You have officially made it through the first month in your next normal. How did it feel? Is it getting more comfortable? Do you feel like you still have a mask on when you leave the office?
You and your team have safely made it through the first month. Your room turn over time has gotten better and time management has become more efficient. It’s time to start looking at the office production. We know that it will be less than it was Pre-Covid right now, but did you make enough to pay your bills? In a previous post during COVID isolation I spoke about knowing your basic number each month that your office needs to produce to pay the bills. Now is the time to start putting this number into action, (if you need help with the calculation let me know) then next month you can start looking at growing the practice to where you want it to be.
If you are close to Pre-Covid production, that is great you are managing well. If you are far below your expenses, then we want to look at some areas where you can make some changes to help with the bottom line.
- Have your hygienists come back to work yet? Is their hourly billing similar to what it was prior to COVID? Are the patients who are delayed on their hygiene schedule either being booked for extra billable time or are they receiving a second appointment to come back to return to perio stability? What is the messaging being given to patients who are nervous to return to the dental office?
- Are you diagnosing major treatment and is it being followed up on? With all of the PPE it is tougher than ever to connect with patients while educating them about future treatment. Are you being successful this? Are all of your previous treatment coordination systems being upheld since the return to work?
- Patients who were cancelled during office closures either for dental work or hygiene appointments, do you have an efficient system in place for connecting with these patients? Have you listened to your team and provided your team with new verbiage when connecting with the patients?
- It may feel early still but you need to start thinking about new patient growth. Most patients who are attending offices right now are impressed with the care that is being taken for the patient’s safety. It is a great time to be asking your patients for internal referrals, when the patient provides you with this compliment you can let them know that you are happy to see any of their friends or family as well. There are many patients out there right now who are looking for new dentists because they felt abandoned by their office during COVID (many dentists did not leave forwarding information for their patient emergencies during COVID and patients felt abandoned).
- You also want to make sure that your patient retention remains, in many dental practices I start working with we find that patients are slipping out the back door without the dentist realizing that they have left.
I know that I have asked many more questions than I answered but these are the questions that you need to be asking yourself at this point. If you don’t know the answers or need help please feel free to connect with me and I can direct you to where you will find the answers or provide you with solutions.
