The Crucial Role of the Practice Reception Team in Dental Marketing

Diligent new patient lead handling is the difference between success and failure

We recently had a client cancel their high-performing Google Ads account as they were quote “unable to respond to the leads fast enough and by the time the reception team responded, the patient had gone elsewhere”. This is really frustrating for us as marketers but also a critical “fail” on behalf of the practice. I discussed the data with the practice principal and also the feedback which had come back from the practice manager (see above) but to date, the client still hasn’t re-enabled their ads.

To put it in context, these were highly qualified leads from focused Google Ads campaigns – so folk who had searched on Google with specific intent for certain types of dental treatment. The leads weren’t the more speculative type that you can expect from social media ads, so even more frustrating that they weren’t being responded to promptly.

At the other end of the spectrum I recently discussed the progress of various ad accounts with a client based in Oxfordshire – these accounts also perform very well. However, a key difference is that the principal has worked really hard to ensure that the conversion process i.e. leads to treatment at the practice, is as good as it can be. This isn’t just the reception team and TCO, but also the dentists themselves. Indeed his opinion was that in the overall lead conversion process, 1/3 is contributed by the marketing team, 1/3 by his support team and 1/3 by the clinicians. What the actual contributions are is debatable, but I believe that is an excellent rule-of-thumb to start with.

What I’m illustrating here is the huge gulf in the understanding of lead conversion between various practices and how some principles really “get it” whereas others still expect the treatments to fall into their laps – even after we try to educate them about the importance of having competent, committed staff following up on the leads promptly.

What needs to be in place for successful lead follow-up?

This is a broad question and a topic which can’t be skimmed over, so I won’t attempt to do that here. However, suffice to say that you need to understand just how important it is and be prepared to focus on it at the practice. Some key considerations:

• Understand the key role of the front-of-house team in lead conversion
• Find the right people to do it
• Allocate sufficient time for them to do it
• Make sure they respond quickly
• Implement the correct systems to support them and train them appropriately – consider the use of CRM for lead management
• Measure the results and adjust if it’s not working well enough
• Audit regularly
• Reward success
• Address under-performance

Is it worth launching dental ads if the team and procedures aren’t in place?

The answer to this is probably ‘not’ and even though the return on dental Google Ads and even social ads can be very good indeed, if you aren’t chasing up on leads correctly, you’ll be wasting a lot of money and missing potential treatments. So much so that we are now advising clients against using ads until they have the correct resources in place to deal with the enquiries which follow.

Is there a template for success?

Again the answer is “no” despite what some agencies might try to sell you. The “one size fits all” pack covering how to respond to leads will likely give you some pointers but you will need to adapt this to your own team and local circumstances. You also don’t have to start off with ultra-sophisticated tracking systems such as a CRM, although these can be very useful as your processes mature. Start out with something relatively simple on Excel sheets and go from there – the key is to make sure your team understands the importance and uses the systems and procedures you put in place. The team here at Dental Media can also advise on this.

Summary

When an enquiry for treatment comes into the practice, diligent follow-up is needed – waiting to respond and/or not responding appropriately will most likely result in that patient going elsewhere as we discussed in the example above.

When it comes to expediting leads from paid ads, don’t just expect your reception team to know what to do. They most likely won’t understand the importance or have been trained how to do it correctly. Consider the bullet points above to start making your plan and getting the correct processes and procedures in place – without this, it’s likely going to be a waste of time starting to advertise.

This is not a question about whether paid ads work, they really can deliver great results, this is about how you handle the leads that result from the ads. Do it right and you can reap the rewards, do it badly and you can waste a lot of money.

For more information about paid ads for dentists and how to manage the complete process, please call the team at Dental Media on 01332 672548 for a no-obligation discussion and advice.