Latest / Back in 10 / Episode 17: First Impressions That Hit

Transcript

Episode 17: First Impressions That Hit · Back in 10

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Chris Stone: All right, ladies and gentlemen, it is the
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gurus of first impressions.
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Here we go in three.
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Two, one
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Jen Steadman: Back in 10 is a podcast for dental leaders who do it all
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and need 10 minutes to themselves.
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Savanah Carlson: It's about real conversations, not curated ones, the
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kind that happen off the clock, behind closed doors, and between the chaos of
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running a practice and running life.
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Jen Steadman: Hosted by Savanah Carlson and Jen Steadman, two women who've led,
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learned, and laughed through it all.
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Savanah Carlson: This show brings honest stories, leadership truths.
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And the occasional sassy take on what it really means to lead in dentistry today,
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Jen Steadman: because sometimes the best leadership happens when
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you step away for 10 minutes.
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Savanah Carlson: This is back in 10.
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Jen Steadman: Hey everyone, welcome back to back in 10.
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I am Jen.
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And I'm Savanah.
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Savanah Carlson: Excuse me, Savanah.
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That was not sing song enough.
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Try again, please.
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Oh, Savanah.
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I know it was very IOR and I'm Savanah.
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Jen Steadman: Nailed it.
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That's better.
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That is what we are now accustomed to.
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Thank you for that.
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So
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speak.
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Speaking on that, today we were talking about your first impression.
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When your patients come into the office and when they look at you
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online and all those fun things, Savanah, so I don't know about
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Savanah Carlson: you Jen, but after having worked in a dental
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practice now anytime I go into my doctor's office or a nail salon.
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I am so judgmental, especially if it's my first time in that practice.
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Yeah.
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And I, I kind of hate that.
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I'm so judgmental, but I also know what a good first impression
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is and what to strive for.
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So I can't wait to dive into this
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Jen Steadman: one.
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I know, me too.
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And I think, you know, you just said nail salon.
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So we just had a girl's day recently.
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I have to say that with Addie, my oldest, the three of us went and man,
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that nail salon, it was perfection.
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Yeah, the gel polish and the regular polish were like in a clear cont.
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It was just so aesthetically pleasing.
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So neat and organized and not like I would wanna do this, but I felt like
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I could eat like off of their floor.
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Mm-hmm.
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Like that's how clean it was.
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Savanah Carlson: And the nail packs were very kind, very, um.
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Happy and Smiley offered me a little bottle of water.
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And then before we got to the pedicure chair, they stopped at this
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little station to let me determine which scent foot scrub I wanted.
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So I like choices, but where does the experience really start when it comes to
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your first impression for your patients?
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Jen Steadman: Honestly, it's before they walk in.
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It's.
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We talked about this in previous, episodes here too, is not only are your your
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future patients, but your future team members are looking at your socials and
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your website and everything, so you need to make sure that that first impression.
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Is a good one, right?
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Like there's pictures of your team, it's showing them being happy, it's showing
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your space, your neat, clean, tidy space.
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Right?
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We talked about like less clutter on the walls and things too, right?
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So I think it starts there.
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I know Savanah, you've done a ton on social media marketing,
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all of that fun stuff too.
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So what are your thoughts on that?
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Like what's the most important thing.
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Savanah Carlson: I think you nailed it on the head when you said pictures
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of the facility, pictures of your practice, pictures of the team.
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I wanna know who I'm going to be seeing even if, I don't know
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the team member specifically, but I wanna see the faces of.
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Who works at the practice.
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Uh, I also, like everyone else these days, look at reviews.
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So if your practice reviews are not up to snuff, you have some soul searching
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to do and some talking points to be had with your team so they can
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start asking and generating those.
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Those reviews, especially for Google.
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I know there are a lot of marketing companies out there that offer you
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a dedicated landing page and will automate messaging to collect these
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reviews and put on that landing page.
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But Google is the king.
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The more Google reviews you can get, the better you're gonna show up in searches.
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Google is king.
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Go Google review first.
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But something important to remember is that you don't wanna flood
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your Google reviews in one day.
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That is a red flag to Google.
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So you wanna spread out the love.
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So whether it's one team member's day of, hey, your whole chair,
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so your 10 patients, please ask for a Google review and hopefully
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all 10 of them write a review.
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And if not, they don't.
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But it's better than having 40 reviews in one day, zero reviews
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for the next three months.
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So make sure to spread your review, love and always reply
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to your reviews, good or bad.
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Um, but don't go into dissertations.
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If it is a negative review, you don't wanna do it.
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We can talk about that in a, a follow up episode.
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Don't break hipaa.
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No, no, no.
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Very general.
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Very general.
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And something to also think about when it comes to first impressions
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socially is if you are implementing new patient online booking.
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What does that messaging look like?
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Is it sterile?
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Is it unfriendly?
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You wanna make sure any automations that you have implemented into your
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online booking are personable and they reflect the team that the patient's
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gonna meet when they walk in the office.
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Something to think about.
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Jen Steadman: Yeah.
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And.
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Whose voice is on the answering machine?
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Or like when the patient calls, does it ring first or does it say
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like, welcome to, you know, like, thank you for calling back in 10.
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What is that voice?
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Because I know my voice was on every office.
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It still is actually, after not being there for what, two and a half years
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that it's still, it's still there.
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So I call, and it's me.
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I'm greeted by myself, but it's really important to.
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Know what that looks like from every angle.
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So now, okay, so we've talked about before the patient comes into the
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practice, we talked about, you know, their website a little bit, talked
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about the socials, the reviews, so now they're coming into the office.
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One of the things that I love to do, and I built this into the team meetings, and
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it was usually like every six months.
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We do it twice a year and we would do like.
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A little punch list.
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So I would give everyone on the team like a clipboard or a little
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notepad and say, okay, starting from the parking lot and coming into the
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office, let's look up, down left.
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Right.
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Look everywhere and see what we need to do.
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Like do the tour.
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Right.
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One of the things that I found it one of the offices was.
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Parking the meters was very challenging.
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That's not really anything that, we can't do anything about that
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because it's through the town.
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However, we can make a video.
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We can do different things to send to them, or like a walkthrough sheet
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just to make it easier for everyone, but looking for cobwebs, looking for
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dings in the wall, anything like that.
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Like think about if you're buying a new house and you're walking into that punch
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list that you have for a contractor.
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Like what?
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What is it?
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Go through and do everything even down to.
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Your five senses, right?
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What do you smell?
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One of the big things about a dental office is that I don't want
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it to smell like a dental office.
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I'll say that there's some offices I'll walk into and I'm like, oh man,
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there is nothing else going on here.
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It just smells like chlorine or it's stale, like there's no airflow in there.
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If you need certain plugins, there was a specific scent that
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we liked that we would always use.
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Savanah, you and I are big on scent too, so even getting a diffuser and what
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that means for your practice, it's huge.
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What that could do, just to help to calm patients' nerves too,
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and make it feel more homey.
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Savanah Carlson: Mm-hmm.
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And there are patients who are sensitive to smells, so it's important
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to, you know, do a survey of a, a select number of patients to see if
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it's something that you can actually implement in your practice, if not.
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If COVID taught us anything, it's that air purifiers help move air and clean it up.
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So invest in some high quality air purifiers to just freshen
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things up and move the air around.
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It's when it, yeah, it feels heavy.
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I hear.
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I hear you.
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Jen Steadman: It's not just
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Savanah Carlson: the
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Jen Steadman: viruses, it's just
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Savanah Carlson: the
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Jen Steadman: air flow.
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Savanah Carlson: The air flow.
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Yeah.
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One thing that.
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I implemented in the practice because I wanted it, wherever
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I went, was a charging station.
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So we would have a start charging station in the reception area for patients.
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If in the event that one of the clinicians was running behind, uh, they could plug
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in or if family members were waiting for any patients, they could also plug into.
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So that was a, a nice little perk.
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And put your wifi password out for people.
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They're gonna ask.
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Jen Steadman: Just share the wifi.
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Yes.
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Make sure it's guests so they're not accessing your private network that
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all of your other equipment is on.
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Right.
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But absolutely share that stuff.
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I know some offices will have like water or coffee or
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different things like that too.
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For me, this is what I'll say, and it's a personal prevalent,
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personal prevalent preference.
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Oh my goodness.
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I have Invisalign now too, so don't, don't mind me my pronunciation little.
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Switch trees yesterday and they're a little, yeah, anyways, tight.
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Yeah, they're a little tight, so I would prefer not to have coffee
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in the waiting room because then it looks like that patient's gonna
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be there for a while waiting.
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It is a reception area where you come in, or greeting area,
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whatever you wanna call it.
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Change the name of it, because when you tell a patient, Hey, you can go
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take a seat in the waiting room, it's automatic that they're gonna wait.
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And every office, every doctor, every dentist, they usually always wait.
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So for me, I would rather not have a reg or something like that, a
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coffee machine, a bottle of water, spine, they can take it with them.
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But if there's a coffee machine, I'm like, oh.
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I'm gonna be here a while.
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So I don't know.
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To me that's just, um, it's a personal preference and I think it, you could
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offer it to someone, but when it's out open in the waiting area, to me it just
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looks like I'm gonna be here a while.
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If you had it, like in the team, break room in the back, and then
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someone could offer it, I think that's a, it's just different.
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And again, that's a personal preference, but just something to
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think about what that looks like.
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I think it, it may be different in a
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Savanah Carlson: pediatric practice where the parents are waiting Oh yeah.
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For, yes.
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Patient to come back out where the coffee teas is appropriate.
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I agree with you that it does send the message of, oh God,
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I'm gonna be here a while.
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Um, I don't know, maybe you have a backstage that if a patient, if you're
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in a general practice or a practice that sees adults, um, and they bring a, a
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buddy with them, maybe you can offer them something, you know, a special patient.
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Coffee, tea from the back.
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Jen Steadman: You could do that.
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But leaving it out is, yeah.
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We used to do that before too, and have like custom coffee mugs.
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Don't give it to them in paper, like, have a nice solid mug.
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Right.
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Um, and they can take it with them if they want.
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You can offer that too, but just it's that extra level also of customer service.
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If you ask them like, Hey, like if, say you came in with someone, right?
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Hey, I know that you're waiting.
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Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea?
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Like it's just that extra connection.
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They might not even be a patient there, but now they might want to be.
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So just asking instead of just having it open is also just a
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different level of customer service.
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I totally
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Savanah Carlson: agree.
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In the last two minutes of this episode, Jen, mm-hmm.
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Let's talk about first impressions when the clinician comes out to the
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front desk to get that new patient.
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What are your thoughts on that?
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I've heard some doozies.
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Oh
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Jen Steadman: yeah.
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There, there's been some.
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Come on back here.
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I got a room up of you.
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Like some weird,
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and I'm not joking.
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Yeah, I know.
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I, I believe you.
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Oh, some.
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Some.
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Yeah.
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You wanna come back here and take a ride in my chair?
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I'm like, excuse me.
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No, I do not.
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I do not.
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No, but.
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Calling that person you're saying, especially if it's a new patient.
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Yeah.
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Don't you walk out to them?
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You should walk out and shake their hand and greet them
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and have that personal touch.
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Don't stand from a doorway and say, Savanah, like this is not a deli counter.
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I'm not calling numbers.
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Uh, this is the, we're in the business of treating people and caring for
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people, so to care for people.
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We need to come out, greet them where they are and
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Savanah Carlson: welcome them.
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One thing, I'm gonna pat myself on the back for this one too.
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We would have whatever front admin checked in.
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The new patient, they would walk out with the clinician and hand off
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the new patient to the clinician.
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Hey girl.
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I love that.
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I want you to meet your hygienist today.
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Her name's Nancy.
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You are in great hands.
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Our patients love her and I'll see you when you come out.
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Just that, that extra handoff, if we're gonna have a walkout,
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you have to have a delivery
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Jen Steadman: of that same caliber too.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I've actually seen in some offices that they had a position and the title
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was Director of First Impressions.
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Oh, love it.
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Keep it.
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Yes.
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And it was an admin team member.
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That was their main job.
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They greeted everyone.
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When they came in, they asked 'em if they wanted coffee.
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Yes, they did other admin tasks, but that was their main focus was to make
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that patient feel extraordinary and that they were a member of that team.
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I was like, that's fantastic.
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Savanah Carlson: I love beautiful.
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Beautiful.
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Jen Steadman: Can you imagine that on your website too with This is Savanah with a
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beautiful picture of her beautiful face and it's the our of first impressions
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Savanah Carlson: or patient navigator.
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All we had, I didn't have a first impression.
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I had a patient navigator who would love it, have to handle all of that,
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and then would also complete all of the new patient paperwork follow through.
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So it would just gave them a very roundabout experience.
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Jen Steadman: Yeah.
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Yeah.
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And I'll say, look.
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With that to, to wrap that up here, your.
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Admin team member, I'm gonna say, please don't have their title be
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admin team member or, oh Jesus.
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Now front desk, that's a part of the first impression.
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Mm-hmm.
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So you can have their title be anything that you want,
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ask them, talk to your team.
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That should be one of the things that you talk about when you're doing
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like your first impression on it.
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Talk about it.
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Talk about what that looked like.
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Please do not have their position be an object.
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So I think there's so many different things that you can
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do, but I think the biggest thing is make that patient feel warm.
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When they're in their o when they're in your office, they're
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gonna remember not only how you greeted them, but how they left.
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So it's really important that that experience is good from start to finish.
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So start to finish.
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Start to finish.
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Yes.
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You know
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Savanah Carlson: what?
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We're gonna finish right now.
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We'll be back in 10.
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Everyone be so.
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See you later.
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Make a good first impression.
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Thanks for spending a few minutes with us on back in 10.
16:31
If something made you laugh, nod or feel a little more human, share it with a friend
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and make sure that you're subscribed.
16:37
You can also follow us on Instagram at Back in 10 Pod for
16:40
more behind the scenes updates
16:43
Jen Steadman: and probably a little chaos.
16:45
We're not here to have it all figured out.
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We are just here to tell you the things that we wish someone had told us and
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remind you that leadership doesn't
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Savanah Carlson: have to be perfect, just real.
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We'll be back in 10,
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back in 10.