Key Takeaways:

• Dental marketing can bring in calls, but consistent training turns those calls into patients.
• Staff training leads to more predictable patient bookings, even without a massive dental marketing budget.
• A dental marketing-only strategy can result in inconsistent results, with high fluctuations in booking rates.

As a dentist, it doesn’t take long to realize that growing your practice means getting more patients. You see your competitors ranking higher on Google, running ads, and pulling in more new patients. So, you think to yourself, “I need to do the same thing to stay ahead.”

You invest in dental marketing—Google Ads, Dental SEO, and whatever else promises to bring in more patients. The logic is simple: “If I just throw more money at marketing, I’ll get the patients I need.”

But is this really the best approach? Is more money thrown at marketing the key to dominating your local area? Is it really all about spending more, like every other dentist out there?

For example, one of our clients, Practice A, thought so. They invested heavily in dental marketing, hoping it would bring the success they were looking for. 

On the other hand, Practice B also recognized the need for marketing, but instead of dumping all their money into it, they decided to take a different route. They decided to spend less on marketing and focus more on training their front desk team.

In this article, we will explore how things panned out for both practices over the course of a couple of years. 

Imagine Practice A—a busy dental office with an established reputation. The team had years of experience, the office was well-equipped, and the dentist was skilled and knowledgeable. However, despite all these strengths, the practice was struggling to fill its schedule. There were gaps in the calendar, and even though the phone was ringing, it wasn’t bringing in enough new patients to keep the practice growing.

Practice A was confident that the issue wasn’t internal—it had to be external. Their belief? The marketing needed more attention.

“We just need a better website, more Google Ads, a bigger budget,” they said. “We’ve got everything else covered. Just fix the marketing, and the patients will come.”

So, they turned to RevUp Dental for help with their digital marketing strategy. We revamped their website, enhanced their SEO, and launched a more aggressive Google Ads campaign. With time, the results started coming in. The practice began receiving more leads, more phone calls, and more appointment requests. It seemed like the marketing was working. Leads were flowing in, and the team was finally seeing results—sort of.

However, as the months passed, we noticed something that was hard to ignore: while the number of leads increased, the booking rate fluctuated wildly. Some months, the practice would convert 70% of the calls into appointments, but the next month that number would plummet to 10%. There was no consistency, and the practice wasn’t reaching its potential.

They were getting more calls, but they weren’t converting those calls into patients at a steady rate. The team had good intentions, but the lack of structured training and accountability meant that their success was completely unpredictable. Some days were great, but most days, their scheduling was still full of gaps.

As Harvard Business Review points out, without accountability and reinforcement, most training programs fail to produce lasting change.

In contrast, Practice B took a different path. They too recognized the importance of marketing and knew that investing in it was essential. However, instead of throwing all their resources into an extensive Google Ads campaign or SEO push, they made a strategic decision: they would focus on training their team.

Practice B didn’t have the same marketing budget as some of their competitors, but they did have an open mind and a willingness to improve. They realized that without a well-trained team handling the incoming calls effectively, their marketing efforts would be less impactful. Dentistry Today emphasizes that front desk team training plays a critical role in converting inquiries into loyal patients.

They reached out to us not just for help with marketing, but with a focus on improving their call-handling processes. Together, we created a customized training program that equipped their front desk staff with the tools and skills to confidently convert leads into loyal patients. We worked with them to ensure their staff were asking the right questions, making patients feel heard, and ultimately guiding them to schedule appointments.

The change didn’t happen overnight, but after just a few months, the impact was clear. Practice B began to see more consistent booking rates, with the team converting calls into appointments at a steady rate. Their focus on internal improvement paid off, and within a year, their patient bookings had increased significantly.

So, how did the two practices compare over time? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Practice A: The Dental Marketing-Only Approach

• Marketing Spend: Over $110,000 invested in marketing over 4.5 years.
• Patients: More patients came in thanks to the SEO, Google Ads, and website improvements.
• Booking Rate: Highly inconsistent—ranging from 10% to 70% month-to-month.
• Conclusion: Despite a substantial investment in marketing, Practice A’s inconsistent booking rate meant they couldn’t rely on those leads to fill their schedule. Their team lacked structured training, leading to unpredictable results.

Practice B: The Staff Training-Focused Approach

• Marketing Spend: Around $78,000 spent over 2 years—less than Practice A.
• Patients: Steady patient flow, but with a bigger emphasis on booking them.
• Booking Rate: Consistently around 65-70%, with minimal fluctuation.
• Conclusion: Practice B’s approach of combining marketing with staff training resulted in steady, consistent growth. They didn’t spend as much on marketing, but their focus on improving how their team handled calls allowed them to book more patients at a more predictable rate.

1. Dental Marketing is Important, But It’s Not Enough

While marketing can drive more leads to your practice, it’s how your team handles those leads that determines if they become patients. No amount of SEO or Google Ads will replace the value of a well-trained team. As Forbes highlights, exceptional customer experience now drives more influence than traditional marketing—especially during initial interactions.

2. Consistency is Key

Practice B’s success came from consistent call handling. Their booking rates stayed steady month after month because their team knew how to convert patients effectively. In contrast, Practice A’s fluctuating results showed that marketing alone couldn’t guarantee consistent patient flow.

3. Training Your Team Pays Off

Investing in team training can yield a better return than simply spending more on ads. Practice B showed that with less marketing spend, a focus on training staff to handle calls better resulted in far better outcomes.

4. Accountability Drives Improvement

Setting up systems to track and measure your team’s performance, and holding them accountable for how they handle calls, leads to sustained success. Practice B’s ability to track their team’s call-handling skills and improve them led to long-term growth.

The stories of Practice A and Practice B prove that while marketing is a crucial element in growing your practice, it’s not the only piece of the puzzle. Practice A spent more on marketing, but without a solid internal team to convert those leads into appointments, their efforts didn’t bring the results they wanted.

Practice B, on the other hand, invested in both marketing and staff training. While they spent less on ads, their commitment to improving how their team interacted with patients resulted in steadier growth and better patient bookings.

The takeaway? Don’t just focus on marketing—invest in training your team, improve your call-handling processes, and watch your results become more predictable and sustainable.

If you’re ready to see how RevUp Dental’s combined approach of marketing and training can work for you, contact us today. We’ll help you optimize both your marketing and your team to achieve consistent growth.