How’s Your Practice “Kerb Appeal”?

By Simon Hocken, Lead Coach: Business, Practice & Clinical Leadership

One of the pleasures of my work is in visiting practices the length and breadth of the UK. In any one year, I probably visit between 20 and 30 practices and unlike the, often, proud owners, I have the advantage of getting a first impression as I approach and it’s easy for me to assess the Practice’s “Kerb Appeal”!

We know that folk make all sorts of assumptions from these first impressions; assumptions that are likely to stick. With this in mind, I am fascinated by how little attention dental practice-owners pay to their practice’s “kerb appeal”. Here are my top 10 pet hates:

  1. Peeling paint and cobwebs.
  2. Dirty, grubby entranceway.
  3. Chewing gum and cigarette butts on the ground.
  4. Rubbish either blowing about or in bags awaiting collection.
  5. Poor signage making the practice hard to find.
  6. From looking at the signage, I’ve no idea what sort of dental practice this, is or what they do!
  7. The entrance is in some way intimidating or unwelcoming and I would be unlikely to go in if I were shopping for a new practice.
  8. Blue-tacked notices telling me how to behave “Wipe your feet” or “Closed for lunch” before I’ve even set foot through the door.
  9. Absence of any marketing material telling me about the practice.
  10. No clues about the practice’s opening hours or web site address.

Image: The featured image is of a practice I walked past yesterday which I thought scored well on “Kerb Appeal” for a city centre practice.

And here’s the checklist I use to assess “Kerb appeal.” Perhaps you’d like to try putting yourself in the shoes of a new patient arriving at your practice and score your own practice entrance:

  • Is the entrance easy to find? (If you are over a shoe shop with just a doorway, would you be able to quickly find the entrance? Have you made it easy to find for example by painting the door yellow or making the signage really obvious?
  • Is the entrance what you would expect from a practice offering the service you are seeking and does it feel clean and professional?
  • Can you tell from a glance at the signage, what the practice does? For example, “Affordable Private Dental Care”.
  • Is the entrance in keeping with the quality of the dentistry provided and the fee levels charged? Is it on brand?
  • Can you easily tell who the clinicians are at this practice, what they do and when the practice is open?

Ticking all five boxes above involves simple tactics and little expense and yet creating an appropriate entrance to your practice makes a big difference to your patients and especially to people who might become your patients…

As I keep saying to anyone who will listen, “You have to play the game at the right level!”

If you would like some help with increasing your new patient numbers, email me or call me directly on:

t. 07770 430576
e. simon@nowbreathe.co.uk

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