Read time: 4 minutes

At a glance:

• Quote:

• Picture

• What I’ve Learned

• Business Idea

Quote

Picture

What I Learned:

Think of a girl named Sarah.

She’s hanging in her room, laptop open, music in the background, and a year or two from a big upcoming change: college, a friends trip, something.  She takes out her phone, and snaps a pic.

Posts it. 

…and it hits her.

Her teeth.

She needs to get seen asap…’

Her parents just arrived home from her $100k marketing job, and mom’s tired - with a million things on her to-dos. That’s when Sarah says to her, “I need to get seen for my teeth …like now.” 

And so mom promises to call for an appointment the next day.. 

Why is this story important?  This is the largest demographic in orthodontics.

Female, 14, parent or parent making over $100k a year. Shown in the latest 2023 demographic study.

It’s Teen Girl World. Almost 80% in the 11-24 range.

And when they’re ready for being seen, mom’s getting them seen. Now.

But telling a practice this to “answer all these calls properly” and “schedule them asap” doesn’t stick. Every orthodontist thinks they already do this.

….And it’s also not where I first understood this.

Years ago, I talked to a consultant in Chicago about this.

The trick? Look at your third available open appointment. The first and second could be open due to a cancelation, or another random factor. But if your third appointment is consistently 2+ weeks out for seeing new patients, you’re losing business.

And the 3 of the easiest ways to do so if you can’t:

1. Consider shortening your exam times from 60 to 45 minutes.

2. Train someone else do be a sub-in TC if a preferred slot is booked (What’s more common - a practice complaining of a ‘no-show’ or that they’re ‘doubled booked’ in 2024?..)

3. Look at your schedule, and start to eliminate the clog and unneeded visits

I was positive my practices did this already - because this summer wasn’t as great as previous years.

Yet…

Here’s my results of 5 practices, picked at random, on a Thursday morning at 11:34am:

1. Northern Cincy: “..Our next available opening is 5 weeks out..”

2. North Columbus: *Didn’t pick up*

3. South Columbus: “..hung up 45 seconds in on an automated prompt throwing me back and forth from current patient to new patient.”

4. North Dayton: “..2 weeks out.”

5. South Cincy: “2 days with a noon appointment.”

1 for 5.

1 for 5 for getting “Sarah” seen within the week of her urgency.

Don’t try to change the Sarahs; accept the game, and play the cards right.

Business Idea Whiteboard:

Be aware you have two completely different “customers” wanting two very different experiences ….calling into one single practice: