Dentistry News | Dental Jobs | Dentist Forum | CPD Education
Dental news |
 |
RSS Feed | View by: Most Recent | Most Popular | Most Discussed |
Dental practices can waste money chasing patients, say consultants
13th Apr 2010
Lesley Bailey
Owners of dental practices often waste considerable time and money looking in the wrong direction for new patients, a newly formed practice management consultancy warns.
The firm, Yes!Results, says that a dental clinic's own staff and patient lists can offer far greater potential for increasing revenue than expensive glossy brochures and advertising.
By improving the communication between staff and the practice's existing and prospective clients, it claims, the take-up of treatment plans can be raised by more than 25%.
The consultancy's partners, who have worked with many of dentistry's best-known corporate names, are aiming to help practice owners develop staff-led business building strategies.
The team of professionals comes from dental management, marketing and finance backgrounds, and have formed Yes!Results to advise both independent and group practices.
Partner Lesley Bailey, whose career has included a senior consultancy role at James Hull Associates, says she has seen many examples of practices failing to maximise their existing income potential.
By auditing staff performance and monitoring feedback from patients, she says, it's often possible to introduce new working methods which will greatly increase treatment uptake.
In addition to possibly substantial savings in marketing expenditure, says Lesley, patient satisfaction can also rise dramatically, leading to more referrals at no extra cost to the practice.
'Investing in new literature or media advertising is an entirely understandable response to the need to increase revenue, but the pay back is over a very long period – if at all,' she says.
'Far more effective can be a reality check on whether human and other resources you already have at your disposal are being properly exploited – and often this isn't the case.
'Many treatment opportunities are lost through staff adopting the wrong approach, and patient retention can also be an issue if clients feel they will receive better attention elsewhere.
'The remedy, however, can be very quick and economical to implement – but depends on the practice head accepting that the business's existing policies may not be the most effective.
'It's not just the practice's income and patient attitudes which can benefit from change: staff too will often become better motivated and keen to help achieve better results,' adds Lesley.
Based in Sale, Cheshire, Yes!Results works across the UK – and, says Lesley, its strategies take into account the time restraints often imposed on practitioners by their professional work.
For more information, call 08456 44 80 66 or visit www.yesresults.co.uk.
Rate this story
Comments
