As a dental administrative service company, we at Dental Support Specialties pride ourselves on our expertise and knowledge in the field. We are experienced with inner workings of dental insurance and chart auditing, as well as many other functions that help make practices successful. At first, you might think that our top priority would be efficiency, but one of our primary concerns is the relationship between your team and your patients. Why is this important? How do we help in this area? Read on to find out!
Why Relationships Matter
At minimum to be a dentist, you need to have the technical and clinical skills to practice. However, if you want to be a successful dentist, you must also build a loyal patient base. With every interaction, you and your team need to make patients feel welcome, comfortable, and appreciated. Even incoming phone calls are essential opportunities for building a trusting relationship that keeps patients coming back.
How We Improve Relationships
Even if your front desk team does an excellent job of handling incoming phone calls while they’re in the office, what do you do when they go on vacation or are out sick? How can you strengthen your relationship with patients who aren’t coming in? Fortunately, that’s where we can help you!
Providing a Real Person to Talk to
When your front desk team goes to lunch or takes a sick day off, you may think nothing of turning the answering machine on. However, if you’ve ever tried calling customer service or technical support, you quickly realize nothing feels more impersonal than interacting with a machine. If your patients need to negotiate leaving a message and wait for a return phone call, they can feel neglected or unappreciated.
Some dental answering services may provide a worker to answer the phone, but they can’t actually schedule an appointment or respond to questions. This can also be frustrating for your patients. When your patients call, we’ll be there to answer, address their concerns, and schedule an appointment right away. They don’t have to leave a message and hang up dissatisfied. As a result, your patients feel they can trust that your practice is available to help them when they need you.
Reaching Inactive Patients
Do you know how many inactive patients you have? Has it been a while since you’ve talked to your inactive patients? It’s not feasible for you to personally contact each patient you’ve ever served, but you’d be surprised how much people appreciate a kind gesture and a friendly reminder. Acknowledging that your practice has missed them and inviting them to return are great ways to show them you care. It also serves as a reminder for them to return to your office, whether it’s to complete their treatment or to resume regular hygiene appointments. At Dental Support Specialties, we can take chart auditing on so that your in-office team can continue working on other necessary projects.
At the end of the day, your patients want to know they can trust your practice to meet their needs. Your relationships with them needs to be strong so that they come back for all their future dental work, and Dental Support Specialties is dedicated to helping you build those relationships.
About Dental Support Specialties
Although Dental Support Specialties has been around for 13 years, many of our support specialists and other team members have decades of administrative experience. We offer answering services, dental scheduling support, and insurance billing services. If you have questions about how Dental Support Specialties can help your practice grow, you can contact us through our website.