Unlike a traditional business, the needs of your callers involve their overall health and well-being, and thus there’s a certain amount of emotion that goes with their decision to choose your practice over the other doctors in town. Your callers may be sick or in pain, may be worried about the health of loved ones, may be dealing with life-threatening ailments. Therefore, your team needs to understand that their job in handling calls involves many layers.
While on the surface your overall success in booking appointments may seem to hinge on what is said on each call, it goes much deeper than that. Your callers have many emotional requirements that need to be satisfied:
They want you to be sympathetic about their pain and suffering.
They want to feel as though you are truly listening to their problems.
They want to be assured that you are genuinely concerned about their health.
They need to be certain they understand everything that is being said to them.
They want to know their doctor’s office is the most professional organization in town.
They need to feel comfortable that your expertise is the highest available to them.
These are just a few of the emotional requirements your callers have and you can expect a whole host of others that are more specific to the individual callers. Therefore, your front desk needs to be as much in tune with their emotions while they are on the phone as they are your call scripts.
Each of the following are core requirements for responding to every call your office receives:
Your staff must show enthusiasm for what you do.
Your staff must demonstrate empathy for your callers.
Your staff must show true concern for the well-being of your patients.
Your staff must be professional at all times.
Your staff must answer questions quickly and confidently.
Let’s take a look at each of these core requirements individually.
SHOW ENTHUSIASM
Energy and enthusiasm are contagious. When a person has enthusiasm for something, it generally causes another person to feed off that energy and become enthusiastic as well. This happens because human beings are apt to borrow the energy from the person they are interacting with.
That’s why it is so important that your staff members come across as enthusiastic when they are on the phone with your patients. You want your staff members to project that energy level to your callers so they immediately feel better as a result of calling your practice. That jolt of energy may be the very reason they choose to book an appointment with your practice right then and there.
The hard part about being enthusiastic at all times is that there are certain times of the day when you don’t feel like you have the energy to be enthusiastic. That’s when you need to put on the magic hat that enables your level of enthusiasm to grow to its highest level again.
Yes, there are different types of enthusiasm and energy:
The wrong type of enthusiasm and energy: The staff member is enthusiastic about everything and anything, and just wants the caller to know how happy he or she is about life.
The right type of enthusiasm and energy: The staff member exudes positive energy at all times, but is listening attentively to the caller and demonstrates heightened enthusiasm about what the doctor can do to get the caller feeling better as soon as possible.
Notice the difference here? Being overwhelmingly enthusiastic and making the caller feel alienated as a result can have the reverse effect on your callers. That’s why enthusiasm has to be channeled into the conversation in the right doses. Mixed in with the conversation will be empathy, sincerity, security, and other emotions that we will discuss in this article but the underlying emotion that will flood through the phone line is the enthusiasm for the abilities the doctor has to treat patients.
You see, your callers need to feel 100% certain that visiting your practice will change their condition. If the person answering the phone isn’t enthusiastic about the results the doctor can deliver, how can the callers be certain they will get the results they are looking for?
Within a two- to three-minute phone call it is almost impossible to support specific claims about treatment methods with the necessary facts to support those claims; therefore, it is important that your staff members sell your services to patients with enthusiasm. A great way to ensure your staff members are genuinely enthusiastic about what the doctor does to treat patients is to make sure all staff members are believers by treating them also—if that is at all possible. If it’s not possible to do so, at a minimum, staff members should be highly educated about the treatments the practice provides so they are confident in how they can help the patient.
Hold training classes with your team, give them reading material, assign homework. Do whatever it takes to educate and empower your staff members to be enthusiastic about your services. Although it may seem like a lot of effort to educate each person in your office about your treatment methods, doing so will produce amazing results for your practice.
It is nearly impossible for people to be genuinely enthusiastic about something if they don’t have the facts and/or experience to support it. The worst thing you can do is to expect your front desk team to be enthusiastic about your services without them knowing exactly what those services are. You need everyone in your office to be your biggest fans because raving fans attract other raving fans. Spend the time internally to drive true enthusiasm for your treatment methods and you are bound to fill up your waiting room.
DEMONSTRATE EMPATHY FOR CALLERS
Empathy is a key component in securing new patients and keeping the existing patients coming back to your practice time and time again. However, your front desk staff members deal with hundreds of patient calls every month, and most of those calls center on a patient who needs a problem fixed. Whether it’s a health-related problem, a financial problem, or a personal problem outside of what your practice deals with, these problems are serious to your callers.
Due to the sheer volume of calls your front desk receives, over time your team may become desensitized to the problems they hear about, which can decrease their ability to empathize with your patients.
A lack of empathy on the phone must be avoided at all costs. It is a key component in your drive for phone success. In short, your patients expect you to be empathetic to their problems and you owe it to them to be empathetic to their problems.
It’s such a simple concept to grasp, yet it’s amazing how many of today’s healthcare practices have lost sight of the importance of empathy. This emotional gap that exists between staff members and callers provides an opportunity for your practice to shine.
Let’s take a look at a sample call to see how a lack of empathy can decrease the likelihood that a new-patient appointment is secured:
Front Desk Staff Member — “Doctor’s office, this is Sheila speaking, how can I help you?”
Patient — “Hi Sheila, my name is Nancy and I have tremendous back pain right now and I don’t know what to do about it. I have a small child at home and I’m very worried about what will happen to her if I can’t bend down to pick her up. I saw your ad in the local paper and wanted to find out how you might help me.”
Front Desk Staff Member — “I can get you an appointment with the doctor, let me take a look at the calendar to see what we have available. Can you hold on for one second?”
How well did this staff member let the caller know she had a sympathetic ear on the other end of the phone? Not well at all. On top of the generic phone greeting and the lack of a proper flow to the call, the staff member didn’t indicate she was listening to the caller’s issues and certainly didn’t show empathy for the pain the caller was in and her concern about how it might affect her child.
This is how she should have handled the call:
Front Desk Staff Member — “It’s a great day at ABC Clinic, my name is Sheila and my job is to help you achieve optimal health. Can I please start with your first name?”
Patient — “My first name is Nancy.”
Front Desk Staff Member — “Thank you. And may I please have your last name?”
Patient — “My last name is Stevens.”
Front Desk Staff Member — “Thank you Nancy. And can I please have your phone number in case we get disconnected?”
Patient — “My phone number is 212-555-1212.”
Front Desk Staff Member — “Thanks, I have that down as 212-555-1212. Is that correct?”
Patient — “Yes it is.”
Front Desk Staff Member — “Great. And when was the last time you visited our practice?”
Patient — “I’ve actually never visited your practice.”
Front Desk Staff Member — “Well let me be the first to welcome you to the ABC Clinic. You’ve made a great decision by contacting us. What’s the motivation for your call today?”
Patient — “I’m calling you because I have tremendous back pain right now and I don’t know what to do about it. I have a small child at home and I’m very worried about what will happen to her if I can’t bend down to pick her up. I saw your ad in the local paper and wanted to find out how you might help me.”
Front Desk Staff Member — “Gosh, I’m so sorry to hear that you are in pain Nancy, and I can assure you that the team here at ABC Clinic will do everything we can to get you feeling better as quickly as possible so you and your daughter will have nothing to worry about. We know how one person’s back pain can cause stress on an entire family, so our staff will work hard to get you out of pain as quickly as possible. Let me look at the calendar to see if I can squeeze you in to see the doctor today. How does 3:15 or 4:30 today work for you?”
Notice the difference here? And how much more likely do you think Nancy is to book an appointment in the second scenario versus the first? Now think back to the last time you called a doctor’s office because you were in pain. Do you recall the person who answered the phone going through the proper process like we demonstrated in the second scenario? Probably not.
That is why I say that you have a very good chance of standing out from the crowd in your town if you commit to doing things the right way on your inbound calls. It really starts with your empathy level toward your patients. You want your callers to make some sort of emotional connection with your staff because that gives you the best chance of securing the patient.
In the absence of emotion, the decision about which doctor to visit will come down to price, convenience, and appointment time availability. While you may win the price and convenience battle on occasion, that’s not what you want to hang your hat on if you are to build a booming practice.
The real growth in your practice occurs when you begin securing the patients who will visit you from a few extra miles away, who will spend a few extra dollars with you because of the connection they feel. Furthermore, when your patients walk in the door for the first time, you want them to seek out the staff member who answered the phone on that first call to say hello and let them know that they made it in to see the doctor. That’s the kind of emotional connection that will change your practice forever. It is attainable if you work with your team to keep them focused on how they handle the incoming calls to better relate to your patients.
It’s about being human and letting callers know that everyone in your practice genuinely cares about each patient. Empathy plays a huge role in that process.
SHOW TRUE CONCERN FOR THE WELL-BEING OF YOUR PATIENTS
Now that your team is aware of the power of empathy and how critical it is to demonstrate it at all times, the core requirement you want to satisfy next is true concern for your callers’ well-being. Empathy is best demonstrated by what you say after listening to the issues your patients are having; true concern works a little differently. True concern is more about the questions you ask.
Let’s look at a couple of examples that demonstrate the differentiator here:
Example 1
Patient — “I’ve never experienced anything like the back pain I am currently experiencing. I’m very scared about what is causing this excruciating pain.”
Front Desk Staff Member — “The doctor is going to be able to diagnose you while you are here so after the appointment you will have a better idea of what is causing the pain. Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be fine. We look forward to seeing you in our offices at 3pm today.”
Example 2
Patient — “I’ve never experienced anything like the back pain I am currently experiencing. I’m very scared about what is causing this terrible pain.”
Front Desk Staff Member — “I completely understand how hard that must be. Do you have family or friends nearby who can help support you right now?”
Patient — “My sister lives nearby and she has stopped by a few times to check in on me.”
Front Desk Staff Member — “That’s wonderful. I’m sure that helps. Are you able to get some rest before you come in for your appointment?”
Patient — “Yes, my kids are at school so I can lay down for a bit.”
Front Desk Staff Member — “That’s great. I’ll tell you what, feel free to call us back if your pain gets worse before your appointment. We are always here for you. Is there anything else I can do for you to make things better before your 3pm appointment today?”
Patient — “No, you’ve been wonderful. Thanks for caring so much. I will see you at 3pm today.”
It’s probably not hard for you to identify which example shows true concern for the well-being of the patient. Example 2 is effective not because of what is being said to the patient, but because of the questions being asked of the patient. When people truly have concern for others, they spend time listening and then ask questions to dig deeper into how they can help.
Usually, the person in need doesn’t require or expect you to solve their problems; they just want someone to listen to their issues and they derive comfort from that. Therefore, showing true concern doesn’t take a lot of effort, just patience and a friendly ear from each of your team members.
When your staff is rushed on the phone and trying to hang up so they can move on to the next task, there’s no way they can show true concern for the caller. That is why it is the practice manager’s job to prioritize the well-being of patients over short-term tasks that won’t have nearly the long-term impact an engaged patient will have.
Think about it this way: Patients who know you care about their well-being will probably visit your practice for many years to come and refer others to do the same. Isn’t that more important than something that can wait five more minutes to complete?
So let everyone on your team know that it’s not just their job to help make the practice run more efficiently; it’s their job to truly care about the well-being of each and every patient who calls and visits your practice. When your team understands that fundamental role in their day-to-day duties, that’s when real growth can happen in your practice.
DEMONSTRATE PROFESSIONALISM AT ALL TIMES
Many times during their interactions with patients on the phone, staff members may be tempted to be overly casual or possibly unprofessional with callers. There’s a fine line between bonding with your patients and being unprofessional, and your staff needs to be aware of the difference. Think about it this way: your patients will become friends of your practice, but they are not your personal friends. Here’s the difference:
Your personal friends can be:
Spoken to in a casual tone (with slang and even potentially with profanity).
Referred to by names other than their actual names (e.g., “bro,” “sis,” “dude,” “amigo”).
Called out on statements you just don’t deem to be true (e.g., “come on man, you know that’s not true”).
Argued with on occasion.
Ignored on occasion.
Friends of your practice must be:
Spoken to professionally at all times.
Referred to by their formal name.
Never argued with.
Never ignored.
Each member of your team must understand that a professional relationship exists between your patients and your staff, and your patients expect to be treated professionally at all times, whether they say so or not. Therefore, they must always resist the urge to take the relationship with patients to a casual level.
The phones are an easy place to lose sight of this rule because most of your staff members are used to being casual with their friends on their own phones. They may have trouble turning off the casual nature of phone calls once they get to the office.
Your practice manager must stay on top of the potential problem and make sure none of the patients are ever spoken to unprofessionally by anyone in your practice. Failure to comply with this fundamental rule and core patient requirement can have dire consequences.
ANSWER QUESTIONS QUICKLY AND CONFIDENTLY
Callers expect your staff members to be able to answer their questions. But more than that, they judge the quality of your practice by the ability of the persons answering the phone to be quick and confident in their responses to each question asked. If your staff members are slow to respond and don’t sound sure of their answers, it may not bode well for your practice.
To determine whether your staff is capable of answering the questions they are asked, meet with your team and gather the top 10 questions your callers ask on the phone. The easiest way to do this is to have each of your staff members write down their own list of the most common questions they are asked. Then take their individual lists and compile them to see the overlap. This should give you an accurate Top 10 list.
Then work with your team to develop scripted answers to each of those questions so your entire team is on the same page with how those questions are to be answered. Getting your team involved in the script writing is the best way to get their buy-in for using the scripts on their own calls. Forcing your team to do something is never more effective than getting them involved in the process.
After you have developed your scripted answers for the Top 10 most commonly asked questions, role play with your team to make sure they are fluent on the scripts. The more they practice, the better they will become at delivering the answers quickly and confidently. Furthermore, if they practice together they will end up delivering the scripts in a similar fashion, which will create a consistency across your staff that will help increase the rate of booked appointments.
Well-trained staff members can answer almost any question asked by the patient, but are also quick to know when they should not answer a particular question, such as a medical question that should be answered by a doctor. When asked a question they are not qualified to answer, staff members should quickly tell the patient that cannot answer the question and why. This will actually impress your callers since it shows your practice is professional in the way you handle all questions.
Also, your staff should avoid saying “I don’t know.” Even more important, they should never make up answers to questions. If they don’t know the answer to a question they should say, “Let me find that out for you.”
Callers don’t expect you to know the answer to every question asked. In fact, they appreciate when you take the time to find the correct answer instead of winging it and hoping you are right. Quickly determining when more research is needed to answer a question creates a comfort level in your doctor-patient relationships in that each person on your staff will always provide the correct answer, whether it’s on the spot or after a bit of research.
Excerpted from Own the Phone: Proven Ways of Handling Calls, Securing Appointments, and Growing Your Healthcare Practice by Spencer Peller.