Brentwood Dental Group Put Financing at the Forefront and Saw 2.5X New Patient Growth
The Challenge
The multi-doctor practice had clear growth goals- to increase new patient acquisition through more frequent Invisalign events and improve conversion across its existing patient base by delivering high-quality, comprehensive care. The only issue standing in the way was the lack of a patient financing strategy to support these goals.
Some of the major challenges:
Existing financing solutions delivered low approval rates and oftentimes insufficient funding.
The practice was hesitant to offer sub-optimal financing solutions. When they did, it was typically as the patient was checking out.
As a practice that prides itself on comprehensive dentistry, treatment planning constrained by insurance and existing financing options simply didn’t align with practice philosophy.
Broaching the topic of financing felt uncomfortable. Where do we incorporate it into our process? Do patients think we are making assumptions about their situation? How do we explain payment plans? It felt complex in nature.
The HFD Difference
- Full Treatment Coverage – With guaranteed maximum approvals, every qualified patient could move forward with the complete treatment plan rather than having to scale back due to cost.
- Pre-Qualification – A tool used ahead of Invisalign days to attract prospective patients and enable same-day treatment decisions.
- 99%+ approvals aligned to clinical goals – Financing supported practice goals of focusing on delivering holistic care and make the bundling of both General Dentistry and Invisalign treatments affordable.
- Unmatched training that made financing easy – Their HFD Area Manager provided hands-on training, and equipped the team with a tailored playbook and easy-to-use tools that enabled them to confidently present treatment plans. The team created and adopted messaging that made the topic of financing accessible to their patient population, such as the mention of monthly payments “as low as $80” and the ability to use HSA/FSA funds to pay down plans.
The Results: By the Numbers
By fully incorporating financing into the patient journey, Brentwood Dental began to see its impact on practice objectives:
150%
increase in promotional event attendance- Having patients pre-qualify to RSVP addressed cost concerns upfront.
75%
of event attendees had no orthodontic benefits, yet treatment felt realistic once they understood that ‘as low as $80 per month‘ was possible with a payment plan. Plus, this effectively eliminated the need to offer a monetary discount.
23
same day event conversions (92%)
“There is a philosophical change in mindset that HFD has allowed us to execute-no longer do we have to have conversations about what insurance will “allow” us to do this benefit year, versus next. We are able to offer truly comprehensive dentistry which is in the patient’s best interest.”
Dr. Seth Wasson, DMD, Brentwood Dental Group
The Outcomes
Offering HFD allowed Brentwood Dental to ultimately change the way they thought and talked about financing. They not only implemented a solution that beat their competitors in approvals and coverage, but they also developed the perspective that financing possibilities could further strengthen practice culture and growth. By fully incorporating financing into the patient journey, Brentwood Dental began to see the potential: Steady patient conversion in the form of daily case acceptance vs. only during promotional events, a more diversified credit mix including patients that would have been declined by other lenders, and the ability to treat both new and existing patients without limitations.
