There are two magic ingredients every person needs when they are answering the phone and making calls to patients in a Dental Office. These are:
- Assertiveness
- Friendliness
If you have one without the other then there is trouble!
Now if you are friendly but do not have the assertive ingredient when you are on the phone, then these are the types of things you say to your patients:
“Would you like to make an appointment?”
“When would you like to come in?”
“Is that ok?”
“What time best suits you?”
“Call me when you are ready?”
“I know it is very expensive.”
“I am calling to make sure you will be coming to your appointment.”
Can you see how this type of patient communication that is friendly yet lacks assertiveness, leaves the door open for your patient to not make an appointment and not go ahead with their treatment?
Now if you are friendly and assertive and have both of the magic ingredients needed for effective patient communication, then these are the types of things you will say to your patients:
“Now let’s make that appointment for you.”
“Would you prefer morning or afternoon?”
“I have this time for you at….”
“How does that sound?”
“I will call you on Monday at 9am.”
“I can help you manage that.”
“We are looking forward to seeing you at your appointment on…..”
Can you see which patient conversation is better?
By adding assertiveness to the conversation, you are using language that is effective.
The patient is more likely to make an appointment and keep their appointment.
The way we speak to our patients makes such a big difference.
Our goal with our patients is to ultimately help them whether we are the Dentist, Hygienist, Dental Assistant, Practice Manager or Front Office Coordinator.
Look at the type of conversations you are having with your patients.
Do you only have the polite ingredient and not the assertive ingredient?
Be careful though.
Some people do speak to their patients using only the assertive ingredient.
Being assertive and not polite is very dangerous.
This is when a patient feels you are being rude or pushy, and you are not thinking about them.
Stick to a friendly and assertive conversation with your patients and you will effectively make more appointments and ultimately care more for your patients.
***
This blog features 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.
***
My FINAL live full day Master Class for 2017 “How to Turn Every Dental Phone Call Into A Valued and Kept Appointment” is being held in Brisbane on Friday November 24, 2017.
Click here on this link to register.
***
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.
If you’d like to know more, download my sixteen page FREE special report “How I Quickly and Easily Went From 35% to 77% New Patient Telephone Conversions, and Doubled The Size of my Dental Practice Along the Way” and discover some of the many costly mistakes being made on your phone…..
*****
At present I have availability for only ONE new private client. For more information on how I can improve your Dental Office’s Phone Numbers contact me, Jayne Bandy at jayne@theDPE.com
