Here’s a quick dental office quiz. This will be fun at the morning huddle!
A potential new patient calls. What is the BIGGEST mistake made by the office when it comes to the phones?
•A) Putting the patient on hold immediately
•B) Not getting the patient’s contact information
•C) Never offering an appointment
•D) None of the above
Okay – select your answer. Do you want to change it? Last chance…… Okay, say it out loud or write it down.
Now for the answer…
Scroll down
and down
and down
and down
and down…..
A potential new patient calls.What is the BIGGEST mistake made by the office when it comes to the phones? Let’s review each answer.
•A) Putting the patient on hold immediately
Calling an office and hearing “HOLD PLEASE!” is so irritating and annoying. It’s a horrible way to start any phone call.
•B) Not getting the patient’s contact information
If the patient doesn’t appoint, how are you ever going to get back to the patient if you don’t know who they are?
•C) Never offering an appointment
This is totally unacceptable! If you listen to our podcast, The Dental Practice Fixers, you know that during our mystery shopper calls everyone makes this unforgivable error.
•D) None of the above
Is there anything left? Yes – because the correct answer is D) None of the above! So what is “none of the above?” It’s the worst possible mistake – not answering the phone and letting it go to voicemail during regular business hours – lunch included!
Amazingly, when we make our mystery shopper calls, and they are always made Monday – Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, the call goes to voicemail or just isn’t answered around 40% – 50% of the time. Yes, of course we have a flow chart for the best way to answer the phone all the way through getting a new patient scheduled. But let’s start with the most basic thing of the all:
