Australasian Dentist Magazine Sept-Oct 2021

Category 122 Australasian Dentist D ear Dr Toni, We’re so busy at the moment that we can hardly keep up. Should we still keep up the marketing? I’m thinking about dropping it. Dr AF, WA. This is a great question! I can understand the temptation to stop marketing and focus on your current patients. However: do not do this! Marketing should be a preventative activity in any practice. This is because if you’re not keeping up a flow of good new patients, your production eventually dries up and your books become full of low-value preventative care. Further, there are very few marketing activities that work instantly, so it’s really hard to quickly stimulate new patient flow. There’s also no perfect indicator of when to start marketing; just as we don’t say to patients that they should wait until they have 3 mm pockets before they start flossing, we can’t give you an indicator of exactly when you should start marketing. So try to maintain your new patient flow at one new patient comprehensive exam per dentist per day. The upside to this is that you can be selective about your patient base. Through targeting ideal patients and weeding out the existing patients who don’t appreciate you, you can focus on the patients you love and who love you. The busier you are, the more you can focus your marketing on your truly ideal patient. Our definition of the ideal patient is the person who needs and wants the dentistry you like doing, and who is willing and able to make it happen for themselves (i.e. they can make it work financially and logistically). So: identify the characteristics of that patient and work out how you can target them in your marketing. Be specific, and do whatever research you need to do about how to attract them. Make smart decisions about reducing any current marketing that doesn’t lead to an increase in that ideal patient. You can also have your front desk coordinator screening new patient emergencies to identify the patients who are most likely to be consistent with your practice philosophy. For example, you might have the emergency fee go towards securing a comprehensive exam, and for patients who don’t want that, they don’t get in for the emergency. With your existing patients, you can now be more selective about which of them you’ll prioritise. Any patients who are unwilling to accept your recommendations and/or who make life difficult for the practice, now’s the time to get clear with them about your expectations and only allow them appointments if they behave in ways that are consistent with your practice philosophy. For example, don’t have your FOCs invest their time and energy chasing existing patients who won’t commit to appointments or who won’t pay their bills. Maybe have a policy that you’ll only let the difficult patients secure another appointment with you if they pre-pay. In short, it’s an ideal time to generate your ideal patient base. Use your busyness as a reason to become more particular about who you’ll see. You and the team will really enjoy the benefits! D ear Dr Toni, Can you please settle an argument I keep having with my spouse? We’re in a tourist area. Should we clear the books during the high season so that we can see emergencies? Dr LR, Vic. This is a question I occasionally get asked by practices near beaches or ski resorts, and it’s really sensible to be thinking about it and planning for it. There is pressure on practices during the high season, and it can be hard to say “No” to people in pain! However, tourist emergencies can disrupt practices and reduce production, and seeing tourists therefore becomes more of a community service than a productive business decision. If a community service Q&A with Dr Toni Surace Best Practices Q&A It’s always best practice to develop business skills, systems, techniques and industry knowledge that could impact your practice. BEST PRACTICES Q&A is a forum allowing you to ask the tough questions to Australasian Dentist columnist Dr Toni Surace. Dr Toni Surace BDSC (Melb) Managing Director, Momentum Management Mentor, coach and international presenter. focus is consistent with your practice’s vision, decide how much you are willing and able to let it impact your business. I know that practice owners sometimes worry that turning away emergencies can lead to poor Google reviews. However, this on its own is not enough to make seeing them worthwhile. If you do decide to turn away some of the tourist emergencies, make sure that your FOC has been trained in great verbal skills. Finally, keep in mind that one annoyed tourist giving you a bad Google review won’t be a problem if all your existing patients give you great reviews. Without seeing your books, there are a few questions I’d ask to help you make that decision. For example: how much space do you normally have in your books at that time of year? How much would it affect production to move your existing patients to either side of the high season? How many emergency spots do your existing patients need, and what times do they tend to want them? If you do have the space and the systems, and it’s not going to overly disrupt your existing patient base, you can pre-block times for tourist emergencies. If you’re aiming to provide the community service with minimal disruption to your own patient base, then try to offer palliative care only and send the records back to their regular dentist for the full treatment. To do this, make sure that your team is trained to triage emergencies effectively and to set expectations about is going to happen at the appointment. The more accurate the triaging, the more effectively the surgery team (usually the DAs) can help set up efficiently and reduce the pressure on the practice. It’s useful to have your DAs as fully trained as they’re legally allowed and can help with taking X-rays, etc. If you have an OHT, get them to help with the initial diagnosis. Having enough surgery space and equipment is essential for making this work. Lots of short appointments can be very disruptive to a practice that doesn’t BEST PRACTICES 4 “ “