So many businesses out there, including dental practices, take their telephone for granted.

There’s a common theme of neglect.

There’s a laissez-faire approach to phones and phone answering.

And if your business treats your telephones in this way, let me tell you, you are pouring good money straight down the drain.

Your telephone is your gateway to the world.

The money you spend on marketing drives new consumers and existing customers to pick up the telephone and call your business.

In the old days, before internet, most incoming new business enquiry phone calls were very poorly qualified.

However, the internet and social media and Google Reviews now allow the consumer to gather sufficient information and opinion about your business that makes them a very well educated caller, most of the time.

And it is because of this exceptional prequalification process that consumers can now avail themselves of, that we need to realise that the reason this person is calling your business is because they have already decided that your business, your dental practice, is where they want to have their teeth fixed and their problems solved.

With this amount of prequalification, organising an appointment should be easy.

Sadly, it is not.

Most of the time when I listen to dental practice phone calls, I often hear dental receptionists getting in their own way, instead of HELPING the caller to secure the appointment that they need.

Remember, they haven’t called for a pizza.

They’ve called your dental practice because they have a definite dental concern and they’ve chosen your practice as the one they want to help solve their problem.

And when your team understand this, then it is so simple for them to easily ASSIST the caller into a suitable appointment time.

Never put any phone caller straight on hold

You know what I mean.

You’ve had it done to you.

It’s one of those things that will turn a new patient enquiry caller straight off your practice more than standing under an icy cold shower….

Here’s what happens:

The phone rings, and the receptionist answers the call:

“Thank you for calling ABC Dental. Can you hold the line please? [CLICK]……”

The receptionist doesn’t ask who you are, or how they can help you and or what you are calling about.

They’re obviously busy…. too busy to take another twenty seconds and answer the phone politely.

Placing a caller straight onto hold without even finding out who is calling, and what they are calling about, is rude and arrogant.

It riles the caller.

Corralling them straight onto an on-hold message without even finding out what they are calling about… what is the positive in that?

It upsets the caller.

And if there is a live patient standing in front of the receptionist when she takes this call in this manner, well that live patient can’t be too impressed seeing and witnessing that behaviour.

I’m surprised at how many dental receptionists are unable to calmly manage the WELCOME INTERUPTION of a ringing phone.

A ringing phone is an opportunity to help a person in need.

A dental receptionist who can put the caller at ease, and also respect the person [or other call] that they were attending to, is an asset to any dental practice.

Sadly, multi-tasking on the dental office phones is a dying art.

And of course, what happens to those phone callers to your practice who feel brushed aside when their call gets answered this way?

Well they will simply go elsewhere for their dentistry….

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Need your phones monitored?

Are you concerned about the number of calls that are not being answered as best they can be?

You need Call Tracking Excellence.

For the cost of a less than one cleaning per week, you could have your phones being answered much much better….

Convert more calls into appointments…Click the link: http://www.calltrackingexcellence.com

Call Jayne on 1300 378 044 or email Jayne@theDPE.com  for more details.

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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

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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