Ok, let's be honest. Everyone loves getting a new patient. It feels very rewarding for all involved. A bad day can be turned into a good day by successfully acquiring a new patient. Without new patient acquisition, a practice would be nothing.

Why do dentists like to spend so much money to acquire new patients? Is new patient acquisition more important than retention? The answer is no. If you do the math, a patient over a lifespan is worth volumes more than a new patient's first appointment (or 2 appointments). Everyone knows this. Acquisition is more glamorous than retention, so it receives the spotlight.

It is more important to look at acquisition vs. retention from another angle to understand their relationship. Retention would not be possible without acquisition. Therefore acquisition is the first step. Growth is not possible without retention. So retention is the second step. This relationship gives us the following equation:

ACQUISITION + RETENTION = GROWTH

Depending on your market, new patient acquisition can get expensive and be harder to master. Retention is something that can be done on a relatively low-budget and, over a period of time, can have a much greater impact on the health of the dental practice. The mistake most practice make is that they budget money for acquisition and then assume that those patients will remain active patients forever with little or no work.

So, what is the moral of the story. Keep acquiring new patients, allocate some resources and money to retention and reactivation, and watch your practice grow. It is that simple!

Every dollar counts in these difficult economic times. Help your patients by letting them know that their dental insurance benefits will be expiring by the end of the year! Not only will it help them, but it will help you maximize your revenue potential and give your dental practice a nice boost at the end of the year.

A large percentage of dental patients have “money” left in their “insurance accounts” as well as in their Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA). Patients cannot “roll over” the balance or save up their remaining benefits like they can with some cell phone plans. If this money isn’t used in the year it is designated, it is lost. These are dental benefits your patient has already paid for! Most dental patients don't understand this and it is not only hurting them, but it is hurting the bottom line of your practice as well.

Utilizing this strategy in your practice of informing your dental patients about their remaining benefits does two important things: 1) it helps your patients get the dental work they need before they lose their benefits, and 2) it helps your practice end the year with a full schedule and more revenue.

Because time is short, the most effective way to inform patients and get them scheduled is to personally call them. Calling them in the evenings will increase your chances of contacting them. It is important to be assertive and create urgency when informing them of their remaining benefits and the outstanding treatment they have. Without being assertive and creating urgency, your patients will not feel any need or see the importance of scheduling right now. The best part is, you have a very powerful incentive to use: their remianing benefits that will be lost (use it or lose it) at the end of the year.

Contact us if you need help reaching your dental patients. We can provide you with the help your practice needs when scheduling recall or treatment patients.

The following is from Stephen R. Covey...

Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree.

“What are you doing?” you ask.

“Can’t you see?” comes the impatient reply. “I’m sawing down this tree.”

“You look exhausted!” you exclaim. “How long have you been at it?”

“Over five hours,” he returns, “and I’m beat! This is hard work.”

‘Well, why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?” you inquire. “I’m sure it would go a lot faster.”

“I don’t have time to sharpen the saw,” the man says emphatically. “I’m too busy sawing!”

Sometimes we spin our wheels being very ineffective in the actions we take. We get so caught up in getting something accomplished that we don't have the foresight to stop for a minute and evaluate what we are doing and whether or not it is effective. Often times it can be something as simple as "sharpening our saw" that can help us accomplish our goal more efficiently.

Try to think about your practice and areas that could be improved. What small changes can you make? Is there anything simple that can be done with dental recall, appointment setting, appointment confirmations, treatment scheduling that could have a profound effect on the practice?

AMERICAN FORK, Utah, Oct 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Utah-based Recall Solutions provides dental offices with a solution to help schedule patients who are not current with their regular hygiene visits. Recall Solutions has been able to help dental offices all over the U.S. and Canada contact their "lost" patients and get them back into the dental office - ensuring patients remain in good oral health.

Recall Solutions has helped dentists stay in contact with their patients through the personalized service they provide - helping them retain and reactivate patients.

"Recall Solutions has helped us get in contact with patients who I haven't seen for years," said Dr. Daniel Coles, a dentist based out of American Fork, UT. "Not only have they helped our practice but they have helped our patients get the care they need. Most people don't enjoy coming to the dentist, so generally they won't call us unless there is an emergency. Preventative care is critical in avoiding these 'high-cost emergencies'. It has been nice to have someone helping us contact our patients and getting them scheduled for their preventative care appointments."

Recall Solutions provides dental offices with "remote hygiene coordinators" to contact their patients. The remote hygiene coordinators are aided by proprietary software that increases their efficiency and effectiveness.

"There are many automated systems available to help dental offices keep in touch with their patients, but there is nothing as personal as what we have developed," said Brandon Rodman, CEO and founder of Recall Solutions. "We allow dental practices to automate some of the daily, time-consuming tasks while keeping everything personal for the patients. There is never a disconnect between the dental practice, our service, and the patients."

Employees are trained to use the various practice management software utilized by dental offices. In partnerships with numerous industry professionals throughout North America, Recall Solutions has developed a highly-effective technique to help schedule dental patients by helping them understand the importance of regular, preventative-hygiene visits.

About Recall Solutions

Recall Solutions was founded in September of 2008. They provide personalized appointment confirmations, dental recall, and unscheduled treatment services for dental practices throughout the United States and Canada.

SOURCE Recall Solutions, PRNewsWire

Let's be honest, calling overdue patients is the most hated job in the dental practice. You can't pay anyone enough money to do it the way you want it done or when you want it done. Calling some of these overdue patients feels as bad as cold-calling; and staff members will find anything they can do to get out of it.

One of the reasons your staff hates this task is because calling during the day is less-effective and feels like a waste of time. Another reason is the mountain of other work that needs to get completed by the end of the day that cannot be put off to do later. And because overdue phone calls can always be done later, they rarely get done when you need them done (which is always).

What impact does putting off recall phone calls have on your practice? It hurts the growth of your practice. If you lose as many patients as you gain, you will never grow. With the increasing number of dentists in the industry the competition is getting tougher. You must have an effective strategy in place to help you retain the patients you have spent thousands of dollars on to acquire.

An effective dental recall system needs to personally get in touch with your patients at the right time of day. The right time of day for you is not necessarily the best time of day for your patients. Statistics prove that it is easier to get a hold of patients in the evening times, between the hours of 5 and 8 pm. Another important thing for a successful recall system is to incorporate one that ensures recall is always completed.

There are a number of ways to incorporate a successful recall system. Some offices will do everything in-house by hiring someone to make phone calls in the evenings. This type of in-house system will include more overhead for the additional employee, possibly including the following: 1) salary or hourly compensation, 2) bonuses or incentives, 3) payroll taxes, 4) benefits, 5) additional management expenses to track/oversee the employee's work, etc...

Another option is to outsource the recall work to another company. There are pros and cons to this type of system, with the positives generally outweighing the negatives. Some of the good things are: the recall always gets completed, little to no management, lighter work-load for the office staff, no payroll taxes/bonuses/incentives/benefits, etc...

Whether you choose to keep everything in-house or to outsource your overdue recall, be sure you have an effective recall system in place. You can't NOT afford it!