Opportunities are never lost; someone else will take the ones you miss. The critical issue here is whether you and your team will know if you miss opportunities. What you don’t know may be hurting your practice growth and profitability.

   Let’s start with the most obvious point of entry in your practice, the front office. Your dental hygienist has the advantage of collaborating with you regarding nearly every patient she sees. You sit knee-to-knee coaching your dental assistant with each procedure. But who is coaching your business team to recognize opportunities to build your practice? Let’s start with your office phones.

   Recently, when working with a group of 28 new clients we conducted mystery shopper calls.  We began each phone conversation with the statement “I’m new in the area and looking for a dentist.” The number one answer we received to that statement was “Un-huh.” After all the time, effort, energy and money that were spent crafting the perfect internal and external marketing message, our new patient caller was consistently met with all the enthusiasm and warmth of a grunt.

How would your team do if our mystery shopper called your office? Before you answer, you should know that these 28 practices in our mystery shopper survey were new consulting clients and knew we would be calling. They were high-quality practices with a commitment to excellent patient care, customer service and continual improvement.

They had impressive marketing materials and were actively encouraging new-patient referrals from their existing patients. Yet our mystery shopper was met with a grunt rather than enthusiasm.

Consider, too, that the practice representatives who answered our calls were probably just like the people in your office. They ranged from 0trainees to seasoned office administrators. They were all good people trying to do their best at their current skill level.

 Yet, still we got “Uh-huh.”  We wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery shopper mystery, so we talked with each of the practice representatives to learn from their perspective. The staff members shared with us that they kept a very busy pace throughout the day and felt an obligation to be as efficient as possible so they could stay available to patients and incoming calls. The “Uh-huh” that we saw as a missed opportunity to enthusiastically welcome the caller, set your practice apart and guide the prospective patients to an appointment, was seen by these staff members as an efficient way to encourage callers to continue their story and their reason for telephoning.

This same quest for efficiency resulted in only 1 of 28 practice representatives offering to schedule an appointment for our mystery shopper. Over 90 percent didn’t even ask our caller’s name. Is this just an anomaly? We don’t think so. We’ve made additional calls to random practices that verify our conclusion. So, how would your staff fare? There’s one surefire way to find out.

In a quest for efficiency many practices are wasting their time and talent. Don’t get me wrong, efficiency is a noble goal and one I strongly encourage but not at the expense of results. It’s essential that you turn your front office talent into performance that gets results. Doctors, you need to be certain that your business team members understand your definition of success and the type of results you expect.

Take the time to let the team know that you understand that the phones can be challenging. You also understand that interruptions are the order of the day in the front office of a dental practice. What you need your staff members to understand is that you want them to take the time that is necessary to fully engage with callers and patients, recognizing the opportunities for practice growth.

The goal is not to complete each call as soon as possible; the goal is to meet and exceed the caller’s expectations. For that reason, a caller asking what you charge for a cleaning is not a nuisance call. Neither is the caller who asks if you accept their insurance. Once you enlighten your staff to these opportunities, you, your callers and patients will reap the rewards of a staff with superior communication skills.

Doctor, the chances are good that you have never received telephone skills training. Most of your employees have not been trained in how to be most effective on the telephone either. Business skills are learned in much the same way that new clinical techniques and philosophies are learned, they are taught by qualified people via written, audio and/or personal training programs. If your business team has not had bona fide telephone skills training, sign them up for it now. In our Successful Connections Program, we offer training guides and reference materials as well as coaching based on actual conversations between your staff and your patients so we can help your team understand what they are doing well and what they need to improve to be most effective. Team members appreciate having a personal trainer who can coach them through the process. Your team members need and deserve this level of training.

Your clinical team members should also be keenly aware of the opportunities to provide better service to patients they encounter each day. While it’s important to stay on schedule and respect our patients’ time, we also need to meet and exceed their expectations that we provide the best overall care we have to offer.  

The dental office is the only place our patients visit where they can talk about their dental wants and needs with knowledgeable professionals. Television programs, such as “Extreme Makeover” and similar shows, along with magazine ads have increased public awareness of the power of a great smile.

Also, news outlets are educating our patients about the correlations between dental and overall health. Advances in dentistry can help our patients look younger, feel better and stay healthier. Are we putting a strong enough focus on engaging our patients in conversations about these breakthroughs when they visit our practices? Or, are there far too many causal social conversations taking place?

Building rapport with patients begins with your willingness to engage them in conversation and listen to their concerns. “How can I help you today?” is a wonderful greeting for our patients. In a time when many health care providers are just too busy to ask, we can provide the personal connection that so many people desire.

Patient education
Take the time to talk with your patients about their dental and overall health, treatment advances and their goals for their teeth and smiles. It’s great to also get updates on the kids, vacations and college plans, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that we need to talk about dentistry with our patients. Does your clinical team stay current with all of these issues and can they discuss them articulately with your patients? Take the time to share your philosophy with your team so they are well prepared to talk with patients.

The real lesson here is that opportunities abound for those who are alert and know what to pay attention to. This is an acquired skill that takes proper education, training and time. It requires that you invest in your staff members so they can return dividends for the practice. In my experience, your team members are willing and able. Give them the skills and the training so they are ready to shine.

Ginny Hegarty is a management strategist and the president of Dental Practice Development Inc., committed to helping dentists achieve greater profitability and reduced stress. For information on her coaching programs, visit www.ginnyhegarty.com or call 610-873-8404.