(Note: We always try to listen to feedback and requests from our referring doctors and were recently asked if we could provide some phone tips for the front desk. The piece below is part one of two in response to this request. If you have any other topics or areas of interests we can address in our weekly emails, please let us know! We would love to help in any way possible!) Although technology seems to be rapidly changing things around us, some things have simply stayed the same. An example would be your practice's dependence on the telephone. Sure, some practices have the capability of online appointment booking, but the vast majority of new patient bookings and follow-up confirmations still take place via the phone. (And the older your patient-base is, the more reliant your business is on the phone!) Take a look at your typical practice sales funnel (See below). Every step in which a phone interaction with your staff may be required is highlighted in yellow.
Phone calls will not only account for the bulk of your patients getting in the door, but they will also play a key role in patient retention while simultaneously facilitating referrals. So here's the question: Are you taking the systems and processes at your front desk serious enough? It's likely that the health and profitability of your practice depends on it. When most doctors think about their phone system, they think about etiquette and what their front desk person should say. While this is important, we want to take a few minutes to dive into the process as a whole. Everything starts with your front desk team staying ready... Always Stay Ready In some ways, working the front desk at an optometric practice is like being a football coach. Every day is a new game with new opponents and your team should do their research. Oftentimes, a potential new patient will call to book an appointment and the receptionist will have to scroll the calendar to see what is open or will be distracted by something else in the office. This simply can't happen! The following things should be the norm at your front desk:
Once the priorities are set at the front desk, the next thing your team needs to understand is the hierarchy of calls. The Incoming Call Hierarchy First things first: The phone must be answered every time it rings and as quickly as possible. Why? Because it could be a new patient! Your front desk team also needs to understand that time is of the essence when they are working the phones. Who they talk to on the phone and how long they talk to them is either adding or taking away dollars from your practice. There are three categories of phone calls for your practice and your team's focus needs to be on the first tier. Important
Notice that for calls that don't involve patients, the primary goal is to get the needed information (if any) and get off the call. Ranking the types of calls your practice receives and making sure the appropriate calls are receiving the right amount of attention is important. It should always be patients first, everyone else last. But once you know whose call is most important, how do you identify who is on the line? We are glad you asked! Conclusion Part one of this two-part series on working the front desk is all about preparation. To be successful in this position, our teams must be in a constant state of readiness and cosnciously aware of what is going on in the practice. Next week, we will take a look at what should happen once the patient is actually on the other end of the phone. Our primary focus will be on identifying what type of caller is on the line and good etiquette. If you have any questions or comments on part one of this series, please let us know! We would love to hear from you!
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AuthorThe staff and doctors at VisionAmerica are committed to providing relevant information for you, your patients and your practice. We hope you find the information in our blog post helpful. Archives
August 2019
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