Improve Your Website
Posted by Orthodontic Products Staff | Nov 4, 2020 | Marketing and Promotion | 0
The general thought is that the more website traffic you get, the more opportunities you have to acquire patients. That is the right idea, but if they aren’t staying on your website you’ll miss out on them.
START WITH THE BASICS
Here are three easy things you can do to make sure your convert website leads.
Make sure your website has a mobile-friendly design. Everyone is on the go and on their phone, so your website needs to have full functionality on any device. Otherwise, patients may go to a more readable website.
Have your contact information conveniently located. You’ll want to provide several different ways to reach you including phone numbers, email, social media accounts, and a chat widget. It’s also a good idea to include your address and a map so they know exactly where you are.
Create a blog. Not only do blogs keep patients interested and engaged with your site, but they’re also important for their impact on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). When you insert keywords into your blogs, you’ll increase traffic that could turn into new patients.
ROUTINELY ANALYZE YOUR WEBSITE
Google Analytics is a valuable tool to help you learn about how efficient your website is performing. It’s free and can let you know how many visitors you’re getting and how they found you. Along with the tip of including keywords in your site, Google Analytics provides information on SEO performance
INCORPORATE TECHNOLOGY TO CONVERT VISITORS
You need to incorporate live chat into your website. The beneficial effects of live chats are tangible: conversions can increase by up to 20% and have a 300% ROI on sales according to the American Marketing Association.
Choose one that was created by a dentist, for dentists: Amplify. It’s an innovative way to talk to—and convert—folks visiting your site. With Amplify, a real person responds within 7 seconds no matter what time of day, in over 27 languages. It’s so innovative, it won the Cellerant Best of Class Technology Award three times.
The "Ask Anything" Meeting
THE “ASK ANYTHING” MEETING
Posted by Alison Werner | Jan 15, 2021 | Business Development, Staff Issues | 0
Encouraging your staff to ask questions and challenge the conventional wisdom can bring unexpected new energy and profit to the practice
By Roger P. Levin, DDS
Let’s take a page from Silicon Valley. Some of the tech firms have a meeting that they refer to as the “Challenge Meeting.” This is the meeting where the employees at the firm get together with the leadership and can ask questions or challenge decisions.
We may not necessarily want to have a challenge meeting in an orthodontic practice, but we can have a question-and-answer meeting. This is the type of meeting that gets people involved, talking, and interested. It doesn’t have to be a challenging or negative meeting, but it should open the lines of communication in an extremely positive way. Perhaps we could call it the “Ask Anything” meeting.
For example, one practice we know implemented an “Ask Anything” meeting and a team member asked why all new patients were required to come in the morning. The answer was that traditionally mornings are lower volume times, allowing for more attention to be paid to the new patient. The team member then pointed out that as a front desk staff member, she was getting a lot of resistance from new patients about morning appointments and some were refusing to schedule at all. Although they didn’t have the data, they also observed that the no-show rate on new patients was increasing. This led to a decision to stagger the appointments throughout the day, streamline the treatment coordinator process to reduce doctor time with new patients, and block the schedule for new patients in advance. The result was a 17% increase in the start rate and a 5% decrease in the no-show rate. This was a good question, a good challenge, and it made for a great result!
If you decide to add an “Ask Anything” meeting to your practice routine, be sure to ask your staff to prepare in advance and encourage people to ask questions and participate. You’ll be surprised at how many improvements the practice can identify. This meeting will also help to galvanize the team, create commitment, and build open communication—all positive attributes of a high performing orthodontic team. OP
Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the CEO and founder of Levin Group, a leading practice management consulting firm that has worked with over 30,000 practices to increase production. A recognized expert on dental practice management and marketing, he has written 67 books and over 4,000 articles and regularly presents seminars in the U.S. and around the world. To contact Levin or to join the 40,000 dental professionals who receive his Practice Production Tip of the Day, visit levingroup.com or email rlevin@levingroup.com.