📍 Hey friends. Welcome back to No Silver Spoons. I'm your host, Sarah Beth Herman, and today I am bringing in an element of dentistry. As you guys know, this podcast began as dentistry support the podcast, and while we did do a name change one year in, I love to bring in dental every four or five episodes just to keep things.

Exciting. Well, maybe you can't really think that's exciting because it is dental, unless you love dentistry, you're probably not saying that anyways. I specifically wanna talk about customer service today, phone skills, and why. The phones are not just a task in your business or practice. They are actually the front door to your revenue.

Your culture and your patient experience, and I always call it the patient experience. I think whatever your customer and your business is called, anything that has to do with them should be called an experience because they are experiencing you. And I wanna say this upfront before we get too far into this episode.

This episode is not about scripts that feel robotic or things that feel salesy. It's not about pressuring patients or rushing conversations. It's about helping your team. Feel that confidence, feeling prepared and even feeling clear so they can serve well and convert your patients to actual revenue in a very natural way.

And before we go any further, let me share why I speak to this with confidence. In 2017, I was hired as the chief of training and talent development for a 1500 employee dental group out of Beverly Hills, California. And my role there wasn't just hiring, it was actually training, developing and retaining.

High performing teams across 45 locations. I have spent decades listening to phone calls, coaching front office teams, fixing breakdowns, and watching how small changes at the phones level actually create massive changes in revenue. So when I say growth in your practice starts at the phones, I am saying that from a very lived in experience.

One of the most common things I hear in dentistry is our phones are fine. Like, I'm not worried about that. Or our team is really friendly. They're so sweet, or patients are gonna call back if they want to. The ball is in their court. That belief is actually costing practices more money than anything in my opinion.

The phone call that you receive in your office, it's not just an appointment request. It is a trust building moment. And trust is what turns inquiries into patients and patients into long-term relationships. Here's the reality. Patients are calling multiple businesses. They're not just seeing your name and saying, oh, that's a cool name.

I'll call them. They're calling multiple places. They're listening for tone. They're listening for clarity, confidence if you care. They are deciding in the first few minutes whether they feel safe, heard, or even understood. You see, customer service is not a personality trait. it's Actually a trained skill, and when teams are not trained.

They default to their own survival mode, whatever that is for them uniquely. They might rush, they might misinformation. They might give vague answers, and it's not because they don't care. Make that very clear. It's not because they don't care, it's because they don't feel equipped and they don't know how to continue that conversation because they don't have that repeated confidence.

Every dollar that comes into your business, it begins with a conversation before a treatment plan, before case acceptance. Before loyalty is established, it starts with how the phone is answered. The phone set expectations, they create emotional safety. They determine whether a patient shows up or no shows.

They impact how patients perceive value before they ever sit in the chair. And when your phones are handled well, your scheduling improves, your collections improve the communication and the office improves. Stress decreases overall because there's not all this like, Hey, did you do that? Did you get this?

How is that happening? What are we doing here? Did somebody figure out X, Y, Z? When phones are handled poorly. Even great clinical work struggles to shine, and that's why I always say that phones are not admin, phones are actually leadership. Let's gently debunk a few common thoughts in dentistry. One call is just one call.

No one call is one opportunity to create trust. Our team is busy. They need to get off the phone as quickly as possible and tend to the patients in office. Well, if you don't gather all the information upfront, if you don't take the time on that call, when you have the opportunity to, you are going to pay for it later.

In confusion, cancellations, or a frustrated patient, I always remind my team members. That if you have a patient in front of you and the phone rings, the patient in front of you is already in the office, the patient on the phone hasn't gotten there yet, answer the phone, customer service, it comes naturally to our practice.

Do you know how many times I've heard that customer service comes naturally? No, it does not. Clarity comes from training, not assumption. How about this one? My front desk knows what they're doing. We need to work on blank. , Your front desk might, but knowing and being consistent are two very different things.

The best practices do not rely on memory. They rely on systems, . And if you've attended any of our virtual training courses or our in-person training courses provided by Dentistry support or Dentistry Support Academy, you know. That we believe in, that no one can memorize everything about your office no matter how long they've been there.

And believe me, I've heard it, so and so has been here for 25 years. So and so has been here for 30 years. So and so has been here for 10 years. They know everything. No, no one knows everything. We have to have systems, SOPs designed for this practice on exactly what we do and how we do it. It before you ever train your team on what to say, you have to help your team understand why it matters.

Teams perform better when they understand impact, when they know that gathering full information upfront helps the clinical team prepare. When they understand that tone reduces patient anxiety, tone, just that by itself when they see that clarity at the phones reduces tension later in the day. What? Oh my gosh.

Wait. I can do that. Yes, you can do that. Customer service is not about being nice, and I know you're thinking Sarah Beth, you're wrong. Customer service is about being nice. No, no, no. Customer service is about being clear, calm, confident, understanding what that person needs and how you can deliver. So that when they see your team, your team can continue to deliver.

And that confidence, it all comes from preparation. How are we practicing this? And I know that you're probably thinking, listening to calls, trying to do, scripts, or reviewing how someone performs on a call. All that takes time. I don't have time. I get it. Not everybody has time. I get it. But if you don't start developing the SOPs now, having a system in place now, if you don't actually just start six months from now, you're gonna have the same problems you had before.

And I don't want that for you. And you don't want that for you. So let's talk about some practical tools that your team can start using immediately. Okay? Immediately. Right now, I don't want you trying to search online for the perfect course. I want you to take these tools right now. And I want you to put 'em into action.

Okay. We don't gate keep things around here. We share because shared knowledge is the best kind of knowledge

 first, the opening. Every call should begin with warmth and ownership. Not rushed. Not flat. The first impression sets the emotional tone. So how is your team responding right now? Second information gathering.

Your team should confidently gather everything that's needed from the patient name. Best contact number, email address, reason for the call, how they heard about your practice insurance information, what is going on in their mouth right now? What's happened before that that makes them uncomfortable? Now, this isn't an interrogation.

It's not just checking a box. It's preparation. It's letting the patient on the phone know I'm gonna get a bunch of information today, but it's also, you don't have to repeat yourself when you come in. We want you to give us all the information we can now so we can make sure your appointment is as smooth as possible.

And third reflective listening. Teach your team to repeat back what they hear. So what I'm hearing is blank. That makes sense. Let me make sure I understand blank. This will make your patients feel seen and reduce miscommunication. Fourth is clear. Next steps.

Patients should never hang up wondering what happens next. Clarity creates confidence. Even here at Dentistry Support, let's say we have someone who enrolls in our business. They know immediately through the onboarding form what's happening over the next 10 days.  When they're live with support, they know exactly what's happening.

For the next two months, six months, 12 months, we are very clear. This is the next step. This is how it happens. After this, this is what's gonna happen after this. Clarity creates confidence. Don't give your business red flags when it isn't necessary to have a red flag.

A long time ago, I wanna say maybe this was about 15, maybe 20 years ago. I heard a leader tell the tell, show, do review. If you've never heard of this before or maybe you've heard of it, just like do show, tell or tell show do. I actually have heard it as all of those, but I have kept the mantra of tell, show, do review.

Training does not stick with telling alone. You can't just tell someone, do this. The sequence that works is simple. First you tell, so you explain why and what the expectation is. That's the first thing because they don't know if you don't tell them, and then you show. So you model the call. So you let them hear it done well, you do.

So then you let them do the work. You let them practice, you role play. You get uncomfortable in a safe space. And then lastly, you review, you give them feedback. Once they have done it, you refine it and you encourage them. This is how confidence is actually built. When teams practice this in training, they perform better under pressure.

And I know everybody like immediately shrivels up and they're like, I don't wanna do a role play. I don't wanna have you listen to my call the first few times. It is hard. Yes. But the more you do it, the more you're comfortable with it. If you find yourself uncomfortable with anything in leadership, that is the moment that you need to pause, reflect, and say, Hey, wait.

If it's uncomfortable, I'm not doing that enough. It's uncomfortable because I haven't built a strong neural pathway to where that feels familiar and that feels good for me. I want you to remember that customer service, it actually reflects leadership. If leadership is rushed, teams rush. If leadership avoids clarity, teams avoid clarity.

If leadership values training, your team is going to grow. Phones are not a front desk problem. They're actually a leadership responsibility, and when leaders invest in training, your teams feel supported. Instead of blamed and supported teams, they perform better. If you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you know, every episode has a, that's good moment the time we bring it all together before we end the episode.

So it's that time. Here's what I want you remembering in this episode. Your phones are the front door to your practice. Customer service is a trained skill, not a personality trait. Revenue begins with trust. Clarity reduces stress for everyone. And training your team is one of the highest forms of leadership.

When you slow down to train, well, everything else speeds up, and that's really, really good. If this episode resonated with you, share it with your office manager. Share it with your front desk team or your leadership team. And if you are looking for training, head over to dentistry support.com and check out our virtual training or virtual mentor options.

This episode today is sponsored by Dentistry Support. At Dentistry Support. We help practices grow through real human virtual support with dental, billing, eligibility, verification, and phone support.  We have a whole collection of services that you can learn more about@dentistrysupport.com and free educational resources designed specifically for dental teams from phone training to systems and workflows.

We believe strong practices are built through strong people. You can learn more and access our free training right there at the top of the page. I'm Sarah Beth Herman, CEO, and this has been another No Silver Spoons episode. Until next time, remember that how your phone sound is how your practice feels.

 📍 I'll catch you on the next episode.