3 Tips to Successfully Implement a New Procedure in Your Dental Practice
You've spent months learning a new skill. You've practiced it a lot. It could be molar endo, placing dental implants, clear aligners, sleep appliances, or anything else. Clinically, you feel comfortable. You know how to treatment plan it and have several patients in mind that you know will be perfect candidates.
Now what?
The sales rep said it would be easy to get patients booked. But, you are struggling to convert potential patients into actual patient treatment. You may even begin to wonder if any of it was worth it.
I’m Kelly, a copywriter for dental practices, and I understand how difficult it is to market your new procedure! That’s why I put together this piece. This guide will prepare you and your dental office to effectively implement your new service into daily practice. It will help you to do more of the procedures you enjoy!
#1: Train your team
Yes, your dental assistant will do the work of setting up for the procedure. They will also review postop instructions and caring for the new equipment. But, it is as important to have your hygienist(s) watch a procedure over your shoulder. Why? So they can talk about it in their operatory.
The same goes for your administrative team. Offer them to observe you perform the procedure if they are comfortable. Look closely at your team and family. Maybe one of them is a good candidate for the procedure. You could use their need as a perfect teaching opportunity.
If none of them are a good fit, offer an actual patient the opportunity to be used as a learning tool for the team. Decide how to make it worth their while. This could mean no fee or a big discount. Or, charge the patient for just the cost of materials. Remember, if you bill a medical or dental insurance plan, you must give the insurance company the same discount you give the patient.
Close the office an hour or two early, have the whole team involved in the process - yes even setting up the room! By informing and engaging the entire team, their confidence in speaking about you and your offering will become clear. The amount of time you take to teach them will have a direct result on how much revenue you can generate.
Most people find that they learn by teaching others. You will be reinforcing what you have already learned and build your confidence. Your comfort in the whole treatment process will lead into dental practice management success!
But remember…if you give a 2-minute overview, do not expect your schedule to be full of the new procedures. The investment you make to teach them will increase their ability and desire to find you the perfect patient who will benefit from your procedure and in turn, fill your schedule.
#2: Market Your Procedure
In this next step, you need to take a step back and put yourself in your patients’ shoes. How would they expect to learn about your new offering? How is it going to benefit their dental care needs?
Write an Article or Blog
Write an article or blog about your new procedure and how it benefits a patient. Write as if you are in the treatment room having a consultation with your patient - include everything (or almost everything) you would in your in-office conversation.
If you had a teaching example patient, whether it was a family member, coworker, or actual patient, ask them to write about their experience. You don’t have to use everything they give you but take bits like “Dr. Smith made the whole process simple from beginning to end” or “The procedure was quick and painless - I couldn’t believe it!”
Use those quotes in your dental practice marketing. They will give you the social proof you need to gain trust with patients. There is no need to identify your test patient and be clear on how you intend to use the material with their permission.
Post Article to Your Website
Next, post that article to your website.
No matter the size of your practice, you have the potential to reach not only your entire existing patient base but by having the blog on your website AND discoverable by search engines, new patients will find it as well. The best part…this is all very inexpensive to do.
Repurpose Your Article
To repurpose your article, take snippets from the blog to create content to post on your social media platforms if you have them.
Use your patient communication software to email existing patients. In the email include a link to the article on your website.
Believe it or not, your dental pracitce marketing doesn’t have to be a big financial or time investment. When you do it purposefully with your patient in mind, you will be pleasantly surprised. With a little help, it’s simple and so valuable to your practice.
Utilize Technology
There are many, many tools to help you create your content with intent. You can even use them to schedule its publication. Breaking it into simple steps makes it less overwhelming and will improve your effectiveness.
Invest in Marketing
Take a look at your team. You may already have the right person in your office to take on the new service launch.
If you don’t, consider sending a team member to learn this skill and take your marketing to the next level.
Additionally, you can always work with a freelance dental copywriter, like me or one of the many marketing agencies.
The end goal is to spread the word about your new offering. But…don’t forget who you are writing to: THE PATIENT!
#3: Track your progress
We learn from taking imperfect actions. But if we take imperfect actions and never go back to look at our performance, then we are missing an important opportunity. You must intentionally go back and look at how you are doing.
Schedule a meeting with your office manager and focus on one agenda item (did you know you don’t have to have 20 things to cover during a one-hour lunch meeting?). Make sure they have analytics available for your time together. The analytics should cover website traffic and social media. You will also need to know the number of procedures completed, scheduled, and treatment planned.
Your website host should have some of this information. Or, set up an account with Google Analytics and always have it available to you and your manager.
The social media information and feedback from any direct response communications (emails to your patient base) are available on the platforms.
The rest of the data comes from your practice management software.
In this meeting, you will find what is working well. You will also find where there may be a roadblock to the funnel. The result of the funnel is to have the patient in your chair performing the work. By analyzing the information in front of you, you will see the obvious roadblocks. Then you can shift or clear them and continue improving your message.
It’s highly unlikely that you will get it right from the beginning and that’s OK! Follow these steps. Then, you will be well on your way to having your schedule booked with more of the procedures you love.
Just imagine how that would feel at the end of the day…
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