A dental office is a busy office. And when the place is bustling, it is bound to face a fair share of challenges.
Those challenges we’re referring to are the endless daily repetitive tasks that are slowly wearing you down. From answering patient queries to handling invoices — ugh, it’s a chaotic mess that’s only gonna get worse once your business starts flying for real.
The only cost-effective solution to manage your growing pains is to hire a Virtual Dental Receptionist.
With virtual support, you can accommodate patients as they ring in and leave a lasting impression when the line ends.
In this blog post, we will learn the variety of ways a Virtual Dental Receptionist can transform your dental clinic today and forevermore.
So, let’s get started!
A Virtual Dental Receptionist is a remote worker who manages several administrative tasks for a dental office.
In practice, a dental virtual assistant job description means handling the phone calls, managing bookings and scheduling appointments from an offshore location on behalf of the professional.
By delegating these everyday activities, you are able to cater to the 30% of calls that usually go unanswered.
Other topics you might be interested in: The Difference Between a Virtual and Personal Assistant.
With business going full-on digital, many dental practitioners are going for virtual assistants to keep up with the competition and the many changes that come along with fast-paced operations.
Just to name a few, we’ve gathered 3 different challenges driving professionals to finally outsource a remote dental receptionist.
Many small dental businesses are discouraged from getting additional help because of the extra cost it entails.
These limitations on resources stop essential investments from happening, thus, affecting the ability of the business to take on opportunities.
The idea of hiring another employee and all the processes that are associated with it is enough to gloom your enthusiasm.
Hiring means job postings, long recruitment, intensive screening, training and onboarding.
Do you even have the time for this? Honestly, you don’t.
It’s impossible for a company to be successful if it can’t keep a loyal team, and constantly switches members every few months.
And this has been a common issue in the demanding healthcare industry, where many health professionals are having trouble holding onto their in-house administrative staff for lack of career growth, opportunities and work-life balance.
Well, we can give you numerous ways a Virtual Dental Receptionist can lighten up your heavy mundane tasks.
You name it; patient support, accounting and general administrative processes; a VDR will see to it that your dental office line is always available, billings are accurate and double bookings are non-existent.
We’re breaking down every detail and more of it in the list below.
Missing patient information? No problem!
A dental virtual assistant can keep your patient records updated and highly organized.
They will work on the details of the new patients, modify the old ones with current data and make sure every information is precise.
Scheduling appointments might be a mundane admin task for a Virtual Dental Receptionist. But for a dental office, this is perhaps the most pivotal part of their everyday operation.
Luckily, your remote receptionist can handle the challenge. They will confirm appointments and provide additional information with regard to address and other services to your patients.
Also, they will efficiently manage rescheduling and cancellations. And most importantly, there’ll be no double booking on their watch.
This virtual dental assistant will be your first point of contact. And they’ll carry out your business communication timely and professionally.
Whether it’s email or phone call, they’ll address and coordinate (if needed) whatever concerns and issues your patient might have had.
Speaking of doing more for your business, a virtual dental assistant can assist you in developing and running marketing campaigns, namely, creating content for your website or sending out newsletters.
Processing insurance claims can take a few days or more to complete (by yourself).
For starters, there’s the paperwork that needs to be accurately filled out and submitted on time. Then, there are policy reviews and claim evaluations with the insurance companies.
All of these tasks that you don’t have the time for or don’t want to do, a Virtual Dental Receptionist can take care of them on your behalf. So, you can just focus on the things that you love to do.
In your goal to give the best customer support, your virtual helper can be very handy.
They can help your patients with payments, insurance coverage and other concerns they need assistance with.
With so many things to do, your finances are probably lagging behind.
If you hire a remote worker though, you will have extra hands to create invoices and process payments, right on schedule.
Finally, you’ll be on top of your financial health.
Data entry is straight and simple that you can probably do it in your sleep.
The only problem with this task though is that it requires long hours to complete.
Thankfully, you can pass this on to a Virtual Dental Receptionist. They can enter data and update records simultaneously, helping you keep information in the most efficient manner.
If you’re on this page, then you’re definitely considering hiring a Virtual Dental Receptionist. Perhaps, what taunted you to reconsider is someone you know, calling this remote worker, “a real game-changer.”
Well, they could’ve never been more right!
But, do you know why almost everyone who has worked with VAs is giving them major thumbs up?
You can take a look at these benefits and see for yourself why virtual assistants are straight up amazing.
A Virtual Dental Receptionist will cover your daily little admin tasks. This means you and your in-house staff will have more time to focus on the core tasks.
Doing so, you’re not only boosting your work-life balance, as you won’t have to juggle tasks every day, but your team members too will get their morale up, because work will become less demanding for them.
On top of that, hiring and onboarding a virtual receptionist isn’t as complicated as opposed to the other alternatives. In fact, they are up and ready in full-on work mode, needing little to no training at all.
Now, you have so much time on your hands to do whatever you see fit.
This is possibly the main reason why industries are turning to outsourcing; saving costs.
When you hire a Virtual Dental Receptionist, you don’t need to pay for compensation benefits, the workspace or office equipment. Virtual assistants will take care of the materials needed to deliver their service.
Besides that, working with a remote worker from low-income countries on an hourly basis is much, much cheaper than hiring a traditional receptionist, costing around $32,000 to hire.
In short, delegating to a VA allows you to control the expenses, only paying for services your practice needs at the moment.
We mentioned that a dental office is busy, and that surely reflects on the loads of admin tasks that need attention on a daily basis.
As a business person, you know too well that getting behind means financial loss.
So, if you’re dreading the admin tasks and taking longer to do them, you can let a virtual receptionist finish the work for you and break free from it.
Remember, you’re not just vying to have patients; you want to have loyal patients.
And the only way to get there is to create a positive experience for them — that’ll get them to leave positive reviews and repeat business.
A Virtual Dental Receptionist can contribute by being the friendly voice over the line for your patients — giving prompt answers in a round-the-clock service.
With patient satisfaction on the rise, loyalty improves and strengthens.
One of the most rapidly evolving industries is healthcare. So, word to the wise, embracing new concepts for your practice is a must-do to thrive.
And that innovative approach is a virtual assistant.
With everything said about how they work and their impact on your business in terms of scalability, cost, service, time management and productivity — it’s pretty obvious that a dental office with a VA can unlock many potentials.
You can tap into those opportunities right now by hiring a Virtual Dental Receptionist and regain your competitive edge.