Are You Getting Bad Leads? Or Do You Not Know How to Interact With Them?
At Dental Implant Machine, we get to have the privilege of working with dental offices and sending people their way and those people end up having their lives transformed with a brand new smile. Offices that work with us and follow our program down to the tee are able to help more people and change more lives and on top of that, generate a million dollars in dental implant production. We’ve even had offices achieve this goal in their first month working with us.
On the other hand, we have had the not so successful offices that can have the exact same patient as the successful office but what we’ll hear from them is that “the patient is just not ready” or “these leads that are coming in aren’t good”.
The Difference Between a Successful Dental Implant Office and an Unsuccessful One
Having worked with hundreds of offices, we actually get to see what the common denominator is between a successful office who earns our Two Comma Club membership and those that just seem to flounder. The first denominator is that there’s more opportunity at the beginning of a patient’s journey than at the end.
We’ve all had these patients who come in and they’re ready. They’ve looked at the price and they know what type of treatment they want. They’ve been going through this for years and they’re just ready. They’re going to get treatment from you no matter what, right? You need to worry less about those people. They’re going to get treatment from you if you mess it up or not. They’ve selected you. They’ve looked at your reviews. They’ve been referred by a happy customer, and they’re ready to find out what treatment is right for them. This is the time to redirect your attention toward potential patients who are at the initial stages of their research and are considering the possibility of changing their lives by getting dental implants.
The Difference Between a Good Lead and a Bad Lead Can Be 5 to 15 Minutes
You have these patients who start their journey, they work through their anxiety and fears and pick up the phone or they fill out an evaluation and they say, “I need to figure out what’s my next step.”
Well, that lead – a potential patient – is in the process of reaching an outcome. Now, let’s say that a patient fills out an evaluation form to see if they’re a good fit for dental implants. Upon submitting the form, the difference between a good lead and a bad lead can be 15 minutes at this point.
We recommend that you call these patients within 5 minutes. That patient is in active pursuit of a solution and if you wait 15 minutes, an hour, 24 hours, 48 hours, and the phone wasn’t picked up or they weren’t called back they might go and book an appointment with another office. At that point they’re not gonna return your phone call and you’re going to say, “they’re not picking up the phone so that’s a bad lead.” Well, that’s not a bad lead. That’s somebody who wanted to find out what their options were. They’re not going to visit five different offices to find out what their options are. They’re going to find out their options from the office that first connects, understands, and shows them the next step. And if you’re not connecting with them in the first 5 to 15 minutes, you may have already lost them.
Connecting With Patients as Soon as Possible Should Be Your Priority
You need to understand that if you want to maximize your return and want to help as many patients as possible, you have to make it a priority to connect with these patients as soon as possible.
They didn’t wake up today and realize “oh, I might need dental implants.” No, they’ve been dealing with this every day, and when they initiate contact with you that is your opportunity to assist them in their dental implant patient journey.
Follow-up is Important: Patients May Not Be Ready Now, but They May Be Ready Later
The second denominator is maybe the lead is not ready and that is where a nurture process is necessary. If you’re not able to connect with them immediately, there needs to be automation in place or some kind of systemized follow-up that automatically follows up with texts and emails, and checks in with them to see if they’re ready. At the end of the day, these are people that we’re dealing with. They may have taken an opportunity to call in or fill out an evaluation form, but then they get busy; they have kids’ ball games, they have things to do at work, etc.
Just because they’re busy, does not mean that they’re not interested, it just means that you have to stick with that nurture process until they’re ready to engage again. You have to have a nurture process in place and you have to follow it so that you don’t miss an opportunity to connect with that patient.
Price Can Be a Tricky Subject for Patients So the Way You Present the Price and the Value of the Treatment is Important
The third denominator is that we have to stop pushing these patients away. If they call your office and say, “I’m interested in dental implants” and you go ahead and tell them “Well that will cost you $40,000”, upon hearing that they’re probably just going to hang up the phone because that’s an insane amount for anyone to hear. They weren’t ready for the sticker shock of this going to be more than my car or that this treatment won’t be covered by insurance.
At Dental Implant Machine, we will coach and train your office on what the right approach is to presenting patients’ with their treatment plans and educating them on the value that this treatment has. They may be shocked initially by the price tag, but that price is nothing compared to all the benefits and positive change it will bring into their life. The way you talk to patients can affect how they react to the price of dental implants, and we can help you find the right verbiage to connect with potential patients and guide them along their dental implant journey.
We have developed the best verbiage and scripts that help you interact with patients dealing with a price objection. We know how to bring in price, talk about price and help them to make an informed decision without initially just getting scared away by seeing a price tag. It may seem like we’re talking about salesmanship, but at the base of it all it’s simply communicating the benefits and the costs of this type of treatment.
