Avoid Missed Calls with Customer Service Representatives
- During your practice’s hours of business, you may receive dozens or even hundreds of calls. Many of these calls will be for minor concerns such as prescription refills, appointment confirmations, and countless other minutiae. Every call takes valuable time from your office staff that could be spent on the day-to-day handling of your clinic and the customers that are right in front of them. While it’s not uncommon for many practices to implement automated systems and allow voicemail to catch the overflow, this comes with various hidden costs.
What Are The Costs of Not Using A Dental Answering Service?
- Research has revealed that dentists and their staff lose valuable time every year in handling calls. This time could be better spent on the patients that are already in the office.
- Voicemails can be a useful tool, but time is often lost due to the unclear nature of many patient voicemails. Which Jane Smith was it that called? Which pills did she need to have a prescription refilled for? If they’re canceling an appointment, when do they want it rescheduled? All of these questions must be answered with a callback from your office staff.
- Studies have shown that when new patients receive a voicemail on their first call, they typically will give your office one additional call before moving on. In many cases, new patients won’t even make that second call, meaning that your practice has missed out on revenue and an opportunity to serve its community.
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What Are The Benefits Of Using Dental Answering Services?
When weighed together, these concerns can seriously impact the performance of your clinic and the experience your patients have when communicating with you. Dental answering services provide an opportunity to improve your patient’s experience when calling your clinic and save your office staff hours of time each year. They accomplish this by handling minor concerns before the calls ever reach you. When a call needs to be passed through to your office, they can ensure it reaches the right staff members without forcing the patient to go through an impersonal automated system. One important benefit they bring is confidentiality. By handling calls and confidential information outside of your office, you never have to worry about a patient’s HIPAA being compromised by someone overhearing the phone conversations with your staff.
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What Should I Require From A Dental Answering Service?
As a medical practice, it’s essential that your answering service is skilled in handling things specific to your industry. The following are essential when you’re looking for a new provider for your answer service needs.
- Do They Specialize In The Medical Industry? – Companies that focus on serving medical practitioners are going to provide more compassionate services to your patients and understand their needs better.
- Do They Train For HIPAA? From your office to your answering service, HIPAA must be followed to the letter for the safety of your patients. Ensure that they train their staff on the details of HIPAA.
- Do They Serve Your Specialty Specifically? While a generalized medical answering service will do, one that understands the needs of a dental practice will better serve your patients.
- Do They Have 24/7 Availability? Being available around the clock means that your patients will always be able to reach your emergency service when needed and will never encounter a busy signal when reaching out to you.
Hundreds of answering services are available today, and many claim to provide services specialized to the medical industry. We took the time to evaluate some of the most popular names, explore review sites, and do some research on the company’s reputation to bring you the following Top 5 Best Dental Answering Services of 2020.
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Comparison Table 1: Comparison of Numeric Data
Dental Service | Google Ratings | Glassdoor Ratings | Yelp Ratings | Number of Reviews | Monthly Cost |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dental Support Specialties | 4.9 stars | N/A | N/A | 29 reviews | N/A |
CallForce | 4.9 stars | N/A | N/A | 62 reviews | N/A |
Dental Whale | N/A | 5 stars | N/A | 6 reviews | N/A |
Dedicated Office Solutions | 5 stars | N/A | N/A | 19 reviews | N/A |
Unique Dental Scheduling | N/A | N/A | 3.5 stars | 17 reviews | N/A |
1. Dental Support Specialties
Google Ratings: 4.9 stars out of 29 Reviews
Dental Support Specialties LLC, a small privately-owned answering service and billing service, provides relief to dentists across the U.S. and Canada, providing dentists with the administrative support needed to support practices. DSS began under the expertise of managers and administrators in the dental industry to gain their reputation. As part of their mission, DSS values accountability and productivity as their core values in their business relations and partners. Their support is founded by their staff members located across the country, and have a positive reputation with dentists for their needs.
2. CallForce
Google Ratings: 4.9 Stars out of 62 Reviews
CallForce focuses on human interaction when it comes to their answering services and has gained recognition from websites such as DentalTown and Dentistry IQ for their professionally trained staff and expansive reach. With CallForce, all calls are managed by their employees located in Utah and operate on a month-to-month basis for their services, avoiding the hassle and commitment of long-term contracts. CallForce’s answering service works with your practice software to help schedule appointments, resolve questions, and answer calls after hours so your practice gains the reputation you need for success.
3. Dental Whale
Glassdoor Ratings: 5 stars out of 6 Reviews
Dental Whale offers a software platform built for dentists and its Dental Fix specialists to provide 24/7 answering services and customer service representatives so you can focus on your practice. Their Orca software integrates and streamlines everyday practices into one interface, so you can analyze your productivity, keep track of your appointments, and streamline your workflow efficiency. With their Dental Fix RX, personalized answering services can be added on to help reduce downtime and create a cost-effective practice.
4. Dedicated Office Solutions
Google Ratings: 5 Stars out of 19 Reviews
Dedicated Office Solutions marks itself as a uniquely woman-owned business, providing many customer service options for both at-home and professional settings. Their Dedicated agents act as virtual receptionists for your business and act as representatives for your practice by answering phone calls, scheduling appointments, answering questions, and managing sales. Their representatives all have previous experience working in customer service, and by making communication their key focus for their services, Dedicated Office Solutions provides a seamless transition from faulty initiatives to a valued practice.
5. Unique Dental Scheduling
Yelp Ratings: 3.5 stars out of 17 Reviews
Unique Dental Scheduling focuses entirely on dental services, building up a team of customer service representatives that can easily answer your patient’s questions. Unique Dental Scheduling compliments their services to your practice goals so you can focus on your career in the industry. Their services include a custom-designed software interface that focuses on your productivity goals, including benefits such as after-hour calling services, outreach campaigns, and live web chat widgets. With no long-term agreements and customizable plans, Unique Dental Scheduling can quote the best price for your practice with a straightforward approach.
Comparison Table 2: Comparison of Important Features
Dental Service | Service Type | Coverage | Support Features | Appointment Scheduling | Practice Software Integration |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dental Support Specialties | Answering Service and Billing Service | U.S. and Canada | Provides administrative support for dentists, core values of accountability and productivity, founded by staff members located across the country | No | No |
CallForce | Answering Service | Utah | Human interaction, professionally trained staff, expansive reach, calls managed by employees in Utah, month-to-month basis, appointment scheduling and after-hours calls | Yes | Yes |
Dental Whale | Software Platform and Answering Service for Dental Fix RX | N/A | Provides 24/7 answering services and customer service representatives, Orca software for productivity analysis, Dental Fix RX for personalized answering services | No | Yes |
Dedicated Office Solutions | Virtual Receptionist for At-Home and Professional Settings | N/A | Virtual receptionists for businesses, answering phone calls, scheduling appointments, answering questions, managing sales, Dedicated agents with customer service experience | Yes | No |
Unique Dental Scheduling | Custom Dental Services | Customizable plans, no long-term agreements, focuses on dentistry | Custom-designed software interface, after-hour calling services, outreach campaigns, live web chat widgets | Yes | Yes |