We Built a Waitlist That Takes No Money

Most businesses treat a full house as a closed door.

Class is full. Call back later. Check the website in a few months. And the person who finally worked up the nerve to change their life on a Tuesday afternoon goes away, and usually does not come back, because the nerve does not last that long.

We did it the other way at Premier Dental Academy of Longview.

When a cohort fills, you do not get a closed door. You get a waitlist. No payment. No deposit. No obligation. You put your name down, you tell us how soon you want to start, and we call you the moment a seat opens and give you first pick of the next start date.

I want to explain why that matters, because on paper it looks like we are leaving money on the table.

A deposit does one thing well. It moves money from their pocket to yours today. What it also does is turn a hopeful person into a customer with buyer's remorse and no class to attend yet. They sit for weeks looking at a charge on their statement for something they have not started. Some of them ask for it back. Some of them just quietly resent you.

A waitlist that takes nothing does the opposite. It says we would rather keep the relationship than take your deposit.

Then there is the part I am proudest of.

The confirmation page does not just say thanks, we will be in touch. It hands you something to do while you wait: a free Texas RDA practice exam. Forty eight questions across eight topics, scored like the real thing, with instant explanations and a breakdown of exactly which topics you are weak in. There is a ten question quick quiz if you only have a few minutes, and free flashcards on top of that.

You do not have to enroll to use any of it. You do not have to pay us a dollar. Somebody who never becomes a student can study for the state exam on our material and go pass it somewhere else, and that is fine.

Here is the honest business logic, since I would rather show you the math than pretend it is pure charity.

A person who takes our practice exam finds out two things in about fifteen minutes. Whether this field is actually for them, and how much they do not know yet. Both of those answers are worth more to us than a deposit. The ones who are not serious find out early and nobody wastes anybody's time. The ones who are serious now have a score in front of them and a reason to move.

The prices are published too, where prices belong.

Premier Dental Academy of Longview, published tuition

Source: Premier Dental Academy of Longview, official enrollment page ↗

Online is a one-time $397 at the current sale price, regularly $997. In person is $3,000 paid in full, or $3,500 on a plan with $500 down and the balance split into weekly or monthly installments. Same curriculum either way. It is all on the enrollment page, out in the open, instead of behind a form that makes you talk to somebody before you are allowed to know what it costs.

I have strong feelings about that. If a school will not tell you the price until you give them your phone number, the price is not the only thing they are hiding.

Now here is the part almost nobody in East Texas knows about, and it is the reason I wanted to write this one.

There is a path where it costs you nothing out of pocket.

WIOA is a federal workforce program that may cover tuition, books and supplies if you qualify. You do not apply through the school. You apply directly with Workforce Solutions East Texas, it takes about five minutes, and somebody reaches out within about three business days.

Two honest cautions on that, straight from the page. It takes six to eight weeks, so if you want a specific class date you need to start now and not three weeks before. And it is not guaranteed. It depends on your eligibility and on what Workforce Solutions has available.

But if money is the thing standing between you and a different life, that is a five minute form and a phone call, and it is free to find out.

Now here is the transferable part, and it applies whether you run a dental school, a fence company or a church.

When somebody raises their hand and you cannot serve them today, you have three options. You can lose them, you can take their money and make them wait, or you can keep the relationship warm and give them something useful in the meantime.

Almost everybody picks one of the first two. The third one is not harder to build than the other two. It is just less obvious, because it asks you to be patient with money.

Three questions worth sitting with this week.

What happens on your site right now when somebody wants what you sell and you are booked. Be honest. Does it say call back later.

What could you give a person for free that would genuinely help them, whether or not they ever buy from you.

And how fast do you actually call the people who left their name. Because a waitlist nobody works is just a list.

If you are in East Texas and you have been circling dental assisting for a while, go take the practice exam. It is free, it takes fifteen minutes, and it will tell you the truth about where you stand.

Then decide. No deposit required.