How do I get more new patients for my dental practice?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
To get more new patients, a dental practice has to do three things in order: be found when someone nearby searches for a dentist, answer when they call, and book them before they try the next office. Fix the answering first, because every other effort sends people to the same phone.
Where do new dental patients get lost?
They get lost at five points: found, answered, booked, showed and came back. A practice can rank well and still lose the patient to a ringing phone. It can answer every call and still lose them to a no-show. Follow one new patient through all five before spending anything, because the weakest point sets the limit for the rest.
What should you fix first?
Fix the steps closest to the appointment first, then work outward. Money spent on being found is wasted if the calls it produces ring out.
- Call your own office at lunch, after closing and on Saturday morning, and note what a new patient hears.
- Count last month's new-patient calls, bookings and kept appointments, even roughly, from your phone log and schedule.
- Cover the hours when calls go unanswered before you buy any more advertising.
- Follow up everyone who asked and did not book, until they book or say no.
- Complete your Google Business Profile and ask every patient for a review after the visit.
- Add advertising last, for the treatments you want more of, and count booked appointments rather than clicks.
Do you need ads, or a better front end?
It depends on which number is small. If plenty of people call and few book, advertising only adds to the pile of missed calls. If every call is answered and booked and the schedule still has gaps, you need to be found by more people. That is when Google profile work and ads earn their place. Referrals alone are steady but slow to grow.
How does Margin do this for dental offices?
Margin starts with a free 30-minute audit. Before it, we phone your office the way a new patient would, then score Found, Answered, Booked, Showed and Came back, and cost the biggest leak from your own numbers. The plan is yours to keep whether or not you hire us.
If you do, we build the pieces you need: ads in an account you own, Google profile work, and Mia, an AI receptionist who answers the calls your front desk can't reach and books the appointment. Bookings land on the portal calendar and your office is told. Texting starts once phone carriers approve your number.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Ads on Facebook and Instagram, in an account you own
- Google profile and local ranking
- Mia, the AI receptionist, on every call
- Booking onto your calendar
- Follow-up until they book or say no
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for dental officesSee the portal with a sample businessThe Implant Accelerator, for implant practices
Related questions
What is the fastest way to get new dental patients?
The fastest way for a dental practice to get new patients is to stop losing the ones already calling. Answer every call, including lunch and after hours, and follow up everyone who asked and didn't book. That needs no new advertising at all.
Should a dental practice advertise before fixing its phones?
No. A dental practice that advertises before its phones are covered pays to send new patients to voicemail. Check what happens to a call at lunch, after five and on Saturday first, then advertise once those calls are answered and booked.
How do I know where my dental practice is losing new patients?
Follow one new patient through five steps: found, answered, booked, showed, came back. For a dental practice, count enquiries, answered calls, booked appointments and kept appointments for a month. The step with the biggest drop is where to start.