I am often asked how do you give excellent customer service on the phone. The answer is very easily.

The best customer service is when a call becomes an appointment.

You just need to have the right type of attitude and language to use with patients.

The biggest obstacle I see with Dental Teams is that they don’t have the right attitude.

I am not saying that the Dental Teams I work with have a bad attitude, most of them are amazing, but they just don’t have the right mindset.

Often Dental Teams gets caught up the daily grind of the practice and focus on the negative aspects of their job and some of the more difficult calls they have during the day. This then eats into their psyche and affects how they respond to people on the phone and face to face at the practice.

You can easily lose sight of this. The purpose of each call coming into your dental office is to make an appointment.

I do get this but with some practice, determination and focus you can step into the right mindset.

Every person who calls your dental office deserves the very best of you. The caller has a dental problem or concern they need you to help them with.

The best way to help a caller is to make them an appointment.

Here are some easy steps to follow if you want to offer 6 star customer service on the phone:

  • Have a friendly consistent phone greeting that represents your dental practice
  • Smile and nod
  • Keep you tone upbeat and adjust it where necessary. You don’t want to appear happy when the caller is in pain and upset.
  • Don’t dive straight into answering the caller’s first question. This will end the call as quick as it started if the caller does not like your answer.
  • Ask questions so the caller is doing most of the talking.
  • Stay in control of the call
  • Listen and acknowledge what the caller is saying. The caller will feel important.
  • Be agreeable. You don’t have to agree with what the caller is saying to be agreeable. This is the number one reason why callers start to get annoyed on the phone.
  • Don’t keep a caller on hold for long. Offer to call back where necessary and give a time frame and stick to it.
  • Offer a solution to their dental issue by making them an appointment.
  • Ask the caller if there is anything else they are concerned about so you can let the dentist know before their appointment.

See I told you it was easy but guess what?

Dental Offices are not following these easy steps.

This is all that is needed to offer amazing customer service on the phone.

Start doing this today and you will soon see the difference. You will be more confident on the phone, more callers will make appointments and your day will be so much more enjoyable.

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Jayne Bandy is a certified CX Experience coach.
Jayne works with her husband Dr. David Moffet 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 Jayne and David can help your business