The front office in a Dental Practice has many challenges every single day.
One in particular is answering the phone.
I know this because I listen to calls coming into dental offices every day and I hear the types of calls answered by teams and it’s not an easy job at the best of times.
Believe me!
Trying to keep everyone happy can be tough!
You are successful at answering calls when you make appointments for patients.
There are two magic ingredients every person needs when they are answering the phone and making calls to patients in a Dental Office.
- Assertiveness
- Friendliness
If you have one without the other, then it just doesn’t work out.
If you are friendly but do not have assertiveness when you are on the phone, then this is how you are often communicating with patients on the phone:
“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, even though it appears friendly, it lacks assertiveness.
It lacks the guidance your patients are looking for and wanting.
Without the magic ingredient called assertiveness, you leave 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 combine both of the magic ingredients, you are now effectively communicating with your patients.
You are now communicating in a way that gets results.
By results, I mean more kept appointments are made for the callers ringing your practice.
Listen to the difference:
“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 the difference?
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 and it starts right there in the front office where your team answer phone calls.
So have a check on whether your team who answer phones are using both ingredients correctly when they answer the phone calls coming into your practice.
Also watch out for any people on your team who are only using their assertive ingredient when they answer calls.
Being assertive and not friendly is a problem.
This is when a patient feels you are being rude and pushy, and you are not thinking about them and taking away their choices.
Stick to a friendly and assertive conversation with your patients on the phone and you will make more appointments and ultimately care more for your patients.
If you want more information on how to find out what is being said on your phone calls then have a look below.
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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
Click here on this link to register.
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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.
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…..
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