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When discussing dental marketing, it's important that we get the subsequent fundamentals call at the open before we get to the particular strategies and tactics we use to grow a practice .
The Cost to accumulate a replacement Patient
The Lifetime Value of a Patient
New Patients versus Existing Patients
Marketing Leverage
Practice Equity
Let’s start with no 1 and work our thanks to number 5. Hopefully by that point the start of dental marketing will all close and you’ll have a firm understanding of how all of those things will affect your practice and, more importantly, your personal and financial wellbeing.
1. Cost to accumulate a replacement patient
The first thing to think about when brooding about dental marketing is that the cost to accumulate a replacement patient. this is often simply what proportion you buy each new patient who comes into your practice. This cost can easily be calculated by dividing the quantity you spend on dental marketing monthly by the amount of latest patients you see a month. for instance , if you spend $3,000 on advertising and marketing and obtain 25 new patients from that investment your cost per new patient is $120 ($3,000 / 25 = $120). which will appear to be tons of cash , or it's going to not. Before you draw any conclusions on the figure let’s discuss #2.
2. Lifetime value of a patient
The lifetime value of a patient is what your average patient are going to be worth to you, in dollars, over the lifetime of them being your patient. within the dental industry the typical lifetime value of a patient is about $22,000. If you didn’t already know that, you’re probably during a little bit of shock immediately . Now that you simply skills much the typical patient is worth to you, here’s the question: is it worth $120 to urge that patient within the door? What about $240? What about $480? Now, we’re getting a touch excessive, but we’re trying to form some extent . If that patient will become $22,000 over the years, it’s important to seem at every dollar you spend on dental marketing and advertising as an investment instead of an expense and do whatever it takes to urge the person within the door and keep them around.
Now that we understand the value of acquiring a replacement patient and every patient’s lifetime value, we'd like to urge a serious misconception cleared up, which leads us to our next point.
3. New patients versus existing patients
Many dental marketing companies will mention what percentage new patients they will drive into your practice. New patients are exactly what you would like and therefore the Avandant program drives during a ton of them, but that’s not where the important money is formed in dentistry. Allow us to elucidate . When a replacement patient comes in, they’re probably responding to a billboard with some quite offer. the quantity of cash they’ll spend on their initial visit isn't getting to be that much since they’re probably just getting to receive an x-ray, exam and cleaning or even some minor treatment. Now, we all know that the important money in dentistry is formed from treatment plan fulfillment and long-term patients who return time and time again.
Here’s what most dentists fail to understand…when a replacement patient comes into your office they’re simply “checking you out.” they need to satisfy you and your staff, see if you’re gentle, have sterile equipment, and more or less get an overall pity your practice. simply because they are available in once, doesn’t mean they’re committing a lifetime of dental work to you. albeit they such as you , they still won't come . Don’t worry about why they don’t, it’s just attribute . they could get an appealing offer from another dentist, they could move, they could not have the time. regardless of the reason, tons of them won’t come unless you use the proper retention and reactivation strategy.
A patient is merely worth $22,000 if you've got them over several years, they accept a treatment plan and that they refer other patients. They’re only worth a mean of $800 within the first year you've got them. this is often why focusing exclusively on new patients will cost you tons of cash . you ought to specialise in acquiring and keeping patients so as to create a solid practice. We’ve met many dentists who have patients going out the rear door as fast as they need new ones coming within the front. While this is often quite common, it's very costly. Dentists should work towards having a productive and profitable practice while decreasing their marketing budget and new patient flow over time. this is often a sensible objective once you have an honest retention and reactivation strategy in situ .