Written by: Jackie Ulasewich-Cullen
It feels good to write a new patient’s name in the schedule. It’s validation that the practice’s marketing strategies are working, and it means the practice is growing. Dental practices target new patients to increase revenue, and I support this wholeheartedly. However, if after the first appointment a patient leaves for a competing practice, doesn’t use your practice for all their needs, or simply never returns, growth will be limited or may stagnate. I have a surefire way to prevent that from happening, and it involves marketing, of course.
When my team onboards a new dental practice, most of the time, one of their primary goals is to attract new patients. New patients are important for growing the practice—there’s no doubt. So what happens after a new patient follows through with their first appointment? They’re no longer a new patient, but an existing one. Do we stop marketing to them? Heck no!
Practices with a marketing strategy know the amount of work that goes into attracting new patients. It takes time, effort, and money, but the payoff is worth it—or it should be. If a practice focuses solely on attracting new patients but ignores them once they’re on the books, it cuts the return on investment to a fraction of what it could be.
Many practices fall into the trap of investing only in marketing for potential patients and not current ones. They may assume existing patients will come back when they need something, or they may assume marketing to existing patients won’t grow revenue enough to make it worthwhile. Both assumptions are incorrect.
First, there’s no guarantee a patient will return to a practice after the first appointment. Many patients like to shop around for new patient specials. Others don’t know they can go to the same practice for braces and implants as they can for their regular exams and cleanings. And the simple fact is that most patients neglect to schedule appointments because oral health is not a top priority for them. A dental practice should include existing patients in its marketing strategy for all these reasons.
Another reason to never lose touch with existing patients is referrals. An existing patient who trusts a practice is like a walking, talking billboard. They might refer friends, family members, coworkers, acquaintances, and people they meet at the grocery store. Referrals from an existing patient are money in the bank—not just because they received a service, but also because the practice didn’t have to invest additional money to get them in the door.
Even if an existing patient refers no one to your practice, each time they come back for a service, that’s more revenue. When an existing patient trusts a practice and feels wanted, they will be more open to recommendations for additional services that aren’t covered by insurance, e.g., teeth whitening and clear aligners. However, they first must know your practice offers those treatments, and they then need to understand why such a treatment would benefit them, which requires marketing.
Maintaining an established relationship with a patient is easier than starting from scratch with someone new. For starters, while marketing to an existing patient still takes time, effort, and money, it takes less—many times, much less. Since the patient has visited the practice before, they already trust and have rapport with the staff. New patients have none of that. In fact, they may have their guard up for any number of reasons, including poor customer service or a bad experience at a competing practice. In that case, the team has to work even harder to earn their trust. With existing patients, that barrier has already been broken down.
Existing patients are an untapped resource for many dental practices, and that’s a shame because an existing patient has so much potential. Now, no one is saying to stop looking for new patients—only recommending that they give their existing ones more attention. The referrals, the revenue from additional services, plus the time and money savings, make marketing to existing patients an essential strategy for all dental practices.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With more than a decade of experience in corporate dental laboratory marketing and brand development, Jackie Ulasewich-Cullen decided to take her passion for the dental business and marketing to the next level by founding My Dental Agency.
Since starting her company, she and her team have helped a wide variety of practices nationwide focus their message, reach their target audience, and increase their sales through effective marketing campaigns.
She can be reached at (800) 689-6434 or via email at jackie@mydentalagency.com.
FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.
