Jameson Management

If you provide impeccable dental care, why does customer service matter so much? Jameson Management says patients need more in a dental experience than just great care.

Dental practice owners can’t deny they are small-business owners, and with that comes competition. If you want to be the dentist of choice in your community or target audience, you must step up and make customer service a primary focus.

Here, Jameson Management tells you easy ways you can improve your customer service. Watch the video tip now:

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Easy ways to improve customer service skills [VIDEO]

Let's say you've decided recently to offer a new service to your patients. Maybe you are offering 

 that you are excited about; however, your patients don’t even know you have this slick new CAD/CAM unit.

You put it on your website. You mentioned CAD/CAM technology to a few of your patients and you have it placed prominently in the hallway so that your patients have to see it on the way to the Operatory Room. So why is it not taking off like you had hope?

In order for patients to fully be aware of your new offering, they have to hear, see, or experience it a minimum of five to seven times. And they need to know the benefit of it to them.

So what is the benefit of CAD/CAM? Same day dentistry. One visit crowns. Time is money to your patients. And the fewer amount of time that they have to spend away from work, family, or life in general is a huge win. Make sure they understand this by employing a full marketing campaign to educate your patients on the benefits of CAD/CAM.

 Secondly, make sure the team writes their own verbal skills on how to mention this new technology to ALL your patients. Let the team say in their own words how it is beneficial.  Practice what you are going to say with each other until it becomes comfortable. Then share the message with your patients! You may even want to show off the equipment – especially CAD/CAM.  It’s pretty slick.

 Update your website with the new technology. Place an easy to see hot spot on your home page directing the patient to more information about it. Remember to use your laymen’s term definition that focuses on patient information. Not technical and clinical information interesting only to use dental folks.

 Send an email to your patients announcing the new benefit and service  to your patients. Be sure to include a link back to your website.

 Post information and possibly patient testimonials about it on your social media sites. If you are adventurous, film a .90-second or less video on it.

 Create a hand out to give to your patients while they are in the office.

 Send a letter or postcard to your patients announcing the new service.

 Include information on the service in your practice newsletter.

 And finally, have signage throughout the office describing the benefits of the new  service or product.

Many companies already have pre-made marketing materials that you can use to help supplement your marketing plan.  Check with you sales rep and utilize all the materials that they have. They are a great resource as several of these companies are already marketing directly to patients. Their pieces are professional and effective. And they allow you to ride the coat tails of a larger marketing strategy.

The more your make your patients aware of the new service and how it improves their dental experience – the more quickly you will realize your investment.

Let's say you've decided recently to offer a new service to your patients. Maybe you are offering E4D CAD/CAM technology that you are excited about; however, your patients don’t even know you have this slick new CAD/CAM unit.

9 steps to effectively advertise new services for a higher profit [VIDEO]

You may have been reluctant to enter the social media world because you’re worried someone may post something negative about you. Or maybe there is that one bad review on a website that you cringe at the thought of. 

It is out there on the web haunting you like a bad dream. So, what do you do? Or should I say, what can you do to mitigate the impact it is having on your practice and your psyche?

Fortunately for you, it is most likely only damaging your psyche; however, your mental well being is important and protecting your image even more important. 

So, let’s say Jane has left a scathing comment on the web about you. Your best bet is to follow these steps:

First, determine if you should delete the post, keep it, or report it to the third party software where it is placed. 

If this post is real (meaning it was posted by an actual patient), and it does not contain offensive language then keep the comment live. Deleting that review or post will only add fuel to the fire and cause her to spread more negative comments about you in places that you cannot see. 

If the post is offensive, vulgar, threatening, or spewing hatred at a specific team member, then either delete it or contact the website administrator to make a case for taking it down. The same is true with a false patient review; however, the latter is harder to pull down because you must prove the person is not a patient. 

Now that you have determined to keep the post live, you should comment on the post.  Take a neutral stance, neither defending your position nor conceding to theirs. Instead, let the patient know that you regret that she had a bad experience and that you would like permission to contact her to discuss her concerns in person. This will make you seem real, genuine, and a person who cares about providing a great experience. 

Whatever you do, avoid ignoring the comment. Most of the time, your patients just want to feel heard and onlookers want to know you are listening.

Flood the site with the bad review with positive glowing reviews by encouraging your patients to leave great comments about you either on your social media sites or on the review sites.

You can also send an email to patients pushing them to specific sites using your patient communication software.

Finally, flood the internet with great information coming directly from YOU. Do this by utilizing social media, writing blogs, keeping your website up to date and looking great, as well as ensuring your website is appropriately optimized in Google and Bing.

This way, when someone searches for you on the internet, all of the positive and knowledgeable information heavily outweighs any one negative comment. 

The best approach to drowning the one or two negative comments is to kill them with kindness and great information. A proactive approach will help to protect your image.

4 steps to handling negative online reviews and posts [VIDEO]

Building relationships of trust and value is something we all work to do each and every day. It is through these actions that our relationships become stronger, deeper and allow both parties to achieve greater success. 

Dentistry is ultimately a relationship business and successful practices are built on strong relationships. 

These days it seems we are in a shortage of what we believe to be the primary elements of relationship building – which is, in our opinion, the key factors to growing your practice the old fashioned, grassroots way.  If you are feeling like you have hit a plateau, have limited funds to invest into growth and can’t get off center, you may be the prime candidate for a grassroots movement! 

When it comes to grassroots relationship building and practice building, let’s focus on three primary areas to begin stewarding in your world:  Time, Tenacity and Togetherness.

  We as a society are suffering from a continuous drought of this necessary ingredient.  Everything we are inundated with, every new gadget, every new service is built to get us things in the moment, to speed up the process, to cram as much as we possibly can in as short a time frame as possible so that we can end our day completely exhausted, over stimulated and ultimately spent.  The funny thing is that what most human beings are energized from is a personal touch and one on one relationship building time to feel important, heard, understood and ultimately listened to. 

We challenge you to invest time in your patients, your targeted specialist partnerships and your team.

  As you explore your relationship with your referring specialists, consider all that can result from tenaciously pursuing these worthwhile relationships.  As you refer your patients to these doctors, you will find their referrals to you and their encouragement of further treatment with your current patients to only grow and deepen. That abundance mentality helps everyone grow their practices and grow great relationships with one another.  It will prove that long-time saying, what goes around comes around.  We encourage you to put this theory to the test.
	 

  Understand the big picture.  Understand that helping each other ultimately brings out the best for everyone. Working with your team in a cohesive way, making the effort to connect with your referring peers, taking the time to have conversation with your patients, building the WE of your practice and your community has limitless positive effects on your business.

 Have you ever promoted your services to the surrounding businesses in your area?  Some of our most successful efforts with our marketing clients have been courtesy promotions for businesses that share the same building or are within five minutes of the practice. 

Remember this theory – often the simplest solution is the best solution.  Get back to basics.  Go grassroots.  Study your favorite bands or businesses – how did they get so successful?  They connected with the people and the people became their greatest promoters and marketing tools. 

The same can happen for you – if you take the TIME, if you use TENACITY and if you accept the mantra of TOGETHERNESS.