It’s one thing to score a new lead. It’s another thing entirely to turn that lead into a new patient start. Your digital marketing strategy is your best bet for getting new patients interested in your practice over your competition, but it’s your job to keep them interested once they’re in the dental chair. Converting leads is all about overcoming patient objections – here’s how you can do just that.
Understanding Patient Concerns
Know their pain points. Prepare solutions beforehand.
As Sun Tzu said, “All wars are won or lost before they are ever fought.” While we don’t expect any battles to break out between the front desk and the exam room, the basis of this theory holds for business, too. Anticipating your potential new patients’ concerns ahead of time gives you the opportunity to prepare answers to make those pain points disappear.
“How can I afford treatment?”
Financial restraints are easily one of the biggest barriers to new patient starts. To help your patients overcome this concern, be transparent about all costs involved and turn their focus to the number of ways your practice makes payments easy and affordable. Feeling like they have options will make treatment feel more doable, so provide as many details as possible, highlighting discounts, payment plans, and insurance coverage opportunities.
“I work and can’t bring my child to appointments during the day.”
Busy parents are likely to feel restrained by set office hours. Taking time away from work to check their child out of school, take them to an appointment, and then usher them back to school is a big commitment, so making that process easier can break down this concern.
Offer a range of appointment times to accommodate busy schedules, including after-school slots and early morning or even weekend appointments. Consider sending reminders and offering flexible rescheduling policies to make the process as convenient as possible for families.
“I don’t want to spend a lot of time in treatment.”
We hear this one a lot. There’s no way to argue that long treatment times are a myth per say, but by spinning this concern on its head, you can prove that treatment times are a time investment that will pay off in a lifetime of happy smiles.
You can also remind your potential new patients that treatment times don’t have to be long – for patients requiring less extensive care, the time spent with braces or aligners could be on the shorter end, and even this slight reassurance could be enough to alleviate this concern.
“I don’t want interproximal reductions or extractions.”
Many patients have concerns about specific aspects of their treatment plan, but transparent explanations can alleviate some of that worry. Provide detailed explanations about why certain procedures like IPR or extractions are recommended and how they benefit the overall treatment outcome. Offer alternatives if feasible and discuss the pros and cons of each option, so your potential new patient feels like they have the power to make an informed decision for their healthcare.
Strategies to Overcome Patient Objections
Leverage your orthodontic digital marketing strategy, practice perks, & employee training to do the rest.
You can easily address your patients’ objections when they’re in your office and bring them to your attention directly, but many leads are lost without ever voicing their concerns. To speak to these silent nonstarters, you’ll need to exercise a more indirect conversion strategy using all the tools at your disposal.
Create Educational Content
Develop and distribute a variety of educational materials, like blog posts, guides, FAQ sections, and informative videos that explain your orthodontic procedures in detail. This helps demystify the treatment process for a silently concerned patient, addressing their common misconceptions and setting realistic expectations while positioning your practice as a trusted source of information.
Stay Transparent & Honest
Communicate with clarity at every step of the lead nurturing process. Use models, digital simulations, and detailed descriptions to explain how treatments work to reduce patient anxiety and share what they can expect throughout the treatment journey.
Don’t sugarcoat, though. While you might feel tempted to make more difficult parts of treatment sound better to encourage your patients to start, you could end up alienating them and harming your reputation if they catch on later.
Provide Flexible Financing Options
Offer a variety of financing options to make treatments more affordable. This could include monthly payment plans, discounts for upfront payments, or financing through third-party creditors. However you choose to do this, easing the financial burden can lower one of the biggest barriers to starting treatment.
Show Digital Previews
With cutting-edge treatment technology like digital scanners, you have the power to show your patients what their end results should look like before they even start treatment. Giving them a glimpse into the future can boost their confidence in your practice and get them excited about starting their treatment journey.
Train Your Staff
You know how to address your patients’ questions to put their minds at ease, but do your staff? Well-trained staff are better equipped to manage concerns effectively, ensuring that every patient interaction is positive and encouraging, which can significantly impact patient decisions.
Regularly train them on how to handle common objections with patience and empathy, and include role-playing exercises to practice responses and improve interaction skills for best results.
Implement a Follow-Up Protocol
Not every patient starts after their initial consultation, but that doesn’t mean they won’t start after they leave. Using a follow-up system like Contour to automate text, email, or phone calls can prevent a missed conversion and reinforce a new patient’s decision to choose your practice.
Start More Patients with Neon Canvas
At Neon Canvas, our orthodontic digital marketing strategies don’t stop at lead generation. Our team is dedicated to helping you nurture new patient leads so they start treatment at your practice. To learn more about how we can help you grow your patient base, check out our own lead management software program, Contour.