The front desk team are the shop window for your practice, so it’s vitally important that they are giving patients the right impression. Emma John, award-winning Practice Manager and customer service expert, is passionate about ensuring dental front desk teams have the right skills to provide the best customer experience and are able to convert potential patients into actual patients.
Emma is teaming up with Practice Plan’s Business of Dentistry Events to run a series of training days called ‘Give your front desk team the WOW Factor’ in May to help develop the skills of front desk teams from around the country.
So, to whet your appetite ahead of these fantastic events, we caught up with Emma to find out some of her top tips for dental practices.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of the front desk team to the overall success of the practice
- Think about the impression you would like to give to your patients and ensure your team is meeting this expectation
- Understand the skills needed for your team to succeed and engage them in training
- Understand that good customer service cannot just be the domain of the front desk, but must come from the whole practice team
- Give your front desk team the confidence to speak with patients and the time to build up relationships with them
At the WOW Factor events, Emma will be showing attendees exactly how they can achieve all these points in their practices, with bespoke advice and practical tips.
Emma explained, ‘The front desk team are the first and last impression any patient or potential patient will see and hear. They are the shop window for the service and treatment patients will receive from everyone at the practice. Patients will make a judgement on the dental care they’ll receive within the first few moments of contact and we need to ensure that this is a positive one to secure the success of the practice. A negative impression could not only put them off, but other potential patients they know.’
Emma continued, ‘Greater competition has changed the dental industry. Years ago, patients seemed to stay with a dental practice for life; now they have much more opportunity to shop around, meaning the front desk team must have the skills to convert potential patients to bookings in the diary.’
If you would like to hear more from Emma John and join her for future events, you should bookmark www.practiceplan.co.uk/events