Receptionists

Most dental practices have a front office staff that greets patients, books appointments, takes care of billing, and calls out to remind patients of upcoming appointments. As the dentist, you have to keep in mind you have relatively little contact with your patients compared to your front office staff. So, while you can be the nicest, most accommodating dentist in the world, you could be sabotaging your own business by having the wrong people up front.

Many patients complain about the front office staff of medical practices. Some feel like they were spoken to rudely on the phone, while others complain about how they were treated once they got the office. Few think to tell the dentist, as they don't want to look like problematic patients, but many of these people will leave the office vowing never to come back - not because of the services they received, but the way in which they were treated by the staff.

As a dentist, the single most important thing you can do for your practice is make sure you have the nicest, politest, most sugary-sweet front office staff possible. Some dentists think that looking for a tough-as-nails receptionist to deal with problem patients is the way to go, but you can designate someone else in the office to take on this rare occasion. Your receptionist should greet everyone with a smile, and operate under the mentality that each patient is a customer - and the customer is always right.