There are several steps in the sales funnel for any dental clinic or practice that’s marketing itself, and one of these that’s typically very important is the follow-up. Simply put, many of your leads and prospective patients will need more than just a single interaction to convince them to utilize your products or services, and engaging in quality follow-up methods that meet your leads halfway is very important here.
At Dental Implant Machine, we’re happy to walk our dental clinic clients through our entire sales funnel and process, from initial forms of targeted marketing to follow-ups and many other areas. Here are some methods, both short-term and long-term, that should be considered when it comes to effectively following up with dental marketing leads.
Consider Autoresponders
Especially if your practice receives a significant number of new leads or calls on a daily basis, it may not be feasible or realistic to follow-up with every single one of them in a timely manner. An autoresponder can be an excellent way to streamline this process while still providing each lead with the individualized attention that they need and deserve.
An autoresponder is essentially an email (or series of emails) that’s automatically sent to each new lead after they’ve taken a specific action, such as filling out a form on your website or calling your office. You can craft these emails in advance and program them to go out at regular intervals after the initial interaction, which can free up time for you and your staff to focus on other needs.
It’s important to realize just how valuable an immediate response is to many leads, as they may be considering other options and trying to make a decision quickly. An autoresponder ensures that each lead receives a response right away, even if it’s not from a live person.
Of course, you’ll still want to eventually follow-up with each lead in person (more on that below), but an autoresponder can be a great way to start the conversation and build interest.
Personalize your messaging
Within the realm of autoresponders, and even in several other parts of your sales and follow-up funnel, it’s still important to personalize each message as much as possible. This can be something as simple as including the lead’s name in the subject line or opening sentence of the email, or you could get more creative and use information that you gathered about them during your initial interaction.
For example, if you know that a lead is interested in a specific dental procedure that your practice offers, you could mention that in the email and include some additional information about it. If you have a blog on your website (which you should), you could even send them links to articles that might be of interest.
The goal is to make each lead feel like they’re more than just a number, and that you truly care about their individual needs. By personalizing each message, you can help to build trust and rapport with each lead, which is essential when trying to convert them into a paying patient.
Utilize Data for Timing Purposes
One of the most common questions dental clinics and marketers alike will often ask in the follow-up realm: When is the time right to reach out? In other words, how long after someone takes a specific action should you follow-up with them, and is there an optimal time to do so?
This is admittedly a difficult question to answer, as it can vary significantly based on the type of product or service being offered, the actions that were taken by the lead, and more. But this is an area where working with a professional, streamlined dental marketing company like Dental Implant Machine can show immense value; we utilize data and analytics to help determine the best times to follow-up with your leads, based on past performance.
For example, if we’ve found that most leads who take a certain action eventually convert into patients within two weeks, we’ll focus our follow-up efforts around that time frame. Obviously, there will always be exceptions to this rule, but utilizing data in this way can help to ensure that you’re not wasting time following up with leads too early or too late.
Social Media Follow-Ups
There are several ways you may choose to follow-up with your leads, but one that’s often overlooked is social media. If you know that a lead is active on specific platforms (and you can usually find this out pretty easily), taking the time to reach out and connect with them on those platforms can be a great way to build rapport and keep your practice top-of-mind.
This is especially true if you’re able to provide them with valuable content or resources that they may find useful; for example, if you see that a lead has been asking questions about a specific dental procedure on Twitter, you could reach out and direct them to a blog post on your website that covers that topic in more detail.
Letting Certain Leads Go
And while no marketer ever wants to accept defeat, sometimes it’s just not worth your time and effort to continue following up with certain leads. If you’ve tried multiple times to connect with a lead but haven’t had any success, it may be best to simply let them go and focus your attention elsewhere.
There are a number of reasons why this could be the case; maybe they’re no longer interested in your products or services, they may have already found a dental clinic that they’re happy with, or they could be dealing with personal issues that are preventing them from making any decisions at the moment.
Whatever the case may be, it’s important to remember that you can’t force someone to convert into a patient if they’re not interested, and continuing to try and do so will only waste your time and resources.
With the right approach, both short-term and long-term, follow-ups can be a fantastic way to generate increased business for your dental practice.
