6 Phone Tips for Closing Prospective Patients

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Keeping regular dental patients coming in the door is a matter of having a proven and reliable sales funnel in place.

Whether your clients are coming from direct mail, personal referrals, or by way of the Internet – at some point you’ll need to speak to them either on the phone or in person. If you’re looking to sell or hand over your practice you will need to establish a solid sales funnel to prove to a buyer that your business model is sustainable.

When receiving a call from a client, make sure you and your staff are pushing for appointments and not simply going through the motions or passively answering questions.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when speaking to prospective clients on the phone.

Set an intention. Make sure you have a goal from the call, whether it’s for the client to set a date to call back that week or to get them to agree to an appointment.

Be knowledgeable. Answer any questions your patient has with complete confidence. People come to a dentist to get their teeth cleaned but they also want to be as comfortable as possible, and they need to have confidence in you in order to feel reassured about their care.

Spend enough time building rapport. You don’t need a master’s degree in communications to be able to understand the basics of building rapport. For the most part, it is a matter of developing empathy and general interest in your patients. One thing you can do is to start the conversation with a question. Simply ask them how their family or work is going – if they are a returning patient, try and get into the habit of picking up the conversation where it left off last time.

Make sure you answer all questions. Always finish the call by asking if they have any more concerns. Not everyone will speak up on the phone. They may think the question they have is silly even if it’s completely valid. It’s up to you to get it out of them.

Give them instructions about what they need to do next. Let them know when you’ll be in touch or when they need to be in touch, and exactly what they need to do if they have a procedure coming up. Also, always make sure to follow up with an email or a text so they don’t push your conversation to the back of their mind.