Ep. 186: 3 Things You Can Change Today to Boost Your Collections
In this episode, we’re diving into three actionable strategies that dental practice owners can implement right away to boost their collections and improve their cash flow. Tune in for practical tips that will help you increase revenue without overhauling your entire practice—these small changes can make a big impact!
Morning Production Meeting - https://www.mgeonline.com/morning-production-meeting-download/
ABCs Seminars- https://www.mgeonline.com/mge-communication-and-sales-seminars/
New Patient Intake Form - https://www.mgeonline.com/np-intake-form/
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Questions From This Episode
According to a study of 10,000 new patient phone calls, what's the average conversion rate for a dental practice?
The average practice converts about 23 percent of new patient inquiries into actual scheduled new patients, meaning a practice getting 100 calls a month, whether that's a price shopper, an insurance question, or any other new patient inquiry, is only converting about 23 of them. That same study also found conversion odds improve the longer the call runs, with roughly eight minutes marking the real sweet spot.
How should a receptionist actually handle a price shopper call, rather than the common we don't quote prices over the phone response?
Ask permission to gather a few details before answering the price question, then genuinely dig in, who told them they needed the treatment, how many teeth are involved, whether they're in any pain, since most shoppers were actually told they need multiple units, which is exactly why they're shopping in the first place. That real conversation, rather than a flat refusal, is often what actually gets the person to come in, since nobody else calling around is likely giving them that same level of attention.
What are the three categories every non-hygiene-scheduled patient falls into, and why does sorting them matter?
Patients not yet overdue but with no future appointment on the books, patients recently overdue, six months or less, and patients overdue for more than six months. Sorting the list this way lets a team actually divide the outreach work, with treatment coordinators focusing on overdue patients who have real outstanding treatment and everyone else splitting the remaining calls, rather than the list just sitting there untouched.
Why does Jeff recommend keeping the morning production meeting separate from the clinical huddle covering room setup and cement choices?
Combining the two turns a quick planning session into an hour long meeting, and they serve genuinely different purposes, the clinical side is better handled the night before, while the morning production meeting is specifically about which patients are coming in that day, what outstanding treatment they have, and who has the actual physical time to talk with them about it. Skipping that planning step can mean a treatment conversation simply never happens, since nobody confirmed in advance whether the doctor had any real time available.
What's the minimum standard Jeff sets for how a doctor should handle stating a treatment plan's cost?
At minimum, the doctor personally tells the patient the total cost and what insurance is expected to cover, then hands off to the treatment coordinator to work out the actual payment arrangements, rather than avoiding the number entirely. Patients are most likely to listen to and act on what the doctor specifically says, so skipping the fee conversation, even briefly, tends to quietly suppress treatment acceptance.
Episode Transcript
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I wanted to make this week's episode actionable, meaning I wanted to focus on a few simple things you could do, or changes you could make in your practice, to immediately ramp up collections. And by immediately, I mean the second you finish listening to this episode.
There are plenty of episodes where I walk through a multi-step process, or how to sort out your entire hygiene department, and it's a lot to take in, even when it isn't hours and hours of content, though the hiring series alone ran three full episodes. I often wonder how much of that actually sticks, since you might be listening in the car, or while exercising, who knows. So I wanted to keep this one genuinely simple, just a few basic things across three areas of your practice that have real potential to boost income.
To be clear, this isn't a definitive list of everything you could or should be doing, it's a handful of simple to-dos that still have the potential to create a real impact. So let's jump right in. My name is Jeff Blumberg, and I'm your host.
These changes focus on three areas: new patients, retention and reactivation, and case acceptance, all of which have an immediate effect on revenue. Let's start with new patients, specifically new patient conversion.
I've mentioned this study on the podcast before. Years back, researchers listened to 10,000 new patient phone calls, which probably took a while, and found the average conversion rate in the United States, meaning how many of those calls turned into actual scheduled new patients, was 23 percent. So out of 100 phone calls, if you're the average dental practice getting 100 new patient inquiries a month, and to be clear, that includes everything from someone asking if you take their insurance to someone asking how much a crown costs, you're only converting about 23 of them into new patients.
To create an immediate impact here, I want to focus on improving your conversion rate, since it's genuinely not that difficult. What I'm about to walk through won't maximize your conversion rate, that's more of an ongoing process, but it will meaningfully improve it. There are two things to do: make sure you have an adequate intake form used consistently on every new patient call, and work directly with whoever's answering your phones to get them genuinely better at conversion.
Let's start with the intake form. I have a sample you can download for free on the episode webpage, it comes from our online platform, DDS Success, and we call it the New Patient Call-In Form. You may already have something similar built into your software, or a service like Weave that talks directly to your system. Call it whatever you like, I call it an intake form.
A few basic rules first, because even with people who've technically been trained on this, you'll call an office and find some of the most basic things simply aren't happening. These things should happen every single time. So before we even get into the form itself, what's the first thing that should happen when someone calls? The patient should be greeted with your practice greeting, clearly and warmly, thank you for calling ABC Dental, my name is Jeff, how can I help you. The person answering should announce their own name too, so the caller knows exactly who they're speaking with.
From there, the patient says whatever they're calling about, I'm looking for a dentist, I need my teeth cleaned, how much do you charge for an implant, whatever it happens to be. Next, and this is optional depending on your own preference, since everyone has caller ID now, you might still confirm their name and phone number, just in case the call gets disconnected, and because they could be calling from someone else's phone. So you'd say, before we get going, just in case we get disconnected, could I get your name and phone number? Great, and you're looking for a dentist since you just moved to the area? Yes, that's right.
From there you'd work through the actual intake form, which could be entered directly into your software as you go, or filled out by hand, it doesn't matter, but there should be a real form guiding the conversation. Date of the call, name, address, phone number, email. Next, how did they hear about you?
Now, if the caller is a price shopper specifically, someone who opens with how much do you charge for an implant, jumping straight into name, address, and email before answering anything can come across as tone deaf, since you haven't actually addressed what they called about. So instead: I'm happy to answer that, do you mind if I ask a few questions first? Most people are completely fine with that. You'll occasionally lose someone who insists on just getting a number with no information given, but that's rare.
From there, get their name and phone number, maybe their address, and then start asking real questions, some of which won't be on a standard intake form, since a price shopper genuinely needs to be handled a bit differently than someone calling because a friend referred them. If it's a referral, you'd get their name, address, how they heard about you, that's it, and move through the standard questions. But with a price shopper, you'd say, happy to answer that, mind if I ask a few things first? Who told you that you needed an implant? I'm missing a tooth. Did you see a dentist who told you that? Yes, I was just there and they said I needed one. Did they say just one, or more than one? Actually, I need four. Where in your mouth are these missing teeth? Upper right and lower left. How long have they been missing?
You're simply asking real questions, and this alone is what's going to set your practice apart from every other office this person is calling. Normally when a shopper calls a dental office, the response is, we don't quote prices over the phone, click, nobody's actually talking to them, finding out what they're dealing with, or what problem they're genuinely trying to solve.
I've mentioned this before about shoppers specifically, most of the time, someone shopping around wasn't told they needed just one crown or one implant, they were told they needed three or four, which is exactly why they're comparing prices, since saving $200 a unit adds up to real money across multiple units. So say it's crowns instead, you'd ask how they found out they needed one, since some people just chipped a tooth or read something on WebMD and assumed that's what it meant. Say they tell you a dentist recommended four crowns and a root canal a month ago. You'd ask where in the mouth, whether they're in any pain right now, sensitive to hot or cold, having trouble eating or chewing. You're genuinely talking with them.
At the end of all this, remember, whoever's answering the phone isn't a doctor, and even if they were, nobody's diagnosing anything over the phone, an actual exam is required. So you'd bring it back to, you were told you need four crowns, here's what I'd recommend: I'm not a doctor, and our doctor hasn't seen you yet, so we genuinely don't know exactly what you need until we take a look. We do a complimentary exam, or a $29 exam, whatever your policy is, do you have your x-rays? Let's just get you in, I can actually fit you in today at four thirty if you have the time.
At that point, having built genuine rapport through the conversation, the caller may not even bring the price up again, or they might ask anyway, in which case you'd give them a reasonable range, from a basic option up through something more involved, but reiterate that you won't know exactly what's needed until the doctor actually looks. It won't sound quite as casual as I'm describing it here, but the real point is that genuine communication is what shines through and makes the difference.
From there you'd finish the rest of the intake form. And this matters for shoppers too, not just referrals or straightforward new patients: always ask how they heard about you. Your receptionist is genuinely a partner in your marketing. I understand the front desk gets busy, but if you're not capturing this data, your marketing is essentially flying blind, you have no idea what's actually working. I heard about you on Google. Did you search a specific term? I looked up dentist near me. Great, note that down.
Then the remaining questions: when did you last see a dentist? Three years ago. What were you in for that visit? Just a cleaning. Was any treatment recommended at that time, and did you go through with it? You might phrase it differently, but you're trying to find out when they last saw a dentist, what was recommended, and whether they actually followed through. They mentioned wanting some inlays on my back teeth, but I never did them, they seemed expensive at the time. Good, note that down too.
You'd also ask whether there's a previous dentist you can contact for x-rays, and whether they have any current discomfort or dental concerns, pain, sensitivity, anything like that. Is there anything you'd like the doctor to know before your appointment, to make you more comfortable? This is where a patient might mention something like, my front teeth are a little crooked and I'd like those looked at, I don't love how it looks when I smile. Note that down too. The rest of the form is straightforward from there, insurance information, allergies, whether a pre-medication is needed, and finally whether they actually scheduled or not.
If I had to give one piece of advice when training your team on this, it's making sure they're genuinely getting into real communication with people. That's what matters most, because if someone's treated like an inconvenience, especially a shopper, they're simply not going to schedule, which is exactly the outcome you're trying to avoid. That's where this typically goes wrong, no real communication, missing basic information, fumbling the practice name or their own name right out of the gate, something we see constantly through our mystery calls.
Once you have an intake form you're happy with, or you've downloaded and customized ours, how do you actually get your team using it well? You drill with them, essentially role play, working with them until they're genuinely comfortable with it. I'd specifically drill anyone who has the potential to answer a new patient call. If you have three people up front and one is designated for new patient calls, but they're out sick or tied up with something else that day, you don't want a steep drop in quality when someone else picks up. Everyone should be at least solidly capable on new patient calls.
As the office manager, I'd have everyone read through the intake form, maybe hold a quick meeting, we're changing this because we want to improve our new patient conversion rate, and it can help to actually know your current rate first. Then practice it, one person at a time, pointing out what needs adjusting, and eventually have them drill with each other, one playing the patient, one answering the phone. You'll quickly notice where someone struggles, exactly where they can't give a good answer to a particular question, and that's precisely what you clean up. Simply doing this raises your conversion rate, because whoever's answering the phone is going to perform better.
A couple of final tips here. First, make sure whoever's handling a new patient call actually has time to talk, uninterrupted. You don't want them pulled away two or three times mid-conversation. If you have three people up front and one is your designated new patient call handler, make sure there's a clear number two and number three lined up in case they're unavailable, and once someone is on a call, new patient or existing patient, leave them alone until they're done, letting others pick up the slack as needed.
This is actually part of why, when we run mystery calls, corporate practices and DSOs tend to perform the best, even though we don't market to them and often don't realize we're calling one until partway through. The person answering is sitting in a cubicle with nothing else competing for their attention. You want to recreate that same focus, as much as possible, for every patient call in your own practice.
Which brings us back to that same 10,000-call study. One of the key findings was a genuine sweet spot around call length, roughly eight minutes. The longer the conversation, up to that point, the higher the odds of actually converting that caller into a new patient. So make sure your team has the time and space to actually stay on the phone that long when needed.
Last point on new patients: if you're working to increase conversion, you also need genuine appointment availability. Don't put yourself in a position where you're pushing hard on new patient marketing and conversion, but can't actually get people in for weeks. You want new patients seen within 24 to 48 hours. Skip this piece and it will genuinely undercut everything else you're doing.
And finally, this isn't a one-time drill. Listen to actual phone calls at least once a week, and keep working with your front desk continuously as they improve. Think about the math here: if you're currently averaging a 30 percent conversion rate on 100 calls a month, that's 30 new patients. Get that up to 50 percent, and that's an additional 20 new patients a month, purely from spending a bit of time working with your existing team, no added marketing spend at all. It's a genuine win-win, it makes your team more effective too.
That covers new patients. Let's talk about retention and reactivation, I've done plenty of episodes on this, but let's keep it simple here too. You might already be using text reminders through your software, prompting inactive or overdue patients, and that's genuinely worth continuing. But hygiene scheduling really breaks down into a few categories worth understanding.
Looking at your full patient base as a general practice, you have patients currently scheduled for hygiene, and patients who aren't, and the unscheduled group breaks into three categories. Category A: not yet overdue, but with no future appointment on the books, someone on a six-month recall who was in three months ago but has no next visit scheduled. Category B: recently overdue, meaning less than six months past due, say they were due January 10th and it's now mid-April. Category C: overdue by more than six months.
If you want to boost reactivation using the resources you already have, bring this up at your next staff meeting, or hold one specifically for it. Get the team together: we have 4,000 patients in the system and only 670 with a future visit on the books, which means a huge share of our patient base needs to be brought back into hygiene, and we can't maintain their health if we're not actually seeing them. Divide the list into those three categories and decide as a team who's handling what.
I'd generally have front desk staff focus first on category A, patients who aren't overdue yet but have no appointment scheduled, get them booked for their actual due date right away. Categories B and C, recently overdue and long overdue, will likely require pulling in more of the team. You may wonder where you'll find the time, and the honest answer is, you have to make time. Overdue calls tend to only happen during slow moments, which isn't consistent enough, so you need to genuinely carve out dedicated time for this regularly.
I'd get the whole team involved, dental assistants, hygienists, treatment coordinators, all reaching out to overdue patients. You can even segment it based on who's working it. I'd specifically have treatment coordinators focus on overdue patients with real outstanding treatment, say someone who needed two onlays and three crowns and is now a year overdue, call them to get them back onto the hygiene schedule specifically, not to sell the treatment plan over the phone, that conversation happens once they're actually back in the practice. Hygienists and assistants can work the rest of the list, following up phone calls with a text or email too, and carve out consistent time weekly, even just thirty minutes to an hour, for this outreach.
As you get busier, this naturally becomes harder to sustain, since the time you'd carved out starts competing with an increasingly full schedule, at which point you may need to bring on additional staff. And just like with new patients, make sure your actual hygiene capacity keeps pace. If the soonest opening you can offer a reactivated or overdue patient is 10, 12, or 15 weeks out, that's a real problem, especially for someone already overdue. If they're not yet due, a few months out is less of an issue, but if you don't have the capacity to bring people back in reasonably, you're capping your own growth.
This is genuinely something you can start immediately, it gets the whole team involved and doesn't require a lot of additional work. Even something is better than nothing here. Say you have 4,000 overdue patients and your team is making a combined 200 to 300 calls a week, some will schedule, which increases patient flow, more potential treatment, healthier patients, and more revenue. Keep it simple: get the team involved, divide the list into those three categories, and get people on the phone, backed up by email and text, and make sure you actually have appointment slots to put these patients into.
Which brings us to the last point, boosting treatment acceptance. There's a great deal that could be said here, sales skill and beyond, but let's stick to three simple things you can act on right now.
First, you likely already have some form of a morning huddle. I have a download for something we call the morning production meeting, similar in spirit to a huddle, but focused specifically on making sure patients actually move forward with treatment. There are really two different conversations that can happen in a morning meeting, the business side, how are we presenting treatment and taking care of today's patients, and the clinical side, how do you want a specific room set up, which cement for which procedure. Don't combine the two, or you'll end up with an hour-long meeting. The clinical piece is better handled the night before, it's usually quick unless something unusual is happening. The morning production meeting specifically covers who's coming in that day and what we're going to do about it.
You can use the downloadable template as a guide, but the core of the meeting is planning who's coming in, especially patients of record, since that's where roughly 70 percent of your revenue should be coming from, what outstanding treatment they have, and who's actually going to talk with them about it, and when. I've seen offices with three doctors where only one was designated to handle every treatment conversation, but the schedule made that physically impossible. We had to bring other associates into those conversations too, and coach them a bit to build their confidence doing it, and it worked well. The point of the meeting is walking out with a clear plan: Dr. Smith is talking to this patient at 11:05 about their outstanding inlays, with the treatment coordinator on deck to work out the financial arrangements.
Second: make sure you actually have time to have these conversations. Five minutes isn't enough time to properly discuss an $8,000 to $10,000 treatment plan, and if that patient's appointment is at 11 and you're mid-root canal elsewhere, that conversation simply isn't happening that day. As I've mentioned in prior episodes, build dedicated consultation time into your schedule, 20 minutes where you can bring a patient back specifically to discuss their treatment. It's not difficult to set up, say you're finishing a recall exam with a patient named George: I'd like to have you back for a consultation so we can go over what I found and what I'd recommend. What did you find, doctor? Everything looks generally fine, but there are a few things worth addressing. I want to review your x-rays and scans first and come back with a clear plan so I can walk you through it properly, I'll need about 20 minutes, just the two of us. Mornings or right after lunch tend to work well, or I could fit you in tomorrow at 8:30.
That gets the patient back in with real, adequate time to actually discuss the plan. For smaller cases, a single crown for an existing patient, a five-minute conversation right then is often perfectly fine. The point is planning ahead who you're seeing and making sure there's actually time available to see them properly, and if not, getting them back onto the schedule.
Third, and I keep coming back to this because it matters: the doctor has to discuss the fee directly when presenting a treatment plan. If you're skeptical this matters, ask your own staff who a patient is most likely to actually listen to in the practice, they'll tell you exactly what I'm telling you, the doctor. Hearing the cost directly from you carries real weight.
At minimum, I'd expect something like: this treatment plan comes to about $10,500, and we expect your insurance to cover roughly $1,500. Wow, that's a lot, I'm not sure how I'd pay for that. Completely understand, this is Susan, our treatment coordinator, she can help you work through the best way to move forward. That's the floor, ideally you go a bit further, which is its own topic, but skipping fees entirely will genuinely cost you. You might occasionally get pushback once you start mentioning cost directly, but for the large majority of patients, it won't be an issue, and it will measurably improve your treatment acceptance.
So: plan each morning who you're seeing and who's talking with them about outstanding treatment, make sure there's actually time for those conversations, and make sure the doctor is stating the fee. Long term, it's genuinely valuable to build real, professional sales skill on top of this, which is exactly what our MGE Communication and Sales Seminars cover, I'll put a link on the episode webpage. But these three basic things alone, simple as they are, I'm confident will produce a genuine improvement.
One last piece of advice: keep your team in the loop about what you're actually trying to do. Whether it's new patient conversion or reactivation, make sure everyone understands the goal and their specific role in it. It keeps everyone aligned, and honestly makes the whole effort more enjoyable and more productive.
So there you have it, a genuinely simple episode this week. I've got the downloads on the episode webpage, the new patient intake form, the morning production meeting handout, and a link to the MGE Communication and Sales Seminars. Give this a try and let me know how it goes. If you'd like to learn more about MGE, you can find us online at mgeonline.com, or call us at (800) 640-1140. Folks, have a great week, and we'll see you at the next episode.