Polish Your Practice’s Front Door
You might be working diligently to develop your practice and its brand or your personal brand and leadership skills. But in less than a minute someone in charge of your front desk could set you back. What is happening to patients as they enter that all-important first space of doing business with you?
Front Desk Image Risks
We’ve seen many common front desk mistakes during years of secret shopping, consulting and coaching. These annoying details will definitely be noticed by your patients. For example, are your front desk employees:
- Properly dressed for your practice brand, office design, and décor or specialty?
- Eating or applying make-up while in the front desk/reception area?
- Ignoring social distancing and other safety rules that might be in force?
- Gossiping or carrying on long, loud, social conversations with others?
Do they always say a friendly “hello” or formal greeting when a new guest arrives? When they’re on the phone/in a direct longer conversation, do they give incoming patients a nod, a smile or other nonverbal acknowledgement? And do they leave personal or professional office problems at home or behind closed doors?
What front desk behaviors might be diminishing your overall credibility, professionalism and bottom line?
What Can be Done?
A simple approach can help correct these behaviors:
- Make sure your staff knows EXACTLY what your service standards are. If you don’t know them yourself, define them or check practice/company documentation.
- Make sure that anyone who handles your front desk area or takes frontline phone calls knows your expectations, what the protocol is and that it’s not an option.
- Set the example yourself.
Consistently repeat this simple process with established standards in place and you’ll create a winning experience for YOU, your team and the business.
