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There’s no doubt that out there in the big wide world that Customer Service in Dentistry is at best disjointed and at worst very non-existent.

And it’s simply because the processes of “Review and Improve” are never put into place for a dental office.

Who is doing the reviewing?

Who is doing the training and the education that result in the improvement?

In most cases the answer to both of these questions is:

NOBODY.

And the answer to the question as to who the team believes should be in charge of both of these processes?

THE DENTIST.

And he is usually too busy doing the dentistry to be checking and reviewing and then allocating time necessary to be training to improve skills for his team members.

Dentistry is a different model compared to other businesses.

Yes it is.

In traditional retail, or in food, you’ll have a maître de, or a concierge, or a supervisor out walking the floor, helping to check things and to schmooze with customers and staff and to make sure that things are going as they should be, or as they need to be going.

But that’s difficult to do in dentistry.

Because the person who owns the store is usually running the store and doing the work, or the dentistry.

Down the back somewhere.

And because of that, he usually has his head down in someone’s mouth all day long, and rarely has the opportunity to observe and nurture his team.

Most of what is going on in his practice is happening behind his back while he is busy doing what he needs to be doing, which is the dentistry.

He’s busy doing something else other than supervising and observing.

Because he just can’t.

Not only are the majority of the patients’ experiences with the practice occurring behind the dentist’s back, but they are also occurring outside of the room that the dentist spends most of his day inside of.

And so if he’s busy fixing teeth, he really has no inert idea about all the “other things” going on in his practice.

Like:

• How the phone is being answered
• Whether the phone is being answered well
• Whether the patients are being greeted well
• Whether the waiting patients are being concierged or ignored out the front
• How the patients are being greeted and called by the clinical staff
• How the patients are being entertained by the clinical staff while waiting in the treatment room
• How are the patients being cared for if the dentist needs to leave the treatment room for a moment
• How is the patient welcomed at the front following treatment
• How is the patient greeted when they arrive at the front following treatment
• How is the patient discussing ongoing treatment needs with the office staff
• What are the office staff saying to help the patients accept their necessary treatment
• How is the patient being farewelled at the end of their appointment
• And more…

Who is supervising the education and the training of the team members?

And is the team playing by the practice “play-book” when the lights are not on them?

Or are they making up their own plays while there is little supervision, and little accountability, and little interest in training and results?

Some dentist owners believe that the perfectly run dental office is purely and simply a pipe dream that is unachievable.

However, some dentists out there have achieved success in building a well-oiled and well-orchestrated team of customer service professionals who have all of their systems and protocols in place and being acted out with precision.

And when you work in one of those offices where everyone knows their role and the result for the team of what can be achieved by everyone doing what they should do and what needs to be done is magnificent, well then, then, we have a business.

A systemised business that delivers world-class service.

Where the patient sees, feels and knows the difference between what your business is offering, and what every other business out there is simply slapping up and dishing out as “adequate”.

Because adequate just doesn’t cut it any more.

Adequate is the new unsatisfactory.

To succeed and rise above the ashes of mediocrity we need to know what is going on out there and we need to know how to make things different.

And better.

Much better.

And when we achieve this, we have then achieved a significant point of difference.

And you know what?

Out there in the market place, as we see the intrusion of corporatisation into dental supply, there is still opportunity to stand out from the crowd by offering good old fashioned home grown Customer Service.

Of a World Class nature.

And if you build it, people will beat a path to your door.

Because a world of everybody doing the alternative, being only adequate, is not a very attractive proposition.

And it won’t be embraced by all.

There will always be people who will seek out good old-fashioned down to earth customer service.

And they will be happy to pay for that service when they find it.

*****

Have you read my book , How To Build The Dental Practice of Your Dreams [Without Killing Yourself!] In Less Than Sixty Days.

You can order your copy here: Click Link To Order

*****

The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.

Email me at david@theupe.com

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