Is My Dental Office's Design Impacting My Bottomline?

If your office is aesthetically out-of-date or poorly functioning, even in a couple core areas, you and your team may be working against your office’s design as well as decreasing patient treatment acceptance. Fortunately, even a micro-remodel has a significant impact on your patient's experience and thus, helps increase your profits. This Catalyst Magazine article about an SEI client, Dr. Christine Kirchner, helps understand how:

“Dr. Kirchner saw a dramatic increase in cosmetic cases after remodeling...(and an) increase in patient referrals and walk-ins. This has continued to grow every month. She also began having an increase in more elective procedures….. (The Staff) are more efficient with their time and production increased 25%....”

Level 1: Christine Kirchner, DDS - Reception Area Before Renovation

Level 2: Christine Kirchner, DDS -Reception Area After Renovation

Your office environment is a patient’s first impression of your practice and an outdated or worn office brings into question whether the equipment, technology, education, and procedures are too. (See the ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures above in the same suite.)You can be the best dentist with the nicest team-but so is that dentist a half mile away. Your office needs stand out in enhancing the patient’s experience compared with others in your area. The easiest way to understand the impact of staying current and highly functional is through the patient’s eyes.

Working in our offices day-in and day-out it is easy to overlook what the patient sees. So, grab your digital camera and be "the patient". Take pictures of your office starting outside your building or suite and all the way through the office capturing every spot a patient would see. Then bring the images up on your computer monitor; it's easier to be objective when you review the pictures on a large screen. What do your patients see? Make a list of the downsides. I realize you have to work in these rooms so everything cannot be put "away" however, with an effective design there are ways to function well-really well-without a clutter and disorganization in full patient view.

Let's get inside the patient's mind and understand the stories they bring to their appointment. Things like fears of the needle, pain, the unknown, the cost, and memories of childhood dental experiences and even sexual abuse. What would they like? A warm, comfortable, calm, clean (not white), organized, and nicely designed office. While "nice" varies, patients do like to be in offices that are nicer than their home. After all, who among us doesn't enjoy visiting a nicer restaurant or hotel to enjoy the environment? Your investment in meeting your patient’s needs through a functionally designed aesthetic environment that reaches beyond your actual dental care will put them at ease and provide greater confidence in you and your team. Better still, it will attract them to your office rather than that other dentist a half mile away. You will see a direct return on your investment through higher quality patients, greater profit, higher personal enjoyment, and the ease of practicing in a well designed office.

Time and time again our clients tell us their best marketing is the post-renovation word-of-mouth referrals from their patient’s friends and family. The resulting acceptance of both restorative and elective procedures is measurably higher after updating-a great outcome in an uncertain economy!

Now that you “see” your office, to learn more about what to do next go to www.SignatureEnvironments.com. Or send me your pictures and we will discuss the possibilities together.