What’s Really Behind Slow, Sporadic, or Stagnant Revenue Growth
When a dental practice meets its new patient appointment goals every month, does that mean it’s growing? If the schedule remains booked day after day, is the practice raking in the revenue? In this two-part series, we’re answering these questions and more for dental practices seeking consistent, predictable, sustainable revenue growth.
1. Why isn’t my dental practice growing even though we’re getting new patients?
High volume doesn’t automatically mean growth. Beyond scheduling, new patients must show up for appointments, accept treatment, return, and refer others. It’s possible to fill the top of the funnel while losing opportunities elsewhere in the patient journey. Look at production, collections, retention, case acceptance, and patient quality.
2. How many new patients does a dental practice actually need to grow?
There is no equation or calculation to determine the magic number of new patients a practice needs to trigger sustainable growth. The practice needs to consider its capacity, goals, service offering, patient value, conversion rate, and retention. In most cases, more isn’t better. One high-quality patient can be more valuable than five patients who don’t align with the practice’s growth goals.
3. Do I need more leads?
Before increasing your marketing investment, determine whether the problem is related to low volume or low conversion. Evaluate what’s happening with current leads. Is the team doing everything possible to convert them by:
- Attempting to contact leads more than once?
- Answering all incoming calls?
- Responding to online inquiries?
- Checking and responding to voicemails?
- Following up on canceled and missed appointments?
- Guiding conversations toward scheduling?
If not, you may have more opportunities than you realize.
Calls, forms, and leads are not new patients. Track how many inquiries become scheduled appointments, how many of those show, and how many then move forward with treatment. That conversion picture will reveal whether you need more leads or a better system for converting the ones you already have.
4. What should I look at first if practice growth has stalled?
Before assuming it’s a marketing problem, evaluate the entire new patient journey. Growth typically stalls because there’s a breakdown somewhere along the way. Review visibility, website conversion, phone protocol, scheduling, capacity, treatment acceptance, follow-up, retention, and reactivation. Growth should improve after you identify and address the weak links in that chain.
5. How do I know if my marketing is contributing to practice growth?
Look beyond clicks, rankings, and lead volume to the actions that have resulted in scheduled patients, kept appointments, and treatment acceptance. Effective marketing connects to the practice’s goals, not just vanity metrics. Additionally, new patient volume growth may not be the best marketing indicator. Instead, look at revenue growth.
6. Should I focus on getting more patients or attracting better-fit patients?
Being everything to everyone won’t drive growth. Focus on attracting patients who value what your practice does best and are more likely to seek the services you want to provide more of. Craft your messaging to help the right patients find your practice and understand why it’s the best fit for them.
7. Can a dental practice grow without continually increasing its marketing budget?
Most practices have untapped growth in the leads and patients they already have. By improving conversion, retention, reactivation, referrals, follow-up, and case acceptance, your practice can grow without spending more on marketing.
8. How much does the front desk impact practice growth?
While marketing can create the opportunity, the in-office team is essential in determining what happens next. How they answer the phone, handle questions, communicate value, navigate insurance concerns, and schedule appointments can mean the difference between a simple inquiry and a new patient.
A dental practice won’t normally improve unsatisfactory growth by chasing volume. It pays to analyze which opportunities are won and lost and which patients best align with the practice’s values. Stay tuned for part two, when we’ll look deeper at the systems, messaging, and strategic decisions that turn leads into long-term patients.
