Greeting
- Good use of inflection
- Lacks the practice’s tagline (distilled statement of purpose and benefit – who you are, what you do, for whom you do it, and WHY)!
Rapport & Empathy
- Connected quickly by using the caller’s name and expressing sincere appreciation: “Well. thank you for calling US Jane!”
- Enthusiasm
- Commented on how beautiful the new practice is (which is particularly important, as the caller may now need to travel a bit farther than she thought)
Control of The Call
- Call handler provided pricing and essentially attempted to diagnose dentistry over the telephone. While she is clearly knowledgeable, and may even be right, it is appropriate to provide information and make clear to the caller that a complimentary meet ‘n greet be offered so the caller can receive reliable information and options, and ‘…see if we are the practice for you.’
- Also, the call handler attempted to create urgency, which is appropriate, but unfortunately, did so just when the caller should have been given ‘space’ to
- She did an effective job of selling benefits, but did not allow caller to respond
- “If you pay me cash”
- Turned age into a negative. Asking age was appropriate but if news is bad, no reason to go there. Basically suggested the caller wait until she was older to get the discount.
- Should have gotten contact information to send info or, at least, to follow up after a reasonable amount of time had passed.
- Call handler did sell benefit of team being ‘tenured’
The main ‘takeaway’ from this example is of the importance of explaining how it is not in the patient’s interest to attempt to diagnose dentistry over the telephone and how there are many options, one of which could better suit the caller than whatever it is may have been suggested thus far: “That’s why we offer a complimentary meet and greet with Dr. X, so he/she can help you decide which course of treatment is best for you.”