How goes it? Good I hope. We just got back from a weekend in
the North Carolina mountains...beautiful Sapphire, NC...near
Cashiers and Highlands. For those not familiar, we were down
"in the corner" of the state.
We had a bunch of family staying in a huge cabin on the grounds
of Camp Merrie-Wood, where my wife Elizabeth used to go when she
was a little girl. We went to the Highlands Christmas Parade,
played football with the boys in the cold, enjoyed seeing the
first snow of the season...and the kids got a visit from Santa
himself at the cabin. You shoulda seen their faces!
OK...let's get down to business. Recently I've gotten a couple
of requests from Dental Insiders Alliance members who need to
fill some openings in their schedule as 2009 draws to a close.
Here I'll share with you how I not only JAMMED my December
schedule, but also built a "waiting list" of patients eager
to schedule before year end.
If you've previously communicated with your patients that
have insurance and/or FLEX plans about using their benefits
before the end of 2009, you've got a bit of a head start. You
planted the seed for the procrastinators whom you can still
reach. If not, don't worry. It's not too late to pack 'em in.
First, you'll want to consider what it's going to take to get
the number of patients you need to DROP whatever they're doing
and call your office to schedule. During the holidays that's a
BIG task, as most people have A LOT going on. Keep that in mind
as you consider offering an incentive for them to call you now.
As you know, you already have two good incentives built in:
dental insurance and FLEX benefits that expire on December 31st.
Even then, for most patients that's not enough...they'd rather
just wait. For best conversion results (in my opinion) you've
got to offer more during the holidays, especially in the current
economic climate, if you want people to take action.
Here's what I did. I had 3 openings for treatment and 2 hygiene
openings to fill for December, but I wanted more patients than
that to respond so I could have a "waiting list" to help fill
any potential cancellations that occur too.
Step 1: I sent an email to all patients who had been in my
practice within the last FIVE years! Since this is essentially
"free" for me (no additional cost), I included all but those
who were labeled "inactive" by their request. My obvious goal
was to attract a patient or two who hadn't been in for a while,
and the end of the year is one of the best times to do just that!
(Note: I have about 85-90% of my patients' email addresses. If
you're not collecting them, you NEED to be.)
In the email I made a phenomenal offer: $50 Off PER $500 worth of
dentistry started before our last day of December 22nd. So if
a patient schedules $2000, they'll save $200. Not too shabby.
I also LISTED the exact dates and times of the appointments that
were available at that time, with the footnote that they could
vanish at any time as patients called to schedule.
My "REASON WHY" stemmed from the consecutive business days of
"Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday". I decided to declare last
Tuesday as "Tooth-Day Tuesday"! Patients had to call by the end
of the week, but they could save as long as their appointment is
in December.
Step 2: I created a VOICE BROADCAST and sent it to the same list
(including those without email addresses) the next day. In the
message I referred to the email from the day before, and I also
explained the offers. Thanking your patients for being your
patients is a great way to start these messages, by the way.
It's also a good extra reason for the offer. This call went out
on Wednesday, using IfByPhone (www.IfByPhone.com). Cost: $148.00.
It's best to keep these at one minute or less.
Step 3: I sent a follow-up email on Thursday, repeating the offer
and mentioning that we were almost out of appointments in 2009...
which was true. Otherwise the message was essentially the same.
Here's what happened.
The first email generated DOZENS of calls! Within one hour we had
filled 3 of the 5 appointments, and we also started to build our
waiting list of patients who requested different dates and times.
Other callers simply inquired about their treatment needs but
didn't schedule...at least they got one step closer! Still other
callers who were no longer patients allowed us to "scrub" their
names off my active patient list, so I won't waste their or my
time in the future by contacting them.
The voice broadcast served to fill the remaining two slots...
AND two more that opened because of >24-hour cancellations! Two
patients that got the email called to reschedule their appointments,
which allowed us to schedule two more callers. Otherwise the
original appointments would've possibly been canceled later,
making it more difficult to fill them.
7 appointments worth $7468.00 filled with an email and a $148
voice broadcast!
On Thursday the second email generated more calls from patients
requesting appointments. Please do not overlook the importance
of a follow-up message! Since we had no slots left, we added
their names to our waiting list, which we'll turn to when we
have a cancellation.
This "VIP Short Call" list will be MUCH more effective than
our regular patient list, since these are patients who are actively
seeking an appointment this month. Although we had no cancellations
on Monday, I expect we'll still add a few more appointments from
that list in December, as patients rearrange their holiday plans.
Of course this isn't the only way to skin this cat. Your exact
processes may vary, as will your "mileage". But I hope you gain
something from this anecdote. Namely, that it's OK to "prod"
and also "incentivize" your patients on occasion to take action.
In fact it's not just OK...it's PROFITABLE too!
All my best,
Chris
PS: On an unrelated note...if you missed the opportunity to send
your patients their Thanksgiving card and you still want to send
them a holiday card, I'd recommend a "Happy New Year" card instead
of Christmas/Hannukah/etc. cards. That way your card won't get
lost in the deluge of other cards hitting mailboxes in December.
Schedule for a delivery date of about January 10th.
The brief videos linked below outline the exact process I use to
send real cards to my patients (family and friends too) without
going to the store or licking stamps. Even though they use a
Christmas card as their example, I use this online system for ALL
of my postcards and greeting cards. It's fast, simple, and VERY
economical. First, click the first link...then the second!
Here's the first video showing how to send at least 100 cards
in under 5 minutes:
http://www.soccoach.com/sendcards
Next, this video shows you how you can get the same system:
https://www.sendoutcards.com/24057
(NOTE: Either 'Wholesale" or "Entrepreneur" is the way to go!)
Dr. Chris Bowman
Dental Insiders Alliance
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