New Patients From the Internet
Betty, my wife (and a T/C training, Case Acceptance & Marketing consultant), commented to me awhile back that she has noticed that the percentage of new patients coming into an orthodontic practice as a result of social media/internet had increased dramatically over the past few years. She was suspicious of this statistic primarily because she noted that the percentage of patients from other sources had gone down, so we have been doing some research to learn what was actually happening.
First some background so you understand why Betty was concerned. We know that the case acceptance rate of new patients referred by existing or past patients (your Internal Marketing) averages about 85%. For new patients coming as a result of Community Marketing (school visits, lectures to a Lamaze class, donating a case to a local parochial school’s fundraising auction, etc.) the rate of case acceptance averages about 70%. The third category of practice marketing, referrals from general dentists, physicians, etc. (Referral Based Marketing), generates new patients that have a 55%-60% rate of case acceptance, so you can see why Internal marketing is so valuable and why Referral Based marketing is much less so!
There is a fourth category, not used by our clients but common in todays’ orthodontic world, a category that we call “Advertising” (including direct mail solicitations, often offering discounts, coupons, etc., radio and television, etc.). Advertising tends to bring larger quantities of patients into the practice, but the patient quality is generally very poor and case acceptance rates of patients from this source tend to sit at 40%-45%. Betty was concerned that patients from the “Internet” would most likely fall into this last category!
If you are actively using social media to attract patients, not simply by having a passive website for your practice, but by being highly proactive on the web, then patients who are truly from that source probably fall into the fourth, “Advertising,” category of new patients mentioned above. Betty discovered though that many orthodontic practices, including many of our clients, are doing a very poor job in the New Patient Interview and in the review of the New Patient History (NPH) document. For instance, most NPH’s ask for the source of the new patient, with the most common question being some version of, “How did you hear of our office?” We learned that in many cases the new patient interviewer, most often the Treatment Coordinator, did not question the source or dig a bit deeper into the actual source, and “Internet” ended up being listed as the source of the new patient. We have learned though that many, about 60%, of patients who listed “Internet” as the source, in fact had looked up the specific name of the doctor on Google, on Social Media, etc., so the next and more important question had to be, “How did you first hear Dr. X’s name?” In fact, the answer to that question most often identified this “Internet” patient actually having been a referral from an existing patient, or a result of your community marketing and, less often, a referral from a local general dentist, but they looked you up on their favorite search engine or Social Media site.
Please emphasize to your administrative staff who may be doing brief new patient telephone interviews, and to your Treatment Coordinators who do a more comprehensive interview once a patient is in for their exam appointment, that they must dig a bit deeper when they see or hear “the Internet” listed as the source of the new patient.
Employee Theft?
Consider this email I received from a client a couple of weeks ago.
“Hi, Paul-
Just a brief note of acknowledgment and gratitude from me for your helping me with my embezzlement problem. That company you recommended – which I hired immediately – has already found solid proof and I am suspending that employee – if she even shows up for work in the morning. So nice that Mr. Harris even emailed and texted me from Japan, where he was on vacation to make certain I was taken care of. WOW!! Impressive!!
I have already hired a great replacement on Friday and sent her home with the Zuelke Bible to study until she joins us on September 10th. Thanks again for all you do and especially for being a great friend!!!”
I have written of David Harris and his company, Prosperident, before but this email spurred me to do so once again. Unfortunately, Defalcation (“the misappropriation of funds by a person trusted with its charge”), more commonly known as embezzlement, is common in the orthodontic/dental world. Estimates are that 25% to 50% of all practices are being actively embezzled at any given time. Our own experience falls into that range!
David is an embezzlement specialist. That’s all he does and he is an expert. His detection methods are unobtrusive, passive, and effective. If you have even the smallest concern about the possibility of employee theft in your practice, please give him a call. Prosperident 888.398.2327
Delta Participants
Be certain to submit a request for a fee increase to Delta every 12 months just like clockwork. In California the California Dental Association recently won a $65M settlement with Delta. The lawsuit was based on multiple issues, but the premise was that Delta had improperly restricted participating doctors’ fees. I called a few of my Delta clients and learned that some are to receive $0 from the settlement and others are getting many, many thousands of dollars! It turns out that the entire $65M is being disbursed to doctors based significantly on the timing and frequency of past requests for fee increases. Simplistically put, the doctors who requested the most fee increases get the lion’s share of the settlement. Those that never submitted a request for a fee increase will be getting little or nothing. Since they never requested an increase in fees, they were therefore never denied a fee increase and they therefore were not harmed. Delta is smart and where vulnerable, Delta will change the contracts to keep them out of trouble, but send your requests for fee increases to Delta regularly from now on.
ZACC
The Zuelke Automated Credit Coach (ZACC) is being used by doctors thousands of time each month to identify the financial risk presented by their new patients. Some of these doctors are our clients and are using ZACC to grant credit according to the specific guidelines recommended with every ZACC grade. Many other ZACC users who are not clients of ours are using ZACC grades to implement their own financial policies. More and more often though, ZACC is being used for the excellent delinquency control tool it is. ZACC has no monthly or other periodic fees, no minimums, etc. For $6.00+ per ZACC inquiry you will learn detailed information that will not only give you a specific credit grade including a Zuelke recommended financial arrangement for that specific patient, but in the event the account becomes delinquent will provide information that can be invaluable in helping you conduct the most appropriate type of collection activity. A one-time $6.00 inquiry can save you thousands, not to mention the patient related clinical problems (failed appointments, poor clinical cooperation, patients over treatment time, etc.) caused by delinquency. You can check out ZACC at www.getzacc.com.
