Well, summer is coming to a close, and preparing your fall promotions now is essential for maximum return on your investment. Back-to-school, Patient Appreciation Days and Dinners, screenings and outside speaking engagements are highly productive and easy to implement.

Plan around holidays, and make sure you’re open enough days to serve your patients well. Turn up the juice on your patient education, and spread the word enthusiastically and consistently – there’s significant opportunity, as many people are coming out of the summer feeling ready to return to reality, so tweak your recall system and see if you can recapture some people who drifted along the way.

That means you too – if you have taken your eye off the target, get re-centered, think about why you do what you do, and get back in the game. There’s enough time to increase your new patient flow, your patient compliance, and your collections – but you must take action now. With two thirds of the year complete, your trends are firmly established, so if you’re right where you want to be, stay the course – otherwise, invest the effort and focus to change direction now, and get help from your coaches if need be.