Blog - Page 7 of 310 - The McAnally Selling System

Cut Patient Cancellations and No-Shows From the Phone

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Why do so many new patients cancel or no-show, and what can I do about it? First, you have to know the number, because most offices don't. Track how many booked callers actually arrive versus how many cancel or never show. Until you measure it, you cannot fix it. Once you see the rate, it usually points straight back to the phone call that booked them. A caller who was rushed, never asked why they wanted to come in, or never felt a real connection on that first call is a caller who feels no obligation to keep the appointment. The [...]

Cut Patient Cancellations and No-Shows From the Phonejames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Track Dental Marketing to Revenue, Not Just Calls

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

How do I know if my marketing is actually working at the dental office? Stop looking at how many calls you got and start tracking what those calls became. Record every single way a patient can find their way into your practice and tie it back to revenue. Where did they come from? How many called, how many showed up for a consult, how many paid, and how many of those cases actually closed? When you connect the marketing source all the way through to a closed case, you finally see which channels make money and which just make noise. Plenty [...]

Track Dental Marketing to Revenue, Not Just Callsjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Why Your Front Desk Needs a 10-Point Phone Slip

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

What is a 10-point phone slip and should my front desk use one? Yes, put one in place and start using it today. A phone slip is a simple checklist your team fills out on every new patient call, capturing the points that actually matter: who they are, where they heard about you, what they want, and whether you got them booked. It sounds basic. That is the whole reason it works. The phone is the front door to your practice, and most teams answer it from memory and habit, which means half the important questions never get asked. A slip [...]

Why Your Front Desk Needs a 10-Point Phone Slipjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Find the Holes in Your Dental Practice Processes

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

How do I find the holes in my dental practice processes? Put monitors on every step and let the numbers tell you. Most dentists assume they know where things break down, and they are usually wrong. Track your incoming calls, how many convert to consults, how many move on to paid visits, and how many simply no-show or cancel. Each one of those numbers is a pressure gauge. When a gauge reads low, you have found your hole. Maybe the front desk needs phone training. Maybe a step in your follow-up fell off someone's plate and nobody noticed. The point is [...]

Find the Holes in Your Dental Practice Processesjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Track Phone Calls Into Consultations to Stop Leaks

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Why should I track how many phone calls turn into consultations? Because without that number you are flying blind. You think the phone is fine. You have no idea. Count the calls you get in a month from your marketing, then count how many of those actually book a consultation. The gap between those two numbers is the single most expensive leak in most practices, and nobody is watching it. If you spend real money to make the phone ring and half those callers never get on the schedule, you didn't have a marketing problem, you had a phone problem. So [...]

Track Phone Calls Into Consultations to Stop Leaksjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Phone Monitors to Track Monthly in Your Practice

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

What phone monitors should I actually track every month in my practice? Track the things that show you where patients leak out, not just the comforting totals. You already watch production, collections, and accounts receivable. Add the phone side. Every month, log how each patient found you so you can tie revenue back to the marketing that produced it. Then watch the phone itself. How many calls came in, how many became consultations, how many turned into paid visits, and how many canceled or no showed. Those numbers tell you exactly where the holes are, whether it is phone skill slipping [...]

Phone Monitors to Track Monthly in Your Practicejames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Fix the Phone First to Close Your Marketing Loop

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Why is the phone the first thing I should fix to close my marketing loop? Because every dollar you spend on marketing funnels through the phone before it ever becomes a case. You can run brilliant ads, but if the call that ad generates is handled at an F level, the money is gone. That is why I start the whole loop at the phone slip and training, not at the ad. Think of the phone as the drain everything pours into. A beautiful faucet means nothing if the drain leaks. I have watched practices spend hundreds of thousands, even millions, [...]

Fix the Phone First to Close Your Marketing Loopjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Don’t Use Your Call Tracking System as Voicemail

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Can I just use my call tracking system as a fancy voicemail? You can, but it is a waste of real money. When you invest in tracking numbers and call recording, the whole point is a live human answering and a record you can coach from. Letting it dump callers into a voicemail box throws all of that away. A prospective patient calling about a large case does not want to leave a message and wait. They want a person. Treating your tracking line as a glorified answering machine is like buying a chairside scanner and using it as a paperweight. [...]

Don’t Use Your Call Tracking System as Voicemailjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Active Phone Training vs Passive for Dental Teams

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

What is the difference between passive and active phone training for my team? Passive means you hand the team recordings and hope. Active means an outside trainer sits on real calls, scores them, and sends you a report every single month while your team also critiques themselves. That gap is the whole story. Passive caps out around a C plus with constant nagging because nobody objective is holding up a mirror. Active is the only level where you can routinely hold genuine phone proficiency and reliably move callers into appointments. The dividing line is feedback from someone who is not you. [...]

Active Phone Training vs Passive for Dental Teamsjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Turn Phone Calls Into Patients With Funnel Tracking

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

How do I know which marketing actually turns phone calls into booked patients? You build a monitor that follows the caller all the way through, not just to the ring. Counting calls is the easy part. The number that matters is what happens after. Of the calls you get in a month from a given ad, how many turned into a booked consultation? How many of those showed up and became paid visits? How many canceled or no showed? When you track each step you can see exactly where people are falling out. A marketing source that floods you with calls [...]

Turn Phone Calls Into Patients With Funnel Trackingjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Previous 678 Next

Big Case Marketing Blog