It had always been Melissa’s dream to open her own dental practice. As she worked her way through difficult science courses and entrance exams and then ultimately through dental school, she always kept the vision of hanging her own little sign up for her own private practice. Three years out of dental school, she felt like she was finally ready. She had secured financing, found some great staff members, and leased the perfect location. After making sure she had everything ready to do great advertising to get new patients, she realized that she needed a way to positively interact with all of the people who would be calling to set up appointments after hours. One of Melissa’s hygienists suggested getting a live phone answering service and Melissa knew she needed to learn more.
Melissa had already decided that especially in the beginning, she did not want her new patients to have to rely on voicemail. She wanted to appear responsive and excited to meet and care for each of her patients. She learned that a live phone answering service could do this by responding to complaints, concerns, and issues from her patients. A professional answering service could also make sure that if a patient had a truly emergent concern, they could reach Melissa to schedule an appointment or get immediate services.
Once she decided that getting a live phone answering service was definitely the right direction, she realized she had a lot to learn about the industry. She combed through telephone answering service reviews, trying to focus on those about a small business answering service. She learned that live phone answering services increased customer satisfaction because customers liked that the business was available at any time. She also discovered it was a large and growing industry-it was expected that the customer service business would grow about 13% by 2022! She also discovered that more than half of people stated that they would pay more for better customer service. That was exactly what Melissa was hoping to capitalize on by hiring a live phone answering service.
Since Melissa had always had a passion for bringing oral health care to the underserved, she was also planning to open her practice to people without dental insurance or who were on state-based insurance. She knew that a lot of these consumers had not interacted much with a dental provider before, and she liked the idea that no matter when they called her office, they would get to speak to a real person. Especially for the older adults she hoped to help, she knew this would really set her apart.
Just a few short months after opening her practice, Melissa was thrilled to see that she had a full patient load. She also loved getting the feedback that her live phone answering service was one of the reasons people trusted her so much. They felt like she had invested in their experience, and that helped them entrust her with their teeth. Looking back, Melissa now feels confident that hiring her 24 hour answering service was the best decision she made since deciding to become a dentist when she was 12.
