First 90 days: capacity, spend and follow-up
How a new UK dental practice can pace launch spend to the appointments it actually has, answer every enquiry, measure from the first week, and what to review at 30, 60 and 90 days.
The first three months after opening are when a new practice is most visible and least practised. Google shows a "Recently opened" tag on a Business Profile for 90 days after opening [2], local curiosity is at its highest, and the team is still learning the systems. The aim is to turn that attention into booked, attended appointments without promising more than the diary can hold.
Pace spend to the diary
Before switching on paid advertising, count the new-patient appointments you can genuinely offer each week, clinician by clinician. That number, not the budget, sets the ceiling. More enquiries than you can book only produce long waits and disappointed callers, which is a poor first impression for a practice with no reputation yet.
A worked example with round illustrative figures, not benchmarks: a practice with 20 new-patient slots a week that is already filling 8 from walk-ins, signage and its waiting list has 12 left to fill. If its own records show roughly one in two enquiries books, it needs about 24 enquiries a week from advertising, and no more. Use your own counts; yours will differ, and they will change as the diary fills.
Raise spend in steps as capacity is confirmed, for example when a new clinician starts, and lower it when the wait for a first appointment lengthens. Every advert must still make clear whether the practice is NHS, mixed or wholly private [1].
Answer every enquiry
In the first weeks, the phone often rings when the receptionist is with a patient at the desk, or after hours. An unanswered call from someone who saw a launch advert is spend lost twice. Decide before opening:
- who answers when reception is busy, and how calls overflow;
- what happens to calls and messages outside opening hours;
- how quickly forms and emails get a reply, and who checks them;
- who calls back missed callers, and by when;
- how many attempts are made before an enquiry is closed.
Check this weekly from your enquiry record: how many came in, how many were answered first time, and how many were never reached.
Early measurement
Early numbers are small, so look at counts, not percentages, and do not change everything after one quiet week. Track each week:
- enquiries, by source (search advert, Business Profile, website, word of mouth, waiting list, walk-in);
- enquiries answered, and enquiries never reached;
- first appointments booked, and attended;
- spend by channel, so cost per booked appointment can be worked out from your own figures.
The source of an enquiry is easiest to record at the moment it arrives, so build the question into the call script and the form.
Reviews at 30, 60 and 90 days
| Review | Questions |
|---|---|
| Day 30 | Is every enquiry being recorded with its source? Which enquiries went unanswered, and why? Is the wait for a first appointment growing or shrinking? Has the waiting list been fully contacted? |
| Day 60 | Which sources produce attended appointments, not just enquiries? Is spend still matched to free appointments? Is the website still accurate about the team and prices? |
| Day 90 | Which channels do you keep, cut or change for the next quarter? Where is the first capacity limit now? What did the first three months show about which treatments people ask for? |
The launch planner has blank rows for these reviews, and the marketing launch checklist covers the work before opening.
Sources
- General Dental Council, Guidance on advertising. Accessed 1 November 2026.
- Google, Add a business opening date. Accessed 1 November 2026.