Phone Conversations: Why it's Important to pick up the phone
- Updated:
- August 2022
- Topic:
- Practice Management
Phone Conversations: Why it's Important to pick up the phone
How many times have you NOT scheduled an appointment with a healthcare professional based on your initial experience on the phone or your inability to reach someone by phone?
Being a highly skilled dentist is not enough to maintain a thriving practice. Your team must reflect your skills in all of their interactions with your patients, especially their phone conversations.
New Patient Phone Call vs. Text/Email
Using current technology for patient communication may be efficient and practical, but first impressions with your new patients require a phone conversation. Here’s why:
According to Albert Mehrabian, body language researcher, communication is 55% nonverbal, 38% vocal, and 7% words only.¹ Are you willing to allow crucial conversations with your new patients to be 7% effective?
One of the main problems with text and email is tone. It is impossible to accurately interpret tone via text. You may have a patient who is apprehensive about dentistry or a patient who is concerned about their dental health, but you will not be able to get this vital information if you don’t hear their voices. Also, you may have the kindest, most intelligent and helpful office manager, but this won’t be conveyed via text.
Your new patients are interviewing your office through their conversations with your front office team. Alternately, your front office team is interviewing your new patients through that crucial new patient phone call. This call is necessary to establish a relationship. Patients are much more likely to schedule an initial appointment if they have a pleasant and informative conversation with your team.
Recare Phone Calls
There are many electronic communication options available for scheduling recare appointments and these work for many of your compliant patients. The patients who come every 3 to 6 months for their dental hygiene visits will usually make their appointments when they are in your office or contact you to make an appointment when they receive a reminder.
Then, there are the non-compliant patients. These patients may require a little coaxing and some reminders of the benefits of maintaining their oral hygiene. They might have dental anxiety that can be alleviated by mention of your new amazing (and gentle) hygienist. They may also have financial concerns and not know about your new discount plan with incentives for patients who keep up with their recare. None of these issues will be texted or emailed, but they just might come up on a great recare phone conversation.
Financial Conversations by Phone
Money is a touchy subject for many of your patients. And since we know text is only 7% effective and that tone can not be read through a text, most financial information must be discussed either in person or over the phone.
Remember, along with your amazing dental skills, excellent phone communication will ensure your patients keep coming back.
¹https://online.utpb.edu/about-us/articles/communication/how-much-of-communication-is-nonverbal/
