A Very Important Question to Ask Every New Patient

Any time you have a new patient call for a first appointment it turns into a question-and-answer session because there is a lot of data you need to collect, and information you need to convey. But once you have gone through the basic information gathering there is one other important question that it is absolutely vital to ask: "Who invited you to our practice?"

It's an important question because it establishes the "invitation mindset" you want to instil right from the start and because the answers can be quite revealing.

It can tell you something about the person calling or about you and your practice and how you are perceived in the local marketplace. This can also tell you something about your existing patients. In any case, it is intelligence you can use and act on.

For instance, if someone says they were not invited, they just found you by doing an Internet search for dentists in the area, or they just noticed your office as they passed by, you need to do some follow-up questioning. Are they new to the area? If so, how far have they moved? If it is not that far, that tells you something about how much they valued their previous dentist. In any case, patients like this who discover you on their own obviously don't come with a preconceived sense of your value in mind, and this is good to know. It means you need to spend some time demonstrating that value and establishing the right expectations up front through a comprehensive new patient experience.

If the person on the phone says they are coming to you on the recommendation of someone else in your practice that also tells you something. It tells you that this patient is going to arrive with the right mindset and expectations, which means you should be ready to live up to those expectations when they arrive.

It also means you have an evangelist out there and that needs to be acknowledged – both to the new patient and the person who sent them to you. Remind the caller that most of your new patients are invited by other patients. Inform them that it is considered the highest compliment you can get and that your practice is going to do everything to earn their recommendation in the future. Make a note to ensure that the referring patient is thanked. I have a tip on how to do that in a way that optimizes its impact, coming up in a future article.