Note: This article describes a previous version of Patient Prism. You can read about the latest version of Patient Prism, V3, here.
June 2019--Margaret McGuckin is co-founder of i3 Ignite, a consulting company that helps companies like dental service organizations (DSOs) scale quickly. She advises entrepreneurial dentists and DSO owners to make the most of the information they can gathers from incoming calls.
As the founding chief operating officer of ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers, I steered the DSO from 1 to 31 locations in 14 states in a 4-year period. The platform we built was responsible for creating the playbooks that ensured culture and performance for both de novo and acquired practices. Our DSO grew very quickly from almost nothing to 135 million dollars in revenue a year. From that experience, I know the importance of having the right systems in place. They are critical to success.
One of the Most Overlooked Systems
One of the most over-looked systems in dental practices is also one of the most important systems. That’s your phone system. When a DSO creates a scalable platform, the central infrastructure must be top performing. You need to be tracking phone calls, and your call tracking platform needs to be fully featured and optimally supported so you can measure and improve the quality of your call management, scheduling, marketing, patient experience, and more.
The Call Tracking Functions You Want
- Real Time Data Collection for
- Call originations
- Call conversions
- Revenue opportunities
- Call volume by hour and day
- Voicemails
- Hang-ups
- Reasons not booked
- How callers found you
- What callers like about what they read or heard about you
- Alert text messages and emails that are quickly pushed to you from the system each time an appointment was not scheduled by a caller who was interested in high-value services
- Ability to see call details and analytics for any period, on any digital device
- Stellar support
The Benefits of Fully Featured Call Tracking
- You can win back lost opportunities to schedule patients.
- You can identify where your call reception team needs strengthening, and as you make hiring and development decisions based on real data, you will see more call conversion to booked appointments.
- You can identify missed opportunities to provide additional services or insurance participation.
- You can identify which marketing channels and which marketing pieces are driving patients to call you.
- You have data to make wise business decisions, such as redefining your marketing budget, staffing to make sure every call during business days is being received by a live person, or making sure the conversations receptions have with patients are consistently aligned with your policies and training.
“Where the Rubber Meets the Road”
- On the Phone: The people on your phones, whether they are serving a single dental location or many locations in a call center, must be welcoming calls, treating callers with warmth and empathy, and be well trained and knowledgeable to address patient concerns and schedule appointments.
- Off the Phone: DSO leader need to review data collected by the phone system and use it strategically to improve not only how phone calls are handled and where needs lie for employee development, but also which of your marketing campaigns are driving calls, which services are in most demand, and recurrent caller comments that can help you refine your business model for greater success.
i3 Ignite Recommends Patient Prism
Patient Prism is a patented, fully featured call tracking and call coaching platform that analyzes every new patient phone call, identifies individuals who end the call without booking, and provides rapid call analysis and effective training designed to win back that potential patient – all within one hour.
Patient Prism has two utility patents for the technology its team developed.
- The CallViz® Analyzer eliminates the need to listen to the recorded phone call; instead, it provides a visual representation of new patient calls that do not end in a booked appointment, pinpointing call-handling concerns and providing coaching tips.
- The CallViz® Cloud aggregates the services and insurance information spoken by new patient callers. Dental practices use this data to generate more effective digital ads, social media content, and website search engine optimization. They also use it to make operational decisions, such as expanding services or evaluating insurance plan participation.