How many new patient calls is your front desk actually missing?

[KelNC92]

Hey everyone, new here. I work in tech at UNC Chapel Hill, and have been researching how small and mid-size practices handle patient calls during busy hours.

The numbers I keep seeing are kind of wild. Studies are showing dental offices miss somewhere around a third of incoming calls just because the front desk is busy with patients already in the office. And apparently most people who get sent to voicemail never call back. They just call the next dentist on the list.

That surprised me because it means practices are spending money on marketing to get the phone to ring and then nobody picks up.

Curious if you all actually see this in your practice. Is the front desk phone situation as bad as the data says or is it overblown? How are you handling it when the office is slammed and calls are coming in at the same time?

 

[Kennethk]

It should be a big red flag for any office of level of care they show if you can't get them on the phone. As a paitent most offices Implemented text alerts on PC screens so if I miss a call it automatically says to text there. Also helpful to autosend any documents. It's really helpful say if the front desk is dealing with a paitent often times they'll answer and say I'll have to call you back which I understand. Communication from front desk to management to dentist should be key in the dentist understanding PTs physical needs and wants. I've discouraged many dentist this way from just doing what they prefer to actually working on my treatments based on what I'm comfortable with and have the funds for. Simple transaction and less arguing is what keeps a repeat PT in any field.

Also to add I've had just some flat out rude people over this phone "hello?" It's not that hard to answer and say the name of the facility sometimes people dial wrong numbers without realizing it.