Do's and don'ts for customer service: Set the bar high

Your customer service is being judged not only against other dental and medical practices but also retail stores, restaurants, hotels, and other places patients visit. Go out of your way to increase patient satisfaction and patients will stay active and recommend your practice to others.

Redouble all customer service initiatives within the practice. Excellent customer service is the single most important element to turn prospective patients into actual patients. Practices are wise to do as much as possible to ensure that visitors have positive feelings about the office. If people don't feel welcome, they won't join the practice.

Don't forget that your patients are customers. Every day, companies find themselves considering questions such as: Are our customers happy? What can we do to impress our customers? Do we provide quality service? Dental practices must consider these questions as well. Unfortunately, most practices don't think of their patients as their customers. However, the truth is that with every appointment, dentists may only be one mistake away from losing a patient, and this mistake is most often directly related to their level of customer service.

Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the founder and CEO of Levin Group, the leading dental practice consulting firm in North America. For the complete list of dates and locations where you can attend his latest seminar, visit www.levingroup.com/gpseminars.

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