It seems like everyone has a suggestion on how to set up the schedule in your practice. If you ask three people, you will probably get three different answers. That is why, for the purposes of this blog, I want to look at scheduling from a framework standpoint. The schedule is the heartbeat of the practice – it can either increase or decrease the stress of all team members. At the end of the day though, is it convenient for your patients to schedule? There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for several months for a hygiene checkup and evaluation – it is so much more than a cleaning and that will be a different blog post 😊 If you have capacity issues, then solve them for the sake of your patients. When patients are ready to schedule, your office needs to act. Is that happening for you at your practice?
I find that most offices are scheduling so they meet their daily financial production goal of the practice. For some reason, offices think it is an either/or situation. Either you schedule to make goal and make patients mad, or you don’t schedule according to goal and make patients happy. I do not agree with that statement at all. I think with the correct communication skills, scheduling is an “and” situation. You can schedule to goal and make patients happy.
By communicating correctly, your team will be building rapport with all your patients. I believe dentistry is all about relationships. Building a trusting relationship is key to making sure your patients continue coming back to your office instead of seeing the guy down the street running a special promotion. By taking the time to build rapport correctly, your team should be able to keep your patients happy while scheduling for your daily production goals.
If you need help in implementing this “and” capability for your practice, please get in touch with me so we can chat about it.