Want a terrific way to let your best patients know how important you are to them? I suggest writing them a personalized letter, on your stationery, that says essentially this:

“Dear [patient’s first name],

You are a valuable patient to this practice, and your dental health is important to me.  For this reason, I want to give you my personal cell phone number and email so that you can always reach me if you have an emergency situation.  I’m available to you anytime, and trust that you will consider the time of day and the level of emergency when you contact me.

With any non-emergency questions you might have, please feel free to text or email me, and I will get back to you quickly.  Our practice goal is to preserve your smile while offering you the most convenient and comfortable dental care possible.  We appreciate you as a patient, and hope this is a clear demonstration of that.  I look forward to seeing you soon!

Warmest regards,

Dr. [dentist]”

This certainly will engender patient loyalty.  Beyond that, these good patients will now be even more likely to refer you (and wouldn’t you love a call on your cell phone from a patient introducing you to a new patient?)  My data shows me that patients will not abuse this privilege, but rather will respect and appreciate it. They may feel compelled to write about your letter on Facebook or Yelp. How nice would that be? And lastly, they are more likely to be consistent on recall.  After all, they’re one of your best patients.  They need to act that way!

You can decide who and how many of your patients to send this to, but hopefully it’s most of your patient base.  If you do try it, I’d love to hear how it worked for you.

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