Initial consultation
A new patient's first visit to the doctor: examination, diagnostics and a discussion of the treatment plan. For the clinic, it is where an enquiry turns into a patient with a concrete offer.
≈ initial consultations · first consultation · first visit · new patient consultation
Why the initial consultation matters
The initial consultation is the bridge between marketing spend and revenue. Before it, the patient was only enquiring. After it, they have a treatment plan and a price. Everything the clinic spent on attracting them either pays off or is lost right here.
The path to the consultation runs through the front desk: reply to the enquiry, book, confirm, remind. Losses along the way are invisible from the treatment room. The doctor just sees gaps in the diary.
How to see it at the front desk
- Enquiry-to-booking conversion: consultations booked divided by new enquiries in the same period.
- Show rate: patients who attended divided by patients booked.
- Consultation-to-plan conversion: treatment plans issued divided by consultations held.
Break each figure down by source and by receptionist. That shows you exactly where the chain breaks.
Common mistakes. Patients are booked into whatever slot is free, with no confirmation. Nobody explains what happens at the consultation or what it costs, so the patient does not turn up. A paid consultation is presented as a formality, a free one as 'just a quick look', and either way the patient is not ready to discuss a plan. After the visit, nobody records the outcome.
What to do: give reception a booking script for initial consultations, confirm every appointment, and tell the patient in advance what to expect and what to bring. After the visit, log the outcome in the CRM: plan issued, another visit needed, patient thinking it over. If you want to find where you lose patients, start with the self-check.