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Issue #26 - 8.14.07
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VOIP Phone Technology
The dental marketing world has changed dramatically thanks to a powerful new technology called VOIP phone service. The acronym VOIP stands for “Voice Over Internet Protocol” but in a nutshell it is just telephone service using an internet connection in place of the standard phone lines we have had for decades. Several companies such as Vonage have made telephone service available using a standard high speed internet connection, allowing consumers to completely shut off their existing telephone service. About a year ago I switched to Vonage and instead of paying upwards of $100 per month, I now pay a fixed $20 per month regardless of the number of calls I make or whether the calls are local or long distance. Sometimes the quality isn’t perfect and sometimes the service isn’t available because if your internet connection goes down so does your phone service. Some businesses have completely switched over to VOIP phone service and save thousands of dollars every month in long distance expenses.
Now let me cut to the chase and tell you how this technology has revolutionized dental marketing. One of the advantages of VOIP phone service is that all inbound phone calls can be tracked at a website provided by the VOIP service company. In many cases the level of data that is provided for each caller is absolutely amazing. With the service that my company currently recommends to dental practices, the name of the caller, their address, a Google map, demographic information, call time and call length are all available to review in real time. The system we recommend even captures an MP3 recording of every call in its entirety! Imagine being able to listen to every marketing call made to your practice from any advertising effort and being able to actually listen to how your office team handled the call!
It is important to understand that VOIP service requires a practice to “rent” one or more new telephone numbers. These numbers are usually only used within the confines of marketing efforts and are local numbers with the same area code and prefix that is already used in that area. This new telephone number is automatically forwarded to the existing phone system and doesn’t require any changes to be made to the phone service. For example, an office may assign a new phone number to be used as the contact number on the direct mail postcard, as well as in the yellow page ad and at the website. The reason for the new number is to be able to track the unique calls that come into the practice as a result of any marketing efforts. Existing patients will continue to use the phone number already in place.
When a call comes in to a dental office from the new marketing number, the person answering the phone hears an announcement that the call is indeed a marketing call. This is called the “whisper feature” and it allows the person taking the call, to gather their thoughts and quickly prepare themselves for the ever-important marketing call. After the call is completed, all of the caller information already outlined can be accessed online immediately.
The list of benefits from this amazing technology are as follows:
- Being able to track each and every call made as a result of investment in advertising efforts. Never has call tracking been so easy and so accurate.
- The ability to carefully analyze the day of the week and time of the day that marketing calls happen. Often dentists are surprised to see how many calls go unanswered because the office hours of the practice don’t coincide with consumers’ calling habits. When calls are missed the data provided for each caller allows for a follow-up call to be made to the prospective patient.
- Being able to carefully review the way calls are handled by every team member and to hear how the caller’s questions and concerns are handled. Many dentists have been shocked after being able to witness first-hand the lack of skill and phone etiquette displayed by their office staff.
- Having the whisper feature notify the person answering the phone that a marketing call is coming through.
- Having access to valuable demographic information from each caller to help practices determine if their marketing message is attracting the appropriate patient type for the practice.
In my opinion VOIP phone technology has already revolutionized the way dental marketing will be executed, tracked and analyzed. Any practice that is investing important dollars in a marketing campaign should carefully consider the value and benefit of finally being able to track without question the results of their marketing efforts.
Interested in increasing your new patient flow? Click Here
To reach Joel Harris Email him at Joel@thedentistsnetwork.net