Sally McKenzie, CEO McKenzie Management Printer Friendly Version

Patients Don't Complain.
They Leave

Poor customer service seems to be everywhere these days. Employees ignore waiting customers. “I don’t care” attitudes are prevalent. Supervisors don’t have the time or resources to train workers and are forced to cut corners to preserve the bottom line. All of this comes at a price, usually of the customer. The few companies that do deliver what they promise make headlines because even though excellent customer service is the expectation, most of us would agree that it is rarely the reality.

So when was the last time you considered the quality of customer/patient service your practice is delivering each day?

“But Sally, our patient service is fine. We almost never get any complaints.” Welcome to the “no news is bad news” club. Patients complain even less often than dissatisfied customers of stores and recent studies show very few customers bother to make the effort. In fact, a typical business only hears from 4% of its dissatisfied customers. The other 96% quietly go away. Of this 96%, nearly 70% never reveal their dissatisfaction because they believe the owner, manager or employee simply doesn’t care.

In a dental practice, the scenario may be somewhat different but the outcomes are the same. Patients rarely complain to the dentist because in most cases of poor service they still think highly of the doctor. They appreciate the dentist and usually don’t want to bother him/her with a complaint. The patient will tolerate the poor service, negative attitudes and problem staff for a while, believing that the doctor will address it or the situation will improve. When it doesn’t, they simply leave and the doctor never knows why.

Improving customer service requires you and your team to look at your systems as well as your attitudes. Start with the most fundamental rule: Never ignore the patient standing there. If you are on the phone with another patient or speaking to a staff member, you can acknowledge the first patient’s presence and indicate that you will be right with him/her.

Accept the daily disruption. Many dental employees can become frustrated because they feel they are constantly interrupted. Patients sense the frustration and it makes them uneasy. In some cases, system changes may be in order, but so too may be attitude adjustments. A day in a dental practice is typically a series of interruptions, from the answering the phone to accepting an emergency case, addressing the complaints from an unexpected patient, the ignoring a screaming child and receiving deliveries from the mail carrier. Keep in mind that being successful is being able to perform your job well under the circumstances you are given, not under the circumstances you would prefer.

Listen to your instincts. Most dental teams have been working with specific people and patients for a very long time. It is common for employees to perceive that a patient isn’t happy or is dissatisfied with something, but they often choose to ignore it and hope the problem will just go away. If you perceive that something isn’t right, open the door for the patient to communicate a concern to you.

Why should you set yourself up for a possible complaint? Recent data indicate that 7 out of 10 complaining customers will do business with you again if you address it. If you resolve it on the spot, 95% will do business with you again. I’d certainly be shooting to retain 95% rather than to lose 96%.

Speaking of instincts, patients instantly recognize which team members care about their well-being and which employees simply want to check them off the schedule. Patients are far more likely to want to stay with a practice with a team they know cares about them as people instead of as just another case on today’s line-up.

Build rapport with every patient. People do business with people they like. Make the effort to learn about your patients. Know their preferred names. Does patient Anthony John prefer the nickname AJ? Take an interest in the patients’ interests, children, grandchildren, pets, businesses, hobbies, etc. Ask questions that encourage more than a one-word answer. “How are the children?” typically results in a response of “Fine.” A question such as, “What activities are your children involved in these days?” will engage the patient in real conversation rather than perfunctory small talk.

Finally, love what you do. If you or any member of your team doesn’t want to be there, patients know it. And if you think you don’t want to be there, believe me, neither does your patient.

Interested in speaking to Sally about your practice concerns? Email her at sallymck@mckenziemgmt.com.
Interested in having Sally speak to your dental society or study club? Click here.

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Louis Malcmacher DDS MAGD Printer Friendly Version

Use It Or Lose It

I had the opportunity this past September to speak at my very own state meeting, the Ohio Dental Association Meeting. It was a real pleasure to work with Suzanne Payne, the Director of Meetings for the Ohio Dental Association, and her great team. This meeting was packed with dental professionals from all over the state as well as lots of exhibits on the newest technology in dentistry.

I’ve written about new technology before, but I would like to look at it from a different aspect in this column. Every dentist I know would love to have every piece of new technology. There is no question that we, as dentists, love toys and the bigger and better the technology is, the more that we want it.

The only challenge here is that each new technology comes with a price tag. How do you determine where and when you will spend your technology dollars? Unless you have about a million dollars laying around, you have to make some informed and careful choices as to where you are going to spend your dollars first, and build your practice from there.

Here are some guidelines that we use in our own practice:

1. Is this new technology going to help me in my everyday dentistry?
   If the new technology is not going to be in your hands multiple times per day, then you are not going to get the best use of that technology. The new technology has to become a vital part of your practice immediately in order for you to have any kind of return on investment.

2. Does this new technology have a practice management component?
   This is often an aspect that most dentists don’t think about. Any new technology should have your patients talking to other patients about your practice. When new technology does wow your patients, the buzz it generates is free advertising and great marketing for your practice—patients will spread the word that you can now do things faster, easier and better than ever before.

3. Will this new technology make your office run more efficiently?
   Many times with new technology, there may be glitches that actually change the way you practice and make you less efficient than you were before. New technologies should be complementary to your practice and not dramatically change the flow of your day because then it will end up costing you much more than the price tag associated with it.

Let me give you some examples of technologies we have invested in that have paid off tremendously. Digital radiography is certainly at the top of any dentist’s list. We recently acquired a Dr. Suni Plus System. Suni has just come out with the thinnest, most comfortable sensor ever developed and their software is outstanding. Add to that a Suni Cam Intraoral Camera and you have one of the most cost-effective digital x-ray systems on the market. The software is very intuitive and our team members were able to pick it up very quickly, which saved us time. Now it is a crucial part of our office.

It is also certainly time to take a look at laser dentistry. Once you learn how to use it you can comfortably do most of your operative dentistry and many other procedures without giving the patient anesthetic. We now have two Waterlase C 100s and two Waterlase MDs (both by Biolase) and we could not imagine practicing without them. It has made us much more efficient and differentiated our practice from others more than anything else in our recent history.

Yes, it is time to look at new technology, especially with Section 179 in the tax code, which allows Uncle Sam to help pay for some of these investments in your practice. Just like we tell our patients to use their benefits before the end of the year, you need to buy some equipment before the end of 2008 to qualify. This is money back in your pocket. By the way, don’t feel bad about Uncle Sam helping you—with all the bailouts in the financial industry, I would say that is the least that they could do for the dental industry!

Dr. Louis Malcmacher is a practicing general dentist in Bay Village, Ohio, an internationally known lecturer, dental consultant and author, and consultant to the Council on Dental Practice of the ADA. Interested in knowing more about how to truly enjoy dentistry? Click here.

Interested in having Dr. Malcmacher speak to your dental society or study club? Click here.

To reach Dr. Malcmacher, email him at DrMalcmacher@thedentistsnetwork.net or call 1.800.952.0521.

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Dr. Lorne Lavine Dental Technology Consultants Printer Friendly Version

Upgrading, Part 2

In Part 1 of this article, we started to explore the process of upgrading practice management software. There’s little doubt that upgrading can be one of the most traumatic experiences for any office. Not only is there the issue of data conversion (which is often nowhere even close to 100%), there is also downtime for training and learning the new program. This can be a very stressful time for everyone and it’s not unheard of for offices to lose staff during this transition, so upgrading is not a decision to take likely.

In the past issue, we examined the need to change or upgrade software, how critical it is to back up your data before you start this process, backup options and what to back up and some problems to avoid. We’ll continue with another five important pointers.

6. Getting a “Clean” Install
In order to try to get as clean an installation/upgrade as possible, you should close down any programs that might be running in the background. Many computers have anti-virus programs running (and if they don’t, they should!) that are usually easy to close down. But what about programs running in the background that you might not see? Here’s how to find them: In most versions of Windows, you can go to the Start button, click Run, and type in “msconfig” (without the quotation marks). In the window that opens up, select the “Startup” tab. Every item that starts when your computer boots up will have a checkmark next to it. In many cases, these programs can and should be turned off. Some should not be turned off, so investigate the programs online or work with a computer consultant before you start randomly unchecking boxes.

7. When to Start
OK. You’ve cleaned up the hard drive, made a backup and verified that the backup can be restored. Are you ready to proceed? My best recommendation is that this is not something that you want to attempt on Friday afternoon at 4:30 PM. Although most of the PMS programs have taken pains to develop installation routines that are easy to follow, they are hardly foolproof. The fact of the matter is that upgrades and installations are not always as smooth as they are designed to be. And when things go wrong, you need to have someone to call. Make sure that the software company is available to help in case of a problem. Make sure that your computer/networking consultant knows your plans and can offer assistance if necessary; you might even consider paying an expert to do the install and give yourself some peace of mind! I would certainly recommend that the install occur on your day off or on a day that the practice is closed during the week.

8. Training the Staff
Your staff can be a great resource to assist in this process. Many doctors I’ve spoken to are surprised to see the level of knowledge that the staff has when it comes to computers and software. If you haven’t done software training for your office, now is the time to consider this. These programs can be extremely complicated, and the more they know about the software and how to troubleshoot, the better off you will be.

9. What Can Go Wrong?
In a word, everything! Murphy’s Law was practically invented for computers and software! You could corrupt the data. You could make your operating system unstable and prone to frequent crashing, if it even boots up at all. Your digital cameras or radiography systems might no longer function or, if they do function, not with the software that you’ve used for years. The better prepared you are, the easier it will be to recover from a problem.,

10. Fixing It Right
Even with the best of efforts, some offices will get into trouble that they cannot fix on their own. Some good advice is to have phone numbers available for people that can help. The software company should have a toll-free support number. Some are better than others at having technical support reps accessible in a timely manner. If you worked with a computer company to build and install your hardware and software, make sure they are available. Keep manuals and software nearby for all the components in the systems. There are many online resources as well, such as the Dental Town message boards (my personal favorite!) at dentaltown.com or the Internet Dental Forum at internetdentalforum.org.

Lorne Lavine, DMD is the Founder and President of Dental Technology Consultants. Dr. Lavine holds two prestigious certifications, the A+ Certified Technician designation and the Network+ Certified Professional. These designations demonstrate proficiency in computer repair, operating systems, network design and installation. Dental Technology Consultants provide dentists a full range of services relating to the implementation of technology.

Dr. Lavine can be reached at drlavine@thedentistsnetwork.net.

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