Do you want to increase the number of patients you have on your membership plan, but are finding it difficult to let them know the reasons why they should join it? Here, Jo Phillpot shares her top, tried and tested methods for growing your plan uptake.
1. Invest in your staff training
Membership plans are a great way to encourage regular attendance and greater patient loyalty; they’re the best way to keep your patients focused on preventive care. However, the promotion of your membership plan can only happen if your team understand the rationale for why the plan is in place along with its associated patient benefits. Without this understanding, you really are fighting a losing battle.
So, tip number one in your quest to boost your plan uptake is to invest in the training of all team members, making each one fully competent plan experts, able to answer any questions patients may have about the plan. They should be walking and talking endorsements of why the plan is the easiest and most affordable way to manage their routine dental care.
2. Who’s saying what?
Why not pull the whole team together where each member of the team contributes to mapping out the experience you’d like your patients to witness in relation to the plan. Make sure each team member knows what part they play in promoting the plan – who says what and when – understand the patient journey. Look joined up not disjointed!
Of course, this will vary in each practice, but something I commonly see is the dentist or hygienist outlining the key benefits of the plan to the patient and duly recommending the plan that would suit them best.
Should the patient ask for more information or is keen to sign up, the plan sign-up baton is handed over and picked up by the receptionist or treatment coordinator. Whilst the smooth transition in the process is vital, all too often I hear that this is where opportunities are lost.
Have a system in place where, should a patient express an interest whilst in the surgery, you inform the receptionist that this is the case, either by sending a pop-up message or having the nurse speak to them as they walk the patient back to the reception desk.
3. Keep the plan on display at all times
Getting the balance right between promoting plan membership and doing the hard sell is something that people can find tricky.
There are a few simple actions that you can adopt to ensure you get your plan message across without feeling like you’re being too pushy:
- Put up posters in your waiting room detailing the benefits of becoming a member of your plan.
- Have more detailed leaflets readily available for patients who would like to take away more information.
- Talk to your patients about the plan! A perfect opportunity for promoting your plan is when a patient pays for their examination – ‘That will be £x.xx today Mrs Smith. But did you realise you would not have had to pay if you had been a member of our plan?’
- When a patient needs treatment, present them with a comparison of how much they’d pay for their treatment or health checks as a pay-as-you-go patient versus if they became a member of the plan. This just reinforces the benefits a member of your practice gets!
4. Make your plan a fundamental part of your practice culture
Your membership plan needs to be part of the practice’s overall culture, forming the foundation of your practice membership. Embedding the plan into the heart of the practice makes patients feel that it’s a no brainer to join the plan.
Don’t simply tag membership on to the end of a conversation; make patients feel important knowing that you’re providing a product that’s right for them.
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