All dental patients deserve care, but not all patients are equal in terms of their value to your practice. “Better” patients are those who represent much higher value than the usual run of drill-and-fills and insurance cases.
Any practice with a higher number of better patients will find its average case value rising, often significantly. The question, then, is how to attract those patients. Here are three rules to help you put more money in your chairs.
Rule #1: It’s Not About Low Price
Patients with discretionary income can afford to be choosy about the dentist they select. They typically don’t think like a budget-minded patient; instead, they’re willing to pay more for the right dentist.
What’s the right dentist? It’s the one who they perceive as the relatable, likeable, and trustworthy dental expert. The dentist who embodies those qualities is, in their minds, the only logical choice.
Better patients are also intelligent enough to not fall for marketing “hype.” For instance, they know that getting veneers at a sharp discount over market rates isn’t a good option. To this subset of patients, there’s no such thing as the “discount expert.”
Price-based marketing is very unlikely to attract the better patients you want in your chairs. They’re more interested in you, your practice, and what you can do make their lives better.
Rule #2: Make It All About Them
Dentists as a group have a problem when it comes to their external practice growth efforts. That problem is that they make everything about them. This is known as the “we-we” problem – “We” have this technology, and “We” offer these services, and “We” have this training.
Your better patients don’t much care about any of that. What they care about is being able to smile without embarrassment, to eat the foods they love comfortably, and to no longer have bleeding gums or horribly bad breath.
All of your external growth efforts – your website, your social media posts, your paid ads, your direct mail and emails – have to convey that you have the solutions to their dental problems. And when your patients’ testimonials and online reviews also convey that you solved their problems and made their lives better, your phone will be ringing with many more of the patients you want.
Rule #3: Premium Patients Expect A Premium Experience
People with money usually don’t choose to stay at a Motel 6. Most opt for a higher level of comfort and service. The same model holds for dental practices; your better patients expect a thoroughly modern, spotlessly clean, and comfortable facility. They may expect a range of comfort options including free beverages and wi-fi; pillows and warm blanket; headphones for TV and music, and so on.
Above all, they expect to feel valued by you and your team. Created that sense of being valued begins with your website and must carry through the first contact with your practice until they’re walking out the door as happy patients.
Consider this: if someone is dropping ten grand on veneers or thirty grand on implants, they don’t expect to feel like “just another patient.” Again, making it all about the patient, ensure that your better prospects know the kind of superior experience that awaits them.
When you consistently implement these three rules, your practice will become a quality new patient magnet.