As you know one of the things that I do to find clients is I phone dental practices and I talk to the owners.
To me it makes far more sense to be pro-active contacting dentists directly and asking them how their business is going, rather than spending loads of money on ads on Social Media and on print, hoping that my written message in the advertisement just happens to hit the mark on someone who might just happen to be reading that advert at that moment in time.
The thing about phoning the dentist at their practice is that I can choose the people I phone, or the practices that I phone.
I usually call practices every 4-6 months, and these calls are far enough apart that the following things can have happened at those practices during those times:
- One or more key staff may have left or gone on maternity leave
- One or more producers at the practice may have left or retired from working at the practice.
- 4-6 interest rate rises may have been handed down to the economy by the RBA, forcing monetary restraints for the public and pressures for customers and for practices.
- A war may have broken out in the Middle East or in Europe
- The owner may have suffered a medical episode that affects their ability to practice
What I do hear and see when I phone practices at this interval is this:
- About half of the practices have a different person answering their phones compared to the time that I called previously
- More and more practices are sending phone calls to a voice message service during the middle of the day, rather than having a real live person able to answer the incoming call.
- When my call goes to voice message I never leave a message. When this happens, my number is called back less than fifty percent of the time.
To me….
To me, when I phone a dental practice, it’s the opportunity to make a friend.
And a lot of dental receptionists who answer the phone are very friendly, and sound happy, and are keen to help.
When I call, I’m very mindful that the dentist is in with a patient, and is often geared up wearing gloves, masks, and loupes. So I always ask if I can leave a message when they are with a patient.
When I speak with a dentist, a lot of them are grateful for the contact, and the thought.
I can smell B.S.
Sometimes when I call I get told that the dentist is free, and then the receptionist comes back to the phone and tells me something like:
“I’m sorry, he’s just taken a patient in…”
Or
“I’m sorry he’s on a phone call…”
Sometimes I hear the dentist say in the background [within earshot] some BS reason why they can’t come to the phone…
Sometimes the receptionist returns to the phone and revels with delight in telling me not to call their practice again, or that their dentist is not interested.
Not interested in what?
I haven’t even told them what I’m phoning about…
Does Nostradamus work there?
And it always makes me wonder, if the dentist can’t come to the phone and tell me this themselves, there’s probably a lot of other inadequacies they do have, that they need to deal with…. But I’m OK with that…
The worst one is this:
The worst one is when the receptionist actually enjoys the opportunity of being rude to me…. like a power-play thing.
Because there’s no reason for rudeness at all.
All I know is that if that’s the case, the next time I call that practice in 4-6 month’s time, based on my research there’s a 50% chance that the rude receptionist will not be answering the phone. And there’s a 100% chance that whatever problems were happening at that practice before are still going on there….
There’s really no reason at all to be rude to anyone calling your practice on the phone.
Ever.
No matter how powerful it makes you feel, even for a few seconds.
It just makes you look like a bully… a faceless bully.
Years ago….
Years ago I ran a live event, with dental speakers presenting from the stage.
Because we were videoing the speakers, every attendee was asked to sign a disclaimer saying they were OK with the fact that we were videoing, and that their image may appear in a crowd shot… usual stuff.
At the end of the day, attendees were also asked to leave feedback and comment forms for the speakers, which they could sign or leave anonymous.
A small number of the attendees left anonymous comments relating to one of the speakers that were nasty.
The funny thing was, that the handwriting on the anonymous feedback was easy to match up with the handwriting on the video release forms… which had the attendees’ name and practice written on them.
There’s really no reward for being nasty…
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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