It’s important that your front desk team showcases your practice as potential patients are actually shoppers. Here, Emma John explains why that is and gives some top tips on improving how your front desk team works.
When patients are shopping around, they’re measuring your practice against others. They’re looking at it with the critical eye of a consumer who is about to make a large investment of both time and money in what they hope will be a long-term relationship.
When they make the decision that your practice is the right one for them and their family, do your team make sure they know they are making the right decision?
Your front desk team need to become ambassadors for your practice and the services you have to offer. Here are some top tips on how you can ensure your front desk team are right on task to doing just that…
Be prompt with enquiries
If a current or prospective patient calls and requests information or has a question, respond promptly or express a realistic and reasonable timeframe in which you will respond to them, i.e. ‘I will need to look into this for you so I will give you a call tomorrow to confirm the answer with you.’
This shows your commitment to a high level of service and reinforces the patient’s confidence in you and your practice.
Know the answers to common questions and provide thorough and complete information
This tells patients that you have a team that is well trained and well prepared. That alone speaks volumes about the quality of your practice.
Get feedback from your patients
Send a brief survey and ask your patients, especially new patients, for feedback. Showing them that you care about their satisfaction demonstrates your commitment to excellent care. It can also provide you with an opportunity to gain insights about other aspects of your practice that could be improved or expanded to further enhance the patient experience.
A polite and warm team get positive feedback from patients; the more the team get the more they do it.
Stay in touch with patients
If your patients have missed an appointment or booked a recommended visit, drop a letter in the post and let them know that you are concerned about them, their oral health, and their overall health ─ this may be just the reminder they need. Or, better still, why not give them a call.
For more top tips on managing your staff, head on over to our Resource Library where you’ll find many more articles by some of the top industry experts.