Running a dental practice takes work, and if you weren’t lucky enough to start with a book of clients, whether taken over or purchased, you know how hard it is to get new patients. Then, once you have them, you need to keep track of them all.
IT services refer to all types of information technology, and they provide your business with technology-based solutions that can increase your productivity, streamline your operations, and help you increase your patient load and profit. Read on for more information about IT services in general and how they can benefit your dental practice.
To discuss the unique needs of your dental practice and establish an IT plan, reach out to Nicolet Tech directly for a consultation. As you’ll see, IT services can increase the volume of patients you can handle through improvements in efficiency and help you market to fill the extra time with more income.
What Is Information Technology?
IT services are just what the name implies - technology that makes the transfer of information more efficient.
In the past, you would seek out new patients by paying a designer to make a flyer, take that flyer to the printer, then to a marketing agency with the addresses of potential patients, then they address the flyers and bring them to the Post Office. Or you’d take out a Yellow Pages ad, which wasn’t much more convenient or proactive.
Then you would wait for the new lead and create a paper file for the patient when they reach out and eventually show up for an appointment they’d set with your receptionist over the phone.
Through IT services, you can find, schedule, intake, and ultimately see a new patient without doing a single thing on your end, skipping all of these time-consuming and costly steps.
Information technology involves the use of email, the use of digital filing systems and storage, using instant messaging systems to communicate with customers, and using automated email lists to communicate promotions and advertisements to your current and future patients. As we’ll explore in this article, IT services can be hugely beneficial to your dental practice, streamlining the process of finding, signing, and scheduling patients so you can do what you do best, practice dentistry.
Client Tracking and Automatic Engagement for Appointments
You might remember the names and faces of your patients when they walk through the door, but keeping track of every client on your roster can be difficult. Running a business takes a great deal of time and effort, and the more that you can automate and take out of your hands, the more time you have to practice and earn.
Client tracking software can maintain silos or categories for new and established patients, clients who are on simple maintenance plans, and those who are on a higher priority track given their unique issues. Keeping your patients organized and segmented in terms of need and priority can help ensure that you provide all clients top-notch services, no matter their need.
Repeat business is a key element of any dental business, and to ensure that your clients keep coming back to receive their cleanings between their other services, automated appointments, and reminders can be of great value to your business. While we aren’t suggesting that your receptionist is not capable of remembering to reach out to patients at certain times, when you have a successful firm, even the most organized support staff can allow some patients to slip through the cracks.
With automated reminders and appointment settings, once your patient is in your system, you can rest assured that they will have bookings for follow-up services as long as their relationship with you is active.
Client-Sourcing Through SEO-Optimized Marketing
IT services are of value to your dental practice not only in terms of improving upon your efficiency and profitability in your company but also in attracting patients to your practice. In the modern market characterized by intense competition, it can be difficult to set yourself apart from the many competitors in your space.
Your dental practice may face the challenge of chains and franchises that provide their owners with patient referrals from the get-go. Building a business takes work, and patient referrals and leads can make the difference between covering expenses or taking out loans.
When people search for dentists on Google, SEO-optimized marketing sends them your way so that you can get new business. SEO means search-engine-optimized, and what that means most basically is that you show up higher on the list when people search for businesses like yours in your area. You can achieve this by paying Google for leads, which can cost over one hundred dollars per phone call, and the phone calls might not even lead to business.
Other services will claim to organically increase your search ranking by doing a long list of things you don’t understand on the back-end that might or might not work. With Nicolet Tech by your side, we’ll advise you on what the best tools available are to drive business your way and how to do so without breaking the bank.
Get Moving With IT Services for Your Dental Practice Today
Incorporating IT services into your dental practice can lead to more potential patients reaching out to you and also make the management and scheduling of your existing patients extremely efficient.
With the assistance of one of the professionals from Nicolet Tech, your patients can schedule, pay, and ask questions completely online, so you can focus on practicing dentistry while IT services address the time-consuming logistics needed to support your firm. While you might still need a receptionist, the speed at which you process patients and the effectiveness at which you market to new patients can markedly improve.
To build upon your dental practice by implementing the IT solutions that are most appropriate for your business, contact Nicolet Tech for your consultation now at (651) 240-2202.