 |
 |
 |
Does Your Dental Practice Make An Awesome First Impression?
by Allison Watts, DDS
On December 24, I posted a blog about breaking down a full mouth rehabilitation into simple steps. If you didn’t read it, here it is: Let's Talk Dentistry – Learning Full Mouth Rehabilitation. When we walk through a process, we generally start from the very beginning.
That’s what we’re doing here.
We’re starting with the initial phone call (or walk in) and I’m going to try to post a blog a week on Mondays walking through this step-by-step.
We have so many opportunities to “wow!” our patients, but we truly only have one chance to make a first impression. What first impression are you making?
- Do you take the time to get to know the person calling (or walking in) and what they are looking for?
- Are they looking for you or someone else?
- How do you know?
Since the beginning of my practice, I have taken many courses and workshops and worked with coaches and consultants who taught me and my team how to do a proper new patient phone call and the mindset that would best serve us with our new patients. At first, these were just tools and scripts, but it has evolved and now we are unconsciously competent.
It was important for us to first figure out and decide our philosophy – who we were, what we did and didn’t do and learn how to find out if the patients wanted and needed what we were offering.
Not every person that’s breathing or that calls will make a good patient for you. I’m sure like us, you want “qualified” new patients—patients that are aligned with us philosophically and are in line with our values. To stand up for this in your practice takes belief in yourself and the patient and it also takes an abundance mentality. If you do not have an abundance mentality and fear that there will not be enough patients for you if you turn people away, this may be an area you want to work on.
When it comes to communicating and deciding if the patient is right for your practice and if you are right for them, these are some areas to explore:
1. Know yourself: Establish your philosophy of practice and life.
2. Know your work: Establish a reputation for excellence and personal service among your peers and in your community. Be clear what procedures you do and do not do and how you do them (level of quality).
3. Surround yourself with great people: a team with exceptional abilities and similar philosophy (staff, referring dentists, lab technicians, specialists, patients).
4. You and your team should be able to clearly communicate your quality and philosophy.
Once you are clear about the above and have that in place you can begin creating your system for new patients and how you will bring them in.
The steps for creating a system are:
1.Be clear about your desired outcome. Does it convey and support your mission and goal?
2. Know what objectives you wish to achieve.
3. Clarify and communicate who is primarily responsible for each role.
4. Now you can spell out the system, specifically what we will say and do.
Once the system is created, now go do it! It starts out kind of stiff, like I said. It may be a little uncomfortable and feel scripted (especially if it is!). When you are talking to your new patients, some important things to keep in mind:
1. Listen-Really listen. Ask questions with the goal in mind to discover more about this person, what they are looking for and how they make decisions, not to figure out how to schedule them. We have done a lot of work on listening in our practice and still find we can get better. There are levels of listening and it does get easier with practice
2. Each patient will have a different personality (DISC profile is a great tool to help understand this). If we can see and appreciate that we all make decisions differently and we all communicate differently, the new patient interview will be easier. On top of our innate differences, add fear about coming to the dentist, the unknown, cost, etc. and you have layers on top of the personality differences. The important thing is that they are a person who deserves our compassion and respect. Our job is to help them clarify and get them to the right place.
3. Know ours and the patients expectations and limitations. Understanding what they will and will not do and what they are expecting is helpful. Also, being very clear about what we will and will not do and what we are expecting.
4. Decide how patients will enter the practice. What are your places of entry? All of us have emergencies—this is one level of entry. The next may be through hygiene or a 30 minute consultation, and a one and a half hour comprehensive exam. We have questions we can ask to figure out which level is best for which patient as well as filters in place that allow us to tighten or loosen the parameters we set for each level of entry depending on our busy-ness level.
This is the system we developed years ago in our office (the information was gathered from many sources): It was originally used as a checklist, but now it’s much more organic.
1. Welcome patient to our office.
2. Fill out telephone information sheet.
3. Ask questions to qualify; Do we need records from previous office?
4. I’d like to describe the new patient exam so you’ll know what to expect. This initial exam is the foundation for receiving quality dental care and is very thorough and comprehensive. It will not be a “quick check” like you may have received in the past.
– Dr. Watts will take diagnostic photographs and may use an intraoral cameral to show you what she can see.
-She will determine what radiographs are needed and will evaluate them for any problems.
-She will provide an oral cancer screening, a periodontal screening and a TMJ evaluation. Layman’s terminology
5. The exam will take about an hour and a half and depending on the necessary radiographs the fee will be about _________ or will range from _________to ________.
6. Mr. ________, We ask that all new patients joining our practice take care if the charges in full on the initial visit, regardless of the insurance involvement. If you would like, we can then file your insurance for you and you will be reimbursed.
7. I have an appointment available on_________at __________. Would you like to go ahead and schedule an appointment?
8. This time is reserved specifically for you. Dr. Watts does not schedule a bunch of patients at the same time, so it is very important that if you cannot keep this reservation you let us know as soon as possible so that we can try to fill the opening.
9. Also, you should receive a welcome packet from us in a few days. Please fill out the forms and mail them back or bring them with you so that we may have the full hour and a half for you and your exam.
10. What questions do you have?
11. Thank you for choosing our office, Mr. ____________. I think you’ll be very pleased with the treatment you receive here. Dr. Watts is an exceptional dentist.
12. Fill out the New Patient monitor.
13. Send welcome packet.
14. Thank you letter to referral source (give note card and envelope to doctor)
– Document referral in chart of referral source and in computer.
15. Welcome letter ready for after new patient visit, placed on Dr’s desk
Even though I shared here the basic building blocks for a successful new patient call, the personal connection between the patient and your office staff is the most important thing. You want someone answering your phones that truly cares about people and it shows. They also really need to believe in what they’re saying and why they are saying it. You also want someone who understands how to build value (using layman’s terms!!!).
Hope this was helpful. IF YOU’D LIKE A COPY OF MY NEW PATIENT CALL SHEET, please email me at insight [at] transformationalpractices.com
I look forward to talking with you next week about the new patient exam!!! That will be fun!
I would love to know what's on your mind! Please post your comments below! If you have any questions, I will gladly answer them to the best of my ability! Share this information with as many other dentists as possible through Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter!! Simply click on your favorite's button below!!
Yours for a fulfilling practice,
Allison