What a crazy year it has been so far, with numerous lock downs and restrictions on what dental treatment you can and cannot do.

During this time there have been so many patients urgently wanting appointments, some you have been able to see and others you have not!

Over the last few months when patients haven’t been able to come to the dentist for certain treatment and care, all they wanted to do was make an appointment and come in!

Well watch out. It has already started. I call it the Cancellation Epidemic!

Yes, all of your very keen patients who were desperately trying to book appointments for their dental treatment and care, now have other things taking up their time and their dental treatment is taking a back seat!

Appointments that have been made are now being cancelled left, right and centre!

I am hearing an increase in cancellation calls coming into dental practices right now!

Now you have to make sure your team are well equipped to handle those Cancellation Call.

Of course the dentists, hygienists and oral health therapists must do their part and correctly treatment plan, communicate the urgency for treatment as well as the consequences of no treatment.

If your team answer the calls and easily let your patients cancel their appointments, your appointment schedule is going to crash and burn and your patients will delay the treatment and care they need.

So how does your team handle these cancellation calls if they come in?

Cancellation Calls must be handled carefully

Always start by asking if everything is OK.

You always want to show empathy on a cancellation call. This is also one of the best ways to find out the cancellation reasons.

If your patient does not tell you the reason for the cancellation, it is OK to ask for the reason.

Once you know the reason for the cancellation you have an opportunity to look for a solution to keep the patient in the appointment and not delay their treatment and care.

Having the skills needed on the cancellation call takes time and patients to get right.

Always remember that every time you have talked your patient out of cancelling their appointment or persuaded them to change their mind, you have done your patient a big favour and the appointment book looks a whole lot healthier.

Handling a cancellation call correctly is definitely a communication skill set that can easily be learned. The hardest part is using it over and over again and measuring your results.

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