‘Laura Loves…’ bows and whistles!
I love all things nice. I am sucker for branding, bows and whistles and have come to expect this type of presentation from businesses I deal with..
While in Paris last weekend we stumbled across a homemade biscuit shop. I was on the lookout for a nice present and my fiance loves biscuits, so I popped in. I left 15 minutes later and 30 Euros lighter.
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This shop was amazing, the selection of freshly made biscuits was great, and they had an entire selection dedicated to macaroons.
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I was deciding what to buy and I noticed a display of gorgeous boxes. So that was it, I bought a mixed selection of biscuits and then a mixed selection of macaroons. The reason I bought so much was because the boxes with their bells and whistles were exciting me and I wanted more.
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But what excited me the most was the fact that I was going to give these stunning presents, in their gorgeous boxes (with matching ribbon) in a gorgeous bag. I couldn’t wait to see his face when I presented them.
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You can easily make your patients feel excited about the products they buy from you. I will never forget arriving in a practice in West Yorkshire last year. I had been there previously to deliver front desk and customer service training. This day I was met by the two TCOs I was about to train.
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They gave me a fantastic tour of the practice (recently renovated since my last visit) and handed me a lovely bag and in there, beneath the gorgeous tissue paper, was a box. I opened it to find a pen, lip balm and a keyring coin. I was ecstatic.
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You too can make your patients feel good and excited with these things. I for one appreciate the time and effort spent designing and the investment businesses have made, and if get excited about pretty boxes and bags I am sure your patients will too.
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I took a picture for you, but the lovely biscuit box is at my fiancés work (even he just had to show it off!)
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Providing dentists and their dental team with training programmes to increase results with proven successful methods.
Photography training, Treatment Coordinator Training and wow factor examinations. Visit the website
‘Laura Loves…’ the personal touch
This week’s Laura Loves comes from a visit I had to a practice this week. The day had been booked for some time and I was really looking forward to going to the practice..
As soon as we confirmed the date the practice principal sent me recommendations for hotels – this was great as my PA Alison often spends a lot of time looking!
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The principal also offered to pick me up from the airport and drop me back so that I didn’t have to hire a car. I thought this was lovely as I knew she had two small children and I was aware of how busy she is!
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So before I had even left my house I was feeling happy and well looked after.
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I arrived and we had a great drive to the practice.
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I then met her husband (also a dentist) and they dropped me at the hotel.
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By now I knew what lovely people they were and was looking forward to meeting their team the next day.
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We then arranged to meet for dinner and they walked me into the hotel, he carried my suitcase and wouldn’t let me wheel it along. They wanted to check my booking was OK and that they weren’t leaving me stranded.
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So as you know Laura Loves great customer service but I was also very well looked after by the practice owners.
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Because of how well they looked after me (and this was in the first 2 hours, I will tell you about the dinner another time) I knew they really cared and that they really wanted push their practice as far as possible. Outstanding customer service is essential for their practice and I’m glad they choose me to help take them there.
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I have to say that I can always tell how well patients are really looked after by the way I am treated on arrival – these two were fantastic and went more than the extra mile for me. I felt so welcome and happy to be in their company and I can’t wait to go back!
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Providing dentists and their dental team with training programmes to increase results with proven successful methods.
Photography training, Treatment Coordinator Training and wow factor examinations. Visit the website
Do you keep your patients waiting?
This week’s topic is customer service – a huge responsibility for practices!.
For those of you in mixed practices, it is essential that you get your house in order as soon as possible. It sounds like the new NHS contract will be similar to GPs – you will get paid for meeting quality outcomes. Where GPs have the QOF you will have the Dental QOF (Quality Outcomes Framework).
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It is suggested that the new contract will be a caption based scheme, whereby you receive additional ‘points’ for the patient experience (30%), patient care (60%) and patient safety (10%).
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For today’s post I would like to focus on the biggest problem that practices encounter every day – Running late.
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I find it unacceptable – unless you have a genuine emergency of course!
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There’s a vicious cycle; you run late, your patients know you run late so they turn up late, you keep seeing them even though they are late and the cycle continues.
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So how do you stop this?
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1. Set a date to confirm when you will start running to time – e.g. 1st April 2012
2. Tell your patients in a newsletter and through signs or hand-outs in the practice
3. Stop seeing patients that turn up late!
4. If someone is late, call them, don’t let them arrive and then tell them they won’t be seen!
5. Roleplay verbal skills to overcome the objection of ‘you always keep me waiting’.
6. Communicate – introduce systems to ensure that if you are running late, the patient does not arrive without knowing in advance.
7. Introduce a TCO to the practice; they have a responsibility to outline to all new patients how the practice operates!
8. If you are late, pay up!
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Here is what happened in one practice – in the first month they introduced this they paid out just over £800. The fee they paid out came from the clinicians’ pay. Dentist, hygienist, therapist – they all lost out financially.
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How much do you think the practice gave to charity the second month? Just short of £200.
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Guess how much they now pay out? Around £50 a month!!! That’s only 10 patients in one month that are kept waiting!
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This practice has a huge NHS contract, yet they now see the majority of patients on time.
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What’s stopping you?
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Providing dentists and their dental team with training programmes to increase results with proven successful methods.
Photography training, Treatment Coordinator Training and wow factor examinations. Visit the website