Dental Office Phone Phrases To Use
Dental office phone phrases is our focus this third week of January 2021. We continue to work through the year together following the Dental Administrative Training Checklist. This checklist is a great tool to help guide team meetings and trainings. And is absolutely FREE inside the Dental Front Office Library. Get yours today!
We also reference the Dental Office Telephone Tips & Practical Application e-book this week. Specifically, we reference the “Best Words” page of this download. Although we may use good words in our daily patient conversations, let’s consider this a bit more. Is it possible that we might change our every day phrases to include our ” Best Words”?
Phrases to Consider
The three phrases to change are as follows:
- “I’m sorry”
- “I don’t know”
- “Our policy requires” “Our policy is” etc..
Maybe take a moment and think about these three phrases. Are they phrases you might use in your dental office day. Although I discuss this specifically as a phone conversation, we might also have them in person. And why only three? Because it is a good place to start. However, I highly recommend a change out of all negative words to more positive and powerful substitutes.
Dental Office Phone Phrases And More!
Be sure to download this e-book for yourself and your team today. Because there is more to this PDF to help you. Here is the very beginning of the introduction for you to read:
“Intro:
Our dental office phones are different than our personal cell
phones. They look different and they work different. Technology
continues to evolve with time.
In our evolution, we have a new generation of people joining the
work-force. Great people who may have had very little experience
with an office land-line telephone. But are far advanced in other
areas of technology.
Dental Office Telephone Tips brings some very basic and practical
phone applications to the dental team. Because we don’t want to
take anything for granted when it comes to every day phone use.”
Table of Contents
Want to take a look at what’s inside? Here is a peek at the Table of Contents for you as well!
Contents
Your Directory
Voicemail
Busy Phone Days
New Team Members
Best Words
Food & Phones
Holding “Hold”
Resources
Many new dental office team members are immediately charged with answering the phones. And often times, before we know anything at all about our new dental practice and team. This particular e-book is a great guide in how to prepare your new team members to manage the office phones very well.
Support clinicians who help answer the office phones with this download. Sometimes, our dental assistants jump in to help with our office phones. However, there are important details we assume they must know. Only that isn’t always the case. And we never fully realize the essential pieces that are missing.
Dental Office Phone Phrases: The Exchange
Let’s jump back in and review those three phone phrases. Do you hear yourself say “I’m sorry” to a patient on the phone? It’s a normal response. And what about “I don’t know” or even “I am not sure”. Even with the kindest tone, there is something better we can say. And then there is “That’s just our policy” or “Our policy requires…” to change.
So here is what we want to say instead! For this week and beyond, let’s try to change these three phrases for something better!
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Thank You
“Thank you” is my preference over an “I’m sorry”. The trick is, how do we apply a “Thank you” to every conversation where we might say “I’m sorry”. Let’s consider a patient who says they wish we had a different appointment time than we offer them. Because nothing we seem to offer works for our patient. And they grow quickly frustrated.
Consider a “Thank you for sharing your best schedule times with me. I would be happy to call with with any schedule changes Dr. Brown might have. Would that be okay?” Again, we may need to be very creative with our words that follow the “thank you”. But that’s part of the fun of it!
That’s A Great Question
“That’s a great question! I would love to look into this a little more. Could I call you later today?” This response is so much more helpful than an “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure”. And we want to know the answer to any question a patient might present to us. However, we may also need to do a little research. Just be sure to provide the patient with an estimated time of your return call to them.
Dr. Does Request or Dr Does Ask
“Dr Brown does ask for 2 business days’ notice to reschedule an appointment with him.” This sentence supports the team and the policy without using the words “our office policy”. Another situation where we might want to use this is when we discuss cost and payment expectations. For example: “Dr. Brown does require payment at the time of service”. Again, this is more supportive than “our office policy is”.
Try it This Week!
If any of these three phrases pop into your head this week, try the substitution on for size. It may take some forethought and mindfulness. But it’s a great idea to try to be more mindful and considerate of our word choices. And we may just find that we say some other words and phrases that are more negative than we might like.
Awareness is out first step. And although it takes about 21 days to change a habit, that’s not such a long time. Maybe you want to pick just one phrase to change at a time? Or a different word group altogether! Because this not only improves our patient relationships, but all our relationships. As we just may find we begin to think a bit more about all our conversations.
