{"id":1816,"date":"2021-03-08T22:46:19","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T22:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tntdental.com\/blog\/?p=1816"},"modified":"2021-03-08T22:48:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T22:48:14","slug":"4-phases-of-dental-practice-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tntdental.com\/blog\/4-phases-of-dental-practice-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Grow Your Practice:
The Four Phases of Dental Practice Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HowSo, you\u2019re ready to grow your dental practice. You might think the key to success is increasing the number of new patients coming in your door\u2026and you wouldn\u2019t be wrong, but that\u2019s only a piece of the success puzzle. If you remember from our \u201cAre 165 New Dental Patients a Month Enough\u201d blog article<\/a>, we discussed the importance of the rate of return, which plays a part in\u00a0The Four Phases of Dental Practice Growth<\/em>. You see, there are several elements in play that get you to your overall goal of \u201cNet New Patients\u2122.\u201d Let\u2019s take a look at these phases and what it means to truly grow your practice.<\/p>\n

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The Four Phases of Dental Practice Growth<\/h2>\n

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Lead Generation<\/h2>\n

\"\"So many practices just focus on lead generation. In fact, most dental marketing companies can provide you leads for days, through referrals, paid marketing, and community efforts, which help you to contact patients and then get them in the door. But, growing practices focus on the number of patients they can keep \u2014<\/span> because after all, return business is what really matters, right?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at the importance of Net New Patients\u2122<\/strong>, a term coined by TNT Dental to describe the number of new patients minus the lost patients, coupled with what can go wrong if you focus solely on lead generation. For example, one practice gained 50 new patients in a month, but over the course of the next six months, the attrition was 44 patients\u2026fast forward to 18 months later from that initial month of 50 new patients, and with that attrition rate, all those new patients are gone!<\/p>\n

Just think of all that money spent by that practice on offering new patient deals as part of a lead generation effort by their dental marketing company, only to lose those patients after 18 months. You have to think of what kind of patients you\u2019re attracting \u2013 a free offer doesn\u2019t always attract the right patients\u2026and how much money did you have to spend on those free offers, only to have nothing to show for it a year and a half later. Now you might be wondering why 18 months is the golden number. Our rule of thumb is if you can keep a patient for 18 months and they\u2019re still active (meaning they are coming in 18 months after that first appointment), you can count them as good patients.<\/p>\n

In order to achieve that, you have to be equally focused on the other three phases of dental practice growth: conversion, treatment acceptance, and relationship building; otherwise, your marketing strategy and practice won\u2019t grow. Why? Your new patients won\u2019t stay and you will have spent so much time courting new patients you\u2019ve neglected your current ones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Conversion<\/h2>\n

\"HowThe thing most practices don\u2019t think about is how much success there is in converting website visitors and inquiring callers into patients. This is the secret sauce!<\/p>\n

Now is the time to put your best \u201ccloser\u201d on your phones and have them work their magic, to help convert patients and get them in the door. If you check out our\u00a0\u201cGive Your Staff World-Class Phone Skills\u201d<\/a> video on our TNT YouTube channel, you will see some of the top tips to engaging patients over the phone, including:<\/p>\n