Patient interaction Red-hot telephone day I


’ve just had to peel myself from the edge of my seat, where I’ve been for the last 70 (well 77 to be precise) minutes, in


order to write this article. Mayo have just about edged through to the all-Ireland final. It will be no secret to anyone who knows me that I will be hoping they don’t lift the Sam Maguire as I’ll be there watching it, kitted out in my Donegal colours. The final will be my first


time in Croke Park since that fateful day almost three years ago when the IDA had an unprecedented attendance of 400 dentists at the emergency meeting called to tackle the PRSI changes which had been recently announced. I spoke to a few delegates before I took to the lectern and the mood was unforgettable. There was a true sense of despair. So, you’d be forgiven for thinking that a few years down the line there would be massively different attitudes towards marketing dental practices. From what I have seen, that’s not the case. Now is the time to start fighting for business. However, before you start any changes you have to make sure you have ‘all of your ducks in a row’. A mind boggling example of


this not happening occurred recently when I was waiting at a hotel in the centre of Dublin. I arrived early for a meeting and thought I’d catch up on some work, so tried to log on to their Wi-Fi. It’s a hotel, which can


remain nameless, that I have stayed at quite a few times and held numerous meetings in. I needed a log-in and when I asked the receptionist was told I had to either be a guest or pay €ı0 for a 24-hour log-in. I explained that I wasn’t staying that night but was a regular guest and had even arranged small conferences there. Surely they could issue me a


Communication. Are the calls into your practice being answered in the right way?


complimentary one-hour pass? The curt reply was no! Since that afternoon I have


estimated what I could have spent there in the next five years – as you should always assess the potential revenue of a customer over a five-year period. Each year, let’s assume I stayed there one night a month at €ı00, a €40 bill for coffees/lunch at meetings each time and hosting one workshop per annum there at €ı,000. Over a five-year period that’s


a total of €ı3,400. And that’s not even accounting for the evenings I would have gone there socially. Was that really worth a one-hour Wi-Fi pass?


“If you have an answer machine in the practice... throw it in the bin.


Immediately” Kevin Coyle


All the marketing that hotel has done over the last few years was wasted in my case because of one receptionist. There are many other hotels out there willing to offer me exceptional service in the current climate where the customer is king. So, before you start with some


of the practice initiatives which will be featured in upcoming columns, make sure that you have carried out some basic housekeeping. Think about your own receptionist and how they interact with patients. In the ten steps marketing training days I frequently hold, this is step one. You can have the most


successful campaign in the world generating a steady stream of leads. However, if the caller is greeted by a rude receptionist when they call, do you think they will go on to book an appointment? In fact, how would you define


a successful campaign? Five new patient appointments? What if you found out there had actually been 30 calls to the practice to generate those five appointments? Surely that would be an indicator that


something was wrong. The key is to make sure every single new enquiry is logged. Not just the source, but whether they went on to become a patient. If the ratio is poor you will know there is an issue which needs resolved very quickly. Carry out a call handling


analysis. Simply position your- self to overhear the approach taken on a few calls. Even better, arrange a few mystery shopper calls. Sometimes the results can be a revelation. In my view, an almost crim-


inal offence would be if the caller didn’t even get through in the first place. There is no excuse for losing business like this. If you have an answer machine in the practice, my advice would be to throw it in the bin. Immediately. I once carried out an experi-


ment with a practice to log how many missed calls they had over a working week during just the lunch hour period. The telephone memory showed over ı00 missed calls in those five days. Less than 20 of those callers left a message on the answering machine. How much revenue was lost? Lunch time is when most


office staff get an opportunity to call, so don’t miss them. Nowadays, there are many companies who of fer answering services which you can redirect your calls to. Feel free to e-mail me if you’d like details of some of the compa- nies that my clients use. We all dream of a red hot


telephone day, make sure you’re ready to deal with one when it happens!


® Kevin Coyle is managing director of Practice Workshop, a healthcare marketing agency. He has worked with hundreds of dental practices across Ireland and the UK. To contact Kevin call 086 227 3536 or email kevin@practiceworkshop.com


Ireland’s Dental magazine 33


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