The Business of Dentistry Podcast

Chris Barrow and Les Jones discuss the increasing evidence that the conversion rate for new patients from traditional and modern forms of advertising is reducing, whilst the acquisition costs of those new patients by this method is going up!

What you'll hear:

• How print media and digital advertising isn’t working like it used to
• That there is an alternative
• How internal human-interest marketing is the solution

Mark Oborn shares his expert advice on how to use social media to help you attract and retain patients. He discusses the benefits of ongoing engagement between appointments and shares examples of the things to share.

What you’ll hear:

• How social media can be used to help your practice grab the attention of potential patients
• How social media can build relationships with patients between appointments
• Examples of the types of posts that work well on social media.

Who should listen:

• Practice owners and managers considering creating a social media presence
• Team members who would be responsible for a social media page.

Eddie Crouch shares his thoughts on the results of the survey and discusses what they mean for the profession going forward.

What you’ll hear:

• Eddie’s thoughts on the headline statistics
• Why the results are important and what can be learned from them
• The effect the uncertainty about contract reform is having on the profession
• The role that flexible commissioning might play in the near future.

Who should listen:

• All dental professionals.

Header: Expert advice from Lesley Morgan-Barlow

Title: How to handle complaints in your practice

Lesley talks about the different types of complaints you might receive in practice. She discusses the ways in which you can deal with them to stop them escalating and benefit your practice in the long term.

What you’ll hear:

• The benefit of changing the way we think about complaints
• Identifying different types of complaints and complainers and how to deal with them
• How to use a complaint to build patient loyalty.

Who should listen:

• Practice managers and owners
• All team members who interact with patients
• Reception teams.

Marcos White explains how he increased his revenue by over a third by committing to digital intraoral scanning. He also shares the other positive impacts it has had on both his team and patients.

What you’ll hear:

How embracing digital dentistry has:

• Helped create a better consultation process: patients see their problems on screen
• Lead to a greater acceptance of care and more comprehensive treatment plans
• Upskilled the team: pre-clinical consultants.

Nigel Jones, Sales and Marketing Director at Practice Plan, shares the results of the latest Dentistry Confidence Monitor survey. He explains what the survey asked and looks at the themes revealed in the answers. Nigel refers directly to the results, you can access them here

What you’ll hear:

• An overview of the results
• Nigel’s reflections on the current feeling within the profession
• What the results could mean for the future of the profession

Who should listen:

• All dental professionals working in NHS dentistry or private practice

Mark Topley unpacks the subject of CSR in a straightforward, engaging way that will leave you feeling inspired and knowing what you can - and should - do to make your CSR better. He also explains the new CSR certification for dental practices, detailing what it involves and the benefits it brings.

What you’ll hear:

• How growing numbers of patients now expect practices to ‘do good’ as part of running the business
• What practice owners should be doing for CSR, how much is enough, how to make it manageable
• The benefits of Dental Practice CSR Certification.

Who should listen:

• Principals who know CSR is important, but want the thinking off their desk, and a straightforward way to help their teams to make it happen
• Practice Managers who don’t want to become experts, but are looking for a quick, simple and effective way to implement great CSR and motivate their teams.
• Team members looking for evidence and help in persuading their managers to take CSR seriously.

The success of any dental practice relies on the three concepts of attraction, conversion and retention of patients. If you can master all three and apply them to facial aesthetics, you’ll be able to turbo-boost your profits.

What you’ll hear:

• Why dentists should offer facial aesthetics
• The main obstacles preventing dentists succeeding in facial aesthetics
• How to attract the right kind of patients for facial aesthetics.

Who should listen:

• Dentists thinking about starting facial aesthetics
• Dentists struggling to implement their clinical training
• Dentists wanting to take facial aesthetics to the next level.

Sarah Jarvis talks to Donna Hall about what dentists should consider when they want to grow their practice to maximise its value. In particular she focusses on the patient experience, and utilising technology.

What you’ll hear:

• How to work out what direction to take your practice in
• Steps for running a successful business
• What do patients look for in a practice.

Who should listen:

• Anyone who has recently bought a dental practice
• Anyone looking at building a mini corporate
• Existing dental practice owners looking to increase the profitability of their practice.

HR and employment specialist, Sarah Buxton explains how creating a good working culture in your practice benefits both the practice and the team. She talks about what constitutes a good culture and the ways in which you can build one.

What you’ll hear:

• What is a good working culture?
• Why is it so important?
• What are the consequences for staff if they don’t fit in?

Who should listen:

• Practice owners who want to reduce staff turnover         
• Team managers who want to create a good working environment
• Anyone working within a dental team.