Running a successful dental office is not the same as being a good dentist. You see, a dentist is a medical specialist while an owner of a dental office is an entrepreneur. Ideally, you would be able to be both. However, when it comes to the organization of a dental practice, administrative skills are the first thing that comes to prominence.
With this in mind, it’s important that you understand some of the major factors when it comes to running a successful dental office. You need to learn how to craft a decent unique selling proposition, properly manage your staff, and prepare for potential obstacles.
This being said, here are several secrets to running a successful dental office that you should know about.
Recognize Major Bottlenecks
In order to outcompete others, it’s vital that you can recognize major bottlenecks and figure out a way around them. When it comes to this, here are the top five obstacles that your audience may have when doing business with you.
- Cost is always a major factor. If your services are too expensive, some people will not be able to afford them. At the same time, you don’t want to be known as a cheap dental practice either. When it comes to health, being the cheapest may erode the trust level that you enjoy with your patients.
- The need for a dentist is another thing that people sometimes underestimate. In order to overcome this, you might want to increase your content output and try to educate your potential target audience. This is something we’ll talk about a bit more later on.
- No time to go to a dentist is actually one of the problems with the most straightforward solution. To give people more time, all you need to do is extend your work hours. This way, they’ll have a window of time after getting home from work.
- Bad location of a dental practice is yet another trouble that you’ll be facing. The key thing you need to understand is that the location and previously-discussed time often go hand in hand. So, study the demographics of your closest surroundings.
- Not accepting their insurance can be a huge problem for anyone. The only way to proceed here is to try and be more inclusive.
By addressing these five aspects, you’ll become more accessible. Your potential patient-client pool will drastically increase. Once you improve your business model (to accept this increased workload) and double-down on your marketing (to get more attention), you’ll be able to live up to your full potential.
Make an Efficient Administrative System
Running a successful dental practice is about more than just being a good dentist (or employing good dentists). In order to make a business effective, you need to make a decent administrative system.
The first step here is to register under the right business structure. Medical experts (in some states) prefer to register under an LLP. This is especially effective when a number of specialists of a similar rank and reputation are involved. This way, a mistake by one of the partners won’t erode the reputation of others or your practice. It will also protect others from legal liability. Needless to say, this provides you with more legal protection.
The last thing you need to keep in mind is the importance of hiring skilled administrators. Dentists, dental assistants, cleaners, etc., are the backbone of your workforce. However, looking for partners in dental practice management consulting wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Dental administrators are there to help keep you ahead.
Having a skilled accountant or a bookkeeper will also improve your business structure by providing you with more control over your cash flow. After all, you’re running a business, and the main purpose of a business is to generate profit.
Invest in Online Marketing
In order to run a successful dental practice in the 21st century, you need to find a way to spread the word about your business online. Here are a couple of ways you can do so.
- Register on Google My Business to make it easier for people to discover you. Other than this, such a practice will also make it easier to contact you. A lot of people do a bit of research before they contact you or come to your practice, and this is always the first step.
- Make a website in order to help those who want to know more about your practice. Here, they can easily read a thing or two about you, find social proof, and get familiar with the services that you provide. Make no mistake, the quality of your website will impact their first impression of you.
- Start a blog in order to gain some traction in the digital environment. This is great for educating your audience (something we’ve already mentioned). It also helps you establish yourself as an authority within the field. Also, starting a YouTube channel might be a good idea.
- Become more active on social media to interact with your target audience in an environment that they’re familiar with. This makes B2C interactions feel more intimate, direct, and even more organic.
- Hire SEO specialists to boost the visibility of your enterprise. People will have an easier time trusting you if they believe they’ve discovered you on their own.
- Earn reviews by asking for them directly. Remember, even if they are satisfied with your services, they might not do it on their own.
This sort of approach will allow you to tackle the issue from all directions.
Follow Latest Industry Trends
The best way to find a unique selling proposition in a competitive industry is to show that you’re ahead of the curve when it comes to the latest trends and innovations. The greatest trends in this field are definitely:
- Cosmetic surgery
- Dental implants
- 3D printing
- Laser dentistry
- Subscription-based coverage
- layboard in
By including any, or all, of these into your offer, you’ll have a much easier job of becoming more appealing to your audience. It’s a simple trick of offering a service that your competitor doesn’t provide, thus forcing the audience your way.
Naturally, dental implants are definitely the single biggest trend on this list, and it marks 11% of growth each year. This also creates some room for grabbing attention by being early in the game.
The most important thing here is to always have top talent. Investing in cutting-edge technology is unimportant unless you have the staff that can operate it effectively. This is why you need to hire those who are ambitious enough and even help them pursue further education. This is not a simple thing, but it’s essential if you are really to follow the latest industry trends.
In Conclusion
In the end, every dental office is different, but their success always rests on similar principles. In the healthcare industry, return business is everything, which is why the quality of the service you provide makes all the difference. At the same time, it’s important to stress that in order to turn someone into a return customer, you must make them a first-time customer to begin with. Here, making a great USP and a decent marketing strategy is going to make all the difference.
