Cancellations | Dental Practice Solutions

Reduce Cancellations Using This One Thing

By: Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS

September 3, 2024

Nothing is more stressful for a dentist or dental practice owner than discovering an unexpected hole in the schedule. Whether it’s the result of a no-show or a last-minute cancellation, that open hole in your schedule means lost revenue, an employee scrambles to fill the hole, and you have a missed opportunity to treat a patient in need.

Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS, founder of Dental Practice Solutions, reminds us, “A no-show isn’t just a break-even situation—it results in a loss.” This is why it’s essential to take proactive steps to prevent these disruptions and protect your practice’s success.

Fortunately, there’s a straightforward strategy you can implement that will make a significant difference.

Reduce Cancellations Using This One Thing:

Think about this, the most significant financial setbacks in your practice often stem from cancellations of high-value appointments such as crown, bridge and implant procedures, etc. Implementing a reward system such as The Smile Club encourages patients to commit to their scheduled dental appointments.

Human nature creates a WIIFM attitude. People want to understand what they get in return for X, Y, or Z. Not many dental patients arrive at a dental office excited to be there so let’s flip this anxiety and the stress around dental appointments into something patients look forward to!

The Smile Club is a patient reward/loyalty system that not only encourages patient commitment to show up for their dental appointments but it also identifies patients who want cosmetic dentistry. If the system is properly implemented it will grow your new patient numbers.

How The Smile Club Works

When patients enroll as a member of The Smile Club they receive their take home whitening kit and in the future get a free whitening pen at future routine dental hygiene appointments. They also receive discounts on teeth whitening products when they buy more in the future.

Patients expect a toothbrush at dental hygiene appointments but what if you could give them a whitening pen and/or that expected toothbrush? Now you have a patient who is more likely to respect and value their dental appointments. Give people what they want!

If you begin asking your patients about their smile goals you will discover most want whiter teeth. The reason why dental offices don’t have more patients buy whitening from their office is the high cost and time in the chair. Many patients also fear tooth sensitivity.

We have you covered on all of these aspects. Why shouldn’t your patients want to buy their teeth whitening from your office?

Teeth Whitening Dental Practice Growth Potential

Teeth whitening is scheduled to be an 11 billion dollar industry by 2030 but it’s not because people are flocking to their dental office to buy their whitening products.1 This huge growth is because of AMAZON and WALMART sales since the pandemic. More people are working at home and they are on ZOOM video meetings. This makes people more focused on their appearance than ever before.

Benefits of The Smile Club

Reduce Cancellations

A huge benefit to this patient reward system benefit is to plug the holes in your schedule.

Less last minute cancellations
Good-bye to voice messages with patients canceling
Less time spend plugging holes
Grow New Patient Numbers

With our website partner, Med Rank Interactive, we work to bring more new patients to your website. We understand that millions of people are searching the internet for whiter teeth so why not get them to your website?

Your website should be optimized to attract these millions of people searching the internet 24/7 for whiter teeth.

More Cosmetic Cases

Dental offices using The Smile Club also understand the value of an annual smile evaluation. This is a simple process that happens in the first 5 minutes of the dental hygiene appointment.

Make it simple to complete a smile evaluation annually and learn about your patients smile goals.

If you never ask, the answer is “No.”

Increase Hygiene Department Per- Patient Production

When your dental hygienist takes a few minutes to complete a smile evaluation, they will learn that most patients want a whiter-brighter smile.

The Smile Club utilizes Celebrity Smiles teeth whitening products. Founder of Dental Practice Solutions, Debbie Seidel Bittke, created this product. Our whitening formula is FDA approved and includes all regulated certifications to provide efficacy and patient safety.

Our proprietary ingredients whiten teeth fast (in the comfort of the patients home), without tooth sensitivity and includes blue/red LED Lights. We’ve included Carbamide Peroxide with Potassium Nitrate which whitens teeth fast and without tooth sensitivity.

We included an option to use red LED Lights for post-op care. These red LED Lights soothe, heal and comfort various mouth sores and the photobiomodulation process supports post-op care after gum treatment and surgical procedures.

The Dental Practice Growth Strategy

For a more comprehensive approach to grow your dental practice without running on a treadmill or increasing your overhead, consider integrating The Smile Club into your dental practice.

This solution, offered by Dental Practice Solutions, is designed to enhance your patients smile with more cosmetic cases scheduled. Utilizing The Smile Club patient reward system dramatically reduces cancellations. This practice growth system will grow new patient numbers.

The Smile Club provides a much easier way to have more patients say “Yes!” to paying for and scheduling more cosmetic cases.

BOOK a quick ZOOM meeting and find out how this will grow your dental practice starting today!

Reference.

Teeth Whitening Market Forecast. https://bit.ly/10BILby2026

Six Tips for Hygiene Patient Reactivation and Unscheduled Treatment

By: Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS

June 18, 2024

Reactivating hygiene patients and following up on unscheduled treatments can be challenging, but with the right strategies, you can effectively bring patients back into your practice.

Here are Six Tips for Hygiene Patient Reactivation and Unscheduled Treatment to help you improve your patient outreach and increase patient engagement.

Let’s explore these actionable steps to ensure your patient engagement and follow-ups are successful.

1. Cultivate a Positive Mindset

Summer is upon us. That means patients are on vacation, holidays are near and patients may think they are too busy to schedule a dental appointment.

But wait! Let’s check our mindset and get over any negative thoughts such as, “no one wants to come in” or that “it’s the 4th of July and no one wants to come in!”

Approaching calls with these negative assumptions makes it harder to achieve your goal of getting patients back into the office. Take a deep breath. Create positive thoughts as you make phone calls to patients. Your mindset is crucial for successful patient reactivation and all patient engagement.

2. Evaluate Your Outreach Efforts

Keep track of how many calls, emails, texts, and letters your employees are sending to existing patients. Review the volume and effectiveness of these outreach efforts and your patient engagement system. If outreach is high but responses are low, consider the message being conveyed and the manner in which the team members are attempting to engage with patients. A team member who sounds bored or disinterested will not engage patients effectively. Patient engagement can be a boring task. Automate as much of this as possible.

We suggest automating short and sweet text messages. We teach clients to use a specific rhythm to send message and how often to send these messages.

3. Personalize Your Message

Using a script can be helpful, but it’s important that it doesn’t sound robotic. Patients can tell when someone is reading from a script versus speaking genuinely. Train your team to use scripts as guidelines, allowing them to personalize their messages and sound more natural.

Utilize a specific template for various types of text messages when reactivating overdue hygiene patients.

Example: Text 1 is sent to patients today.

Text 2 is sent in 5 days when there is no response to text message 1.

After a 3rd text without a response we do suggest a phone call be made.

Most patients are not as likely to quickly respond to your phone message so make it short and sweet. Basically let patients know, “It’s time! Please give us a call about your dental appointment.”

Be prepared to have patients respond, “I don’t have an appointment.” With your patient on the phone you need to click on their electronic chart, look at their necessary unscheduled treatment for restorative and/or hygiene care. You must speak with words that create urgency to schedule.

Example: “Doctor asked me to call. She is concerned this tooth is going to cause you pain.”

Talk about putting a halt to “inflammation”, “lose a tooth”, “more cost for a tooth that has a hole”, etc. Use words that paint a picture and create urgency.

4. Train and Practice

Team training is imperative if you wish to continue growth and your current level of success. Practice makes perfect and it’s crucial for the team members who are making calls practice to make patient calls effective. Ensure your employees feel confident sending text messages and emails each week, month, etc, by providing regular training and role-playing different scenarios.

Pair less experienced team members with seasoned team members to practice handling various phone situations, starting with simple scenarios and progressing to more complex ones.

Use an expert coach, a trainer to make sure this practice occurs and it can make it more fun to work with an expert who routinely works with teams on these skills. Schedule a half-day workshop or a few hours of ZOOM coaching with an expert who can offer expert guidance.

5. Clarify Your Purpose

Beyond getting patients back on the schedule, the purpose of keeping your patients on the schedule is to ensure optimal oral health leading to a longer-healthier life. Demonstrate genuine care for the patient’s well-being and you will significantly impact the outcome of your patient engagement and the amount of scheduled patient appointments which will decrease the time spent on reactivation of unscheduled patients.

Understand what your patient values and always make everything you say and do benefit the patient.

6. Vary Call Times and Use Multiple Communication Channels

If you’re having trouble reaching a patient by phone, try calling at different times of the day. You never know when a patient might be available.

We recommend that you 1st send a text message and if there is no response after a 2nd text message that week, make a phone call to your patient. Patients in todays world respond to a text message much faster than a voice message.

If you must leave a voice message make it short and sweet with a phone number to call back your office about their dental appointment. Do not leave long-winded voicemail messages.

Always follow up at least 48 hours when a patient leaves without scheduling for restorative care or a next hygiene appointment. When patients do not respond to your text messages or phone calls use a patient engagement system to email your patients. Most patient engagement systems will have specific templates with informative videos about your patient’s specific care needed.

Always personalize your text messages and emails. These emails and text messages can be automated when you use robust dental office patient engagement solutions.

Need a patient engagement solution?

We are happy offer a few great suggestions to get this system automated and working effectively.

Let us know!

Summary

These tips should help improve your patient reactivation and even reduce the need to chase patients to get them back on your schedule.

For further assistance, consider registering for one of our Summer 2024 Dentist Power Hours when we are discussing patient reactivation and retention.

Are you wondering if you have untapped potential? Tired of working so hard?

Consider booking a no-cost opportunity ZOOM call here.

Or contact us at: 623-252-1941.

Fill Openings on the Doctors & Hygienists Schedule

By: Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS

June 13, 2024

In today’s fast-paced dental industry, maintaining a full schedule is crucial for the success and profitability of your practice. Open holes in your schedule leads to significant revenue losses and disrupts the workflow in your dental practice.

This blog will guide you through effective strategies to fill openings on the doctor’s & hygienist’s schedule, ensuring that your practice runs smoothly and efficiently. From leveraging modern technology to implementing proactive patient communication, discover the best ways to keep your dental chairs filled with patients who want your care and keep your business thriving.

Preventing cancellations helps keep your patients remain healthy! The problem is that people think they have more important things to do than see their dentist!

Why Do You See Cancellations?

Let’s look at common reasons cancellations occur and how to mitigate them.

Legitimate Reasons for Cancelling

Life happens, and sometimes patients have valid reasons for cancelling:

Illness
Car troubles
Family emergencies
Work meeting

These reasons are understandable, and there’s little you can do to prevent them. Let’s also be aware that sometimes these last minute cancellations might be a cover-up for other issues.

Patients Forget Their Appointments

When patients claim they forgot their appointment, the real issue might be elsewhere. Genuine forgetfulness isn’t the problem, implementation of reminders is the problem.

Do you implement any of all of the following?

Calls
Texts
Emails

Overbooking Far in Advance

While being booked months in advance may seem like a good problem to have, it often indicates a shortage of providers and missed production opportunities.

This can be a good problem to have and offers opportunities to grow your dental practice. If you find yourself in a bottleneck with patients waiting weeks or months to see a provider plan to book a quick call so we can help redirect this situation which is costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars annually!

This is a different challenge than we will focus on in this blog.

When patients have to wait for weeks or months to get an appointment, you increase the likelihood of cancellations due to:

Changes in personal schedules
Financial shifts
Illness
Forgetting the importance of their treatment

Aim to schedule restorative and perio patients within 2-7 days. This will to minimize the above mentioned risks and keep your schedule running smoothly.

The real reason patients fail to keep their dental appointments is because they do not value their oral health.

It’s our role as a dental professional to help our patients understand that “Prevention costs a little money, and treating disease costs a lot of money.”

Urgency is key.

Think about the words you use when speaking to your patients.

Do you use words like “tooth decay and cleaning?”

Use words that paint a picture in your patients mind.

Change your words to these, for example: “hole in your tooth,” or “preventive care” or “gum disease.”

Make it easy for your patients to understand what they need. Never think patients truly understand the urgency of completing dental treatment. Imagine telling your patient their out-of-pocket payment will be $1500 a tooth with decay and a “deep cleaning” when they are thinking, “my gums always bleed”.

Now flip this conversation around a hole in their tooth and bacteria is sneaking in. Show patients the hole in their tooth and bleeding gums. Talk about health and saving money on treating disease. Explain that you are helping them put a halt to inflammation in their mouth and explain how inflammation (over the next five, ten yrs.) will cause other systemic problems. Know what systemic diseases are related or oral inflammation.

You must speak with passion about the topic and show enthusiasm in your voice as you talk about saving them money and putting a halt to disease!

If you don’t feel passionate about changing your patients life, neither will they.

Most patients will sit up, listen, and take action when you talk about helping them live a longer, healthier life, and explain how they will save money once they focus on prevention of disease.

Everything you say and do must benefit the patient.

Make it easy for your patients to “own their disease.”

Take away the stress of getting patients to “pay” for something. Guide your patients to make wise decisions that benefit them.

Once patients understand how your care will save them money, create a healthier, longer life and/or eliminate pain, they most likely “want” what they need.

It doesn’t matter what insurance pays for, maybe they are on state-aid, and they arrived to their appointment with a Gucci purse and maybe they drove to your office in a Mercedes! They most likely have an iPhone or mobile device that cost them a few hundred dollars.

You know this is a true fact, yet your patients do not want to accept your care!

Use words that create a picture.

Speak about benefits to them. Understand their values and know what their objections may be before they even have a chance to object to accepting care.

People will buy what they want, not what they need so get your patients to want your care! Motivate your patients to want a healthy mouth and a body that is healthy.

Patients who value their oral health, are far less likely to cancel or change their appointments last minute.

Filling Last-Minute Openings

Use these strategies to fill the holes:

Maintain a Short-Notice / ASAP List: Keep a list of patients willing to come in on short notice. Reach out to them as soon as an opening occurs.
Leverage Technology: Use automated systems to notify patients of last-minute availability. This can be done via text, email, or through your patient portal.
Optimize Your Recare System: Ensure your recre system is robust , dynamic, and up-to-date. Patients due for their routine hygiene appoihntments (“preventive care” NOT a “cleaning”!) may appreciate the opportunity to come in sooner. Ask us how to implement a cost-effective “engagement system to reach out to patients fast. Let us show you how to reach patients who need a hygiene appointment and another type of appointment such as an implant or bridge. We will show you how to quickly fill open holes with the best per patient production. Book a 15 min ZOOM call so we can show you howt this works.
Offer Incentives: Provide small incentives for patients who fill last-minute holes, such as your Smile Club membership, a discount on “INVISALIGN,” etc, or a free whitening pen.
Engage Your Team: Train your front desk staff to handle cancellations proactively and to efficiently manage the short-notice list.

Understand the reasons patients cancel and have a recare and cancellation strategy in place to keep your practice running efficiently.

We have solutions at your fingertips and offer white glove implementation. Check out the SMILE CLUB which is a proven strategy to keep patients on your schedule.

BOOK a quick no-cost opportunity call.

Take your hygiene department to the next level. Enroll in our course.

Enhancing Dental Patient Loyalty for Dental Practice Success

By: Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS

May 22, 2024

Maintaining a dental practice that nurtures patient loyalty entails not only attracting new patients but also implementing strategies to ensure their continued engagement with your services and remain a patient for many years.

Build Patient Loyalty through Exceptional Care

1. Routine Hygiene Appointments: Loyal patients commit to routine preventive care hygiene appointments. They are less likely to call last-minute and cancel their dental appointments. These are patients committed to their total health.

In return, you will experience consistent revenue for your dental practice.

2. Communication: Open lines of communication ensures that new patients can easily find your website, call and/or swiftly schedule their appointment.

Create methods for auto-scheduling, text messages, etc.

3. Less No-Shows: Long-term patients who feel valued are less likely to cancel appointments. These patients rarely fail to show for pre-scheduled hygiene appointments they made many months ago.

Create patients who feel like a VIP.

Patient-centered care, knowing what your patient values and asking them about their smile goals, helps create “long-time patients”and raving fans.

Key Strategies to Enhance Patient Loyalty

To foster patient loyalty effectively, your dental practice must prioritize building strong relationships based on trust and mutual benefit. By providing top-notch customer service, respecting your patients’ time, and delivering exceptional care- patient-centered care, you will earn long-term patients.

Make patients feel like they are a VIP at each dental appointment, make them feel like they are the only patient in the office when they are present for their appointments., Create more raving fans.

Raving fan patients will continue returning to your dental office for a very long time. They rarely miss a scheduled dental appointment.

Raving fans share how great your dental office is with their family, friends and colleagues. In return, this helps build your new patient numbers.

What have you done today to make your patients feel enthusiastic about being a patient in your dental practice?

Visualize Patient Loyalty in Action

Imagine, one year ago you diagnosed necessary treatment to your patient and this patient left their dental appointment saying, “Let me think about it.”

Today, your patients bright smile and the resounding “YES, I want to pay and schedule.” reflects your hygienists’ motivational communication skills and also your dental practice’s exceptional patient-centered care with a VIP appointment process.

How different do you feel knowing more patients keep their dental appointments and they accept your care more easily?

When patients actually enjoy their dental appointments and feel valued, your dental practice experiences consistent revenue growth and a 5-start reputation.

What can you do differently to receive more “YES’s!” from those patients who have outstanding treatment plans.

How can you have more patients look forward to their dental appointments?

Let’s flip the dread and anxiety of dental appointments into excitement for a great experience in your dental office.

Yes, this can be how your patients view dental appointments in your office!

*Keep reading for the answer below.

The Business Aspect of Patient Loyalty

While patient satisfaction is paramount, it also impacts your dental practice’s financial health. Investing heavily in acquiring new patients becomes counterproductive if a significant percentage of patients never return.

What is the lifetime value of a patient in your dental practice?

Imagine how much time and money you invest to have a new patient schedule their 1st appointment.

What can you do to keep patients returning to your dental practice for many years?

There is a proven strategy.

The Answer. The Proven Strategy: Patient Loyalty

Enhancing patient loyalty directly translates to improved retention rates and an increase in the lifetime value for each patient. Prioritize patient satisfaction and engagement and watch your revenue grow consistently.

Motivate patients to consistently return to your dental office for their preventive care and any dental needs.

Let’s get patients excited about returning to preventive care appointments.

There is a way to do this!

Creating Patient Loyalty Will:

New patient numbers grow
Reduce cancellations
Increase payment for scheduled cosmetic cases
Increase per-patient production (Imagine $100-$500 more net hygiene patient production)
And more

Conclusion

Focus on patient loyalty through exceptional, individualized, patient-centered care, motivational communication, a great patient experience, and watch your dental practice grow for many years to come.

Embrace solutions like the Celebrity Smiles Club to enhance the patient experience, creating raving fans, which results in a thriving dental practice for many years.

*Curious about how the Celebrity Smiles Club Growth Strategy will build patient loyalty and more?

BOOK a quick call and find out how this patient rewards – loyalty system will:

grow new patient numbers,
boost cosmetic cases,
increase per-patient hygiene appointment production,
reduce cancellations,
and much more.

Change the Low Insurance Reimbursement and High Overhead Dilemma!

By: Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS

March 27, 2024

In the realm of dentistry, dental practice owners grapple with insurance reimbursement and high overhead costs. These hurdles can impede practice growth, hinder patient retention, and limit opportunities for expanding a dental business.

However, amidst these obstacles, a transformative solution emerges. It’s called The Smile Club. This innovative approach not only addresses these issues but also enhances patient loyalty, boosts cosmetic case acceptance, and fosters a thriving practice environment.

The Predicament: Low Insurance Reimbursement and High Overhead

Dental professionals frequently find themselves at the mercy of insurance companies, grappling with insufficient reimbursement rates for their services. Coupled with the ever-mounting overhead costs of running a practice—ranging from equipment maintenance to administrative expenses—dentists often face financial strain. These factors can jeopardize the sustainability of their practices and compromise the quality of care they provide.

The Smile Club: A Game-Changer

The Smile Club is a paradigm shift in how we deliver dental care. We should no longer rely on traditional insurance models, The Smile Club offers patients a membership-based approach to accept dental care. By enrolling patients into The Smile Club, patients gain access to a range of benefits tailored to their oral health needs, including discounted services, priority scheduling, and exclusive perks.

Empowering New Patient Appointments

One of the most significant advantages of The Smile Club is its ability to attract new patients to your dental practice. By offering a transparent and cost-effective alternative to traditional insurance, The Smile Club appeals to patients seeking comprehensive dental care without the constraints of insurance limitations.

The allure of priority scheduling incentivizes prospective patients to schedule appointments, keep their scheduled appointments and boost practice growth.

Enhance Patient Retention

Beyond attracting new patients, The Smile Club also plays a pivotal role in retaining existing patients. The Smile Club has an emphasis on personalized care and member benefits that helps patients feel valued and invested in their total health. The membership-loyalty program o ensures that patients receive timely and convenient appointments, fostering a sense of loyalty to the practice.

Boost Cosmetic Case Acceptance

Cosmetic dentistry represents a lucrative avenue for dental practices, yet many patients hesitate to pursue such treatments due to cost concerns. The Smile Club eliminates this barrier by offering discounted cosmetic services as part of its membership benefits. This not only encourages patients to explore cosmetic treatments but also enhances case acceptance rates, thereby augmenting practice revenue.

The Smile Club is a turn-key system for practice growth with personalized on-boarding for the dental practice to jump start their growth boosting cosmetic cases, growing new patient numbers and putting a halt to numerous open holes in the appointment schedule.

Imagine the cost to hire a consultant to help your practice grow. The Smile Club offers personalized implementation for each dental practice and includes a web portal of marketing, learning videos (think about training for your team about case acceptance and enhancing hygiene patient care) and implementation guides, scripts, etc, at your fingertips.

When you use The Smile Club you have a consultant at your service without the cost of more than your Smile Club purchase. A low-cost investment that will yield over 100k annually.

That is no exaggeration!

Foster Patient Loyalty

The Smile Club is more than just a membership program—it’s a catalyst that builds lasting patient relationships. By prioritizing patient needs and offering tangible benefits, dental practices cultivate a loyal patient base invested in their long-term oral health.

This type of patient loyalty extends beyond a financial transaction by fostering a sense of trust and partnership between patients and dental clinicians.

Conclusion: The Smile Club—Empowers the dental team, it changes the anxiety and bad connotation around dental appointments into a situation where patients enjoy seeing their dentist and the dental team!. The Smile Enriches the Lives of Your Patients creating a WIN-WIN for all! The Smile Club BOOSTS Patient-Centered Care. It’s the next level of patient care like your patients have never experienced!

“IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PATIENT!”

In the face of low insurance reimbursement and soaring overhead costs, dental professionals are embracing innovative solutions to thrive in an evolving landscape. The Smile Club represents a beacon of hope—a holistic approach to dental care that transcends conventional insurance models.

The Smile Club will attract new patients and retain your existing patients; insurance PPO or not! The Smile Club will boost cosmetic case acceptance, and foster patient loyalty, The Smile Club heralds a new era of dental excellence. As dental practices across the globe embrace this transformative model, they not only secure their financial viability but also enrich the lives of those they serve, one smile at a time.

The Smile Club means less insurance dependence!

The Smile Club cultivates the next level of patient-centered care.

When you ask your patients what they want for their smile, you notice that your case acceptance improves dramatically. Understand what your patients want their smile to look like and you will have more patients say “yes!” to your care!

Join our Monthly Power Hour and learn more about this innovative approach to grow your dental practice NOW!

And/Or schedule a demo Today and learn more about using The Smile Club for your dental practice growth!

The Smile Club: Enhanced Patient Care and Dental Practice Growth

By: Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS

February 27, 2024

Ensuring a healthy, beautiful smile is not just about routine dental hygiene appointments; it’s about fostering lasting relationships between patients and dental care providers. At Dental Practice Solutions, we’re committed to revolutionizing the way patients experience dental care through our innovative Smile Club patient loyalty program.

The Smile Club isn’t just another patient membership program but it’s a gateway to a comprehensive dental experience designed to benefit both patients and dental practices alike. Let’s delve into how The Smile Club can transform your dental practice into a thriving business and elevate your patient care.

Less Last-Minute Cancellations

Last-minute cancellations not only disrupt your schedule but also the efficiency of your dental practices. Implementing The Smile Club, less open holes in your schedule. Members ofThe Smile Club agree to 1. Pre-schedule their future hygiene appointments and, 2. They agree to call during business hours 72 hours in advance when they do need to change an appointment.

In return patients receive one free whitening pen at their routine hygiene appointment and a discount on all other whitening products they may buy.

This proactive approach not only reduces the occurrence of cancellations but also fosters a sense of accountability and mutual respect between patients and dental professionals. Your patients are most likely looking for a way to brighten their smile so why not accommodate this desire by offering teeth whitening products as an incentive.

More Hygiene Appointments Scheduled

Maintaining optimal oral hygiene is paramount to preserving the health and appearance of your smile. Patients who become members of The Smile Club are prioritizing preventive care, which minimizes the need for invasive restorative procedures in the future.

Your patients enrolled in The Smile Club feel like a VIP. These are patients who feel loyalty to your dental practice. They are happy to be a part of your dental family. Happy patients remain patients for many years. Happy patients refer their friends and family to your office.

More Cosmetic Cases

Your patients’ smile is their signature, and as a provider of The Smile Club, you have an opportunity to understand your patient’s smile desires. A 1st step to helping your patients enroll in The Smile Club is having every new patient complete a Smile Evaluation. Every adult patient should also complete the Smile Evaluation annually.

Seldom does anyone see their dentist and they are asked, for example: “Mr. Jones, What is one thing you want to change about your smile?” Do you offer a smile evaluation to each patient so you understand their smile desire?

Usually, offices “think” they are too busy to “ask” patients what they would like their smile to look like.

Let’s flip this negative connotation of “My dentist always finds something!” or “It costs a lot of money every time I see my dentist!” into a positive experience where patients enjoy coming to your dental office.

“Let’s make dental appointments a pleasure not a pain!”

In addition to these tangible benefits, when your patients join The Smile Club they become part of a supportive community dedicated to promoting oral health and overall well-being. Your proactive approach gives patients a special feeling like you care about them as a person and not just a tooth or a way to make money! How many times do patients “think” doctor is funding their next vacation home or European vacation?!

Use The Smile Club as a way to help patients take control of their total health and embrace the transformative power of a beautiful smile.

At Dental Practice Solutions, we believe that every smile has the potential to light up the world.

Benefits of The Smile Club:

Grows New Patient Numbers
Builds Loyal Patients
Reduces Last-Minute Cancellations
BOOSTS Cosmetic Cases
Adds a 70k + Net Profit Annually (No additional patients or overhead!)
More Teeth Whitening Services Without the Chair time

*Let us show you how to grow your dental practice at least 70k this year without working more days, see more patients or increase your overhead!

Book a call today or inquire about The Smile Club.

Creating Dental Patient Loyalty

By: Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS

March 17, 2023

Dental practices can begin by evaluating their current patient retention and new patient acquisition strategies and by identifying areas for improvement. From here, you will develop a patient loyalty program that aligns with your practice goals and values as well as the needs and preferences of your patient base.

Some key considerations when designing a patient loyalty program may include:

Rewards: What rewards or incentives will be offered to patients for their loyalty and engagement with your dental practice? How will these rewards be communicated and distributed to your patients?
Eligibility: Which patients will be eligible to participate in your patient loyalty program? Will it be open to all patients, or will certain criteria need to be met (for example: Pre-scheduling routine dental hygiene appointments, calling 24+ hours ahead to change a dental appointment, referring new patients)?
Communication: How will the loyalty program be communicated to patients? Will it be promoted through email newsletters, social media, or in-office signage? How will patients be reminded of their rewards and encouraged to schedule appointments?
Tracking and Reporting: How will the practice track and report on the success of the loyalty program? What metrics will be used to evaluate its effectiveness (for example: patient retention rates, referral rates, new patient and revenue growth)?

By taking these factors into account and designing a patient loyalty program that meets the needs of both the dental practice and its patients, dental practices can improve patient retention, attract new patients, and ultimately grow their dental practice.

Ask your patients this one question, “What is one thing we can do for you today that will create your most beautiful smile?”

Most patients will respond by saying, “I want whiter teeth!”

Yes, some will report that they want straight teeth, and many patients will have a variety of other answers. Start asking this question of your patients and see for yourself how your patients respond.

The worst thing that can happen is you may have more patients enroll into Invisalign, veneers and even more teeth whitening.

The latest data shows that only 17% of dental offices actively offer teeth whitening services to their patients. Why is that?

Are we too busy cleaning teeth and trying to get patients to schedule their next dental appointment?

Celebrity Smiles Club is a simple system that will not only keep your schedule full but also this patient reward system has proven to have more new patients call an office and schedule an appointment.

The Celebrity Smiles Club is similar to offering your patients a membership program similar to a COSTCO or NETFLIX membership. When patients are part of “the Club,” they know what is expected to reap their reward: free teeth whitening. Your patients enroll in the Celebrity Smiles Club and know the expectations such as pre-scheduling routine dental hygiene appointments and calling in advance when they need to change an appointment.

When they keep their dental appointments, they are rewarded at their dental hygiene appointments with a free teeth whitening pen!

Teeth whitening is a six-billion-dollar business. Why should your patients buy their teeth whitening products at AMAZON or WALMART?

Using the Celebrity Smiles Club reward system will not only gain more new patients but will keep your schedule full, and when patients enroll in your whitening program, they are less likely to call last minute to change their dental appointment.

Think of using Celebrity Smiles Club as a “Carrot.” It’s that old adage, What’s In It For Me? (WIIFM) that works very well to keep your practice highly profitable!

Schedule a quick demo and learn more about how to grow your new patient numbers, reduce cancellations and keep patients returning to your dental office using Celebrity Smiles Club teeth whitening program.

SCHEDULE HERE

How Your Office Voicemail Will Reduce Last Minute Cancellations

By: admin

September 3, 2019

It seems to be pandemic. It’s not just your dental office but dental offices around the world are experience hemorrhaging in their appointment schedule.

Years ago, during the economic decline, when our phone rang off the hook with dentists in a panic about the holes in their schedule I created a system and today’s blog will address only one of the pieces to reduce your last-minute appointment changes.

This is only one piece of the puzzle with a solution to stop the cancellations last minute. This blog will explain how your office voicemail will reduce last minute cancellations. For more in-depth solutions, a specific system, I suggest you grab the 5-Day Crack the Cancellation Code video training listed below.

WHY YOUR VOICEMAIL?

Doctor, do you know how many patients called your office last night and even worse, over the weekend and left a message to say they can’t make their appointment tomorrow. On the weekends they call saying “Something has come up and they can’t be there on Monday for their dental appointment.”

The front office hopefully listens to the voicemail first thing each morning but many times I have witnessed the front office checking voicemail AFTER the morning huddle and when you know about the last-minute holes.

TIP #1.

Have someone check voicemail first thing each morning when they arrive to the office. It’s always best to know about changes (Let’s not even get into emergency calls from patients in pain. YES! I have witnessed patients calling with pain and no one bothered checking the voice messages until 11:00 AM. I know because I listened to the office recorded calls. That’s another blog for another day!) sooner than later.

If you use a patient engagement system, you also want to check text messages first thing each morning.

TIP #2.

While I am mentioning text messages, be sure that you also tell your patients (Have a “Change of Appointment Procedure” that patients read, sign and make this part of their patient record) they can’t text to “Change an appointment.”

WHAT SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN YOUR VOICEMAIL MESSAGE?

Most dental offices do have voicemail where patients can leave a message for doctor and/or the team.

I recommend that doctors voice be on your voicemail. The response our clients have experienced with doctors’ voice on the voicemail seems to have a bigger impact and it seems to pull more weight when patients hear the doctors voice.

On your voice message, state that you are Dr. XYZ and say, “Thank you for call the office of ABC.” State your normal business hours and that if they are calling during regular business hours, you may be serving another patient. Tell them to please leave their name, the best number to call them back and ask them to say what they are calling about.

In the middle of your message do say, “If you are calling to change an appointment we only accept appointment changes during regular business hours. If you do need to change an appointment or if you have an emergency please call my cell phone at: 213-345-5678.”

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PATIENTS DO CALL DOCTORS CELL PHONE?

First of all, let me just tell you that if and when each patient understands the rules well, let me be more diplomatic here and say, when your patient understands your office procedure about changing an appointment, they will understand they need to call during normal business hours to change their appointment.

Take note that I am saying the word “Change” and not cancel. The reason for this is to cancel means terminate and your goal is for patients to call well in advance to change their dental appointment.

Rarely, do I hear that patients are calling doctors cell phone to change their appointment. Most patients who call and leave a message, not all, but most, do NOT have a valid reason to cancel a dental appointment last minute!

Most patients do not want to call “The doctor” especially if they don’t have a valid reason to cancel their dental appointment. Your voicemail has become an “easy out” for patients to cancel their dental appointment.

Yes, life happens but most patients, when they value their oral health, when they understand the value of their dental service to be completed, when patients know there is an important benefit for them to complete the dental service, they will be more likely to keep their appointment.

When the dental appointment has value and meaning to the patient, they will make accommodations for that “something else” that came up. They WILL put their dental appointment before a meeting at work or driving their child to soccer practice, etc.

Doctors are the worst offenders of the office appointment procedure. When patients do call the doctors cell phone, doctor must be able to refer back to the value and benefit to the patient for keeping their scheduled appointment.

When patients do call doctors cell phone doctor must be bold and let the patient know about the office “Change of Appointment Procedure.” Doctor must boldly inform the patient of the charge made for last minute changes.

LIFE HAPPENS.

Yes, life happens. Treat each patient who calls to change their appointment with individualized solution.

People get sick. Unfortunately, people die and there are emergency situations. Be understanding when these situations do occur in your patients’ life. Make the exception to the rule if it is the patients first offense calling last minute to change their dental appointment but do explain and reinforce your appointment procedure.

Understand when to talk about your appointment procedure and charges that will occur.

CHRONIC ABUSERS.

There seem to be a few patients who abuse your change of appointment procedure. You know who they are. YES?!

Let the 2^nd and 3^rd offender know that keeping their dental appointment is a challenge. When patients call to change their appointment frequently do charge them. If this is their 3^rd offense, I recommend you say, “Mr. Patient, keeping your dental appointments seems to be quite challenging for you.”

Now be silent. Wait for their response. Wait. Yes, just wait for the patient on the other end of the phone to say something. Let this sink in.

Next, after your patient gives you their 3^rd excuse WHY they can’t come in (maybe one hour from now or tomorrow morning, etc.), let them know, “Mr. Patient, what I can do is add you to our ASAP list. This means that when we have a last-minute opening I will text or call you to see if you can make it in. How does that sound?”

Wait for a response.

Once your patients responds, they will be put on the ASAP list, ask, “Do you prefer a text or phone call when an appointment becomes available?”

It is possible that when your patient is told they will be added to your ASAP list, that they will make accommodations to keep the dental appointment which they originally called to change.

WILL YOUR PATIENT BE OFFENDED?

It’s possible that your patient does not like hearing they need to follow your office procedures and they may feel defensive. Your patient may not be happy about you charging them or not feel to happy about being added to your ASAP list.

My question to you is, “What is your non-negotiable?”

Do you want patients in your dental practice who don’t respect your office procedures and have no respect that you reserved “X” amount of time for them?

I hope that last minute changes for no valid reason is a non-negotiable for you.

Lastly, “Teach your patients how you want to be treated.”

When you set boundaries for your patients, most will respect these boundaries and you will reduce the hemorrhaging in your appointment schedule.

Do you want more solutions to this pandemic disease in dental offices globally?

Grab our Crack the Cancellation Code video training here. During the training you receive 5 days of video trainings, forms to use and a lot more to reduce the changes in your appointment schedule.

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ABOUT DEBBIE SEIDEL-BITTKE, RDH, BS

Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS is founder and CEO of Dental Practice Solutions. Debbie is also a former dental hygiene program director. Her expertise is optimizing the hygiene department by taking a total team approach; including the doctor as the leader

Debbie Seidel-Bittke, is founder of Dental Practice Solutions and Dental Practice University and AGD Learning Center. She is committed to helping dentists optimize their systems through

improving productivity in the hygiene department and without working harder.

As owner of Dental Practice Solutions, Debbie and the entire team, support dentists to not only optimize their systems in the practice but they are the experts in hygiene department productivity.