The outcome of talking too much on the phone is often not what you think it would be.

Yes, you can end up with a sore throat at the end of the day but worse still you are actually losing patients by talking too much on the phone.

Talking too much on the phone means we are telling people too much.

Are they just hearing, “Blah, blah, blah”?

We are so programmed to tell people what we think they want to know, and not ask questions and listen to what they actually DO want to know..

When you have to listen to someone talk too long on the phone, you start to tune out, you become bored and disinterested and all you want to do is get off the phone.

Has that happened to you?

Are you doing that to people calling your Dental Office?

If you are, you are probably not even aware of how many patients you are losing each day because you are overloading them on the phone.

The aim of a new Patient Call is to find out as much about the patient as you can and not to let them know all about you.

Yes it is important that they do know about your Dental Practice and the Dentist but keep in mind that many callers now are pre-qualified and informed from websites, social media and marketing. You want to find out what their problem is first and then what they need to know.

We make the mistake of thinking we know what the caller needs to know and it is often not what they wanted at all.

You may finally make an appointment at the end of the call but if you haven’t addressed their needs then there is an increased risk the caller will call later to cancel.

Start paying attention when you are out and about and watch and listen to how people are busy talking and not listening to their customers.

Everyone is telling us something rather than asking and listening.

Only a few people are asking us and finding out what we want to know.

Why do we continue telling people things they are probably not even interested in and don’t want to know about?

We are really wasting our breath, words and time.

Listening to your own voice can be very dangerous on a phone call.

Do you think this might be happening in your Dental Office?

You bet it is!

A person calls the office to make an appointment. We then ask them one question….”What is your dental problem?” and off we go!

We spend the next 6 minutes telling the caller everything we know and some more and even some more!

Did we actually find out what was important to the caller and what they needed to know?

Did we ask the questions and then let the caller do most of the talking.

When I was training to be a teacher I remember on one of my Practical Experiences in front of a class of children, I was being measured on my teacher talk time (TTT). It was important for me to talk less than the students. Research has shown that the less the teacher talks the more the students learn.

This also applies in your Dental Office.

The less you talk on the phone and let the caller talk, the more likely you are to help the caller and make an appointment for them.

*****
On Friday August 19 and Saturday August 20 I will be co-presenting Dental Phone Excellence in London England at Dr. David Moffet’s Ultimate Patient Experience Workshop.
Click here for details and Early Bird Registration.
*****
This blog will feature simple practical ideas that are easy to implement tomorrow in your Dental Office, impacting immediately on your Patients’ Dental  Phone Experiences, and ultimately, improving your practice profitability.

At present I have availability for four new private clients. For more information on how I can improve your Dental Office’s Phone Numbers contact me, Jayne Bandy at  jayne@theDPE.com