“Drilling For Dollars”, an article about dentists in September’s SmartMoney magazine, describes a number of things dentists are trying to create income in this new economy. These include:
- Care packages for patients, including coffee mugs
- Laying off hygienists or handling hygiene appointments during the hygienist’s lunch break
- Rewards points for patients who show up on time, wait in the lobby, or choose an elective procedure
- Changing focus from cosmetic dentistry to more general and endo cases
- Lowering fees
- Using fillings instead of crowns to lower costs
- Free tooth whitenings
- Free electric toothbrushes
- Upselling everything from tongue scrapers to makeovers
- Rewarding referrals with a bouquet of flowers
What do you think of these techniques? It’s easy to criticize the ones that don’t make sense to you, but maybe not so easy to come up with your own effective methods.
The point is this: you can’t just wait for the economy to turn around and reverse disappointing practice revenues. You need to expand your comfort zone create opportunities for yourself.
