Sometimes all you have to do is ask. If you are on the phone with a patient, ask if there is anyone else in the family who needs an appointment. This will translate into more appointments!
Parents appreciate the convenience of having all of their family dental appointments at the same time. It will also aid in your recall efforts.
Prevent Missed Opportunities
For most parents, just the thought of scheduling several appointments can be overwhelming! If the family often comes in separately, they may not even know who else in the family is due.
Prevent missed opportunities and simply ask: “Is there anyone else in your family we should make an appointment for today?” Be sure to ask both your new and existing patients.
Ask About Specific Family Members
For established patients, YAPI shows all family members associated with the caller on one screen. You can be more specific. If Jill calls to schedule a cleaning and you see that her children Johnny and Logan are due in two weeks for their cleanings, say:
“I see that Johnny and Logan are due for their cleanings as well. Would you like to set up appointments for them as well?”
Asking about the family shows that you care and want to accommodate everyone’s needs. Mentioning their children by name adds a personal touch.
YAPI also makes this information readily available when your patient is still in the office. You can ask about the family when you schedule a patient’s next appointment during checkout. Use this same method when you are on the phone with a patient.
Steps to Take When on the Phone with a Patient:
- Locate the patient and view any family members using the patient finder. Access the patient finder icon right from your YAPI dashboard.
It is most common to search by the patient’s last name or phone number. - Right-click the patient’s name to select “find family members.” You can see whether anyone else is due or if there are upcoming appointments scheduled. If a relative has an appointment on the calendar, you can suggest scheduling one for the caller around the same time for their convenience.
- Alternately, you can view the status of your patients from the Recall Manager. This is particularly useful when you are making calls to those unscheduled patients on your recall due or recall past due list.
- Click on the patient’s name on your recall list and scroll down to select “appointments.” Choose the option to view “family appointments.” The names of everyone in the family will appear.
- If the “scheduled” column is empty, this means that no one in the family has an upcoming appointment. You can directly email or text the patient from this screen to attempt to schedule. If you see that YAPI has already reached out to them automatically, you should make a phone call.
It is most common to search by the patient’s last name or phone number.I don’t know who will love this feature more – busy parents or the scheduling coordinator! Effectively manage your recall and help patients juggle multiple schedules with YAPI. Even if a family is unable to make their appointments on the same day, they will be relieved to have everyone on the calendar.
Always ask who else you should set an appointment for!
