However, there are many choices available when it comes to choosing a telephone appointment reminder service, so what key traits should you be looking for in a reminder service?
Avoid a large up-front investment
Because the field of appointment reminder services is competitive, there is no reason that you should have to fork over a lot of money up-front for the services. Just because a company has impeccable reviews and a history of providing top-notch services does not mean that things will remain that way indefinitely. If you pay for appointment reminder services on an annual or semi-annual term and things go south with the service, you might end up losing a lot of money.
When choosing an appointment reminder service, look for companies that offer month to month payments and preferably a free trial; this way if things do happen to take a turn for the worse, you re not locked into a long-term contract and out a significant sum of money. If you can find an appointment reminder company that offers a free-trial, that s an added bonus; this way you can try out the services before you send the company even one penny.
Avoid services that require on-going maintenance
Some telephone appointment reminder services require practice owners to purchase or maintain specialized hardware or software, such as Windows-based software, in order to use the reminder services; this can be a time-consuming and frustrating option, especially for those who are not technologically proficient. In cases where doctors or business owners need to purchase specialized software or hardware, it can be a financial hardship as well; some of these setups will cost you into the thousands of dollars for the specialized tools alone, and this doesn t even include the cost of the appointment reminder services.
Generally it s best to look for a reminder service that doesn t require specialized hardware or software to be installed at your office location; there are appointment reminder services that are solely web-based, and for the non-technical doctor or business owner, web-based reminder services are generally the easiest and least cost-prohibitive.
Look for a reminder service that provides call-backs
Appointment reminder services are offered as a convenience for your business or practice, otherwise there would be no demand for these types of services. Whether you are a doctor, dentist or a health-spa owner, you benefit greatly when your appointment reminder service offers call-backs or reminders sent out to your customers and patients asking them to make a follow-up appointment. Some call-back services will even relay messages that are put into the system; this is seen as a major benefit and is available with certain telephone appointment reminder services.
Look for an appointment reminder service that functions as a backup receptionist
When you re looking for the best investment in terms of an appointment reminder service, look for one that can handle overflow calls during peak periods while your office is open, take appointments when your front-desk receptionist is away for lunch or even handle incoming calls when your office is closed. By choosing a telephone appointment reminder service that can handle incoming calls during busy periods and even take appointments when your office is closed, you are improving the efficiency of your office, and your patrons will take notice.
While there are certainly many options available when it comes to choosing a telephone appointment reminder service for your office, not all answering solutions provide the same types of services, and certainly not all of these solutions are affordable in the long term. If you take this small list to heart and reference it when you re weighing out your options for an affordable appointment reminder service, chances are you ll save yourself some money and quite a few headaches as well.
Top writer Andy Press writes frequently about Medical Receptionist and Medical Practices Efficiency. The author focuses on topics about Virtual Receptionists and Automated Online Medical Scheduler. Additional resources and articles written by Andy Press related to Patient Appointment Reminder are accessible on line.
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