Message Boards
Today's Active Topics Today's Active Cases Browse Forum Categories My Recent Activity My Messages Private Groups My Marked Threads My Subscriptions
Today's Active Images Today's Active Polls Most Active Topics Global Townie Map Advanced Message Board Search Message Board Terms of Use

Outstanding Service Rosemary Bray

Start Discussion


by Rosemary Bray

Extraordinary service has become such a critical aspect of orthodontics. Years ago, a practice could be considered "successful" by merely producing quality clinical care. When I began in ortho 40 years ago, no one ever mentioned the word "service." We really didn't need to. Today, however, the practice that wants to set itself apart from the norm and be successful has to create an environment where patients get "knock-your-socks-off " treatment, every day, from everyone and at each and every visit. There are so many choices of practices where patients can go, and even if your treatment is the best quality available, if the patient does not like you, he or she will choose another practice and sometimes, unfortunately, forfeit your quality clinical care in making that choice. How great when you can be an office that delivers both!

In today's tough economy, it is even more important to focus on the service aspect of treatment. We used to think our competition was the other ortho office down the street, or even the general dentist doing ortho. Today however, the competition is paying the mortgage, buying shoes for the kids, paying brother's college tuition and for that family vacation to Disney World. We are fighting for whatever discretionary funds are "left over" after critical needs have been taken care of. In years past the orthodontist was listed as number-two or -three on the Forbes list of highest paying professions. This year it has dropped to number four – understandably. However, it will remain on the top for being the most rewarding and satisfying of all professions!

So what does it mean to "knock their socks off " in an ortho office? Quite simply, it means there is nothing you will not do to provide an extraordinary experience at each and every contact with your office – not merely the first visit, or that special deband party… but every one!

You must become obsessed with customer service, as Ken Blanchard tells us in his great book, Raving Fans. Meeting their expectations used to be sufficient – it worked well enough. Today the consumer is more demanding, has more choices and expects more from us, the provider. Our goal must be to create today's raving fans, not merely yesterday's satisfied patients.

Your customer service is everything your practice is and does. Yes, it is what you do; but even more, it is who you are. How sad if your patients are only satisfied because their expectations are low or because no one else is doing better. Just having satisfied patients isn't enough anymore. If you really want a booming practice, you have to create those raving fans. The same holds true for our ortho supply and management companies. There are numerous choices in software management systems and many bracket choices for ortho offices. So they not only need a quality effective product, but also people who are devoted to the customers who use that product. I am continually hearing from doctors about how they switched brackets or management systems or Web providers, not because of the product, but because of the poor level of service! This holds true of your patients just the same.

The surest way to make patients fall in love with your office, come back for more and tell others how wonderful you are is to practice the "and then some" (ATS) principle. It's the willingness to go the extra mile that separates the true champions from the "also-rans." There are far too many "also-ran" practices. And good news, there is still room on that extra mile!

The customers' (or patients') expectations are the baseline, so you win and keep your patients by exceeding their expectations – by surpassing the baseline.
  • Meet their expectations first. Give them what they want.
  • Exceed their expectations second. Only when you exceed the expectation will the customer (patient) give you credit for exceptional service ("and then some").
  • Promise less than you can deliver and then deliver more than you said you would. If you promise more and then deliver less, you've set yourself up for failure.
For your service to be extraordinary, knock-your-socks-off quality, you must do things for your patients that are unnecessary, unexpected, undeserved.

The Psych I Principle – "What gets rewarded, gets repeated," has been called "the greatest business secret in the world" by Michael LeBoeuf in How to Win Customers & Keep Them for Life. This is a terrific book to help you learn what customers expect and want from you. The author spoke at an AAO meeting about 10 years ago.

According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 15 percent of one's financial success is due to technical knowledge, and 85 percent is due to skill in human engineering, personality and the ability to lead people.

In ortho practices, those people are our patients, their families, our referring offices, the community at large and each other in the office. The more your patient feels rewarded, the greater the odds are that he or she will continue to be your patient. The less rewarded, the greater the odds are that he or she will be someone else's patient. When every office interaction causes a patient to feel rewarded, validated, confident and pleased, the patient will continue these interactions with you to further those positive feelings.

Every customer of the beauty salon, the restaurant, the department store, the car dealership, the airline, and so on expects three things to occur every time they do business: personal interaction, operational excellence (proving efficiency and organization) and product quality.

Here are 25 strategies for your office to adopt in order to keep afloat in the recession and stand out among your patients.

25 to Stay Alive
  1. Develop your customer service slogan (your vision or your mission statement). Saying "we are no worse than the competition" will not suffice. Write it together as a team. Post it up. Read it, eat it, breathe it, live it and be it. Allow your patients to hold you accountable for what it says! Be sure it appears on your well-done Web page!
  2. Get your patients' opinions. Conduct a patient satisfaction survey once or twice a year and always give it to each new starting patient. Don't wait until the end of the treatment plan to find out you could have done something better all along.
  3. Carefully select and train your entire team. Treat them well and your happy employees will be your best source of advertising and marketing. Train to the max. All the slick financial and marketing techniques in the world are no substitute for an army of satisfied employees (or patients). But employees come first. They have to be happy to market the practice and to want to provide outstanding service.
  4. Keep learning and growing. Go to meetings, buy tapes and books. The entire office team must fully commit to exceptional service. Walk the talk or shoot the way you shout! Retain a life long yearning for learning.
  5. Promote yourselves internally. Brag subtly by displaying what you do and teaching your patients about your ortho and about dentistry in general. This shows your commitment to them.
  6. Take care of the whole person, not just the teeth, gums or malocclusion of your patients.
  7. Communicate, communicate, communicate – on the phone, written and face to face.
  8. Become a very good listener. This means not interrupting. This is the number-one complaint in communication surveys.
  9. Wow patients with the new patient phone call. Be polite, complete, efficient, friendly, warm, unhurried, answer-filled, inviting, professional (all at the same time)… and practice.
  10. Confirm that initial visit the night before. Be friendly and not businesslike or robotic! Make it powerful.
  11. When a patient has to wait in your office, tell them there is a wait, and provide current and appropriate reading material.
  12. Have a comfortable reception room, not a waiting room. Keep it updated and remodeled often. Patients see this space first, so be sure it gives a great first impression, along with the people at the front desk!
  13. Always be on the lookout for areas of concern in your office. Examples include having an outdated environment, visible need for cleaning or maintenance, quality of technology and doctor/team image.
  14. Know the "Ten Deadly Sins of Customer Service" and vow to eliminate them from your vocabulary and your personal and team's behavior.
    • I don't know.
    • I don't care.
    • I can't be bothered.
    • I don't really like you.
    • I know it all.
    • You don't know anything.
    • We don't want your kind here.
    • Don't come back.
    • I'm right and you're wrong.
    • Hurry up... now wait.
  15. Make every deband day the way you wanted your deband to be! New patients at their exam will see this celebration so be sure it is exciting. Don't be afraid to lighten up!
  16. Take a customer service quiz every six months and don't settle for anything but improved scores each time you take it. Discuss your answers with your team and make the scores improve.
  17. Read books and any other positive material to assist you in improving. Attend meetings, pick other people's brains while you are there and buy CDs or tapes when you're not able to be there. Form and attend study groups. Read Raving Fans and Make People Like You in 90 Seconds (or an equivalent) every year and discuss it as a team. How does it apply to you? Think like visionaries, John Nordstrom, Sam Walton of Wal-Mart, Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines and Walt Disney. Read their books on success and learn from them.
  18. Network and brainstorm with others who are already doing what you want to be doing. Ask colleagues and friends for their good opinions and copy them! It's great to have role models and mentors. Ask for assistance and ideas.
  19. Vow to always give patients more service than they are paying for. Then do just that.
  20. Make your initial exam appointment an extraordinary experience. Be complete with the diagnosis, treatment plan, diagnostic records and discussion of finances. If you are not sure how to do this, hire someone to teach you. Money spent to get patients to say yes is money very well spent. Patients say yes based on how you make them feel, not on your technology or office space.
  21. Keep a positive attitude in the office. All talk needs to be upbeat, polite and regarding only appropriate subjects. Look great, be great, talk great and perform great. Set and keep high standards for the team. Dress for success in and out of the office – clean, sharp, crisp and professional. People look at you more than the artwork on your walls or your new carpet.
  22. Promote yourself both internally and externally with marketing ideas that show creativity, passion, fun and personal interaction (give stickers, balloons, birthday cards, postcards, baby cards, sympathy cards, bookmarks, water bottles, Frisbees, T-shirts). Whatever you and your budget are comfortable with, do it!
  23. Thank your patients every day for being your patients. They did have a choice to be anyone's patient and they chose you. They continue to have this choice every day.
  24. Give the highest quality treatment at all times. Tell your patients that you are capable and efficient and quality-oriented! Then show them that you are. Involve them in all decisions.
  25. Talk to each other about what is going well and how you can improve. Review your patient satisfaction surveys at every team meeting. Ask each other for constant input.
Be the professional office that is obsessed with customer service and building relationships, not merely the one that is just thinking about it. It is important to do things right, but it is more important to do the right things. We have a short amount of time to impact someone's life, and we can do it in so many easy ways:
  • A warm, real smile
  • A touch on the shoulder
  • A compassionate word
  • A caring, personal note
  • A genuine compliment
  • A sincere thank you
  • Knowing/using names
  • A rose sent to a home
  • An undisputed refund
  • An empathetic ear
  • A follow-up care call
  • An apology, with no excuses
  • Giving undivided attention
  • Being a great listener
  • A gift certificate
  • Maintaining eye contact
  • Making them feel special

It comes down to this: If you can provide service that is better than your patient can get anywhere else, they won't go anywhere else. Outstanding service does not come from policy manuals. It comes from people who truly care and believe in a caring and committed attitude. It takes the right people! Without a great team, you will not be able to deliver this type of superior service.
Author’s Bio
Rosemary Bray spent more than 30 years employed in the dental profession, with experience in general dentistry, periodontics and orthodontics (18 years) both in clinical and administrative roles.

Her last 16 years were as office manager and treatment coordinator for a quality San Diego orthodontic practice. She left in late 1998 to begin her self-employment as a speaker and consultant in orthodontics and dentistry.

She has lectured nationally and internationally on behalf of the American Association of Orthodontics (AAO), several orthodontic companies, numerous dental societies, ortho and dental study groups and for her own workshops and seminars. Dentistry has taken her around the world to teach.

Currently, she is the staff program chair for the 2011 AAO Annual Session in Chicago.
Orthotown Magazine
September 2025
Orthotown Magazine September 2025 Read Current Issue Read Archived Issues
Sponsors
Townie® Poll
Do you have a dedicated insurance coordinator in your office?
  
Site Menu
Message Boards Magazine Continuing Education Podcasts Blogs Classifieds News Events Townie® Poll Ebooks Townie Choice Awards
Company Info
Contact Us Advertise With Us Howard Farran DDS, MBA Policies and Agreements
Site Help
Sally Gross, Member Services Specialist
Phone: +1-480-445-9710
Email: sally@farranmedia.com
©2025 Orthotown, a division of Farran Media • All Rights Reserved
9633 S. 48th Street Suite 200 • Phoenix, AZ 85044 • Phone:+1-480-598-0001 • Fax:+1-480-598-3450