Whether you’re starting out at a small medical practice, or have to run a large hospital, it’s a fact that customer service is a very important part of any healthcare business. Patients can require your services at any time; if you don’t have enough resources to take each call and answer their questions, you could lose potential clients and money.
Any type of business can experience a sudden increase in phone calls; however, medical businesses are much more prone to experiencing this. Maybe the new treatment you’re offering has become very popular, or perhaps you work in a field that sees many emergencies. In any case, being able to provide your patients’ with an easy way to communicate with your practice is vital to keep your business thriving.
But sometimes, your on-site staff can find it hard to answer and handle each call properly. Small medical practices, in particular, tend to have a reduced amount of staff. If your small staff has to deal with all incoming phone calls, in addition to carrying out other tasks, they could easily become overworked. Overworked, exhausted members of your staff are far more likely to be stressed out and in a bad mood, which will reduce their ability to handle patients effectively and with a good attitude – always necessary when dealing with health-related inquiries.
Hiring extra employees to set up a call center could be a solution, but it’s very expensive. Hiring part-time or full-time employees carries a significant expense. Not only do you have to pay wages, but you also have to carry out a long process that includes advertising for the position, interviewing candidates, and hiring the new employees. Of course, you’ll also have to pay your employees regardless of whether your business receives any phone calls on certain days. And if you want to offer a 24/7 answering service – which can be a huge advantage for medical practices -, the expenses will be even higher.
Fortunately, a virtual receptionist service can help you handle overflow calls. The best virtual receptionist companies provide operators who have already received professional training, and who will be able to greet calling customers in a friendly, knowledgeable manner. If you’re interested in hiring an overflow call handling service, you’ll be glad to know that this service is highly customizable.
You can choose exactly which phone calls will be handled by your new overflow call handling service. For example, you can instruct operators to only take phone calls after they have rung a set amount of times – this could mean 2 rings, or 4, or more, according to your preferences. This will give your on-site staff time to answer the phone if they’re available; otherwise, an operator will pick up the phone.
Operators will greet each customer with the message you prefer. Then, they will handle the inquiry accordingly. They can answer questions with the information you provide, take a message, or even transfer the call if needed. Whenever an operator takes a message, they’ll later forward that message to your on-site staff, along with the customer’s contact information. You can choose to receive forwarded messages in a variety of ways, from email to text messages. You can also choose to have operators answer calls only during certain hours of the day or even while you and your staff are on holiday. You can even specify certain dates; for example, virtual assistant operators can take calls while you and your staff hold a meeting. This flexibility will allow you to create a 24/7 answering service for your business, ensuring that each customer gets a satisfactory answer.
With your phones covered, your on-site staff will be able to devote more time to other tasks, knowing that they’ll receive each message left by a client. Then, your staff will have the ability to decide when they’ll get back to each customer. Having a more relaxed staff is also a great way to make sure that each patient is greeted with a smile at your front desk.
Hiring an overflow call handling service is also an effective, easy way to save money while increasing your business’ performance. By ensuring that no call goes unanswered, you’ll be creating a positive customer experience for each patient. This, in turn, will eventually create a powerful word-of-mouth reputation, which can drive new prospective customers to your practice. And, you’ll be achieving this without having to pay full-time wages or spending valuable time training a new recruit. So, if you’re wondering how you can improve your business’ performance without going over your budget, an overflow call handling service could be exactly what you need!
