Before You Look for More Leads, Convert the Ones You Already Have
We asked one of our long-standing clients if he’d rather receive 50 fresh leads or convert 20% more of his existing new patient opportunities. Without hesitation, he said he’d take a higher conversion rate over more leads any day. Our client’s response illustrates a fundamental marketing principle every dental practice should follow: Conversion is king.
Generating a Lead
To understand why our client chose a higher conversion rate over more new patient opportunities, you need to understand that generating a new patient lead involves far more than posting an ad and sitting back while new patients come flooding in.
Generating new patient leads is a multi-faceted process. It starts with a comprehensive marketing strategy that includes a customized, multi-channel online experience that attracts prospective patients and motivates them to contact the practice. To support the main strategy, the practice may also run individual short-term campaigns targeting specific patients or cases.
Each new lead that calls, submits an online form, or emails the practice because of its marketing efforts represents an investment of time, money, and other resources, and that cost factors into the marketing budget. For a marketing strategy to produce a satisfactory return on investment, the practice must convert as many leads as possible into appointments that result in completed treatment.
Conversion Is the Key to Growth
All the qualified leads in the world won’t help if a practice isn’t prepared to convert them into paying patients. Effective marketing may prompt people to make contact, but the practice must take ownership from there.
High conversion results from consistently contacting, following up with leads, and tracking leads. It likely means specific team members are responsible for answering calls, responding to online inquiries, checking messages regularly, sending appointment reminders, and following up on cancellations to ensure opportunities don’t fall through the cracks.
A strong lead management system supports conversion, which can lead to greater treatment acceptance. When a practice receives a healthy flow of new patient opportunities, converting more of them can drive meaningful growth without a proportional increase in marketing spend.
Conversion Creates Institutional Knowledge
When a team prioritizes conversion, it can refine its process and create a repeatable procedure tailored to the practice and its patients. That procedure then becomes institutional knowledge, a practice that helps the entire team manage new patient opportunities more consistently, even as team members change or responsibilities evolve.
Conversion Leads to Revenue
The patient experience begins long before they visit the office. Clear, consistent, prompt communication signals respect for the patient and their time, inspiring confidence and trust from the first interaction. Patients who already trust a practice before the first appointment are more prepared to engage in the treatment conversation and trust the doctor’s recommendations.
Maximize Existing Opportunities
If your practice is looking for more leads, it may be time to look at what’s happening with the opportunities you already receive. Determine whether:
- Incoming calls are answered consistently
- All online inquiries and voicemails receive timely responses
- Conversations are geared toward making an appointment and focused on building value and trust.
If the practice is scheduling a good portion of opportunities, then increasing lead volume may be worth considering. Otherwise, improving conversion should come first. By strengthening follow-up, refining communication, coaching the team, and creating consistent systems, a practice can convert more of the new patient leads it’s already generating, thus creating a foundation for sustainable growth.
