New Patients VS. Recall Patients
Welcome back, I am Scott Dudley with MACC Academy. One question I love to ask doctors, and even high-level executives, is how many NEW Patients is enough? I would say the most common answer is, “we could never have enough new patients.”
I want to take a minute and explain why this line of thinking can be a death trap for the dentists and dental businesses. First, new patients are really expensive. Second, new patients will be the most skeptical, least trusting, and often most difficult, when it comes to scheduling treatment.
But, it's the elephant in the room that you need to understand. A doctor or an office, that is reliant on new patients, whose culture is centered on new patients, is an extremely dangerous one.
Like an addict, new patients become the lifeblood of the office. They are counted and divided up, as if nothing else matters. Doctors fight over them, and an enormous emphasis gets placed on if they did, or did not, schedule recommended treatment. Enormous stress develops on both doctors and staff – the situation reminds me of a fish out of water.
With this culture, There truly cannot be enough new patients, or enough money thrown at sourcing them. The environment is toxic.
Unless you are just starting out, new patient treatment should make up a small percentage of the care you render.
Productivity in dentistry, is the result of the number of patients, new and existing, multiplied by the quantity of diagnosed conditions, multiplied by the % of treatment for those conditions, that gets scheduled.
Providers and offices addicted to new patients are failing, forgetting, or have simply lost focus on providing ideal care and creating value with their existing patients.
Their quantity of diagnosed conditions and the percentage of treatment scheduled will be low.
At MACC Academy, our systems and training re-focus doctors and office’s on diagnosing conditions and creating value. When they do, cost, reliance, and stress on new patients dissipate, AND productivity skyrockets.
Allow us to help you. Visit maccacademy.com now and sign up for a no-obligation consultation.
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