Every so often on Social Media Forums an old chestnut rears its head.
It’s the question as to whether Dental Offices should look at and engage the services of a certain company that teaches improved phone answering techniques.
A lot of the discussion on these Social Media forums revolves around the marketing techniques that this one company uses to create brand awareness and also to promote product need.
Sadly, if all were right at every front desk in Dentistry then there would be no need for dentists to look for phone answering skill improvements. The company in question, that is drawing all the ire, like my company too, provides just one of the many answers to those many needs that Dental Offices require.
Dan Kennedy says that if you believe you have a product that the customer needs it is your absolute duty to do everything in your power to make sure your customer buys your product from you.
This is the approach used by this company in marketing their product and getting it to the attention of dentists….
Sadly, if Dental Front Desk people all shared a similar passion, then there would be no need for improving phone-answering skills…
Personally, I wouldn’t go hard on any company out there marketing phone-answering skills to Dental Offices. In my experiences, most dental office phones could be answered a whole lot better.
Now, there are many approaches to improving phone techniques.
Real live coaching, either in office or over the phone, is one alternative. And probably the best way. A tape/CD set is another. There are books and manuals as well. There really is no shortage of information and opinions on this topic.
But what I’ve found, time and time again without fail is that unless there is regular accountability, the tapes and CDs and books and manuals will just end up in a cupboard…. to be forgotten about or wondered about, one day….
You see, as part of my appraisals of Dental Offices for their Customer Service Culture I also regularly mystery shop Dentist’s phones…. and it is *PAINFUL*…you would not believe how bad it is out there!!
It’s just plain difficult making appointments. All I’m looking for is a friendly warm voice welcoming me to the Dental Office and making me feel happy that I have made the correct decision in calling that Office….is that too difficult?
And as for cancelling appointments? You would not believe how easy it is to cancel a New Patient appointment…why is that?
Companies teaching phone skills to Dental Offices all identify that this phone-answering problem is a huge Money Suck from Dentists. Dentists spend large amounts of money on marketing and attracting patients, yet allow poor phone answering skills to just keep burning people away.
It’s really quite ludicrous!
In any other business, in any other company, when you come to work for them, you do things the way that company says to.
But in dentistry, for some reason, this crucial role of phone answering is allowed to be conducted by anyone in any manner they feel they should.
With little or no accountability.
It wouldn’t happen at McDonalds?
A script is a script is a script.
But for some reason, in a Dental Office, we allow personalities to change our scripts.
“Oh I could never say that…”
“That comes across too pushy…”
Well those approaches and comments are downright *WRONG*!
Hire someone to teach your team the best way to answer the phone, not twenty six hundred different ways.
And hire someone to keep your phone answerers accountable.
Jack Daly told me there’s hardly anything that goes on in a sales call that you couldn’t be prepared for.
And that’s what an incoming phone call to a Dental Office is. It’s an inbound sales call.
They have a dental issue; they’ve rung your office because they want you to solve their issue.
They haven’t rung for a Pizza.
It’s your Front Office Person’s duty to help solve their issue.
An outside agency helps you develop your scripts and your systems for answering your phones as best as you possibly can.
And when phones are answered as best as they can be guess what happens?
More people make appointments.
The Dental Office gets busier.
More patients means more money spent at the Dental Office.
More money spent by patients means more money to pay staff and bonuses.
More money spent by patients means the Dental Business is more profitable.
More profitable business makes for happy Dentists.
Happy Dentists makes for Happy Team…
And it doesn’t take much… if your average New Patient is worth $3000.00…. and you can increase your New Patient bookings by just two per week…. well that’s 100 new patients per year, or $300,000.00 extra income per year to the Dental Office.
Multiply that number by twenty years?
How would an extra $6,000,000.00 in your pocket at the end of your career make you feel?
All for an extra two New Patients per week?
What about the numbers on just four New Patients per week….
Still think it’s not worth hiring a professional to keep your Front Office phone answering accountable….
Correct phone answering techniques are part of The Ultimate Patient Experience, a simple easy to implement system that I developed that allowed me to build 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: david@theUPE.com
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