Question: How should our office handle treatment presentation follow up calls?
If after treatment is prescribed and presented to the patient, they still decide not to schedule, how should our office handle the phone call follow up and pursue case acceptance?ANSWER: I can tell you that as soon as the patient leaves your office, your opportunity to close them and schedule treatment goes down dramatically.[mepr-show if=”loggedout”]
[/mepr-show] [mepr-active memberships=”629,630,37388,37393,37672,37676,37670,37668,37674,44674,232156″ ifallowed=”show” unauth=”message” unauth_message=”Answer hidden, please login or purchase a membership to view.”] The idea of calling them regularly (3 times) after that is to get them to schedule but also to make sure they realize that the treatment they need is important and that you care about their health. If you allow the patient to leave and no one ever follows up, then the patient starts to wonder how important the treatment you suggested really is. If I had to estimate, I would say we probably still close about 25% of patients who left and did not schedule, but later scheduled over the phone. That being said, I believe the percentage goes up when patients come in for their next preventative appointment because they know from the calls that we are definitely concerned about their oral care and well-being. They may not have scheduled the treatment initially, but now they know it is something they need to get done.[/mepr-active]
[/mepr-show] [mepr-active memberships=”629,630,37388,37393,37672,37676,37670,37668,37674,44674,232156″ ifallowed=”show” unauth=”message” unauth_message=”Answer hidden, please login or purchase a membership to view.”] The idea of calling them regularly (3 times) after that is to get them to schedule but also to make sure they realize that the treatment they need is important and that you care about their health. If you allow the patient to leave and no one ever follows up, then the patient starts to wonder how important the treatment you suggested really is. If I had to estimate, I would say we probably still close about 25% of patients who left and did not schedule, but later scheduled over the phone. That being said, I believe the percentage goes up when patients come in for their next preventative appointment because they know from the calls that we are definitely concerned about their oral care and well-being. They may not have scheduled the treatment initially, but now they know it is something they need to get done.[/mepr-active]