While busy doing some course prep today, a student, Joshua Stewart sent me a link that revealed a rather interesting survey parallel to our Internship with Dentma. There were 5 data points gathered – all related to the $1M filing cabinet spoken of by Dentma’s CEO and Co-Founder, Brandon Janis last week. Here is the slide from his presentation:
Brief Details: On a trip to Arizona to visit our grandkids Thanksgiving holiday a few months ago I cracked a tooth (I’ll see if Dr. Margolis can provide some pictures!) Considering our family dentist in St. George left his practice without our knowing (remember: The value of follow up!), and considering this was an emergency, I contacted Dr. Margolis Thanksgiving day. He and his staff were generous and remarkably compassionate … getting me in on the Thanksgiving weekend to service the painful experience. Today represented the follow up visit to cement on the final crown.
As he explained it, in the Baby Boomer generation, dentists used colored files to keep their clinical data on each patient. Oh, I remember! All those files went in the filing cabinet just adjacent to the receptionist's station. As patients forgot appointments, or did not value the service, or could not afford treatment,or were worried about a past due on their account, or were not properly confirmed, or … for WHATEVER reason were no-shows, they became lost in the filing cabinet. Analyzing a metaphorical filing cabinet in today's dental market, the untreated patient files can exceed 1 million dollars! As Brandon so eloquently demonstrated, Dentma addresses these very patients in a DONE-FOR-YOU and very professional manner.
So, here are the findings posted on the following site (let’s give credit where credit is due!): http://www.softwareadvice.com/dental/industryview/patient-scheduling-report-2015/
First, their findings reflected that missed appointments are “the biggest source of lost revenue for many dentists.” There you have it DENTISTS…! That reason alone merits the test drive and free trial offered by my students! They saw this very process demonstrated by Dentma’s CEO.
Key Findings:
1. The greatest percentage of dental patients surveyed (30 percent) prefer receiving appointment reminders via text message.
2. When segmented by age, most patients over 34 years old (65 percent, combined) prefer receiving appointment reminders via email.
3. A combined 40 percent of respondents would rather schedule dental appointments via phone call, the Web or text message than in person.
4.The age group with the highest preference for scheduling appointments online and through text message is 35 to 54 (a combined 16 percent). The professor in me says, these are our MILLENNIALS, GEN X, AND BABY BOOMERS…
5.The most popular time frame for patients to receive reminders for upcoming dental appointments is one to three days prior (chosen by 53 percent). The professor in me says LET A MARKETER DETERMINE THE BEST TIME, best message, AND A SYSTEM (ALA, DENTMA) to DELIVER THE VALUE TO PATIENTS AUTOMATICALLY…!
Dentma is a no-brainer…! Students, try to predict the value of a 30% response and acceptance rate to a $1M filing cabinet. When a dentist realizes that they are, more than likely spending 5 man-hours a day in reminders and phone calls to missed appointments and going back through the call list (all functions done for your through the Dentma’s Lifeline) it becomes a rather easy decision. LET’S MAKE IT A SIMPLE MATH EQUATION: 5 hours/day x 5 days/week x $20/hour = $500/week.
Now, get the dentist to validate the truth regarding the actual time spent on this fuction in their practice; then, of the many dentists you will attract using email, calls, and your sphere of influence, get a few practices to share that data with you. In some way (e.g. email, a personal phone call, even a text) help them realize that those hours (25 in our simple example above) could be more effectively placed time dedicated to MARKETING - and marketing effort that attracts new patients. Clearly dentists will realize that Dentma becomes a value-add to their PMS, beyond belief.
Your task: Learn how to incentivize the dentist to take the survey. Also, invite each practice (perhaps in a staff meeting) to analyze the reality of efficient/inefficient time spent on patients in the “filing cabinet” with unfulfilled treatment plans. Finally, invite them to sign up for the free trial. From that vantage point (and as a student OR a dental practice), follow up becomes a critical element for success! The data that you will mine from your internship … and the principles that will snap into focus as we cover marketing research (Chapter 9) … will get very exciting!
-Professor Geddes