Many dentists ask “How can I keep my patients returning to my office for their hygiene appointments?”

Last week I have the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Anissa Holmes the creater of Delivering WOW and we talked about creating a profitable hygiene department among many other dental topics.

Below is our podcast and here are  some of the things you will hear us talk about plus much more!

Is this episode, we discuss:

• The one simple system you can implement today to be more profitable

• The importance of relationship building and communication

•  Simple ways to increase the retention rate of the hygiene department

• How to ensure that your patients keep coming back

Debbie also shares exactly what you can do when patients say they don't want treatment.

CLICK HERE TO LIST NOW

One would wonder how a dental hygiene consulting/coaching business would be able to help a dental practice acquire more new patients. Let me tell you how it can be done.

3 Tips to Get More New Patients 

Tip #1: Ask!

If you never ask, the answer is always “No.”

I’m sure you have heard this before. We show our client teams how to ask for new patient referrals. Each team member chooses one patient on the schedule each day and they are responsible for asking this patient for a referral. And next is accountability.

In the morning team huddle each team member reports how that referral they promised went. Of course, it’s scary or may feel awkward in the beginning to ask for a referral but the more you do it the easier it gets. Accountability is key so we ask the team members to talk about the response from that patient they asked a referral from the previous day.

Tip #2: Doctor Must Call All New Patients to Welcome them

Our client doctors know how their new patients are about 3-5 days before they arrive to their office. They call the new patients a few days before their first appointment to give a warm welcome.

What happened today when one client called a new patient? He discovered this patient who is scheduled to arrive in his office on Friday is deathly afraid of the dental office. Doctor was able to provide comfort to the patient before they even arrived at the office. And best of all, he can give a “heads-up” to the other providers to provide some TLC.

Tip #3: WIIFM

Our clients currently offer free tray whitening. Exactly what they are providing patients is the Lifetime Smiles. This is only available to your new patients who make an appointment to see the hygienist for a prophylaxis, radiographs and complete a doctor exam.

Lifetime Smiles is also used to reduce short-notice appointment changes.

Want to know more about this topic?

Register for our webinar Thursday July 14, 2016.

Webinar: “TEETH WHITENING: STEPS TO GROW YOUR PRACTICE AND KEEP PATIENTS COMING BACK “

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Many offices register and use our webinars for their next team meeting. Register and let us know in email. We are happy to send the link to listen with your team at your next meeting. We even provide a handout for the team to follow along and begin implementing what you learn.

Many clinicians; aka: our clients, admit they do not consider themselves a salesperson. They do not want to be known for “selling dentistry.” Our response is, “Yes, you’re correct.”

This is a true statement. You do not need to feel like you are “selling” dentistry, you do need to think about your patient relationship and also how you communicate with your patients.

What does relationship and communication have to do with selling dentistry?

• What does relationship have to do with case acceptance?

Patients are going to choose to return to your office and they are going to feel most comfortable accepting your care when you have made them feel like they matter to you. For example, when your patient new or routine walks in your office door someone should be sitting at the front desk waiting to greet them and this person should be able to say their name.

• Communication with your patients

The hygienist should explain exactly what she or he is planning to do during their hygiene appointment. Do you know what the patients concerns are and their hot buttons? When you can address these effectively, patients will be more likely to accept your care and feel confident about returning to your office.

• Scripting

At Dental Hygiene Solutions we don’t recommend that you create a script and memorize it. What we do recommend is that you write out what you feel comfortable saying and then practice, practice, practice what you will do and how you will say it.

Practice what you will say in the mirror alone and then role-play and practice what you will do and say as a team.

• Confidence

What you say and how you say it needs to evoke confidence. To feel confident, you and the entire team need to believe the services you provide will add value and benefit your patient’s oral health and help them live a longer healthier and happier life.

What you are trying to do here is have patients believe that the value and benefits for the services you provide is greater than the money they may be concerned about paying and/or the time taken out of their life to complete these services they need and should want.

• Dental Professionals are altering people’s lives

As a dental professional it is important that you know that the investment your patients make in their oral health will be life-altering. Have you had patients complain about enhancements to their smile? Rarely do patients complain about a beautiful smile or the fact their gums no longer bleed when they brush.

The truth is that dental professionals are selling what you do and you are selling your dental practice to every patient who walks through your front door.

Every day that you are working at your office you are changing lives.

It may be a person who walked in your door without an appointment but is in pain. It could be a routine prophy patent who thinks that bleeding gums are normal and it may be a patient who never knew their teeth could be whiter. All these changes create a smile they may have never dreamed was possible. Understand and feel confident that when you get your patients to believe that you can change the way they feel about their smile, it allows you to create a powerful change in what you are doing in your life— You are changing lives by creating a longer, healthier life and more beautiful smiles!

When you are passionate about the beautiful smiles you are creating and the lives you are changing, you are selling dentistry and you are able to share your values versus live in apathy.

If you want to improve your case acceptance, then you need to be your very best at communicating value and benefits to your patients. will need to be at communicating the value to the patient.

This is the most current report by the ADA (see http://bit.ly/DentistSalaray2015).

Why is this happening? And more importantly, Doctor, can you afford to stay in business if your profits are in line with this report from the ADA?

On Thursday June 16, 2016 I will share 3 Direct Lines to Greater Case Acceptance During the Hygiene Appointment

 (Register below)

One way to make your Gross Profits Increase is by hearing more patients say “YES” to case acceptance. The best way to do this is by having hygiene patients ready to accept treatment when doctor begins their exam.

Are your dental hygiene appointments enrolling patients into treatment?

In today’s blog I will list a few answers and then on the webinar we will go into more depth.

How can you create better case acceptance?

1. Begins during the Hygiene Appointment

Great case acceptance begins during the hygiene appointment. When a dental hygienist understands doctors’ philosophy of care and what types of treatment doctor will be diagnosing, the hygienist can get these all set up.

When the hygienist gets this set up doctor comes in to complete the patient exam and, if the hygienist is giving his or her report of the patients’ needs and desires, doctor should now be in a position to agree with what the hygienist is telling doctor the patient wants and needs.

This process saves valuable time for the hygienist, patient(s) and doctor. The doctor hygiene patient exam should not take more than 7 minutes- MAX and there is not waiting for doctor when you follow this formula.

How does the hygienist have enough time to get the patient set-up to say “YES” to necessary treatment?

2. Down-to-a-Science Time Management Formula

At Dental Hygiene Solutions have created a “Down-to-a-Science Time Management Formula.” When the hygienist adopts this time management formula, it becomes second nature to “Partner” with their patient and together they; hygienist and patient, discover what is best for the patient.

How does the hygienist plan this out so she or he has the time to even think about the “Down to a Science Time Management Formula?”

We educate our clients on a specific patient-record audit which helps streamline this entire process.

There are so many moving parts to have more patients accept treatment, create a sustainable practice with profits improve not decline.

Be sure to join us for the webinar on June 16^th and we will dive deeper into this topic.

Not sure you can attend? 

Another great option is to use this webinar for your next team meeting. All you have to do is register and then click a button in your confirmation email to let us know you want this webinar and special team meeting handout. After the webinar, we will send the information to you. Register for Webinar Here

Or another way to say it from your patients point of view may sound like this “What’s in it for me?”

All day long you are asking your patients to schedule for treatment or possibly just their six month routine cleaning.

Now I will ask: “What’s in it for your patients?”

Do they really understand the urgency and true value, the benefits for them to return for their next appointment?

Do you have patients calling every day to “re-schedule” or “call back later” to schedule their treatment and/or hygiene appointment?

What will you say that helps your patients understand the true benefits and value for scheduling, keeping and paying for their dental treatment?

What we are teaching our clients is PARVB. This is an acronym for Patient Appointment Return Value & Benefit.

Here is an example of a PARVB:

Mrs. Jones (45 yrs old) has not been seen for a hygiene appointment in over nine months. Lucky for her, everything looks healthy except for  bleeding upon probing and a few 4mm pockets on the upper left molars. During the periodontal evaluation (The hygienist completed a full mouth six-point probingwhich included checking for areas of: recession, furcation, mobility, etc., etc.), the hygienist noted 4mms on the URQ and BOP in 4 areas of the URQ. Mrs. Jones also has a family history of heart disease.

The hygienist did complete the appointed prophylaxis appointment however, during the appointment they discussed more frequent hygiene visits at the end of the hygiene appointment  Mrs. Jones scheduled a 4 month hygiene Prophylaxis appointment, not the usual 6 months Prophylaxis appointment.

The reason for this was Mrs. Jones area of inflammation, the bleeding upon probing, and 4mm pocket depths. Mrs. Jones also has a family history of heart disease and considering her oral health condition today, this could mean a health problem in the future.

Once the 4mms and BOP were discovered Mrs. Jones’s hygienist (aka: Sally) took intraoral photographs of the bleeding. Sally then sat Mrs. Jones up in the chair so they could both look together and see the bleeding on the photos taken. The hygienist also showed Mrs. Jones her perio chart with the 4mms in red so they were easy to distinguish from the other areas of health.

Words that were used during the conversation were: active disease, inflammation, relationship between oral disease and systemic disease, prevention of other diseases such as heart disease as well as breast cancer, colon cancer, etc., etc.

Mrs. Jones heard her hygienist say these words and her hygienist Sally, was able to understand that living a long life is very important to Mrs. Jones because she looks forward to being a grandmother in the very near future. Mrs. Jones never heard about the relationship between bleeding gums and her total health. This was all new to her!

TAKE AWAY

What words do you believe are important for them to understand the value of completing treatment and returning for routine hygiene appointments? Are you able to explain the long-term benefits to your patients even if they have healthy mouth and need to return in 6 months for a Prophy appointment?

“What’s in it for them?”

Once you discussed the PARVB with your patient always write a PARVB statement on the last line of the patients record.
Having a PARVB statement easily available, means that when your patients call to “Change” or “Reschedule” their next appointment the person answering this phone call can always check the PARVB and then state something like:

“Mrs. Jones, I know Sally our hygienist and Dr. Sparrow, are very concerned about this area that was bleeding on the upper left back molars at your last hygiene appointment. Do you remember Sally took pictures of the bleeding area? I understand that your mother has a history of heart disease and keeping this appointment is going to most likely help prevent heart disease from affecting your body. It is so important to keep your gums healthy because this will prevent other diseases such as heart disease. How can I can help you keep this appointment?”

Ending with this question “How can I help you keep your appointment?” is going to stop all those late minute changes (cancellations) to your schedule. Try communicating a PARVB statement to your patients and then follow-through writing this statement in the patients record.

We are healthcare providers and we want to know how we can “Help” or best “Serve” our patients.

If you don’t know how you can benefit them to live a longer and healthier life just ask: ” Mr./Mrs. Patient, How can I help you ________________?”

During this podcast Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS, shares information to be your most profitable and your hygiene department is the best area to be your most profitable.

Dental Hygiene Department Goals and Profits are discussed during this podcast.

Here are a few of the insights you will gain from listening:

* Typical percentages for hygiene revenues, and what they should be
* How to partner with your hyagiene patient
* Hygiene patient reactivation and retention strategies
 LISTEN NOW

You will also have access to many free resources when you listen to the podcast.

However, we only know what we know so what is it that has our current clients with a 25%+ increase (during 2016)  in hygiene department profits?

What do these dentists know that you could be missing out on?

On April 21st, 2016 at 5:30PM Pacific Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS will share 5 things that dental practices worldwide are doing to be very profitable. Their hygiene departments really soar when they work on this 1 area and some dental practices have this 1 software that with the click of a button can bring back hundreds of overdue hygiene patients.

How can your dental hygiene department be more profitable?

Register today and discover the 5 things that will have your hygiene department running on all cylinders.

Find out what it is they are doing when you register for this webinar:

REGISTER HERE

1. No money for oral health
2. Can’t take the time,
3. Fear: Bad dental experience(s)

Each concern is legitimate.

Let’s consider this scenario for a moment: how would a patient diagnosed with cancer respond after being told they required lengthy and expensive chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments that may create life-altering side effects?

Do you believe they would most likely go to herculean lengths to obtain treatment regardless of those factors because they would want a chance to achieve health again? You answered “Yes,” I hope.

Many dental professionals in today’s world of dentistry struggle to tell patients what they need to have a healthy mouth and even leave out the important information to their patients about oral health contributing to our total health.

Let’s flip this fear of telling our dental patients the truth about their disease and try creating a “partnership” with your patients.

Gather your necessary patient information and then work as a team: i.e. the patient and you the provider, to discover what you see in the patients mouth, establish goals to offer the best treatment options while considering patients total health and then listen to what is valuable and important to your patient.

Too many patients today see their mouth as being completely separate from everything outside the oral cavity. In their mind periodontal disease affects, well… the gums. End of story – at least for them.

The truth, of course, is, as the song goes, “The knee bone’s connected to the thigh bone. The thigh bone’s connected to the hip bone. The hip bone’s connected to the back bone…”and so on.

And this song really should end with it’s all connected to your oral cavity.

Any disease condition in any part of the body can and does impact our total health and this includes the mouth.

• 7 Steps to Create a Partnership with Your Hygiene Patients:

1. Spend time to build rapport vs. laying the patient back immediately upon entering the treatment room.
2. Explain what the patient is there for vs. recline the patient to begin treatment
3. Collect your data and sit with your patient knee-to-knee and eye-to-eye to look together and discover the patients’ condition
4. Understand what is important to your patient
5. Talk benefits and value of completing treatment with your patient
6. Be prepare to overcome patient objections
7. Always follow up when patients decline to schedule for necessary treatment

Next time your patient feels tentative about scheduling their periodontal therapy, future hygiene appointments, or necessary restorative care, try “partnering with your patient” instead of telling them what you think they need.

When patients leave without scheduling a next appointment, i.e., necessary restorative, periodontal care and/or future hygiene appointments, always have a plan to follow up with your patient to get them scheduled.

Most patients want to live a longer and healthier life so take time to explain the benefits of regular hygiene appointments. Let all your patients know that oral health will mean a longer and healthier life.

Understanding the mouth – body connection is one reason most of your patients will accept treatment and return for routine hygiene appointments.

Don’t most of us want to live a longer and healthier life?

Is that a good reason to keep returning for hygiene appointments?

What do you think? Please feel free to comment.

Today I visited a young female dentist in my own neighborhood. It was the first time we met. She personally greeted me at the front desk as her receptionist was on a call.

The minute I explained who I was and that I was a hygiene consultant she sighed and shared how extremely STRESSED she was right now.

I did my best to be compassionate and explained that my job is to create a great life for dentists, to take away that stress as we become partners in the day-to-day office challenges, etc., etc.

As a new dental hygienist, many years ago, I myself, had no idea how stressful it would be to run on a 45 minute schedule when I first worked as a dental hygienist. Luckily, many dentists have come to see and understand that we serve our patients best in today’s world when we have more than 45 minutes for most of our adult hygiene patients.

Hygienists have so many more responsibilites in the twentyfirst century so we have longer adult hygiene appointments.

How do we get it all completed and work without so much stress we can experience as an employee in the dental office?

Do You Feel Empowered? Do You Love What You Do?

btw: The stressed out dentist I met today??? She is doing a lot better. Her posture seemed to change when I offered to support her. I could see her shoulders relax and she warmly touched my hand as we decided to meet again soon.

Check out this video because I have created a training that empowers hygienists and allows me to work alongside the dentist to overcome many of these challenges.

[video_player type=”embed” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″][/video_player]What has Hygiene Empowerment done for dentists thoughout the world?

“The number of adult patients treated for periodontal disease increase immediately after we began the Hygiene Empowerment Program. It went from 11% to 23% and when we looked at our most recent production it is currently increased 17% since last year this time of year.”

Mason Konkle

Hatch Family Dentistry

[divider style=”11″]“Hygiene Empowerment has helped my hygiene department work in a very professional way, we now get them back and currently understand the valuable words to use and the phrases we learned have helped us get our patients back for routine hygiene appointments and also perio maintenance appointments.”

George Pamborides, DMD

Nicosia Dental Clinic

[divider style=”7″]Do you wish to decrease stress in your office?

Do you want to have a more empowered hygiene department?

Do you want to have a productive and profitable hygiene department this year?

Check out Hygiene Empowerment Here: 3-Part Training Video Series

Schedule a Call to Discover How This Will Work For Your Dental Practice: Schedule Call

Super Bowl is a great opportunity to communicate a company’s brand to millions. The commercials leave a lasting impression that will keep us laughing for many years to come. You must know that these advertising messages have a lasting impression in our mind.

This year in particular I found the commercials to be uplifting and inspirational.

Brands that best capitalize on the Super Bowl spend a significant amount of time, money, planning and refining their messages to capture your attention—and that’s just the beginning. Super Bowl ads are a springboard for continuous engagement through the business’ sales funnel. The businesses who spend millions of dollars advertising want to reach you while you’re watching the game as one touch point in a much longer journey.

What a Dental Practice Can Learn From the Super Bowl?

Here is my biggest marketing takeaway from Super Bowl 50:

Your message:  You may or may not know but there is always a large amount of message refining that goes into any Super Bowl ad (or any piece of marketing content, for that matter). Testing out different messages is vital to producing the best content, which is why Coca-Cola or Doritos (Both products I don’t promote we eat for proper health) spent so much time on their message.

My question to you is this:

• What message do your patients receive when they visit your website, when the call your office, when they are told they need treatment, and what message do you give to provide value and benefits to return to your office?
• How often do you refine your message communicated to patients?
• How are you communicating your very important message to your patients?
• Do all the team members know what the message is that needs to be delivered so patients choose to return to your office?

Super Bowl advertisers offered plenty of valuable lessons for business owners this year when you look at the thought and planning that goes into the content we experience every day.  And another process to consider is the consistency and times these advertisers will deliver their message.

Yes, the Super Bowl is one of the largest content opportunities in existence, it’s ultimately one step in a larger process. No company can sustain momentum from a single Super Bowl spot.

Like the game itself, the marketing takeaways are universal—there’s something for everyone.

What can you take away from the Super Bowl commercial messages and the time they spent providing a quality message?
Do you truly understand the message your give your patients when they are in your office or about to be a patient in your office? Have you spent much time with your team creating a valuable overarching message to your patients about why they should come to your office and not a group practice down the street?

Your message to patients will pay big dividends whether you are kicking off or in the zone.

I would enjoy hearing your take-away from the Super Bowl 50 commercials.