I understand that right now we are all trying to survive and we are just in the moment trying to push through. We are hoping for things to get back to normal soon! You don’t want to change the way we would handle our patients and the care that we provide for them. During this time, we would not want to turn away from having that chance of scheduling a new patient.
We are ALWAYS wanting to accept new patients – even during unusual times such as we are having right now. When a potential new patient calls the office you need to embrace that opportunity and find a way to get them in the schedule. They are “in the moment” and we need to help them get what they need. Something has motivated them to call – they are having an issue, they are looking for a new dentist, they saw your amazing marketing, a neighbor referred them. WHATEVER the reason, you want them as a patient! With new patients come treatment dollars, referrals – All the things we need to bounce back from our current situation and grow the practice.
Your patients of record know you and they are not planning to go anywhere. They already know the quality of care that you provide for them! I would suggest pushing your current patients out some to fit new patients in. They are calling your office at that moment, for a reason. If you don’t find time for them in the very near future, another office will. Be the office that says “Of course we are accepting new patients! Let me be the first to welcome you and see what we can do to help…” Try to plan on at least one new patient everyday to fit into your schedule during the work week and see how that works for your current schedule, so that you know you have an appointment block where you are able to offer them an appointment and hopefully get them scheduled.
However, there might be some cases where this is not the case though, such as an office with a ton of patients in active treatment, such as an ortho office. You would then put your patients first because they are paying for a case and expecting to be done on time. In a perio office, those who have had to put the perio maintenance or a scheduled surgery on hold due to office closure, it would be important to continue their treatment as soon as you can, so we do not jeopardize their oral health care.
Laura has been putting together AMAZING content over the last several weeks and make sure that you don’t miss all the latest updates on our Rockstar Restart page! You will find useful information regarding scheduling protocols during this time! There is a lot of helpful information to help an office bounce back stronger and with a restart.
Also here are some helpful resources on why we want to make sure we are available when a new patient call comes through and how you can fit it into your schedule!
Watch: New Patient Appointments
Watch: Rock the New Patient Phone Call
Watch: Creating the Ultimate New Patient Experience