Every dental practice wants to be more profitable, spending time and energy on attracting new patients to the practice. This is great! However, what about the patients you already have…are there opportunities for income generation that you are missing out on?
Break down barriers
Take the sale of sundries for example. All dental practices stock a range of toothbrushes, toothpastes, interdental brushes etc., but most miss out on potential sales for two fundamental reasons.
Firstly, the items in question are normally out of reach of the patient, a lot of the time behind glass. This sends a very clear message to the patient at the front desk…purchasing these items is too much hassle, for you the patient and for us behind the front desk. Today’s consumers want convenience and the ability to buy the products they need on their terms. The glass cabinet represents a barrier that for most patients is too big to overcome in their busy lives. They’d rather pop to Boots and pick up the items they need…barrier free.
The key here is to learn from the retail masters…why do the big supermarkets have products available at the check out? Why do the staff at WHSmith offer you today’s £1 confectionery deal? Because it works!
So…Action #1
Take the products out of the glass cabinets and make them more accessible to your patients. You’ll find your sales will increase immediately.
There’s another reason why sundry sales are poor for many dental practices and that’s the lack of a conversation and a little joined up communication.
Picture the scene…a patient is just finishing up with the hygienist (or dentist), the hygienist, quite ethically, recommends a certain type of toothpaste or interdental brush to the patient. The patient takes the advice on board and mentally commits to purchasing said items.
The patient moves down to the front desk to check out, however, there is no mention of the items recommended by the hygienist. The patient can’t readily see them (because they’re in a glass cabinet in the waiting area!), so the patient leaves, walks into town and buys the items from the local chemist. What an opportunity missed!
The sale could so easily have been made by the front desk team had they known that the items had been recommended.
Action #2
Here is a very simple process that you can introduce into your practice tomorrow. Firstly, invest in some small, branded tear off note pads and give them to each dentist and hygienist in your practice. Ask them to write down the items they are recommending to each patient and then to give the note to the patient to take to the front desk. The front desk team will then be able to help them. This simple act of joining the dots will massively increase your sundry sales and add valuable profit to your bottom line, for very little additional time or effort.
These two simple actions are extremely easy to implement, so why not give them a try? And, to make it a little more interesting, think about setting sales goals for each month and keeping your team informed as to how well you’re doing. You might even introduce a small incentive to keep the team engaged in selling more sundries.
Sundry sales can represent a very important and valuable contribution to your income and profit. Why let it walk out of your practice? Take control now and the benefits will soon come.
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