| Add RSS Feed

March 13, 2009

By Sally McKenzie, CMC

Oh, if only you knew ... You're busy working, working, working every day providing the best care you can for patients. From all outward appearances, things seem to be just fine. Patients are in the chair, you provide care for them, you like them — well, most of them, anyway. They like you. They come back. OK, maybe not all of them return, but a lot of them do.

Actually, if you look closely, chances are very good you'll find that not as many come back as you would like to think. In fact, your existing patient base is shrinking. But not to worry because you have a steady supply of new patients coming in, or so you believe, until you take a closer look. New-patient numbers are dwindling as well. But why? What is happening? Where's the disconnect?

Oftentimes, patients are lost at precisely the point where the patient experience begins — the telephone. If you were a prospective new patient calling your practice, would you schedule an appointment? Would you feel the staff is welcoming and accommodating? Would you find your telephone experience pleasant or something you just had to endure on your way to getting in to see the doctor or hygienist? Would everyone who answers the phone be able to answer basic inquiries about treatment, procedures, and insurance? Knowing the answer to those questions is critical to sustaining and building your practice; however, few dentists are concerned enough to even ask the questions.

For the dental employee, the phone is often viewed as a constant interruption to more important job duties. Few realize the powerful impact of this "annoyance" on the total success of the practice. Mary Ellen is a good example of this. Her experience is illustrative of what is going on in practice after practice across the country. She's been working in Dr. Sullivan's office for about nine months. Mary Ellen is a hard worker. She is very task oriented with excellent attention to detail. Sounds like the type of person you'd like in your own practice, right? Well, she would be, were it not for one seemingly small, but significant shortcoming. She absolutely hates the telephone.

In her view, it is a constant interruption. The people who call always take forever to get to the point. They are never happy with the appointment times she has to offer. They have a gazillion insurance questions, millions of treatment questions, and umpteen other issues and problems that she doesn't really know how to address intelligently. As far as Mary Ellen is concerned, the job would be perfect if it weren't for that ringing, whining telephone.

However, ask her how she thinks she comes across to patients and she'll shrug her shoulders and confidently assert that her customer/patient service skills are just fine. Potential-new-patient Elizabeth would have to disagree with that assessment.

Elizabeth recently tried to schedule an appointment in Dr. Sullivan's office. When the dental employee finally answered the phone on the fifth ring, the greeting was an unenthusiastic "Dr. Sullivan's office." She didn't identify herself, nor did she ask how she could help the patient.

Unimpressed, Elizabeth tried to keep an open mind. "Yes, I'd like to schedule an appointment for me and my two children."

Silence. The employee hesitated before she said in a discouraging tone, "Well, that's going to be a challenge because the doctor ... Oh, could you hold for just a minute please." Click. Elizabeth ignored the urge to end the call. Instead, she waited and listened to the annoying music.

The unidentified staff member eventually returned to the line. "I'm sorry. Now what is it that you need again?"

Elizabeth was gritting her teeth by now. "An appointment for me and my two children."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. Hmm, gosh, I don't know when we're going to get you in. I hope no one is having any problems because it's going to be at least three months. But I do have some times available in January. I could get one of you in on January 5th at 2 p.m. I could get someone else in on Thursday, January 15th at 11 a.m., and ... let's see, oh, here's an opening on January 26th."

Elizabeth silently shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Can't you get all three of us in on the same day?"

"Oh, sure, we could do that in May if you would like. I have plenty of openings then."

"But May is seven months away!"

"I know. It's a busy place. Now, which appointment would you like?"

The staff member, Mary Ellen, believes that she is doing the best she can. Elizabeth feels this office doesn't care about serving new patients. The doctor, meanwhile, is oblivious to the entire exchange. As far as she can tell, the staff member handles the telephone just fine. But then again, Dr. Sullivan doesn't have the full picture. Like her, many dentists are blissfully unaware of how their practices are presented daily to the buying public.

I see this issue time and again in dental practices. The dentist looks at the open appointment times, dwindling new-patient numbers, and sinking production figures and blames the price of gas, the neighborhood, the weather, the politicians, the economy, any outside circumstance he or she can come up with. It never occurs to the dentist that the hardworking business employee, who's managing check-in and check-out, answering the phones, running reports, etc., has erected the Great Wall of China between the practice and prospective patients.

Dentists commonly view the phone simply as a perfunctory duty. It rings, someone answers it, schedules an appointment, and that's it. In fact, only 12% of dentists believe the telephone has a major impact on their practice even though it is usually the only point of entry for new patients. And only 5% of practice staff is trained to properly handle patient phone calls. The vast majority simply wing it.

It's not that these business employees are incapable or unwilling to manage phone calls effectively; they simply have never been given the opportunity to learn how to maximize the telephone lines to boost new patients and production. Worse yet, most view the telephone as a necessary nuisance. The truth is that there are days when they would happily cut the line to your practice if they could do so. Consequently, they have no idea how poorly they are representing the practice, and you, Doctor, have no idea how many patients you're losing.

If poor telephone protocol causes you to lose just 20 new patients a month, and each would spend an average of $1,000 on dental care a year, that's 240 patients and nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

Maybe it's time you learn how your team manages this most important point of entry for current and prospective patients. As we've discovered, you have no idea until you hear both sides of the conversation.

In the medical community, "mystery shoppers" have been around for several years. Dentistry is embracing the concept more and more as practices have come to realize that they are profoundly dependent upon a satisfied patient base. And mystery shopper services, such as those offered through McKenzie Management, enable you to be the fly on the wall, so to speak, and hear exactly what transpires between the caller and your employee. But most importantly, the assessment enables you to identify exactly where you and your team can make immediate improvements and see immediate positive results.

While a variety of companies offer this type of service, you want to look for those that monitor several areas, including phone etiquette, hold times, and scheduling procedures for starters. In addition, the assessment should give you, the dentist, a much clearer sense of the tone and attitude that the practice employees convey to current and prospective patients over the telephone. Moreover, the process should help practices determine the number of potential new patients they may be losing.

Very capable dental employees often unwittingly drive new patients away because they have never been trained on how to effectively use the telephone. Those handling telephone inquiries from patients often believe that they are being just as helpful and pleasant and conscientious as they possibly could. Yet the reality, as many practices discover, is far different. Try as they might, they are not trained to represent the doctor or the office effectively on the phone, and it's costing dental offices a fortune in lost patients and lost production.

In many of these cases, simply educating staff on effective telephone communication can significantly improve their approach. Moreover, it can prevent the loss of hundreds of patients and tens of thousands of dollars every year.

Sally McKenzie, certified management consultant, is a nationally known lecturer and author. She is CEO of McKenzie Management, which has provided highly successful and proven management services to dentistry since 1980. McKenzie Management offers a full line of educational and management products, which are available on its Web site, www.mckenziemgmt.com. In addition, the company offers a vast array of practice enrichment programs and team training. Ms. McKenzie is the editor of the e-Management newsletter and "The Dentist's Network" newsletter sent complimentary to practices nationwide. To subscribe, visit www.mckenziemgmt.com and www.thedentistsnetwork.net. Ms. McKenzie welcomes specific practice questions and can be reached toll-free at (877) 777-6151 or at sallymck@mckenziemgmt.com.

| Add RSS Feed