Aspire2d's Team Series: 4 Key Areas of Client Satisfaction

The Team series brings you topics to workshop in your next team training session.  Successful practices actively problem-solve and innovate to find solutions to issues within the business and for their clients. Team training is an opportunity to build and refine these skills.

During my time training dental teams on customer service, we take time to look at the benefits of exceptional service and the consequences of bad service.  The modern dental practice lives and dies by client reviews.  There are four main areas of client satisfaction and delivering these consistently should be the foundation for all that you do.

To illustrate how important it is for the team to understand customer service and satisfaction, I begin with a few questions:

1. Price is the most important thing to clients, true or false?
2. Customer service is not that important, true or false?
3. As long as the dentistry is good and the fees are cheap, clients don't care about much else, true or false?

Before you answer, take a look at your online reviews.  Grab a red pen and write down any words associated with fees and price. Using a green pen, write down any words about service, experience and feelings.

I would safely bet that 9/10 or even 10/10 of your reviews do not mention price or fees.  What you have discovered is that exceptional service, a positive experience and genuine care is what patients value most.

(NB: Which qualities or aspects about your practice did those clients find positive or negative?  The answers should form a list for your practice to evaluate).

Team Exercise

Brainstorm common situations that occur within your practice which negatively impact a client. Consider these from the perspective of the client.  Get the whole team to provide feedback and ideas. (I've listed a few examples to get your juices flowing but I'm sure your team will have a few of their own!)

• Identify a negative situation (use past experiences or from feedback)
• One for each role in the practice
• The effect this might have on the client, how it makes the client feel
• The change required, what you can do to eliminate it or give a better impression

KEY AREA #1 - PERCEPTION OF COMPETENCE

Clients need to know (or at least think) that the dentist and the team are competent, that they know what they are doing in order to trust you and feel safe.

Dentist Situation: Eg, Treated 27 yet the 26 now hurts. Dentist says 26 needs endo.

Effect on client:

Change required:

DA Situation: Eg, Can't find the material the dentist is asking for.

Effect on client:

Change required:

Front Desk Situation: Eg, client turns up for appointment on a card that is not in the book.

Effect on client:

Change required:

KEY AREA #2: CLIENT EXPECTATIONS

Clients who expect to receive better care are often more satisfied. That's interesting! If you promote certain services, clients expect to receive higher quality treatment than from others who do not. Referred clients from trusted sources also expect excellent care and service.

Dentist Situation: Eg, Dentist markets Ortho.  Brackets keep popping off.

DA Situation: Eg, DA does not engage in conversation with the patient during treatment.

Front Desk Situation: Eg, Client walks in and is not acknowledged by the FD who is on the phone.

Effect on client:

Change required:

KEY AREA #3: VALUE IN TECHNOLOGY

Clients make judgements based on the technology that is on show or offered to them.  If the practice has new technology and equipment that can make things easier or better for the client, they are more likely to expect better care and perceive they're getting a more valuable service.

Dentist Situation: Eg, Faded upholstery on the dental chair, rip in the plastic covering.

DA Situation: Eg, Unable to turn on chosen video or music for client comfort during treatment.

Front Desk Situation: Eg, Slow to process payments and insurance electronically.

Effect on client:

Change required:

KEY AREA #4: PAIN MANAGEMENT

The clinician's ability to manage the pain and discomfort of treatment for the client is a critical area of satisfaction.  Clients are more likely to dislike their dentist if they feel he/she did not do enough to eliminate or reduce their pain.  The fear of pain is another factor that stops around 15% of clients scheduling for treatment.

Dentist Situation: Eg, Painful administration of LA.

DA Situation: Eg, Does not notice the tears rolling down the client's face during treatment.

Front Desk Situation: Eg, Does not follow up with clients after treatment.

Effect on client:

Change required:

Use the situations and evaluations as a basis to form an action list to address them.  Set some realistic goals and targets and check in at the next session to discuss the results.

A word of warning: be sure to do this exercise in the spirit it was intended - as an open and honest discussion, to learn and grow as a team for the benefit of you all, the practice and your clients.  You may need to split the exercise up over 4 sessions and discuss each area separately.

PS The answer to the first three questions is false to all, of course.