Phone answering skills are critical for businesses. The telephone is still most business's primary point of contact with customers. And the way you answer your company's phone will form your customer's first impression of your business. These phone answering tips will ensure that callers know they're dealing with a winning business:
1) Answer all incoming phone calls before the third ring.
2) When you answer the phone, be warm and enthusiastic. Your voice at the end of the telephone line is sometimes the only impression of your company a caller will get.
3) When answering the phone, welcome callers courteously and identify yourself and your organization. Say, for instance, "Good morning. Cypress Technologies. Susan speaking. How may I help you?" No one should ever have to ask if they've reached such and such a business.
4) Enunciate clearly, keep your voice volume moderate, and speak slowly and clearly when answering the phone, so your caller can understand you easily.
5) Control your language when answering the phone. Don't use slang or jargon. Instead of saying, "OK", or "No problem", for instance, say "Certainly", "Very well", or "All right". If you're a person who uses fillers when you speak, such as "uh huh", "um", or phrases such as "like" or "you know", train yourself carefully not to use these when you speak on the phone.
6) Train your voice and vocabulary to be positive when phone answering, even on a "down" day. For example, rather than saying, "I don't know", say, "Let me find out about that for you."
7) Take telephone messages completely and accurately. If there's something you don't understand or can't spell, such as a person's surname, ask the caller to repeat it or spell it for you. Then make sure the message gets to the intended recipient.
8) Answer all your calls within one business day.
9) Always ask the caller if it's all right to put her on hold when answering the phone, and don't leave people on hold. Provide callers on hold with progress reports every 30 to 45 seconds. Offer them choices if possible, such as "That line is still busy. Will you continue to hold or should I have ________ call you back?"
10) If you use an answering machine to answer calls when you can't, make sure that you have a professional message recorded, that does the same thing as tip # 3, and gives callers any other pertinent information before it records their messages. Update your answering machine message as needed. For instance, if your business is going to be closed for a holiday, update your recorded answering machine message to say so and to say when your business will reopen.
Remember the phone call is the only impression the caller is left with, make it a positive one, thanks.
Showing posts with label call. Show all posts
Showing posts with label call. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Nine Ways to Avoid the Average Practice’s Pitfalls in Refractive Call Handling.
Many Doctor’s and Refractive Coordinators are so swamped with the details of doing their job. The daily level of office activity leads to the false assumption that their phones must have been answered properly to have generated such a huge volume of work. Time and again, when real calls are recorded and reviewed, we see that Administrator’s and Doctor’s preconception of these calls does not necessarily match their reality.
We recently made over 1000 secret shop calls to practices nationally. During this time, we were able to reach a counselor directly only 66% of the time! The other 33% of calls were either transferred to voicemail, or asked to leave a message. Of the counselors reached directly, just under 1/3 of them, or in total about 18% of the calls, resulted in any effort to keep us as an active lead. We were amazed that in this economy so little attention to call handling is being made.
Many practices boast a 90% phone inquiry to consult conversion, but don’t actually capture every lead. In effect they only convert 50-60% of their inquiries into consultations because the only calls documented are those where the caller is willing to commit to a consultation easily and now. Everyone else became a lost lead. Talk about missed opportunity!
Here’s the “Monarch Note Version”… and the first few ways to improve your refractive calls and avoid the average practice’s pitfalls.
1. Ensure that your staff is kind and correct on every call.
2. Call your own office as a patient to experience and improve upon your own front office
3. Research your competition and improve upon their style
4. Allow your staff to answer refractive calls uninterrupted
The stakes are high when each incoming call represents upwards of $5000 a pair of eyes. If the initial caller does not enter your financial funnel, most likely they will find another. Our point, lead capture is essential when in today’s market and economy every call counts. It’s about quality over quantity. It’s the same reason that Circuit City is out while Best Buy survives. Extra credit if you can tell which one had better customer care. The ACE program’s crux is lead capture and cultivation, but that’s not all. There is much more involved in maximizing your potential along with bettering your potential client’s experience.
Treating LASIK and IOL callers as if they were regular ophthalmology patients calling for the first time is one of the biggest mistakes that practices make. Answering refractive calls like this……“Can you please hold? ,” or, “ The price? Oh it’s $2600 per eye. Is that all?, “ Ok then, bye now.” …are more common than you can imagine and have a grave effect on the bottom line. Remember, these folks do not consider themselves to be patients of yours yet, nor do they have the time or patience to deal with poor service.
In actuality, phones are often answered by unprepared, uninformed, unenthused and often uncaring staff. Most of us experience poor customer service in some form every day, but when delivered over the phone it is most frustrating. When poorly treated, the customer’s choice is to deal with it or go elsewhere. “Can you please hold?” Most people don’t want to!
Our goal as a leader in the ophthalmology industry should be to always stand out as exceptional. There are no second chances to make a first impression. A bad first impression in the competitive LASIK and IOL market, simply leads to your potential customer finding someone else. It’s hard to imagine how disposable your premium IOL and LASIK services really are. On recorded calls from practices across the country, we often hear the same potential client shopping price at competing practices. We’re here to tell you from experience, you are disposable until the caller has decided that you are the right place for them. The defining factor inevitably is call handling.
But how do you make the consumer realize that you are the best choice? The answer is to match your perception to your reality, and to become as excellent as you think you can be.
With our ACE program, we have the ability to listen to real patient calls for practices, we monitor every call. On average, before the ACE program is implemented, most practices were losing 30% of their new lasik leads by not capturing any information from the patient before ending the call. With a few changes we start with a goal to eliminate “lost leads”.
We’ve proven them a thing of the past for most practices that positively implement our ideals. Alright already…here’s the rest of our tips;
5. Capture every lead routinely
6. Ensure that calls follow a format that maximizes the potential of gaining new business
7. Assign informed and well educated counselor’s to handle your LASIK and IOL calls
8. Script your refractive calls in advance so you can dependably predict the outcome
9. Prepare to make mistakes and accept that they will be made. The key is to learn from them while maintaining morale which ultimately reflects on your call quality.
Imagine if every call were handled as if the caller had reached the most knowledgeable and kindest person in your office, every time, without interruptions or unnecessary holds. That’s our perception. It’s up to you to match our perception to what could be your own reality. We are here to empower you to do so. You may soon be busier than you ever imagined.
About the author of this article: Bill Mercier is the president and CEO of OptiCall, Inc, a provider of consumer communications solutions for the refractive industry which increases conversion rates of prospective callers into viable patient consultations.
We recently made over 1000 secret shop calls to practices nationally. During this time, we were able to reach a counselor directly only 66% of the time! The other 33% of calls were either transferred to voicemail, or asked to leave a message. Of the counselors reached directly, just under 1/3 of them, or in total about 18% of the calls, resulted in any effort to keep us as an active lead. We were amazed that in this economy so little attention to call handling is being made.
Many practices boast a 90% phone inquiry to consult conversion, but don’t actually capture every lead. In effect they only convert 50-60% of their inquiries into consultations because the only calls documented are those where the caller is willing to commit to a consultation easily and now. Everyone else became a lost lead. Talk about missed opportunity!
Here’s the “Monarch Note Version”… and the first few ways to improve your refractive calls and avoid the average practice’s pitfalls.
1. Ensure that your staff is kind and correct on every call.
2. Call your own office as a patient to experience and improve upon your own front office
3. Research your competition and improve upon their style
4. Allow your staff to answer refractive calls uninterrupted
The stakes are high when each incoming call represents upwards of $5000 a pair of eyes. If the initial caller does not enter your financial funnel, most likely they will find another. Our point, lead capture is essential when in today’s market and economy every call counts. It’s about quality over quantity. It’s the same reason that Circuit City is out while Best Buy survives. Extra credit if you can tell which one had better customer care. The ACE program’s crux is lead capture and cultivation, but that’s not all. There is much more involved in maximizing your potential along with bettering your potential client’s experience.
Treating LASIK and IOL callers as if they were regular ophthalmology patients calling for the first time is one of the biggest mistakes that practices make. Answering refractive calls like this……“Can you please hold? ,” or, “ The price? Oh it’s $2600 per eye. Is that all?, “ Ok then, bye now.” …are more common than you can imagine and have a grave effect on the bottom line. Remember, these folks do not consider themselves to be patients of yours yet, nor do they have the time or patience to deal with poor service.
In actuality, phones are often answered by unprepared, uninformed, unenthused and often uncaring staff. Most of us experience poor customer service in some form every day, but when delivered over the phone it is most frustrating. When poorly treated, the customer’s choice is to deal with it or go elsewhere. “Can you please hold?” Most people don’t want to!
Our goal as a leader in the ophthalmology industry should be to always stand out as exceptional. There are no second chances to make a first impression. A bad first impression in the competitive LASIK and IOL market, simply leads to your potential customer finding someone else. It’s hard to imagine how disposable your premium IOL and LASIK services really are. On recorded calls from practices across the country, we often hear the same potential client shopping price at competing practices. We’re here to tell you from experience, you are disposable until the caller has decided that you are the right place for them. The defining factor inevitably is call handling.
But how do you make the consumer realize that you are the best choice? The answer is to match your perception to your reality, and to become as excellent as you think you can be.
With our ACE program, we have the ability to listen to real patient calls for practices, we monitor every call. On average, before the ACE program is implemented, most practices were losing 30% of their new lasik leads by not capturing any information from the patient before ending the call. With a few changes we start with a goal to eliminate “lost leads”.
We’ve proven them a thing of the past for most practices that positively implement our ideals. Alright already…here’s the rest of our tips;
5. Capture every lead routinely
6. Ensure that calls follow a format that maximizes the potential of gaining new business
7. Assign informed and well educated counselor’s to handle your LASIK and IOL calls
8. Script your refractive calls in advance so you can dependably predict the outcome
9. Prepare to make mistakes and accept that they will be made. The key is to learn from them while maintaining morale which ultimately reflects on your call quality.
Imagine if every call were handled as if the caller had reached the most knowledgeable and kindest person in your office, every time, without interruptions or unnecessary holds. That’s our perception. It’s up to you to match our perception to what could be your own reality. We are here to empower you to do so. You may soon be busier than you ever imagined.
About the author of this article: Bill Mercier is the president and CEO of OptiCall, Inc, a provider of consumer communications solutions for the refractive industry which increases conversion rates of prospective callers into viable patient consultations.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Bring Back Lost Patients to Your Practice
Bring Back Your Lost Patients Now!
Tips for More Effective Recalls
Provided by Brett Gerlach, President of Brevium:
• Keep recall notices brief. A brief card will generate twice as many appointments as a long letter, so don't mix practice news or new doctor introductions with recall notices. Just remind patients it's time for a visit to take care of their eyes and ask them to call your office.
• Send out recall notices frequently, in small batches. Sending recall notices out generates incoming calls. Big, infrequent batches generate big spikes in call volumes that will tie up telephones and turn off patients. Divide notices into small, frequent batches to smooth out the load on scheduling.
• Schedule appointments 12 months or more into the future to avoid overusing recalls. Once an appointment is made, the probability of a patient returning for a visit rises significantly, so avoid using recalls unless absolutely necessary. If you can, always schedule a return appointment before the patient leaves the office.
• Follow up with patients who don't respond to recalls by developing an outbound calling system. Also, follow up on patients who cancel appointments or fail to show up for a scheduled appointment so these patients return for needed care.
OptiCall and Brevium have partnered to help you identify and bring back your lost patients. Utilizing Brevium's specialized software, our team of highly qualified phone counselors will personally call to reactivate these missing patients in your existing patient database.
Our Success Rate:
• On average, 100 reactivated scheduled appointments each month
• At an average value of $150 per appointment this program can generate $15,000 or more each month
• An expected $180,000 or higher generated annually
You don't want to miss our next webinar on May 26th, presented by Bill Mercier of OptiCall and Steve Gottfredson of Brevium.
Increase Practice Volume By Bringing Lost Patients Back
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/711582634
Tips for More Effective Recalls
Provided by Brett Gerlach, President of Brevium:
• Keep recall notices brief. A brief card will generate twice as many appointments as a long letter, so don't mix practice news or new doctor introductions with recall notices. Just remind patients it's time for a visit to take care of their eyes and ask them to call your office.
• Send out recall notices frequently, in small batches. Sending recall notices out generates incoming calls. Big, infrequent batches generate big spikes in call volumes that will tie up telephones and turn off patients. Divide notices into small, frequent batches to smooth out the load on scheduling.
• Schedule appointments 12 months or more into the future to avoid overusing recalls. Once an appointment is made, the probability of a patient returning for a visit rises significantly, so avoid using recalls unless absolutely necessary. If you can, always schedule a return appointment before the patient leaves the office.
• Follow up with patients who don't respond to recalls by developing an outbound calling system. Also, follow up on patients who cancel appointments or fail to show up for a scheduled appointment so these patients return for needed care.
OptiCall and Brevium have partnered to help you identify and bring back your lost patients. Utilizing Brevium's specialized software, our team of highly qualified phone counselors will personally call to reactivate these missing patients in your existing patient database.
Our Success Rate:
• On average, 100 reactivated scheduled appointments each month
• At an average value of $150 per appointment this program can generate $15,000 or more each month
• An expected $180,000 or higher generated annually
You don't want to miss our next webinar on May 26th, presented by Bill Mercier of OptiCall and Steve Gottfredson of Brevium.
Increase Practice Volume By Bringing Lost Patients Back
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/711582634
Friday, April 9, 2010
Headed to ASCRS?
This has been an exciting year for Opticall! We have expanded our services into several patient service venues within ophthalmology.
Since inception, our specialty has been managing patient communication calls for new refractive inquiries, either on a full or part-time basis, and converting those inquiries to consults for our clients.
Our team is now strategically aligned with many health care service organizations with an emphasis on delivering business tactical solutions to your practice.
Hoya Surgical Optics is hosting a Business Tactics Experience Room at the upcoming ASCRS. There are several "invitation only" seminars that we believe can provide great value and insight for all ophthalmology practices.
We would like to recommend that you review the following seminars and let us know which of these may interest you. Each addresses:
• Enhancing the overall quality of care for your existing patient base
• Adding health care benefits as a service to your patients
• Maximize profits from existing patient services you may now be offering
• Adding additional services that provide revenues from today's patients
• Optimize staff time and your time, resulting in greater patient care and efficiencies
Saturday, April 10, 2010:
• Business Tactics for the Eye Care Industry 8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
• Dual Sensory Loss: Vision and Hearing 12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
• Adding Hearing to Your Practice 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 11, 2010:
• Maximizing Profits with Premier OptiCal Services 8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
• Adding Hearing to Your Practice 1:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
• Benchmarking your Practice 2:45 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
• Business Tactics for the Eye Care Industry 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Monday, April 12, 2010:
• Dual Sensory Loss: Vision and Hearing 3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
• Maximizing Profits with Premier Optical Services 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Click here to register for the sessions
Upon hearing back from you, we will place you on the seminar schedule and will also personally confirm your attendance once we are all in Boston.
We look forward to seeing you in Beantown! You can learn more at booth #2550.
Since inception, our specialty has been managing patient communication calls for new refractive inquiries, either on a full or part-time basis, and converting those inquiries to consults for our clients.
Our team is now strategically aligned with many health care service organizations with an emphasis on delivering business tactical solutions to your practice.
Hoya Surgical Optics is hosting a Business Tactics Experience Room at the upcoming ASCRS. There are several "invitation only" seminars that we believe can provide great value and insight for all ophthalmology practices.
We would like to recommend that you review the following seminars and let us know which of these may interest you. Each addresses:
• Enhancing the overall quality of care for your existing patient base
• Adding health care benefits as a service to your patients
• Maximize profits from existing patient services you may now be offering
• Adding additional services that provide revenues from today's patients
• Optimize staff time and your time, resulting in greater patient care and efficiencies
Saturday, April 10, 2010:
• Business Tactics for the Eye Care Industry 8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
• Dual Sensory Loss: Vision and Hearing 12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
• Adding Hearing to Your Practice 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 11, 2010:
• Maximizing Profits with Premier OptiCal Services 8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
• Adding Hearing to Your Practice 1:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
• Benchmarking your Practice 2:45 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
• Business Tactics for the Eye Care Industry 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Monday, April 12, 2010:
• Dual Sensory Loss: Vision and Hearing 3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
• Maximizing Profits with Premier Optical Services 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Click here to register for the sessions
Upon hearing back from you, we will place you on the seminar schedule and will also personally confirm your attendance once we are all in Boston.
We look forward to seeing you in Beantown! You can learn more at booth #2550.
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