How to Know When Your Front Desk Staff Needs Improvement

Making a positive first impression is a powerful part of the front desk staff’s job in your dental practice. They’re the face of your practice! Proper front desk etiquette is very important, yet many skip formal training for their folks working upfront. Your dental office manager is the first person that comes in contact with the patient — so it’s pretty important that they are organized. Your dental practice’s success depends on having the highest possible level of organization for your office managers. If you are worried your front desk staff is falling short on their front desk manners, here are four questions to ask yourself.

1. Is your front desk staff well trained?
2. Does your front desk staff have strong interpersonal skills?
3. Does your front desk staff exhibit proper phone etiquette?
4. Is your practice a great place to work?

If you can honestly answer “yes” to the four questions below, you most likely have a good team. If you are not sure of your answers or if any of your answers are no, there’s room for improvement.

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How Do I Train My Dental Front Of The Office?

Dental front desk training checklists are valuable for a couple of reasons. They can be practical when training new front office team members. It’s also helpful if another team member is filling in. The checklist gives the new team members a place to start.

To meet your front desk team’s goals, here’s what the Front Desk Coordinator should be trained to accomplish in the first few minutes with a new patient:

Project energy and enthusiasm. Even on the worst of days at the office, they must rise above any negative feelings to create a strong positive impression of your practice. Language like “We love seeing new patients!” or “I can’t wait to meet you!” sends the right message.

Gather information, including interesting personal facts. In addition to the usual patient information, your coordinator should draw out some personal details. These will be documented so you and other staff members can use them to help build a strong practice-patient relationship.

Find out how callers heard about your practice. For the sake of your marketing, you need to know what strategies are working for your practice. If your new patients have been referred by current patients, asking “Who can we thank for recommending us?” sends the message that you really appreciate your patients, both established and new.

Build value for you, the team, and the practice.

Praise for A) You. Such as, “Did you know Dr. Smith is board-certified?”,

B) Your staff. Like, “We treat our patients like family!”

C) Your office. Something like, “We have an amazing new imaging system!”

These can all be interspersed throughout the conversation between your front desk and new patients.

Schedule the first appointment within seven days. By the end of the conversation, all callers should be scheduled to come in soon for their first visit before the positive first impression your front desk coordinator creates can fade.

More Done Desk: Establishing Performance Measurements For A Medical Practice

Dental Office Manager Documents & Resources: your dental front desk training checklist

Take the guesswork out of running your practice. Done Desk provides expert resources and training to help you establish, and maintain your COVID-19 compliance disciplines. CDC guidelines, OSHA, HIPAA, infection control, and employee awareness are all at the forefront of practice ownership. We help you train your people, keep them trained, and organize your training records.

Want a printable checklist to get your front office team on the same page and motivated?

Drop your details below to download Done Desk’s 2022 Dental Front Desk Training Checklist designed to help Office Managers run a busy dental practice and manage their staff.