Dental CPD Australia
Dental CPD Australia
I actually found this post relevant and interesting because I deal with this situation frequently with my members. In fact, I always thought that being available ALL the time made good customer service. I am slowly realising that the more I am available the more people will expect.
My generosity of availability has even had people calling me anywhere between 11pm and 5am!!! True story!! I need to recognize the immediate needs and allow the less important matters to wait until I am in my office during business hours.
This brief post by Dr Corey Gold is for those of you (like me) who are learning to draw a line, without being unavailable altogether
What do you do what a patient calls in the evening or weekend with a problem or question?
Nothing can be more maddening for a patient than to have a challenge and have no one to talk to about it. What happens to your patients when your office closes?
Many patients will have concerns and call the dental clinic but not feel their situation is an 'emergency' worthy of disturbing you. What does your voice mail instruct patients to do with challenges that are not emergencies?
I suggest you look at having a voice mail box that sends you a text message and email. Our patients can be told on the surgery voice mail that if they have an after hour challenge that they can leave you a voice mail and you will receive a text of their issue.
You receive the text and can decide if you want to call the patient back or wait until the morning to deal with the situation. If you are in the movie or a kid's school performance you can choose to wait to deal with the situation. You can decide how urgent it is!
A call back on a patient question can go a long way into build a strong relationship with your patient. Just knowing that you are available to your patients will help set their mind at ease.
Get a new voice mail system that will allow you to set up an after hours mailbox. The patients can leave regular messages on the normal voice mail but can also select the alert the dentist voice mail option. This option I'll send you a text and email.
For more information please visit: e-deneducation Dental CPD