Having a dental practice means there will be an ebb and flow of workload throughout the calendar. The busiest months will come and bring huge success to your business, while the slow months make you wonder why you started up in the first place. Understanding where the busy and slow patches occur during your year can be very beneficial to not only your personal sanity but the health and growth of your dental practice as well. By understanding your calendar, you will be able to focus your attention in the right places at the right times.
Plan ahead
If you are looking to maximize the potential of your practice, you need to start by looking into what is coming up. By having a calendar for the entire year to hand, you can easily see what important dates will be arriving soon. The full year calendar is perfect to map out your office’s advertising strategy for the entire year, as you’ll be able to see when to send different publications to the printer in plenty of time.
Using your patient calendar and computer data, you can also easily track which dental events happen the most frequently. If crowns and bridges are happening more in August, then plan to have your people in place to perform that procedure in August. Also, by giving your employees a heads up about certain procedures, you are giving them the freedom to potentially book time off when they need it. Try to avoid having them book time off simultaneously–another reason the calendar works so well.
Planning ahead also means you won’t run the risk of running out of supplies during the high months. If you know when your clients are booked and for which procedures, you’ll be able to appropriately stock your inventory.
Seasonal events
Having a plan to address seasonal events, like Dental Health Month, is very important. Dental Health Month could (and should) be a big month for your practice. Putting thought into what goals you want to accomplish on school holidays is another key to focusing your assets at crucial times. Having a well-designed advertisement strategy that takes into account the goings-on in your partients' lives is a great way to ensure you have steady clients during those periods.
The first two weeks of November are another great target with Halloween having just ended. The end of the school year is a great time to focus your resources. If you are a practice that is open during the holidays, a push to have people come in then is a great idea. There are many seasonal options open to you and your practice, take some time to consider them and gain more patients and business in the process.
With an annual calendar that tracks past trends in your office and special events outside of it can help you alleviate the stress of your busiest times by allowing you to plan for them!