How A Dentist Answering Service Helps Your Practice Earn Five-Star Reviews

As a dentist, you know better than anyone that dental hygiene is a necessity. You also know it’s one people often neglect. After all, you would have far less business if everyone was a perfect patient. But because a major part of your job is to remind people not to neglect their teeth, people are often wary of dentists. 

Reviews are an important way of combating that wariness. Prospective patients want to know that your practice is responsive and friendly, and short of booking an appointment and finding out for themselves, online reviews are the only way for them to figure out which practice is right for them. 

Unfortunately, this is a part of running a business you can’t directly control. How do you make sure your reviews draw patients in, instead of scaring them away?

You do that by only hiring the best help, whether that be for answering your phones or performing regular cleanings. And the best way to handle your phones is with Ring Savvy’s dentist answering service. A dentist answering service is a powerful, flexible tool that will improve your practice’s responsiveness and your reputation as a friendly, professional place to do all that necessary dental maintenance. 

Improving Your Responsiveness

Many of your negative reviews will come not from patients who had a bad experience in your office, but from people who couldn’t get in touch with you. It can be anything from calling while your office is on lunch break, or missing a call because the phones are ringing off the hook. If a new patient gets your voicemail, they’re less likely to call back than they are to continue searching until they find a competitor who will answer their phone call.

Let’s use an example. Imagine a patient who needs a minor procedure done — say removing a permanent retainer their orthodontist placed on their lower front teeth. It’s preventing them from flossing and causing gum inflammation, and may one day cause bone loss. The procedure won’t take long, but they’re going out of town soon so they need an appointment within the next few days. 

This isn’t a time-sensitive issue, of course. The patient could always learn to floss through the permanent retainer, or else get it removed when they come back from their trip. But you’re thinking of the problem like a dentist. Patients are, ironically, often impatient. The consumer landscape is full of instant gratification like same-day shipping and streaming services, and that’s no different for consumers of medical services. The reality is this: if that patient calls while you’re on lunch, or after your office closes in the evening, they are likely to seek out a more responsive practice.

A dentist answering service can solve this problem. With 24/7 coverage, you’ll never miss a call. Even when your office is closed, patients can reach a virtual receptionist, an extension of your practice, and leave a message or schedule an appointment. Your reviews will be raving about just how responsive your practice is.

Enhancing Your Reputation

Your dental receptionists have a lot on their plates. They’re answering the phones, performing intake for patients, managing your schedule, handling confidential medical files, and, most importantly, handling billing and dealing with insurance companies. That’s what you pay them for! But the reality is, all those responsibilities means sometimes something falls by the wayside. 

If your dental receptionists are tired or swamped, it’s possible that they answer the phone with less than one hundred percent of their effort. They could make a mistake, scheduling an appointment incorrectly or not scheduling one at all. Any of these are understandable, but they can lead to less-than-stellar reviews, which could drive prospective patients away.

A dentist answering service can help avoid these bad reviews. Our virtual receptionists specialize in answering the phones, so they’ll always give one hundred percent of their effort and attention to your callers. Your patients will come away from their phone calls with nothing but good things to say about your office, meaning they’ll leave many more good reviews. And since our virtual receptionists are an extension of your practice, you’ll keep all the credit. 

Doing Even More for Your Practice

Stellar responsiveness and friendly, professional answering are only half the battle against bad reviews. Those will get patients into your office. Your practice then has to provide excellent service — but that’s the part you can control. 

Hire Ring Savvy’s dentist answering service to handle the first half. In addition to message-taking and scheduling, our bilingual virtual receptionists can also transfer calls to your office, in case someone you need to speak to reaches us first. You can also set up your dentist answering service so that if the phones are ringing off the hook, after the third or fourth ring the call will be sent over to our virtual receptionists so that we can support your practice in providing five-star service.

Start racking up five-star reviews and attracting wary customers. Click here or call 631-363-1000 to sign up for our free trial. For a limited time, we’re also offering practices that sign up with our service their first 400 minutes free.