If you’re reading this, you probably know the basics of dental marketing. Run ads, drive traffic to your website, and convert calls into scheduled appointments.
Done right, those actions can create powerful new patient growth. But focusing entirely on advertising to new patients means that you risk ignoring an equally important growth driver: your existing patients.
Marketing done inside your practice to reach your existing patients is called internal marketing, and it will help you accomplish two key goals. A smart internal marketing strategy will help you retain more of your existing patients — and turn them into advocates who leave positive reviews and refer their friends.
However, internal marketing doesn’t just mean putting up a poster on your wall reminding your patients to schedule their next appointment. Keep reading for 5 key tactics you can use to generate growth.
1. Create an exceptional patient experience
If you want your patients to keep coming back and even become advocates for your practice, you’ve got to give them a reason. And the simplest way to do that is to offer an exceptional patient experience.
There are concrete action steps you can take to do that. But it all starts with the intention to help your patients feel valued, heard, seen, and appreciated whenever they walk through your doors. Nail that part and life’s inevitable ups and downs won’t spoil what your patients think of you.
Here are some specific factors to pay attention to:
Your website | This should feature testimonials, friendly photos of your doctors and team members, helpful details about your insurance and payment policies, and a compelling new patient offer. |
First phone call | There are key points you want to hit on any new patient phone call. For starters, you want to make sure you greet each caller warmly, ask them who you can thank for referring them to you, and schedule them for an appointment rather than just answering their questions. |
Easy scheduling | Make it as simple as possible for your patients to schedule with you. This should include options beyond the phone, as almost 70 percent of people prefer to book appointments online. |
Appointment flow and wait times | Get your new patients in ASAP. No-show rates skyrocket for patients who have to wait more than 72 hours to come in. Try leaving new patient blocks in your schedule so you always have a slot. And once someone is in your waiting room, make sure they don’t have to sit there too long. |
How your team treats each patient | Like we said above, you want your patients to feel valued, heard, seen, and appreciated. Start by sincerely greeting every patient who comes in and go from there. |
Modern office and tech | Everybody likes the shiny new thing. A clean, modern office will frame your practice as with the times — an impression you can reinforce by offering the latest in dental tech. |
Clinical abilities | If your doctors are especially skilled, you’ve automatically got a leg up. That kind of ability gives your whole team confidence — and patients will see it. |
Trust | This takes time to build. But the first step is being honest with your patients and meeting any expectations you set. |
How knowledgeable your team is | One way to help build trust is simply to know what you’re talking about. Your team members don’t all need to be clinical experts, but everyone should grasp the patient journey and their own role in it to help ensure a smooth handoff from person to person. |
Effective communication | Just knowing how to talk to people goes a long way. If your team can listen, build rapport, and communicate clearly, you’ll be that much closer to forging strong, lasting patient relationships. |
2. Build an internal referral system
Once you’ve got a culture in place that will deliver an exceptional patient experience, you’re ready to start thinking about referrals. But if you want consistent results, you need to put a system in place before you begin asking patients.
A good internal referral system is scalable and consistently used by all of your team members. You should take the time to communicate how your referral system works and then keep it top of mind by going over your referral data in your morning meeting.
Basic referral system framework
Your referral system should consist of three main pieces.
1. Set goals and track them
Start by getting clear on how many referrals your practice is currently seeing each month (even without a referral system in place, you should be getting some organically). Using that as your baseline, set goals for how many referrals you want and over what timeline.
Figure out how you’re going to track your referrals, too. This can be as simple as a spreadsheet, but you can also invest in a CRM. Ask one specific person on your team to manage referral tracking or it won’t get done.
2. Figure out who should ask for referrals and how to do it
You and your team need to decide who is responsible for asking patients to make a referral. Your best bet here is someone who gets regular face time with your patients — typically, your doctor or hygienist.
Then you need to figure out how to make the ask. Develop scripting here so everyone knows what to say and when to say it.
We suggest framing the question as a personal favor. After a patient says something positive about their experience during an appointment, try saying something like: “Would you do me a favor and share that thought with your friends? We’re trying hard to grow our practice and you could really help me by making a referral.”
3. Motivate your team to ask
Once you know how to ask for referrals, you’ll want to come up with some kind of incentive to motivate your team to actually do it. Asking for a referral can feel uncomfortable, so having an incentive helps convince team members to push past that discomfort and ask anyway.
We’ve seen practices that succeed by turning referrals into a competition. Create a scoreboard, update it every day, and celebrate every new referral as a win.
You may also want to create some kind of bonus structure. While you should carefully research your state guidelines around patient referrals to avoid running afoul of either the law or professional ethics (paying an outside dentist to refer their patients to you can get you in serious trouble), there’s generally no problem with offering your team members a bonus for any referrals they generate by simply asking their happy patients if they know any friends who are looking for a new dentist.
3. Make it really easy for your patients to refer their friends
As a basic life rule, people are more likely to follow through on something that’s simple to do. This applies to referrals, too.
A best practice here is to create physical referral cards that you can hand out to your existing patients. All they have to do is give the cards to their friends and ask their friends to bring the cards with them to their first appointment.
The referral card can entitle the bearer to a new patient special offer. This can be the same one that you offer on your website, like a lower price for a cleaning and exam, or something different.
4. Incentivize your current patients to make referrals
As with motivating your team, you do want to be careful here. Find out what your state laws and professional guidelines have to say about compensating your patients who refer their friends.
One reward option that is usually in the clear is doing a raffle. Whenever a new patient shows up for their first appointment holding a referral card that they got from an existing patient, you can drop that card in a raffle box.
Once a month, you can draw a name from the box and give the lucky winner a gift card or a free whitening kit.
5. Don’t forget about testimonials or reviews, too
Positive Google reviews are a huge asset to your practice. They’re one of the first things a potential patient will look at after they search for you.
As a general rule of thumb, you want to have at least as many reviews as your primary competitors.
Fortunately, leaving a review is a great way for your current patients to reward your exceptional patient experience. And while you still have to ask them to do it, it’s an easier ask than a referral.
Try having your hygienist or doctor make the review request at the end of an appointment, and then text that patient a unique Google review link 1-2 hours later. This gives patients the ability to do the review once they’ve made it back to work or home, but while their appointment is still fresh in their mind.
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