Everyone misses calls. Your reaction when it happens makes all the difference though. When a patient leaves you a message, do you view it as an opportunity to reconnect and dazzle or just another annoyance in your day, or worse yet, something to be ignored entirely?
Unreturned calls are lost opportunities. And lost opportunities can lead to lost customers/patients.
A friend of mine recently had a Dr.’s office call to reschedule her appointment. She was in a meeting and missed the call. She called back as soon as she could but had to leave a message. No one returned her call. She waited a day, called back again and had to leave another message. Still no return call.
Another friend called her doctor to request a copy of her medical records because a specialist she was seeing requested them. She, too, had to leave a message. No return phone call. She called again. Still no call back.
Both are now leaving their respective doctors and understandably so. Different doctors. Same ending. And all it would have taken in both cases was a simple phone call back by a warm, helpful staff person.
Make the time and take the time to do it right. Your ability to survive in the current medical marketplace depends on it.