Doubtless, a dental office is a busy environment based on the many patients you expect to see in a day. Among the numerous responsibilities that your office handles, you will also deal with multiple dental emergencies that may occur at any time. Therefore, you need to include reliable and organized phone call answering systems that help you stay in touch with patients at all times.
Some of the challenges that dental clinics face include having to prioritize calls from different persons. For example, your office may have to keep up with medical suppliers, partners in practice, and patients with additional needs. Depending on your clinic size, it may be challenging to update call records and provide timely communication at all times. Consequently, you may miss the chance to interact with your patients and provide the medical advice they need.
Thinking of an answering service to help you manage calls and messages in your dental office is essential for business growth. Once you begin using answering services, you will enjoy the advantages of professional call management. On top of this, you get an assurance of top-quality customer care service provision to your clients. There are many advantages of using a call answering service provider, and most are observable right after starting with the answering service. The benefits include:
Reliable Responses to Emergency Callers
As mentioned, your dental office employees will have to deal with emergencies once in a while, especially if a patient suffers severe dental trauma. Additionally, you and your support staff may also be occupied with serving patients who come for check-ups and routine dental procedures.
Therefore, the emergency calls may go unattended for some time, based on inadequate staff or unforeseen circumstances in your clinic. Subsequently, the patient-facing an emergency may decide to seek help in another clinic or lose trust in your establishment altogether.
With an answering live receptionist working with your dental office, you can avoid these eventualities. Usually, a live agent will be ready to pick any inbound calls based on work instructions that require the agent to respond to any calls, regardless of the calling time. After identifying an emergency caller, the live agent will then dispatch the call to a designated dentist in the office for further assistance.
On top of this, the live answering agents receive training to help them calm the caller down as he/she explains the situation. It is crucial to make the patient feel safe during the call, as it allows him/her to give information coherently. The details you receive will help you determine the best treatment or remedy to issue to the calling patient, meaning that it should be as accurate as possible.
Your Patients Can Reach Your Office for Twenty-Four Hours
Apart from dealing with emergencies, you also have to consider giving your patients access to your clinic by making calls at any time and day. The provision may include weekends, holidays, and off-days for you and your employees, to give you a competitive edge in the dental field.
With an answering service provider, you can bypass making tough decisions on keeping your employees working after hours and on holidays. Most call answering companies provide 24-hour services to their clients, meaning that your dental office will be accessible to patients at any time.
Moreover, you do not have to worry about the live answering agent who will serve clients late at night, as answering service providers operate under a work shift system. Hence, the live agents are unexploited and take on reasonable shifts to keep them on top of their game.
Furthermore, your patients will appreciate the extra steps you undertake in providing live answering receptionists despite late calling hours. Often, a patient will not feel comfortable leaving a recorded voice mail, especially because he/she does not have a guarantee of a response. Hence, when a live agent receives the call and gives the requested details, it shows a deeper sense of appreciation for your clients, giving them a positive experience with your office.
You Benefit from Cloud Appointment Setting
Sometimes, leaving your receptionist in the office to organize all appointment meetings and send reminders to patients may be overwhelming. Additionally, since some of the meetings you intend to attend happen outside your dental office, there may be confusion between the different venues. As a result, your patients may question the reliability of your clinic based on these simple slip-ups.
You also need to remember that most appointments are set on call. Hence, the receptionist handling the details should be keen to provide only the available dates in your calendar. A failure to do so would lead to clashing check-ups, where you have to delay administering treatment to one patient over the other. These situations are detrimental to your practice, as they may push away patients or make them feel undervalued.
The best systems include cloud appointment settings that store all data online for easy retrieval. Moreover, the cloud settings provide reminders on upcoming appointments to keep you updated. Also, a live receptionist can make phone call reminders if you prefer them over emails and text messages, to accommodate your changing means of communication.
You Save Time by Avoiding Training and Monitoring New Employees
Upon hiring new support staff to improve on communication efficiency, you will have to provide training to provide the expected standards of operation. Sometimes, the training sessions may take up a lot of time, primarily if they involve technical procedures in handling client support services. The cumulative time taken during these training sessions may cost you a lot of time that you may have used elsewhere.
Apart from that, you may have to monitor your employees regularly to ensure they implement new developments in serving your patients on the phone. With the demanding circumstances, you get to treat fewer patients comapred to when you do not have to take care of the responsibilties.
Thanks to the tranied live answering agents, your clients will interact with professioanl receptionists who understand the details on handling patients’ calls. For example, the live agent will observe a client’s right to privacy of medical details, meaning he/she will not disclose them to third parites. Moreover, you can include scripted documents to guide the answering agents in place of presiding over time-consuming training sessions in the clinic.
The Answering Service Creates Flexibility
The flexibility that your dental clinic provides is also crucial to your patients, as cancellations may occur. Thus, it is essential to factor in a system that captures details from all patients on time to indicate any empty slots in case of rescheduling.
A live receptionist will help organize different schedules and help your office significantly, as your employees receive updated information on any changes in appointments and other meetings. In return, you will know what patient to expect at a particular time to help you make adequate preparations for the different dental procedures you need to undertake.
Apart from scheduling appointments for the office, you also need to keep in touch with your patients by sending them reminders on planned meetings. Sometimes the patient may genuinely forget about an appointment, while others may need reminders in advance for logistic preparations. Hence, the clients appreciate receiving reminders and the available windows for adjustments for dental appointments.
You Get to Focus on Your Patients with Few Interruptions
Performing dental procedures requires minimum interruptions, as they require attention to detail and proficiency in using dental equipment. Therefore, dealing with multiple call interruptions in the observation room may derail you or your employees and lead to substandard work on your patients.
To avoid this, you can access answering services to support your office line and reduce the inbound call volume. Mostly, patients call to inquire on details like your clinic location, working hours and available scheduling dates. Since they are non-technical issues, you can delegate the responsibilities to the answering agents, provided they give accurate information. The provision of guidelines in a document also enhances the services, as the agents will have a constant reference point.
Since the answering service intercepts non-urgent calls, your patients in the clinic will receive more efficient services from professionals who are attentive to their needs. Thanks to the reduced workload, you can also take time to make changes in the dental clinic and create room for improvements in service delivery.
Office Costs Reduce Significantly
Usually, the answering service provider will be happy to offer affordable packages that accommodate your call volume and caters to your needs. For example, if you need a live receptionist to handle the regular office line and another to handle the emergency line, the company will meet your demands.
Secondly, the service rates follow a fair billing system based on picked calls or the number of minutes that the live receptionists spend on calls with patients. Hence, you can track all expenditures and determine the charges per call volume. With the transparency you enjoy from a call answering service, you will be more comfortable in allowing the company to handle your calls at a lower cost.
It is also important to remember that you receive a package deal that includes different live receptionist services when you pay for the answering service. For example, the agent can handle inbound calls, send reminders, and forward emergency calls to your line.
In other circumstances, you may have to purchase different software or employ new staff to perform the tasks, leading to higher expenditure. Due to this, a call answering service is an excellent option for established and upcoming dental clinics to help maximize earnings.
Your Dental Clinic is Represented Professionally
When building a business, you need to prioritize the image that potential clients view your clinic. A good reputation requires you to provide the best professional services from the customer care department to the dental services.
Since most first interactions happen over the phone, you need to ensure that your dental clinic receives the best representation by treating callers with courtesy and professionalism. Sometimes, you may not have the assurance that a front desk manager will offer the best customer care services, as he/she may be under extreme pressure from office work.
When you shift the responsibility to a company that specializes in providing excellent call response and care to clients, you increase the chances of business growth. A well-trained call answering agent understands the various protocols to observe when a client calls. The standard features of ethical communication include extending standard courtesy to offer greetings.
Moreover, when you trust a call answering service provider with proper brand representation, you can be confident that the agents will observe critical legal regulations. The most important rule involves protecting a client's private medical details, as provided in the Health Insurance and Accountability Act(HIPAA).
The Live Agents Handle Follow-up Services Effectively
Additionally, the live agents recognize their responsibilities in taking down your patients’ details, sending follow-up messages, and requesting for reviews after a patient receives services. While the follow-up calls are not mandatory, they play a significant role in creating a better relationship with your patients. For example, your client will appreciate the value you attach to their opinion and suggestions for improved services.
During the follow up calls, the answering agents observe high standards of professionalism to avoid creating a sales-pitch scenario. Hence, the questions will often be brief and backed by an objective to improve services.
Moreover, the live receptionist can also follow up on missed details that you intend to use later, including the patient’s insurance number and service provider. This way, your clinic receptionist does not have to make numerous calls recurrently to seek the essential details. Instead, he/she can proceed with registering new patients to your records and tracking the patient’s appointments through the cloud system.
Final Thoughts
To conclude, incorporating answering services in your dental clinic is a good way to access better communication experiences. The improved services lead to business growth and the maintenance of strong relationships with your patients. Your employees will also appreciate the simplified work environment and feel more motivated to provide your patients with quality services.
