The phrase:
“Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?”
is often used as a term of derision to describe an organisation where different members or departments are pursuing opposing or contradictory goals.
With dire consequences.
Recently in an Instagram video post, Howard Farran described how a receptionist at a vein clinic near his office had been telling people who phoned that office that the Doctor doesn’t do varicose veins.
When asked by the doctor’s wife why she was saying this, when in fact the doctor did do them, the receptionist answered:
“Oh, I thought doctor only did spider veins here.”
Howard also mentioned that at his office the receptionist was telling callers for six months that the practice did not do Invisalign treatment.
When asked why she was turning these enquiries away, the receptionist said:
“Oh, I thought we only did clear aligners here, not Invisalign.”
In both these cases…
In both these cases, the receptionists had no idea exactly what their doctor did and did not do as treatments.
Who knows how many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of treatment had been turned away because both of these office’s team education processes were not informing and keeping key workers up to date with everything that was going on in those office.
Another dental office that I know…
At another dental practice that I know, the owner is a very well-respected dental sleep practitioner, but he is having difficulty getting his associate dentists to identify, diagnose, present and refer patients from within the practice to him.
In fact, in my own practice, I used to wonder why my associates would tell a patient:
“You grind your teeth. You need a splint. Here’s a splint.”
I would diagnose and treatment plan a more comprehensive treatment for my patients because I would help the patient let me know the aetiology of their “grinding”, and because of this, the treatment plan I presented to them most often would address and relieve symptoms that that they experiencing that they were unaware was related to their “grinding”.
The results and improvements for these patients from the treatment that I proposed and completed for them were dramatically life changing.
Much better than issuing them with a band-aid treatment, or worse still, better than doing nothing.
In retail…
Imagine walking into a retail store, and being told that the store is out of stock of the item you are seeking to purchase, only to find out later on that the employee you spoke to had no idea whatsoever as to whether that item you were after was carried by the store, where the store had that item on display, and how many of that product were actually in stock.
As a customer you’d be upset.
As the business owner, you’d also be upset with your employee, because your store had missed out on making a sale.
Yet in dentistry…
Yet in dentistry, unless your dental practice is recording incoming phone calls and employing a professional person to review these recordings and listen to what’s being asked for, and what’s being said as answers on those phone calls, you’ve got NO IDEA WHATSOEVER how many callers and patients are not getting their problems solved and are not scheduling an appointment when they phone your practice.
When we listen to recordings from dental practices we work with, we always hear people who call the office being turned away from making appointments that they want [and need] to make because the reception staff are either undertrained, or careless, or apathetic.
These missed opportunities on the dental practice phones are costing these dental offices tens of thousands of dollars every week.
And they are indicative of what is happening on all dental practice phones.
And they don’t need to be happening.
At some dental practices…
At some dental practices we work with, the staff answering the phones don’t even know what’s on the practice website in terms of treatment modalities, specials and team members’ bios…
At your dental practice, is everybody there on the same page when it comes to knowing what’s going on at the practice, as well as who you can help., and what treatments your doctors do?
Because when your team knows this information INHERENTLY, the results for your practice, and for your patients, are indeed truly amazing…
When your reception team are not on top of what is going on at your practice there will always be losers.
Your practice will lose out on the opportunity of treating those patients who need the treatment.
Your callers and patients will lose because they will go elsewhere, and will miss out on being treated by the great doctors that work at your practice.
And your team members will miss out on being the heroes in this whole process who helped solve the problems of those people who called your practice looking for a solution…
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Dr. David Moffet BDS FPFA CSP is a certified CX Experience coach. David works with his wife Jayne Bandy to help SME businesses improve their Customer Service Systems to create memorable World Class experiences for their valued clients and customers. Click here to find out how David and Jayne can help your business