From the initial shock and awe of the pandemic in the early part of 2020 to the lingering stress and restrictions in the present day, COVID-19 has had a transformative impact on the dentistry industry. With dentists unable to practice during the early periods of shelter-at-home and lockdowns and the continued hesitancy from patients to come into an office, clearly, the most direct impact on dental practices has been the drop in revenue. However, as we learn to adapt our lives around the pandemic, it has been recognized that dentistry is a crucial service and dental practices must remain operational despite the obvious challenges that COVID-19 and its variants pose. Most everyone has had to make adjustments and try new ways to bring in patients while saving money where they can.
In this post, let us look at how your dental practice can still thrive by ensuring patient safety and keeping your lab cost down by outsourcing to a trusted dental lab partner.
Connect With Your Existing Patients
It’s natural to want to return to what you were doing for marketing before the pandemic, but you need to remember that patients may be hesitant to return to care, considering the possibility of a resurgence of the virus. There are ways to reach your patients without upping your marketing budget. Email or call your patients personally to connect with them on a one-on-one basis. If you have a large patient base, reach out to those with outstanding treatment first, then the long-term patients, and then the remaining ones. By taking the time to connect with each patient, you are not only reminding them they need to take care of their dental health but also showing them that you care and would not put them in danger.
Ideally, marketing efforts should focus on attracting new patients, but some of your current patients could be considering a change in dentist due to a change in job, benefits, or perceived lack of safety measures or care from your practice during the pandemic. So be proactive in re-connecting with all your current patients. Remember the 70% rule: at least 70% of your income should be coming from your existing patients. They are the most reliable source of new restorative cases and other revenue for you right now. Also, tying marketing messages into the pandemic crisis can seem opportunistic and may be drowned out by several other clinics in your city doing the same thing. At the same time, you can’t conduct business as usual, as that may make people view you as ignoring the current state of the world.
Empathy And Support For Patients
The key is to make sure you, your team, and your practice as a whole is empathetic and authentic when you interact with patients. Choose strong, supportive, and optimistic messaging over fear-driven communication. Use social media as a tool to provide high-value information to your patient base.
Make sure you make a solid first impression on patients when they visit your practice, whether it’s through an in-person visit for a cleaning or a teledentistry appointment to talk about the cost of treatment. You want to ensure your patients feel comfortable in all settings. Visible safety features and attentive staff can be the difference between an angry Yelp review and repeat business.
Reduce Your Costs By Switching To A Lower Cost Dental Lab
A professional dental lab can be a convenient and efficient way to reduce the burden on your internal resources as a dental care provider. If you haven’t done it already, looking for a dental lab with lower fees that still provides high product quality, can help offset increased overhead from other areas. This allows you to continue to invest in your patients’ safety and staff retention.
Let Us Help You Offer Your Patients Low-Cost Implant and Crown Solutions
At Trident Dental Laboratories, we provide more than a full dental lab service – we bring you a partnership with a full team of experts who are as invested in your success as you are. In these challenging times, our top priority has been to help dentists and dental practices like yours keep your costs down without sacrificing the top-notch service your patients expect from you.
To know more about how we can help you, please call us at 800-221-4831 or contact us via email.