Three Reasons Growing Dental Practices Should Invest In A Bilingual Answering Service
If you own a growing dental practice, then you know they have very different needs than established offices. It can be tough to stand out from the crowd to start building a regular client base; regular cleanings are a key part of the dental business model, but getting enough patients to rely on is a difficult obstacle to overcome. And even when you do have regular patients, the constant tide of no-shows and cancellations becomes its own problem.
The prescription for this problem is deceptively simple: volume and comfort. The more patients you have, the more will actually show up for their appointments. Similarly, the more comfortable patients are when they’re dealing with your practice, the more likely they are to come back for that cleaning you scheduled them for in three or six months.
There are plenty of strategies for growing your patient base and ensuring patients are comfortable. Marketing is essential to growing your firm, of course, and hiring only the best dental receptionists and assistants makes being a patient at your practice much easier. But have you considered adapting your practice to be able to serve Spanish-speaking patients?
Growing Your Practice with Spanish-Speaking Receptionists
Spanish-speaking receptionists are perfect for both growing your patient base and making sure they’re comfortable. No matter where you are, there is probably a significant Spanish-speaking population there — recent census data shows that there are over 41 million people in the U.S. who speak Spanish at home. That’s a population that may be underserved by other dentists.
Depending on your area, there may not be a dentist equipped to effectively communicate with and care for Spanish-speaking patients. With a Spanish-speaking receptionist, you’ll be able to tap into that population.
It may be difficult to find a bilingual dental receptionist in your area, and the cost of hiring more staff can be high. Instead, you can invest in a bilingual answering service for dentists.
By investing in a bilingual answering service, you can start serving the Spanish-speaking population, who will be much more comfortable scheduling appointments if they’re speaking to a receptionist who speaks their language. You’ll be expanding your patient base while making sure those new patients come back in for their follow-up appointments.
Want to find out how? Below are three reasons growing dental practices should invest in a bilingual answering service:
Reason #1: You’ll Provide Even More Comfort To Your Patients
It’s a sad truth of the vocation, but dentists can make people nervous. Between uncomfortable cleanings if you haven’t been flossing to being taught, as an adult, how to brush your teeth, visiting a dentist can seem like a burdensome responsibility. Nobody likes being told how to do something they think they already know how to do.
Of course, the dental health of your patients is worth any discomfort they may experience. But, in order to make sure patients keep coming in for those regular cleanings, you have to provide a friendly atmosphere. With a bilingual answering service, you can do exactly that for any Spanish-speaking prospective patients that may call your office.
Have you ever been to a foreign country, one where you only knew a few words of the language? Perhaps you went to Paris and knew just enough French to get around. It can be uncomfortable to stumble your way through a language you don’t know very well.
People who speak predominantly Spanish often feel that way every day here in the U.S. That’s why it is so important to be able to communicate with this growing section of the population. If you hire a bilingual answering service, you can get help ease that language barrier. Spanish-speaking patients will be more likely to make appointments and come back for follow-ups if they know you speak their language.
Reason #2: You’ll Never Have Another Difficult Translator Call
Have you ever had a patient call in to your practice who had a family member translate for them? It’s more common if your practice caters to the elderly, or even if you just happen to have elderly patients. Older Spanish-speaking people often have more trouble communicating in the English they know, and will sometimes have their children or even grandchildren translate for them over the phone.
If this has happened to you, then you know these calls can be difficult and time-consuming. Everything the patient says has to be said twice, and often the translating family members don’t know how to translate the specific terminology. Dientes means “teeth”, but how many of those family members know the much less common word encías, meaning “gums”?
With a bilingual answering service, you’ll never have to deal with these calls again. Bilingual virtual receptionists will be able to handle these calls in the caller’s own language, and your patients will be grateful to be able to handle their appointments themselves, rather than relying upon their kids or grandkids to translate for them.
Reason #3: You’ll Grow Your Patient Base
We saved the best and possibly most obvious reason for last. You know better than anyone: no one is immune to the consequences of neglecting their dental health. So why shouldn’t you serve the section of the population that speaks Spanish at home, a population that numbers over 41 million people nationwide?
This is an underserved population precisely because of the language barrier we mentioned earlier. Depending on your area, there may not be a dentist that can communicate with Spanish-speakers in Spanish, which means many people may not be getting the dental care they need. Your practice can tap into that population and start serving these patients in need of your care.
If you invest in a bilingual answering service, your dental practice can become the go-to location for the Spanish-speaking part of your community that are seeking dental care. Dentists who don’t have a bilingual receptionist won’t be able to compete with you for these patients. That edge will help you stand out, and your top area competitors won’t be able to snag these patients.
By providing a high quality experience for Spanish speakers, you’ll not only start growing your practice, but you’ll also be setting yourself up to receive referrals and online praise. Impressing even just a few of these new patients can lead to your practice growing a reputation in the community for being able to help Spanish-speakers.
Add Bilingual Support To Your Practice Today!
We’ve demonstrated that a bilingual answering service is a powerful tool, but it’s also a flexible one. A bilingual answering service need not replace your existing dental receptionist! With Ring Savvy’s bilingual answering service, you can set up your practice so that you can forward your Spanish-language calls to us. You can also make use of our overflow call handling system, so that you can be sure you’ll never miss a call, even if your phone is ringing off the hook.
Ring Savvy’s bilingual answering service is also available 24/7, so that if anyone calls your office after hours, you’ll be able to review the call in the morning and follow-up to schedule appointments. Our service can even schedule appointments for you, and since you’d set up the times and days we can schedule ahead of time, you can be sure we’d never overbook you.
Want to start providing maximum comfort to patients you never thought you’d be treating? Click here or call 631-363-1000 to sign up for our free trial today. For a limited time, we’re offering practices that sign up with our service their first 400 minutes free.