The level of service your practice gives its clients has a direct impact on your financial results. And it’s more than the number of procedures performed or patient billings. Brilliant service is most often your primary demonstration of the quality of care you provide. It is what sets your practice apart. It’s why your patient chooses you, not to mention your treatment. It’s the essential factor in creating client loyalty.

Brilliant service is all around us. Look at Nordstrom, Starbucks, Ritz Carlton and Southwest Airlines. When you consistently provide brilliant service, you and your practice differentiate yourselves—as an individual within the practice and as a practice within the marketplace.

Employees who follow service standards by rote rarely create memorable moments for their clients. People who passionately believe in their product and service and encouraged to think about the quality experience for their patients are creative, innovative and proactive. Brilliant service comes from the heart and the head.

Here are five ideas to ensure your team is creating a quality experiece for your patients:

1. Teach the people who take care of the client.

A study of 3,000 organizations by the University of Pennsylvania showed that a 10-percent investment in capital improvements boosts productivity by 3.9 percent, while the same 10-percent investment in developing people increases productivity by 8.5 percent.

According to the American Society of Training and Development, organizations spending an average of $900 per employee on learning had 57-percent higher net sales and 37-percent higher gross profits.

Singapore Airlines spend $100 million annually on training—it’s the largest single component of the company’s budget.
Howard Schultz, Chairman and CEO of Starbucks once said, “Starbucks is not an advertiser. People think we are a great marketing company, but in fact we spend very little money on marketing and more money on training our people than advertising.”

Training the team yields measurable results.

2. Empower people to fix problems fast.

Train each team member to take responsibliity for finding a solution for the patients’ problem. Teach them how to avoid quoting “office policy” as an excuse. Build confidence among team members and teach them how to “think on their feet” —knowing the desired outcome and how they can achieve a win/win situation for the practice and the patient.

3. Ask the team what they need in order to consistently create a quality patient experience.

Maintain quality at the core of all patient care. Conduct team meetings to review customer-service cues in your practice. For every system there must be a customer-service discussion to address office protocols in “patient speak.” What do the patients need to hear to understand how your systems convey your quality of care and your service to our patients? Provide time for your team to ask questions and learn the philosophy behind doing what you do. Help them uderstand the benefits of your standards so they can talk to the patients with service brilliance.

We spend 85 percent of our time in patient interaction and 15 percent of our time in actual clinical application. More training in communication skills may be needed in your practice to improve team skills.

4. Learn how “others” are doing it, both inside and outside of the industry.

Attend continuing education together to learn new skills. Learn the latest in state-of-the-art technology and innovative ideas to improve efficiency.

Go on a field trip to watch exceptional customer service in action. Instruct your team to watch for great customer service, as well as poor customer service and report their observations in a team meeting. Conduct a team meeting to create your own quality service cues for your practice.

5. Treat team members as the quality of person they are.

Ritz Carlton has a saying, “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” Treat team members the way your practice wants them to treat the patients. When you help them feel respected, valued and cared for, they will treat the patient in kind.

Model the attitude and behaviors you want your team to exemplify when taking care of patients. Set team members up for success by equipping them with the proper tools to provide brilliant service. This might take the form of more continuing education, more team meetings or personal growth conferences.

Training is one of the best investments to ensure practice growth. If cost consideration is a factor, imagine what it costs the practice when the team is not adeqately trained. Team inefficienes and ineffectiveness affects practice revenue. Train the people who take care of your patients. Invest in what makes a significant difference in your practice and reap the rewards of service brilliance.

Debra Engelhardt-Nash has been in dentistry over 25 years. She is a trainer, author, presenter and consultant. Debra has presented workshops nationally and internationally for numerous study groups and organizations. As a result of her work, she has had the honor of meeting amazing people and speaking in beautiful countries such as Peru, Sweden, Romania, England, Croatia, France, and Turkey. She is a repeat presenter for the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and the Chicago Dental Society Midwinter Meeting.

In 1990, based on the needs of her clients, Debra established an Office Manager’s Study Club in Portland, Oregon. She discontinued facilitating the group when she moved to Charlotte in 1994, but the Office Manager’s Study Club continues to meet and has expanded and flourished.

Debra was a contributing editor for “Contemporary Esthetics and Restorative Practice” magazine, “Contemporary Dental Assistant” magazine and has written for a number of dental publications. She has been honored twice as author of the year for her contributions to dental journals. She was also an instructor for the Central Piedmont Community College Dental Assisting Program and a guest instructor for Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry and Oregon Health Sciences University Continuing Dental Education.

Debra is a founding member and served two terms as President of the National Academy of Dental Management Consultants. She is currently the Vice President/President-Elect for this organization. Debra is also a member of the American Academy of Dental Practice Administration. She has been repeatedly recognized by Dentistry Today as a Leader in Continuing Dental Education and a Leader in Dental Consulting.

Because of her contributions to the industry of dentistry, Debra received the Kay Moser Distinguished Service Award given by the American Dental Assistants Association in 2008. It is their highest honor. She has also been chosen as one of the Top 25 Women in Dentistry for 2014 by Dental Products Report. She is the 2015 recipient of the Gordon Christensen Lecturer Recognition award presented by the Chicago Dental Society.