Last Sunday I walked 35 kilometres in a charity fundraiser walk.
It was an interesting day.
I’m a fairly brisk walker at the best of times. On a weekday at home I’ll begin my day with a 10 kilometre walk each day just to get myself grounded and settled for the day.
When I walk at home I always listen to music for the ninety minutes or so, as opposed to listening to audio books or podcasts, simply because the cadence and rhythm of the music gives me a good tempo to walk to.
Now, because this fundraiser walk was a long walk, I thought I might break from tradition and listen to a book that I recently downloaded, but that did not work for me. I lasted one or two sentences before I switched back to listening to my music library.
The participants on this walk last Sunday were predominantly female for some reason. I’m not sure why that was, but I calculated that on this walk, and there were thousands, the women outnumbered the men by between ten and twenty to one.
The interesting thing about this walk was that during the five and three quarter hours that this walk took me, I only was passed by two runners during that time. [obviously I may have been passed by walkers while I was taking a necessary pit stop, but while I was in motion, no walker overtook me].
The reason I point this out is this:
Often during the walk when I passed by walkers in conversation I would switch off my music in case they wished, or I wished, to engage in a conversation.
Because of these “breaks of silence”, I was able to eavesdrop on a number of these walkers’ conversations, or monologs as I passed by.
Here’s what I overheard, predominantly:
Predominantly, the subjects of conversation were almost always about people with problems.
Most of the conversations seemed to be discussing a third party [not present] and that third party’s problems, and those problems revolved around health issues, workplace issues, and relationship breakdowns.
It seemed that every conversation I was privy to eavesdropping in on was about someone with a problem, and yet NEVER did I hear one person discussing a solution to those problems.
And never did I hear any person discussing someone’s good health, someone’s good job, or someone’s wonderful marriage or relationship.
Is that how the world really is?
Is that how the world really is?
Or is nobody really interested in discussing happy stories?
Are happy stories worth talking about?
Are happy stories worth talking about?
We know that happy stories don’t sell gossip magazines….
Nobody wants to read about how wonderful the marriage of Frederick and Mary really is, when they can always read about how Harry and William aren’t speaking to each other?
Happy stories can be your point of difference
Many years ago when I was at University I used to work in a newsagency. There was a lady customer who used to come in regularly and was always such a “ball of energy, happiness, and enthusiasm” each and every time that she visited, that it prompted the owner of the newsagency to say about her once, [and I think this pre-dated the movie WHEN HARRY MET SALLY]….
“Whatever she’s on, I’ll have some of that…”
This lady was always so upbeat that it became her “signature”, or her VISIBLE point of difference.
The thing is, that in this ever-increasing world of negativity out there, we each have the CHOICE to be either negative, like everybody else, or be positive, and POSITIVELY DIFFERENT, to what everybody else is doing.
And when we make that choice, to behave like that lady customer at the newsagency, we have the immediate ability to be able to stand out from the crowd, because everybody else is just wallowing in that world of negativity.
The choice to be different is available.
Which choice are you going to choose to take for yourself?
Will you by blend in to that world of negativity?
Or will you by choice be a positive ray of hope to the people with whom you meet?
*****
Need your phones monitored?
Are you concerned about the number of calls that are not being answered as best they can be?
You need Call Tracking Excellence.
For the cost of a less than one cleaning per week, you could have your phones being answered much much better….
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
A while back we were hired by a group practice of ophthalmic surgeons to FIX THEIR PHONES.
As we do.
I mean, as we do, to fix phones.
The doctors of this practice were concerned that the front office staff were spending too much time on the phones on each and every phone call, and the practice was receiving a significantly large number of phone calls.
When we listened to the phone calls at this practice we found that a large amount of incoming phone calls were being made by patients who had seen one of the doctors but were being left with uncertainty about their next steps required, or were waiting on the doctor to send a written report to their next scheduled [away] procedure.
In reality, a medical or dental practice phone should only be called by new patients making new patient appointments.
Everything else that is clogging the phones and the reception is being caused by confusion and lack of clarity that the practice is creating for existing patients.
In reality, existing patients of the practice should be leaving their scheduled appointments with clarity and with a next appointment already being made for them.
All patients visiting a medical or dental practice only want one thing… they want a clear list of NEXT STEPS to take to move towards the completion of their treatment, and a cure for their ailment.
CLEAR. NEXT. STEP.
A clear next step is all that the patient wants.
All that the patient wants to know is what do I need to do next.
This clarity needs to come from the doctor or the dentist.
When the doctor or dentist lead, the team will follow and the patients will follow.
Without that directional leadership, the patients get confused and the team are left like a shag on a rock….
Patients do not have medical and dental degrees.
Most patients just want to know what they need to do to solve their problem.
And then they do that.
There is really very little reason to be giving patients options for their treatment… they do not have medical and dental degrees needed to make educated decisions.
Most patients are not educated enough to make an educated decision.
The better the leadership and the directional leadership of a practice [towards its patients] the better the practice will be at solving its patients issues.
Weak leadership and weak directions from the top of a practice result in more existing patients clogging up the phones and preventing reception staff from being able to schedule those new patient phone enquiries into valued and kept appointments.
Good reception staff will always have a “need to please”.
They will always be wanting to please their patients and they will always be wanting to please their employers. And as such, these employees will struggle on within an environment of poor leadership.
As a practicing doctor or dentist, you must give your patients clarity regarding their next steps.
Not confusion.
*****
Need your phones monitored?
Are you concerned about the number of calls that are not being answered as best they can be?
You need Call Tracking Excellence.
For the cost of a less than one cleaning per week, you could have your phones being answered much much better….
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
One of the reasons patients leave a dental practice without an appointment is because of confusion and lack of clarity provided to that patient about what their next step is on their road to dental health.
When the next set of directions given by the dentist at the end of each appointment are unclear, vague, and wishy-washy, then the patient will not make a committed decision to complete their ongoing treatment.
If the instructions are vague, then patients will believe that their treatment is non-urgent, and so they will not commit to a time frame of getting that necessary treatment attended to.
Before the condition gets worse.
Which it will.
If we delay treating decay the decay spreads.
If we delay treating periodontal issues, then those issues will get bigger.
Dental conditions do not disappear magically by themselves.
As such, at the completion of every visit, the dentist must let the patient know what they will be coming back for next time, when that appointment needs to be, and what will happen if this treatment is delayed at all.
It is the dentist who must tell the patient these three things at the conclusion of every appointment.
It is the dentist’s role and duty to tell each patient.
These three things MUST BE said by the dentist. The patient will not consider their validity if they do not first hear these three things told to them by the dentist.
When a patient hears and understands these three key things each and every time they attend your dental practice, you will find an increased level of necessary urgency [for that dental treatment] will be created.
These three things are the centrepiece that your team need to be focused on receiving, to ensure that all patients will be returning to complete that treatment…
*****
Need your phones monitored?
Are you concerned about the number of calls that are not being answered as best they can be?
You need Call Tracking Excellence.
For the cost of a less than one cleaning per week, you could have your phones being answered much much better….
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
Your business will never achieve TRUE GREATNESS if it is always “winging it”.
Making stuff up as you go along, or flying by the seat of your pants may occasionally work for you, but for consistent high performance in your business you need to have easily learnable and easily doable processes and systems that your business follows.
Jayne and I have been housesitting recently while we’ve been having some renovations completed at our own home.
In one town, the home that we’ve been looking after is conveniently located near a nice Public House and also a great pizza restaurant, so once a week, Jayne and I will go out for a couple of adult beverages at the Public House, and then phone ahead to the pizza place and order a couple of pizzas to pick up and take home.
What we’ve noticed is that the time taken to make the pizza is longer than the time taken to drink the second beverage, so last weekend, with it being a long weekend and all, we thought we’d phone early so that we could time our pizza collection better.
And I’m so glad I did phone early. In fact I phoned as we had just sat down with our first beverages, and the lady at the pizza place told me that the pick-up time for the pizzas was 80 minutes [which was longer than in previous weeks].
Because they could only fit a certain number of pizzas in their pizza oven at one time, and because the pizzas took a certain amount of time to cook, the timing of their delivery of hot cooked finished pizzas for pick up and for their restaurant was limited.
As such, they just couldn’t simply take orders and then disappoint customers with delays and late delivery times.
What impressed me about this pizza restaurant was that each and every time we had phoned and ordered pizzas, the pizzas were always ready at the time that they said they would be ready.
It was easily apparent to me that the pizza restaurant knew its capabilities and limitations based on the size and capacity of their pizza oven, and they had systematised their cooking and delivery processes so that dine in and pick up customers alike knew exactly when their piping-hot pizzas would be ready.
In your business…
In your business, do you have systems in place that allow you to deliver your best products and services in an orderly manner that has your customers saying:
“WOW! These guys really know what they’re doing.”
Or is the delivery of your product or service done so in a very haphazard and unorganised manner, where customers and clients are kept waiting, and no respect is shown for their time, and for their patronage.
A business with great systems respects its customers.
And respects its team members.
Businesses with great systems are a pleasure to do business with and are a great place to work.
How great are the systems where you are working?
Are they truly world class? And great?
What could you be doing to improve your systems?
What are you doing to improve your systems?
Does your business even have good systems?
And if not, then why not?
*****
Need your phones monitored?
Are you concerned about the number of calls that are not being answered as best they can be?
You need Call Tracking Excellence.
For the cost of a less than one cleaning per week, you could have your phones being answered much much better….
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
We listen to a lot of phone calls coming in to dental practices.
A lot.
A truckload.
These are not *mystery shopper* calls where someone is pretending to be a caller, but is trying to TRICK the receptionist.
We actually listen to recordings of real members of the public, both new patient enquiries and existing patients, phoning in to dental practices.
We hear both the caller and the dental receptionist interacting.
We hear what the caller is saying and asking. And we hear what the receptionist is saying and asking.
We are not doing a *walk past the dental front desk and overhear part of one side of a two person conversation*.
We are hearing, and listening to, and analysing the whole enchilada.
And not just one enchilada.
We are hearing tens and hundreds of phone conversations day in and day out and week in and week out from the same employees and the same practices….
So we get to know who at each dental practice needs assistance with different parts of and varying types of dental office phone calls.
And what we hear and what we do is not something that is easily and immediately fixable with a one hour webinar….
Sometimes some of the most experienced dental receptionists are making some of the most elementary mistakes, and are unaware that what they are saying could actually be said in a different way to achieve a better result, if only someone in the practice had the time to spend listening to their calls, analysing their calls and habits, coaching them through their adjustments, reviewing their progress, and encouraging their improvement with regular accountability.
Rather than just simply being offered *walk by* advice from someone in the office who more often than not doesn’t even answer the practice phones?
The biggest mistake…
The biggest mistake I hear when I listen to recordings of dental office phone calls is that the receptionist does not find out who the caller is [their name], before they start looking for an appointment for the caller, or before they tell the caller that their doctor is so wonderful that he is booked out for three months solid.
They don’t find out if the caller is a patient of the practice, or whether the caller has been in recently, has spent a lot of money at the practice, or has had a recent “difficult” procedure at the practice.
The receptionist just goes looking in their appointment schedule for a blank slot to fill. This receptionist is not really a receptionist at all. She is a SLOT FILLER.
The second biggest mistake…
The second biggest mistake I hear is when a caller asks if the practice is taking new patients and the receptionist immediately becomes a DATA COLLECTOR, collecting date of birth, address, phone number, name, and health insurance, without finding out what the caller is looking to have done at the dental office and whether or not the caller is in any discomfort or pain.
The data collection always begins immediately after the dental receptionist has located the slot they are going to fill.
Find out who you are talking to…
If you answer your dental office phone, find out firstly who you are talking to [their name] and if they are an existing patient of the practice, bring up their chart and their history to see how long they have been coming to the practice, what they have recently had done, and how much money they may have spent on their oral health over the years.
Failing to do this each and every time that the phone rings before going in to SLOT FILLER mode is downright rude.
So many times I listen to dental office phone calls and the caller is treated like a total stranger.
Every caller to our dental office is a real person with a dental concern or problem that they are looking to us to solve for them.
Each call to a dental office is an opportunity to help someone.
Sadly, I often listen to phone call recordings where I feel that the call has been an interruption for the person answering.
Finding out exactly who we are talking to before we begin to listen to their enquiry, along with trying to solve their problem is not only common courtesy, it’s also plain old common sense.
*****
Need your phones monitored?
Are you concerned about the number of calls that are not being answered as best they can be?
You need Call Tracking Excellence.
For the cost of a less than one cleaning per week, you could have your phones being answered much much better….
The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
