Keeping patients happy – the most efficient way to grow your practice
Here’s one way to lose a patient. This is taken from a reader write-in feature, called, “Ticked Off”, from orlandosentinel.com :
“I am ticked off at my dentist’s office in Aloma. I called and canceled on a Thursday for a Monday appointment and I received a bill for $30 for giving less than 24 hours notice. When I called to question it I was told they were closed on Friday so it was less than 24 hours notice. This policy was never disclosed to me, and the office manager was extremely rude.”
I’d bet that this Aloma dentist never even knew why he lost that patient. He may even be surprised by the policy of his own office. He’d certainly be surprised that the policy was conveyed to the patient in a rude manner.
The trouble with this, from my perspective, is that marketing to attract patients is hard and relatively expensive compared to keeping an existing patient. For every chart you lose, you reduce by one the net growth of the practice produced by the new patients from the marketing campaign. If they are coming in one door and leaving through another, you’ll be treading water forever.
A customer service expert, name Bob Farrell, swears by the philosophy of ”Give Em the Pickle”. It all started when one of his waitress employees lost his retaurant a customer by refusing to give him a pickle. Farell’s point is that your business is all about the customers; do anything within reason to make them happy and loyal, and “give em a pickle” if necessary.
I’m not against late-cancellation penalties, and I realize that some patients need to be let go. Just make sure that you and your team all understand that a good loyal patient/customer is worth a heck of alot more than that $30 fee.
Marketing is all about efficiency. It’s much easier and efficient to keep an existing patient than to attract a new one – especially if all it costs you is a pickle.
