Who is answering your phone?

My last few blog posts have been about the importance of great customer service as a way of differentiating your office from the competition. Perhaps no one in your practice is more influential in this regard as the person who answers your telephone. The telephone is the conduit for patients to enter the practice, and is the very first step in the key process of relationship building.

There are proven systems and scripting to convert phone leads into happy patients with an appointment. I would respectfully suggest that any new patient telephone interaction needs to be a minimum of ten minutes of back and forth dialogue. You need to create a major “WOW” in the mind of that patient based on the care you took to understand their individual needs and requests, and by the great customer service that was extended. That patient needs to feel when the call is over, that they have never had such a positive experience from any professional office.

When a dental practice understands the enormous lifetime dollar value of any new patient – both from dental treatment for that patient now and going forward, and the potential of referrals – they just have to become exquisitely good at converting calls to appointments.

Look for my next blog where I will share some tips on great telephone techniques that work.