“Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse, wouldn’t quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. As of this moment, you are that second mouse” – Unknown

 

Before the financial madness of 2008, most dentists didn’t have to think much about patient financing options. There wasn’t a need to. Patients could easily access financing to get their work done. Then suddenly—chaos. The recession hit and dentist practices were losing production because patients didn’t qualify for funding.  It was traumatic, or at least it was for some.

Doctors that were stuck in their ways were punished. But the doctors that were willing to seek out new alternatives—well for them, doors opened and they started to see good things happen.

In my opinion, the best thing to come out of all of this was the innovation of in-house financing.

Don’t worry, I get it. Half of the people reading this are rolling their eyes. I know many of you have had or at least heard of terrible experiences with failed programs—and so will utterly reject anything I say from here on out. That is fine. But think of it like this: if you tried a marketing campaign to attract new patients that didn’t meet your goals, would you stop marketing to new patients? Of course not, that is illogical.  Because you need new patients to make your business successful, you try something else. You don’t give up on marketing—you give up on the failed method of marketing.

 

I challenge you to think about in office financing the same way.

 

I can say with confidence— a well-run, experienced, in-house patient financing program is the ideal solution to any office that is letting patients walk out their doors because of lack of funding.  In fact, to let someone you have spent SO much money to show up in your office in the first place—just walk out— is about the closest thing to burning your hard earned money that I can think of.

 

In fact, it is embarrassing.

 

If you tell anyone else in the business world that dentistry, on average, lets 50% of customers that are denied credit by main funding sources, but do want our services, just walk away, they would likely not believe you… because it doesn’t make sense!  Why?

 

Because the cost of acquiring a new patient is much greater overall than finding a payment solution for those already in your practice!

 

Yet most practices still focus their money and time on finding more new patients to fill the void left by those who were already standing right there.

Why do you think corporate dentistry is thriving like never before? Love them or hate them, they bring a business focus to what they do—and what they all have in common: In office financing options. Why? They have done the math. They know that there is significant economic benefit to the practice (not to mention the benefit to the patient of getting the treatment they need) to offer an alternative funding option that capitalizes on the opportunity of the patient standing right in front of their faces!

If you perform a little due diligence, you will find that there is significant evidence supporting the argument that a well-run, experienced, in-house financing program can be the most profitable business decision you make in your practice for years to come. But don’t take my word for it. Do the math. How many patients do you let walk away or get by with doing minimal work? Maybe it is time to fight a little bit for your business and your patients by making this one change.