Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

1.5HoursCPDPoints UPCOMING WEBINARS: 30/01/13 31/01/13 21/02/13 26/02/13 21/03/13 Periodontal Regeneration - where, when and how? Minimally invasive management of restored teeth The clinician's role and patient's responsibilities in the management of periodontal Short Term Orthodontics for the GDP An Introduction to the uses of CEREC Technology for the GDP Over the last four years we have built a solid reputa- tion as the original and best dental webinar provider. The webinars are live and interactive to give a unique learning experience. Interact with some of the industry’s leading experts as they present the very latest in clinical practice. smile-on healthcarelearning inspiring better care Join the Dental Webinar club – sign up for free: www.dentalwebinars.co.uk C M Y CM MY CY CMY K FMC_SC_DHT_advert_A2ZDental_final.pdf 1 22/11/2012 13:20:23 DT Feb 11-17, 201320 United Kingdom EditionBusiness Management D ealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, espe- cially if you are in business. Dale Carnegie I wonder why so many den- tists make it hard to do business with them? I have received the results of a survey compiled by Exela & Red Virtual Office and they make interesting reading. The purpose of the study was to determine the speed and quality of response to patient enquiries from a random sample of den- tal businesses in the UK. They used both telephone and web- based enquiries in a “Mystery Shopper” exercise. The enquiry focused on the provision of gen- eral dental services for a family relocating to the area served by the practice. If the call went to voicemail, a number was left and a call back requested. The old saying is that you only get one chance to make a first impression and many prac- tices ensure that their front desk people are trained to “smile” when they answer the telephone, to always give the caller their name and have a script to follow when they get into a conversa- tion with a potential new patient. All fine and dandy but what if the first impression is of a slowly an- swered telephone or even worse no answer at all? Do we apply to our businesses the standards that we expect of others? Research There has been lots of research into what consumers perceive as high standard of care and courtesy - dentistry isn’t unique. An acceptable Average Speed to Answer (ASA) is deemed to be 30 seconds - equating to four rings. More than 30 seconds and a number of callers hang up – 65 per cent hang up after four rings. First the good news, the calls that were answered were done so in a pleasant and friendly manner with helpful and in- formative receptionists. • 39 per cent of the practices called answered the call prompt- ly and efficiently. • 18 per cent were middle of the road answering within four to six rings. • Nine per cent were very slow to answer. • 34 per cent of all calls were not answered at all. Of the unanswered calls 62 per cent were handled by an- swering machines. In spite of the ubiquity of voicemail, stud- ies by Henley Business centre have shown that 80 per cent of callers do not leave messages. Some more statistics: • 64 per cent of dental patients call during “peak” times (start, lunch, and end of day). • 67 per cent of dental practices close during the lunch period and hope that their patients will leave a message. • Of those callers who do leave a voicemail 60 per cent received a call-back during their working hours meaning that they had to make a second call attempt in order to contact the practice. • 65 per cent of callers don’t hold the line for more than four rings. • 95 per cent of new enquirers Do we make it easy to do business with us? You only get one chance to make a first impression, says Alun Rees ‘Dealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, especially if you are in busi- ness’