Statistics show that dental facilities miss about 25 to 32% of all calls. This could be due to a range of factors, including the dentist not being in the office, attending to other clients, not having their phones, are out of network coverage, or their phone is off.
Customer care and support is an essential part in the growth of any business, and dental facilities are no exception. It’s therefore essential for practices to have measures in place to ensure that clients are always happy with the services being rendered.
It’s vital for medical facilities and dental offices to provide an easy way for customers to contact them when need rises – especially after work hours. Dental emergencies happen, and when they do, they need immediate professional attention. However, going by statistics, about 25 to 32% of calls go unanswered – and while this might not be the intention of a facility, the sad reality is that it sends wrong signals to the patients, and might mean losing them to the competitor.
One great way to address this is by outsourcing these solutions to a specialized doctor answering service; the keyword is specialized. Working with professionals who have industry knowledge is not important, it is a necessity, and it should be amongst your top priorities while selecting a call answering company.
Here are some reasons why you need a specialized dental phone answering service for your office:
Specialized training
Firms that offer doctor answering services often work with receptionists who have a background in dentistry. What this means is that in addition to them “speaking” dental, they know what’s important for your practice as well as how dental practices operate. But most importantly, these professionals will take the time to learn and understand the specific needs of your facility so they can provide highly specialized services. The professionals will know everything, including your specialties, types of patients, ongoing promotions, etc., just like your in-house staff so that they can enhance the caller’s experience.
High-end services
In addition to hiring a team with a dentistry background, specialized call answering companies will train their employees to offer excellent customer service. Whenever a patient calls in, they will get nothing short of friendly services that are informative and fast. These companies provide an experience that will make patients eager to visit your office.
Directly linked to your practice
Top doctor answering services take it a notch higher to further enhance your experience. They won’t just send you a list of appointments; instead, they will integrate their system with your scheduling software, so that even if you are not in the office, you’ll come back to find a list of new bookings incorporated into your original schedule list. This cuts out any confusion as well as the extra job trying to merge the records of your old and new lists.
No distractions
Your office secretaries and receptionists have a range of duties other than phone answering. They are organizing your schedule, greeting patients, keeping track of patient records and following up with insurance claims. While these roles are critical for your practice, they end up taking time away from call answering. Specialized call answering company will fill this gap as they entirely focus on picking up the phone.