Make the Call that Matters Most to Your Patients

It is amazing what time, experience and mentors — especially as one grows and changes, or better yet, begins to paradigm shift — will do for you and your practice. As of 2017, the only topics on which I lecture are the business of dentistry and practice management. In dental school, they would have been the last thing I would have expected to speak about. I got involved on the lecture circuit early as one of the pioneering teams in laser dentistry. I had great mentors who taught me so much, but those lessons are a topic for another lecture or article. Today’s topic is making a lasting impression on your patients.

The primary lecture that I give today is titled “Powerful Management Secrets to Become a Million Dollar-Plus Dental Practice: New Patients, Growth and Wealth Creation!” What I will touch on here is the last and final secret that I disclose during the lecture. It is something that is profound, is easy and impresses your patients to such a degree that it produces quantifiable results. If this secret is something you do not do (and most dentists do not do it), I recommend that you put it in practice immediately and watch what happens.

That powerful secret is what I call “Ye Ole Call Sheet.” The call sheet is a post-procedure patient telephone sheet and it should be used by you and your dental hygiene team. Whenever a procedure takes place that involves some form of local anesthesia — or for any procedure that you think justifies this practice — you should call the patient that evening to see how they are doing. This phone call should take place following procedures such as tooth preparation, scaling and root planning, endodontics, surgical procedures done from extractions, implant placement, flaps and grafting. Also, included in this list should be final cementations of restorations — especially those in the anterior, such as crowns, and veneers.

Your assistants should place the patient’s name; the procedure; and home, work and mobile numbers on the sheet. The assistant assigned to the patient should put his or her name on as well. The doctor takes that sheet home and later that night, between 6:30 and 8:30, the doctor delivers the surprise post-procedural phone call. Use the following for guidance:

“Hi Jill, this is Doctor Smith. I am calling to check on you and to see how you are doing from the crown preparation we did today. The procedure went smoothly and I wanted to make sure that the anesthetic has worn off, that you are comfortable and that your bite feels OK.

Also, it’s not a bad idea to take this practice a step further by calling or having someone from your team call the next day while the patient is at work.

Then, sit back and listen. The patient will be impressed and impressed patients will translate to positive Google reviews for you and your team, which will translate to more business.

One of my maxims is, “Image coupled with strong performance is unstoppable.” In today’s dental marketplace, whether you are a dental entrepreneur or whether you are a dental support organization trying to distinguish yourself, this small but invaluable secret makes you unstoppable. This one small step has a tremendous impact on your patients and your business. Patients will tell their friends and family about your superior service. They will write positive online reviews of your practice. And most important, they will generate referrals for you — all from one simple call.

Dr. Robert Pick is a full-time practitioner in Aurora, Ill. He is also the CEO of his own consulting firm, The Pick Group. He can be reached at 773-402-8933. If you would like a copy of the call sheet mentioned in this article, please email diana@progressiveperio.com.