How To Strategically Plan For 2025 As A Dental Practice Owner

You’re already a successful business owner, so you know that growing production requires a strategic approach blending prep, implementation, and follow through.

Drawing on our 30+ years of helping dental practices increase production and looking at the proven processes that have helped our clients consistently grow production year over year, we’ve drilled it down to these essential elements:

1. Identify current trends & benchmarks.
   
2. Set realistic goals & expectations.
   
3. Identify areas for improvement/focus.
   
4. Utilize a comprehensive & competitive marketing plan.
   
5. Execute with regular review of results for continuous improvement.

If you’re a Practice ZEBRA® subscriber, you can immediately pull your Benchmark Report to capture your current trends and metrics, patient and new patient values, and net gain/loss results. You can also dig into the Predictive Analytics module to see which levers you can quickly focus on to increase production. Better yet, schedule a call with your Account Manager, who will pull this all together for you and ensure you are set for success as we hit the year-end!

If you’re not a Practice ZEBRA user yet, find out more with an initial session to discuss your 2025 goals, and get access to our Reveal Report, a custom 24-page document that provides a clear visual on everything you want to know to strategically plan for growth in 2025.

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Getting an honest assessment of current results helps us identify the wins, the not-quite-theres, and which areas of focus will deliver the results we want. My CEO always says we can’t continue doing the same thing and expect a different result.

So, if you want a different or better result as we head into 2025, the question is, is your practice focusing on the right metrics? Are you onboarding a sufficient flow of new patients while controlling attrition? Do you know what might happen if you added more high-value new patients versus focusing on retaining active patients? Do you know how many new patients get scheduled for subsequent visits? Do you know how many of your active patients are actually lapsing? What is the magic mix that will increase your production to the level you want? Predictive Analytics is an excellent tool for determining this.

The following graph is of a real, successful solo practice currently achieving $1.6M in annual production.

When you utilize Predictive Analytics, it gives you a clear visual of where to find growth. In this case, you’ll see the practice doesn’t have to move mountains to have a substantial revenue increase. Using the calculator we just looked at, what would happen if they added 10 more new patients per month, increasing from 32 to 42 new patients? That’s 2-3 more new patients a week. Most offices have at least capacity to add this number. In fact, the last ADA HPI survey revealed that 93% of dental offices are accepting new patients. If the office in the graph hits this target, it adds up to $162,240 in additional production in the first year, and by year two, it adds over $500,000 to the topline! Just by prioritizing a couple more new patients each week. 

What else? You can look at case acceptance, scheduling metrics, lost patients, and call handling. Are your new patient calls being answered, and how many get converted to appointments? This team does an amazing job on calls, so the dentist just has to invest a bit more in new patient marketing. If you’re engaged in direct mail marketing, you may want to consider increasing reach and frequency. If you’re engaged in paid media, it may require a more competitive, higher spend.

How about WHERE you should look to add these quality new patients? For this, it’s important to understand your current market share and identify where your best patients live. This process allows you to build like audiences and target the patients you want to bring into your practice – who will be most likely to choose your practice, too. This is another piece of data that you will receive in our Reveal Report, and not only does this information show you where your patients reside and where the competition is taking a bite, but it also allows you to sort neighborhoods by patient value. This means you can selectively and precisely target your marketing to attract your core audience.

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Another major factor in growing practice production for 2025 will be ensuring that your practice’s online presence – yes, the website, but not just the website – is stellar. It’s so competitive, and consumers look at you online before buying. Again, the Reveal Report includes all the data on how your practice ranks online, from reputation to listings at the local level. The data is incredible, and now is the time, with eight weeks until year-end, to access this information.

And then, once you’ve compiled all the data you can on market share, buying demographics, competitors, online presence, practice trends, and opportunities, it’s about establishing the best marketing plan for your practice. What is your brand voice and image, and does your current marketing reflect that? If you are fee-for-service or on the mid-to-higher end of solutions, do your marketing materials reflect that superior quality to patients and prospective patients in your area? Along with all the information in the Reveal Report, our team will prepare a data-driven marketing plan you can run with. But you don’t want to run with it – you’re a dental professional, and we’re the marketers!

From there, our team will take care of execution, reporting, and supporting you on continuous improvements.

• You’ll get a data-driven plan designed around your practice goals.
  
• You’ll have superior digital & print content that reflects your brand & attracts attention.
  
• Your target audience will learn that you’re the expert they can rely on because your practice will stand out in the sea of choices.
• You’ll see your results in black & white. No guesswork.
• You’ll have a team that has your back & works hard to support you & your team!

Start 2025 planning with a fresh sheet. Revisit your vision, mission, and goals, and let us help you position your practice for growth.

Schedule a session now