By Simon Hocken, Lead Coach: Business, Practice & Clinical Leadership
Many dentists are seeing a downturn in their gross fees together with rising costs. We don’t need to rehearse the reasons for this, they are well understood.
What interests me is how dentists who see their gross fees (and therefore their income) falling, then react to their situation. In my experience their behaviours fall into one of two groups.
Group 1. (80%) Are Hopeful.
Hopeful that:
- The patients who are staying away will start to drift back
- The patients who are saying “no” to treatment will start to say “yes” again.
- Their hygienists will get busy sometime soon.
- The one tactic they have implemented to improve their gross ~ will finally start to work…
Group 2. (20%) Are Taking Action!
They are taking lots and lots of action in order to reverse the decline and grow their practices again. Recently, I spoke with a Breathe member who has spent some time in the “Hopeful group” and who is ready to join the group taking action. In order to help him get him started, we brainstormed 20 Tactics that we know will work to increase his practice gross by £5k/month, (the difference between success and failure in this practice).
I thought you would like to see our list:
- Reactivate dormant treatment plans, offer a 15% discount if treatment booked to start within 6 weeks.
- Reactivate dormant check up patients, make them an offer.
- Reactivate cancelled hygiene patients, make them an offer.
- Increase your fees for high value treatment items by circa 10-14%.
- Prescribe more indirect restorations (Inlays, Onlays, Cerecs, Crowns etc) for patients who need large fillings replacing.
- Learn to communicate the benefits of doing more than one filling/crown/denture/ etc for a patient per visit (When clinically indicated~ of course!)
- Create a Spring offer for patients who want implants. £1495 per implant until may 30.
- Create a Spring offer for patients who want Fresh Breath for £41.
- Create a Special Spring for patients who are curious about joining your membership Plan. They receive the first 4 months membership for free.
- Create a Special Spring offer on Tooth Whitening. Two for one before May 30.
- Open a Saturday Surgery for families.
- Open a Sunday Surgery for busy executives.
- Open an evening Surgery for workers on the way home.
- Offer free new patient consultations for patients referred by an existing patient.
- Offer free Oral Cancer checks for new patients over 50 year’s old
- Offer a free “Smile Improver” consultation.
- Offer an Essential Smile Makeover for circa £1970. Includes: Upper 3 to 3, up to 4 teeth, veneered, crowned, composite bonded, plus full arch home tooth whitening.
- Offer a free Tooth straightening consultation.
- Offer free check ups for Children when accompanied by their paying parent.
- Offer 2 areas of Botox or Fillers for the price of 1. Or 3 for 2.
If you would like some help with increasing your gross by (more than) 5k/month, email me or call my direct line.
t. 07770 430576
e. simon@nowbreathe.co.uk