How to manage a new patient call and build trust!

The new patient call is a skill and art combined.  The discussion that takes place serves to collect vital information that is passed onto the clinical team prior to the appointment, it should frame what the patient should expect, and it also serves to validate to the patient that they have selected the right dental practice.  When no information is passed to the clinical area and the patient isn’t reassured and looking forward to their visit, there is more pressure on the clinical team to begin the process of building strong trusting relationships.

In this post, I am going to share ways to manage the new patient call and build trust. Before we delve in here is an overview of all of the elements involved in a new patient call:

•      Answer the telephone in a friendly calm and efficient manner

•      Thank them for calling

•      Be welcoming

•      Get their full name and how they like to be addressed

•      Get their telephone number

•      Identify how they heard about you

•      Identify what their chief concern is

•      Adapt your manner to match theirs

•      Identify what their time scale for having treatment completed is

•      Identify their reason for wanting treatment if that conversation is possible

•      Identify what they currently know about that particular requirement

•      Identify what additional information could they benefit from knowing prior to their  appointment

•      Ask questions to determine the best type of new patient appointment

•      Frame the appointment you are booking so that the patient is fully prepared for their visit including things like additional time to leave for parking etc. 

•      Get full contact details

•      Validate their decision in choosing you or related to something they told you such as being nervous or wanting the perfect smile for example

•      Use their name a few times during the call

•      Describe and send any necessary paperwork to them

•      Secure financial arrangements

There are 3 ways to build trust in the new patient call

1.  Getting into rapport

2.  Being interested

3.  Listening and having a conversation

Getting into Rapport

Rapport is an unconscious synchronisation between two or more people, a bit likened to chemistry. When we are face to face, body language and voice qualities enable us to get in into rapport with another person but on the telephone, we only have voice qualities to rely on. 

Part of handling a new patient call is to be yourself and to be calm and helpful to the other person on the phone and it is vital that you can quickly build trust and make the patient feel comfortable.  Getting into rapport can help you to do that.

It is estimated that the interpretation of a message on the telephone relies on 70% of voice qualities and 30% of the words spoken and so what that tells us is that as the call handler you should be flexible in your voice qualities.  Being able to match the caller's voice qualities will help you get into rapport with them which ultimately helps you to build trust quickly.

To keep this simple there are two aspects of voice qualities that if you work on will help you to get into rapport with your patients quicker. The first one is volume so if a patient is speaking loud, speak loud in return.  If a patient speaks quieter, match this back. The second thing is pace. If someone speaks really fast, speak at the same pace. If they speak slow and soft then you alter your language accordingly. The people who are the best at this are the people who have flexibility and adaptability within them. That's really the key to getting into rapport.

Being interested

There are five main elements here. It follows the who, what, why, where, when methodology. 

Who are they? More than a name and a chief complaint.

Why are they calling you and why is the real reason they're calling you? Not they're calling to make an appointment but why beyond that are they calling you? E.g. if a patient is looking to have a particular treatment ask them if they have a special event that they want the treatment for.  When you gain that information you can use that to create some excitement and validation about them choosing you

What do they know? Tagging on to the why question, it is really good to know what they know about the treatment they are looking for because it enables you to qualify them (their likeliness to be aware of the details, cost of treatment and likeliness to proceed.) E.g. considering a patient looking for bonding, you could ask them if they have explored this treatment before or have spoken to someone about it.  If the patient’s response is that their friend recently had bonding at your practice and they want to have it, they are likely well qualified, and you would note that down for the attention of the dentist.  

When do they want the treatment done by? You need to know time frames in order to be able to schedule the right kind of appointment. Consider a patient who wants the appearance of their teeth improved, and you ask the when question, they tell you they are going abroad in a month's time and they want it done by then.  This is important to know now because you really need to get them an appointment now to see if it's possible to get it turned around in that time frame or indeed if they're healthy enough to have it done in that time frame so these really are powerful questions.

Where did they hear about you or where have they researched the treatment? 

Try and get more granular on the information that you collect. If a patient tells you they found you on a web search, a next layer question would be ah that’s great, what were you searching for that made you find us?  Whatever the patient tells you thank them and explain it's always useful for them to know how patients are finding you.

These are five questions that I would recommend that you have on a template in front of you. I'm not a big fan of a script but prompts are helpful.  Scripts are good if you have very little knowledge or for new team members to learn from. The problem with the universal script is that is pigeonholes perspective and discourages a two-person conversation.

Listen and have a conversation

Listen to what that patient is telling you on the phone. Listen to their words. Listen to the emotion behind their words. Really carefully listen and try and use their language back to them. It's very important that you keep in sync with the person on the phone so if they're using a certain type of language or words it's very important that we don't use jargon type words. Really keep it very relatable to that person on the telephone.  It is comforting and builds trust when you know that the other person has listened and heard you.  

To deliver an amazing new patient call, remember to listen carefully and aim to match their voice qualities, gather and impart all of the vital pieces of information in a conversational style and pass on the relevant detail to the clinical team so that they are able to build upon what they know instead of them starting the whole exploration process.

To help you to develop your new patient call, we have a simple to follow online course that you can take which is only £25.00.  Purchase now by clicking the image below

Or, if you just want a simple guide why don't you take advantage of our FREE call handling checklist?