10 Phone Scripting Commandments Part 2

Too many clinics overlook the fact that undisciplined and poorly trained front desk personnel are the cause of big revenue losses due to inappropriate telephone practices. In an earlier post, we discussed the first 5 of 10 commandments for front desk personnel telephone behavior that will save you big bucks here. In this post, we review the phone scripting commandments 6-10. 6) Thou shalt use thy call logs at all times. Call logs that are simple and easily completed will keep staff focused on the script and on the collection of critical information so that call performance is efficient and effective. Call logs are essential to building your decompression business. They enable follow up with patients who have not yet committed to an appointment and with patients who are expecting a return call for needed information. Don’t overlook the importance of a call log—and follow up promptly. 7) Five Days shalt thou work doing thy best to get every caller’s email and address. Whether callers schedule an appointment or not, ALWAYS get their email address and/or mailing address! Send emails and mail to them frequently until you have successfully encouraged them to schedule an appointment. Provide them with useful information and include the clinic’s website URL so that they can easily access more information. If you do not proactively follow up with prospects by providing them with information and a reason to join your program, you will lose them to a competitor. 8) Thou shalt create an image that thy clinic is busy at all times. If a caller feels as though you're desperate to get them in the door, they typically will feel less than confident in your services and less likely to schedule an appointment. However, if you inform them that they need to qualify to get these treatments through an initial consultation and that you will do your best to fit them into a busy schedule, they suddenly want to secure that time slot. 9) Thou shalt not bear false witness. If you don’t know the answer, it is okay to say so! People respect honesty and integrity. And, when it comes to peoples’ health, misinformation is more damaging than no information. Besides, an unanswered question creates an opportunity to schedule an appointment. Simply inform the caller that you are confident the doctor will answer all their questions during an initial consultation meeting. 10) Thou shalt not schedule patients on the same day of their call. Patients have a quick-fix mentality and are less likely to commit to the long-term care they need if you succumb to their immediate gratification needs. Resist the fear of losing new patients that say, "if I can't be seen today, I'm going somewhere else!" It is more important in the long run that the doctor always appears to be the one in control and the one who determines the best course of therapy. Follow these 10 phone-scripting commandments and your practice will benefit greatly as patient “no shows” decrease, patient enrollments increase and clinic revenue soars. How do you rate your front office telephone performance? Stop leaving money on the table through ineffective phone behaviors in your practice. For advanced phone script protocols click here.