There are two numbers that every practice needs to be familiar with. The first one is the cost of getting a new patient and the second one is the average transaction per patient on their first visit. When you calculate these two based on your promotional efforts and case acceptance rate, you have a picture of how effective your external marketing is. That is, it will tell you if your efforts to attract new patients are paying off. Attracting new patients to your practice requires a major investment of time and effort, because we’re trying to develop trust with someone we’ve never met.

It’s clearly important to have some external marketing efforts, however, it is significantly more important to have a system to keep your existing patients engaged due to the simple fact that they’ve already met you and have developed some level of trust with you. The purpose of the internal marketing then is to deepen this trust connection that will keep them coming back and accepting your recommendations for treatment.

Every practice has a base of patients that can be broken down in segments, from what I call the “shut up and take my money” patients that just do whatever you tell them to do, to the other end of the spectrum where the unreliable, skeptic chronic procrastinators lay. The message has to be crafted to their specific personalities.

There’s not much you need to do about the easy group, if anything you can prepare alternatives for elective treatment like replacing old amalgams, cosmetic enhancements or minor orthodontic movements. Even simple protective nightguards when adequately presented as an option to prevent breakdown and damage of existing restorations, avoid further teeth wear and protect support tissues from the trauma of teeth grinding is an untapped potential for production with these patients.

I’ve learned that the patients with the best potential for case acceptance are the ones that are already in the schedule. Make sure you review the individual needs of your existing patients and create a plan to help them accomplish ideal outcomes based on their individual needs. 

There is no better strategy to keep your existing patients coming back than raising the value of the recall visit. To do that, the patient has to be in agreement that the mouth is an environment that demands consistent monitoring so decay and gum disease don’t get the upper hand. Anything could tip that delicate balance and we need to be there to help re-establish a stable environment.

Although a team effort is critical to accomplish a successful internal marketing campaign, it is more effective if the clinical staff gains a cooperation agreement with the patient.