We live in interesting times.
In 2021, across several countries, for whatever reason, we hear dental practice owners saying that they are having difficulty finding good staff.
“They need staff.”
“There isn’t enough staff.”
“There’s a staff shortage.”
These are expressions of distress that I am hearing regularly at the moment.
These are perceptions.
The world is more populous today than it was yesterday.
And a month ago.
And a year ago.
So where are all the staff?
Why can’t dental practices find good staff?
Is working in a dental office not “desirable” these days?
I just think the industry as a whole is too complacent and is allowing potential dental office employees to bypass dentistry as a career choice.
For whatever reason.
For whatever reason, a career in dentistry for a dental assistant is a gift that they can take with themselves anywhere in the world.
It’s a career that will never be replaced.
Because it’s a career that demands excellent communication skills.
And a machine, or a computer can never conduct that person-to-person empathetic conversation, really?
Can it?
There’s so much more to being a great dental employee than simply mixing stuff and evacuating.
There are essential people skills and communication skills that need to be developed.
A dental practice that fails to differentiate itself from its competitors because it fails to address and train its staff with the necessary Customer Experience Systems and Methodologies is only leaving itself to compete in the marketplace on one feature alone.
And that feature is the prices that the dental practice charges.
And trying to compete on price, and be the cheapest dentist in town, is a battle that no dentist can successfully win.
But when a dental practice decides to be the BEST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE in town for all patients, that’s a subjective and palpable statement that that can easily be achieved, and maintained.
And easily achieved if the correct systems are taught and coached and learned….
I hear dentists offer up the limpest excuses about training their staff…
Or the lack thereof of training…
“I haven’t quite got the right crew yet”
“I’ll train all my staff once I know EXACTLY who is going to be working here”
If you want to build a great CULTURE in your dental practice you need to be choosy about who you employ.
It’s not just a matter of choosing anyone with a pulse.
It is a matter of having the team correctly trained.
In fact, it’s better to choose to forgo a sale because of lack of staff rather than to lose a sale because of loss of reputation.
Why not make sure that the staff that you do have at the moment are all exceptionally trained?
Why wait to train your staff because you are waiting to find the right people to add to your team?
Why not make sure that those you have on your team are all trained well?
And then train new employees as you bring them onboard?
It’s not just a matter of choosing anyone with a pulse to come and work for you.
Because if you compromise your choice of staff today, you can tarnish your reputation for a very long time.
And then the ever diminishing circle begins… your compromised service attracts customers who care less about service and sooner rather than later your great employees resign because they’re being beat up and getting worn out dealing with a “different” kind of customer…
Maintain total transparency with your customers.
If your business isn’t as efficient because you can’t get enough of the right people to work for you, then let your customers or patients know that you’re aware of the situation and its impact on your usually five star efficiencies, and that you’ve chosen to take a little more time with things and to get things right for them [the customers], rather than to compromise quality by cutting essential corners.
I think most, if not all of your clients will value your brutal honesty.
Because you have their best interests at heart.
Always.
And that’s the essence of World Class Customer Service.
Transparent honesty.
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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
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