10 Ways your dental practice could be losing money everyday. Fix these leaks now!
While not every practice has a Treatment Coordinator (TCO) every practice has a Dental Receptionist and it is certainly fair to say that all of the most successful clinics have the edge for one reason alone. If you want to count yourself among their number, you should seriously ask yourself ‘when a company gives me excellent customer service does that build my confidence in them and achieve them a sale?’ Most of the time, yes it does!
This makes customer service of paramount importance regardless of what you are selling – widgets or dentistry you will always be drawn to the company that make you feel valued.
Most practices assume that anyone in the role of Dental Receptionist or Treatment Coordinator will have this innate ability to give excellent customer service.
Which is a little baffling really…
Do you think anyone in the Richard Branson or Alan Sugar Empires get taken on without being trained regardless of their age or previous experience? They also recognise the added value, of ongoing Receptionist Training Courses, will bring them through improved staff performance.
In the Dental practice the Dental Receptionist and Treatment Coordinator are without doubt the oiler of the wheels between your practice’s cash flow and client experience. They may not have the elevated skill set of a seasoned clinician but they are the catalyst that provides the all-important client flow into the clinicians chair…….
So why play Russian Roulette with your business when you don’t have to? Leaving it to chance that your Dental Receptionist or your Treatment Coordinator has adequate training to fulfil these essential roles already is no better than pointing a loaded gun at your head.
Here are 10 area’s where your dental practice could be losing clients but with training, practice and motivation, your Treatment Coordinator or Receptionist can greatly stop losing more clients:
- Not being able to present solutions properly to a client.
- Referrals and testimonials not being prompted and requested.
- Placing patient on hold without asking or answer machine over lunch as teddy bear picnic is more important than the patient and dentist has spent a fortune trying to get patients to call.
- No tracking system in place to monitor marketing and behaviours.
- FOFU Fear Of Follow Up. Not having a system in place for following up, just letting it be.
- Not giving name or collecting name from patient to build rapport.
- Sending E-Zines and Email Newsletters without checking reports to further improve.
- Quoting fees without showing any interest in patient let alone even attempting to build rapport and show empathy.
- Promotional info not available as a PDF to print or email across to increase percentage of treatment uptake.
- Video links not used in testimonials. There is no better marketing then your own client singing your praises.
Tracy Stuart, founder of NBS Training and with over 20 years experience in the dental industry , having worked with some of the best dental practices in the UK, Tracy has positioned herself to be, one of the best investments you can make for your dental practice.