Catherine Coulombe

Missed calls mostly never called back

Before Fresk, we were missing a lot of calls, which put a lot of stress on our secretaries who, despite everything, can’t always answer. What’s more, we were missing a lot of customers on hold who ended up hanging up. We were losing these customers.

Despite the call display on our secretaries’ phones, no one took the time to check and return missed calls. Our culture was that if it was important, the customer would call us back. Once again, we were losing customers.

In addition, many answering machine messages were simply hung up. This made return calls impossible. And, over the last few years, we’ve noticed that people are leaving fewer answering machine messages. Before Fresk, we had no way of calling all these people back. They were simply lost if they didn’t call the clinic back. That’s no longer the case with Fresk.

Today with Fresk

Our teams personalize every communication with our customers. Every customer is answered promptly and called back in every case. Fresk shows us everything we’ve missed and alerts us to call back.

What’s more, customers can reach us by the communication channel they prefer. If they want a text, we text them, if they want a call, we call them, and if they want an email, we email them. All this is done in a matter of seconds in a single program.

What’s more, we now know each patient personally, so we can personalize every communication. Today, we can say that our clinic has adapted to customers’ preferred modes of communication. It’s a pleasure for our customers, who pass it on to our secretaries, who now take much greater pleasure in their work.

Detailed patient profiles

Displaying the patient’s profile during communications helps us to avoid misunderstandings. Above all, we’re quicker than ever to respond to customers. The speed of execution satisfies both customers and secretaries. Fresk helps them do their jobs better, and customers can feel it.

At a glance, we know every patient, and thanks to colleagues’ notes, we avoid wasting time searching through the customer’s file, or even having to flip from page to page. We get an immediate overview, so that the customer doesn’t have to wait for us to get to him or her, at the risk of becoming impatient.

With Fresk, the customer doesn’t have to wait. I analyze while I’m on the phone, reducing response time. I can text useful information to the patient as I speak.

With Fresk, you respond faster, but more importantly, you respond better, because you have all the information you need on screen for each exchange. You know immediately who you’re talking to, you know their file at all times, and whether you’re busy or not, the customer doesn’t perceive that you’re not available for them.

Call recording

Time and again, you make an appointment and forget to schedule it. With call recording, we have proof of the event to avoid this situation.

Once again, if a patient tells us that he or she said certain things versus what the secretary said, the recording enables us to check and correct the situation quickly. We have all the proof we need of our mistakes and of what our customers have said.

No calls or e-mails are lost, because everything is in the customer’s file. All communications, calls, e-mails, text messages and even documents sent are recorded in the customer’s file, which is visible at all times during communications.

An appointment forgotten, a reminder forgotten, because another colleague has answered the patient’s call, I can listen in to correct the situation. Fresk eliminates all forms of ambiguity.

Information is recorded and available to everyone in a transparent way. It’s clear to everyone what’s going on and it’s shared. Employees can become aware of the quality of their work thanks to the recordings, which present facts that can be listened to for continuous improvement.

Limiting paper notes

Before Fresk, there was a lot of note-taking on paper during calls. Since all calls are now recorded, this limits note-taking and, above all, reduces the risk of forgetting customers, as everything is automatically recorded in the customer’s file, in addition to call-back alerts.

Answering machine messages

Before Fresk, answering machine messages were taken on average three times a day: in the morning, at lunchtime and at the end of the day. Unfortunately, taking messages at the end of the day fell by the wayside when the day was busy. This left many customers without a return call the same day, at the risk of losing them.

What’s more, we had to take an average of 30 to 40 minutes to listen to our voicemail messages, because to take messages, you have to find the time to concentrate on noting each customer’s number and message, as well as looking up their file. The slightest interruption forced us to start all over again.

With Fresk, we can now process answering machine messages immediately, as they are automatically recorded and displayed in the customer’s file.

What’s more, we immediately know the number, name and status of the customer whose call we missed. With Fresk, we ensure a personalized return call and are able to prioritize each return call.

On-screen voice prompts make it easier to listen to messages and save us time, as well as helping us to respond better and faster to everyone. For us, it’s a major time-saver every day, as well as making the customer feel better served.

Missed calls

When people didn’t leave voicemails, they were very often lost customers because it was impossible for us to call them back. And, we never called the patient back. If they didn’t call us back, we didn’t do anything.

Fresk takes a big weight off the shoulders of our secretaries, who no longer have to run around to avoid missing a call. Fresk responds immediately to the customer, which calms everyone down. Customers can text their messages instead of using the answering machine. This allows the secretaries to concentrate more on the patient who is on the spot. And our customers appreciate it!

Of course, Fresk has had a positive impact on our revenues.

Obviously, we can’t attribute this solely to Fresk, but our revenues have increased and, above all, our number of new patients has risen since Fresk was installed.

This is due to the fact that Fresk has enabled us to improve the patient experience, including improving response quality and speed, personalizing our messages, adapting our language and communication channel and making sure we call everyone back, in addition to responding to our customers’ request to communicate by text message.

Today, we offer a much higher quality of customer service than ever before, which makes our employees, dentists and patients happy.

Centralize exchanges

Fresk reduces the number of steps involved in communications. It eliminates the need to switch from one software package to another. With Fresk, everything is recorded and archived. You can see what has and hasn’t been done, which greatly reduces errors and oversights.

A big advantage of centralizing e-mails in Fresk is that you can’t lose messages, because you can’t delete them. What’s more, the e-mail is saved directly in the customer’s file, which makes it possible to keep track of exchanges and avoid repetition. Secretaries no longer lose information on their exchanges with patients.

Centralizing calls, text messages and e-mails has enabled secretaries to shorten response times to customers, but above all to reduce the time needed to compose responses to customers.

What’s more, Fresk has made it possible to standardize the secretaries’ work, as they all use the same tool to structure their working methods. They all have an overview of all exchanges with patients. This prevents them from forgetting to pick up e-mails, for example.

Text dialogue

Before Fresk, we only sent appointment confirmations by text message. These confirmations were all the same, monotonous and sent en masse to all customers at once. Our mass texting offered no opportunity for the patient to respond, and all messages were generic and impersonal.

Everyone received the same appointment confirmation message at the same time. For us, this was very impersonal and even frustrating for the patient. Patients told us as much. With Fresk, we personalized our confirmations to make the patient feel unique and important. That’s our mission!

With Fresk, every text message is personalized with the patient. We no longer send automatic confirmations. We personalize every appointment confirmation with Fresk, because some patients need a document, instructions or a link to directions. Not to mention that some patients want to be called.

Of course, our customers have told us several times that they want to communicate with us by text message, but we didn’t have a solution for that. With Fresk, we use text messaging for all our exchanges with patients who wish to communicate via this channel. What’s more, we’ve noticed that people respond more quickly. Many patients even send us photos to answer their questions. It makes our work easier.

Dial in 1 click

Before, all patient calls were made on our office phone. This meant that we had to dial each call manually for each customer. This represented a repetitive task that lengthened the response time to the customer and, above all, increased the risk of error. Not to mention the fact that you have to concentrate to make a call.

With Fresk, not only secretaries, but also hygienists and assistants communicate with patients at the click of a button. In fact, Fresk lets them compose a call, e-mail or text message with a single click. What’s more, they use pre-approved template document libraries. This allows us to structure our communications, as everyone uses the same information verified by the team. They’re quicker and can still personalize the message.

No more dialing, less answering machine message-taking and texting means secretaries can offer better customer service to our customers who are in the clinic. In fact, secretaries take much less time answering calls and sending messages and documents to customers. Sending a document, a text message or an e-mail in 1 click saves time that they can devote elsewhere, i.e. to people in the clinic.

We’ve adapted to the new communications reality. I’d say that today we’re faster and more attentive to our customers’ needs, and that’s producing results.

Model response libraries

Before Fresk, our secretaries spent a lot of time responding to frequent customer requests. This became cumbersome and tiring, causing exhaustion and frustration.

Today, secretaries are quicker to respond and no longer need to repeat themselves. They use pre-composed, error-free template messages.

This also reduces conflicts between teams, as everything is pre-approved. What’s more, we have proof of everything that has been sent to the patient. The patient can also refer to his information in his text message at any time. It’s easier for them to do it by text than by e-mail.

Secure file for referrers and patients

Previously, everything was e-mailed directly to patients and referrers. Having to send files securely was a source of stress for us. Fresk solves this problem immediately, and is easy to use, making us compliant. This reassures our patients and staff.

3 things that have transformed secretaries’ work

Personalization
Knowing each person when communicating allows us to personalize responses and establish a unique bond with each patient.

Speed of execution
We live in a world where people are stressed and want to get a response very quickly or they’ll go elsewhere. To do this, you need to be well-equipped. Fresk simplifies our communications and makes our secretaries more efficient and happier, thanks to the fact that their work makes customers smile.

Support and collaboration with Fresk
Working with the Fresk team is very rewarding and, above all, reassuring. You always respond quickly. What’s more, you see us as an integral part of the solution. You listen to our needs and understand our problems, and you use Fresk to meet them. We often see improvements in the software as a result of our comments, and that makes us very happy and helps us to work better.

Recommendations

I recommend the solution to all dental clinics. Give it a try, because you’ll adopt it and never go back. The Fresk team listens and understands your reality. They take note of all our suggestions and implement solutions quickly. We know that Fresk is designed to help us, and it works. The platform moves fast and so do we.

The platform has changed the way we work and now enables us to offer high-quality customer service to each and every one of our customers. And this has had a positive impact on our reputation, revenues and staff satisfaction.

Tips for implementing Fresk

Be sure to train all Fresk implementation employees. They must be part of the solution. At all costs, Fresk must not be used if employees want it. It has to be mandatory, otherwise people won’t bother to change their old, often inefficient habits. The software has to be compulsory to use as soon as it’s implemented, and the team has to understand that there’s no going back. People then get used to the idea and get involved.

Don’t worry, after 3 months of constant use, your entire team will be very comfortable with the software and no one will want to go back. You should know that not only your secretaries, but also your hygienists and assistants need to use Fresk. They won’t be able to do without it!

As they say, to try it is to adopt it. And when we look back, we wonder why we didn’t discover Fresk before.

Our whole team loves the tool. Thank you, everyone!