Multi-tasking Is The New Black…

In our coaching business, Jayne and I listen to and hear ACTUAL dental practice phone call recordings happening in dental practices in Australia, as well as the UK and NZ and the USA.

And as you know, Jayne and I have been in the dental industry, as practice owners and as practice coaches, for a combined total of over sixty years.

So what I’m about to tell you is based on fact, and lots of data.

It's not a thought, or a guess or a lesson.

It's not been guessed by some blow-in from the army who did some crash course in Google marketing.

It’s been researched with a whole lot of sweat equity.

So one of the things we hear a lot of on the phones of dental practices these days is that dental team members are having great difficulty managing their phones when two calls come in at the same time.

When this happens, the team members who have the difficulty do this:

• They let the second call go unanswered and hope that the caller leaves a message.
• If the caller doesn’t leave a message, they might call the missed caller ID number and see what the caller wanted, or they might just simply HOPE that the missed caller will phone again…
• They rely on the missed caller wanting to call them back and leave the process of connection up to “they’ll ring back if they’re serious”.

Juggling incoming phone calls is not difficult.

If the phone rings and the dental receptionist team member is on another phone call, or is busy with a live patient in front of them at reception, the live patient, and the caller on the first phone call will hear the second line ringing and think to themselves:

“I wonder why this employee is ignoring that ringing phone”

And then they’ll say to themselves [in an AHA MOMENT…]

“I see now….so that’s what happens when I phone here and the call never gets picked up.”

“I see now…. they’re ignoring the ringing phone…”

Every dental practice needs to know the average dollar value that a new patient will spend during their first twenty four months’ worth of dental visits

Because every time when the phone rings at that dental practice, on average, that’s how much income the practice is dropping if they don’t answer that ringing phone, and schedule that caller with an appointment.

And that income for the practice goes towards paying of the practice rent, the practice expenses, and the practice wages bill as well.

And every team member knows that a dental practice that is busy and profitable is a better practice to work in than one that is quiet and struggling.

Helping new patients to make and keep their appointments is a skill that can be taught, and can be learned.

And helping team members to be able to courteously juggle two or more phone calls at a time is also a skill that can be learned and mastered.

Every time a caller to your office goes through to your answering service and doesn’t leave a message, and only mutters about this under their breath, is a moment when they “let their fingers do the walking” and then simply dial the next office on their list, and become very grateful when they “finally” get to speak to a “real person”.

If you’re team are not answering all of your calls, then your office is simply acting as a conduit sending new patients who want to see you into the arms of another dentist…

*****

Dr. David Moffet BDS FPFA CSP is a certified CX Experience coach. David works with his wife Jayne Bandy to help SME businesses improve their Customer Service Systems to create memorable World Class experiences for their valued clients and customers. Click here to find out how David and Jayne can help your business

https://ultimatecxexperience.info/about-us/