How many calls a month are you turning away because of insurance or because you don’t provide a specific service? Knowing that information can make the difference on future business plans.
Linda provides dental professionals actionable marketing knowledge they can use to grow their dental practice.
Linda Mettler: Welcome to the matalin Marketing Podcast where we will talk about marketing strategies and tactics to grow your practice. I am your host, Linda Mettler and I have worked with dental
practices for several years now. And I want to share my knowledge and experience with you so that you can gain valuable and actionable steps on how to grow your practice. We will talk about the latest
and greatest and marketing features some guest speakers so that you can hear firsthand what is and is not working and help you unravel the complexities of the digital marketing world. I work really
closely with my clients. So we will also delve into some other issues that affect your practice from time to time, such as staffing problems, COVID protocols and similar issues.
Well, good morning, everybody. Thank you so much for joining the Mettler Marketing Podcast. Today, I want to chat with you, I want to tell you about a meeting that I had with a client last week. And
it got me thinking about how we are always tracking what we do, using a lot of analytics to measure our marketing and whether or not that's generating new patients for your office. But I want to tell
you about this meeting, because what what it got me thinking was about what we are not tracking, and how we're not how most people are not tracking what they're missing. So let me explain. So I have a
client in Colorado, and I've been working with them for over six months or so things have been increasing steadily, slowly but steadily over the past six months. And we handle website traffic and
search engine marketing for them as well as social media. And I went to my monthly meeting with them a couple weeks ago. And I was very excited. Because I looked at our Google Analytics and results
from our Google ads. And everything looked great, just absolutely wonderful looks like we were really picking up traction and had about oh, maybe a 20% increase in clicks to the website that
particular month. And so I was going to this meeting expecting them to tell me how wonderful everything was, and that they had a lot of new patients, only to hear that they did not have a lot of new
patients, they only had four new patients that month. So I could not figure out really kind of what that correlation was because all the analytics, I had looked great, you know, great reach and
engagement on social media, you know, 10 new followers for that month, you know, great analytics on Google ads, and and search engine marketing results. So we started talking, and as we started
talking, the office manager said, Well, we get a lot of calls from people and asking, asking us about their insurance. And if we don't take their insurance, they just say thanks anyway, and hang up.
So from there, we went into a discussion about, you know, their insurance plans, what they do and don't take, if we could modify any of that information on the website. And then they told me about,
you know, their in house financial plan that they have. And that's pretty common in offices, a lot of offices these days are offering an in house financial plan, maybe an annual plan or, or some type
of plan for patients who don't have insurance. So our conversation got a little deeper into, you know, what we could include an advertise as far as their particular financial plan, I think they
contracted with a third party. And if a patient has any type of insurance, they are not allowed to offer that financial plan to a prospective new patient. So that's that was something that was kind of
an interesting conversation. But what it got me thinking was that they are not tracking the number of calls that they're getting every month that they are not converting. And I think that is something
that's important to track. I know all of you out there are tracking, have your front office people trained very well. And you're tracking how many calls you're getting. You're tracking, you know, all
the new patients where they're coming from, are they a referral from an existing patient? Or are they coming from a website ad or social media? I know you're doing a great job on that. But are you
tracking what you're missing? And how do you know how many calls you're getting a day and people You're getting turned away because of insurance or other financial constraints. So I want you to start
tracking that, because that's something that we are not used to tracking. We're all used to in the marketing world, we love analytics. So we want to know what we're doing is working. And, but we're
not tracking what we're missing. So we need to start tracking how many calls a month? Are your office, people turning away because you don't take their insurance? Or because maybe you don't have a
financial plan in your office, or you don't offer care credit, or whatever that reason is that people are hanging up. are you tracking that? And that's important, because that will tell you if that
issue is significant. So if you have 10 calls a month from people who are are hanging up because you don't take their insurance, you might want to start digging a little deeper and finding out okay,
what insurance does that person have, that we aren't contracted with? And if you have five or 10 people calling a month and they're all Aetna, policyholders, you might want to look into contracting
with Aetna, you get the gist of my idea, or of what I'm saying here. So we need to start tracking what we're missing what we're turning away, so that you know, where you can improve what else you need
to offer, what is it that people are looking for, that's missing that they need? Or is it because of a certain procedure or service that you don't offer, maybe somebody is calling in looking for
implants, and you don't place implants, or you don't restore implants, you want to know that you want to know that information. And the reason you want to know that not not because you need to become
an implant specialist, but you need to have somebody that you can refer them to, that can help refer people back to you for the services that you provide. So there's a lot of things where you can
learn by tracking what you're turning away and what you're missing. So get your office people to just start jotting down the calls of the people or talking more to the people who say, Oh, you don't
take my insurance, thank you anyway, or, you know, Oh, I can't afford out of pocket. start having your office, people dig a little deeper, find out a little more information, you'll be amazed at what
you can figure out and how you can modify some of your services or things that you can help people with that will eventually get you get you the ability to convert those patients into new patients.
Well, that's it for today, kind of short and sweet. But that just has been on my mind for the last couple of weeks since that meeting, and I wanted to share that with everybody. So think about that.
Think if you need to track the things that are missing, and how you can use that information to grow your practice. And remember, if you want to have a great day, go out and make it a great day.
Ed Bejarana: Are you committed to the growth of your practice Mettler marketing can help at medtner marketing. We help dental practices gain new patients increase referrals and maximize patient
retention with customized Marketing Solutions tailored to fit your needs. Visit www dot medtner marketing.com to schedule a free consultation and learn how we can help grow your practice. Thank you
for tuning in to the Mettler Marketing Podcast. Please share this episode with your friends and colleagues. If you would like to be a guest on our show, visit Mettler marketing.com and drop us a note.
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