When in doubt, stick your head out and see what's going on.
Two weeks ago I gave you a quiz to help you get a feel for how your office (business) is doing. How did you do? I hope it was helpful. Enclosed below is another quiz of a different sort. Almost every professional office has a front office person or persons. I say almost since when I was almost retired I opened an office in a small Arizona town without any employees and did everything myself. I will admit that there were some aspects of that decision I could have done without, but overall I was happy in my little place taking as much time as I wanted with each patient.
But getting back to your front office – good front office people can be worth as much to the bottom line of an office as a licensed professional. They know and see things that a manager or owner might not. Properly cultivated, they can provide ideas and guidance.
In the questionnaire these questions were taken from, an impartial third party sits down with you and then with each member of your staff and asks these or similar questions of each person. The similarity or differences in the answers received can help point up areas that need to be worked on.
Although there is no third party involved here, your answers to these questions and then the information your staff is willing to give on the same subjects may prove to be useful in fine-tuning how your office works. I suggest that you print off the list below and then methodically fill in the answers.
Employee Considerations
How are you perceived by the front office staff?
You are the boss, but are you approachable and use ideas presented by your staff or do you know it all?
Do your employees respect you and just as important, do you respect them and how do you show it?
Everyone wants to be paid more. Are your employees satisfied that they are being paid a wage comparable to others in the same types of positions?
Client Considerations
How does the office handle refunds? With a smile, or do you fight your clients tooth and nail? Who is authorized to process a return and are they the proper person (people) for that activity?
How does the office handle no-pays or late-pays?
Are there set guidelines?
Whose job is it to track these problems and get the money in the door?
Are pre-appointment reminder sent, phone called, e-mailed?
What written or voice contacts are made with clients on a scheduled basis?
Client scheduling procedures?
How are walk-ins handled? Do you have set procedures?
How are telephone inquiries handled? In answering the most common questions, do you have prepared scripts for your staff to use that are designed to turn an inquiry into an appointment?
Does the office actively solicit client referrals?
How is this activity received by old or new clients?
How often are clients scheduled to return for c/u, cleaning, retesting?
Business Management Practices
Financial Management
Who, how, and when is data entered?
Do all personnel have adequate knowledge to effectively use the current system, even if it isn’t their primary responsibility?
What additional training is needed?
Are business funds being used efficiently?
Some of these questions might not seem appropriate for you to ask your front office staff, but they probably have some opinions on how you run the business that might be useful. As the old adage goes, “What you don’t know could hurt you.”
