There was a time in America when the pattern of adult life was steady and predictable. You grew up, got a job and stayed in that job until you retired and collected a pension. You bought a home and you made a life there, often in the town where you grew up. There were always exceptions of course, but for the most part that was the trajectory of the average American life.

But just as the pace of change in technology is accelerating, so is the pace of change in other areas of our lives. Nowadays, the average person will have had 10 to 14 jobs before they are 40.

If your patients fit the national demographic profile, half of them have been with their employer for less than five years. More than 14 percent of your patients move every year – 40 percent of them out of county.

What does all this say about the meaning of patient retention in an age of hyper-mobility? What does this say about the urgency of getting patients to act now? Dentists have to be serious about reinventing themselves as the world changes or risk losing their value in the eyes of their patients.

A perfect example can be seen in the recare mindset: The idea that the system of callbacks they have always used will be enough to keep their patients coming back. If you're just sending postcards and leaving voicemails for people who communicate on the go by text message, you're not really connecting with your patients in the way they live today.

Similarly, the urgency question becomes more important in this landscape. I often say that the patient who says no today could very well say yes later. But that doesn't mean you can just wait for them to say they want to go ahead with treatment one day. You have to keep presenting purely and with diligence at every visit. You should never put off having a serious discussion about their possibilities – thinking that you will get around to it with them one day – because they may be seeing another dentist in another city by then.

The days of practically automatic patient retention are over. The lives of your patients are far more unpredictable now. In this world of rapid change, capturing the value of the "now" with these patients requires strategic agility and constant focus.


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Commenter's Profile Image Barry Polansky
May 29th, 2013
There is a lot to this small post. Building direct relationships is more important now than ever before. Connecting with patients digitally and especially through mobile devices is the future. All of these changes have already begun--- but one thing that will never change is the need to Know Like and Trust. This cycle may need to speed up -- but I would warn dentists about presenting before trust is in place...