practical advice on surviving the recession - 4
Involving all members of the team, from Practice Manager to Dentist, will aid in monitoring and measuring the key areas of the business, which we need to do to stay in control.
Involving the team starts with listening to what they have to say, discussing their views in an open and positive manner and then making any changes that might be considered appropriate. This might sound fairly basic stuff, and nothing more than just plain common sense, but as John Major once famously remarked, “the problem with common sense, is that it’s not that common!”
I once visited a practice where the new patient examination cost was £90 and whilst the practice had a healthy number of new private patient enquiries, the number that actually booked an appointment was less than 10%. A mystery shopping exercise revealed that the nearest five practices were charging between £30 and £42 - all less than half in comparison. Members of the practice team, mainly the receptionists, had been arguing for a reduction in the fee for some time but to no avail. They had seen appointment books gradually become quieter and there were fewer new patients filling the gaps left by existing ones, who had left the practice through natural attrition.
However, eventually the practice team’s voices were heard and the new patient fee was halved, resulting in a significantly higher booking rate for new patient enquiries and a very good uptake of treatment plans as well. It’s important to remember that if new patients are booking by telephone, then often the main indicator they will have to shape their decision is the price, as they have not yet experienced your service offering.
This leads us neatly on to what items to measure, monitor and track during a recession. Well, new patients are the life blood of the practice, so referring back to the above example, I would track the number of enquiries; how they found out about the practice, the amount who booked, then attended and how many finally accepted and completed the treatment plan. Many practices spend a great deal of money on external marketing of their practices but do not track what returns they achieve and such a system will help.
If you have a predominantly private practice and use a plan provider, then tracking the monthly joiners and leavers is a relatively straightforward task. However, if you are a private practice with entirely fee-per-item patients, then you may want to monitor how busy the appointment book is, any down time periods and over the counter takings to ensure that there are no steady adverse trends in these areas.
So, the final advice for surviving the recession is listen to your team and keep your eye on the ball. Good luck and remember to stay focussed.
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