Practice Manager Coaching
“My approach to coaching is to unlock the potential of each person in your team, help to establish their confidence, then allow them to maximise their own performance.” – Lisa Bainham
From Good To Great
A PM’s role is often quite isolated (as there is usually just one) There are many very good PM’s in practices that just need a helping hand, guidance, and the mentoring to help them go from good to great.
Having an empowered, experienced PM is often the difference between a happy, successful practice and team that continues to improve and grow, and a much more contented and less stressed principal or practice owner.
Team Management and Team Building
It’s All About The Team
T.E.A.M – Together Everyone Achieves More
Sometimes we need to find ways to bring out strengths and sometimes we need to set improvement plans for any weaknesses. This can sometimes be difficult to do and to recognise from in-house.
Team logistics and your organisation chart is everything to have a team working well together.
Looking at clear goals and how and who to use to get there can be tricky if not everyone shares the same aims and attitudes. This can be changed and can have a real impact on the success of your practice.
Practice Growth and Marketing
“You can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything” – Beth Comstock
Are you seeing and attracting the right kind of patients or treatments, and how does that affect your profit and loss?
It is vital to understand the basic financials of your business, but practice growth is not about finding cheaper materials, it’s about your diary, your fees, and your efficiency.
This is about improving “your brand”, your image and how your patients feel about the practice and services. Creating the right image and branding will set the tone of your practice and attract the patients you would like to treat.
Advertising and Marketing need to be effective and used in the correct way on the correct platform to capture the right audience and have a proven return on investment.
Many practices would like to explore the possibility of expanding services in house by accepting referrals, given the support needed it can be a real asset to your practice and its growth.
Customer Service
“People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but they never forget how you made them feel” – Maya Angelou
From the moment of contact, what is your patient’s customer service experience. Are your phones being answered not only correctly but effectively, leading to an appointment in your diary.
First impressions are the only impressions and we get one chance, to ensure your team is trained to understand the patient processes and positive conversations. Front of house must be on point at every contact and it takes a special team member to be able to do this correctly, day in day out. No “OFF” days are allowed when you are the welcoming party!
Many practices have a TCO which proves very effective and a vital part of the patient journey. However, this can be done by utilising other members of the team or just ensuring that the journey is consistently working well. How many calls are you receiving, how many are then converted to appointments, how many then accept the treatment plan. What are your reception, TCO, clinicians conversion and acceptance percentages and is it financially viable?
It could be that you wish to increase your member plan numbers or have an associate that is uncomfortable discussing fees or private treatments
Reception Training
“You only get the one chance to make a good first impression, and yours in the hands of your Receptionist” – Harvey Mackay
From the moment of contact, what is your patient’s customer service experience. Are your phones being answered not only correctly but effectively, leading to an appointment in your diary.
First impressions are the only impressions, and we get one chance, to ensure your team is trained to understand the patient processes and positive conversations. Front of house must be on point at every contact and it takes a special team member to be able to do this correctly, day in day out. No “OFF” days are allowed when you are the welcoming party!
Patient contacts are your chance to build rapport with the patients and often reception will pick up on any niggles or concerns…knowing how to mange these effectively can take years of experience.
Providing your reception team with the skills to manage existing patients, book in the new patient enquiries, manage the diary, and have sometimes difficult conversations is key to the success of your practice.
Patient Journey
“Your patient’s journey is like a relay and the baton should not be dropped” – Lisa Bainham
The patient journey begins when they see you on Instagram, Facebook, walking by, a recommendation from a friend or any other way in which they have discovered you.
It is so important that from the initial point of contact you have a process to follow.
From your branding to the customer service levels through to the ease of their treatment. Who is looking after the patient, who is in contact, does the patient feel informed and most importantly cared for?
Developing a patient journey is like a relay and the baton should not be dropped at each stage by any team member.
Do you have the right supportive communications, emails?
I will look at the strengths of your team and customer service contact points and help you ensure that patients are happy from their initial contact to the end of treatment review…and beyond.
Lead Conversion
“You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want” – Zig Ziglar
Many practices have a TCO which proves very effective and a vital part of the patient journey. However, this can be done by utilising other members of the team or just ensuring that the journey is consistently working well.
How many calls are you receiving, how many are then converted to appointments, how many then accept the treatment plan. What are your reception, TCO, clinicians conversion and acceptance percentages and is it financially viable?
It could be that you wish to increase your member plan numbers or have an associate that is uncomfortable discussing fees or private treatments. I will help you increase your conversions and provide KPIs for the whole team to work towards.
Complaint Handling and Patient Feedback
“Thank your customer for complaining and mean it. Most will never bother and just walk away” – Marilyn Suttle
Patient complaints and litigation is one of the biggest headaches to deal with. Often taking hours of time and an unbelievable dollop of added stress.
Training your team to recognise, prevent and effectively handle potential complaints is not difficult and can prevent more official complaints being made to the GDC or other regulatory bodies.
There are of course strict guidance and legal obligations involved in complaint handling and the whole team must take responsibility and learn them.
Setting up feedback opportunities using different methods is vital to enable you to understand what you are doing well, and unfortunately what you may not be doing so well.
Think about feedback as a safety net… if patients are complaining to you, then you have an opportunity to resolve the issue, improve and then prevent. If a practice does not ask for feedback or give patient the chance to raise a concern, there next step might be Googling and finding a lovely solicitor to help them out!
Your team needs to have goals set regarding feedback and be tra9ined to respond to good and bad reviews. Think of this as Complaint prevention and Marketing.
Compliance and HR
If you think compliance is expensive – try non-compliance” – Paul McNulty
Often PM’s and Managers are swamped by endless audits, guidance and changes to Health and Safety and Employment Law. Providing a good base knowledge is there, it is all about scheduling, your diary and time management and keeping on top of the tasks.
There is no such thing as being behind on compliance tasks. You are simply non-compliant.
HR can be and is a legal minefield, from employee contracts to induction, grievances, under performing team members to other disputes, guidance is available.