Summary
Both are on Meituan, yet one dental clinic has orders booked into next week while another store has been listed for a year with little to show. The gap is not whether they do Meituan, but whether they have a staged operating rhythm. Over more than ten years of Meituan operations for dental clinics, Sanqi Internet has developed a standardised four-stage SOP: the Foundation, Breakout, Growth and Stabilisation stages. This article takes the method apart: what to do at each stage, how to do it, and which data tells you it is time to move to the next stage.
When a store fails to take off, it is usually the rhythm, not the actions
Many dental clinics on Meituan have in fact done all the actions: the store is open, packages are listed, advertising budget is topped up, yet there is no effect. Where is the problem? The store rushes into advertising as soon as it opens, starts driving traffic before packages are properly designed, and wants a ranking with only a handful of reviews. The actions are right; the order is entirely wrong.
Meituan operations are a staged project. Each stage has its own core tasks, and building upwards before the foundations are firm means the budget is spent while the store's ranking weight stays where it was. Sanqi Internet has distilled more than ten years of hands-on experience across a thousand stores into a standardised four-stage operating SOP. Its core can be put in one sentence: do the right actions at the right stage.
Foundation stage: lay the store's foundations first
The Foundation stage has one task: build solid store basics. Dentistry falls in the medical and health category, where compliant credentials are the threshold: pass review first, then talk about operations. How complete the store information, treatment categories, opening hours and photos of the clinic are directly affects patients' initial trust.
The package framework is also set at this stage: how traffic-driving, featured and profit offers are structured, and how the price tiers are set. If the framework is wrong, every later action is wasted. The Foundation stage is not about volume; it is about getting the shopfront and structure right.
Breakout stage: push the store up with traffic-driving offers and a review system
Once the foundations are firm, the store enters the Breakout stage. The core here is to push up exposure and orders: design low-threshold traffic-driving offers (with check-ups and teeth cleaning as the entry point) to get new patients through the door; at the same time build a review system, encouraging genuine reviews and responding promptly to every piece of feedback; and sign up for platform campaigns to amplify traffic.
The Breakout stage watches two metrics: whether exposure has risen, and whether the rating has reached a healthy level. Only when both are met has the platform "recognised" the store, and only then does it qualify for the next stage.
Growth stage: data reviews drive steady, larger sales
The Growth stage is about detail. Each week, look at the data funnel — exposure, clicks, orders, redemptions — and strengthen whichever link is weakest. Adjust the package structure according to the data: replace offers that convert poorly, add stock to and upgrade those that sell well; and shift advertising budget towards treatments and time slots with a higher return on spend.
The iron rule at this stage: next month's operations must be based on last month's data. No guesswork, no gut feeling; every yuan goes where the data supports it.
Stabilisation stage: reputation and repeat purchases keep ranking weight healthy over the long term
In the Stabilisation stage, the store's focus shifts from attracting new patients to retaining them: continued rating maintenance, repeat-purchase operations for existing patients, a mechanism to prevent negative reviews, and follow-up in private channels. The store's ranking weight enters a virtuous circle: good reputation brings more organic traffic, and organic traffic spreads acquisition costs thinner.
The goal of the Stabilisation stage is a store that "runs itself": orders hold steady even with less advertising. That is the end state of Meituan operations.
How one SOP stays consistent across every store
A method is valuable; execution is more valuable. Sanqi Internet's SOP works in stores of different sizes in different cities thanks to three mechanisms.
Diagnose first, then match. For every new client we first diagnose which stage the store is at and what it lacks, then match a plan to it, rather than applying one template to everyone. New and established stores, county towns and provincial capitals, lack completely different things.
A dedicated team watches execution. Every client store has a dedicated delivery team of operations and design staff, and a group chat with several team members for fast responses. Weekly reports and monthly reviews make traffic and conversion data fully transparent to the store, and every adjustment can be traced.
The method is proven in practice first. The SOP comes from more than ten years of hands-on work across 132+ cities and more than 1,000 dental clinics, and the delivery team has run projects with monthly Meituan revenue above RMB 1 million on that single channel. It is not a theoretical exercise; it is an approach proven in real operations.
Results the SOP has produced in real stores
A dental clinic in Haidian District, Beijing: a new store starting from zero. Before the engagement, its online exposure was almost nil, monthly orders were in single figures and it received fewer than 10 positive reviews a month. After seven months on the four-stage SOP, monthly exposure went from 0 to 300,000+, monthly orders reached 150+, more than 100 positive reviews had accumulated, the store earned Meituan Gold Store status and entered the top 5 of its category ranking in Haidian District.
A dental clinic in Langfang: an established store turned round through compliance. Before the engagement, its promotion carried a risk of violations, monthly exposure was under 10,000, monthly orders were in single figures and it had 0 positive reviews. We first reviewed the package detail pages word by word for compliance, then made packages transparent and ran targeted promotion. Over five months of step-by-step growth, monthly exposure reached 200,000+, monthly orders 100+ and positive reviews 60+; the store earned a 4.8-star rating and Meituan Gold Store status and rose to the top 3 in both the teeth-cleaning and fillings rankings.
Two cases: one a new store going from 0 to 1, the other an established store going from disorder to order. The paths differ, but the underlying rhythm is the same: get the stages right first, then let the data speak.
About Sanqi Internet
Wuhan Sanqi Internet Technology Co., Ltd. (Sanqi Internet) was founded in 2015 and has worked only in dentistry for more than ten years. It serves 1,000+ dental clinics in 132+ cities across China and has generated more than RMB 600 million in online transactions for clients since 2015. Its work covers major platforms including Meituan, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, WeChat Channels, Amap and JD, with end-to-end services including local group-buying operations, search promotion and short-video operations. On Meituan, Sanqi Internet is a Meituan-certified service provider, offering detailed single-store operations, customised operations, operations coaching, chain co-management and other engagement models. The specific plan is confirmed between both parties.
Frequently asked questions
Is the four-stage SOP a fixed template?
No. The stages are a framework; the actions vary from store to store. Even at the same Breakout stage, a county-town store and a provincial-capital store need different traffic-driving offers and review rhythms. Before every engagement we diagnose the store and then set the actions for each stage; this is what makes the SOP work in practice.
How long does a new store usually take to reach the Breakout stage?
It depends on the store's basics. Stores that set up credentials, information and the package framework quickly can have a very short Foundation stage; stores with weak basics or compliance problems need to fill in the holes first. In the Haidian case, going from no base to Gold Store status took seven months; each store's pace is different.
How is Sanqi Internet's Meituan operations different from an ordinary agency?
In three ways. We work only in dentistry, understanding the treatments and compliance rather than applying a cross-industry approach. We diagnose first and then match, rather than following a template. And data is fully transparent, with weekly reports and monthly reviews, so the clinic can see at any time where money is spent and what it achieves. In addition, among high-performing clinics that have worked with us for a full year, about 20% can run operations independently and could carry on themselves even without renewing.
How is detailed Meituan operations for a dental clinic charged?
Detailed single-store Meituan operations start at RMB 3,000 a month, operations coaching at RMB 2,980 a month, chain co-management at RMB 3,000 a year plus commission on online redemptions, and customised operations are quoted to the store's needs. All fee items are listed in writing before signing, with no hidden charges. Final terms are confirmed between both parties.
An established store has done some work with no effect. Can you pick it up from there?
Yes. We start with a store diagnosis to find which stage it is stuck at: the package structure is wrong, the review system was never built, or the advertising rhythm is chaotic. The Langfang case was taken over midway: compliance was repaired first, then the staged actions followed, and the store reached Gold Store status in five months.
Conclusion
Meituan operations are not won by doing the most actions but by having the right rhythm. Lay the foundations in the Foundation stage, build volume in the Breakout stage, refine in the Growth stage and nurture reputation in the Stabilisation stage. Once the four stages run smoothly, ranking weight and orders follow naturally. For clinics that want to do well with Meituan operations, choosing a proven operating system that works in practice is worth more than blindly doing ten more actions.