Smile! How Dentists Can Cause Word Of Mouth

Linda Zdanowicz wrote a comment related to my recent rant, "Talk about Hospitality."  It's the one in which I complained about the lack of hotel service disguised as more service (e.g., no Q-tips in the room, so you have to call down to get someone to personally deliver them to your room.  Same with hair dryer, bathrobe, nail file... you name it).   

Linda, who manages what must be a totally cool dental practice in North Carolina (she also has a cool website), says she's looking for ways to improve service to her boss' patients.  She asks, "What niceties would make our practice stand out to you as one delivering exceptional patient care? We offer patients neck rolls, headphones and CDs and blankets if they're chilly. We don't really want to go the spa route, we want to stick with dentistry. We were offering coffee, tea and water but nobody was accepting it much. I am available to patients who have questions and will spend unlimited time talking to them about their care. Anything you can add that would make us even better?"

Good question!  First, though, I ask how Linda might suggest I talk my dentist into offering headphones and CD's!  He does have a flat screen monitor in every patient room, which I like, but truth be told, it's often hard to hear it over the sound of the dental machinery that is making havoc with my mouth. But let's think of other ways that Linda's dentist can improve service to patients.  I assume, of course, that her dental practice is a standout even without the service.  Because first and foremost, people go the dentist to have their teeth cared for.  Period.  The add-on niceties should be viewed as good word-of-mouth prompters, not substitutes for skill level.  So let's assume she's got the practice excellence covered.

One thing my dentist used to do that impressed me was his newsletter.  Crazy as it sounds, I actually read it.  It always had a tip or two about trends and developments in dental practice and, at the end, thanked patients by name for referring other patients to him.  As I recall, he gives a $25 or $50 credit for a referral.  That all feels sort of "warm-hometown-fuzzy" to me and I like it.  As I understand it, the newsletter was written by someone in Michigan who customized it for each of her dentist clients.  With the proliferation of web usage, though, it must have gotten increasingly difficult to get patients to read a hard copy newsletter that arrives in the mail.  What about the web, then?  Would I read a web-based newsletter from my dentist?  I might... if it had maybe just one pithy factoid about dental practice breakthroughs... and then maybe a reference to the referrals.

Another thing I like.  Most of my dentist's patients are career professionals (his practice is in the Wall Street area of Manhattan).   So he provides a small room with desk, telephone and computer so that people can make calls to the office, do email and the like.  I take advantage of that and am impressed that they have made it available. 

Frankly, though, what I most appreciate is that this dentist, Anthony Chillura, is both a terrific human being, and has a sterling reputation for providing dental care at the top of the heap of Manhattan dentists.  As to the first piece, he was one of the first to volunteer his forensics dentistry acumen when it was needed to identify 9/11 victims.  I'm told that although he commutes to suburban New Jersey daily, he stayed in New York a great deal in order to help out.  That's a big deal with me.   

And his support staff is amazing.  They know the patients and make a point about asking about my husband, my sons, the latest in my business.  And maybe they write it down somewhere because they always seem to remember it.  That's unusual in Manhattan.  They like working there, as evidenced by how long they've been there, and take pride in the office improvements and latest technical equipment.

I just checked out Dr. Chillura's website for the first time.  It's what I expected.  Well done.  And he still gives his referral fee, which is $50.   

So how about your dentist? Let's Talk!

Comments

[Linda Zdanowicz]

Good feedback Susan. You're the kind of patient we love to see walk into our office. I can assure you that everyone in our practice is top of the line. Dr. Price has been practicing for over 20 years, each hygienist and myself for over 16 years, Our receptionist has an amazing ability to make patients look forward to coming to the dentist and our new assistant is bright and eager to learn and excel. We are very lucky to be together and hopefully our patients feel lucky to be our patients. I feel proud to be a part of such a special team and I think the patients pick up on the team attitude that we have. I like the idea of computer access and a place to sit and write. Parents waiting for children would surely appreciate that. Your dentist sounds like a wonderful person and would probably secure a CD player and headphones immediately if he knew you wanted it. Thanks for some fresh ideas, I'll present them to Dr. Price on Monday. BTW, you can bet the staff writes things down about the patients. We do and patients appreciate us remembering something about them and new patients love not having to tell every staff member where they moved here from and how many kids they have. It's one way to show that we care about the patients as people and not just a bunch of teeth.

[Susan Bird]

Linda, sounds like Dr. Price and Dr. Chillura have a great deal in common! And it's clear you have had a great deal of input in building the kind of word of mouth that is highly valuable to Dr. Price's ability to grow his practice.