How to Turn a New Patient Call Into a New Patient

This episode of The Art of Dental Finance and Management features dental coach/advisor, Teri McAviney of Mak Concepts. Having strong communication skills, along with a plan for patient relations and conversion, will help your dental front office succeed in converting more new prospective patient calls into new patient appointments.

Teri outlines examples of specific communication skills needed by dental team members answering the phone and talking to a prospective new patient. For example, when a new patient calls, one of the first questions they may ask is, “Do you take my insurance?” Teri shows that there is a right and wrong way to answer the question. If you answer it right, you can get the patient into the office. If you answer it wrong, they will hang up and find another office that does take their insurance.

Teri also covers other scenarios that require strong communication skills: when a doctor buys a practice from another doctor, as well as how to get an existing patient to accept an associate dentist when the senior doctor is cutting back. This is an episode which should be listened to multiple times, especially by the front office team, to increase your number of new patients and improve your dental practice.