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Use These Dental Scheduling Tips for More Patients in Your Chairs

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You want your dental clinic to be profitable. There are many ways you can ensure your clinic\’92s profitability. But the biggest way to maximize your profitability is to keep your schedule full. This is because your clinic\’92s appointment schedule affects virtually every other part of your business operations.

Use these 5 dental scheduling tips to put more patients in your chairs.

Schedule Appointments by Procedure

By dividing your day by type of appointment, you can help you and your staff to stay on time. Schedule larger and more complex procedures in the morning where you\’92re not going to be running behind, and hygiene appointments in the afternoon. This way, you\’92re taking advantage of the most productive part of the day.

Use a Wait List

Wait lists are important because they limit the amount of empty chairs in the clinic. When you have a last minute cancellation, you can easily consult the wait list to fill the spot on short notice.

Plan Staff Breaks Strategically

Your dental clinic is most productive when everyone is working. To keep productivity high, stagger lunch and break times so that only one or two people are on break at a time. Using this kind of interval system will allow your clinic to see more patients throughout the day.

Always Confirm Appointments

Make sure your staff confirms appointments with patients ahead of time. This way, if a patient has to cancel, you have more time to fill the appointment slot, and you can reschedule their appointment if need be. Also, clearly define your cancellation policy to limit the number of cancelled appointments.

Dental Recall

Sometimes patients go MIA. When this happens, dental recall is a great way to bring back to the clinic. Patient Focus can provide your dental clinic with live callers to reactivate dormant patients. Dental recall is an effective way to keep existing patients coming back to your clinic for all their dental care needs.

A full schedule makes for a productive and profitable dental clinic. Remember these 5 dental scheduling tips next time your schedule is looking bare.

Patient Focus is here to help your practice get more patients in your chairs through dental recall. Discover how you can begin realizing the increased revenue of a reactivated patient database in only 3 Simple Steps.

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Dental Practice Administrator:\’a0 3 Remedies for Stress

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The day of a dental practice administrator can be quite daunting. You are a super hero who is devoted to swooping in and saving your team and practice from the dangers and stress of the day\’92s challenges! It\’92s a tough job making sure the dental office is running efficiently, is organized, your staff is efficiently doing their jobs, everyone is appropriately handling patient scheduling and so on.

As a dental practice administrator you get TONS dumped on your lap every day\’97stress may seem inevitable.

Stress affects health, happiness and success in life. Stress can make or break us but it\’92s up to us to decide which it will be. If you have a little gray raincloud of stress over your head, it\’92s time to banish it far away and bring in all that positivity. Combatting stress will not only do wonders for you at work and personally, but it will radiate and rub off on your entire team, ultimately creating a happy work environment for all!

So dental practice administrators, it\’92s time to say \’91down with stress!\’92 Try these simple and effective remedies for stress to make your workplace a much happier\’97and less-stressful\’97place each day.

Step back

If you feel like stress is mounting, take a quick break and remove yourself from the stressful situation. Take a walk outside, meditate in the break room, outside or in your car. Or even try something as simple as taking a breather\’97stand up and look away from your computer screen and breathe in and out. Taking a \’91time out\’92 to get some fresh air, exercise or a moment to breathe is fantastic for your body and mental health and can help you reenergize and refocus.

Practice positivity

If you\’92re in a positive state of mind, you\’92re better able to tackle everyday stress. Practice turning negative thinking into positive thinking. The process seems simple but it does take time and practice. Some ways to put positivity in your day could be:

Adding some humor and laughter to your day
Following a healthy lifestyle
Surrounding yourself with positive people
Practicing positive self-talk

Focus

We live in a world that looks at multitasking as a virtue. However, picking one achievable goal to devote all your focus on can make work feel manageable again. If you have a huge task, cut it into chunks and start there. Make a to-do list so you can visually see what you need to do and prioritize each item. Then, cross each one off with great enthusiasm when you finish!

Stress-be-gone with these 3 remedies for stress relief! Now it\’92s time for you to go forth and conquer your workday with these tips in your back pocket.

It can be extremely stressful if there are empty dental chairs at your office. Download our 5-Point Checklist to Achieving a Full Schedule here. The essential secrets to successfully filling your dental chairs await!

Happy dental office staff is the key to a pleasant environment in your dental practice. If your staff is frustrated with the policies at the practice, their bad mood may affect a patient\’92s experience at your practice, and that is the last thing you need. Do what you can to make your staff\’92s work experience a pleasant one so that you can benefit from a successful and motivated team. Here are 4 ways to keep your dental office staff happy.

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3 Dental Patient Scheduling Process Tips for Success

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Everything is going smoothly today. All your dental patients are moving in and out of the office without a hitch. Then\’85poof! An empty dental chair. A no-show. If a patient misses their appointment, it can throw a wrench into your otherwise productive day. Or, if a dental patient has been in the waiting room too long after their scheduled appointment, they could be frustrated or angry and you could easily lose their service.

If your dental patient scheduling process is messy, your entire practice could collapse. Setting some guidelines will help your dental office to run super smoothly while keeping your patients and staff happy. So how do you make sure the patient scheduling process goes off without a hitch?

Here are 3 foolproof dental patient scheduling process tips for success.

Know Your Procedure Times

It\’92s crucial for the scheduler to keep an eye on the clock. Take the time to establish how long each particular treatment takes and schedule accordingly. Once established, consistency is king! If procedure times aren\’92t in place, run too long or overlap, your scheduling could come to a screeching halt.

Outsource Your Recall Services

Dental recall duties are generally assigned to office staff who may not have the right training or enough time to get the best results. In fact, dental patient recall can actually be counter-productive in most situations for dental office staff. To super streamline your patient scheduling process, outsource your dental recall services with a company like Patient Focus to help increase your practice profitability and overall revenues.

Go Directly to the Dentist

Go straight to the source and ask your dentists what their ideal day looks like. For example, some dentists prefer to do major procedures in the morning, while others may be more energized in the afternoon. This will help your entire team map out a plan for patient scheduling each day.

The dental patient scheduling process doesn\’92t need to be a stressful and frustrating ordeal. Implement these tips to start seeing success in your dental practice\’92s efficiency and effectiveness.

Patient Focus is here for your dental practice to reactivate your patients with live calls. Discover how Patient Focus can breathe life back into your practice.

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Wow Your Patients With These Awesome Goodie Bag Ideas

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A trip to the dentist can be stressful. It\’92s smart for you to be doing all you can to try to ease that stress of your patients\’97new and existing. One way to help them feel comfortable is by sharing free items. Remember visiting the dentist as a child and leaving happily with your shiny new free toothbrush? The idea of free swag appeals to adults just the same! Rewarding them for their \’93good behavior\’94 with a little memento or two to remember you by can do the trick.

Providing your patients with a goodie bag at the end of each visit shows your appreciation and furthers the conversation of preventative dental hygiene. It\’92s also the perfect way to advertise. Your parting gifts can have your name, office and number so they have a constant reminder of your practice whenever they go to use them after their appointment.

The first step to producing the best goodie bag for your dental office is to decide on the message you want to convey. Will your goodie bags be providing oral health-care products? Is it used as a marketing tool to promote your practice? Be careful, creative and thoughtful when putting together your customized good bag.

Here are 16 goodie bag ideas that you can give to your patients during a visit to your dental practice.

A toothbrush
Business cards or magnets
Floss
Gum soft-picks
Mouth rinses or sprays
Handouts or brochures
Coloring books or stickers for the kids
Tongue scrapers
Toothbrush covers
Lip balm
Coupons
Dental timer
Calendar
Pen
Sugar-free mints, candies or gum
Hand sanitizer

Using these goodie bag ideas for your dental practice will demonstrate compassion, willingness to help and thoughtfulness for their oral health and apprehensiveness of visiting in the first place. And who doesn\’92t like to get presents? Your dental patient will walk out of your office with a bag full of free goodies and another reason to be pleased with the service they received. That is never a bad thing.

Dental practices thrive by obtaining new patients and retaining current patients. Because of this, it\’92s critical to make the patient experience a good and memorable one. A patient satisfaction survey can help gauge your dental patient\’92s view of your practice. Here\’92s how you can use a patient satisfaction survey to improve performance.

Discover how you can begin realizing the increased revenue of a reactivated patient database with these 3 Simple Steps to Increased Revenue.

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5 Easy Business Tips to Improve Your Dental Clinic Today

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Success is a difficult word to define. Everyone has a different interpretation based on what their own goals are. Dental clinics are no exception. Whether you\’92re trying to increase the number of patients you have, or just trying to improve the overall patient experience at your clinic, there is always room for improvement.

Try these 5 easy business tips to improve your dental clinic and reap the rewards of running a successful business.

Focus on the Patient

It\’92s easy to forget about the patient when you\’92re marketing your business. We often find the words \’93At our clinic we\’85\’94 But when you\’92re trying to attract new patients and keep old ones, focus on them! Use words like \’91you\’92 and \’91your\’92, and talk about what they want to know. This could include how their procedure might go, and what their results will look like. Get into the mind of the patient in order to successfully market your dental clinic.

Perfect Your Scheduling Process

While it\’92s important to focus on the patients and their experiences, your dental clinic is still a business. Maximize your profitability by scheduling your appointments strategically. There are a variety of scheduling techniques that will keep your chairs full so you\’92re never losing money with an empty schedule.

Create a Friendly Environment

Many people get nervous when they have to go to the dentist. Whether they\’92re anxious about the procedure they need or they just find it uncomfortable, a welcoming and friendly staff can go a long way to improve their experience. Make sure your staff treats your patients with respect and compassion.

Provide Flexible Financing Options

Offering a wide range of financing options is a great way to help out patients who may only receive partial or supplementary coverage from insurance. There are many financing options you can offer that can help take away a little bit of the stress a patient feels when it comes to paying for procedures.

Outsource Your Dental Recall Services

Dental recall duties are generally assigned to office staff who may not have the right training or enough time to get the best results. In fact, dental patient recall can actually be counter-productive in most situations for dental office staff. To super streamline your patient scheduling process, outsource your dental recall services with a company like Patient Focus to help increase your practice profitability and overall revenues. Patient Focus will help you reach those overdue patients and maximize all of your revenues. Contact Patient Focus today to improve your dental clinic.

Making small changes can be very effective in improving your dental clinic. Remember these 5 simple business tips to help you run a more successful practice.

Want to improve your business? Patient Focus can help your dental clinic find success through dental recall. Contact Patient Focus now to get more appointments.

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4 WOW Factor Ideas for the Ultimate Patient Experience

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Have your patients ever walked out of your dental office saying, \’93WOW!\’94?

All top-performing dental practices depend on one critical factor\’97providing an exceptional patient experience. A patient experience that brings on the \’91WOW\’92 does not mean simply being nice and smiling. It starts with the first point of contact through when they physically set foot in your office and until they are out the door. This first impression and patient experience will set the stage for a potential relationship with you and your dental team.

Every single day, your decisions and actions are all stepping stones to turning your dental patients into raving, lifelong fans. How can you make that happen?

Achieve that sought after \’91WOW\’92 factor with these 4 ideas for creating the ultimate patient experience.

Make a Killer First Impression

Never ever underestimate the power of a solid first impression. Take for example the telephone. This is often a prospective patient\’92s very first impression. Consider establishing a set telephone greeting and decide who will be talking to patients. Create a telephone script to provide a consistent message and go over various scenarios of how best to respond to questions and concerns. You can \’91hear\’92 when someone is smiling on the phone, so ensure your staff knows how important this is!

Razzle Dazzle Them the First Visit

The moment a patient arrives in your office, think of it as show time! Or even better, like welcoming a guest into your home. Put yourself in their shoes. What do they see when they first walk in? Is your reception area aesthetically pleasing? Decide to greet patients when they arrive and determine who on your staff is best fit to handle this. You want to be sure that all exchanges are warm, quick and seamless and that you stay on time. Try making morning huddles a priority so everyone is ready for new patients and on the same page every day.

Make Them Feel Special

When a patient walks through your door or calls on the phone, smile and make them feel welcome. Try to say the patient\’92s name at least three times. Make a minimum of two connections with them such as talking about their family, hobbies or where they\’92re from. Listen. Truly listen. Taking the time to hear their wants, needs and goals and acknowledge them will help you to connect with these individuals as people, not just patients, and ultimately build a trusting relationship.

Have an Effective Dental Recall System

Not having the right system or tools in place can create or add stress for your practice. If you\’92re stressed, your patients can feel that energy. Through an effective dental recall system in place like Patient Focus, your practice will continue to develop and thrive! Patient Focus offers your dental practice an effective dental recall system that has an impact on the dental health of your patients, restorative revenues, patient retention and practice growth.

Do you struggle keeping appointments? Feel as though your calendar is a little emptier than usual? We\’92ve got your 5-Point Checklist to A Full Schedule: Essential Secrets to Successfully Filling Your Dental Chairs.

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5 Tips to Becoming a Better Dental Practice Manager

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dental-practice-manager

The dental practice manager is vital to the overall success of a dental practice. They wear many different hats, navigate through highly stressful days and have a tremendous impact on how efficiently a dental practice operates each day. As a dental practice manager, your clients are not only your dentist, but your staff and most importantly your patients. To effectively juggle your daily responsibilities takes great skill.

Here are some dos and don\’92ts to follow to be an even more fantastic dental practice manager.

Don\’92t stay behind your desk.

With a billion things on your plate, it can be easy to be glued to your chair without even getting up for water. Step away from your desk and out of your office frequently to ensure that your office and staff are all functioning seamlessly. You want to move throughout the office while observing and interacting during the day. After all, the only way to know exactly what is going on in your office is to interact with the staff, dentists and patients.

Do set a good example.

Always try to lead by example. When you demonstrate time management skills, strong work ethic, respect, kindness and hard work, your staff will follow your example and respect you at the same time.

Don\’92t be scared to get your hands dirty.

The dental practice manager should know how to perform every job in the office, and complete them with a high degree of expertise and efficiency. There may be days where you\’92re short staffed or swamped with patients. You should be able to seamlessly jump right in to help.

Don\’92t be afraid of outsourcing.

It can be difficult to let go of the reigns, but outsourcing can really help you manage your dental practice. If there is an aspect of your business that could use an expert, reap the benefits of outsourcing. Patient Focus is here for your dental practice to reactivate your patients with live calls. Discover how Patient Focus can breathe life back into your practice.

Do stay informed.

Always keep yourself informed of any new guidelines, rules or laws affecting your dental practice. If you simply \’91don\’92t know\’92 it could cost you lots of time and money in the long run. Ensure your budget includes attending local or national conferences and subscriptions to useful online and offline publications or organizations.

As a dental practice manager you have a lot coming at you from every direction. Implementing these tips will help you to smoothly navigate through a hectic dental day and reach dental office success.

Streamlining your dental patient scheduling process is one of the easiest ways you can increase productivity and profitability. Here\’92s how you can get started today with these 5 Dental Patient Scheduling Process Tips for Success.

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4 Traits to Look for in the Best Dental Receptionist

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Your dental receptionist is often the very first impression that your patients\’97both new and existing\’97have of your dental office. This initial interaction and experience with the front desk needs to be on point, and nothing short of extraordinary.

So how do you find the dental receptionist who will be the best fit for your office? We broke down some of the top traits successful practices look for when hiring a dental receptionist.

4 Traits Your Dental Receptionist Should Possess

Multi-Tasking Master

A dental receptionist should be able to wear many different hats and take on numerous tasks efficiently. While research shows that multi-tasking is impossible, they must be able to manage multiple tasks throughout the day. From maintaining patient records, processing payments and billing insurance agencies\’97all while being the face of your dental office\’97there are many balls to juggle each day. Most dental offices are an extremely fast-paced environment\’97be sure your dental receptionist is ready to hit the ground running and tackle each task effectively and independently.

Good Listening Skills

While listening may often be considered a lost art these days, your dental receptionist should not be lacking in their listening skills! They should always take the time to listen closely to patients to be efficient in solving their problems and answering their questions.

Vibrant Verbal Skills

Your dental receptionist\’92s verbal skills need to be on point in order to skillfully answer dental patient\’92s questions while at the same time building a rapport and relationship. They should see every patient conversation, in person and over the phone, as an opportunity to build trust. These conversations should reassure patients that they\’92ve made the right choice by choosing your clinic and have found their new dental home. They must be personable, inviting and friendly. Most patients have anxiety about going to the dentist. Interacting with a dental receptionist that possesses amazing verbal skills can put their minds at ease and make them feel important.

Over-the-top Organizational Skills

You can never be too organized\’97especially in a hectic dental office. An organized dental receptionist makes everyone\’92s jobs easier. They should be able to find files and phone numbers with ease and maintain a tidy work space.

Your dental receptionist plays a critical role at your office. Be on the lookout for all of these 4 traits to find the ideal candidate to man your front desk for dental practice success!

Are you ready to simplify and streamline your efforts to grow you dental practice? Follow this link to request a consultation with one of our call experts, or call us today at 888.978.2615 and get started in only three simple steps!

Learn How to Get Started

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3 Tips on How to Run a Successful Dental Practice

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If you own a dental practice you know it\’92s no easy task. You may be the best at providing your patients with exceptional dental care, but it can be easy to get caught up in the hectic day-to-day operations that you can fall behind on practice management. Constantly balancing your clinical and practice management skills is essential to every successful dental office. If you are wondering how to run a successful dental practice, don\’92t isolate the two\’97instead synthesize these all-encompassing aspects of your dental practice for a stress-free, happier and more productive work environment for the entire dental team.

If you\’92re on a search to learn how to run a successful dental practice look no further. We have 3 tips for you to make your dental practice more profitable and organized all while keeping your dental patients at heart.

How to Run a Successful Dental Practice – 3 Simple Tips

Identify What Makes Your Dental Practice Unique

You want to identify what sets you apart from the rest\’97what makes you the best and unique. It could be that you offer a wide array of oral health services or focus on a certain specialty. Are you the best at crowns or focused on preventative healthcare services? Let everyone know! You will reach a niche audience looking for that specific service and gain a marketing advantage by creating brand awareness. Your marketing materials should be tailored to highlight your unique competitive advantage to increase new patients and word of mouth from your existing satisfied dental patients!

Set the Tone Up Front

A lot of people have a fear of the dentist. One way to alleviate these fears is having a friendly smile and warm words from the welcoming front desk. The first interaction your dental patients receive should be nothing but welcoming\’97whether in person at the front desk or when on the phone scheduling appointments. You are in the business of smiles after all\’97be sure everyone in your office has a smile in person and when speaking on the phone. Leaving a lasting impression on your dental patients will impact your retention rate significantly. The attitude, communication and professionalism of your staff leave a lasting impression on patients\’97one that can make or break your dental practice.

Take Advantage of Outsourcing

Outsourcing some of the day-to-day business aspects of the dental practice is not only economical, but allows for more time and enhanced business efficiency. If dentists or the dental staff is running the business side of the practice, it can place additional time demands on them pulling them away from the ever important patient-related tasks. An effective alternative is to use an outsourced partner to take over those labor-intensive business functions to free up your time to make your business more successful. Patient Focus offers innovative solutions making it seamless for dental providers to manage relationships with active and inactive patients.

If having a successful and full schedule is important to your practice, you owe it to yourself to get a solid recall system in place. Patient Focus delivers exceptional service and effective calls, ensuring your schedule is full. Revolutionize your practice and request your complimentary consultation here today.

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Become the Best Dentist with These 4 Secrets

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If you already are a dentist or are thinking about becoming one, you want to constantly strive to be the best dentist you can be.

As a dentist, you picked a field that can be rewarding, interesting and at times extremely stressful. A dentist should possess many qualities and wear different hats such as a strong desire to help people as well as providing exemplary dental care. While there are many different paths to achieve dental success, there tend to be some core principles that are common to the best dentists around.

We\’92ve identified 4 secrets of highly successful dentists to help you become the best dentist out there.

Secrets and Traits to Become the Best Dentist You Can Be

Be an excellent communicator

One of the most important skills you can possess as a dentist is strong communication skills. You want to explain technical information that is easy for patients to understand and educate them on their diagnosis, treatment and care. You should be able to communicate well non-verbally as well to ensure your patient feels calm and confident in your hands.

Be a Lifelong Learner

Dentistry is changing all the time. With the new advances in technology and innovative procedures, you need to stay up to date constantly. To become the best dentist you can be, you need to have a strong desire to learn new things and work towards improving your skills. Continuing education for yourself and your team will not only help to generate revenue for your practice but will set you apart from the rest.

Be a Problem Solver

Not everything is cut and dry each day at your dental practice. There will be some curve balls thrown your way, and having problem solving skills is essential to being the best dentist you can be. At times you will need to think outside the box to determine what the next step should be for each individual patient.

Be Strategic

Visualize what your ideal life in dentistry would be and be strategic about how to get there. Start out defining what success means to you, establish goals for how you intend to get there and create measurable milestones. Think long-term rather than getting too caught up in the day to day, allowing you an opportunity to really focus on what is most essential. Establishing goals and being strategic about it makes every day have a specific purpose to bring you closer and closer to success.

Start realizing the increased revenue of a reactivated patient database today! Follow this link to request a consultation with one of our call experts, or call us today at 888.978.2615.

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