Welcome to By Size Dental Marketing. Today I'm
with Callie Ward. Callie is the CEO and founder
of Dash Dental Consulting and my personal friend.
And Callie, it's such a pleasure to have you
back on the podcast. And today we're going to
talk about phone skills. Hi, Eric. Thank you.
It's so great to see you again. Yeah. What have
you been up to since we spoke last? I mean, we've
had... Most of the last half of 24 and we're
into the, I guess we're technically still in
Q1 of 25, but it's about to be over. Right. What
have you been up to? Time is flying. I have been
busy. So working with new clients, traveling,
doing a lot of. accountability on myself with
my business. You're marketing, right? And that's
probably my least favorite thing to do with what
I do is marketing myself. And so I'm trying to
walk the talk, do what I want to see my clients
do, and that is interact on social media and
just be present and engaged with people who are
having some challenges that I might have a solution
to. Wait, are you saying that you don't like
to get on video and talk about yourself, Kelly?
I love podcasts. I don't love taking pictures
of myself and posting them on social media and
saying, look at me, hire me. I think we should
bring glamour shots back. The 80s with really
big hair. Yeah, that'd be fun. I do. I do. Now,
you mentioned travel. What's the best trip you've
been on the last couple of years? Ooh, well.
I would have to say my best trips are to meet
my new grandbabies. And that takes up the majority
of my travel time other than work trips. And
I absolutely love the first time meeting a team.
It's a chance to learn their personalities and
connect with them as human beings that you just
can't do on a virtual like this. Like you really
just can't get to the nitty gritty of who we
are. And develop those connections. So my work
trips, I think a highlight was the Dental Entrepreneur
Woman group. It's a one time a year meeting and
probably the most powerful and uplifting, welcoming
women in the dental industry. It just it makes
my heart happy every time I go. What is it about
that lifts you up? And I'm asking because I'm
reading a book and I'm not far enough in to talk
about it's called The Power of Moments, though.
What is it about that summit or? I think one
of the things about the dental entrepreneur woman
is there's no bull. So it is women who are committed
to helping other women. So there's not cattiness.
There's not clicks. It's you show up for a coffee
chat. So we had one this morning and we were
talking about how we're writers and we write
articles and that we, one of our. friends had
plugged her article into an AI to say, are you
detecting that this was written by AI or not?
And so we're trying to embrace technology that
we're at, but also not, and it got categorized
that it was written by AI, but she had written
it. And so as entrepreneurs, how do we help each
other? What are we learning in the field to help
somebody else? And it's just a genuine group.
of people who really want to help you succeed.
So they're just, they, they celebrate with you.
They lift you up. If you're struggling, they
give you, you know, we share ideas, we share
things that we've learned and AI is mind blowing.
It's absolutely mind blowing, but we want to
make sure that we're walking in integrity with
it. Yeah. Yeah. Well said. Yeah. No, I like it
when you can surround yourself with people that,
you know, genuinely care and want you to do well
in the world. Right. And speaking of doing well
in the world, it's hard to do well as a dental
office if you can't answer your phones right.
It's hard for your marketing to survive if we
don't answer the phones. I will say that's probably
the number one reason we get in trouble. Good
marketing can happen. You know, they can't schedule
them for any number of reasons, but that's a
topic for a different day. Tell me a little bit
about what you're doing, Callie. I mean, I know
you're coming in and, you know, I know today
we want to focus on phone skills. Where do you
see most people going wrong and how are you helping
them correct it? So, and this is really, really,
really basic. I think I had been working in a
dental practice for over 10 years before somebody
said, this is our marketing. This is what we're
doing to get new patients. And gosh, the goal
of that phone call is for you to get them scheduled
into the schedule. Like nobody was really abundantly
clear with that expectation. So I think that
we need to improve the communication process
between the doctor, the marketing company, and
the team who are answering the phones of this
is what we're posting out there. This is our
goal. And then empowering that team member to
give them the power of, hey. If that patient
is a second opinion, let's go ahead. You can
offer them a free consultation to get them in
the schedule. Give them some tools in their toolkit
to get those patients scheduled. But we, number
one, have to answer the phone. And then we have
to answer the phone like we're excited to talk
to them, not that they're interrupting my day.
That's an interesting conundrum to solve because
I feel in our push to be effective as we feel
short -staffed. I know some of that's, you know.
calming down in 2012. We want to get the most
out of our team. Sometimes by doing so, we're
actually exacerbating phone issues because that
phone is now an interruption to the thing you're
asking me to do. And that's very problematic.
You know, we listen to phone calls here at the
company and the biggest challenge we hear consistently
isn't someone's rude, it's just impatience. across
the phone because you're interrupting my day.
We joke, you know, we have a great agency if
it weren't for all these clients who are needing
stuff all the time. And, you know, and the same
is true for dental office. I mean, I'm sure you'd
run a great office for those patients calling
in trying to make appointments. Right. And we
do find people who either don't tell us any information.
So they're very, very short with it. Or the opposite
of that is a new patient phone call could take
30 minutes depending upon what intake form am
I asking my team member to take and the long
answers that the patient gives us. So sometimes
they give us so much information that you're
just like cut to the chase. And that comes down,
I think, to the number one skill with answering
the phone is I'm the person in the office. I
need to control the call. So how do we take control
of a phone call first to not give them that opportunity
to just go on and on and on? So it has to be
genuine. It has to be in a way that's polite,
but we can also make it efficient. Talk me through
some tools to take control. Like when you say
that, how would you take control of someone saying,
hey, Callie, I saw your ad or I saw your website
or my friend told me about you. Do you take my
insurance? I only want to go someplace that takes
my insurance. Gosh, Eric, it's so great that
you called here. I'm so, so thankful that your
friend referred us. Can I get your friend's name?
I'd love to be able to celebrate with them. So
I'm going to ask that. I'm going to find out,
you know, so were you having any pain? Were you
just wanting to get in for your cleaning? What
was top of your mind with calling us today? So
I want to find out what their why is because
I want to solve that before we hang up. But then,
you know, I know that asking about your insurance
is a great question. So there's two ways that
I can answer that. There's either let's say that
we're a fee for service and I don't participate
with any insurance. Absolutely. I absolutely
understand that insurance is important to you.
So in our practice, we are a practice that does
not necessarily participate with an insurance,
but we absolutely can submit for you. All that
means is that it may be at a higher cost out
of pocket for you. What I'd love to do is to
get your information and give your insurance
a call so that I can give you a factual cost
difference between if we were in network or out
of network. Most often, our patients that have
your insurance maybe experience a $10 difference
between being in network or out of network. I
want to be honest. I want to help them. I don't
want to say we accept your insurance and then
it's reimbursed at a lower rate. To me, that's
deceptive. But we do accept your insurance. We
are just not a participating provider. And if
we're in -network, it's an easy, absolutely yes,
we're a participating provider for that. Let's
go ahead and get you scheduled. On the pre -show,
we were talking a bit about that question. It's
the only question they know how to ask. I mean,
in candor, right? And if you told me 10 years
ago, 15 years ago, that do you take my insurance
question was such a hard question, I would giggle.
I just didn't understand it because as professionals,
we very much are misinformed about how much knowledge
the end consumer has. They don't know that if
you're getting an all -on -four case or a set
of six veneers or seven crowns or whatever it
is, that insurance has... Who even cares if you
take my insurance at some point, right? Right.
I guess if you have perfect teeth and you just
need cleanings, yeah, I mean, I guess insurance
matters. But even then, I can talk about how
you're paying your insurance company and we can
just cut out the middleman. Insurance is a benefit.
It is not dental insurance is not like medical
insurance geared to get us healthy. Right. Dental
insurance is a copayment. It is. It's like a
Costco membership, right? Like you're paying
to have this dental insurance, but it's really
only getting you a discount. So if I were to
explain in network or out of network, let's say
that you've purchased this insurance and. You
want to get your cleanings and you think that
they're going to be covered at 100%. We as an
industry have done a disservice because we've
solved all those problems and told them yes or
no. When in reality, it's changed, right? Like
when I started in dentistry, it was 1992. And
I was using a book to schedule appointments.
We weren't on a computer. So it's come so far
and changed. But the industry... maximum is the
same now as it was in the 60s when it was introduced
right and and unfortunately when you look at
the metrics for practices their annual value
per patient is about two cleanings and maybe
two fillings a year is what they maximize for
that patient so we're insurance is an assistance
but it is not designed to get them healthy and
i think we have to start Communicating that to
patients, you know, we can't diagnose dentistry
tooth by tooth. We should diagnose dentistry
best case scenario. So this is the best solution
for you. And then we should see what can we get
assistance wise. It just is. It's unfortunate
that insurance in the dental realm either. Maybe
we just look at it for cleanings and exams and
the rest of it is just a bonus if we get anything
from it. Yeah. How are you talking to teams about
it, Kelly? How are you working with them to sort
of get past this? We have not changed in the
dental offices how we talk about insurance in
the last 15 years, to my knowledge. I think it's
really important to share the worst case scenario
price fee with a patient, which means. If we
are a PPO insurance and we are only telling them
what the PPO agreed upon fee is. So let's take
a crown, for example. Let's say that our full
fee, our regular fee is $1 ,500 for a crown.
But our agreed upon fee with that PPO insurance,
let's say, is $800 for a crown. And we're only
telling them that the fee is $800. They don't
understand that that doctor is taking a cut of
$700 off of that crown. Just to honor that insurance.
And then the insurance is paying 50 % of that.
So I think it's important to say, you know, absolutely.
Here's what your treatment is. You need a crown
and that crown worst case scenario is $1 ,500.
That's our full fee for that crown. Great news
is we participate with your insurance. So it's
only going to be $800 instead of $1 ,500. Now
in the interim, if you lose that insurance between.
today and your appointment in two weeks, you're
going to pay that $1 ,500 for that crown. So
they're understanding the impact of that arrangement
of being PPO. And then we share our best case,
our best guess is that the insurance should pay
50 % of that. But I just want you to remember,
worst case, the full fee for that is $1 ,500.
That helps them understand the impact that the
practice is taking. Then if insurance doesn't
pay, I've told them what worst case scenario
is. So I've done my due diligence. This is what
the fee is for that treatment. We're going to
do everything that we can to help you maximize
your benefits and get that payment. But as a
phone call to the patient when they call is.
We need to be honest. Are we in network or out
of network? That's what they're asking. But what's
the value if we're out of network? How can I
close that gap if we're looking at new patients
calling? It is, you know, in our office, we provide
X, Y, and Z. We do all of these things for our
patients. We see fewer patients per hour than
other insurance -driven practices do. creating
that value. Because if you think of Nordstrom's,
you think of Whole Foods, they're high price,
right? Like that's an expensive thing. but we
have a perceived value of why we're wanting that.
So patients want the best. We want to be given
the best. We just have to help them see why coming
to us is best, even if we are out of network.
So it's sharing that value. And part of that
is answering the phone with energy and enthusiasm
and using their name. Getting to the real reason
what they're calling for and helping them see
that I'm going to connect with them as a human
being and take care of them like they're in the
right place. These doctors are this is exactly
what they love to do. You're in the right space.
That's where we can take that new patient phone
call who's just saying, do you take my insurance
and helping guide them to the solution here in
our practice? No, that's. And it gets back to
what we talked about earlier, just slowing down.
And there's many ways that people articulate
getting behind the question, slowing down and
getting to the why. But at some level, it's just
having the wherewithal to be curious on that
phone call about what the heck you call me for.
Right. We can't just answer their question. Yes
or no. We're in or out of network because they're
going to that's all they know how to ask and
they're going to hang up. So it's it's did you
have an issue that you're dealing with? Is this
a second opinion that you're looking for? Are
you concerned about the price? Is that a concern?
We have financial options that we can offer you.
Like there's so many ways that in the questions
that I have for that new patient, if I can be
their advocate and help them solve that problem,
I'm going to guide them in. But it's. I recently
moved to Colorado Springs and went through this
exact experience of trying to find a dental practice
for myself. And it was shocking to me how difficult
it was on a lot of those practices to see me
as a human being and not just answer my question
and hang up. Is that just the culture of the
industry? Why are we defaulting to that as...
That's, you know, the phone skills. Cause, cause
what you're explaining is just the world over.
Right. I mean, that that's right. Listen to a
hundred thousand phone calls and I promise you
80 ,000 are just what you described. Right. Right.
Why is it that way? Well, I think in the dental
industry and I worked up front for 30 years,
I think that we hire people who are pleasant
and nice, but we don't necessarily train them
clearly. I think that, um, Post -COVID, we've
lost a lot of team members. If we had somebody
that was dedicated just to answering the phone,
I think we would see a better retention of new
patients because that's what they do all that
we're asking them to do. But odds are, you know,
if we've got two people up front and let's say
that we've got three hygienists and two doctors.
We are greeting patients and checking out patients
all the same time that we're answering the phone.
Also, the same time that I'm verifying insurance
for 50 patients that are coming in that day.
I am handling team issues that are going, you
know, in between there. I've got them running
to Costco to pick up supplies like the list continues
and continues. And either we need to. set really
clear expectations of this is Susie and Susie's
first on the phone and Mary is second on the
phone. I think that's having that hierarchy is
really important so that our calls get answered.
But I think we also need to, you know, look at
what can we delegate off of the front desk. If
we're a small practice, can we maybe take the
insurance and have somebody remote doing that
so that that team member is either handling a
patient in front of them or answering the phone?
That gives them a little bit more ability to
be present. But when we're asking them to do
all that we ask them to do, and we haven't communicated
what the marketing is and or whatever it may
be, they're very swamped with just handling the
patient flow in and out of the office. When you're
working with your teams, walk me through your...
normal engagement of, you know, how often are
you meeting with the doctor? How often are you
meeting with the teams? How often are you going
on site? What are you doing virtually? Are you
listening to phone calls? Talk me through the
Cali coaching program. So there's a couple of
different things. Let's say that there's a...
a member of yours that is just wanting their
phone skills handled. That would be something
that we would do a one -on training, maybe a
four -hour arrangement where we walk them through
and I see, are they in network? Are they out
of network? We strategize how to answer their
calls. So that's a type of training that I do.
But I think, you know, when we look at everything,
that's where we see a lot of small changes make
a big difference. So my full coaching is where
I come in. I get to know the team. We do an in
-office visit. I listen to phone calls. I listen
to handoffs. I watch the interactions between
the team members with the patients, the team
to team. We analyze, you know, what are their
strengths? What are their weaknesses? And identify
how do they want to grow? And then we work on
that with. Calls with the team virtually and
with the doctors on where they want to see that
growth pattern be. And that goes, you know, we
can do a year contract to 18 months. I think
18 months is ideal because that gives us three
recurve cycles to work through. It's not a cookie
cutter. It's not like every practice is different.
We all have the same problems, right? They're
the same things, but some practices excel at
one area and another area they're lacking in.
So it's really an analysis of their metrics,
their goals, where do they want to be, where
the gaps are, and identifying, you know, are
they wanting to do something differently to see
a different result? And I think that's the trick,
right? We have to be willing to try to do behaviors
a little bit differently to see a different result.
And a lot of times it's just communication. I
think that's the number one thing for me is I'm
really passionate about helping the doctors really
know their team members so they feel safe and
secure and feel great at the end of the day instead
of exhausted. And then they're able to take great
care of their patients. And so if we look at
solving problems, it just kind of depends on
where they're at and where they want to be. And
then we can devise a plan. Now, if you had, you
know, one, two or three, however many, you know,
tips to give a front desk, like what are they?
What do you got? My number one is answer the
phone in the first three rings. B, answer with
genuine enthusiasm. So share your name. Thank
you for calling X practice. This is Callie. What
brings you in today? How can I help you? Just
that immediate, I'm a human being. And then really
connecting to that patient. So if they're calling
and they're in pain, show some empathy. If they're
calling and their child is hurt, oh my gosh.
go into mom mode and, and match that patient
where they're at and, and help solve their problem.
Being slowing down and being curious. I like
it. I like it. Yeah. Well, how do we get in touch
with you, Callie? Someone, someone's one of the,
you know, Dennis listening. What are they, what's
the best way to get in touch with you? Absolutely.
So my, my company name is Dash. Dental Consulting.
That's my grandma name. And I love helping doctors
live intentionally. Like we're born and we die
and it's what's in between is the dash. And you
can reach me. I'm on social media. I have a website,
dashdentalconsulting .com. And my email is dashdentalconsulting
at Gmail. So I'm really easy to reach. Yeah,
I'll link to all that in the show notes. Give
everyone a little get to know Callie. But I love
the dash between the first breath and the last.
That's nice. See, you're marketable, Callie.
We can work with all that. Right? Well, life
goes really fast. And I think if we're not intentional
with what we're doing every day. intentional
in the dental practice, intentional in our personal
lives. I think that a lot of it slips by and
that we're not fully present. And life is short.
And I want to help people feel great at the end
of their workday, not exhausted. Man, well said,
Callie. Good job. Thanks so much for jumping
on the show. And I think this is a great place
to wrap it up. That's your bite of dental marketing,
Callie. Appreciate it. Thank you, Eric. Yeah.
And we'll link to the show notes and the show
notes. We'll link to your website, social media,
you know, you know, especially link to that,
that your dash poem. I like it on your site there.
All right. Well, thank you very much, Kelly.
Thanks, Eric.