Do you talk with your patients?

Do you remember what you spoke about?

Start making a note of what you talk to your patients about.

I know you take clinical notes and know everything about your patient’s teeth, but do you know enough about who your patients are?

Do you really know you patients?

How fabulous to pick up with your patient where you left off in conversation, each time you see them.

Most people want to connect and feel important so why not give your patients exactly that.

Your patients will remember the times you recalled something about them and not just their teeth.

Overlooking the importance of acknowledging your patients for more than just their teeth is bad for your business and bad for your patients.

Recently I found myself visiting a doctor’s surgery with a relative. The young girl on the front desk made no effort to connect or get to know us and made us feel like we were unimportant and even an interruption to her day.

Thank goodness the doctor made my aunty feel very welcome and confident about the care she was about to receive, but your team need to start the ball rolling and help make your patients feel welcome, acknowledged, and important.

But unfortunately this experience was tainted by the lack of care and acknowledgment from the girl on the front desk and the lack of care is what she will remember more from her doctor’s visit.

So you can see that every person on the team needs to be part of the patient connection so your patients have an amazing patient experience.

Make getting to know your patients a system in your dental practice rather than just something you believe or presume is being done.

If you don’t have a system, you run the risk that some or all of your team are not getting to know your patients.

So what do I mean by a system of getting to know your patients?

First look at all the points of contact you have with your patients.

Who is speaking with your patients at these points of contact?

Decide what you want your team to say and ask your patients at all these points of contact.

Write this all down and turn it into a checklist so everyone on your team can read it, understand what you expect, know it and use it when they connect and speak with your patients.

This now becomes a system of how you effectively communicate with your patients. A system that is followed and used by everyone on your team including yourself.

Get your team to be part of the process of creating this patient communication system.

They will now own it and use it.