Patients come to you because you match what they value. But what is it that they value? A lot of people don’t really think about their dental hygiene all that much. As a dentist, dental hygiene is obviously important to you. It makes sense that the value of a dental practice should be evaluated based on clinical work and how well you work on teeth. That would make the most sense, except patients don’t think like that. Patients can be coming to your office for a myriad of reasons, but most do because they “have to.” Dental hygiene isn’t a priority for a lot of people, so how do you get more patients if the very thing your selling is something they don’t care about?
Most everything I’m about to tell you is going to go against common sense, but it’s necessary when patients don’t value the thing you’re directly selling. The first step to keeping and retaining dental patients is to understand that you can’t lead with dentistry. People with no dental background aren’t likely to value something they don’t understand. However, here’s a list of things you can capitalize on that everyone does understand that you can utilize to appeal to patients:
- Convenience – Have convenient hours so people with both normal and abnormal schedules can come see you. They’ll feel that their time is respected
- Entertainment – For better or worse, we live in an entertainment saturated world. If you have tv’s in the clinical rooms, or video games in the waiting area, people will feel more comfortable in your office because you understand what they like.
- Atmosphere/Kindness – If you’re nice and friendly, people will be more inclined to stay with you. If you make them feel welcome, they will return.
You may have noticed that these things all have to do with how a patient feels, and nothing to do with quality of care. If you’re anything like me, you probably don’t like that; health should be evaluated based on facts, not feelings. But the fact of the matter is, most people will evaluate you based on how they feel around you, not on the quality of your work.
None of this is an excuse to neglect quality. You should absolutely be a better clinician. My point is that patients likely won’t notice, or don’t value it as highly. You have to be both a good clinician and appeal to your patients. Unfortunately, those can’t be achieved by the same means. If you want more patients, more work, and more money, you have to appeal to your patients’ feelings first.