Summary: Customer service plays a critical role in referral marketing, yet it is often the most under-implemented strategy in business management. Effective customer service systems can significantly enhance orthodontic practices by improving efficiency, team training, and patient satisfaction.
Key Takeaways:
- Customer service should be viewed as a systematic approach to achieve success in orthodontic practices.
- Personalized and enthusiastic interactions with new patients can foster strong relationships and increase referrals.
- Positive communication, thoughtful gestures, and addressing issues promptly are essential to maintaining high customer service standards.
By Roger P. Levin, DDS
Customer service is a major part of referral marketing, even though it starts happening after the referral is made. And while customer service may be one of the most talked and written about business management strategies, it is the least implemented strategy in the history of business.
Every orthodontist would probably agree that excellent customer service is a good idea and should be part of the practice. Unfortunately, it often stops there. They may address the idea of good customer service to the team or ask the team to smile and be nice and friendly. Those are foundational principles of customer service, but they are not enough to make a difference.
Customer service is a system and management systems make orthodontic practices successful. It is the management systems that create efficiency, smooth flow, great days, and high production and profit. Management systems also allow you to train the current and new team members faster and better to build an outstanding team and first-class culture. Customer service is not always thought of as a system and that is why it is oftentimes not maximized.
Every orthodontic practice should analyze its customer service patterns and if you find that you are average (or anything other than excellent) then you have discovered something important and can act to quickly correct the situation.
Here are five customer service strategies that can benefit every orthodontic practice.
1. Make the new patient phone call a relationship-oriented call.
When a new patient calls the office the goal is not simply to capture some information and get the patient scheduled. It is to turn that new patient into a friend. Scripting, as always, is critical to accomplishing this. Phraseology such as, “I am delighted that you called. We love meeting new patients. Who may we thank for referring you?“ is powerful. But it’s only powerful if it is used in every new patient call her every day, every time.
Proceed then to try and learn something personal about the caller. Where do they live? How did they find your office? Why are they interested in orthodontics? Who is their general dentist? (Whether the general dentist referred them or not.) Then compliment the general dentist because word will go back that you said nice things and that gets more referrals. Approaching the call in this manner results in the new patient caller leaving the call with more energy than when they started. You want to bring enormous energy and enthusiasm to every phone call.
2. Give every patient and parent a huge greeting.
You may think this is unimportant, but the Ritz Carlton hotel chain does not. They start every employee shift (and they have three shifts a day) by reminding everyone that these are not people just staying in the hotel. They are guests. Guest is a powerful word for the Ritz Carlton and is also a word used by Disney to refer to people visiting their theme parks. A guest is different from a customer. We treat our guests exceptionally well.
A huge greeting has a dynamic impact on the parent or patient. They begin to recognize that every time they walk into the office they are going to be appreciated and receive a huge greeting, which also displays gratitude. This is your opportunity to impress upon every parent or patient how glad you are that they chose your office.
3. Most of the time the orthodontic appointment or check will go extremely well. Even if it doesn’t, always speak in a positive tone.
Anything negative can be rephrased in a positive manner even if you have to explain about something corrective or something that needs to be done differently. Positive language is powerful. You become the way you talk. If you ban negative language in the practice and focus on positive comments with positive words everyone will actually begin to be happier right away, but the best part is that so will the parents and patients.
4. Give stuff away.
Whether it is gifts and prizes for the kids, lotteries, or raffles, t-shirts or pens, a virtual reality headset or even a trip to Hawaii for a family of four each year, this is customer service. But the essence of this form of customer service is fun. Everyone doesn’t win the virtual reality headset or the trip to Hawaii, but everyone gets to participate. Everyone gets a little bit of fun added to their day.
5. Ask every parent or patient at the end of the visit, “How was your visit today?“
Even if it’s a 6-year-old, ask the question. Make the question fun but make it serious as if you really care. Because you should really care. Most of the time you will get incredibly positive feedback and thank them for that. If you get anything less than positive, you should log it in and bring it to the next staff meeting for discussion. If you get a bad response, you bring it to the orthodontist who should call the parent or patient that night and address the issue. That is what customer service is. If something isn’t right, you address it. You don’t hide from it or ignore it. People tremendously appreciate it when you reach out to correct anything that was not at a highly satisfactory level. For example, we recommend that if you run more than 10 minutes late, you either have an ice cream gift card or Starbucks gift card for the parent to apologize. You simply say, “We are so sorry we ran late. Please have ice cream/cup of coffee on us.” If you find you’re giving too many of these away, it means that you are running late too often, which is bad customer service.
All the effort in referral marketing is diluted if customer service is not at a high level. The higher the level, the more you differentiate your practice. Do not underestimate any customer service strategy as being superficial or unimportant. Even small gestures can make a tremendous difference in the growth and increased production of any orthodontic practice. OP
Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the CEO and founder of Levin Group, a leading practice management consulting firm that has worked with over 30,000 practices to increase production. A recognized expert on orthodontic practice management and marketing, he has written 67 books and over 4,000 articles and regularly presents seminars in the U.S. and around the world. To contact Levin or to join the 40,000 dental professionals who receive his Practice Production Tip of the Day, visit levingroup.com or email [email protected].
