Live your patient journey…

People make a very quick first impression – usually within about seven seconds. We do this without even thinking about. We do it when we check in at a hotel, when we visit someone’s house, when we start a new film. We do it almost instantly and repetitively every single day.

This is why ‘first impressions’ really are everything – from the moment your patient finds you on social media, visits your website, calls your practice, arrives at your car park and walks into your reception, they have already started to form emotions about how they feel about this service.

With the increase in cost of living, we are even more cautious about how we spend our money, so we choose it wisely. As a consumer, if we aren’t happy with a product – then we don’t buy it again. We shop elsewhere and dentistry unfortunately is no different. For those patients who receive the best impression– then we have to maintain it. We have to pass that baton between reception, clinician, dental nurse, hygienist and dentist at every stage of the journey. If that baton and level of service are dropped (you may get away with it once), most likely that patient will leave. They won’t give you feedback, they won’t explain why – they just leave – but they will voice their feedback to friends and family and damage your reputation.