Boost your referrals through better education

Practices that rely heavily on referrals need to ensure they maintain strong relationships with their base of referring dentists. Unlike losing a single patient, losing a referrer results in a much greater loss.

An ideal way to strengthen relationships is to invite your referring dentists into your premises regularly to participate in educational evenings. While it's an onerous task for any clinician to try and fulfil the delivery of that education personally, equally it is common for participants to tire of hearing the same speaker time after time regardless of how competent and energetic they are.

"So what if you could offer an entertaining and informative presentation from a world class speaker every time," asks Emanuel Recupero, managing director of Dental ED. "That would certainly maintain a healthy level of interest amongst your referral base.

"It's also of course cost prohibitive to continually bring in speakers to your practice. We started Dental ED three years ago with this exact issue in mind and we can now offer practices a cost-effective solution."

Dental ED uses the internet to beam live lectures from all over the world into specialist dental practices and dental labs across Australia for a fee. The speaker delivers their lecture in, for example, the USA in the case of Dr John Sorensen and it is transmitted live to Australia.

Dentists who attend Dental ED venues hear the lecture, see the slides typically on a large video projector screen and have the opportunity to interact with the presenter in real time.

"From a practice's perspective, they're running their own private seminar," Mr Recupero said. "We publish our calendar of upcoming speakers a year in advance and the practice then promotes the next lecture to their referral base. They typically arrange for catering and set up a video projector and some seating for their clients and at the appropriate time, the lecture takes place. It creates a tremendous opportunity to build rapport with their referring dentists and to stand out from other practices in their area."

Dental ED "sells" exclusive territories across Australia and currently has some 40 venues on its network including dental practices, specialist practices and dental laboratories. There is only one venue in each geographical area. A lecture is broadcast each month and the subject matter covers everything from aesthetic dentistry to practice management with speakers from both Australia and internationally.

"If your practice is looking for an edge, then trial Dental ED and see what a difference it can make. Your clients will appreciate the opportunity you are providing them with to learn and this will strengthen your overall relationship with them which is great for your practice or lab."