Keep in Touch with your Existing Patients

Contact Patients who you have not seen for a few years. You already have a relationship with them, they like you and respect what you do. Make sure they are aware of all the services you provide and you could uncover thousands of pounds worth of new opportunities with clients who may not know you provided these products and services in the first place. For Patients you have not seen for a while you could send them an offer inviting them to return, for example for Teeth Whitening treatment.

Recently I delivered an In House Two Day Ethical Sales & Communication Programme for a Dental Practice and one of the issues they wanted some help with was getting new Patients through the door.

They had tried various things which included a very costly mail shot to the local area and they were just embarking on producing a very expensive new brochure. Now although I applauded and congratulated them for their marketing efforts, for me they were missing one major initiative. The first is asking for referrals from existing patients, which is another topic for another day. The other one was not writing and keeping in touch with their existing or lapsed customers. Over the years, they had treated literally thousands of patients who had come to the Practice who had some very expensive cosmetic treatment and then moved on. They did not stay as regular patients; they most likely went back to their original Practice. They were as I put it having lots of one night stands with them and then moving onto the next patient.

When I work with my non dental clients I always tell them that the easiest place to grow your business is always to market with existing customers first, let them know about all the products and services that you provide. This is because you already have a relationship with them, they like you and respect what you do. When they do this they literally uncover thousands of pounds worth of new opportunities with clients who often did not know they provided the products and services in the first place. Marketing to people who don’t know you is hard work as there is no relationship there already. It is a cold list.

Let me share a real life story with you that happened 10 years ago and I remember the conversation as if it happened yesterday. I spent a whole year delivering some Sales Training with a leading UK Engineering Company. The programme had lasted a whole year and had gone like a dream. New orders had been won and profits and sales were up. The Sales Director was so happy that he took me out for dinner and he shared all his success stories. I was so happy. Then he relayed a story which brought me right down to earth with a bang. He told me that he sent all his guys on a High Impact Presentation Skills Course that had cost more money than my programme, but was nowhere near as good. I was shocked and when I asked him why he didn’t use me for this work, he told me that he didn’t think that I did this type of Programme. This lost opportunity had cost me many thousands of pounds.

My advice now therefore is to write to all those clients who have had treatment and tempt them to come back with an offer of some sort. For example a teeth whitening offer.

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