Yes, I am going to give you only ONE reason why your New Patients keep changing their appointments.

I know there are many reasons why your patients keep changing their appointments, but I have noticed lately after working with many dental offices, that this appears to be the number one reason.

The good news is, you can change this very easily and quickly.

OK here it is.

Are you ready?

When your team are making appointments for New Patients, they are not getting a COMMITMENT from the caller.

A commitment is a promise and firm decision.

Thought and consideration needs to be given when making a commitment.

People who make a commitment very often do this all the time.

My understanding is that when you make a commitment you see it through and don’t back out.

Are your patients seeing it through and not backing out?

Or are your patients calling your office regularly to change their appointments.

Many dental offices are spending all day rearranging their appointment book because patients are cancelling and rescheduling appointments left right and centre.

Is this happening in your dental practice?

Why is this happening?

The answer is simple, patients and especially New Patients are not committed to their appointment, so they easily change their appointments all the time.

The worst part is your team allow this to happen very easily with no effort or concern.

Think carefully about what is happening when your patients are constantly changing their appointments:

• you remove the patient from the production for the day
• you now have to call a patient to fill the empty appointment time
• you spend a lot of time and energy doing this
• you delay treatment and care for your patient

I know in the world we live in, our society encourages flexibility and non-commitment, so it is a difficult road, getting your patients to make a commitment.

But there are ways. It is possible.

This is a good start.

When you make an appointment for your patient start their mindset of commitment and get your patients believing they have now made a promise and will keep their appointment where it is.

Say this:

“John, I have now confirmed your appointment on Thursday 20th October at 8am.” “I will let Dr Green know when you are coming in.”

Use the word “confirmed” at the time of making the appointment.

NEVER wait until you call or SMS to use the word “confirm”.

Confirm the appointment right at the start.

You want your New Patient to finish their phone call in commitment mode.

You are now training your patients to have the mindset their appointment is set, and they will keep the appointment.

You are now setting up this mindset for your patient when they make future appointments.

I know from time to time that patients will need to change their appointments but what you always want to do is reduce the amount of movement in your appointment book.

You also want to avoid saying this:

“I will call you to confirm the appointment a few days before.” “Let me know if this time doesn’t suit you and I can change it.”

You can see how saying this to your patients sends the wrong message. It sends the message that it is OK to change your appointment.

“No worries” “Not a problem”

But when you start rearranging your appointment book it is a WORRY and a BIG PROBLEM!

I know a lot of dental offices now send an SMS to their patients after they have made their appointment.

Look carefully at what is being sent in the SMS.

You want the message to read “Hi John your appointment is now confirmed for Monday 20th October at 9am. Please reply Y you have received this message.

You NEVER want to send a message that reads: “Please reply Y to confirm your appointment.”

You have already confirmed their appointment when you made it!

I prefer a message that reads: “Hi John your appointment is now confirmed for Monday 20th October at 9am. We look forward to meeting you.”

This is a courtesy SMS that they can now keep on their phone or send to their calendar.

You can send the message while they are on the phone making the appointment and let them know it has been sent to their phone.

So, try changing what you say to your patients and get them more committed to their appointment and help your patients go ahead with their appointment.

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Call Tracking Excellence

Click this link to find out how to get started. It’s that easy! http://www.calltrackingexcellence.com/

 

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LAST MASTER CLASS for 2019

How To Turn Every Dental Phone Call Into A Valued and Kept Appointment- “Dental Phone Excellence is a simple to implement complete Phone Answering system that works.

Last Master Class for 2019!

Melbourne Master Class– Thursday 21st November 2019

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Dental Phone Excellence is a simple to implement complete Phone Answering System I developed that helped me to build an extraordinary dental practice in the heart of working class Western Sydney.

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