7 Tips That’ll Make Them Say ‘WOW’!

7 Tips That’ll Make Them Say ‘WOW’!

With this widely acknowledged pressure to win patients over instantly, here are my seven tips for making your first impression strongly positive.

1.     Be on time – if there is an unavoidable situation causing you to run behind, communicate openly with the patient and just tell them what’s going on!!  Whatever you do, don’t hide behind the front desk and avoid the situation.

2.     Make your patient the center of attention – The greatest way to make a positive first impression is to demonstrate immediately that the other person–not you–is the center of action and conversation. Focus on those opportunities for relationships and patient retention.  Show that you are truly patient-centered, and your patients will actually be eager to see you again.

3.     LISTEN. You’ll make a superb initial impression when you demonstrate good listening skills. Give positive verbal cues: “Hmmm. . .interesting!” “Tell me more, please.” “What did you do next?”  Nonverbally, you show you’re a skilled listener by maintaining steady eye contact. Remember how you respond to the social rookie who appears to be looking over your shoulder for the next person he wants to corner.

4.     Use your patients’ name frequently – Greet them by name as soon as they walk through the door.  When you remember their name, their impressed.  When you refer to them by name often, they like you.

5.     Dress the part. “Mrs. Jones,  having you in our practice as a guest is a rather ordinary experience, and doesn’t call for me to present a professional appearance.” This is the message you send if you’re scrubs are old, dingy or wrinkled.  Front office team should be wearing nicely laundered and pressed professional attire – no scrubs.

6.     Eliminate Distraction – Your patient will not feel important if there are lots of other things happening during their visit.

7.     Follow Up – Do you call your patients or write personal notes? They don’t give you a second thought when they leave your office.  Give them a reason to think about you again!

 

With every new encounter, you are evaluated and yet another person’s impression of you is formed. These first impression can be nearly impossible to reverse or undo, making those first encounters extremely important, for they set the tone for all the relationships that follows.

Michigan Team Is On A Roll!

Hi Amy
 
Just a little braggin’
Yesterday (Thursday) we had $13,085 of treatment suggested with
$9312 scheduled.  And, Dr. Skaryd had 2 planning appointments that
will generate approx $13,000.
Hooray for us!!
 
Evie

Dr. Jerry Skaryd – Chesaning, Michigan

My ‘WOW’ Experience

My ‘WOW’ Experience

Last week I had to take my daughter to the doctor.  Here is what I encountered when I walked in to the office….

 

 

The signs on either side of the welcoming (insert sarcasm here) window include several ‘instructions’.

·       Have your co-pay, insurance card and driver’s license ready. Without this information your appointment will be rescheduled.

·       All co-pays will be collected before going back to see the doctor.

·       Check in with the receptionist before sitting down.

·       If you cancel appointments in our office without 24 hours notice, you will be charged.

·       Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah.

Wow, did I feel loved. I picked up one of the writing pens in the cup that had tongue depressors taped to them – Good grief. I mean it would just be awful if I were to steal a pen with the doctor’s name on it.  After signing in, I stood there for a few minutes- waiting.  I had my driver’s license, insurance card and debit card in hand, waiting for someone to open the little window.  I could hear people talking behind the frosted glass.  I cleared my throat several times, rattled the cup of tongue-depressor pens, trying to make some noise so that I would be noticed.  My efforts to get attention were in vain.  I finally sat down.

After 15 minutes, I went back up and knocked lightly on the frosted sliding glass window.  The talking immediately stopped, the window flew open and I was asked to handover my cards in exchange for a clipboard.  No greeting, ‘hi how are ya’, or anything.  Just simply ‘Your co-pay is $20, I need your driver’s license and insurance card – please fill out all of these forms completely’.  The clipboard had 7 pages – Now, I get a little ornery when I’m given these forms to fill out.  See, there’s so much duplication of information, questions about things that simply don’t apply in my opinion, and it just irritates me!!   Plus they take my insurance card, then ask me to fill out information about my insurance – which is on my card, which I don’t have in my possession.  So I left a lot of areas blank, or simply wrote ‘on file’, or ‘same’, etc.

After (sort of) filling out the 7 pages, I headed to the window to hand over the clipboard.  I stood there for 30 seconds or so, then rapped on the window again.  This time there was no one there.  Do I dare open the window?  Yeah… I was feeling bold.  I opened the window, sat the clipboard just inside, then… left the window open a smidgen so they might notice.  Twenty minutes later, someone finally returned to the desk to find my clipboard.  She gave me a strange look (for opening HER window, I’m sure), and then she promptly closed the window without saying a word.  Ten minutes later we were in.

Forty-five minutes after we stepped foot into the office we were finally called – I won’t even tell you how long we sat in the treatment room before the doctor arrived.  Let’s just say I was able to tackle levels 23-31 of Candy Crush.  What did we do before electronics??

We have all heard this warning: “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” Also, psychologists and writers caution that we only have from seven to seventeen seconds of interacting with strangers before they form an opinion of us. I had a ‘wow’ experience alright – ‘Wow – I won’t be back here again!’

What do your patients experience when they walk through the front door? Stay tuned this week for some challenges that will bring your attention to your patients’ perception, and hopefully will emphasize a positive WOW experience for your patients that will foster a culture of retention and referrals!

Team Cardon Collects Largest Pre-pay Ever!

 

From: Paul Cardon <pnc.dds@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 17:01:51 -0500
To: Office 2004 Test Drive User <amydrewery@verizon.net>
Subject: Team Cardon monitors, P&L

Amy,

We’re 4 days into our current cycle. The team bonused for the third consecutive cycle even though we barely exceeded our Go Point. Though the numbers overall were pretty feeble we did have a successful planning appt. from which we reeled in a big case that we started last week. The prepayment check of nearly $25K was the largest we’ve collected!

We left Delta’s Premier Provider network last week so after 30 days we’ll officially be out of network for their beneficiaries. I’m curious to see how that affects us. In July alone we wrote off over $3400, most of that after the 15th, which was more than double what we’d averaged per month this year before their reduced fee schedule went into effect.

Since this cycle is humming along pretty well so far, we’re quickly forgetting the last cycle already and hoping when we come back from Mission Possible we’ll be able to do a better job for our patients.

See you next week,

Paul
Paul N.Cardon, DDS
Stadium Dental Center
757-B West Stadium Blvd.
Jefferson City, MO 65109
573-636-5522  FAX 573-636-3328
http://www.StadiumDentalCenter.com
http://www.StadiumDentalImplants.com