I was looking through some of the blogs I have written for you over the years and I found this blog from August 2020. This was an interesting time for ALL Dental Practices all over the world. Teams were under the pump trying to keep their patients happy and keep their Appointment Books in order. So I thought I would share this blog with you again. You will love the tips I share with you to help you effectively schedule your appointment book.
AUGUST 2020
During these challenging times right, I know most Dental Practices have been operating very differently to what they would normally. All businesses somehow have had to adapt and make changes like they never thought they would ever have to.
You will survive as long as you are prepared for when some normal returns.
Ensuring your team are able to get back to scheduling appointments like you once did is going to be very important to the survival of your business and being able to help your patients better.
Developing excellent phone skills and having the ability to turn each call into an appointment is just the first step.
The next step is to have the ability to schedule the appointments so the needs of the practice are being met and not just the needs of the patient.
Always avoid making appointments without any regard to the structure of the appointment book. You never want to see an appointment as just the next available time that fits in with the patient.
Yes you do want to be helpful when you make a patient’s appointment and yes you do want to give them a time that is suitable but you also need to create an appointment book that will ensure the success of your dental business.
You can help your patients find a suitable appointment as well as making sure the needs of the practice are met.
Here’s how…
For your Appointment Book to meet the needs of your Practice I would recommend the following:
- A Balance Of Long And Short Appointments
Making patient appointments over the phone is going to be so much easier with a planned Appointment Book Schedule to follow.
A good mixture of long and short appointments gives everyone in the practice a steady flow of patients with time between patients to complete administrative duties, sterilization and other daily routines that need to be completed.
- Meet a Daily Production Requirement And Target
Longer appointments are usually high production and the Practice needs these to financially survive. It is crucial that the appointment book always takes production into account as well as achievable goals that have been set.
- Emergency And New Patient Appointment Times Available Each Day
Leaving available time each day to see a New Patient or a patient with an emergency is also very important. These two types of patients usually have urgency and it is excellent customer service to be able to meet their needs. No one wants a new Patient or an emergency existing patient going to another Practice because we weren’t able to get them in soon enough. That patient probably won’t give you a second chance!
- A Healthy Priority Standby
I have written before about the importance of building a healthy patient standby list. It is always better when an appointment has not been filled or becomes available to call patients who have given you permission to call them to move their appointment. A healthy standby list ensures that at the end of the day the next day’s appointment schedule is complete and looking great!
- Confirm Appointments
When appointments are made for patients, the appointment should be confirmed at the time of making the appointment. Use the phrase “I have now confirmed your appointment and reserved that time for you”. You will still contact your patient prior to their appointment but you want to set it up so the patient is aware the appointment is firm and the idea of cancelling the appointment is not on their mind. Look at the confirmation call/message as a courtesy to let your patient know you are looking forward to seeing/meeting them.
The difference between a Practice with a well designed, planned and implemented Appointment Schedule, and one without, is huge. When we have a well planned schedule, then production goals are met, the flow of the day is smooth and on time and the needs of the patients and the Practice are both met.
Next week I will go over the effective language you need to use to make appointment times for patients so they are happy to fit into your Appointment Scheduling.
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I LISTENED TO YOU and finally my Master Class is here ONLINE just for YOU!
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It’s time to say GOODBYE to New Patients calling your office and NO APPOINTMENT ever being made, people calling your office about the price and never making an appointment and your patients continually calling to cancel their appointment!
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• Module 1: How to Effectively Communicate with Your Patients
• Module 2: The 8 Steps to the New Patient Call
• Module 3: How to Answer the Questions Callers Ask
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• Module 5: How to Prevent and Handle Cancellations
• Module 6: How to Follow Up Your Patients
• Module 7: Giving the Very Best Patient Experience
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There are a total of 42 Learning Videos and my Checklists, Templates, Scripts and Flowcharts to help support your team’s learning.
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Call Tracking Excellence
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If you want to know about the Dental Phone Excellence System I developed over many years working in my own Dental Practice and the same System I now share with many Dental Teams, then give me a call or send me a quick email.
The teams I have worked with all say how much easier it is using the Dental Phone Excellence System, when they answer calls and how many more kept appointments they make and confirm for their patients.
1300 378 044 or jayne@thedpe.com.
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