New patients are the life-blood of every practice.  So is your dental practice growing or shrinking?

Unfortunately no matter how amazing your service is, some patients will move on.  So you need a flow of new patients to replenish those lost.  Depending on the size of your practice, the number of days you’re open and the number of dentists, an average dental practice needs 10-15 new patients per month just to survive.

Many of the dentists I’ve spoken to are anxious about the future.  Competition is fierce with the influx of new dentists entering the market in recent years.  Well, you can’t stop the influx of new dentists, but you can control how you respond and how it affects your dental practice.

Answer these 5 straight forward optimisation questions:
1.  How many patients do you lose on average each month?
2.  How many new patients did you gain last month?
3.  How did these new patients find you?
4.  What marketing/promotion are you doing to attract new patients?
5.  Is any of your key marketing letting you down (website, shop-front)?

If you’re gaining more patients than you’re losing then you’re growing.  If not, it doesn’t need to be that way.  Don’t sit around hoping and waiting for more patients to walk in, instead proactively attract new patients.