July 2021--With the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 80% of owner-dentists all over the country are struggling with recruiting staff. Although this labor shortage existed well before the pandemic began, a shift in priorities — like an increased concern for safety — has exacerbated the challenge to find qualified dental hygienists, dental assistants, administrative staff, and associate dentists.
Aside from their regular responsibilities, current dental teams may also need to take on the added role of customer service providers. As patient demand for fast information and immediate access to care is on the rise, incorporating a customer-centric perspective into your dental marketing plan would help boost your practice.
The goal of dental marketing is to get patients and prospects to book an appointment. In fact, the average solo dentist requires at least 20-50 new patients per month to grow their practice. Naturally, customer service plays a big role in driving more patients to visit your clinic.
Whether you’re aware of it or not, customer service is inherently a part of any marketing strategy. Negative word-of-mouth can render your ads, search engine optimization, and content marketing efforts useless. Here are three ways excellent customer service can upgrade your dental marketing:
Customer service isn’t limited to the financial aspect of the business. Rather, it also delves into the basics of who you are and what you do. The way you treat dental patients indicates the way you look at life; you can either have a myopic view that each patient is a transaction or see your customers for their true value.
How you treat patients is also something your dental team pays attention to. If you’re treating each patient well, your staff is more empowered to stick around because your practice promotes a culture of genuine care for all people — and you can draw on these experiences in your marketing messages.
With the pandemic came the rise of omnichannel marketing, where the customer experience extends from face-to-face interactions to phone calls, social media, website chatbots, and more. There is a heightened expectation towards the quality and speed of response from dental practices, especially as everything — shopping, socializing, setting up dental appointments, and even education — is done in the fast-paced, digital online environment.
Everything is now more accessible. This is an advantage for dental marketing, especially since online marketing programs train professionals to connect with prospects and convert them into customers across multiple platforms. Today’s marketing programs cover diverse topics such as digital and interactive marketing, consumer behavior, and even analytics. During omnichannel marketing, these skills are essential because digital marketers can analyze all customer service touchpoints, so they can ensure no one walks away from your practice unsatisfied.
In order to strengthen a practice’s brand, reputation, and public perception, dental marketing should include a high-quality customer service component. Remember, you can’t buy word-of-mouth advertising; new patients are more likely to listen to positive reviews and recommendations from people who champion your business than an advertisement.
An open and competitive marketplace may also make it difficult to set yourself apart from the competition. However, showing your patients you value their needs and consider their comfort will make them more likely to come back and even pay more for good service.
The question is how can you improve your customer service, especially if you’re having trouble hiring, training, or retaining staff? Patient Prism is the ideal solution for solid customer service.
Patient Prism is a call coaching software that can help you manage the calls your practice receives. Artificial intelligence and human call coaches work together to analyze what happens between the caller and the receptionist. From there, the technology can highlight any communication problems, spot call trends with regards to specific dental services, and identify any marketing messages that may be misleading.
Call coaching can identify customer service weak points and speed up receptionist training for your staff, allowing you to improve and grow your practice to give you an advantage over the competition.
Patient Prism holds five utility patents issued by the USPTO and is the only call tracking company that leverages artificial intelligence and human call coaching validation to deliver patients directly to your dental practice. Successful dental groups use Patient Prism’s award-winning platform to track and analyze new patient calls, identify and schedule high-value patients, receive alerts and expert call coaching to win back missed new patient opportunities, train team members, and receive real-time intelligence to improve their staffing, patient experience, and practice marketing.
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