Enquiries in five places
An implant enquiry might come through a website form, a Facebook lead form, an email, a phone call or a message on Instagram. The patient is often nervous, has done research, and has questions about the process, the consultation and whether they are suitable. The treatment coordinator is the right person to answer. They are also in consultations most of the day.
By the time a reply is sent, the patient has also enquired at two other practices. Some enquiries are never answered, because they arrived in a channel nobody checks often.
Enquiries from existing patients and from people new to the practice arrive mixed together, and they need different responses. An existing patient may already have radiographs on file; a new enquirer starts from scratch.
Why implant leads behave differently
This is not the same as booking a check-up. Implant patients usually want information and reassurance before committing to a consultation, and many have questions about the consultation itself: what happens, how long, whether scans are involved, what it costs to attend. A general reception booking process is not built for that.
- Several channels, none of them joined up.
- The person best placed to reply is busy clinically.
- Patients need information before they book.
- Consultation preparation (history, any existing radiographs) is gathered on the day.
- No one tracks enquiries that did not book.
What cold enquiries cost
Implant enquiries are often expensive to generate through advertising. A slow or missing reply wastes that spend. More importantly, a patient who needed a considered answer and did not get one goes elsewhere, or does nothing.
Implant cases also tend to involve more than one visit before treatment is agreed, sometimes with scans or a further discussion. An enquiry that starts badly, with a slow reply or a confused booking, makes every later step harder. Patients considering this kind of treatment pay close attention to how the practice communicates.
The enquiry pipeline we build
- Every channel, including website forms, Facebook and Instagram lead forms and a dedicated email address, feeds one enquiry list. Phone enquiries are added by reception in a short form.
- Each enquiry gets an immediate acknowledgement in your practice's words, with a short guide to what the consultation involves and a link to book one.
- Consultation booking is offered from the treatment coordinator's or clinician's diary where your system supports it.
- Before the consultation, the patient is sent a pre-visit form for history and any information your clinicians want, and asked if they have previous radiographs elsewhere.
- Enquiries that do not book receive a small number of follow-ups you set, and the coordinator gets a call task.
- Each enquiry has a status and outcome, so you can see which channels produce consultations and treatment, not just enquiries.
| Channel | Today | With the pipeline |
|---|---|---|
| Website form | Email to a shared inbox | Enquiry list and instant reply |
| Social lead form | Checked when someone remembers | Enquiry list and instant reply |
| Phone | Written on paper | Logged in a short form |
| Outcome | Unknown | Recorded per enquiry |
Acknowledgements and guides are written by your practice. They do not give clinical advice or suggest suitability, which is for the consultation.
Enquiries that reach a consultation
Patients get an answer straight away and can book when they are ready. The coordinator spends time on conversations, not on finding enquiries. Consultations start with information already gathered. And the practice owner can see which advertising produces patients who go ahead, which is the only measure that matters for that spend.
Does this sound like your implant enquiries?
- Implant enquiries arrive in several channels.
- Replies can take a day or more.
- Some enquiries are never answered.
- You do not know which advertising leads to treatment.