Dental Front Office Telephone Training
Dental front office telephone training can be tough to pull off! Who has the time or the manpower? Sometimes, a new dental front office team member’s responsibility is to answer the phone. Anyone can answer the phone… right?
Anyone Can Answer the Phone!
Anyone can answer the phone. It’s easy to pick up the phone receiver and say “Hello”, or “Dr. Smith’s Dental Office” or whatever it is you say in your dental office.
With Solid Phone Training
Not everyone can answer the dental office telephone well! This ringing machine magically brings new patients to the chair. And this is our very first point of contact. Now is when we begin to build our all-important patient rapport.
Script Your Greeting
Simple and authentic is best. Thank the patient for their call today. State the name of the practice or dentist. Provide your caller with your name. Ask how you can help. “Please hold” is always an inappropriate greeting.
Use a Notepad
I like to start a new sheet each day and date the top of the page. This is a great way to make sure every call receives the follow-up attention it needs. And to remind me of things I still need to attend to. I have even used my notebooks as a reference at a later date.
When multiple phone lines are being answered, patients are checking in for their appointments, patients are checking out from their appointments, and others are buzzing all around, a note pad is absolute survival!
- Start each day with a brand-new sheet of paper.
- Double check everything during quieter times.
- Cross off with a single line once complete.
New Patient Calls are Priority
Begin with the patient’s name and phone number. And greet your new patient by name! Welcome them in a big way as you gather information.
Is there an urgent dental need? Balance, finesse, and some solid scripts help. We focus more on patient relationships when the words and tasks are truly engrained. And training does just that!
Calm Confidence
Phone conversations with patients can go in so many directions. The dental office team member who answers the phone must be prepared with anything and everything that is asked of them. It is important to be confident, calm, competent, and courteous.
Script your patient reschedules. Especially those with short notice. Train the team or the team will muddle through the best they can. And there will most likely continue to be inconsistencies and unexpected events.
Train the team well and experience less surprises in your schedules!
Why Phone Training?
Nearly all our new dental patients come into our schedules through a phone call. This is where we truly need our team to represent us well. Our phone management brands us. And tells the world who we are. And what’s important to us.
Unless we lead and guide our team, they filter, perceive, and decide what to do. Which may or may not be a clear representation of us. If our new patient numbers are not where we expect them to be, we have the power to change it now! Now we know where to begin.
