Title - Tom Orent’s WHALYA story (ATV) Tags - callumstory
My friend, Dr. Tom Orent, was about to file for bankruptcy.
Then his wife’s lawyer called to say that, if he did, she would ask a judge to liquidate his home and dental practice, leaving Tom with nothing.
So bankruptcy was off the table, but Tom now had two households to support following the divorce, and no idea how he would do it.
Then one evening, he was invited to his mother’s house for dinner. When he arrived, his mom told him that her sink was blocked, so they called a plumber.
An hour or so later, the plumber proceeded to unblock the sink while Tom and his mother sat waiting.
“I’ve finished, Mrs. Orent,” said Bill.
“Thank you, Bill. While you’re here, can you take a look at our toilet?”
“Of course,” replied the plumber.
So he got to work on the toilet, too.
And a little while later, he return to the kitchen, where Tom and his mom sat.
“All done” declared Bill.
“While you’re here, there’s a drip in our shower. Can you fix it, please?” asked Mrs. Orent.
“Yes, of course, let me take a look,” replied Bill.
10 minutes later, he returned again
“Your shower is as good as new” he said.
“Thank you, Bill.”
But this wasn’t the end of the conversation.
Tom’s mother kept finding other jobs for the plumber to do “while he was there” and Bill happily obliged.
As Tom sat at the kitchen table and watched the scene play out, his mind lit up like a lightbulb.
His mother got rid of problems that had existed for months. The plumber got new, unexpected business, and saved money on travel. They both saved time and energy by doing all of the work in one appointment rather than several.
“Could I do this in my practice somehow?” Tom asked himself.
The next day, Tom gathered his team to put the idea into action.
“Do you have any gaps today where we don’t have patients back to back?” Tom asked. “Ten minutes here or there while I’m waiting for anesthetic to take or impressions to set?”
“We’ll have three or four spaces like that today,” Tom’s receptionist advised.
“Great,” Tom thought, “time to test this out.”
Sure enough, a patient named Barbara arrived later in the day. The hygienist noted that she needed a small filling. Rather than schedule another appointment, as was the norm, she asked, “Barbara, would you like us to take care of that filling today so you don’t have to make a separate trip?”
Barbara had three small kids at home, and the child minder was already with them, so she appreciated that the hygeinist was offering to save her some time and money.
After this, Tom and his team began doing a couple of fillings here and there. Sometimes they’d do an extraction. Occassionally a crown prep. Not big money - 400 extra each time.
A few months later, the practice was consistently producing 2,200 extra per week. That’s as much as $110,000 extra per year.
Note that this wasn’t difficult to implement. And the benefit wasn’t just financial. Tom’s patients were much happier with the better service.
In fact, I can attest to this from personal experience. My dental practice operates like most others. You have an appointment for a check up. Then if you need work, they ask you to book one or more additional appointments before leaving.
Now, the practice is a 45-minute drive away from my home. That’s 1.5 hours of driving per appointment. It’s a pain in the arse and everytime I’m in that chair for the a checkup, and they suggest treatment, I can’t help but think, “ok, let’s do it. Why do I have to come back AGAIN?”
And yes, there’s a cost. Not just the cost of fuel driving back and forth. There’s also a time cost. I charge the equivalent of £300 an hour. So each appointent effectively costs me £300 x 1.5 hours of driving X 30 minutes for the appointment. That’s £600. Plus the cost of the care.
You think I’d be prepared to pay a premium to get it all done there and then?
You betcha!
Anyway…
Tom’s discovery, and subsequent success, is one example of how to increase the average transaction value of your patients.
It also demonstrates how doing so can not only increase the bottom line of your dental practice dramatically, it also results in much happier and healthier patients, which means great job satisfaction to you. Win - win - win!