The new year is here and it’s time not only for personal resolutions but also business goal setting. Beginning of the year is a great time to map out any big or small changes that you intend to make in your practice.
As we chart the growth trajectories of our businesses this year it’s important to look back at the past year/s and identify strengths and weaknesses. It’s only by looking at our past successes and struggles that we can identify areas of growth and opportunity.
Reviewing some strategic pieces of information about the performance of the practice can help us be smart and specific about future goals.
Here are the top 5 things to consider as you set your goals for 2022
Review your current staffing and set appropriate goals based on the resources available. Be prepared to add on team members or third party service providers if your growth overshoots what your existing resources can handle.
Understand that even if you have a full active patient load, New patient acquisition is still important. The patient lifecycle in a practice is an average of 2 years or less. You constantly have vacant spots to fill to keep the practice growth consistent.
Carefully compare your new patient acquisition rate with your patient conversion rate. How many of the new consults that walk through your doors actually convert into patients? Is your expensive marketing being let down by your internal patient intake processes? Take a close look at the which part of your process is most in need of improvement.
Take a close look at the actual appointment usage in your schedule for the past year. Which appointment types were always scarce and which went unused? Be prepared to tweak your schedule templates to match your growth goals.
Review your fees and insurance billing rates. Are they still consistent with the service level you wish to deliver? Are they in line with the pricing of other orthodontic specialists in your community? Does your pricing allow you to be efficient and profitable? Recalibrate your fees if needed.
Here's to setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely) goals and achieving them. Happy 2022!