Take the technology test, how many of these would I find in your practice?
- Online booking and payments for patients.
- iPads in every consultation area to show patients before’s and afters
- Florida Probes and Velscopes to help patients understand the true nature of their periodontal disease and satisfy them that they don’t have oral cancer.
- Intraoral cameras to show patients the true state of their teeth!
- Digital Photography to show patients their smile and what you have done for others like them
- Digital X Rays. Because it’s 10% of the radiation and you can see the pictures and the problems immediately on a big screen rather than a silly little wet film.
- Cerec/Cad Cam because one day all extrinsic restorations will be made this way…
- The Wand/Painless Anaesthesia/Vibraject/intraosseous adminstration etc… Because nobody wants an injection that hurts…
- Invisible Braces because the biggest objection to Adult Ortho is looking like Ugly Betty
- Cloud reception and clinical Software so that all your information is just an internet connection away and not the victim of expensive servers, licenses, back-up failures etc…
Every month I come across practices who have got stuck in the 1990’s. Practices that are not using computer software to schedule appointments and still use paper record cards for their clinical notes. Practices without a web site. Practices that still use wet film radiographs and practice owners who still justify to themselves that there is no need to spend any of their profits on this stuff.
Well, that’s great because, from where I sit, there exists a significant opportunity to differentiate yourself from these many luddite practice owners by demonstrating to your clients, new and existing, that your practice is truly state of the art and that you and your team are definitely at the cutting edge when it comes to embracing and using technology to improve your client journey.
Have you had an eye test recently? Most Opticians, (lead by the High Street chains) put every customer in front of a series of high tech machines which record, pressure within the eyes, refraction anomalies, visual field, retinal photography etc before they get anywhere near an Optician and a traditional eye test.
And yet when you sit in a dentists chair for a check up, The dentist picks up a mirror and probe! So very high tech!
Of course there’s technology for the sake of it, (do I really need an iPhone app to tell me how to floss see, http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dental-care-aid/id481159358?mt=8 ) and there’s technology that will repay your investment day in and day out. The halo effect of this kind of “client obvious” technology will have the patient assume that everything you and your team do is state of the art. Used well, this technology pays back your investment many times over (I still see Hygienists and Associates ignoring the intra-oral camera thoughtfully provided by the practice owner!). My accountant used to ask me, when I told him I wanted a new bit of kit, “Does it cost or does it pay?” Good technology, used well, definitely pays!
If you want to know more about how to integrate technology into your practice so as to immediately grow your top and bottom line, call me on…07770 430576, email me or you can get me at the Breathe Office on 0845 299 7209.
With All Good Wishes,
Simon.
Simon Hocken BDS.
Director of Coaching