... continued f rom page 2
3. Outbound Phone. This is where the rubber meets the road. If you’re doing No. 1 and No. 2, then add to that a dedicated outbound telephone caller, your new patient flow will continue to increase exponentially. HINT: Your dedicated (exclusively doing) recall caller can also do outbound phone followup of leads. PENTAGON SIDE NO. 2: PATIENT FINANCING Mrs. Jones has been with you for a number of years. Today was her recall visit. She wasn’t thrilled to learn that she needed $2,500 worth of treatment, but she trusts you and told you she’s definitely going to schedule the care. You thanked her for coming and told her you were looking forward to seeing her again shortly. You moved on to your next patient. When your team member reviewed the available financial options, Mrs. Jones said she was unable to handle even the three-pay option you offered. No worries. Becky opened a browser and pulled up Care Credit online. You can substitute any of a dozen alternative third-party financing companies. The result will be the same. Approximately 50% of your patients will be turned down by these companies. Result? If that’s your last alternative, $2,500 walks out the door. If you only lost one little $2,500 case each week that’s $125,000 annual revenue flushed down the toilet. Likely you’re losing more than just one small case. A one-Doctor office may be losing $150,000, $200,000, or more due to your inability (unwillingness) to offer financial options the patient can afford. NEVER BE YOUR PATIENTS’ BANK Just about the worst advice anyone could ever give a Dentist! Sure, all the “gurus” tell us not to be the bank. But the banks are where all the big money is! Between my two practices, we did more than $400,000 per year in internal long-term patient financing … creating longer
term payment plans for patients who otherwise couldn’t afford the care.
•
Only offer ILTF if your Gems Ratio is under 1.2:1. Gems Ratio is your total Accounts Receivable/Average Monthly Collection (based upon most recent three-month floating average, using net collections … i.e., collections minus refunds). NOTE: This becomes crystal clear when you are using your Gems Dashboard. If you’ve not yet begun using your Dashboard, ask your Personal Gems Concierge for assistance in going live on the dashboard ASAP. It’s an included benefit of your membership. Only offer ILTF to “A” patients. An “A” patient, for purposes of ILTF, is defined as a patient who • Has never stiffed you financially (bouncing a check is okay as long as they made good on it in a few days, and covered any bank charges you may have incurred), • Accepts and commences recommended care within a reasonable period of time (less than a year). This is to avoid those who only show up as emergency patients, never really commit to getting themselves into better shape, then disappear for years in between emergencies.
There are a number of things you must consider in order to stay safe and profitable when offering internal long-termfinancing .
•
Never offer ILTF until or unless you’ve exhausted all of the more traditional financial options:
•
• Five percent courtesy for prepayment in full;
• Three-pay which is a 40% deposit
plus the remainder split into two equal payments, one at 30 and one at 60 days (for which you NEVER bill and ALWAYS get authorization to charge their credit card or collect postdated checks at the start); or
•
• Outside third-party financing.
For a detailed explanation of “traditional” financial options and the exact verbal skills with which to sell them, SITE MAP GOLDMINE UNDERGROUND TEAM TRAINING TOOLKIT 006 FINANCIAL OPTIONS AND EXACTLY HOW TO SELL THEM
"A one-Doctor office may be losing $150,000, $200,000, or more due to your inability (unwillingness) to offer financial options the patient can afford."
• Has not no-showed a scheduled
appointment within the last 3–4 years
Continued on page 4 ...
3
InsidersCircle.com | 1-888-880-GEMS (4367)
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs