When you are a dentist or a dental health provider, you must offer above the board customer service. Customer service is a critical aspect of your business that will enable you to stand out among your competition. As a service provider, you must take what might be an unpleasant experience for your patients and make it pleasant, convenient, and personalized for them. This process requires having excellent reception services.
Interestingly, more than 67% of clients in any business hang up calls when redirected to voicemail. As a dentist, you want potential patients to be met with a helpful and courteous human voice that interacts with them pleasantly. Your business is your lifeline, and you do not want to risk losing patients due to a bad first impression. Using an answering service customized to your medical practice ensures the first impression patients receive is positive.
Understanding an Answering Service
Just as the name suggests, this is an answering service customized to your business's needs to answer or receive all of your calls. Depending on your type of business, an answering service can:
- Receive and filter incoming phone calls
- Give the caller basic details regarding your business or services
- Take your messages and pass them on to you
- Schedule appointments or meetings
- Remind you and the patient of scheduled appointments by sending reminders
- Filter after-hours or emergency calls
An answering service is different from an automated service. Whenever a patient calls your dental office, they will be met with a recorded message offering various prompts such as press 1 to leave a message with an automated type.
Unfortunately, patients are turned off by this kind of service and will not leave a message; instead, they will call your competitor, and you might lose them. In this case, it is best to hire an answering service operated by live humans. This gives your callers a chance to talk with a real individual and express their concerns or ask questions. Although automation plays a part in some areas, you cannot compare it with a human touch, especially when it comes to patients needing your help.
You may wonder if your dental office needs an answering service or not. To help you decide, you must ask yourself the questions below:
- Can you always answer all the calls coming into your dental clinic?
- As the day ends, do you find yourself with tons of messages to go through?
- Do you find yourself often being distracted by incoming calls that disrupt your workflow?
- How fast can your dental assistants' answer and dispatch calls?
When you honestly evaluate your answer, you will realize you need a more efficient and better answering service for your dental office.
What can an Answering Service do for your Dental Office?
Besides knowing what an answering service involves, it is critical to know what it can do for your office. In most dental offices, dental assistants are tasked with answering incoming calls. This takes them from their core chores and wastes time for them to find their rhythm back. With an answering service, your assistant and other staff are left to focus on revenue generation or dealing with patients instead of answering calls.
Most answering services employ staff conversant with various languages commonly spoken, making it easier for your patients and potential patients to find the information they are seeking. If a potential client calls your dental office and finds a friendly voice on the other end that makes them feel comfortable, they are likely not to consult other dentists but book an appointment with you.
Professional answering services ensure to tailor-make their services to suit your dental office and your patients. If you have a specific script you need to be followed, you can present it to your choice's answering service, and it will be used.
An answering service will do various things critical to your dental practice. Some of them include:
Emergency answering service
Not every call coming into your office is an emergency, although the caller may make it seem that way. Fortunately for you, virtual receptionists in an answering service are well trained to screen your incoming calls and dispatch them according to priority. The staff is also trained to screen after-hours phone calls regarding prescription medicine and reduce the abuse of prescription drugs. An answering service has various ways to reach you in case of an emergency, meaning you will not miss attending to a critical situation.
Round the clock answering service
If you want to stay ahead of your competition or improve your position in the industry, never underrate the value prompt service brings to your practice. This is why answering services have representatives available every hour of the day to attend to your patient's calls. The representatives present your callers with updated information regarding your office hours, where you are found, and the procedures you perform. Remember that callers can call at any hour, and with an answering service, their concerns can be answered at any time, even as you sleep.
Scheduling of appointments and making reminders
Another critical thing an answering service will do for you is to schedule your appointments and remind you and your patients of their dental checkup appointments. The service will sync with your current calendar allowing them to plan your appointments, confirm emergency or routine appointments, or modify your schedule and update on the changes promptly. This kind of service helps increase efficiency and prevents miscommunication between your office and your patients.
Avoid missing after hour calls
Sometimes, your patients or prospective ones may call you after your office hours with queries or because they are faced with an emergency. As a dentist, you can have a call from a patient at any time. For instance, suppose a child has been involved in an accident, hurting their mouth, and some teeth come off. The child requires an immediate dental procedure to save some teeth or to relieve their pain.
Unfortunately, this accident occurs after office hours. An emergency call with an answering service such as this can be screened and dispatched to you, ensuring your patient is treated immediately. This helps to cement the relationship with your patient, who will, in turn, recommend your service and reliability to others, building your client base.
You will not miss an opportunity to convert an inquiry into business
The people that call your dental office are not always repeating patients. Some may be calling as they look for a reliable dentist or to make inquiries. How these potential callers are handled can make a difference between making them your clients or losing them to your competitors.
An answering service improves your professional image
When a patient calls your dental office, and an answering service responds to the call, it gives an illusion of a big practice, organized and professional. This, in turn, boosts the caller's confidence in your services, converting them to your patients.
Improved customer service
Dental assistants, in most cases, are overwhelmed by the services they must provide at the clinic. For this reason, answering calls may not be a priority, and they may not have the time to respond to a client's questions. On the other hand, an answering service representative's only job is to respond to customer's queries through the phone. The representatives are also trained on how to handle callers satisfactorily, improving the customer service callers need.
You can find a bilingual answering service
Patients can come from all walks of life and speak different languages. This will not be a hindrance when you use an answering service that employs bilingual representatives. If some of your clients cannot speak English well, it will be impossible for you to hire assistants that speak multiple languages.
You can provide your patients with round the clock support
A patient may need your support at any hour. However, your office does not work round the clock, but you must be there for your patients. With an answering service, your patients can access support even when you sleep and keep them relaxed until you can attend to them.
You will reduce costs and increase profitability
The goal of every business is to make profits. This is also your goal, even as you aim to provide excellent services to your patients. Employing a receptionist to attend to your calls is expensive, considering the salary and benefits you must pay. With an answering service, you avoid the high costs and instead pay manageable fees to the answering service company. When your expenses are reduced, your profits are increased.
Increase productivity
A dental office has many activities to be performed besides answering calls. These activities are critical to the excellent provision of services and ensuring a patient's satisfaction. When your staff is focused on service delivery and not answering calls, they have more done or accomplished. Phone calls can be disruptive, and going back to what you were doing before the call takes time hence reducing your productivity.
Easier management of your calendar
Dentists work with appointments. Without an efficient person managing your schedule, you can easily create chaos in your office. Because an answering service is focused on making your service delivery more convenient and smooth.
Your calls are screened, and you avoid wasting time answering every incoming call
Efficient time management is critical to your business's output. If you make it your business or your assistant's business to answer every incoming call, you will waste precious time you would have dedicated to your work. An answering service filters important calls and only dispatches those to prevent you from spending time dealing with unnecessary calls. Without an answering service, it will mean time dedicated to filtering these calls instead of working on more important things.
Increasing your client base
Research shows that over 67% of callers refuse to leave a message when they find an automated service. This means, if a potential client were calling to inquire about your services, they would be put off by the lack of personal touch. However, an answering service provides that desired personal touch that helps build your client base.
Customer inquiries are still answered even when you’re on vacation
Sometimes, you may have closed your office to take a break. Other times it could be during the holidays, and your office is closed. However, this will not mean your patients will not find someone when they call. An answering service ensures there are representatives every day of the year to attend to client calls. If an important call comes while you are vacationing, the service will know how to reach you for a response.
You can have your calls recorded
Answering services provide the option of recording your calls. This is critical when making references or clarifying some information. If you want your calls recorded in-house, the cost is high, eating on your profits. With an answering service, this is often an affordable option.
You can have your answering service customized to your needs
There can be tens of dental offices, but each has its unique way of providing its services. In this case, you can provide your answering service of choice with a script of what you need to be communicated to your callers, and it is unique to your office.
Final Thoughts
The first impression callers have of your dental practice is critical. Calls are the lifeline to your business, and as such, the callers must have an excellent first impression of your practice. There are numerous reasons and benefits of having an answering service for your dental practice. Whether any of the above-discussed ones is your reason or others, selecting an excellent service provider that meets your specific needs is also crucial. Without a doubt, your dental office can greatly benefit from an answering service, making it important for your consideration.
