The days of driving patients through the door with an ad in the Yellow Pages are long gone. Today’s patients evaluate every aspect of your practice before scheduling an appointment, from your website to your technology. It’s never been more important to create an exceptional patient experience.

Fred Joyal, entrepreneur and author of the best-selling book Everything is Marketing, knows that the new rules of marketing can seem counterintuitive to dental practitioners. “They’ve been told in dental school that if they get better at delivering dentistry, they will get more patients,” he says. “However, patients have no way of assessing a dentist’s clinical skill. They are going by everything else they can gather to make a decision about the practice.”

Fortunately, you don’t need a marketing degree to enhance the patient experience in your office. These tips from Joyal will help you get started.

The first step in creating a better experience is to see your practice through your patients’ eyes. Since it is impossible to objectively evaluate your practice, you’ll want to enlist the help of an uninvolved third party.

Have this person walk through the practice and tell you what they see. Ask them questions, such as: How does the reception area look? What does the office smell like? How do you feel about the lighting and the colors? What do you think about the equipment and technology? Is the staff friendly? What could we do better?

Whether it’s refreshing your website, remodeling the reception area, updating your operatory equipment, adding more technology or bringing on different staff members, you will know which improvements you need to make to create the ultimate experience. Updating your office will not only help you attract more patients, it will also help you increase case acceptance. “When you create an environment that makes patients comfortable, they more readily accept treatment,” Joyal says.

Once you’ve updated your practice, it’s important to show it off. One of the best ways to showcase your cutting-edge facility is by giving each patient a comprehensive tour of the office during their first visit. It’s important to plan these tours ahead of time and prepare your staff to ensure they put their best foot forward.

“Walk the patient through the office and explain the technology to them, show them your sterilization area, show them letters from your patients and your degrees and introduce them to your happy staff members,” says Joyal. This short tour will go a long way toward fostering patient understanding and confidence.