Your call is important. Please hold!

July 30, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed

Time to put some sparks in the blog this week and take it from the realm of tax related issues to a practice management topic.

Recently the Madow Brothers e-Letter, which is always informative and entertaining, dealt with the topic of answering the phone or lack thereof when an existing or new patient calls your dental office.  This e-letter really caught my attention and I want to pass along this important information.

Dave and Rich found that even in the middle of a normal workday, many offices did not answer the phone, instead having an answering machine with a message that said some variation of:

“If you have reached the office during normal business hours, we are either on the other line or busy helping another patient. Please leave a message blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda…..”   Or “We are now at lunch” and the ever frustrating prompt game:  “Push one for Susie; push two for Angie in billing…”

Don’t do this!!!!  If someone calls your dental office and you are too busy for them what message does that send?  What about that potential new patient who can’t get to speak to a human voice? You don’t think they’ll get tired of being on hold for upwards of three to four minutes and call the competition down the street?   How important is that call if your office staff cannot even answer it?

“The point is – when your patients need you, you need to be there for them, especially during normal business hours – and that includes on the telephone. Yes, your office should be busy, but never too busy for the most important people in the world: your patients!”

Take a hard look at your phone answering procedures and see if you can improve on them if you are making some of these common mistakes.

Questions for Larry the Accountodontist?

larry.goldberg@glassjacobson.com