Front desk verbal skills in the dental practice: A make or break proposition

Do you ever feel that your marketing just isn’t working? Have you tried various tactics – online and in print – all to no avail? Perhaps it’s not your marketing at all. Regardless of how powerful your marketing is, if the team answering the phones doesn’t possess strong communication skills, no amount of money spent promoting the practice will generate the desired response.

The front desk plays a critical role in the execution of the dental practice’s marketing plan, yet it is one area that is often overlooked when it comes to training and skill building. One of a prospective patient’s first interactions will be with the front desk, so this experience needs to be extraordinary.

Think of your front desk as the welcoming committee for the practice. The team’s verbal skills have to be on point in order to skillfully answer patients’ questions while building a relationship. Think of every patient conversation as an opportunity to reassure callers that they’ve made the right choice and have found their new dental home.


Here are four simple steps to improved front desk verbal skills for any dental practice:
Establish a relationship
It’s no secret that many patients, especially those who have put off dental care for a while, have anxiety about going to the dentist. You can put their minds at ease from the very beginning. Instead of answering the phone with an abrupt “Dental office,” have the front desk people open with, “Thank you for calling Dr. Cooper’s office. This is Sue. With whom am I speaking? OK Nancy, how may I help you today?”

Redirect the conversation
Even if the patient is price shopping, as many do, the front desk should not immediately write the caller off or rattle off the fee schedule. They should redirect the conversation to again reinforce the person’s great decision to call the practice. For example, “Nancy, you’ve made the right choice calling Dr. Cooper. All of her patients love her and I know you will too. Now, the fees for this service vary depending on the complexity of your case, and I know Dr. Cooper would like to see you in order to best assess your needs. Don’t worry, we’ll always inform you of the costs before any treatment is performed.”

Ask open-ended questions
As the front desk team gets closer to making an appointment, they should continue to build rapport by avoiding yes or no questions. Instead, they should lead with open-ended questions. Rather than simply saying, “How is Tuesday at 2 p.m.?” they should ask, “Do mornings or afternoons work better for you?” This shows they understand that patients are busy and that the office is willing to do its best to accommodate patients’ schedules.

Get good at tracking
Along the same lines, instead of asking, “How did you hear about us?” try saying, “So many of our patients find us by way of referral. Who may we thank for referring you?” This sends the message that your patients care enough to refer their friends and family, further validating the caller’s decision in calling the practice.

The front desk’s role can go even deeper than converting callers into patients. The team on the phones plays a critical role in tracking the results of all marketing efforts. The front desk should record the source of each and every call, even (and perhaps especially) those that don’t turn into appointments.

The dentist and/or office manager should then set time aside to go through the log of callers and identify who appointed and who actually showed up. This will provide a much clearer picture of your marketing effort results – calls are the result of successful marketing whereas appointments are a function of your front desk’s closing skills. This gives the practice manager a better sense of who at the front desk is best equipped to convert callers into patients, and which staff members/types of calls/marketing sources present the greatest conversion challenges.

The initial patient phone call is a very important part of your marketing plan, although it can often be overlooked. Arm the front desk with training and scripting so they can make the most of every potential patient conversation. Encourage the team to practice so they sound less scripted and more natural. Make it clear that their roles are important not only to the success of the marketing plan, but to the growth and success of the practice as a whole.

Source: http://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/2015/09/front-desk-verbal-skills-in-the-dental-practice-a-make-or-break-proposition.html

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