Episode 682: Do You Have a Need-to-Schedule-ASAP List?

 Have you found that patients are consistently disappearing on you? This is something many practices are experiencing. Tiff and Brit are in these practices providing solutions, and share those ideas in this episode. They touch on:

• Why having schedule protocols in place is important

• Ways to fill your schedule

• What language you should use

• And more!

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Brit 

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

Transcript:

[music]

0:00:05.8 Kiera Dent: Hey everyone. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices, coaching teams.

0:00:31.1 KD: Yep. We don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental. And I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A Teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast.

[music]

0:00:51.6 KD: Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and you guys, you are in for the best treat of your life consultant takeover. That's right. Get ready. They're dropping some dynamite. Our consulting team is incredible guys, and we are so blessed and so fortunate to have them sharing tips and tricks with you today. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

0:01:13.1 Tiff: Oh my gosh, Britt, I just have to celebrate this excitement that I just figured out this program that we use for our podcasting, and I was really excited to know that. Now we know, now we know how to do this, I'm so excited. Britt I love podcasting with you, you let me be my weird quirky self and I freaking truly appreciate that about you. So thank you, thank you for being here with me today.

0:01:35.3 Britt: It's more fun that way. And I mean, Tiff is a veteran podcaster, it's just a new program, guys. That's it. It's just the program. [laughter]

0:01:43.0 Tiff: Touche. That's a good point to make. I appreciate that, [laughter] I do know what I'm doing. I promise. Just not this program. It's fine. It's fine. So Britt, I have a question for you. Have you been walking... I know we travel a ton, right? You're in offices, you're doing coaching calls. I'm in a ton of practices and doing coaching calls. So I have a question for you. Have you been walking into every single practice lately or getting on phone calls with every practice and they're like, "Oh my gosh, Britt, I have so many patients on the schedule, I don't know what to do with it. I have zero openings and my hygiene schedule is booked." Has that been happening for you?

0:02:18.0 Britt: It's more where our hygiene schedule and some hygiene's been still pretty busy since a few years ago. But that's usually not the case. If anything, this week, one office is like, "I don't know what's happening. We've had more people falling off the schedule and openings to fill." That's usually what I hear more than I am hearing. Like, "Oh my gosh, we just have nowhere to put anybody."

0:02:40.7 Tiff: Right, right. Same, same, and I do, I love by the way that you said like than a couple of years ago, 'cause I'm so sick of hearing that word. So thank you. I think we all appreciate that. [laughter]

0:02:50.3 Britt: That is now how I reference it and we all know what that is. [laughter]

0:02:54.3 Tiff: I'm so tired of hearing it. I just spent a couple days in the Pacific Northwest and they are still very tied up in all of it. And so I'm just like, "Whoa, I can't hear that word again." So, good job. Thank you.

0:03:06.7 Britt: Same. I'm in Northern Virginia and I was like, "Oh yeah, it's..."

0:03:11.4 Tiff: It is still...

0:03:13.3 Britt: Arizona's a little different. I've got my mask. Don't worry. I've always got one on me. I'm good to go, but sometimes I forget [laughter]

0:03:19.8 Tiff: You are more prepared than I am. I walked through the door and was like, "Hey guys." And I was like, "Oh, okay. Still doing that I see." Arizona, wild, wild west. We've been over that since about April of 2020. So [laughter], it's a little hard to remember.

0:03:32.6 Britt: It's a little different there. Like it's, it's a good time. We love Arizona, but it is definitely the wild West in every way, shape and form [laughter]

0:03:44.6 Tiff: It really is. It makes my... It makes me so happy. I'm like, there's never a dull moment. I just.. I love it here. [laughter] So I agree. I think most practices are like trying to fill the schedule or they have a full schedule and then things fall off at the last minute. And I think, it's super common. It's super rare in my opinion, to have a practice that's just like bursting at the seams. Never has cancellations, never has openings, never has anything happening. But I think it's really smart to have protocols in place and have ideas on how to fill that schedule because it's so common that it falls apart. Which by the way, this is a side caveat for all of you guys listening. Okay? If your schedule's falling apart, while I am sitting here and saying that it is common, okay?

0:04:29.5 Tiff: There's always a root cause for things that are happening, okay? So if your schedule is consistently falling apart, it's not just like this one-off where it's like, "Oh dang, this is a weird Wednesday," right? Like, if it's falling apart consistently, we need to dig a little deeper. So we're gonna give you some tips and some tools today, some tricks on some call lists to pull from some ways to fill that schedule. But I want you guys to really be looking at what the heck is going on. Because if you... Again, if you're experiencing this a lot and by a lot, I mean like even a day a week, like I want this to be a couple times, one time a month that this is happening. If it's happening more consistently than that, we need to dive in and really figure out what that root cause is.

0:05:17.5 Tiff: And it could just lead back to communication to our patients. It could be your confirmation calls, it could be collecting, pre-collecting. It could be a whole slew of things. But let's just put that caveat out there. So...

0:05:31.5 Britt: I'm glad you did in this office that I was in, that we were talking about it. You better believe as I was sitting there, I was like, "Well, what's going on? When people are like making a change to their appointment with canceling or rescheduling, how are we handling it?" It's like, "Oh, well they just text me and I text them back," and I'm like, "Whoop," [laughter]

0:05:51.5 Tiff: Yes. Yes.

0:05:51.6 Britt: Number one, no, they call you. We don't... It's always harder to fill it than save it. So we're gonna try to save it first. And then if we can't save it and we have openings to fill, we're gonna talk about some ideas on things you can do for that too.

0:06:06.5 Tiff: Absolutely. And here's the deal guys. If you wouldn't let your boyfriend break up with you by text message, why in the halibut is it okay for your patients to text you and be like, "Hey, by the way, I'm not coming tomorrow." If my boyfriend texted me, "Hey, I'm not coming to dinner tomorrow." I'd be like on the phone immediately. "Excuse me. What do you mean I reserved that time for you. I specifically sat that night for you and you're canceling on me?" It's the same thing you guys. I don't know why this is so hard. So don't let them break up with you. And I love that you said that because my, favorite text, my favorite text back to a text cancellation is, "Oh, I can't take these kinds of requests by text message."

0:06:46.3 Tiff: I call, first of all, when I get that, the first thing I do, I get that text message, I'm on the phone and I'll text back and say, "Hey, I can't handle this by text message. My system won't allow it. So I left you a voicemail. If you can give me a quick call back, we can take care of this over the phone." It's that simple. It's that simple you guys. So don't let people break up with you by text message. That's embarrassing. Okay? So next time you allow that...

0:07:09.7 Britt: We're training them that it's super easy.

0:07:12.0 Tiff: Yes.

0:07:12.4 Britt: So again, there can could be many reasons you're training them that it's super easy. And I guarantee you, you will continue to have more of a problem unless you retrain them that "Nope, you've gotta talk to me and we're gonna find a way to keep that appointment."

0:07:26.9 Tiff: Yes. We're training each other constantly. And what you are willing to accept is how far they will go. They will push you. This is human nature. This is patience. This is your boyfriend, this is your kids, your spouse, this is your friend that's anyone in your life is going... I do it to everyone, right? I pushed today, I'm like, shoot, I gotta get this together. And I'm like, Britt's, sitting there waiting like three minutes is probably her max and she's gonna be like, where is she? I'm like, I'm trying, right? But we will push to see how far we can get for as long as we can. So don't allow them to train you. You train them. So, that was a good one. Thanks Britt.

0:08:03.1 Britt: Soapbox number one. Now let's talk about some solutions for them Tiff.

0:08:07.2 Tiff: Yeah. Okay.

0:08:08.3 Britt: When we have those openings...

0:08:09.6 Tiff: When we have those openings, [laughter], I like it. Thank you. I needed that tangent in my life. I feel alive and awake now.

0:08:17.3 Britt: I love that we were both on the same page that we're like, well, we've gotta get a little something in first before we go talk about it.

0:08:22.1 Tiff: Yeah. I like... The last thing I need is for us to put out a podcast that's like, cancellations are normal. Here's how you fill it. Like, no. Then teams are coming to doctors like Tiff and Britt said it's totally normal. Like this is how I fill it.

0:08:33.7 Britt: Everybody has it, it's fine. We need to not worry about it. No, not true, not true.

0:08:38.1 Tiff: Don't be the normal, be the abnormal. The abnormal is the office that doesn't deal with this. So go above and beyond and freaking kill it because that's what our offices do. Our Dental A Team offices are learning how to combat this problem before it happens so that it doesn't keep happening. So when I say that Britt and I are talking to practices about this and we're in practice dealing with it, it means we're fixing it. And these practices continuing forward aren't having these problems anymore. So, soapbox number two.

0:09:12.5 Tiff: All right. How do we fix it? [laughter] How do we fix it? So call lists. I love call lists. I know everyone hates being on the phone, so again, don't let them break up with you. I don't wanna make calls to try to fill a schedule. It's a pain in the tail and I don't wanna do it. So I'm just not gonna let the person break up with me over the phone or by text message. It doesn't happen. So little glimpse into my life, right? [laughter] Like treat everybody that way. I'm like, "Oh, you're not canceling on me."

0:09:37.9 Britt: Little piece of Tiff.

0:09:39.1 Tiff: Yeah, that doesn't happen and nobody cancels on me, that's fine. We're just gonna... We'll find a way around it. There's a solution. So when it does happen to you guys out there, my favorite, my number one go-to is obviously the ASAP list, right? So if I've got patients that I've told, "Hey, if this time comes available, like you're gonna be one of the first people that I call." So I call and I say, "Hey, I've been able to manipulate the schedule or maneuver the schedule or I've been able to move things around to accommodate your appointment." Please do not call people and say, "I've had a cancellation and I can see you sooner."

0:10:11.7 Tiff: Because you've just told that person that you take cancellations and that they can cancel on you. So I've had a change to the schedule. I've been able to work the schedule to get your appointment in, great news. I can see you sooner. They don't need to know why. Okay? They don't need to know why they don't really care whatsoever. Don't train them that they can cancel. So your ASAP list is number one and your ASAP list better be built off of really great notes that say when, like what time and what day works best for those patients. So ASAP list number one. Britt, what would your second go-to be if the ASAP list didn't give you the fruits of your labor, what would be next?

0:10:49.9 Britt: One more comment before we go on from ASAP list is gonna be with ASAP list, I'm 100% with you on notes, also with extra like expectations set. Like "Hey, I'm gonna pop you on my VIP list so when I can make my schedule work and find a time for you, like make the time for you. 'Cause again, we don't want them to feel like they're second choice, which is why we also don't wanna say someone canceled 'cause it makes them feel like a second choice.

0:11:16.9 Tiff: Yes.

0:11:17.7 Britt: We don't want them to feel like second choice. So like when I'm able to find a spot for you or make room for you so that we can get you in sooner, I'll give you a call and it's usually about like within 24 to 48 hours that I'm gonna have an appointment open for you. So I'm setting an expectation that when I call, it's not like, "Oh, like no, it's too short of notice." I'm setting the expectation. It's gonna be pretty quick notice. So be prepared when I call you. And then if that doesn't work for them, that they're like, "Ooh, I'm not able to make a change like that quickly." No problem. I've got you in the schedule. I'm not even gonna waste my time putting you on the ASAP list right now then, in my mind, I'm not gonna say that to them, but I'm not gonna put on my list.

0:11:57.4 Britt: I want it to be like a very efficient list for me to go to.

0:12:03.1 Tiff: Agreed.

0:12:03.8 Britt: So that when I am taking the time to make phone calls, I'm choosing the highest value people to call that will be able to get come into my schedule.

0:12:09.9 Tiff: I love that.

0:12:11.2 Britt: That's my two seconds on ASAP. Number two place I'm gonna go is my treatment tracker. Honestly, that's where I'm gonna go. So it's like, "All right, do I have a high production? How much time do I have?" I've got my treatment tracker of all these people who don't have an appointment scheduled that I can go pick the one that's gonna fit right where I need them and start to call that patient and get them scheduled for the treatment.

0:12:31.9 Tiff: Oh, I love that. I totally love that. I'm writing these down so we don't forget at the end our action items. I like to... I will forget and I like to make notes. So I love that. I think that's smart. I did... I used to do the same thing. I would pop into my treatment tracker and look for that high... That dollar amount. I'm like just looking. I'm not looking at everybody. I'm looking for the dollar amount that I need or the amount of time that I need to fill on my schedule. So I love that. I think that's brilliant. And if you're not using a treatment tracker, you probably should be because it creates beautiful lists for you. Another thing I like to do is I like to look ahead in the schedule like a week or maybe two weeks and look at same day, same time and pull from those people first.

0:13:10.5 Tiff: My theory, my thought process, I like to put myself in people's shoes and try to figure out what would work for me. And if you were to move my appointment and you made it like if I was coming in on Monday at 2:00 and then you called me and now I'm coming in on Thursday at 10:00 AM, I'm gonna tell you honestly truly this actually happened with my dental office here in, here in town. I was like, "Oh shoot, did I put this in my calendar, right? What time is it supposed to be? Was it... " it was like a 9:00 AM from an 11:00 AM and I totally botched it and I was 30 minutes late and it was a mess. And I was like, "Okay, like I'm gonna take partial responsibility here, but like this whole thing was a freaking mess," right? So don't make it messy for people.

0:13:52.6 Tiff: I look ahead a week to two weeks, look at your frequencies for insurance, for hygiene. So make sure you're not messing anything up there. But I would call if you've got a cancellation and an opening on a Wednesday at 2:00, like call and look at Wednesday at 2:00 and be like, "Hey, guess what? I can see you a week earlier. Let's get you in." So if your ASAP list, your treatment tracker. I would look ahead at the schedule, people that are already on the schedule 'cause they're more likely to come in.

0:14:16.3 Tiff: And then I think unscheduled or broken appointments are my next go-to. So I say ASAP list, treatment tracker, look at the schedule, who's already on there that you can move up and then look at the broken appointment list or the unscheduled list. My theory on that is that at some point they had scheduled it already. So it may be a quicker fruits for your labour than patients who you're trying to talk into the treatment for that purpose. Britt, do you have any other ideas on that?

0:14:51.6 Britt: Oh, those are my big go-to. And I might even change up. I know I said unscheduled like treatment tracker second, but I would probably move people up in the schedule first. So I would say ASAP move people up, then go to treatment tracker and then go to all those kind of older ones that are gonna take some more calls to get scheduled.

0:15:10.7 Tiff: I agree. Yeah, I like that. Okay.

0:15:12.1 Britt: Yep.

0:15:12.8 Tiff: So then our order is ASAP list with really great freaking notes, you guys ASAP list, same day, same time. So look ahead in the schedule if you, if it's not a same day, same time, like that's fine, do your work, make it work, that's fine. But pull people who are already on the schedule. So ASAP list, look at your schedule, who can move up, and then your treatment tracker. Look for the either time or the dollar amount that you need to fill. And then your unscheduled list. So broken appointments, people who are already on the list, your recare list, people who haven't scheduled yet, all of those places. And just hammer it out. I love to leave a voicemail. I love calls you guys, by all means pick up the ding, ding phone. Okay? So leave a voicemail and then follow it up with a text message.

0:15:56.1 Tiff: I usually would say, "Hey, it's Tiff, with Dental A Team and I am just call... I just left you a voicemail and I just needed to chat with you about an upcoming appointment. If you can please give me a call back as soon as possible." Real quick. Britt, I see this happen all the time and I actually heard... I heard somebody say it this week and I was like, "Oh, gouge my eyes out." [laughter] I hear front office ladies and gents constantly say, "Well, wait, I already left a voicemail for somebody to try to take that spot, so wait and let's allow them time to call back." [laughter]

0:16:28.6 Tiff: Yeah. Yeah. Same reaction. Okay, listen, if you didn't answer my call nor my text message when I sent it, I'm moving on. 'Cause my job is to fill that schedule. And if you call back and you're like, "Oh my gosh, yeah, I'd love to come in and it's filled," I'm gonna say, "Oh, dang it. You know what? Right after I chatted with you, somebody snagged that appointment. Well, what I'm going to do is leave you on my list and you're gonna be one of the first people that I call the next time I get an opening." And you know what I've literally had patients say, "Totally get it. I'm gonna make sure that, I have my phone on because I really wanna come in sooner and I'm gonna answer the call next time you call." Yeah, that's right. You are... You're right, you are.

0:17:02.3 Britt: I'll even leave that in my message or my text when I make my first call and I'll say, "Hey, here's what I've got. We'll take, the first person who calls us is gonna get that appointment, so give me a call back as soon as you get this message."

0:17:17.2 Tiff: Yep.

0:17:18.6 Britt: Another place I'm gonna look when I've got openings in my schedule is I'm gonna send like a little like SOS message out to my team as well and say, "Hey, we've got an opening tomorrow. So any patients in the office today that might need treatment," that they can start to tee it up for us already and say, "Hey, we might have some time tomorrow to get you back in. So let's go ahead and take a look." Or if I do, I'm sure I've got time. "Hey, I think I've got some time tomorrow, if you're available for us to get it taken care of." So anyone I want my whole team thinking and helping to support me and fill in that schedule.

0:17:53.6 Tiff: I love that idea. That's beautiful. Yep. Okay, here's the deal guys. Number one, remember if you are finding that you're rebuilding your schedule often, we need to figure out the root cause. So dive into what's actually happening. But then on top of that, have a really great protocol for how to get things done. So your protocol that we're giving you today, number one, I'm taking your, SOS number, one send out an SOS to the team and say, "Hey, I've got this opening if anybody in the office today or maybe family members can take it, keep your eyes and ears out for that."

0:18:30.6 Tiff: So send an SOS out to the team, hit your ASAP list, okay? Hit your same day, same time or wherever in the future schedule that can be moved up. Then hit your treatment tracker, then hit your unscheduled or broken appointments, recare list, anything that is not on the books already that's just kind of sitting out there in the oblivion. Hit those lists up. Big pieces to remember, pick up the phone, make the phone call on your phone call, make sure you let them know you're taking the first, like the first person to get back to you gets that spot. So set the expectations. We talk about that a lot with Dental A Team, set the expectations and that way there's not room for disappointment or error later.

0:19:16.1 Tiff: So let them know that it's gonna happen that way. So make sure your verbiage is up to par. Send a text message after you leave a voicemail. I usually just duplicate. I slim it down, but duplicate what I left in the voicemail and I send it out. And here's the great news guys. There's this really cool feature on your computers on your keyboards.

0:19:36.3 Tiff: And you can copy and paste and I use copy and paste constantly. I have a word document open or I know on most windows, they have those little sticky note things, right? So I used to just have everything that I would text patients or leave a note in a chart or in an office journal or whatever it was on something like that. So if you're making, if you're bursting out a ton of calls and you're sending text messages afterwards, copy and paste that sucker, okay?

0:20:06.8 Tiff: Don't use names, just say, "Hey," because what you'll do, because I've done it, [laughter] is copy and paste and leave the old name in there. And they're like, "Well, that's rude. My name's Tiffany, I'm not Jessica." Okay? So don't do that, but make it work. Make it count. Dive into diagnosis on why you're getting a lot of cancellations if it's happening, write out this protocol. You've got the tools here. Make sure the verbiage is in there. Go freaking kill it. You guys. Britt, any last minute words you wanna add?

0:20:35.0 Britt: I don't think so. I think the only thing is guys, I think like Tiff said, if it's happening to you a lot, figure out why it's happening. Retrain your patients. Think where do we need to retrain people so that we're a priority and they know their appointments are important and minimize how often we're having to use these resources. But at least know what you need to do when you have the opportunity of an opening in the schedule.

0:21:00.9 Tiff: Love it. I love it. Britt, thank you. I loved... I love podcasting with you. Our tangents were awesome. I hope you guys enjoyed them. And I hope you really feel the passion from us and if you're watching this, that you see our faces. And I hope you saw Britt's face, earlier when I asked that very important question. So go kill it. Go write your protocol, I can't wait to hear all about it. Let us know how it's working for you. [email protected] and leave us a freaking review because we love hearing how awesome these tools are for you in your practice. Can't wait to hear from you.

0:21:34.4 KD: And that wraps it up for another episode of the Dental A Team Podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.

[music]