Adding new clinical procedures to your practice can be an excellent way to introduce a new revenue stream to your practice and ensure your patients are receiving the best possible care.
When done right, a new clinical procedure can attract new patients, improve patient care, and allow you to do more of the work you genuinely enjoy. But if it’s introduced in the wrong way, it can create massive headaches for you, your team, and your practice.
Let me run you through a few key concepts to help introduce new clinical procedures as effectively as possible.
Market and communicate your new offering effectively
It’s all well and good to be trained in a procedure, but to receive maximum ROI you need to actually attract patients in order to put it into action. You first need to communicate to prospective patients the existence and introduction of the procedure, and then speak to the pain points of those who are likely to need it most.
Once you know the struggles, challenges, aspirations and hopes of your ideal patient, you know how to speak to them and the best way to communicate with them. This might be targeted FB ads, SEO and SEM so you can target people based on search terms, case studies that show the kind of results they can expect – it’s all about knowing your ideal patient and then speaking to them in the most effective way.
Increasing case conversion and case acceptance
If I could only teach one thing about case presentation – it would be this.
People tend to make decisions primarily with their emotions, so it is genuinely very important to speak to their values, desires, and wishes for their health and appearance. But the last thing we want to do is manipulate or leave them with buyers’ remorse, so we have to be presenting logic as well.
In order to this effectively, I like to have a little “fireside chat” before beginning a clinical exam. This includes understanding their chief complaint, how they perceive their current health, previous dental experiences, and what goals they have for their smile.
If you practice active listening and put yourself in their shoes, you’ll be able to better understand the patient experience and how likely they are to accept treatment.
I’d recommend using your judgment on whether it’s a simple case and you can outline treatment on the spot, or whether it’s more complex and they might need a separate consultation and a bit of time to mull it over. Research shows that more expensive purchases require an average of seven hours research and 11 touch points before investing in costly investments – something to consider.
Work efficiently to deliver effective care
The smoother and more efficient your workflow is, the better the patient experience. If you’re introducing a new clinical procedure, your workflow might be a bit disjointed and awkward as you struggle to find your rhythm.
In order to work more effectively, it’s important to know:
- Who performs each step?
- Procedural checklists
- Instruments and training required
- What conversational frameworks are required?
- Success criteria – how do we know and define when the procedure is “done”?
These are little things that tend to come up as you perform the procedure for the first time, so it’s good to have this squared away before you see patients. That way, by the time you see your patients, you have this machine that runs smoothly and they feel reassured in your expertise.
P.S. Whenever you’re ready …. here are 4 ways I can help you grow your dental practice:
1. Grab a free chapter from my book “Retention – How to Plug the #1 Profit Leak in Your Dental Practice”
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2. Join the Savvy Dentist community and connect with dentists who are scaling their practice too
It’s our Facebook group where clever dentists learn to become commercially smart so that they have more patients, more profit and less stress. – Click Here
3. Attend a Practice Max Intensive live event
Our 2 day immersive events provide access to the latest entrepreneurial thinking and actionable strategies to drive your practice forward. You’ll leave with a game plan to take your results to the next level. If you’d like to join us, just send me a message with the word “Event and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here
4. Work with me and my team privately
If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take your profit from 6 figures to 7 figures …. just send me a message with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your practice and what you would like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here
