Thanksgiving Message 2015
November 25, 2015
A few weeks ago, my wife and I treated ourselves to a quick two day trip to New York City. Immersing yourself in the city is always an exciting high energy jolt to the system–and we just love the experience. One of our most interesting adventures was taking a subway for a visit to the Tenement Museum on Delancey Street on the lower East Side of Manhattan.
The Museum offers a number of walking tours all of which examine the period of time from the 1880’s to the 1920’s when hordes of Irish, Italian, and Jewish immigrants came to the United States to escape persecution and seek a brighter future. This influx of immigrants to New York City, more specifically the Lower East Side, sparked unprecedented demand for supplies and amenities to keep the city’s workforce clothed, fed, and able to survive this strange new land.
We took the Sweat Shop Tour where you get to spend some time in an actual restored tenement house. Five floors with four 300 sq ft apartments per floor. No electricity – no running water – one window. It was the norm that each of these tiny apartments served as the home for a family of five to seven people. As you can see from the photo, the street in front of these tenements was unbelievably crowded and congested. The work week was six days – 10 to 12 hours per day!
It was such a wake up call to actually see these apartments and realize how difficult life was back then. These people were amazingly tough and resilient, and it is only because of their fortitude and strength that many of us are here today.
And so at this Thanksgiving, along with everything else that I am grateful for, I will also be thinking of my ancestors, and giving thanks for all the bounties I have because of the sacrifices they made.
Time to Raise the Bar
November 9, 2015
Erma Bombeck once said “Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.” In other words, if you can’t control it, don’t worry about it. In a dental practice, we can’t control inadequate insurance reimbursements. We certainly can’t control the weather that blows up the schedule, and we can’t control increasingly costly and oppressive government mandates. But we certainly can control how someone answers your telephone.
The person answering your office telephone is the face of the practice. She has to be kind, well spoken, extremely friendly, and actually sound like she enjoys her job. So I am continually shocked and amazed at how often the person answering the telephone appears clueless in the art of customer service. Here are five telephone no-nos that absolutely are to be avoided at all costs.
1. Placing a caller on hold without asking for their permission. This is flat out rude. As I said in a recent blog post, “Dr. Jones’ office – hold please” is simply not an acceptable greeting. If you are on another call, or assisting someone at the desk, simply excuse yourself from the primary conversation. Then answer your telephone with the normal telephone greeting–find out who is calling–tell them you are on another call–and asked them if they would like to hold or be called back in a few minutes. I promise you this will not take longer than 20 seconds.
2. Placing someone on hold without music. When you are placed on hold with no music or information to listen to, it is a lonely feeling. And after a minute or two, you are unsure if the connection is still live. There is a real temptation to hang up. And if you are holding for longer than two minutes, the person is aggravated when the conversation finally begins. Nothing good has happened here!
3. Using the end of the day message machine during normal business hours. How stupid is it when someone hears “our office hours are 8 AM to 5:30 PM Monday through Friday,” and it is 10:30 AM on a Tuesday morning? I hear this all the time. You absolutely need an inter-day recorded message to use when you get overwhelmed at the front desk.
4. Using the wrong inter-day message. Most of the time you hear something that says “we are busy assisting other patients and we will return your call as soon as possible.” I much prefer the following: “This is Judy at Dr. Smith’s office. I am so sorry that I was not able to answer your call. Please leave me a message, and I promise to call you back within 30 minutes or sooner.”
5. Answering the telephone without identifying yourself. This is a real pet peeve of mine. People want to know your name because they want to know to whom they are speaking. That is how conversations begin. This is my name–what is yours? It shows a willingness to be friendly and personable and encourages relationship building.
I am convinced that doctors are completely unaware of how inadequately their telephone is being answered. Why would you spend significant marketing dollars designed to get more people to call your office, and then mess it all up with improper telephone technique? This is in your control. Stop shooting yourself in the foot. It really shouldn’t be that hard to be good when so many are so bad.