for a consult because a family member or a friend referred them. Others may have found you by searching the web or driving by your office. However they arrived at the decision to discuss ortho treatment with you, you should pay attention to every detail of their introduction to your practice. Even if parents are “ortho shopping,” approach the opportunity in such a way that it will truly be a New Patient Experience… in which the shopping stops at your office, and the candidate becomes a patient.
Your objective with the New Patient Experience is to persuade parent and child, step by step, that orthodontic treatment makes sense…and that your practice is the very best place to get it. The four steps are:
- New Patient Phone Call—Every time the phone rings at your office, the front desk coordinator should be prepared to launch into her scripted process of building value for the doctor and practice while gathering personal information and setting up an appointment for the consult within 7 days. This first impression has to be great.
- New Patient Visit—The first time a prospective patient and parent walk into your office, make sure that what they see and hear add value and build the new relationship. With warm, enthusiastic greetings from everyone they meet, an interesting tour of the (attractive) facilities, and a smooth transition to the treatment coordinator (TC) or orthodontist, everything should say, “This is the place!”
- The Consult—The TC and/or doctor should make personal connections to deepen the practice/parent/patient relationship, emphasize benefits rather than clinical details, offer a range of payment options, and be prepared to follow up if need be.
- The First Treatment Appointment—When parent and child leave your office, they should be scheduled to return within a week, which will be confirmed 48 hours in advance.
Follow these steps, relying on excellent scripts, and you’ll create a new patient 90% of the time.
Learn much more about how to increase production—without working longer hours—at Dr Levin’s latest seminar, “Building the Superior Ortho Practice.” This year, he’ll be speaking in Atlanta; Newport Beach, Calif; and Las Vegas. To choose a convenient date and location, click here.
