Dr B’s Business Box

It all starts at the front desk

Meet the Author

Doctor Bharti (Doctor B) MBE PhD is a multi-award winning podiatrist who has is on a mission of making foot care wisdom viral. She is a regular author, speaker and contributor to the media on all matters feet, and is especially passionate about supporting Women in Business and serves as an ambassador to Women’s Enterprise Scotland. She was awarded the honour of an MBE in 2018 for services to Podiatry.

Follow Doctor B @thefootexpert on Instagram.

When I’ve read the online forums in the past few months, Podiatry and Foot Health Practices seem to have “toes coming out of their ears” and are experiencing a very busy period following the easing of lockdown restrictions. Whilst patients might have all sorts of foot problems, often what clinicians find most frustrating is dealing with phone calls and patient enquiries whilst also trying to provide their patients with the best care. When business is booming, there’s perhaps no employee more valuable than your receptionist. Not only can they take tedious admin tasks off your plate, but they also provide a friendly face for patients visiting the practice and enable the clinician to focus on what they do best. I’ve always believed that running a healthcare practice is a like playing a team sport. Like most teams we have the team manager, team captain, the players, and others who support the team to play at their best. What if I told you that in a healthcare practice that the receptionist is the most important hire you should make in your clinic, even more important than your clinicians!… stay with me, I’ll explain…

New patients and existing patient nurturing is vital to the success of our clinics and directly affects your bottom line. Whilst a ‘flashy’ website or striking décor may influence the overall patient experience it can never surpass an engaging interaction with a “caring and chatty” person behind the front desk.

First impressions really do matter and your receptionist defines the overall culture of your practice with a prospective patient who calls to schedule an appointment. Every new missed patient opportunity can cost your practice on average of £400-£1000 annually depending on your price structure… multiply that by 5 new patient enquiries not converted to a booking and it could see the numbers racking up quickly… therefore having your phone answered correctly is a huge responsibility. Moreover, surveys have confirmed that patients will find another provider if they have to deal with an unfriendly front desk member.

Every new missed patient opportunity can cost your practice on average of

Thankfully, there are more options now than ever before to make that good first impression £400-£1000 mainly divided between In-House and Virtual Receptionists. annually

Hiring an in-house receptionist has been the traditional way of incorporating an administrative team to your clinic. Not only are they administrative superheroes but they can also assist with rebooking appointments, sterilising instruments, cleaning tasks, marketing support and much more depending on what you want. You must consider though that they require a living wage, breaks throughout the day, paid holidays and will only be able to answer one call at a time within your office hours plus the cost of office space and supplies. The key benefit to an in-house receptionist is having that person with whom your patients build up a rapport with over time when attending recurring appointments. If you don’t have the space in your clinic to accommodate an in-house receptionist, consider a virtual receptionist who can also get to know your business inside out. They too can provide informative customer service sometimes around the clock to prevent you from missing out on any new patient leads and can whilst nurturing your patient experience. The cost of a virtual receptionist is definitely lower with greater flexibility e.g. if you’ve got a slow day and don’t need someone to cover the phones, you can opt to answer them yourself. So in a nutshell, free yourself of administrative tasks and focus on treating your patients by hiring some reception support, not only will you see an increase in your patient numbers but you may even be able to find some work & life harmony.