00:00:00
so should you have new patient blocks in
00:00:02
your schedule this is a question we get
00:00:04
often
00:00:05
and if so when do you put them in how
00:00:07
many do you put in
00:00:08
how do you calculate it against your
00:00:10
current patients and what are the
00:00:12
drawbacks
00:00:13
so let's get into this new patient
00:00:15
blocks yes or no and when
00:00:22
[Music]
00:00:25
okay so on this week's tip i want to
00:00:27
talk about new patient blocks because
00:00:29
it's a question
00:00:30
we get quite often and the question
00:00:32
usually is
00:00:33
what are new patient blocks and what are
00:00:35
the advantages of having them
00:00:37
so let's start out with what is a new
00:00:38
patient block a new patient block is a
00:00:41
predetermined time
00:00:43
booked out in the schedule solely for
00:00:46
the purposes
00:00:46
of new patients being scheduled in that
00:00:49
time
00:00:50
now whether you are scheduling new
00:00:52
patients with the doctor
00:00:53
or the hygienist doesn't really matter
00:00:56
that's a
00:00:57
personal preference the way you like
00:00:59
doing dentistry
00:01:00
so but ordinarily new patients would be
00:01:04
seen
00:01:05
by the hygienist first now what if i
00:01:07
have a hygiene schedule
00:01:09
that has been booked out six months in
00:01:11
advance and is quite full
00:01:13
and now i'm supposed to put new patients
00:01:15
in there
00:01:16
right that is not a problem if you have
00:01:18
a wide open hygiene schedule
00:01:20
but once the schedule starts booking out
00:01:23
i'm now going to have to start booking
00:01:24
out new patients
00:01:26
a week two weeks and the rule is with
00:01:28
new patients you have to be able to fit
00:01:31
them in
00:01:31
within 24 to 48 hours of them calling 48
00:01:35
being really the max
00:01:37
that you have to be able to fit them in
00:01:39
now obviously not every new patient is
00:01:41
going to want to come in within 48 hours
00:01:43
but you have to be able to give them
00:01:44
that option
00:01:45
so let's talk about why should you be
00:01:48
able to schedule them
00:01:49
especially if you're doing external
00:01:52
marketing
00:01:52
right and spending money on external
00:01:54
marketing understand that the people you
00:01:57
are going to be
00:01:58
promoting to have no idea who you are
00:02:01
the only thing they know about you is
00:02:03
that you are a dentist
00:02:05
that you are located in their area and
00:02:07
what offer
00:02:08
you are giving them as a new patient
00:02:10
your new patient special
00:02:12
right but quite frankly the same
00:02:14
criteria could apply
00:02:16
to 10 different dentists in the area so
00:02:19
if
00:02:19
i'm a potential patient and i get a
00:02:22
piece of marketing from you whether
00:02:24
that's digitally
00:02:25
or snail mail so let's say i get a
00:02:27
postcard from you
00:02:28
and for whatever reason it jogs my
00:02:30
memory or
00:02:31
it motivates me you know what i really
00:02:34
should
00:02:35
be scheduling a cleaning with the
00:02:36
dentist i haven't gone in a while
00:02:38
i should be going in and that is the
00:02:41
point that i
00:02:42
am motivated i am now thinking with i
00:02:44
want to get this
00:02:45
done right so i'm going to be calling
00:02:47
you if your front office is at that
00:02:50
point in time telling me
00:02:52
i will not be able to come for 10 days
00:02:54
two weeks or even a week
00:02:56
and i'm motivated now you run a high
00:02:59
risk of that patient saying
00:03:01
nah that's okay and just calling the
00:03:03
next person or just looking somebody
00:03:05
else up online
00:03:06
as i said they have absolutely no
00:03:09
reality on who you are
00:03:11
and you might be the best dental
00:03:13
practice and the best
00:03:14
doctor in your area but they don't know
00:03:17
that
00:03:17
the only reality they have is your offer
00:03:20
and that you're a dentist
00:03:21
so you have to be able to get them in
00:03:24
quickly
00:03:25
hence new patient blocks now how should
00:03:28
you determine how many new patient
00:03:30
blocks you need
00:03:31
well that's dependent on how many new
00:03:32
patients you are planning on seeing
00:03:34
so what you would do is you would take
00:03:36
an average of the amount of new patients
00:03:38
that you're seeing
00:03:39
for example i'm seeing 40 new patients a
00:03:41
month or
00:03:42
if i'm doing heavy marketing this month
00:03:45
and and putting some extra
00:03:47
money into that i know i'm going to want
00:03:49
to see probably at least 50 or 60 as a
00:03:51
result of that
00:03:52
so i would have to take the amount of
00:03:55
new patients that i'm planning on seeing
00:03:57
and divide that by the amount of days
00:03:59
that i'm working
00:04:00
for example i want to see 60 new
00:04:02
patients i'm working 20
00:04:04
which means i need three new patient
00:04:06
blocks per day
00:04:08
so you make sure that your hygienist has
00:04:10
three new patient blocks on their
00:04:12
schedule that day
00:04:13
how do you determine the times well you
00:04:16
just go back and look at what times have
00:04:18
new patients typically asked for
00:04:20
and those are the times that you make
00:04:22
available now
00:04:23
if you really really cannot fit new
00:04:26
patient blocks on your schedule
00:04:28
right it may be time to expand
00:04:32
your hygiene stays so you might need to
00:04:34
add a hygienist
00:04:36
at that point right if there's no other
00:04:38
way around it because think with this
00:04:40
too
00:04:41
if you're adding new patients every
00:04:43
month and your hygiene is full
00:04:45
with existing patients the only way that
00:04:48
i can fit my new patients on the hygiene
00:04:50
schedule is by kicking
00:04:52
out existing patients or less
00:04:54
availability for existing patients
00:04:57
which is not what we want either if i
00:04:59
have an unchanging hygiene schedule
00:05:01
meaning the same amount of days
00:05:04
of hygiene available for the last six
00:05:06
months
00:05:07
or a year or god forbid two years i've
00:05:10
had four days for the last two years for
00:05:12
five days for the last two years
00:05:14
despite getting new patients so that
00:05:17
means that i'm losing existing patients
00:05:20
as quickly as i'm adding new patients
00:05:22
that is not productive
00:05:24
either right so make sure that if you
00:05:26
really can't fit in new patient blocks
00:05:28
on your schedule
00:05:29
you consider opening up more hygiene
00:05:31
days and you'll have to figure it out
00:05:33
one way or the other
00:05:34
your situations are so very different
00:05:36
with regards to available times
00:05:38
the amount of operatories available
00:05:40
things like that so i'll let you solve
00:05:42
that problem
00:05:43
on your own and we have lots of videos
00:05:45
and tips about hygiene so if you have
00:05:46
questions about that
00:05:48
you can reach out to us we'd be happy to
00:05:50
answer that for you
00:05:51
or you can go ahead and check us out
00:05:53
online on our blog we have lots of
00:05:55
answers to those questions
00:05:57
last thing i want to mention about new
00:05:59
patient blocks there is the old adage
00:06:01
that you get what you put your attention
00:06:03
on
00:06:04
right and if i have open blocks in the
00:06:07
schedule
00:06:07
for new patients it does put the front
00:06:11
desk's attention
00:06:12
on the fact that we need to fill those
00:06:14
so they'd be more likely
00:06:16
to hand out referral cards ask family
00:06:19
members
00:06:20
to schedule and the other things that we
00:06:22
can do internally to get more new
00:06:24
patients
00:06:25
in order to fill those blocks now
00:06:27
obviously there's the liability that the
00:06:29
day before
00:06:30
the block isn't filled yet and i have an
00:06:32
opening on the schedule
00:06:34
at that point in time you just treat it
00:06:35
like you always would
00:06:37
opening and hygiene you go to your short
00:06:39
call list and you put a recall patient
00:06:40
in it
00:06:41
but at that point in time you should
00:06:43
review your marketing
00:06:45
external and internal to see why that
00:06:48
could not have
00:06:48
been filled with a new patient anyway
00:06:52
that's my tip for the week i hope it
00:06:53
helped
00:06:54
make sure that you click the subscribe
00:06:56
button below to get more tips like this
00:06:58
and we'll see you in the next one
