The following is a guest post by Elliot Pearson of Dentistidentity.com. If you are interested in guest posting for Dental Heroes, please sign up here.

Running a successful dental practice can be sophisticated at best and frustrating at worst. The constant dilemma of a dentist is how to have new patients and keep old ones. Naturally, patients would flock to a good dental clinic. By good, the clinic should have a warm and friendly atmosphere, not make patients unreasonably wait and value patient relationships. Although it might seem difficult to work on these three points, there are six simple things that a dentist can do to address these key issues.

Warm Greetings

Patients love to feel welcomed. Having someone artistically write a greeting on an office whiteboard with the patient’s first name is an easy way to make a patient feel special.

Introducing the Staff

It is important that the patients get to know the staff a bit. If they are to see and talk to them whenever they are visiting the dentist, then it is only proper for the staff and the patients to bond a bit. This can easily be accomplished by putting up personal pictures of the staff, and even of the dentist, on an office corkboard. This works as a great conversation piece.

Warm Environment

The dentist and the staff should always send positive vibes to the patient and work towards achieving a warm environment during every visit. Friendly body language will help in this department. Smiling and being interested when patients talk will always do the trick. To highlight the necessity of following this tip, patients who feel uncomfortable with a hygienist or the dentist himself will most likely not schedule a second appointment.

Listen

Patients go to the dentist because they are hurting or uncomfortable. It is necessary for dentists and the staff to listen to them intently when they talk about what’s wrong or else they will get the feeling that the dentist does not care about their pain. An easy way to look interested when listening is to establish eye contact.

Be On Time

Everybody is busy. For that reason, most patients will be ticked if their dentist makes them wait up to an hour. The only way to avoid this situation is to be on time. Go to the dental clinic early and avoid long lunches.

Keep in Touch

There are times when a patient won’t book appointments for months, or even years, at a time. Either they do not have serious dental concerns or maybe they are contemplating the idea of switching dentists. To prevent the latter from happening, always keep in touch with your patients. You can do this by sending newsletters whether in print or by email or if by sending out small gifts.

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