The List: Top 5 ways to help your clients go digital

Just because your lab has made the transition to digital technology doesn't mean all of your clients have.

But having them make the leap to a digital workflow can help save your lab time and money while also providing some benefits to lab-dentist communication and overall patient satisfaction. 

1. Tell them you’re ready.

Labs have adopted digital technology at a much faster pace than many clinicians. While it’s not unusual for even a two-person lab to have CAD/CAM components, it’s still not a sure thing that a dentist will have an intraoral scanner. Perhaps a good way to help your dental clients take that leap in 2015 is to let them know you’re ready whenever they are. Let them know you’re prepared to handle their digital files as soon as they send them to you and help educate them on the advantages of going digital.

Read More: The top 6 benefits of a model-less workflow

2. Make it easy for them.

Educate yourself and your team so there isn’t a learning curve when your dentist begins to send digital files. Don’t make clinicians jump through a bunch of hoops just to get great work done-do the legwork ahead of time so they’ll be confident in your ability to do great work, right away.

3. Blow them away with what you can offer.

By now, you’re aware of what your lab can produce with a digital workflow. Use that knowledge to offer competitive prices and quick turnaround times so your clients will know going digital is a great choice for them. Plus, it helps you do more work in less time.

Related: How you can use digital technology to counter business threats

4. Maintain your level of quality.

With fewer physical models and faster turnaround, sometimes the (unfair) expectation is that digital processes cannot match traditional methods in quality. Help your dental clients understand that digital workflows can produce correct margins and excellent fit and help them see how your commitment to quality hasn’t changed-only the tools you use to get there.

5. Collaborate like never before.

Let your dental clients know the fully digital workflow will let you both communicate like never before. You’ll be able to take screenshots of cases and send them to each other, post instant feedback that the clinician can access from his or her smartphone and more. It’s a brand new world, and your clients will want to be a part of that.

This article originally appeared in the January 2015 issue of Dental Lab Products. For more great articles like this every month, click here to subscribe. Top photo: derrrek / Getty Images