As long as people eat food, they will need teeth. As long as people have teeth, they will need a dentist’s assistance. This makes dentistry a highly lucrative and stable endeavor.
It’s also a highly competitive profession. That means that you not only need to invest time, effort, and money into perfecting your craft, you have to have business and marketing savvy to become a successful dentist.
So here are a few general dental management tips you can apply to your practice that will guarantee more happy patients and increase your overall profit margin.


Email campaigns can bring huge profits

Email campaigns are an extremely efficient way of marketing, with some research claiming that it has 4200% ROI for every dollar spent.
It’s a very cost efficient way to reach out to your patients and build a lasting relationship.
It’s an advertising space to boast all of your latest accomplishments, accolades, new pieces of tech, and revolutionary techniques you’ve adopted. Keeping a good reputation is paramount for a successful dentist office.
Email marketing campaigns also help drive traffic to your website, which in turn increases its position on the search engine results pages.
Make sure your emails are properly branded and formatted, lest you look like an amateur. Provide your subscribers with high quality and interesting information, and you will see the benefits in a matter of months.
Consider hiring a digital marketing manager to take care of this side of the business for you. Without one, you will waste precious money and time in trial and error. A professional will know exactly which metrics to track, which tactics to employ, and when.

Use scheduling software

Efficiency is the name of the game when trying to keep a tidy schedule. You want your patients to make their appointments with as few clicks as possible. You want your employees to have a clear overview of appointments met, missed, and scheduled. You want to minimize human error as much as possible.
No human brain can keep track of appointments as well as a simple piece of software can. Scheduling has never been easier to use, more efficient, and beneficial to the customer experience you provide.
Some patients even consider not having online appointment scheduling a deal breaker. They would switch dentists for one that uses scheduling software.
So using software to handle your booking is a no brainer. It lets your employees focus on other tasks, it optimizes the patient flow, and provides an overall better customer experience.
This all leads to an increased profit margin.

What is your practice known for?

In a sea of practices, what do you offer that no one else does? Are you an expert on cosmetic dentistry? Do you specialize in near painless root canals? Is your plaque removal game second to none?
Whatever the answer may be, you need one. That’s called having a Unique Selling Proposition, or USP.
Having a clearly defined USP is an incredibly valuable asset to your practice. It justifies raising your prices. It puts you on the map and separates you from the competition.
Make sure everyone on your staff is on the same page and build a brand around what you do best.

Hone your leadership skills

A dentist never works alone. There are always assistants, nurses, receptionists, and other personnel waiting to be managed.
Being a great leader in this sense means having a clear overview of the entirety of your practice. The brand image, business plan, and the end goal. You then need to take every step necessary to get your practice where it needs to be.
When you’ve got that covered, you’ll foster respect from your staff.
Once you’ve gained their respect, it is your job to delegate tasks, make sure everybody’s pulling their weight, encourage new ideas and stimulate creativity in the workplace.
If you phone your ‘boss’ position in, the situation will quickly deteriorate, and your practice will suffer. You need to be on your tippy toes the entire way through, constantly learning, improving, and keeping a watchful eye on the future of your dental practice.

A dentist’s office needs an atmosphere

One of the key aspects of patient satisfaction is the feeling they get when they come to your office. The mood you build in your office is an often intangible but very important factor for your success.
Keeping a clean office, the choice of furniture, the visual impressions your employees leave their interaction in front of the patients, the music you play all the way through to your magazine choices. These are all aspects that need attention in order to set the right mood in a dentist’s office.
Arguably, the most important part of your practice’s image are your employees. If you keep them happy, productive, and smiling, they will treat your patients with the care they deserve.

The staff is the heart and soul of a dental practice

Everyone from your top expert periodontist to the cleaning personnel requires your attention and respect.
Treat your employees as profitable business assets rather than obligatory expenses. That means providing ample professional development opportunities, for example.
An investment in your team is an investment in your office. A person you have helped achieve their professional goals and gave them a higher position will be a loyal partner, ready to work for the benefit of the office.
Work on instilling your employees with your office culture. The culture consists of values, goals, and professional standards that your business is striving for. Lead by example. Once everyone is on the same page and given the opportunity to become the best version of themselves they can be, you will see your business flourish.

Improve your patient communication

Patient retention is the key for a lasting and successful practice. Once you gain the trust of a patient and they start referring their friends and family to you, you’ve chalked up a huge victory.
One of the critical components to patient satisfaction is communication efficiency. These days, people’s lives are too hectic to read emails, let alone make a phone call. At least most people pretend it’s like that.
In the current social climate, the text is the communication channel of choice for appointment set ups, check ups and cancellations.
A simple text that contains nothing but necessary information is the preferred method of communication with your patients.
Having said that, there is also a benefit to maintaining a dedicated mailing list. In the long run, a mailing list will make your patients feel like they’re part of a family.

Conclusion

It can be frustrating to invest so much effort into your craft, only for it to go to waste because of poor managerial decisions and strategies.
As much as we would like to solely focus on taking care of and protecting teeth, there’s no denying your practice is an entrepreneurship and has to be treated as such.
Keep your staff happy. Keep your patients comfortable. Use digital technology to your advantage. Take care of your reputation. Because your competitors are almost certainly doing that.
Above all else, respect the people around you and the community you build together, and your chances of success will skyrocket.