Twelve months, 52 weeks, 365 days. A calendar year offers endless opportunities to deliver excellent personalized dental care to individuals, families, and communities. As we all know, life happens, schedules change, vacations and holiday breaks occur, and dental care may not be top of mind for patients. There are two months – September and February – that traditionally experience a dip in appointment volume. Patients are going back to school in the fall and winter weather can keep patients from making their appointments. A dip in appointment volume can affect your practice’s average monthly production, but don’t fear – there are smart strategies you can implement to prepare for these traditional slow performing months so you have a level average monthly income.
Increase Appointment Availability During High Volume Months
In comparison, the most popular months for dental services are August (pre-back to school), December (holiday break), and January (the time to maximize dental benefits and HSA/FSAs). The best strategy I’ve implemented and have seen succeed across practices to offset the slow months is to increase appointment availability during the high-volume months. It may seem a bit counter intuitive to increase an already high patient influx, but the key is to maximize these popular times for the patient.
Offering additional hours or opening your practice on a Saturday will show your patients you care and will build goodwill. Showing patients, you are considering their needs and schedules, and offering them a thoughtful solution will set your dental practice apart. You are a part of the patient’s community – a trusted healthcare giver that plays a vital role, likely over different life stages and years.
Practical tactics you can implement to aid your dental practice see more patients during these busy months are:
- Use a dental staffing agency to hire one or two extra temporary hygienists. This will allow you to see more patients during your normal office hours. Make sure to plan and book extra staffing at least six months in advance of the winter holidays.
- Extend your office hours – an hour or two earlier or later than usual – to accommodate patient’s schedules.
- Consider opening your practice on a Saturday for half of the day. Patients will appreciate the weekend availability, since the work week may be difficult to schedule around other commitments.
- Specifically target school-aged families through direct mail (i.e. post cards) or emailers to inform them of your extra appointment offerings. Look up the holiday schedule of the local schools online to help advise which days you should market.
- Try to book teeth cleaning appointments in early August or December, so there is enough time to schedule any additional work later in the month.
- Increase promotion of custom fit mouth guards during the month of August for the school year’s sports. All athletes – football, basketball, baseball, softball, hockey, wrestling etc. benefit from well-fitted mouth guards. It’s smart to offer these at an affordable price, since patients could opt for a cheaper, not as well-made mouth guard from general sporting goods stores.
Maximizing your practice’s busiest months will ultimately bring your patients increased satisfaction and goodwill. In addition to happier patients, your annual production forecast will be more accurate, since you adjusted to cover the slower months. It’s also very important to not spend the increased money your practice made during these high-volume months. This cash flow is to cover the slow months, it’s not the time to buy new equipment or remodel the front office. A bit of planning, extra staffing, and marketing can go a long way in making a meaningful impact with your patients and your practice have an accurate and dependable annual income.
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