8 spaces your backstage is (probably) missing

When patients walk into your office, what's the first thing they notice? The reception area, the front desk, or sign-in sheet and, hopefully, a smiling face from your team member. But as Scheduling Institute President Jay Geier asks, what about the spaces they don't see?

I've developed a list of the top eight spaces you never knew you needed in your office. Some of these might surprise you, but I've spent 20 years working with thousands of dentists and have found that these backstage spaces can drastically increase the productivity in your office. As an added bonus, many of them will also improve your patient's experience and satisfaction.

1. Call center

Jay Geier is the president and founder of the Scheduling Institute.

This is absolutely essential for multilocation practices or any practice focusing on increasing new patient numbers, which you all should be, and patient recall percentages. The Scheduling Institute's experience has been that when you remove phone traffic from your front desk, new patient scheduling and treatment acceptance simultaneously increase.

A call center that is dedicated to handling potential patients removes the distraction from your staff members, so they're able to fully focus on the patient treatment and compliance. I would be remiss if I didn't use this opportunity to stress the importance of having the right, properly trained staff managing this center and incoming phone calls.

2. Staff lounge

Your practice needs a staff lounge for huddles, not for lounging. Every practice needs a space to gather as a team, go over the schedule for the day, discuss the patients to be seen, and any anticipated actions that will be required. You need a staff lounge that is large enough to accommodate your entire staff.

3. Treatment coordinator's office

Your treatment coordinator needs a centrally located area to monitor the flow of the office. While most of a treatment coordinator's time will be spent on the floor, your team member needs a place to go for follow-up management to keep up with patients and build relationships (as you know, patients can take months to make a buying decision). This space is designed to act as a control hub, but it should also double as a consultation room.

4. Marketing director's office

It is very difficult to do an amazing job of marketing the practice while also juggling other roles, such as schedule keeper and recall coordinator. While that may be the only option in smaller offices, you need to quickly make the transition to a full-time marketing team member as your practice grows. To do that, you need to make a space, even a small one, that allows your marketing director to staff the phones, negotiate contracts, and plan for the future ahead.

5. Treatment rooms

You're probably thinking something along the lines of "duh." Of course you have treatment rooms, but the Scheduling Institute has observed that almost every practice it works with is at least a room short. When the average treatment room takes up more than 100 sq ft and costs $50,000, it's no wonder you don't have any so-called extra rooms. You should think of the operatory as a commodity. Make them smaller but more efficient, which has the benefit of making the room less intimidating to patients.

6. Private employee entrance

This is a route or area that allows your staff to enter and exit the office privately and out of view from patients -- giving your team time to prepare themselves for the front stage. Besides, no patient who is waiting for treatment wants to witness a team member rushing in late.

7. Shipping and receiving

This space doesn't need to be huge, but if your office regularly has piles of packages delivered and dumped behind the front desk or smack dab in the middle of the sterilization area, it's definitely going to hinder your practice's productivity. In your business, time is money, which means the foresight of adding a few extra square feet near your private egress can save you a lot of money in the long run.

8. Clinical patient restroom

Usually located off the main treatment room corridor, this space allows your patients a semiprivate area to use the facilities should the need arise during treatment.

Now that you know the eight most frequently overlooked backstage spaces, take a minute to assess your practice. Which areas could you easily add to improve your offices' productivity? Which spaces are you missing that might be worth a little extra renovation and innovation? And lastly, if money or space is tight, prioritize your efforts to make the maximum impact on your new patients.

Jay Geier is the founder and owner of the Scheduling Institute, the original dental training and practice consulting company. Visit www.5starchallenge.com, where, through a mystery call and follow-up report, you'll find out how to improve your new patient growth. You can sign up for the upcoming Customer Appreciation Event in Philadelphia here.

The comments and observations expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of DrBicuspid.com, nor should they be construed as an endorsement or admonishment of any particular idea, vendor, or organization.