Why is lead management so important?

Efficient Workflow:

Effective lead management ensures that leads are properly tracked, organized, and followed up with. This streamlines the workflow and ensures that no potential patients are overlooked or neglected, leading to a more efficient practice.

Improved Conversion Rates:

Dental practices rely on converting leads into actual patients. With proper lead management, you can nurture leads through personalized communication and timely follow-ups, increasing the likelihood of converting them into appointments or consultations. This ultimately boosts your conversion rates and helps grow your patient base.

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Enhanced Patient Experience

A well-managed lead management system allows you to provide a better patient experience. Prompt and personalized follow-ups demonstrate your commitment to potential patients, building trust and confidence in your practice. This positive experience can differentiate your practice from competitors and encourage word-of-mouth referrals.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Lead management software provides valuable insights and analytics on lead sources, conversion rates, and other key metrics. By analyzing this data, you can make informed decisions about marketing strategies, resource allocation, and areas for improvement in your dental practice.

Overall, effective lead management in dental practices is essential for optimizing workflow, increasing conversions, enhancing the patient experience, and making data-driven decisions that drive practice growth.

Lead management – the essentials

The patient journey/experience

We should strive to provide the best treatment, care and patient journey/experience possible, which starts the moment they contact the practice. What happens next is crucial to you converting them into long-term high-value patients.

Managing leads

Observing dental and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) best practices, we have written countless lead management protocols to ensure prospective patients are converted into happy long-term loyal patients easily and quickly. These protocols can be summarised as follows:

1. Always follow best-practice call-handling protocols (see below)
2. Capture key information at the start of the call, including their name and why they are calling.
3. Provide initial information/answers (or) put them through to your patient coordinator or suggest you get someone to call them back ASAP
4. Book a new patient exam and send confirmation by email AND post (Practice info pack) or >
5. Capture their contact details in accordance with GDPR and send them your practice information pack via email (digital version) AND via post (printed version).
6. If not booked in for a new patient exam within three working days, call them to follow up, and if you don’t speak to them in person, leave a message AND send a follow-up email.
7. Repeat every five days two further times, then >
8. Use your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system to send update emails every month (if GDPR permits).

Sales training

We advocate sales training for all staff, especially receptionists and patient coordinators and will cover this in more detail in another blog.

Call-handling protocols

Be able to identify the type of incoming call by using a call screening system that enables you to identify whether the caller is an existing patient, prospective patient or other.
If the call is from a prospective patient, prioritise them over other calls by putting other calls on hold whilst you:

1. Acknowledge the caller.
2. Explain that you’re dealing with another patient.
3. Put them through to your patient co-ordinator (if they are free), and if not >
4.  Capture essential contact information and >
5. AS A LAST RESORT, put them on hold whilst you finish your other call/deal with the patient standing in front of you or >
6. Promise to call them back within 5 MINUTES and >
7. If, for any reason, it’s not possible to answer the call, your phone system should direct the call to your voice mail system, where they hear an apology but are busy dealing with a patient’s message and that you WILL CALL THEM BACK WITHIN VERY SHORTLY

Call handling training

Call handling training is vital as it makes it easier for receptionists or patient coordinators to help prospective patients and sound professional.

Training can include learning what to say, when and why; although we do not advocate scripts as dental practices are not call centres, we do advocate prompts which can be learnt to ensure essential information, including your practice’s USPs (Unique Selling Points).

Lead management software

Getting lead management right is much easier using a lead management system for dental practices.

There are several out there; however, our current favourite is DenGro

Here is what DenGro has to say about using a lead management system.

How will it benefit my team?

A Lead Management system automates much of the new patient journey. It will:

1. Pull all your leads into one place so time isn’t wasted going to multiple sources to find them or even losing them.
2. Acknowledge the enquiry (e.g., with an email or text or both) so the prospect knows someone will be in touch.
3. Notify your team when a new enquiry is received and where it came from.
4. It will also guide users on when to follow up with a prospect.
5. A good lead management solution will organise these tasks daily so your team can focus on the most valuable activities: conversations with prospects, patients and colleagues and a host of other activities.

A lead management system will provide a structure for the team to follow daily, if you select one that is specific to your industry rather than something generic, it’s going to complement your workflow and be easier for team members to use and value.

How will it benefit my business?

A good lead management system will provide incredible insight into two specific areas:

Marketing performance: Where are all the leads coming from, and which are the higher quality ones? Result: you can optimise your marketing activities accordingly and achieve a better ROI on your spend

Team performance: What happens to these leads once they reach your practice? How responsive is your team in attempting to make contact and build momentum with existing leads? When prospects decide not to go ahead, what are the reasons cited? Results: spot trends, make changes, and optimise team performance.

To find out more about DenGro’s features and functionality, either call us and we’ll give you an impartial overview or head over to their super-helpful website and then book a demo which is easy, fun and you’ll end up wondering how on earth you managed without it!