AIM Marketing

By Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA (University of Chicago) & MBA (K.U.L. Belgium)

In this Issue, we conclude our treatment of The telephone as selling tool.

Whoever asks the question controls the call

The final key to connecting with callers is to get them to agree. This could mean agreeing to hear more about the practice, agreeing to make an appointment, agreeing to pay their bill on time, or any one of several other desirable actions you want callers to take.

Perhaps the easiest way to accomplish this is to answer the caller’s question with another question.

For instance, if someone calls your practice and asks “How much do you charge for a crown?” You might answer, “I can help you with that. My name is [your name]. To whom am I speaking?” By that simple, but highly effective, sleight of hand (word), you have just regained control of the conversation.

Be careful how you label callers

The self-fulfilling prophesy trap refers to certain attitudes and beliefs that can cause what you least desire to come to pass. For example, some dental offices place a call tracking sheet near the telephone. There are boxes at the top of the sheet the team member uses to identify the ‘kind of patient’ calling the office. One of these designations is often “Price Shopper.” If a caller asks how much a procedure costs, an X goes in the box marked ‘shopper.’ The team member understandably feels he is doing his job by saving the practice a lot of time and aggravation “getting rid of the price shopper.”

Unfortunately, neither doctor nor team member may realize that, when we label someone as undesirable, the quality of the communication changes, almost invariably for the worse. The call can become more of an interrogation to see if the caller is “worthy” of the practice than conveying to the caller the unique benefits of joining the practice. This is particularly unfortunate because, in all likelihood, the caller simply asked for the price because she did not know what else to ask.

Is your telephone equipment up to the task?

Now that we’re free of any prejudgments about who is calling us, let’s focus on the technical side of the equation.

Your telephone system should have enough lines, connected by a ‘hunt group’ so that, when people call, they’re likely to speak with a real person within a maximum of 4 rings.  Your outgoing message (OGM) heard by callers when your team is unable to answer the telephone should be no more than 40 seconds long and be just as enthusiastic and inviting as though the call were being handled by a member of your Team. After hours, your OGM should immediately play, that is, there should be no rings causing the caller to wait unnecessarily.  Your OGM should begin with an enthusiastic greeting and tagline explaining why (depending on whether it is during or after office hours) you cannot come to the phone.  Your OGM should provide callers with a way to bypass the remainder of the message by pressing “0” or “#” so repeat callers are not inconvenienced hearing the same message over. Your OGM should not include your office hours (unless they are truly special and beneficial for your patients).  Dental practices are not doughnut shops: people, almost without exception, make an appointment before a visit.  The practice should have a customized and regularly (e.g. quarterly) updated on-hold message to keep patients entertained and informed about practice goings on, including involvement with the community.

So stay out of the self-fulfilling prophecy trap, establish rapport, exude empathy and enthusiasm, and practice your skills, and soon you and your entire team will be master telephone communicators, setting the stage to effectively sell dentistry, which is the topic of our next issue.

By Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA (University of Chicago) & MBA (K.U.L. Belgium)

Your team members can’t just answer the phone. They need to connect with the patient. This is the first of two Issues concerned with how.

A 2007 survey commissioned by AIM Dental Marketing® revealed that 78% of dentists indicated their biggest dental marketing challenge is getting their team to properly field telephone inquiries from prospective patients. But there are some simple ways to improve your teams’ phone etiquette, from changing the tone of their voice to thinking more about what they’re actually saying, asking, and even the use of silence.

For many, calling the dentist can be an act of courage. This is especially the case when the caller is responding to an invitation to join the practice because then, in addition to the usual trepidation, there may be other concerns—such as ‘what’s the catch?’

An appreciation for the caller’s mindset and emotional state can go a long way toward preparing the team to deftly handle such calls,

The first goal of a successful dental marketing tactic is “getting the phone to ring.” But this is not the ultimate objective. What happens after the phone rings is every bit as important as getting it to ring in the first place. Until they find a way to actually deliver dentistry over the Internet, the telephone will continue to be the main gateway people use to learn about your practice.  Even web-based inquiries will, almost invariably, culminate with a phone call. So the effectiveness with which your front office team converts such calls to solid patient appointments is a key determinant of marketing plan effectiveness.

Establish Rapport & Convey Empathy

Because people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care, the first step in connecting with callers is to establish rapport and convey empathy.  This is remarkably simple for people with a caring attitude, who merely need help ‘showing’ that concern over the telephone.  Your greeting is the key.

Smile, enunciate, use your name, state your practice’s tagline (if you do not have one, get one; if you don’t know what one is, or why it’s important to have one, call me or learn more about creating or enhancing your professional dental identity.  Nearly without exception, whatever the person says or asks next, reply with “I can help you with that. My name is (your name), with who am I speaking?’  Now that you’ve got the caller’s name, use it.  If you did not hear it correctly, apologize for a poor connection and ask for it again.

Show some enthusiasm

One way to appreciate the importance of showing enthusiasm to first time (and all!) callers is to ask yourself how you would rather be greeted if you were to call your office.  Would you rather hear “Dental office” or “Thank you for calling our dental office, this is Danny speaking.  How may I help you?”  While you can tell, just by the words, which is the preferable introduction, it’s how the words are spoken that really makes the difference.  Specifically, project, enunciate and vary the tone of your speech, and you’ll create that all-important first impression.

Visual gap
Professor Albert Mehrabian’s research at UCLA determined that three components comprise our communication:

1. The visual component (a.k.a. body language). The motion and expression of the face and body
2. The vocal component. The tone, resonance and projection of the voice and
3. The verbal component. The actual words spoken

When measured, the effect of each component on the believability of the message showed:

• The visual component accounted for 55%
• The vocal component contributed 38% and
• The verbal component contributed just 7%

These findings make it clear why telephone etiquette, combined with the appropriate choice of words, is essential in diminishing the telephone’s “visual gap” and enhancing the believability of the message (as well as that of the messenger).

Trigger pullers and tire kickers

In my writing and speaking about Internet-generated inquiries, I often make the distinction between trigger pullers and tire kickers. Trigger pullers are people who have already chosen to take action. The majority of prospective patients fall into the category of tire kicker. Someone calling you for the first time needs to be treated differently than someone who is familiar, and comfortable, with the practice. The tire kicker likely knows nothing about you or your practice. As noted earlier, the challenge becomes even greater when the caller is responding to a special offer/

In other words, a caller may ask “How much does a crown cost?”  But what they’re thinking and feeling is: “Can I trust you?” and “Will you treat me better than my last dentist did?”

Because today’s tire kicker is tomorrow’s trigger puller, the growth of your practice literally depends upon how carefully and professionally you treat these callers. You can, simply with the empathy, enthusiasm and technique you deliver, convey that yours is a dental practice unlike anything the caller has experienced in the past. But, for this to occur, we must be on guard against a mental trap.

The next Issue concludes our presentation on use of telephone as selling tool.