Effective Post-Consultation Follow-Up to Secure New Patients

So you got a new patient to visit you for a consultation… phew! The hard part is over. Does that mean your job is done and the deal is sealed? Not necessarily. If the patient hasn’t signed the contract, there’s more work to be done.

Sure, your friendly team made the new patient feel wonderful and welcome, but sometimes that just isn’t enough to secure a new patient.

Maybe the patient is checking out multiple orthodontists (for themselves or for their child) before they commit to one. Or maybe they’re just not totally convinced that starting treatment is the right move.

Either way, whatever their apprehension may be, this gives you an opportunity to follow up with the patient and provide them with the information and reassurance they’re looking for.

The good news is: it’s easier to convert a potential patient (who has visited your office) to a new patient, than it is to attract a new patient entirely.

Does your practice have an effective follow-up strategy after consultations?

Most practices don’t! So if you’re in this majority, you’re certainly not alone. Nurturing a patient properly, from the moment they initiate contact with you to the moment they sign the contract, can be challenging without the right resources and support.

Without an effective follow-up strategy after prospective patients leave their consultation and don’t sign the contract, your practice may be missing out on these patients for good.

The main reason many practices don’t have a patient follow-up strategy in place is simply because they don’t have enough time. Your front office team is busy; your treatment coordinators are busy, and your orthodontists are busy. Who’s left on your team to improve patient follow up?

It’s us! We partner with your team to take over your patient follow-up strategy, so you can focus on everything else. SmileSuite is created by orthodontists and orthodontic professionals, for orthodontists just like you. Our team understands the true importance of follow-up in healthcare, and more specifically, orthodontics. Your patient follow-up system requires expert strategy and purposeful, consistent, tactful communication that effectively nurtures your prospective patient all the way to your exam chair.

Improve start numbers through tried-and-true patient follow-up.

With the SmileSuite solution, our highly-trained concierge team follows up with 100% of your prospective patients after their initial consultation. Our follow-up strategy has proven successful time and time again, because it’s founded in extensive training of proper patient nurturing—specifically for orthodontic patients.

Through our full suite of services, we take care of those critical patient communications that can make the difference between a patient saying YES to treatment, and one dropping out the funnel for good.

Each piece of communication we deliver is fine-tuned to resonate with patients at impressionable moments, when they’re most likely to schedule an appointment and get started with treatment.

Here’s what our process looks like:

• 1 day post-consult: We give the prospective patient a call one day after their consultation to check in with them and address any apprehensions.
• 7 days post-consult: We then send the first email, along with a friendly text.
• 14 days post-consult: We send a second email and a second text, and we give them a friendly call.
• 28 days post-consult: We give the prospective patient a phone call, along with an email and a text message, to check in.
• 42 days post-consult: About a month after the consultation, we’ll make another phone call, deliver another email, and a text.
• 60 days post-consult: We deliver the final email to wrap up communications.

It sounds like a lot, we know! But with patient nurturing, consistency is key. By placing your practice at the forefront of your prospective patients’ minds with tactful communications, we establish a sense of familiarity that can make patients more comfortable starting treatment with you.

Our concierge team is trained to help determine the barriers stopping prospective patients from starting treatment. Once we address their concerns, we connect them with your practice so you can close the deal.

Needless to say, your team doesn’t have to do anything in the post consult follow up process. Once the patient schedules their next appointment, you just have to present treatment (on our world class presentation system) and begin treatment.

Your team will have access to all of the patient information in one easy-to-access space. We help you streamline your patient follow up process to enable clear communication and keep everyone on the same page.

Not just post consultation support, but pre-consultation too…

The SmileSuite solution includes more than just post-consultation follow-up. Our experienced concierge team of real humans (not robots) answers all new patient calls, even on nights and weekends.

We schedule your prospective patients’ consultations, answer any questions they may have, verify their health and insurance information, and remove all of the barriers stopping them from saying yes to treatment.

So when you receive a new patient in your office, your team has everything you need to get started.

• No time spent verifying insurance information and benefits, which (as you know) can take hours.
• No need to worry about missing a new patient call when your team is on lunch, or after hours, or on weekends.
• No need to worry about following up with every patient after their consultation.

We take care of all of that for you, giving your treatment coordinator the best chance at securing new patients while attending to existing patients and keeping them happy.

If this sounds like something your practice is interested in, and you’re ready to increase your start numbers and secure new patients, SmileSuite is for you. We’ll explain everything you need to know about the process when you book a demo!

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions; we’d love to hear from you. Start nurturing your patients from contact to contract, with proven strategies and a team of expert partners.