What is the Best Phone System for Dental Practices?

If you have made it this far, the chances are that you are looking for the best phone system for your dental practice. But what makes a good phone system? And more specifically, how can a phone system be best optimised for your dental practice? Well, it’s a good question, and to save you hours of hunting online, we thought we would put together this short article to help you find the best solution.

Ready? Let’s get stuck in. 

A Return to Normal

Let’s face it; the coronavirus has had a big impact on pretty much everyone in some way or another. Whether that be how we interact with our friends, how we work or even how we access healthcare and other essential services, a lot has changed.

You could argue that the UK government didn’t initially deal with the COVID-19 outbreak very well, *cough* borders staying open *cough*, but their reaction with the vaccination process has to be commended. A real sense of hope has been evoked in the UK, with the light at the end of the tunnel seemingly growing larger by the day. It would appear we are edging closer to a return to normality. For now, at least.

As I’m sure you are well aware, dental practices are one of the few professions which have stayed open through most of the pandemic, operating for priority and emergency patients. When the masses can freely travel for more routine dental care, is your practice ready? The phone isn’t going to stop ringing due to the sheer volume of individuals needing dental repairs, fillings, root canals or even tooth whitening. And with a hefty backlog of routine appointments that have been missed, demand will be higher than ever before.

But how can your dental practice prepare for this? Well, a feature-rich and cost-effective phone system is a great place to start!

Call Logging for Dental Practices 

Did you know that 85% of people with unanswered calls won’t try again? And with voicemails becoming increasingly unpopular, how will you get back to customers when you don’t quite get to the phone in time? Yes, I’m sure you manage to get to 95% of inbound calls the moment the phone rings, but what about the 5% you don’t quite reach in time?

Perhaps you are busy booking an appointment for a patient, or maybe you are on a long call to one of your suppliers – you need to have a system in place which allows you to get back to every single missed call. Call logging is the answer. As you probably guessed, it creates a log of all inbound and outbound calls to your dental practice, and when you do finally get a minute spare, you can get back to every single missed enquiry.

CTI for Dental Practices

Computer telephony integration is a rather longwinded term, so we will refer to this as CTI to make your life that little bit easier. As the name would suggest, CTI directly integrates your phone system with your computer system, allowing you to bring a whole host of new features and functionality to your telecoms.

But how can CTI improve your staffs call handling efficiency? Well, when a regular patient calls in who you already have on file in your client database, your phone system will recognise this and display the callers’ basic information in the top hand right corner of your computer screen. This saves time from asking repetitive questions on every call, such as name, D.O.B and address. It also shows a pretty nifty level of customer service, greeting patients by their name when they call in! Interested in CTI? Check out our extensive guide on all things computer telephony integration.

If you want to find out more about any of these features, give our expert team a call on 01794 339 339, and we can bring you a simpler, smarter phone system, as well as a lower monthly bill.

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