Doctor, Are YOU The Problem?

A while back we were hired by a group practice of ophthalmic surgeons to FIX THEIR PHONES.

As we do.

I mean, as we do, to fix phones.

The doctors of this practice were concerned that the front office staff were spending too much time on the phones on each and every phone call, and the practice was receiving a significantly large number of phone calls.

When we listened to the phone calls at this practice we found that a large amount of incoming phone calls were being made by patients who had seen one of the doctors but were being left with uncertainty about their next steps required, or were waiting on the doctor to send a written report to their next scheduled [away] procedure.

In reality, a medical or dental practice phone should only be called by new patients making new patient appointments.

Everything else that is clogging the phones and the reception is being caused by confusion and lack of clarity that the practice is creating for existing patients.

In reality, existing patients of the practice should be leaving their scheduled appointments with clarity and with a next appointment already being made for them.

All patients visiting a medical or dental practice only want one thing… they want a clear list of NEXT STEPS to take to move towards the completion of their treatment, and a cure for their ailment.

CLEAR. NEXT. STEP.

A clear next step is all that the patient wants.

All that the patient wants to know is what do I need to do next.

This clarity needs to come from the doctor or the dentist.

When the doctor or dentist lead, the team will follow and the patients will follow.

Without that directional leadership, the patients get confused and the team are left like a shag on a rock….

Patients do not have medical and dental degrees.

Most patients just want to know what they need to do to solve their problem.

And then they do that.

There is really very little reason to be giving patients options for their treatment… they do not have medical and dental degrees needed to make educated decisions.

Most patients are not educated enough to make an educated decision.

The better the leadership and the directional leadership of a practice [towards its patients] the better the practice will be at solving its patients issues.

Weak leadership and weak directions from the top of a practice result in more existing patients clogging up the phones and preventing reception staff from being able to schedule those new patient phone enquiries into valued and kept appointments.

Good reception staff will always have a “need to please”.

They will always be wanting to please their patients and they will always be wanting to please their employers. And as such, these employees will struggle on within an environment of poor leadership.

As a practicing doctor or dentist, you must give your patients clarity regarding their next steps.

Not confusion.

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The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.

Email me at [email protected]