Evan Lazarus

The $10,000 Patient

Description

Every dentist knows what a new patient bills in year one. Almost nobody prices what that patient is worth across their life with the practice, and that gap misprices every decision that follows: what you spend to acquire a patient, how hard you fight to keep one, and how seriously you take the first phone call. Using connected practice management data from thirteen real practices, this session proves the real number is roughly $10,000, shows where practices leak it (the phones, the hygiene chair, and the review profile), and closes with three checks any owner can run Monday morning without spending a dollar.

Learning Objectives

Calculate your practice’s true patient lifetime value using annual patient value, retention, and referrals, and see how it compares against PMS-verified data from thirteen practices.
Identify the three places practices leak the most lifetime value: unconverted new-patient calls, hygiene reappointment gaps, and an aging review profile, and put a dollar figure on each.
Evaluate marketing the way you evaluate production: by collections per dollar spent and the ratio of acquisition cost to lifetime value, not clicks and impressions.