As a business owner, you have to know certain numbers. You need to know how many new patients you get a month, how much return you’re getting on your marketing budget, how much revenue you make, how many inactive patients you have, and more.
But sometimes quantifying the true value of a service can be tricky. For instance, when measuring the value of a dental answering service, you need to consider more than the cost—you must also think about the priceless intangible benefits! Here are just a few ways that it can help your practice.
Building Trust and Loyalty
Regardless of the industry, every company benefits from establishing a trusting relationship with customers. Especially dental practices depend on loyal patients that continually come year after year. Otherwise, dentists can spend between $700 and $1,250 acquiring each new patient.
But putting an answering machine barrier between you and your patient is a surefire way to drive them away. It limits your patient’s direct access to you, which is a problem particularly in a dental emergency or when scheduling an appointment or asking a simple question.
In other words, an answering machine can make you seem unreliable or difficult to work with. In contrast, having a helpful human on the other end of the line lets your caller know you’re there for them, especially when they need you most. With loyalty, they are more likely to continue coming and perhaps refer friends and family, bringing you even more revenue.
Keeping Patients Happy
Is there anything more irritating than talking to or responding to an automated message? There’s only so many times a patient can say, “representative” or press buttons into the phone before they give up and move on to the next dental practice.
On the other hand, having a real person answer the phone and immediately address the caller’s needs shows that you value their time, which makes them happy and more excited to come in person. And a satisfied customer is a returning customer!
Using Your In-Office Staff’s Time Wisely
Imagine entering an office and needing to check in, only to see the person at the front desk too busy on the phone to take care of you. That’s exactly what happens to your patients if your front desk answers phone calls. It can give the impression that your team has more important things to do, potentially offending and pushing away your patients.
Having someone else answer the phone frees your front desk team to welcome and check in patients without delay. Then, at the end of the appointment, your patients can check out quickly and be on their way. Plus, there are probably plenty of in-office projects your team could focus on in between if they don’t have to worry about answering phone calls.
Knowing your numbers is an important part of making business work, but you can’t forget the impact that immeasurable quality can have on your bottom line. By taking advantage of answering services with real people, you can build a successful business and patient base.
About Dental Support Specialties
Dental Support Specialties has been in business since 2008 and has served dental practices throughout the country. In addition to general practices, we work with periodontal as well as oral surgery practices. Not only do we have real professionals answer the phone, but we also can work within your software programs, which means we can put appointments into your schedule. To learn more about working with us, contact our team for a consultation.