00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.919
How many times have you actually seen a patient?
00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:03.919
It's like, man, it's been a while since I've seen you.
00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:07.360
Or yeah, I guess it's been probably about a year, year and a half since I've been in here.
00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:11.199
And you're like, no, it's been five and a half years out of sight, out of mind.
00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:14.080
So you've got to get in their sight, in their mind.
00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:35.039
Hey guys, welcome to Dental Guiding Point, where we talk about the problems that plague your dental office and offer you solutions that we found that work for us in our dental practice and has made us incredibly successful.
00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:35.920
I'm Dr.
00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.399
Mark Dill, and joining me is Ms.
00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:40.159
Toria Plank.
00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:41.039
Hey, y'all.
00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:42.159
All right, guys.
00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:45.920
So what we're talking about today is where are your patients going?
00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:47.759
Why are they going out the back door?
00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:50.799
You're bringing them in the front door through your marketing efforts.
00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:56.000
And if you really do the math in your head, I can't do that.
00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:04.159
If you were bringing in 40 new patients per month, but you're losing 40 new patients out the back door, what's happening?
00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:05.840
You're just breaking even.
00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:15.599
So you sit and you focus on your marketing efforts and trying to increase and get 60 new patients to offset the 40 new patients.
00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:19.280
Because if you're not growing, you're slowing.
00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:20.319
Slowing.
00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:21.359
That's right.
00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:26.159
So we want to help you keep those patients from going out the back door.
00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:28.560
Now, a little bit of housekeeping.
00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:30.719
Look, you gotta be good.
00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:32.959
You gotta like you gotta treat your patients good.
00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:35.760
You gotta do good dentistry, you gotta have good bedside manners.
00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:44.480
You know, train up your team, you know, make sure there's no flaws going on in the delivery of your service.
00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:45.040
Okay.
00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:54.879
So now we're gonna set that aside and table it because my belief is that dentists are good, they're honest, they're ethical, and they do a great job for patients.
00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:56.159
We just don't get credit for it.
00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:04.640
We've got videos to kind of give you an idea of ways that you can capitalize on the things that you already do and you're doing, anyways.
00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:06.799
You're just helping the patient realize it.
00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:15.199
But those patients are going out the back door, and there's reasons why they're going out the back door, and it's because we're not reaching out, touching them.
00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:16.719
They're not in our office.
00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:22.319
So we've got to be able to reach out, touch them, and get them back in our office, and that takes effort.
00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:26.560
So, what do you need to do in order to get those patients back in?
00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:44.240
I don't know about you, but there's a lot of dental experts out there that will say, oh, look, you know, your active patient base is anybody that's been in your office within the last year, or anybody that's been in your office within the last two years, or anybody that's been in your office in the last three years.
00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:52.719
But, you know, maybe some of those numbers are relevant, like if you're trying to sell your practice, but for all intents and purposes, how many times have you actually seen a patient?
00:02:52.879 --> 00:03:00.240
It's like, man, it's been a while since I've seen you, or you know, little Johnny, boy, he went from just being a boy to a he's a grown man now.
00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:07.199
And they're like, Oh yeah, you know, you've grown a lot over the last year, or yeah, I guess it's been probably about a year, year and a half since I've been in here.
00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:09.680
And you're like, no, it's been five and a half years.
00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:14.560
Never once did they think that you weren't their dentist in five years or five and a half years.
00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:17.919
It's just time flies out of sight, out of mind.
00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:20.719
So you've got to get in their sight, in their mind.
00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:22.479
How do we do that?
00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:36.400
Well, I can fill you in on all that, but I will say this um over the years and talking to some practices, a lot of owners don't even realize how much is going out their back door or not being um brought back in.
00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:47.280
So I would really suggest going in and just looking, just looking to see how many patients you have that is not scheduled and hasn't been scheduled in over six months.
00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:48.879
So start there.
00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:55.280
We got to create a reactivation program and within your practice.
00:03:55.439 --> 00:04:18.480
And that reactivation program is going to be there's gonna be a person who is responsible for this, um, who's going to bring in back all these patients that hasn't been in or forgot about the dentist or simply just didn't get scheduled back for their six months, whatever the reason may be, that person's gonna be responsible for for bringing them back.
00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:27.279
Um, you can hire somebody for this, or you can have somebody who has double hats in your practice, meaning like they do two different posts.
00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:38.879
Um, but whoever is going to take this role has to have the time and be able to have the time to put effort in it because it is very time consuming calling these people.
00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:43.759
How do we differentiate between what is considered reactivation and what is considered recall?
00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:45.279
And is that two different people?
00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:46.800
As two different people.
00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:51.439
Um, so recall is six months or sooner, right?
00:04:51.519 --> 00:05:04.240
So if you had a patient I was in three months ago and they haven't made their um their three month or six-month appointment, that recall person is going to get that person in and schedule them.
00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:08.000
A reactivation is going to be anything longer than six months.
00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:19.759
So you can go back a lot of times you want to go like after like that seventh month up to three years and work those first because those those are gonna be the easier ones to get in.
00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:23.279
Then when you get caught up and stuff, you can start working on some of the past ones.
00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:27.199
What's next after you've identified your uh staff member?
00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:28.800
You're gonna start training them.
00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:30.800
Um, that's gonna be the biggest key.
00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:49.439
And what I mean by that, yes, they probably already know how to make the appointment and stuff if you're using a current um employee, but you need to train them of what you want as far as how to handle these phone calls, what's the verbiage to say over the phone calls to be able to get these people back in?
00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:55.040
Because you might have a patient who, you know, might have been upset for something that went on in the practice.
00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:57.199
I mean, that's going to happen.
00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:01.360
Um, so how to handle those to try to get those patients back in.
00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:03.279
Um, they need to be able to handle those.
00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:25.759
Yeah, and I would also imagine that uh it would be good to drill this out with the employee, not just to tell them how to handle it, but then actually role play with that employee because when they're making these phone calls, that employee may be afraid to tell you that they're kind of nervous about getting a patient that, you know, may be unhappy with the practice.
00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:37.839
And you know, that's going to be a very small percentage, but inevitably you get in contact with enough people, um, they they will let you know that there's something that happened that they're unhappy with.
00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:45.199
And so when it comes to drilling that out and getting them comfortable, that keeps them from procrastinating on calling.
00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:47.759
Like they're excited to call, they're excited.
00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:53.759
Teach them like why it's important to be trying to reach these patients.
00:06:53.839 --> 00:07:00.879
Like what happens with these patients if they're not scheduled so that they feel like they're doing a noble job for a noble cause.
00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:11.519
And then not only that, but they don't have to worry with fear or anxiety of like getting that one upset patient and not knowing or having the skills to do it.
00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:19.040
So if they drill it over and over and over with us, then they know uh what they're gonna say, how they're gonna respond, and what's okay.
00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:26.720
Ultimately, the goal would be that if it is something and the patient's willing for us to correct, we do correct.
00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:32.399
But if not, we just don't want to create any bad blood with that patient.
00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:36.800
Um, because one, they could go leave a review.
00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:42.079
Uh two, they could end up becoming a patient, you know, again one day.
00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:46.800
Um, just because we reached out to them and, you know, they kind of get over it.
00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:50.319
Maybe they go to another office and then they just start to say, Well, you know what?
00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:56.319
Like maybe that maybe I was a little harsh on the office, you know, but I really did love going there for all these other reasons.
00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:58.000
I won't get over it and go back.
00:07:58.160 --> 00:07:58.399
Yeah.
00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:07.120
So my reactivation coordinators are trained to be able to look to see if any of these people have outstanding treatment that they never gotten done.
00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:22.639
Um, so they even know how to handle those type of people to the wording and verbiage to get them back in because I mean we can all agree that the K grows consistently, how rapidly, we don't know based off the patient, right?
00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:38.000
And so if they haven't been in in over six months and they have not gone anywhere else and they've got active disease in their mouth, and my reactivation coordinator sees that, they're gonna try to get those patients back in to see how stable those teeth are.
00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:40.720
Um, and that's a key word for them to use too.
00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:45.120
What we'll do is we'll drill out um what that verbiage would sound like.
00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:53.519
And the idea is is never ask questions you don't know the answers to, never make assumptions that you're not certain that you're not certain of.
00:08:53.759 --> 00:09:04.639
Um, so what I mean by that is if you ask the patient, well, has anything changed, or I'm sure something has changed, or I'm sure you're having pain, or maybe uh have you been having pain?
00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:08.240
When they answer the question with like, nope, nothing's changed, everything's good.
00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:26.240
If you're making these assumptions and you're wrong, or you're asking these questions and they're answering it like nothing, nothing's bothering me, then that's pretty much reaffirming their decision that you know they haven't got treatment, they don't really need treatment, or they they've still got time on their side.
00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:36.399
So, what you want to do is you want to be able to make some assumptions that would be more in your favor, um, and might even be the elephant in the room.
00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:38.639
And it might even sound something kind of like this.
00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:42.879
Hey, Tori, I know it's been a little bit of time since we've seen you last.
00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:43.919
How are you doing?
00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:44.559
Good.
00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:45.200
How are you?
00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:46.639
I'm I'm great.
00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:50.240
Well, hey, look, so the reason I was calling was because Dr.
00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:56.879
Dill was taking a look at your uh chart and he noticed that there was some teeth that we still needed to get you in for.
00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:03.120
And uh being that there had been a little bit of time, I mean, I'm sure that like these are not really bothering you right now.
00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:05.279
You probably would have called this if they were.
00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:20.639
But with us having the holidays coming up, summer coming up, you know, the end of the year coming up with benefits and stuff, what he really wanted me to do was give you a call and give you the opportunity to come in and have him take a look at your teeth.
00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:23.279
Now, there's not a fear or anything associated with this.
00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:28.799
He just wants to make sure that you're gonna be okay and that we're not gonna leave you hanging, you know, through the holidays.
00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:41.679
Because, you know, in a dental office it does kind of get a little bit crazy and and busy around here because, you know, people don't realize that, you know, their benefits are running out before the end of the year until it's the end of the year.
00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:46.159
So we'd like to be able to be a little proactive with you and have you come back by.
00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:47.600
Yeah, sure, no problem.
00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:48.320
Okay, good.
00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:52.799
So see how that, you know, I kind of took the bullets out of the gun, so to speak.
00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:54.639
She's not able to say, Well, everything's fine.
00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:55.519
I haven't had any problems.
00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:58.559
I was just, I'm sure you haven't had any problems, you know.
00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:02.000
But despite that, I still want to see you back in the office.
00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:07.679
You're blaming the doctor, you know, because it's their fault you have to come back in.
00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:11.519
But hey, you know, he's concerned, and that's the reality.
00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:15.840
Um, so you get them back in and uh, you know, take a look.
00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:22.320
Now, whether you bring them in on hygiene or whether you bring them in, you know, for a doctor's side, it's kind of up to you.
00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:24.960
It's up to your doctor how you want to do it.
00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:31.840
But, you know, if they're in pain, you're probably bringing them in quicker on the doctor's side, if if that's what's revealed.
00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:39.519
And if they aren't, then you're maybe bringing them in on the hygiene side, especially if they have hygiene benefits and insurance.
00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:45.919
Now, if they don't have any insurance and you're bringing them in on the hygiene side and you're planning on cleaning their teeth, they're gonna owe money.
00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:47.440
You don't want to surprise them with that.
00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:50.080
They need to be okay with that when you make the appointment.
00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:53.440
But uh special for them if you're gonna do that.
00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:57.279
Yeah, if and that would sound a little bit like this.
00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:58.879
So, Torya, you know, Dr.
00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:01.039
Dill would like to take a look at your teeth.
00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:04.000
Um, I have two options actually for you.
00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:08.559
Now, if if you were hurting with your teeth, I'd just bring you right in for Dr.
00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:09.120
Dill.
00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:14.480
Now, the other thing is you are overdue for your cleaning.
00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:17.519
So we do need to get you in for that as well.
00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:21.440
And I can bring you in either with the hygienist, and Dr.
00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:30.639
Dill can just kind of check up, make sure that like all the things that we know about are stable for the holidays, or I can just bring you in on the doctor's side.
00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:34.879
Now, if I bring you in on the hygiene side and they clean your teeth, we do charge for that.
00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:35.279
Dr.
00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:40.159
Dill, take a look for free, but we we do charge for that.
00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:47.519
But what I can do is I can offer that to you at a discounted fee if that works for you.
00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:49.120
Yeah, what's the fee?
00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:51.200
$59,$99.
00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:52.399
You know, sure.
00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:53.759
Whatever you want to charge.
00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.360
It's it's up to you guys.
00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:58.000
Um okay, good.
00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:07.120
And the ones that you're targeting on somebody like that the most are ones that didn't close, but um, they're not necessarily hopeless.
00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:10.000
Even with the hopeless ones, we still try to bring in.
00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:14.240
So you're trying to be a little bit picky on who you bring in to reactivate.
00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:17.120
You're you you've got to call all of these people though.
00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:22.559
So you you don't most people are not gonna answer right away, which leads us to the next point.
00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:32.080
So your person, they're gonna get pretty discouraged because um I imagine it's gonna take a lot of phone calls and a lot of touches before we can actually get somebody in there.
00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:32.879
So that's right.
00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:33.919
What what's our goal?
00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:35.759
What do we what do we look for there?
00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:41.519
So my reactivation coordinator, they have what we call six points of contact.
00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:44.879
And so what does a point of contact mean?
00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:48.960
They have to call, text, email, and send a postcard.
00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:50.240
That's all considered one.
00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:53.759
Then they'll do it again, two, three, four, five, six, right?
00:13:54.399 --> 00:14:00.879
Um it usually takes six times or six different ways to be able to get a hold of somebody.
00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:06.159
So if like if you think about when your doctor office calls you, do you answer the phone?
00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:06.720
No.
00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:08.720
You let it go to your voicemail, right?
00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:09.120
Mm-hmm.
00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:09.519
Okay.
00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:11.200
Then they're gonna text you, right?
00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:13.919
Unless I'm unless I feel bad.
00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:14.399
But yeah.
00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:14.720
Yeah.
00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:16.240
Uh yeah, then they're gonna text me.
00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:22.000
Even us who is in this type of field do the same thing that people who's not in that field.
00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:27.679
Um, so it takes several times to get in contact with them for them to answer that phone.
00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:37.759
So your staff members kind of get a little discouraged when they've made like 25, 50, 100 phone calls and only got a hold of three people.
00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:56.639
Um, but when they start rocking and rolling and they got a good system down, those phone calls are gonna start coming in and they're gonna start seeing these people come in and they are going to get excited because their number is gonna go up because that staff member is gonna have a goal for their self, which we can go over here in just a few minutes.
00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:57.360
Good.
00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.399
So um what about the texting?
00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:04.559
So we're gonna text, are they texting from their personal phone or how no?
00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:09.440
I mean, if you want them to, uh, I'd rather text from a personal phone than the business phone.
00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:12.960
But no, there's so many different texting companies out there.
00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:24.320
If you text from your your phone system, let's say you use companies like Adit or Weave or you know, all these companies that's out there that is your phone that you're calling, right?
00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:26.399
Patients can opt out of that.
00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:31.919
Meaning when you call and confirm their appointments or text them to confirm, if they opt out of it, you can't you can't text them.
00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.320
So don't use your phone system.
00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:35.919
Get a different system.
00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:49.759
So there's companies out there, if you Google it like Chimp Mail, SlickText, I mean, all these things that you can pay for them to send out blast text messages and you you just upload the the patient's phone numbers.
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:52.080
And if they opt out of it, well, guess what?
00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:56.080
Chimp mail and text, all those, they have more numbers they can use.
00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:59.120
So if they opt out of one, you still got another one.
00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:03.039
Um, but if you're using your phone system, they can't.
00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:13.919
Yeah, and you don't want them opting out of your very own phone system because like, how are you gonna send real appointment reminders and stuff like that later on?
00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:26.879
So anytime that you're blasting out for marketing or whatever, make sure that you're going through some other form of uh you know texting so that you don't mess up your confirmations.
00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:33.759
If you're enjoying the show, we'd really appreciate your support.
00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:37.120
Leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.
00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:41.120
It helps us reach more dentists, and we love reading your feedback.
00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:43.039
Now, back to the show.
00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:55.120
So you're gonna blast all this stuff out, uh, but what if you start getting a whole bunch of people or your schedule's already pretty full?
00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:57.120
What are you gonna do there?
00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:01.600
So we have blocks, like pre-blocks.
00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:04.319
And so our reactivation will go in those.
00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:08.640
You have to determine um in your practice what works time-wise.
00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:16.319
Um, you know, so many offices are like 45 minutes or an hour, an hour and a half, but figure out how much time you would want for reactivation.
00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:21.920
For us, if it's been over a year, they're going to have like a new patient like block.
00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:29.359
If it's been, you know, within the last um over six months, but within that year mark, they're gonna have like an hour spot.
00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:37.440
Um, so we will block out, you know, three a day, five a day, um, and our reactivation coordinator is responsible getting them filled.
00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:48.240
Okay, so what if um these patients call back and they get mad at you for calling so many times?
00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:49.440
Then what do you say?
00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:53.359
And how do you teach that to your employee?
00:17:53.759 --> 00:18:04.079
You know, I I wished I didn't have to call so much or text so much, but unfortunately, you know, people not like yourself, uh, it takes that many time.
00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:07.680
And the system don't let me just make it just one person makes it all.
00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:11.119
So it's kind of one of those things that one person runs it for everybody.
00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:14.559
But the plus side is you'll never forget your appointment.
00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:16.079
There you go.
00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:31.200
So um, yeah, like uh patient that because this is gonna happen when you do your confirmations too, because you should be texting and emailing, you know, a month and weeks in advance, and then two days ahead, and then calling.
00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:33.759
And I mean, you're gonna confirm appointments like crazy.
00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:38.000
What do you say to somebody when they're like, why you keep calling me over?
00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:49.359
And usually this is gonna be like your population that is 40, 45 years old and older, maybe even 50, 55 years old and older.
00:18:49.759 --> 00:19:04.559
But I mean, they they come from the day of like technology doesn't remind them, they had to like do manual reminders and stuff, and so things weren't as easy as it is for the younger generation.
00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:18.000
So, my opinion is that your age group that's that age and older, they tend to keep up with their stuff a little bit more, uh, one way or the other.
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:23.119
Whereas the younger generation has always had technology at their fingertips to remind them of everything.
00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:28.880
So you just kind of point out how like so many people rely on technology to be their reminder.
00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:43.599
And, you know, unfortunately, like we can't really the technology hasn't caught up enough to where we can say this person wants it and this person doesn't, and it'll it'll do it based on a patient's preference, you know, maybe one day.
00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:49.519
But I think that they'll understand that they'll be uh and and then you can correlate that to cost savings.
00:19:49.599 --> 00:20:03.519
You can just say, look, you know, when people don't come to their appointments and we've got everything set up and ready to go, and all we do is sit around and twiddle our thumbs, it makes us inefficient and it drives the cost of dentistry up, and dentistry is already expensive.
00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:18.079
So this is just one way that we've invested in some technology to be able to help people remember their appointments so that we can keep the cost down and people like yourself don't have to end up paying for you know the other people that don't come to their appointments.
00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:18.960
All right, guys.
00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:25.359
So some of you may be wondering, because we get this question sometimes, like, why bother?
00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:33.200
Because, you know, actually, my attitude a long time ago was that patients need to take responsibility for themselves.
00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:36.319
You know, if they want to come and get their teeth clean, they'll come and get their teeth clean.
00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:39.039
If they want to get their teeth fixed, they'll get their teeth fixed.
00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:41.119
Here's the treatment plan, here you go.
00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:42.559
This is what it's gonna cost.
00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:44.319
Either they can or they can't.
00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:56.799
But it's a little like uh for those of you that have kids, and if you don't, you can imagine um a kid coming to you right before bedtime and wanting an Oreo, and you think, Well, why do I care if they eat an Oreo?
00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:14.079
Like, I don't care if they load themselves up with sugar before bed and whether they sleep good or not, whether their brain develops and all this other stuff that happens in your in our sleep, and whether they do good in school the next day or not, like what does it matter to me?
00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:22.400
Um, I'm uh like I don't have to make their grades and you know, like get into a college or do whatever.
00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:24.720
Uh, why do I care if their teeth rot out?
00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:28.559
Like, I don't have to chew with their teeth the rest of my life, but you don't.
00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:39.759
You actually take responsibility for your kids, and you say, No, like you're not gonna load up with sugar before bed because you're not going to do it with you know to your teeth because.
00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:50.400
So we take responsibility for our kids, and that's what we want to do for our patients is take responsibility for our patients, even when they don't take responsibility for themselves.
00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:59.759
So they know they need to come in and get their teeth clean, they know they need to get their mouth fixed, but rather than be pushy and angry at them because they don't.
00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:16.160
Do it, we lead them into it with love and we encourage them to come in and we remove all the barriers and all the reasons why they may not come in to you know get healthy.
00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:24.880
So one of the things that we can do, in addition to seeing them back in there for free, is to entice them.
00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:27.759
What would we do to entice them?
00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:30.319
Oh, we've done several things.
00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:33.839
Um, so we have done, of course, the free consult.
00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:37.279
Um, we've done free whitening kits with it.
00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:42.880
I mean, it's super cheap to make some trays and um get some whitening.
00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:46.160
And then we've done sonic toothbrushes.
00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:50.480
You can buy them on Amazon, they're fairly inexpensive.
00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:55.279
Um, might cost you a couple of dollars, but people love that.
00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:57.759
You don't want to advertise Sonic Air because then guess what?
00:22:57.839 --> 00:22:59.279
You're giving out a Sonic Air.
00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:05.920
But you can advertise a Sonic toothbrush, like come into your appointment and for and receive a free Sonic toothbrush.
00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:08.559
That's probably been the our biggest hit one, actually.
00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:09.839
Um, people love it.
00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:11.200
And we get all different colors.
00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:16.720
I mean, pink and blue and black and white, and you name it, and they get to pick their one they want.
00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:17.920
And yeah.
00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.000
I mean, they're I it's really what what are you willing to invest in?
00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:33.039
If you don't like that toothbrush or you don't approve of that toothbrush, you can you can pick a toothbrush that you approve of, but try to get something that's in the$10 to$15 range per unit.
00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:34.640
People like shiny stuff.
00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:40.720
I mean, meaning like if you're gonna hand them something, they can go home with it, people like that.
00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:42.480
And so they're gonna show up for it.
00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:46.559
You touch base on something, and I I'm gonna go back for a second.
00:23:46.799 --> 00:24:01.440
Um, we teach our employees, um, it's in like we have training hat packs and stuff, and in that hat pack, it states like why that post is important for patient health, and it will show like what oral health is linked to.
00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:08.240
Um, so when they're working these, they really do work to try to get people in and they know what their purpose is.
00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:10.400
So I just wanted to go back to that.
00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:11.759
Yeah, good.
00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:19.519
Okay, so we put the offer in for the patients to come in.
00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:24.000
We remove all the barriers, we got our employee, we got them trained up.
00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:27.759
It feels like there's one final thing to do.
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.000
That's to set some goals for them.
00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:32.000
Oh, I love some goals.
00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:37.119
Um, so my staff members, all of them, no matter what post, has goals.
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:47.440
So you can set a goal and you kind of want to work it yourself or have somebody you know how to work it, um, to see what is capable for within your practice.
00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:52.559
But let's say you have a goal of for them to make 50 phone calls in a day.
00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:56.400
I mean, this is them picking up the phone, setting it down, picking it up, setting it down.
00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:58.160
Actually, my people don't set it down.
00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:04.160
They just hit that uh hang up button because they say it takes too much effort to do that, believe it or not.
00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:05.839
So, okay, I'll leave it to you.
00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.680
Um, but let's say they have 50 phone calls they have to make.
00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:12.480
Well, they're gonna track how many phone calls they actually made.
00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:16.480
So on their little sheet, it's gonna say number of phone calls made.
00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:19.599
Then they're gonna track how many they actually scheduled.
00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:22.319
That's the ones they talked to, they got them to schedule it.
00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:28.000
But the most important one is number of shown rate, show rate.
00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:34.240
And so um the reactivation coordinator tracks if that patient comes in or not.
00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:36.880
And if they didn't, they know they can get a hold of them.
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:39.359
Like they're gonna figure out, hey, what what happened?
00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:41.279
Like let's get you back in here.
00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:47.039
Um, and usually those are the ones that you want to get in the same day instead of pushing their appointments out.
00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:52.799
Um, because when you push them out, time goes by and out of sight, out of mind.
00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:55.119
Um, so they'll use those for fill-ins.
00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:57.839
Um, but they track everything.
00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:07.599
And then you as the owner can compare their what we call stat, their number scheduled, their number calls versus how many actually showed up.
00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:13.759
And it can teach you like, does this employee need some more training or do we need to change up something as well?
00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:16.640
So listening to those phone calls and stuff helps.
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:23.519
So, this right here, guys, the overall goal is that you're trying to have patients coming in from wherever.
00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:30.960
It doesn't matter if they're, you know, uh patients of the past, they just, you know, have fallen off.
00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:34.960
They just need us to reach out and touch them, just like a new patient does.
00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:39.279
Like a new patient, they come in, they say it's been seven years since I've been to a dentist.
00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:41.920
Well, like why?
00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:42.960
Why now?
00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:49.599
Well, they received some sort of information about your office, and the timing was right.
00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:51.519
So the same thing with the reactivation.
00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:57.279
If you're not the one reaching out to them, another dentist dental office will, and they'll be a new patient in another office.
00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:01.039
So you need to be working towards getting these people in your office.
00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:02.799
Tori had talked about stats.
00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:07.200
We're gonna show you what that log looks like right here.
00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:11.359
Most of the stats that we keep, we just do Google Sheets.
00:27:11.599 --> 00:27:13.920
Oh, Google Sheets is nice, it's live.
00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:15.200
Yeah, it's live.
00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:17.119
People can be in there working on it.
00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:22.240
And if you happen to pull it up, you can see, you know, the changes that are being made.
00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:25.519
Um, they share it, it can be owned by the office.
00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:28.079
And uh, so if they go out, no big deal.
00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:37.200
The next person that comes in, there is, they can see the history of like what has been done at that post in the office.
00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:46.400
Um, and then of course, it's very, very easy for all your leaders of the office to be able to see uh these stats.
00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:49.759
It's really important to track your stats.
00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:58.480
Most people will track new patients, they'll track production, and they'll track collection, and they map track how much money they spend on marketing.
00:27:58.960 --> 00:28:20.799
But there's a lot more to it because when one of these things go whoop and drop off, hit the microphone, then you wind up with um, well, some anxiety because you don't feel like you're in control, you have no idea why new patients dropped, you have no idea why collections or production dropped.
00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:22.720
You just think that you're getting lucky.
00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:28.079
Quite honestly, watch some more of our videos because why you roller coaster?
00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:30.720
Why you have a big month, and then why you have a low month?
00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:31.759
Why you have a big month?
00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:33.440
Why you have a low month?
00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:36.000
Well, there's a reason for that too.
00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:41.279
But if you're not keeping stats, then you don't really you can't really investigate.
00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:44.240
You can't be the detective that you want to be.
00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:48.960
So cook and watch more of our videos.
00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:53.359
Uh, I know that many of you guys have specific needs.
00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:56.319
We don't charge, send us a comment.
00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:57.359
It's free.
00:28:57.599 --> 00:28:59.920
Be nice, you don't have to be mean about things.
00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:02.000
Most of you guys are nice anyways.
00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:03.599
But uh be nice.
00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:05.440
We're we're just here to help.
00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:08.960
We're here to give you our opinion on what's worked for us.
00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:11.759
If you don't want to do it or if you don't like it, that's cool.
00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:16.480
Like, but you know, if you've got some ideas, send send that to us too.
00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:18.720
If it's a really good idea, we may implement it.
00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:21.359
And if it if it works, we'll talk about it.
00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:23.759
Um, and we'll give you a shout-out too.
00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:29.599
Now, the the deal is is we don't present to you guys anything that we're not currently doing.
00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:35.839
We're in the trenches just like you guys, and these are things that are tried and true and they work.
00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:46.000
So we're sharing them with you guys because we want to create this open dental community where we can talk about the struggles that we have in dentistry and what some solutions are.
00:29:46.160 --> 00:30:01.279
Plenty of people out there talking on the clinical side, but we're just trying to give you some honest opinions on the the business side, the management side of dentistry that uh will make your life a lot less stressful and make you a lot more profitable.
00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:02.240
All right.
00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:13.680
If you haven't liked and subscribed, be sure to like and subscribe and hit that bell because we're going to drop this stuff like it's hot so that you can watch it on your way to work, on your way home from work.
00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:18.559
We want to get you guys fired up for dentistry and the business side of dentistry.
00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:22.400
When you sit down and reconcile those books, it should be fun for you.
00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:23.519
All right, guys.
00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:25.119
So to loo for now.
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:26.319
See y'all.