.svg)
Share.svg)
Tweet.svg)
Post.svg)
MailSeptember 2020--Mark Murphy, CEO of Northeast Private Client Group and a well-known financial advisor who works with 700 dentists across the country to drive wealth creation strategies, invited Patient Prism CEO Amol Nirgudkar to relate his observations about new dental patient acquisition during the pandemic and to explain how Patient Prism decreases the cost of new patient acquisition.
New Patient Acquisition Trends During the Pandemic
After dental practices were permitted to reopen, we saw full schedules in June and July due to pent up demand for dental appointments. There was a slow down in August as the school year started and parents were scrambling to manage the changes in schooling while fulfilling their work obligations. The number one problem we have seen since then is new patients calling for appointments and not being able to be scheduled. There is tremendous demand for dental services during the pandemic. And so, we’ve been advising our clients to find a way to see more new patients on normally unscheduled time. These patients will grow the practice and bring in fresh demand for restorative procedures.
Another trend we are seeing is that about 30% of new patient callers are concerned about dental fees. They are more price conscious than ever. We’re advising clients to have their Front Desk talk about payment options and financing to convert more of these callers to booked appointments. One of the things we talk about a lot is that dental practices can never over-communicate. The way we build relationships with people is by communicating. We are enabling them to get the oral health care they need to live improved lives.
How Patient Prism Lowers the Cost of Patient Acquisition
Dental practices universally want leads coming in, and when they come in, they want to schedule those new patients. But we know that, across the U.S., statistically only 50% to 60% of new patients who are calling dental practices are being scheduled. If the percentage of callers you convert to booked appointments increases, your marketing cost per new patient decreases. Patient Prism software evolved to lower the cost of patient acquisition and provides intelligence dentists and practice leaders use to not only improve their call reception, but also to make confident business decisions.
The first key feature of the software is evaluation of incoming calls by artificial intelligence and live call coaches to track missed and failed new patient calls. New patient call recordings are graphically displayed with seconds of failing communication highlighted in red. To these red areas in the recording, our software and live coaches attach notes and video links to teach how receptionists how to communicate better. The dental practice provides administrative access to specific team members to review calls and learn from them.
The second key feature is the alert that goes out via text and email to the practice administrator when the artificial intelligence identifies a high-value new patient who went to voicemail, hung up on hold, or did not book an appointment after conversing with a receptionist. For example, a practice receives a call inquiring about dental implant treatment, that based on the practice’s UCR schedule is likely to be valued at $10,000, and when the caller does not book an appointment, an alert goes out within 30 minutes of the call. We’re working on getting that down to 15 minutes soon. Our data has demonstrated that when callers are called back within an hour of the original call and provided more information – communicated optimally, there is a 30% rate of conversion. The callback calls give dental practices the opportunity to make a second impression that is a great one.
We have a small DSO of five locations that we sent 98 alerts in the month of August. A total of 92 callers were called back. Of these, 36 booked an appointment, reflecting a 39% conversion rate. This was done without an extra dime of marketing. Their schedule rate went from 77% to 85%. We calculated the additional revenue to the DSO in the one month was $80,000.
The third key feature of Patient Prism is the analytics reported on demand for any period that provide essential call data for making confident decisions about staffing, team development, marketing, and expanding services. The return on investment for dental organizations of all size, including private practices with one location, is significant.
Patient Prism holds five utility patents issued by the USPTO and is the only call tracking company that leverages artificial intelligence and human call coaching to quickly improve your call conversion rate and engage high-value new patients that would have gone elsewhere. To see how Patient Prism could help your dental practice reach your goals, not only during the pandemic but long after, click here.
View the Entire Video for …
- An expanded discussion about the benefits of lowering your cost of patient acquisition,
- A demonstration of Patient Prism software features, and
- Amol Nirgudkar’s outlook for the adoption of Artificial Intelligence in dentistry.
Additional Resources
The Patient Prism blog and the Patient Prism Academy video library feature hundreds of dental industry experts presenting recommendations and examples for leading your dental practice, improving the patient experience, improving team performance, and growing your dental practice, multi-location dental group, or dental service organization (DS0).
Free Checklist to schedule more patients!
