S4 Episode 3: How we Onboard and Represent Our Clients and Phone Support

In this episode of Inside Dentistry Support, Sarah Beth Herman dives into the heart of onboarding new clients and delivering top-tier phone support. She talks about how important it is to really understand the ins and outs of a dental practice—from the doctors’ names and office hours to the services they offer and the policies they follow. That kind of knowledge, she says, is key to providing accurate, confident, and professional support.

Sarah Beth also unpacks the importance of tone, clarity, and responsibility when speaking with patients over the phone. It's not just about reacting—it's about responding with intention. She shares how tools like the office Wiki and Microsoft Teams help the team stay aligned and keep communication strong.

At the core of it all is the goal to build trust, represent each dental practice with excellence, and help retain patients by making every phone interaction a positive one.

Transcript

Hey everyone, it's Sarah Beth Herman. Welcome to this episode of Inside Dentistry Support. if you are part of our phones team. This one is for you. this podcast is titled How we Onboard and Represent Our Clients and Phone Support, and it's titled That Way on Purpose.

  Let's talk about what it really means to onboard a client into phone support and what it means to be the voice of their dental practice.   This episode is all about ownership,  tone, clarity, and responsibility. Because you are more than a phone rep, you're more than a phone agent, you're more than someone who just works in a virtual call center.

  You are what the patient hears first. You set the pace, you build the trust, you guide the entire transaction. When a new dental office starts, phone support with us, it's not just about getting the logins and transferring their phone lines so that it all works with us.   It's not just about forwarding, it's not just about what hours we answer phones or what they want us to do.

When we answer the phones,   it's actually about immersion. Before you ever answer a single call or make one dial, here's what I trust. You will know and feel confident in one. You will know the name of the doctor or the doctors at the office. You'll understand information about the office. You'll know their specific hours,  their lunch breaks.

You'll know if they close their office at a certain time. You'll know if they're open on weekends. You'll understand what services they offer. If they're a general practice, ortho, sedation, pediatrics, you'll understand the lingo that goes along with those different specialties. A pediatric practice, we talk about mom and dad or guardian a lot.

We don't talk about confirming an appointment to the actual patient because they're minors. You'll talk and know about their cancellation policies and rescheduling policies. You'll know where they're located and how to give directions clearly what dental software they use. You'll know their preferences for how calls should be documented, and all of that information, if you're wondering where to find it, is actually in your Wiki page.

And if it's not, you don't guess. You go to your leadership team and you say, Hey, we need this updated before I begin support. The Wiki is your playbook. It's your safety net,

and it's your responsibility to use it every single day.

Here's something that I want you to hear loud and clear. Answering the phones isn't about being reactive. It is about being responsive. We speak slowly and intentionally. We use our words with care. We don't rush because patients can feel it. When a new client joins us for phone support, the first 90 days are everything.

In fact, I would even venture to say the first two weeks are everything. We are building their impression of what great phone support a great virtual team actually sounds like. And many of them have never experienced this before, or they wouldn't have called us in the first place. And for me and all of us here at Dentistry Support, that means.

We never answer the phone without knowing who you are speaking to. Pay attention to the caller Id. Pay attention to the office name that's popping up.   Pay attention to the office you are working on.   Always verify the patient first. I. Can I get your name and date of birth? You have to look them up. It is HIPAA compliant to ask for their name and date of birth.

First to verify that you have the perfect patient on the phone. That's a patient of record. Now, if there's someone that's not a patient of record, can I get your name, date of birth and phone number? HIPAA first. Always no guessing, no oversharing.   If you start talking to a patient right out the gate and you don't verify who they are, you could be giving information away illegally.

Every word we say should reflect professionalism, warmth, and clarity. You are not just answering calls, you are driving retention, and here are the core standards that every phone's team member is held to.   Your answer rate needs to be at 90% or higher. That means when the phone rings, you have to answer it.

  You have to watch what's happening in the practice you're answering for. If you don't answer, our offices will know. Our team will know, and we are letting down our clients when we don't have a 90% answer rate. Your average wait time should be under 20 seconds.

Count it. Watch the clock. Know why you're putting someone on hold. We are here to do the very best job. Not just answer phones, but answer phones on purpose and get the patient taken care of as quickly as possible. Your call recap should be done immediately. Your recap reporting daily cancellations should always be rebooked, at least one per day.

Ideally three or more. Someone calls in and says, I need to cancel an appointment. Your first response is, no problem. I'll get that rescheduled for you. Alternatively, are you sure there's not any way you could make this appointment? Our goal as phone support team members, especially when we are onboarding a new client, is to show them that we are saving their schedule.

We are not here just to facilitate calls coming in. We are here to save dental offices schedule. My challenge for you today is to make sure that you're always of that mindset when you begin answering calls. Don't just take a cancellation and move on. If you can save the appointment, save it. Can I find another time that works best for you?

It's a powerful sentence that works wonders. Don't push. We guide, we offer, we serve. We take care of our patients. We take care of our clients.   Let's talk about the psychology of answering well.   Tone is everything we speak calmly. Even if the patient is rude. We smile when we talk because people can hear it.

We don't match a patient's frustration, we redirect it. Your words matter. People don't remember the script that you used. They remember if you sounded kind, if you gave them space, if you rushed them, if you made them feel like a number or like a priority,   you have the ability to calm someone with your own voice, and I want you to use it.

  The wiki page is your North Star. When a phone's client is onboarded, we work with the office to document their preferences in detail. Your wiki page should include everything from scripts and phrase preferences, their escalation protocol, contact information for the office manager and lead assistant,   lunch hours, time zone, holiday policies, video examples of how to document calls in the office's dental software.

If you are assigned an office and they are missing a video, if something is unclear, if you don't see all of these things in the wiki page, it is your duty to notify leadership and help get that video recorded within 24 hours. You need to work with our admin team. You're not a brown knower. You're not sucking up, you're not calling someone out.

You're doing the right thing. We don't leave. Gaps. Gaps lead to confusion. Confusion leads to errors and errors lead to lost clients. We use Microsoft Teams on purpose. This is where we send quick updates, we verify information, we ask questions, but your daily recap is your time to confirm who called what the outcome was, if patients were rebooked or rescheduled, any unusual requests, errors or praises that we have, any appointments that you've scheduled that we need to let the office know about.

So you get credit. Daily recaps are a non-negotiable. They protect you. They protect the client, and they give leadership a pulse check on your day. Here's what you should never forget when you are supporting phones for a dental practice, you are not a script reader. You are a communicator. You are not a call center.

You are the patient's first impression of a trusted dental office. You are not optional. You are essential.  And the better you understand your client, their voices, their workflow, their people, their customers, the stronger your impact becomes. So as we onboard new phone support clients, I want you to remember This is their first time trusting someone outside of their office to represent them. Let's earn that trust, answer with excellence, speak with care, lead with clarity. I'm proud of you all. Let's keep doing the work that makes people feel taken care of. I'll talk to you soon.