Last week, in discussions I had while visiting a client’s offices, I was asked what really sets aside a World Class Customer Experience at a Dental Office from just an average experience.
And the answer is simple.
It’s the WOW factor.
Its that continual ability to maintain and exhibit a higher level of care towards our patients and clients and to show that care each and every time we see them no matter what.
It’s doing this on a regular basis, each and every time, that goes a long way to setting your Dental Office apart as being truly World Class, in providing exceptional Care towards your patients.
More than any other Dental Office around.
More than any other Dental Office they’ve ever been to before!
One of the essential premises of providing World Class Dental Customer Service is that we need to keep the patient informed as to exactly what is going on for them on this visit, and every visit so that there are no unexpected surprises for them during their time with us.
And to do that routinely each and every time they visit our office is an art form that all Dental Offices need to Master if they are truly going to be the Provider of a World Class Experience for each and every one of their Dental Patients.
Because at the end of the day, so to speak, Mr. and Mrs. Public have the following beliefs about Dentistry:
- They believe that all dentists have an equal level of adequate competency.They believe that every dentist out there can do good dentistry.
- They have a belief that every Dental Office is run by competent staff members, who can set up a treatment room properly, maintain appropriate health and cleanliness standards, and file their payments correctly.They believe that all Dental Offices share this level of consistency.
This means that how Mr. and Mrs. Public choose their dentist is really based upon how well they were looked after and how welcome they were made to feel.
Nobody anywhere, wherever they go, likes to feel like they are made to feel unwelcome, or like an inconvenience, just because they happen to be there.
And let’s face it, going to the dentist is difficult enough anyway for most of the population, without them ever having to feel like they are an inconvenience or unwelcome in somebody else’s day.
The number one priority for all of us as Dental Office employees and Owners is to be able to read that invisible sign that exists above every patient’s head that reads:
“Make Me Feel Important.”
And one of the easiest ways of making the clients and customers at our Dental Office feel important is to go out of our way to make sure that they have a precise understanding of exactly what we they are having done, why they are having that done, and the urgency of having that procedure.
This thought process can clearly be summarized in the following two simple phrases:
No Surprises.
and
Clear Next Step.
It is imperative and essential that all our Dental Clients are prepared implicitly for everything that can happen to them at the Dental Office so that there is no element of surprise to their visit.
And the best way of doing this is through verbal communication of everything we need to do and what possible outcomes we may have, as we continue through with our treating of them.
Because a surprise for our customer is so unwelcome.
It’s unwelcome to them, because, as a surprise, they can feel a level of betrayal.
After all, they can feel that you have not prepared them for this possible scenario, and now they need to “get their head around” this divergence from the line of treatment that they thought they were going to receive.
It’s also unwelcome to the Dentist and to the Team.
Now the dentist has to pause his day and go over and explain something that for the patient should have been an “Oh well” response rather than a “What’s that?” sort of reaction.
And it’s the same out at the front Office.
When a patient emerges from the treatment room or the hygiene room with a course of treatment that they, the patient, have no idea at all why they need it and how come and how much…well that’s when all sorts of mixed emotions can erupt.
And betrayal could be one of those….
And with out the No Surprises, or simply, while ever there are unexplained surprises for our patients, there will never ever be A Clear Next Step.
Because clarity only comes with understanding.
Not with confusion.
And surprises at the Dental Office only create confusion.
The best way to create an environment of Understanding and Clarity for our patients is to make that environment as comfortable as possible for the receipt of all information.
And one of the keys to creating that comfortable environment is through the way that our team members speak to each other, and to our patients and customers and to our callers and visitors that are not patients of records.
Because our clients need to feel that they are entering a land of friendliness and respect.
Respect for them, from us.
And respect of each other, by us too.
And the easiest way of gaining that trust of the patient, is to take time, and spend time with them.
Children spell “love”, T. I. M. E.
Adults spell respect the exact same way.
And our clients will respect us, if we respect them.
And take the time.
And spend the time.
Talking about them.
Visiting about them.
Spending time with our clients and customers builds relationships.
It builds understanding.
It builds a respect.
A mutual respect.
And with that respect comes acceptance.
Acceptance off us.
Acceptance of each other.
And acceptance of what’s required.
So that there are no surprises.
Only clear next steps….
Creating an environment of No Surprises is one of the many detailed components 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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