Dental Practice Loyalty

Are you loyal to your dentist?

When was the last time you asked that question of your patients? Pretty important question to know the answer to I would think, but we hardly ever answer the question with hard data.

First, let's take a look at the differences between consumer satisfaction in the dental office, and consumer loyalty to the practice.

As a simple matter of definition, satisfaction is just that - people are satisfied. That simply means that those who frequent the office are satisfied with the location, people, and care. Consider this statement however from Robert Gordman and Armin Brott in The Must-Have Customer; "Having a satisfied customers base could be the worst thing to happen to your business."

Wait a minute, isn't that what we are suppose to be after, satisfied customers?

Confusing isn't it.

Research shows that those consumers who are satisfied can leave you. Research by Bain & Company showed that 65 to 85 percent of customers who defected to competitors described themselves as "satisfied" or "very satisfied" just before they made the move.

The next natural question is why, why did they move?

That is a great question with not very clear answers. Again, research indicates that 9 percent left because they perceived the competition as better and 14 percent because of dissatisfaction. 68 percent actually reported that there was no particular reason that they changed. That is not a very comforting statistic. This means that people can be satisfied, or even very satisfied with your service and care, but leave anyway. That is also a very frustrating thing to try and combat.

So, if not satisfaction, what should you be after?

Loyalty. That is the thing that you want to strive to achieve within the hearts of your patient or consumer. It is the loyal consumer who stays with you, even allows you to make mistakes along the way, but forgives them.

Just this morning I was speaking with a patient of a client's office who actually used the word loyal in reference to her dentist. She considers herself loyal because of the treatment that her disabled daughter receives, and has received for some time. That is what you are after. In this same conversation, when asked about referring this doctor to someone else, it was not only a definitely, but she indicated that she already had referred others.

What then creates consumer loyalty in a dental practice? The information that follows will begin to answer that question, but I want to first pause here to caution you about what you can do with this information.

What I will present is general information that can be applied generally of course, but realize that it is not specific to your practice or your culture. Each practice is different and has a different set of operational processes and also deals with a set of cultural norms that fit their patients. While this information can be helpful, it is best to apply the information against the existing service culture in order to be most effective. You then want to support the changes with data over the long term.

Satisfaction is generally based on doing things right, where loyalty is based more on doing the right things. In a dental practice the right things may seem rather obvious with clinical competence rising quickly to the top of the list of what should be done first. Clearly, incompetence is a big issue with any aspect of the practice, but how clear is it to judge or make a judgment on the front office staff for instance? Is it clear how you would determine what competence is for them? How about being kind, courteous, and friendly to all? Is that a good start or all there is? This is beginning to look to be a bit more difficult then isn't it? The truth is that there are may aspects to what can be considered competency and those must be determined within the culture in which they operate.

It is a bit easier to discuss this in terms of dental work - say hygiene or dental assistants where there is at least a statutory regulation attached which if nothing else establishes minimum competency.

Competency is not something that can be tolerated when violated. The culture needs to adopt a clear and decisive process in dealing with incompetence that all in the culture are free to express and perhaps even exercise.

So, moving beyond competency we are taken to service. It is not important enough to simply consider that we are doing a competent and satisfactory job. What people really want is far more (competence provides satisfaction and little more). The element that separates the haves from have nots is service. Exceptional service breads loyalty.

What you need to begin to provide is the full dental experience, not just work on the customer's teeth. You could be the best at doing fillings and the word will not spread. You could be the King of crowns, and still not provide the type of dental experience that creates loyalty.

Loyalty is creating a positive emotional experience with the consumer. Sounds simple, but an extremely positive emotional experience does not happen daily for most people. This would be a rare, highly regarded event in the life of the consumer and will result in a positive memorable experience for all.

Our research indicates two basic clusters or areas in which loyalty is built.

Tier one reflects patient wait time and exam room process. Tier two includes the Dr. visit and office processes and settings.

Both tier one and two must be addressed of course, but again it must be genuine and within the existing culture.

Creating loyalty takes time and must be patiently entered into. It is a process not an event. It will take the culture to bring it about, not a person. That is why you have to start with the culture and then roll forward from there.

In our process in working with dental practices, that is what we do. We work to create an extraordinary service culture within the framework of practice leadership rather than practice management. You can do the same thing, and gather the data to see if you get the same results!

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