Practice

7 ways to boost the profitability of your orthodontic practice

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the orthodontic and dental industry hard, with many practices forced to operate at reduced capacity or close the doors all together. After weathering a challenging 2020, many orthodontists are now searching for ways to increase practice profitability.

July 27th, 2021

It can seem daunting, but increasing practice profitability doesn’t have to be complicated. If you take a step back and look at your practice with a different perspective, it’s possible to navigate and utilise the areas of your business that offer opportunities for growth and increased revenue.

Here are 7 ways to boost practice profitability:

Implement successful patient retention strategies

How many patients do you have on your system that have only visited your practice once?

Patient databases are often underutilised and can be the key to successful patient retention. We all know it’s harder to attract new clients, than to retain current ones, so it makes sense to direct a big chunk of your marketing efforts at your existing database.

Don’t let your patients forget your practice once they have walked out the door. Keep your practice front-of-mind by:

  • offering a follow-up call/sms or email after your patient’s visit
  • updating your patients with important practice information via email marketing
  • connecting with your patients via your social media channels
  • keeping in touch with your patients and informing them of specials, family dental check-up reminders etc.

Build the ultimate patient experience

The experience you create for your patients could be the difference between them choosing your practice over another. Your patients are your biggest advocates, word of a great orthodontist spreads quickly and building the ultimate patient experience will help your practice’s name ring louder in the crowd of competition.

To build the ultimate patient experience:

  • create meaningful patient interactions
  • offer a consistent patient experience
  • always encourage growth and improvement within your practice and employees
  • make the best first impression
  • ensure your practice offers the ultimate patient experience.

Increase treatment acceptance

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome in the dental and orthodontic industry is how to increase treatment acceptance.

Not all of your patients can afford to pay for their dental or orthodontic treatment upfront and many patients hold off seeking treatment then need, because of the cost.

One way to connect more of your treatment with more of your patients is to onboard a payment plan solution.

DentiCare’s payment plan solution has been specifically designed for dental and orthodontic practices. We help you connect more patients with treatment, which allows you to spend more time on what matters most – patient care.

We know that processing and managing payment plans can put extra pressure on administration staff. To remedy this, DentiCare manages all the payments, accounts, billing and will follow up all missed payments. We do the heavy lifting and you enjoy the benefits.

Time management

With so much to do, time management is an essential part of building a profitable dental or orthodontic practice.

Time is valuable, so it’s important that as the leader of your business you dedicate your time to the areas that will bring the greatest profitability.

Make the most of your time by planning your days, planning into the future and creating systems that will help you organise your time in the most efficient way.

More importantly, always know your limits and don’t take on more than you can accomplish.

Increase marketing and effective branding

We’ve mentioned the importance of retaining current patients, but attracting new patients will also increase your practice’s profitability.

An effective marketing strategy will enable your practice to attract more patients and increase revenue. Having a consistent approach to your branding will also help keep your practice front-of-mind and increase brand awareness.

Whether your marketing efforts are focused on social media and digital strategies, or print and local media, an increase in targeted marketing can help improve the profitability of your practice.

Create the dream team

Staff have the ability to make or break a dental or orthodontic practice. They help shape the patient experience and have a huge influence on how patients view your service.

Employing and retaining a great team is essential. Once onboard, it’s equally important to provide ongoing training and support for your staff and offer professional development opportunities.

To embrace growth, it’s also important to have a clear organisational structure, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. This will help you get the most out of your team and help productivity and in turn the profitability of your practice.

Dental team

An efficient appointment system

It’s hard to turn over more profit without an efficient appointment booking system. To improve workflow and increase productivity, ensure your appointment booking system works for both your practice and your patients.

We hope that with these 7 tips will help you map out a plan to increase productivity within your practice. Contact us if you’d like to know more about DentiCare’s payment plan solution.

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