As an orthodontist, new patient calls are the lifeblood of your practice. Each time the phone rings, there’s potential for growth and keeping your office productive. But what happens when you don’t see those new patients quickly? Motivation has an expiration, and new patients are no exception. This post will explore why new patients have an expiration date and how failing to see them promptly can affect the overall success of your orthodontic practice.
Motivation Is Perishable
Orthodontic treatment can last a lifetime. However, the motivation to seek care at your office is perishable, like fresh fruit or a carton of milk. After a few days, it can turn sour. The excitement of a new patient call is hard to match. When you get an appointment request, this consumer is actively seeking orthodontic care and is likely interested in what your practice offers. Unfortunately, that excitement can quickly turn into frustration if they meet a set of obstacles. Sometimes those obstacles are in a cumbersome onboarding process, maybe a bad phone experience, and for “successful” offices, there is an unfortunate side effect of a long wait. Leaving new patients waiting too long to schedule an appointment can turn excitement cold and cause them to look elsewhere for the needed care. These obstacles can result in losing potential business for your orthodontic practice.
Avoid Delay
Delaying new patient appointments can result in future exams in excess. New exams forced to wait too long for an evaluation may be more prone to canceling or rescheduling. Sometimes life happens, and other priorities take precedence, or perhaps they found someone to see them sooner. A long wait for an exam can result in wasted time and resources for your orthodontic practice and disruption to the schedule. Case acceptance can falter, no-shows increase, and negative perceptions of the community and professional referrals can arise.
Create Capacity
When a new patient calls, it’s important to prioritize getting them into the office as soon as possible. They may find care elsewhere unless we create a capacity to manage new patient calls. By offering a visit within a few days, you show that you value their time and are committed to providing them with the care they need. We can create greater exam capacity by generating more exams in our schedule. We can create more new patient spots on our schedule by many different techniques, including: shortening exam time, creating different paths depending on detective work on new patient personas, leveraging virtual smile assessments, hiring more treatment coordinators, and reducing doctor time at the exam. If your practice grows, the exam spots must increase throughout your schedule. Even in mature practices, we have peak seasons with greater interest, so we should consider methods with greater capacity in those peak months.
Conclusion
In conclusion, new patients have an expiration date, and orthodontic practices need to see them promptly. Failing to do so can result in lost business, disengaged patients, and a disruption to your practice schedule. By prioritizing appointments for new patients, you can ensure they remain engaged and motivated throughout their time at your practice. Remember, the excitement of a new patient call can quickly turn cold when forced to wait too long. Don’t let hot leads slip away by delaying their appointments.
