Uncovering Hidden Revenue Opportunities in Your Practice [VIDEO]

Did you know there are hidden revenue opportunities in your practice?

Database reactivation is a powerful tool to uncover revenue streams already sitting in your practice management system, all without investing in expensive ads or new patient acquisition campaigns. And it can be used for so much more than just hygiene!

How? Check out this AADOM …Opens in a new window to AADOM’s website… QuickCast with Angela, where you’ll learn how to:

• Find hidden revenue in your existing patient base
• Discover what types of patients are ideal for reactivation
• Get patients in the door without taking a ton of your team’s time
• Internally to increase show rates and treatment acceptance

Watch the video above or read the transcript below:

John: Happy Monday AADOM nation. It is time for another Quick Cast here on the AADOM Facebook page …Opens in a new window to AADOM’s Facebook…, AADOM YouTube …Opens in a new window to AADOM’s YouTube… page, and AADOM LinkedIn …Opens in a new window to AADOM’s LinkedIn… page.

You know, I’ve had the opportunity over the last couple of years to do a lot of AADOM radio podcasts with the team from Roadside Dental Marketing. It’s always cool when we actually get to have them come on camera, so I’m very excited to have with us today, Angela Byrnes, who is the director of client services at Roadside Dental Marketing. What’s going on Angela?

Angela: Nothing. I’m glad you let us join today, and it is fun to finally be on camera. We do lots of voice-only.

John: Yes, we do a lot of voice-only.

So today, you’ve got all kinds of cool stuff for us, all around the idea of uncovering some hidden revenue in your practice -who doesn’t want that, right? Who wants to look at the month ahead and maybe be a little concerned, because they’re like, “oh, our schedule isn’t as full as it was last month. What are we going to do?”

I have an idea that you’re going to share some tips with that.

So as always, everybody, show your love for Angela and put in the comments where you’re watching from around the country. Any questions that you have for her, please put those in there too.

She’s got an awesome presentation she’s going to go through. And then when she’s done, I’ll come back and we’ll do a little Q&A, and we’ll go from there. So, Angela, the floor is yours.

Angela: Perfect. Thank you so much, John, I always love to join your events. So today we are going to talk about something that a lot of practices are getting really excited about, and that is finding hidden revenue opportunities that are living within the practice.

We all know that we want to increase revenue in our practice. And the traditional way is to spend more to increase revenue. And we have been talking a lot with our practices and with people about how to really tap into what you already have available and just look at it a little bit differently. You’d be surprised at how many opportunities there are.

So, today’s topic:

We’re going to talk about:

1. How to find those revenue gems hidden within your existing patient base.
2. What type of patients are good for reactivation -spoiler alert, this isn’t just hygiene reactivation.
3. How to get patients in the door without utilizing so much of your team’s time. We know we’re all strapped and especially right now, there’s a lot of shortages in the pool of who can work in our practice. So, we want to do it really efficiently and effectively.
4. What we can do internally to increase show rates, because I think that’s one of the most important parts, is to get them to show up and accept treatment.

So, the first one is, how do we identify that hidden revenue from your existing patient base?

You know, we’ve been doing marketing for dentists for well over 20 years, I think we’re going on 23 or 24 at this point, and the one thing we have seen throughout all this time that has stayed consistent is that marketing does not stay consistent. It is always changing.

And we here at Roadside are always trying to improve how we’re doing business for our clients. We want to stay ahead of the game and help them really increase profit. And recently in the last year or so, we’ve had a little bit of a shift in not just looking at it from the lens of traditional marketing, but with really helping our practices find places to grow their revenue.

And so today, we’re going to talk about those hidden gems within your existing practice management system. Not only finding them, but also really nurturing them into profit for you, into getting patients in the door.

Now, you know, at this point, I know a lot of people are saying, “oh, you’re talking about reactivation or hygiene recall –yeah, we do that.”

No, that’s not exactly what I’m talking about. Yes, it does include hygiene recall, but it’s not limited to just recall. And, excuse me, a lot of practices are also giving us the feedback that they’re really booked out. They say their hygienist is booked out maybe for months because they’re needing another hygienist and they just can’t find one.

So, it’s not just activating hygiene. It’s also talking about how to get treatments scheduled, how to look at reactivating the existing patient base that you have, and finding opportunities there. So, let’s start with, how do we find these revenues within our patient base? We’re going to call it a patient base, database, whatever term you want to use, but it’s your practice management system. It’s that thing that keeps track of all your patients.

So, you can run specific reports within that practice management system, and you can get some of those metrics and those numbers. It’s a little bit more labor-intensive, but it’s absolutely doable. We really love Dental Intel -it integrates with most practice management systems, and it makes it really easy to find those metrics. We’ve partnered up with them to help our practices use that technology and really know their numbers.

And when we’re digging into that data, what we’re looking for is really that low-hanging fruit: the quickest and fastest ways to reactivate, or to get treatment, acceptance, and get people on your books. They’re going to change your numbers for the month and therefore for the year.

So why is this low-hanging fruit, or why is this easy revenue? Well, because these patients already know you. They already trust you. You’re not having to convince them why you’re a good practice. You’re not having to start from scratch. They have a problem that you can solve. And this is especially true when we’re talking about unaccepted treatment.

So, this kind of brings us to our next learning objective: What type of patients are good for reactivation? You know, I had an interesting call with a practice, recently, we were talking about reactivation using their existing database, and how we can really maximize it.

And they said, “I just don’t want to do a hygiene reactivation campaign. We’re already booked so far out, that, you know, we just don’t have room in our hygiene schedule.”

And I said, “I totally understand, but what about unaccepted treatment?” And they said, “yeah, we have some outstanding treatment plans. Of course. I think everyone does.”

And I said, “what do you think has had the most effect on that unaccepted treatment.” And they’re like, “well, you know, we’re not real aggressive in our treatment planning. So, I would say probably most cases where patients don’t get scheduled would be with things like Invisalign or maybe veneers, because they’re a little more elective or cosmetic. You know, we actually do really good when it comes to our actual treatment plans because we’re conservative in our scheduling and, you know, people will just book.“

And so I said, “well, that’s great. So, let’s run some numbers and just look at where we’re at and use Dental Intel, use your practice numbers, and see where we’re really at.”

We ran through, they had about 70-ish unaccepted Invisalign cases over the last 18 months. So, there’s definitely a revenue opportunity there with re-educating about Invisalign and talking about that service. And then we ran the same report for veneers and there wasn’t that much, there were maybe a dozen more cosmetic veneer cases that weren’t accepted.

But we were like, you know, let’s just check out the same thing for your crowns that are out there.

Over 300 patients -active patients -in the last 18 months had treatment plans for crowns and were not scheduled on their books at that moment. And through that technology, through Dental Intel, we were able to add another layer and not only get a list of those patients, but also get a list of who still had outstanding insurance (because they were a practice who did actually accept insurance), and see, “who still has outstanding insurance available this year? Who has more than $400 available this year?”

And it narrowed down a list that really helped us see who we should be talking to first. You know, the interesting thing is that they really thought they were doing great at closing treatment -and they are, it’s a successful practice. They’re doing well. Their numbers show that they do close their treatment plans.

But there were so many unaccepted treatments on their books. And without having those metrics in front of them, they just didn’t know. That’s potentially $300,000 of revenue sitting there, waiting for you to get them back in the door.

So, knowing your numbers and having that system in place is so valuable and really essential. It’s just imperative. A lot of practices talk to their patients about treatment, and if the patient doesn’t schedule right then, they maybe talk to them and discuss a treatment plan with them, you know, once or twice. And that’s really it.

Research shows that we need between 5 and 12 communication touchpoints as consumers to purchase any product.

Guess what guys? That applies to dental services too.

You know, the patient may go home. Maybe they want to talk with their spouse -they need to think it over. Maybe they want to do a little more research on the procedure -they didn’t really understand why they needed it, or if it was really necessary.

And then in a lot of the cases where they didn’t book right then, often the office will make one, sometimes two follow-ups, or they kind of half-heartedly mention it at the next cleaning, because you know, they don’t want to be too pushy -and that’s really not enough to nurture.

And that’s what we’re talking about.

We’re talking about nurturing these potential patients and talking to them about the importance of that treatment. And I’m not talking about hounding them and harassing them and bugging them until they say, “leave me alone.” That’s not what we’re talking about, we’re talking about having relationships and just speaking with them.

So, lead nurturing. You know, when you’re having 300 unscheduled treatments currently on your books, is it realistic for you to have your team get on the phone? Well, yeah, you probably want to do that on some of them, but are they going to call 300 unscheduled crowns and get those 5 to 10 touchpoints in to get them to schedule?

No way.

Nobody’s got time for that. And patients don’t want that. So how can we do it in a non-salesy way? How can we use our technology to nurture them, to talk about treatment, to engage with them, to keep their front-of-mind awareness, and remind them that, you know, you’re there to help?

The key is to be friendly and conversational, the same way you’d communicate with them if they’re standing there in-person.

Text messaging is the best way to do that. If you have the software for two-way text messaging, you’re going to see much higher success. Text messages have a 98% open rate, versus emails that are sitting around an 18% open rate.

So often, practices have a way for the team to do this themselves. They could use their patient communication software. They could write up a couple communications, they could set them up. It works really well.

Our agency uses an automated system. We do it for our practices, and we do the writing for them. So obviously that’s even easier. So, if you’re working with an agency that has a lead nurturing system, ask them about it and ask them specifically about unaccepted treatment plans and how you can nurture those leads and what it looks like.

At this point, some practices say, “wouldn’t it be annoying if we’re texting them and emailing them about treatment that they didn’t accept? Isn’t that too much communication?”

And the answer to that is no, not if it’s done properly. As long as you’re being friendly and offer-focused and not salesy, then people aren’t going to get annoyed.

And you might have the occasional ones that opt-out or say, “no, I’m not interested.” And usually, it’s for legit reasons, like they moved or they’re just not going to do the treatment. And you need to know that anyway.

But if you handle it properly, you’re not harassing your patients. You’re not just saying, “do you want to schedule? Do you want to schedule?” No, you’re educating them. You’re building relationships with them. You’re telling them the benefit that this procedure has on their life, and that makes them choose to want to schedule.

You know, we started a reactivation campaign with one of our clients recently; actually, it was an AADOM member who had room in their hygiene and they had some patients to reactivate.

And so, we did this in books of about a hundred patients at a time, and we did a little AB testing to test our messaging and watch the text message work, and we were able to really customize the message and the offer. And we did it in a very conversational way.

So, it’s not your typical hygiene reactivation, and you know what, that first set of text messages that went out (automated, by the way, the office didn’t have to do it)?

Right away, we got 11 leads. Three people booked immediately off their booking software that was linked in the text message, and eight more responded by two-way texting the office right away and said, “yep, I need to come in, can’t schedule it right now. Can you call me tomorrow?”

So yes, the office has a little bit of follow-up to do, but right there, that’s 11 patients who the office did not have to sit on the phone with to try to reactivate.

And that’s real revenue. You know, three patients booking can be anywhere from $600 to $1,800 in revenue, depending on what your services are. But then with eight more pending, you’re looking at anywhere from $1,600 to $5,000 worth of revenue. And that’s if they don’t do any other treatment from their exam.

When you add on the additional set of overdue patients that the rest of the campaign hit, you’re talking about anywhere between $10,000 to $31,000 of potential revenue sitting in their books, that we were able to help them activate -all automated.

And even if we go to the lowest numbers, you know what, ten grand in the next month is not something your doctor’s going to be disappointed about. That’s a great, great thing to start with. And then you have to consider: once you get them reactivated, they’re a patient again. They’re qualifying for other treatments. They’re bringing in their friends and their family members who might be inactive. Maybe they’re referring friends.

Again, there’s no ad spend here, and you’re bringing in patients who might have otherwise been lost, just by being more creative with your communication and reactivation with them.

There’s a huge potential here for revenue growth for your whole practice.

So, what can you do internally to increase your show rates and treatment acceptance? Well, let’s just recap a few suggestions of things that you guys can do.

The first part is, know your numbers, know who’s in your existing database and how you can reach them. Set up a system to nurture those leads and nurture those patients.

And when I say nurture, I mean communicate with them in a real manner. That’s what people want these days. And do it more than once! You know, most practices are amazing at maintaining relationships with their patients once they walk in the door and they see them face to face. But once the patients leave, it kind of drops off, and they could stand to have a little bit of improvement in their nurturing ability.

Another piece is to help your team feel confident and comfortable when they’re following up, answering phones, or responding to inquiries.

And for any of you who’ve done webinars or podcasts with Roadside before, you know that we love to give away goodies to our AADOM family. And that’s the case now also. We have a free resource for everyone watching: it’s a downloadable cheat sheet for your front office, for your front desk team, to help them feel more confident in answering phones, new leads, inquiries, and booking them.

So, this is free to everyone. The AADOM team is putting the link right here in the comments for you all, and we know that you guys will really appreciate that. There’s even a little video that gives you some top tricks about how to make it most successful. It’s our gift to you guys and I really hope that you guys enjoy it.

You know, we do have the platform I mentioned -Roadside has a new platform called Roadside Connect that helps with these campaigns and helps with the automation. It doesn’t replace your patient confirmations, but it helps enhance your marketing efforts. If anyone wants more information about that, please let me know.

This can be done internally with any platform you have. You just have to change your focus a little bit and grab hold of the revenue that’s right there in front of you.

Okay. So, if you have any questions for us, reach out to me, put some questions in the chat. I’m here to answer questions, but I hope this helps your guys’ revenue surpass any other years. Thank you.

John: The resources that you mentioned, I love. The discussions with practices about unscheduled treatment, I love that also.

And you mentioned something, Angela, that got my attention: in the world of being contacted by your dental practice -i.e., where you went in there, they diagnosed that you needed to get some work done, and then you didn’t come back, and maybe a month later, or two months later, or three months later, as you said, they communicate to you via text.

I still feel like the dental practice is the one place, other than maybe your medical doctor, that when you get some sort of communication on work that needs to be done, there’s still that feeling that, “you know what, it’s because they know that they want me to be healthy.”

Do you know what I’m saying?

So, I think a lot of times, as you mentioned, it can feel like, when practices are connecting with patients that need to get this treatment done, that they’re coming at it from a sales perspective.

But I think about my own situation, and I think of work that I knew that I had to get done where I got busy. And so, a simple text reminder that I was there and that I needed to come back, kind of puts things at the top of my mind to move me forward, to get things scheduled.

So, I love that you discussed that. And years ago, I spent time in dental practices and one of the very first things that blew my mind is I went in there, and went into the unscheduled treatment report.

And I couldn’t believe it.

I mean, it was unbelievable to me. But what was interesting is that one would have thought that it was thousands of dollars of case presentations, meaning $5,000, $7,000 treatment plans.

But what I discovered was that it was more so the sweet spot between around $600 and $1,200. So, you know, it wasn’t treatment that was super expensive.

I think a lot of times, as you guys know, people just get busy. And so, it’s just a lot of good insight and something I’m glad you guys shared with us today.

Angela: Yeah, so often they’ll walk out of the practice with great intentions, and they get busy, or maybe they have additional questions about, “why is that necessary?” And they’re embarrassed to ask.

So it’s great to have a way that we’re communicating the benefits and why we recommended that treatment to them, so maybe they can share it with family members or a spouse and say, “hey, this is why they recommended this crown. Or this is why they recommended this, even though it’s not hurting.”

Giving them that knowledge and that power helps them make the decision to schedule.

John: Absolutely. And it’s funny how fast time goes. I mean, I think back to myself, this was back in 2012 and 2013. I don’t know what tools were available there, but I just know that with going to the team with this list and asking them to call those patients, things didn’t always come back to me with a smile.

I have vivid memories of being so excited. It’s like, “oh my gosh, wait until they see this! They’re going to be so excited with all these patients.

”They were not excited. They’re like, “I don’t want to call these people.”

So it’s really cool that we have evolved, and there are all these tools that you talked about to help practices do that in a very low touch, but super effective way.

Angela: Absolutely.

John: Excellent. I don’t have any other questions, so I think we’re good. And again, like Angela mentioned, there are a lot of great resources in the thread for you to make sure that you go check that out.

And I always like to put in a little plug for you guys. If anybody has recently gone to the AADOM website or you’re new to AADOM, just let it be known that that is a product of Roadside Dental Marketing.

So, if you’re looking for a new website or what have you, I’m just plugging this myself, Angela, just because I love the work that you guys do. So, you know, if you want an example of the work that they do and you love the AADOM website where there’s a lot of great resources, that came from Roadside Dental Marketing.

So, any thoughts as we close out the QuickCast today?

Angela: No, I just, I really am available if anyone has any questions about how they can do this, how they could look for those hidden gems in the practice.

If they want to see – maybe they’re not using Dental Intel – and they want to see a snapshot to see what potential they could have in reactivating some folks, or how much revenue might be sitting there, and they don’t want to run 30 different reports from their practice management system.

They can reach out to me, and we’re doing complimentary snapshots. So just reach out, I’m happy to help and see what’s available in your practice to get your revenue up quickly.

John: Awesome. Thanks, Angela. Talk to you soon.

Angela: Thanks, John. Bye.

Resources mentioned on the QuickCast:

• Find hidden revenue within your practice with a Dental Intel complimentary snapshot
• Download the New Patient Enrollment Cheat Sheet