Fono Vakalahi, the Setter Center Manager at Dental Implant Machine shares some tips on how to be a successful appointment setter.
The First 7 to 10 Seconds in Appointment Setting can Make or Break the Connection to Your Patients
As an appointment setter, your role is crucial to the success of your office. You are the first line of defense, the first point of contact that patients have with your office. Therefore, the first 7 to 10 seconds of your conversation with a patient are crucial. In those first few seconds, you can either make or break the connection to the potential patients’ trust and confidence that your practice is the right fit for them.
Tonality is Important: The Way You Speak to Patients Matters
When a patient contacts your office, they may have been dealing with teeth problems or issues for years. They may have been unhappy with their smile for a long time. When they find your office and hear good things about your doctor, that first 7 to 10 seconds is critical. Therefore, your tonality is important – the tone of your voice and the way you speak to them have an impact on whether they will want to come into your office or not.
Patients should feel a warm welcome when they speak to you. For instance, saying “Hello, how can I help you?” is a generic greeting that does not have much impact and does not carry a personalized feel to it. Whereas saying something like: “Hi, this is Fono calling from Dental Smiles. How are you doing today?”, shows that you care about the patient’s well-being and sets a positive tone for the rest of the conversation.
Your Appointment Setter Must Truly Be Motivated to help patients get their smiles back
To master the first 7 to 10 seconds, you have to dive into the root of why you’re doing what you’re doing. You have to love helping other people. If you’re an office manager or a doctor, you need to ensure that your appointment setter loves what they’re doing and is in the business of changing lives.
If your appointment setter doesn’t have the right motivation, they may not set the right tone for the conversation. Patients can sense when someone is not genuinely interested in helping them, which can lead to a negative experience and ultimately going elsewhere.
The Importance of Finding the Right Fit for the Appointment Setter Role
If your current appointment setter does not fit the role – perhaps they aren’t very eager to answer the phones, or they are not excited to help the patients coming into the office, or perhaps they just don’t have the right energy for the role – you may need to find someone else who is a better fit.
That’s not to say that that person is not a good person or is bad at their job – some roles just require a particular person to fill them.
The appointment setter role is crucial to your office’s success, which is why it is absolutely necessary to have someone who understands the importance of the first few seconds of the conversation. This role needs a person with the right energy and mindset, who can set a positive tone, and who genuinely loves helping others.
Mastering the first 7 to 10 seconds of the appointment-setting conversation is critical to your office’s success. It sets the tone for the rest of the conversation and can determine whether or not a patient decides to come to your office. By taking these tips into account, you’ll be able to set your office up for success and provide patients with a positive experience.
