When considering ways to make your dental office more profitable and improve your bottom line, you may not have thought making your dentist office more kid-friendly to be an effective strategy for increasing patient retention. In fact, marketing to entire families rather than just individuals can gain your office multiple patients at once, and children make up a large portion of the dental industry. However, encouraging parents with kids to come to your office involves more than just advertising that your practice accepts younger patients. You need to convert your space into a kid-friendly office.
Simple kid-friendly changes to make to your dental office
Adjusting your methods and the atmosphere of your dental office draws parents in and enhances children’s experience during the appointment, making it more likely you will gain long-term patients who may even stay with you for life.
1. Provide activities for kids in the waiting room
While you do not need to convert your entire dental office into a pediatric dentistry, consider your younger patients when you set up your waiting room. Parents may feel stressed trying to manage children prior to an appointment. Provide toys, children’s books and magazines, a television with kid-friendly movies, or even a tablet or device to play mobile games to keep kids occupied and entertained.
2. Train your staff on how to interact with children
If your staff is primarily used to treating adult patients, children may be a challenge to work with. Younger kids may be anxious during dental cleanings, and even older children may need a little prodding and instruction to get through an appointment. Consider training your staff, and maybe undergoing training yourself, on how to best ease children into dental care.
3. Have one room or space decorated for children
It is not necessary to have the entire office decorated in fun, kiddish designs, but it is a good idea to convert at least one treatment area into a children-friendly space with decorations to match. This room can have colorful tools and gloves, along with kids’ sunglasses when it comes time to turn on the lamp. You can even have fun books and videos available in the room to entertain siblings waiting their turn.
4. Assemble a reward box
Give the kids at your office something to look forward to at the end of each appointment with a reward box full of fun prizes. From yo-yos and spinning tops to lip balm and small notebooks, offer an assortment of items for children of various ages to choose from. Also, have a supply of kid’s toothbrushes and dental items in baggies ready to take home.
Learn how to optimize your practices
In addition to offering a wide range of dental marketing services, our team at Doctor Genius can offer valuable health care practice advice to help you understand and improve your dental office’s performance. We do not believe in cookie-cutter methods and therefore create a personalized plan for each client. Call us at 877-477-2311 to learn the specifics of our offerings and discover how we can support you as you grow your client base today.
Doctor Genius, located at 16800 Aston Street, Suite 270, Irvine, CA 92606, provides a range of services for practice success. We seek to meet our clients’ needs by providing a variety of marketing, SEO, practice optimization tools, and coaching to transform the healthcare experience. Though we work to provide the most accurate information, the content found on this website is solely intended for entertainment purposes. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that the information provided is entirely correct. You may not use the information on this site to cure, prevent, or diagnose a perceived medical issue. If you have healthcare-related needs, please speak directly to a healthcare professional. Never self-perform medical treatments discussed on this website. All images displayed are also for entertainment purposes only, and personal experiences may differ. Please note that the business tactics mentioned on this site might not be applicable to your industry or practice.
