No one needs to tell you that getting and keeping patients is a critical factor in your business success. Perhaps the critical factor, considering your practice won't go far without anyone to serve.

You already know this, of course, but what you may not know is that each client you snag is worth between $10,000 and $45,000 over a 20-year span. Multiply that by three to five in the case of a family, and the numbers really add up.

That means it's not only crucial to find new patients, but you've got to keep them as well. That's an excellent reason to take your marketing seriously. Even if you have a long-established practice, good marketing can help you keep your clients happy over the long term.

If you're looking to create a seamless, repeatable dental marketing plan that brings you reliable results every time, here are the five basic steps to follow.

1. Create a customer profile

Until you know whom you're serving, it's difficult to serve that person. Start by creating one to three customer profiles detailing who you serve.

Families? The employees of a particular business park? Working executives? Knowing who you want to attract will inform everything about your business, from your branding to the drinks you offer in your waiting room, so it's important.

2. Determine your goals

It's surprising the number of people who don't bother to set goals in the first place. Work with an expert marketer if you need to, but make sure to establish realistic, concrete goals for revenue, number of patients, growth rate, etc.

3. Craft a detailed strategy

You wouldn't treat a patient with a seat-of-your-pants strategy, and you shouldn't try that with your marketing. Your strategy should start with taking stock of what you already do, determining what isn't working and fixing it.

For instance, has your direct mail campaign produced an increase in new patients? If not, you probably don't need it. Systematically determine what is and isn't working, and implement replacement strategies to accomplish those same ends.

4. Put tracking mechanisms in place

Once you've set your goals and predicted outcomes, you need a way to determine whether you're meeting them. By putting tracking mechanisms in place, you can measure actual results against your predictions. This allows you to figure out where you were off and modify your approach as necessary, so your system always gets the most reliable results.

5. Set and exceed customer expectations

And lastly, you've got to set and then exceed expectations for your customers. Each and every one of your patients should walk in with a set of expectations for what you can do for them.

To earn word-of-mouth advertising, which is more valuable than any other kind, you've got to do more than simply meet them: You need to exceed on a regular basis. Whether that's an add-on service, a novelty in the waiting room (say, dress-up clothes for children) or just plain old excellent bedside manner, give it your all.

Getting and keeping customers isn't an exact science, but you can still create a predictable system for getting new patients and pleasing the ones you already have.

Once you do, you'll no longer need to worry about the lifetime value of each individual patient, because you'll have a full practice — and your own lifetime value will be assured.