Inflation is a problem that hurts not just small businesses - like your dental practice - directly, it also hamstrings consumers. And, in a tight market, many might see most dental services as elective rather than necessary, further cutting into your practice’s bottom line. Add into this the fact that consumers have a lot to think about related to their dental insurance coverages.
But, we’re here to bring you 5 helpful tips to battle back from these external trends so you can compete.
While traditional marketing strategies like word of mouth and local print advertisements can help you reach patients in your market, digital channels and promotions are becoming increasingly important to expanding your reach!
Consider investing in social media marketing, SEO, AEO, pay-per-click (both through social platforms and search engines) as well as in other digital channels.
And, on top of digital marketing and advertising, get smart about promoting your practice. Consider running promotions that can get new patients in the door or entice existing patients to come back. Bundles can be another effective strategy to entice new patients or bring back existing patients by increasing the perceived value of the services you offer.
If your practice isn’t hurting in terms of patient volume, only in terms of your profit margin, it might be time to make the difficult decision to adjust your pricing model.
Don’t make big changes to service pricing all at once. Raise them incrementally. And, if patients push back, consider implementing a BNPL, or “buy now pay later” model. These have proven extremely popular with consumers across many industries.
If you’re pressed for new revenue streams, rather than changing prices (which patients are unlikely to appreciate) consider diversifying your practice by expanding your service offering.
Consider expanding into endodontics, either hiring an endodontist or partnering with a mobile endodontist who can visit your practice a few times per week or at a set point during the month. You can also consider expanding into implant dentistry, or periodontics. You could also weigh the possibility of partnering with an OMS using the same mobile model as you can with endodontics, if your practice doesn’t have the space for a permanent new specialist.
Training new staff is extremely time consuming and expensive; your current staff should be seen as one of the most important assets in your entire business model. Staffing shortages and other similar issues have plagued small businesses, and that includes dental practices, for the better part of 5 years now.
Make staff retention, and by extension, employee satisfaction, top goals for your practice. Make sure that your practice compensates fairly, doesn’t overburden current employees with a larger-than-acceptable workload, and be certain that your practice is competitive with other employee benefits like PTO, 401(k), and other packages.
Lastly, invest in new technology, which is one of the keys to upholding a high standard of patient care, but which is also vital to the potential for expanding your service offering.
For instance, if you’re considering expanding into endodontics or implant dentistry, modern technology like dental CBCT imaging systems or intraoral scanners might be necessary.
Get this high quality tech for anywhere from 30% to 50% off the price of new with certified, used dental equipment.
We support our used dental equipment just like new systems and work closely with our customers to square away installation and networking requirements and much more - we’ll even work with you for trade-in or financing.
For more information on the used dental equipment we sell from the top brands, or to get started, contact us at 888-246-5611 or fill out a form here.