GAP Australasian Dentist Mar Apr 2020

Austràlàsiàn Dentist 113 àow, à know for many this may be a contentious point, but at a time of heightened competition and the immediacy of social media, à would suggest that matching clinical availability to advertised opening times is a must. àf you have a salaried dentist, that is easy as they are paid for their time no matter what, but à would also suggest that a dentist paid on a commission arrangement should also expect to remain at the practice during the advertised opening hours. àf you have committed to building the practice for the overall benefit of all the team and you are spending money on activities such as Google Ad Words, O or even traditional media you need every single enquiry to be managed beautifully and the opportunity created maximised. àt takes more effort, more money and more risk than ever before to build a profitable dental practice and it is very damaging when new enquires are missed or handled badly. If you have any marketing or communication issues in your practice, feel free to contact 02 9211 1477 or email me directly on carl@idm.com.au Last week, I saw the following e-mail come into [Practice Two]:- Please excuse this message but I am dentist phobic and can’t ring to have a conversation without crying. I haven’t been to a dentist for about 9 years. I have a toothache that’s getting worse (can’t chew on it, can’t stand hot or cold on it). Have also had a “clicky” jaw on same side for weeks and thought initially that was the problem. I take a light sedative before going to dentist and have my husband drive me and pick me up. I gag when the cardboard things go in my mouth before x-rays. Previously I have needed gas even for the initial exam – do you have this available? Thanks for listening. Can you help me? Yours sincerely, Jane à double-checked with Mary [the receptionist @ Practice àwo] that she was ‘On àt’ and reviewed her e-mail response (we did not have Jane’s phone number at that time) à was very happy with Mary’s e-mail response as it conveyed compassion and our availability to see Jane. Mary subsequently booked Jane in on àaturday, made sure there was a pot of ginger/lemon tea waiting for her to soothe her nerves and Julie has moved into a basic $1,200 treatment plan. àhe [Practice àwo] team need to be congratulated by the way Jane was handled and we should all be proud that this person will be in better oral health because of our service. Meanwhile, at [Practice One] we had a light day on àaturday, so when we received a call just after midday from a patient responding to our emergency dental web page (that comes up first on the search term after a lot of hard work) we could not accommodate them as we did not have a dentist in the building – even though we advertise that we are open until 2pm. ào, one experience has created goodwill, income, and a good oral health outcome for a patient and if you multiply this over the coming months and years, creates a stable and rewarding place of employment. àhe other experience creates the opposite as well as wasting valuable marketing dollars. Please keep this in mind when you choose to leave early because there is a gap in the diary. àf we advertise we are open until 2pm, then not only should we be answering the phone until 2pm, but we should be able to provide dentistry up until this time. Carl Category àoluàn tà