Nobody likes last minute surprises, especially when those surprises relate to a change of plans, or to bad news.
If the change of plan is a sudden change of plan that deviates to a path that was never conceived as being possible, or a path that is too different from the original path decided upon, then that will not be good.
For example:
When your dental hygienist calls in sick at 630am on a Monday morning giving you only a half an hour of notice before her full day of patients, what that means is that there will be tears.
There will be tears.
Because you can bet your bottom dollar that her 700am patient has probably already left home and is on her way now to an appointment that is not going to happen.
And it’s also an appointment that this patient has made in good faith some three to six months prior to this morning, and has also fielded a trail of reminder text messages and phone calls from your office to ensure that they indeed do turn up and keep this blessed appointment.
And now the wool has been pulled out from under them.
There’s also a fair chance that the 800am patient has also passed that point of no return….
They’ve risen to the noise of an alarm clock going off at an earlier hour, so that they might be able to rise and shine, shower, and do their hair, and eat breakfast and still go to your dental office on time, and then race in to work and begin all those meetings that they have deferred…. just because of this hygiene appointment that was made six months ago….
AND IS NOW BEING RESCHEDULED!!!
But it could be worse…..
Well it was in my office….
You see, I had a hygienist who twice called in sick and the same patient was inconvenienced twice….
Yes, the same patient had on two instances two appointments cancelled on her at less than half an hour’s worth of notice, by the same hygienist.
And this patient, a very high D type of patient, had driven early morning a reasonably long way in a direction not needed [for any other reason than to visit our office] across the other side of town from whereabouts she lived.
Yes, you might be able to smooth over ONE of these indiscretions as being minor, but making the same error TWICE, in the space of a very short time, well, let’s just say this…..
Our dental office was on a hiding to nothing trying to reschedule for that second time.
It did not happen.
End result?
Valued patient, and loyal disciple…LOST to the practice.
GOOOONE!
All over red rover.
And due to no fault of the dentist, nor the office manager, nor the dental receptionists.
Fortunately….this story has a happy ending.
Really, David?
Well, yes it does….
You see, the hygienist in question decided to relocate herself out of Sydney and back to a dental office where she had worked as a dental assistant, before studying to become a hygienist.
And so, with her departure, also leaving was her poor attitude towards the most important resource in the dental office…
Her poor attitude towards, and lack of respect for, the time made available by her paying patients to see her.
What followed was a succession of three very exceptional dental hygienists who were PEOPLE and SITUATION conscious, who were never ever ill, and who were respectful and respecting of their patients, and of those patients’ time.
And the difference was palpable.
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My next public speaking presentation showing Dentists how to grow their Dental practices will be in Sydney on November 9-10 and in Melbourne on November 12-13 with Dr Christopher Phelps, Dr Nathan Jeal, Mr Alex Lalovic and Mr Tiger Safarov.
For more information and to secure your seat click this link here.
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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