Not All Periodontists are the Same, So How Can You Communicate This with Referring Dentists?
If you’re the only Periodontist in your area, then you may be fortunate to earn referral traffic from local dentists simply because you’re in business. But this isn’t the reality for most Periodontists.
Most often, there are several other periodontal practices in your city. Many dentists who refer to Periodontists will send their patients to the practice across the street for simplicity’s sake. After all, Periodontists are all the same, right?
We know that’s not true, but it’s not easy to communicate this with referring dental practices.
So, what makes you special enough to convince dentists to send their patients a few extra miles for treatment?
If you’re not already prioritizing these factors to earn more referrals, you should be:
Build the Relationship
More than 99% of the time, referrals aren’t going to happen on their own. Rather, Periodontists must be proactively building and nurturing relationships with dentists to create trust and grow their reputation.
When dentists refer out, they’re putting their own good name on the line. They need assurance that they’re sending their patients to a quality provider that will serve as an extension of their own practice.
Offer Better Quality of Care
Even if the practice down the street has fancier equipment, that doesn’t always equate to better care. Periodontists need to express how they offer better quality in their practice.
This can often be achieved through clear communication and consistency. Also, tailoring the approach to the patient instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment and diagnostics can help build trust in your practice.
Communicate Often
Periodontists often lose referrals because they aren’t communicating quickly enough with the referring dentist. If a Periodontist sees a patient but waits two weeks to send correspondence to the referring dentist, the patient may have gone back to the dentist looking for answers that the dentist can’t provide.
This puts the referring practice in a difficult position and could force them to send referrals elsewhere, or worse, try to perform periodontal services in-house.
Communicating quickly and often with referring dentists can help to mitigate this referral leak while also helping you build trust with dental practices.
How are you highlighting your advantages over other periodontal practices? Schedule a demo today and discover how PANDA Perio helps you build better relationships with referring dentists.
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