Ability of the receptionist to talk by phone properly

We can assume that most people make an appointments by phone. Will patient come to your dentistry or not, depends on how quickly and correctly your receptionist will answer the call. As a leader, you must make sure that peceptionist picks it up high after the fourth ring of the phone. Usually people that call somewhere, don′t wait longer. After all, they don′t want to waste their time, they think what if the dentistry doesn′t work today, and so on. In other words, the long wait for the answer might just frighten a person off, he will call to your competitors who have more agile employees.

It should be remembered that the first contact is the most important and it forms prior opinion about your dentistry. Let us hope that the people that you respond to calls, do it right. When you employ the person as an receptionist - this is undoubtedly the face of your dentistry. He meets all of your customers and it makes the first impression of your clinic. Don′t forget about the human factor and the existence of a risk that your client may deter some as he said on the phone. Therefore, don′t rely solely on the personal qualities of staff. Everything has to be documented and it should be controlled.

So, it is necessary for your employee to ask leading questions. Maybe that the patient wishes to make an appointment with a particular doctor what other services might interest him, and so on. Each of your employee must know the answers to these questions. In addition, receptionist must have the information about all offers in your clinic, they should inform potential customer about all the discounts and bonuses, he can get. The completion of such a conversation should be a call to action: "At what time you would like to come, what doctor would prefer to go?"

It is important to train your staff to talk on the phone with a smile, because even if the person doesn′t see you smile he hears it in his voice. You should always respond with confidence and in a good mood. After all, the mood of the receptionist is not just a private matter, it is currently working, and its purpose is to maximize attendance of the clinic!

All those innovations that you implement in your dentistry should be documented. Your business is not an area where we can only hope for the awareness of your employees. Always works the human factor: what if the receptionist in a bad mood, he didn′t get enough sleep, resulting in a major impact in the workplace.

Make up for all their staff regulations: to work with a client base of the recommendations, write scripts to call "cold" customers and rules answer the call. The more of these "tips" - the better result.

You need to make sure that all employees are aware of the regulations and signed that will comply with them. These documents should be based on their jobs within reach.

In the next article: Dental Marketing: check your dental clinic as a "Mystery shopper"