The end of the year can be a pretty chaotic time. Calendars are jam-packed, various parties and celebrations are taking place each week, and everyone has holidays on the brain…
You, your staff, and your patients are all likely feeling the end-of-year blur. But that doesn’t mean it still can’t be a productive time for everyone!
If you can focus on a few principles and execute them well, you’re going to be miles ahead of the competition and perfectly poised for a successful new year.
Upsell for the Holidays
Crafting a holiday offer can be an extremely effective way to finish your year with some extra appointments and new patients in the bank.
People are busy at the end of the year, and they’re also thinking about what changes they might like to make to their lifestyle when January hits.
Maybe bundling appointments is a good idea for your clients? Or busy parents would be intrigued by a whole-family package? Some sort of “New Year, New Me” offer?
Think about the needs of your clients and how you can use that to create effective upsells to end the year on a high.
Reactivate Cold Clients
The end of the year has a lot of people feeling more affinity for connection and community, so it’s worth sending some thoughtful EDM’s to your patients and prospects.
It’s a good opportunity to keep yourself top of mind, create a seasonal offer, and remind them of your services. The little touch points like this could be the deciding factor in whether or not your patients remember your name or refer you to a friend…
Show Gratitude
This is the perfect time to show gratitude to the people who make your practice all it is. Many practices like to throw a Christmas or End of Year Party to reward their staff for all their hard work.
We know that expressing gratitude and recognition is a HUGE retention strategy to make sure your staff stay with the practice, so this is the time to do it! Perhaps you hand out thoughtful little gifts, or give awards tailored to their strengths? You know your team best!
Prepare for Disruptions
Quarter Four is home to most major holidays, both domestic and internationally, so there’s a fair amount of time lost in between celebrations, time-off, and bank holidays. A lot of team members also choose this stretch of time to take well-deserved leave as they begin to tire from a busy year.
The best call you can make as a practice owner is to get your schedule locked down in advance – and expect a handful of disruptions on the way. Get your team to lock in their leave as soon as possible, get clear on who’s doing what and when, and then try not to lose your cool if and when plans change.
If you prepare in advance and allow plenty of time, the major headaches will only become minor hiccups.
Plan for Success
If you haven’t already, it’s crucial that you sit down and do some dedicated planning for the year ahead. After all, wars are won in the general’s tent.
The best businesses make time for strategic planning on a regular basis – monthly, quarterly, and annually. This is where you assess potential risks and how to mitigate them, make financial projections, map out what staff you need to bring on board, and the goals you need to hit.
But, a lot of busy practice owners struggle to set aside time for planning. It gets lost in all the shuffle and rescheduled half a dozen times and then suddenly you’re halfway through the year without a concrete, strategic plan.
You really never get a chance to wake up and say “Today, I’m going to put together my plan for next year” and actually get through it uninterrupted.
So what we did was create a regular intensive planning schedule that allows dental practice owners to block out time throughout the year purely to focus on the big picture.
All our clients come together for planning, networking, brainstorming, training, and walk away with rock-solid strategic plans for the next quarter, year, three years, and ten years ahead.
So if you’re struggling to set aside time for planning (or not be interrupted when you finally get a chance to), then you really want to check out our membership options to join in our dedicated planning rhythms.
You can go ahead and book in a Practice Growth Call, and we’ll get you set up with a game plan in no time!
