By Emily Ross No comments yet

So You Got A Bad Review…

Don’t Panic!  Here’s some useful information on how to deal with a bad review.

Clinic Guide – So You Got A Bad Review

You can’t seem to please all of the people all of the time. But at least with our useful guide, you can make the best of a bad situation, and hopefully nip any additional problems in the bud.  If you have any additional suggestions or particular questions we’ll do our best to answer, and feel free to add your own stories as a comment.  Enjoy!

Download the Clinic Guide – So You Got A Bad Review (2mb .pdf)

By Emily Ross No comments yet

Patients, Data Protection, and YOU. A Quick, Essential Guide for Smart Clinics.

A bunch of us here at WhatClinic.com have to know a lot about Data.

In case you haven’t had time recently to wade through the extensive information that exists on Data Protection and Data Law – we’ve put together a summary of some of the most important points so that you can be sure your clinic complies with best business practices.

It’s important stuff that can sometimes get overlooked, so we hope you find this helpful.  While our guide is based on Irish and EU law, the common sense practices are just as relevant to other markets.  Click on this link to download the media file.  Clinic Guide To Data Protection

Have you a topic you’d like one of our clinic marketing experts to cover in an e-book or guide? Let us know by leaving a comment on the blog, or by sending an email to info@whatclinic.com.

By Alan O'Rourke No comments yet

Friday Fun – Doctor doctor

Patient: Doctor, doctor, my arm is broken in three places.
Doctor: Well stay out of those places.
Tweet This joke

By Emily Ross No comments yet

March 2013: WhatClinic.com coverage grows to over 100,000 clinics in over 100 countries worldwide.

March 2013 Global Coverage on WhatClinic.com. Clinics listed on WhatClinic.com include those from Dental, Optical, Beauty, Cosmetic Surgery, Holistic and Others.

By Christine Brookes 1 comment

Gate Clinic Cleans Up at the Irish Dental Awards!

The WhatClinic.com team would like to congratulate Gate Clinic for winning Dental Practice of the Year at the Irish Dental Awards. Hosted by Irish Dentist magazine, these awards are a great opportunity for dentists to showcase their practice and acknowledge their hard working staff. Recognising and rewarding success is the main objective. Dentists and dental professionals decided that Gate Clinic should win Dental Practice of the Year, so it is a highly valued vote of confidence by this clinic’s peers. It’s an industry acknowledgement of the work    which the clinic’s team has put into serving its patients. Here’s a testimonial from one of their many happy customers:

“I have had numerous treatments at this dental practice and although I don’t live in Galway any more, I travel for 2.5 hours to go there! Professional, friendly and cutting edge are but a few of the descriptive words I would use when describing the Gate Clinic.”

Gate Clinic is also highly committed to innovation, being the first Irish practice to offer certified training for CEREC digital cad-cam technology and the first in Europe to introduce the “I-Cat” dental C.A.T. scanner for 3D analysis and implant planning. We are delighted to work with such an  enterprising business. Well done and keep up the good work!

By Christine Brookes No comments yet

Behind the Scenes at WhatClinic.com: Getting the Awards Packs Sorted!

It was a busy week last week for the team at WhatClinic.com.  We recently announced the winners of the 2013 Customer Service Awards, and while only about 1% of the clinics listed on WhatClinic.com meet the high criteria of professionalism and care that entitles them to win, it’s still about a thousand winners!  Every year we send our winners their personal Award Cert along with their information pack.  As an internet based company, snail mail is not something that gets utilised very often, so it’s a bit of a novelty!

Divide and Conquer! Sorting Winners from UK & Ireland, Europe and Rest of World.

The Award print run is just about small enough for us to do ourselves – but there’s a lot in each pack, so that meant a morning of team building for every department. Once we’d figured out an assembly line that could handle four personalised pieces of post, we just needed to add the address labels and stamp the return to sender address.  It was nice to recognise our favourite clinics in the mix.

Everyone in the company had a part to play in helping deliver these awards, so congratulations from the whole team to all the clinics who won, and keep up the good work!

By Christine Brookes No comments yet

WhatClinic.com Guide to Enquiry Handling Excellence

WhatClinic.com Guide to Enquiry Handling Excellence

The Guide is a list and explanation of the working procedures and techniques that are essential for converting more enquiries made by phone and email. These practices are standard in top converting clinics. Regardless of sector, clinics can increase the amount of enquiries converted into real bookings by introducing a few or all of the habits listed within the guide.

Who is the guide for?

The guide is aimed at clinics of any size, from individual clinicians to busy chains who want to improve their phone and email conversion rates, and are interested in the best practice habits of high converting clinics. For those clinics who already implement these habits, it provides reassurance and a valuable reminder to ensure all systems are in full working order.

Why should I read it?

The guide is full of practical, easy to implement procedures, based on professional habits of enquiry handling proven to work in successful clinics.  Many of the tactics have little or no cost involved. It is also very easy to read and follow. At the conclusion of each chapter, there is a list of ‘takeaways’. These are key points to remember, that you can take away, and put into practice.

What works for your clinic?
We’d love to hear from clinics who have recommendations for other smart habits when it comes to managing phone and email enquiries.  We’ve kept it short and simple here, and focussed on practical, low cost processes that will suit most clinics. Tell us what works for you!

Here’s the link to the guide:

http://www.whatclinic.com/external/awards2013/download/Guide_To_Enquiry_Handling.pdf

By Emily Ross 2 comments

WhatClinic.com Customer Service Award Winners 2013

Today WhatClinic.com announced the winners of their 2013 Customer Service Awards. Less than 1% of the 100,000+ clinics listed on the site qualify for the prestigious award this year.

Caelen King, WhatClinic.com Founder and CEO announces the 2013 Customer Service Award Winners in Dublin this week.

The awards, now in their fourth year, are based on detailed analysis of both patients’ own direct customer service feedback and the clinics’ general communication performance.

With 12 million annual visits to WhatClinic.com generating enquiries for elective treatments worth over half a billion euro, the doctors, dentists, surgeons and specialists found on WhatClinic.com are keenly aware of the importance of responding quickly and professionally to their patient enquiries.

The Customer Service Award is designed to help patients to identify those clinics that are consistently ranked the best at this crucial first stage of contact.

Clinics all over the world are today being informed of their win by email and being sent a pack by post including a certificate to display in their practice. Winning clinics can be easily distinguished on WhatClinic.com by the Award Badge that appears on their short listing and their brochure page.

Wondering if your clinic has won? Don’t worry, all winners are being contacted by email and by post as you read this, so keep an eye on your inbox or your letter box. Congratulations and well done to all this year’s winners!

2013 Award Winners From Ireland

Clinics in Ireland had a good showing in the global rankings, performing twice as well as average. Proportionally, Irish clinics make up 7% of active clinics on the site, and yet Irish clinics won 15% of the awards, which according to Caelen King, WhatClinic.com’s CEO, is a reflection on the importance that Irish clinics place on patient handling and care.

Here are a list of the clinics in the Republic of Ireland that made the grade this year. As the worldwide list is quite lengthy it is not published here in full, but is available if you email me, Emily, directly at eross at whatclinic.com.

• A Massage and Beauty Studio    Dublin
• AcuWell Ranelagh            Ranelagh
• Advanced Beauty            Tullamore
• Akina Laser and Beauty Clinic      Dublin
• Allergy Testing & Acupuncture,Traditional Chinese Medicine Dr. Lalloo   Dublin
• Alliance Counselling        Dublin
• Amara at Whitesmile Clinic Ballsbridge   Dublin
• Ann Hughes – Acupuncture Practice        Dublin
• Arch Beauty Clinic            Ballsbridge
• Ardfallen Eye Clinic          Cork City
• Ashdale Acupuncture Clinic         Mahon
• Aspire Health Acupuncture & Massage Therapies             Castleknock
• Atc Treatment Ireland   Waterford
• Baggot Dental Clinic        Dublin South City Centre
• Barry Mollaghan – PhysioWorks Longford
• Beacon CARE Fertility     Beacon Hall, Sandyford
• Beechwood Dental Clinic              Ranelagh
• Begley Dental    Dundalk
• Berkeley Skin and Laser Clinic     Walkinstown
• Blackglen Dental               Sandyford
• Body Mechanix East Point Office Park
• Bodyworks Physiotherapy and Sports Rehabilitation Clinic            Dublin 2
• Bray Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic          Bray
• Cabinteely Dental Care  Cabinteely Village
• Care & Cure Chinese Acupuncture and Massage- Longford          Longford
• Castle Clinic        Dalkey
• Castletroy Physiotherapy Clinic  Limerick
• Catherine Keers Counselling & Psychotherapy Center    Dun Laoghaire
• Central Dental Clinic Lucan           Co. Dublin.
• Chezelle Skin and Laser Clinic      Mullingar
• Churchview Dental Practice         Portlaoise
• Clane General Hospital  Clane
• Claudia McGloin Clinic    Sligo
• Cleanse Within  Dublin
• College Road  Medical  Centre    Cork
• Colman Counihan Dental Practice             Ennis
• Cork Dental Care              Cork
• Cork Natural Fertility Clinic           Cobh
• Cosmetic Doctor Slievemore Clinic           Stillorgan
• Crown Dental    Dublin
• Cusack Dental    Tramore
• D4 Medical          Dublin
• Dave Hackett     Ardkeen
• David McConville Orthodontics  Sligo
• Dermcare Laser Skin Clinic            Dublin
• Devon Park Dental          Galway City
• Dolphin Dental Suite       Waterford
• Dorset Dental Clinic         Dublin
• Dr Brendan Glass & Associates – Maynooth          Maynooth
• Dr Callaghan Condon Dermatology Clinic               Dublin
• Dr David Vard    Dun Laoghaire
• Dr Declan Fuller                Killarney
• Dr Declan Larkin                Knocknacarra
• Dr Dervla Leavy Ballincollig
• Dr Donogh O’Connor and Dr Tara Fitzgerald         Raheny
• Dr Frank O’Callaghan      Limerick City
• Dr Franklin Connellan     Longford
• Dr Gerardine Curtin, Clinical Psychologist & Psychotherapist,       Galway
• Dr Maurice Crean             Oranmore
• Dr Nik Nomikos Killarney
• Dr Nuala Cagney               Charleville
• Dr Rita Brennan                Dublin
• Dr Seamus Looney – Douglas West           Cork
• Dr Shane Cadden             Castlebar
• Dr Susan Murray & Dr Jonathan Middleton          Trim
• Dr. Deas Family Practice                Wexford
• Dr. K.Y. Chye – Orthodontist        Mullingar
• Dr. Kamilla Trofimiuk      Limerick
• Dr. Kevin Lambe, Clinical Psychologist     Dublin
• Dr. Noel Creaner’s Dental Surgery            Leixlip
• Drogheda Medical Clinic                Drogheda
• Dublin Acupuncture & Allergy Testing Clinic – Raheny      Dublin
• Dublin City Chiropractic Dublin
• Dublin Cosmetic Surgery Centre                Dublin
• Dublin Holistic Massage Dublin
• Dungarvan Chiropractic Clinic      Dungarvan
• Emilie McGrath – Shannonside Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic      Newmarket-on-Fergus
• Eyre Chiropractic Clinic   Loughrea
• Fallon Physiotherapy      Leixlip
• Ferney House Counselling and Psychotherapy   Dublin
• Fiacla     Naas
• Fitzwilliam Eye Clinic       Dublin
• Fitzwilliam Medical Centre           Dublin
• Forster Court Dental Centre        Galway city
• Forster Street Orthodontics Clinic             Galway
• Freda O’Keeffe – Greystones Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic        Greystones
• Gate Clinic           Galway
• Genesis Medical Aesthetic and Laser Clinic           Waterford
• Geraldine Rudkins Acupuncturist              Kilkenny
• Gracefield Dental Clinic Portarlington
• Grand Parade Dental Clinic          Cork
• Grozio Chirurgija              Drogheda
• H4H Homeopathy 4 Health          Cork
• Howth Dental and Orthocosmetic Clinic Howth
• Inchicore Family Doctors               Inchicore
• Johnstown Family Practice           Naas
• Karen Connolly, BSc, Lic ISH, IS Hom        Cork
• Kathryn Revell Cosmetic               Cork City
• Kerry Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Centre  Killarney
• Kilkenny Addiction Counselling Service  Kilkenny
• Laraghcon Pilates Lucan                Lucan
• Liffey View Physiotherapy – Stephen Jupe           Celbridge
• Limerick Family Planning Clinic    Limerick
• Listowel Dental Surgery                Listowel
• Longford Dental Centre                Longford
• Lucan Dental Care            Dublin
• MacDonagh S.C.R dental              Portobello
• Maev Creaven Nutrition               Galway
• Malahide Physiotherapy Clinic   Malahide
• Market Green Dental Care          Midleton
• Martin O’Regan                Cork
• Mary Street Dental Practice        Mullingar
• Mayo Hypnosis Clinic      Castlebar
• McCarthy Dental Surgery             Enniscorthy
• Meadowbrook Reflexology & Massage Tramore
• Merrion Fertility Clinic    Dublin
• Michael Cronin Dental Practice  Cork City
• Mind & Body Solutions -Tuam    Tuam
• Monasterevin Dental Surgery    Monasterevin
• Morehampton Clinic       Donnybrook
• Mr. Gerry Flynn – Osteopathic Practice   Ballsbridge, Dublin
• Naas Physiotherapy Clinic            Naas
• Natural Medicine and Acupuncture Clinic              Newbridge
• Navan Dental     Navan
• Neuron Neuromuscular Therapy              Rathmines
• New Haven Physiotherapy Clinic               Drogheda
• Newbridge Dental Corner            Newbridge
• Nolan Dental Surgery     Glasthule
• Northern Cross Dental   Coolock
• Northwest Therapy and Hypnosis            Castlebar
• Oakland Dental Clinic      Tyrrelstown (Blanchardstown)
• O’Connell Street Dental Clinic     Waterford City
• O’Connor Moore Dental Practice              Sligo
• Old Bawn Dental Practice             Tallaght
• Old Quarter Dental          Limerick City
• One Manor Place Dental Practice              Dublin
• O’Neill Dental Care          Swords
• Opticalrooms     Blanchardstown
• Opticks Superior Eyecare              Dublin
• Optilase Laser Eye Clinic                Dublin
• Oral & Maxillofacial/Aesthetic Facial Surgery Galway       Doughiska
• Oranmore Acupuncture Clinic    Oranmore
• Oranmore Dental Care  Oranmore
• O’Reilly’s Dental Practice               Celbridge
• Ossi Schmidt MISCP        Cork
• Palmerstown Medical Centre     Dublin
• Pearl Dental, Facial Aesthetics and Beauty Clinic                Dublin 2
• Physio Carlow    Carlow
• Positive Change Hypnotherapy Galway City & County
• Prime Dental      Wexford
• Ratoath Dental Centre   Ratoath
• Renew Aesthetic Clinic  Dublin
• ReproMed Consultancy Services               Sandyford
• Rinn Mhor Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Clinic           Galway
• Riverforest Dental Clinic                Leixlip
• Roselawn Acupuncture Dublin
• Ross Hair Studio and Clinic            Dublin
• Ryevale Holistic Therapies            Leixlip
• Seabreeze          Oranmore
• Shannon Orthodontics  Athlone
• Shelbourne Dental Clinic               Dublin
• Shen Acupuncture & Naturopathy Clinic – Wexford          Gorey
• Square Dental Practice  Tallaght
• St. Francis Private Hospital           Mullingar
• STI clinic Abbey Street   Dublin
• Stillorgan Chiropractic    Dublin
• Swords Orthodontist Clinic          swords
• Talbot Street Medical Centre      Dublin
• The Acupuncture & Physical Therapy Clinic Tramore        Co. Waterford
• The Balance Centre         Dublin
• The D4 Clinic       Dublin
• The Elbowroom Clinic     Dublin
• The Elmtree Clinic            Galway
• The Faythe Medical Centre         Wexford
• The Fresh Breath Clinic  Churchtown
• The Hair Loss/Alopecia Clinic Galway       Galway City
• The Health Haven            Ennis
• The Joint Chiropractic Centre      Dublin
• The Laser and Skin Clinic – Dublin               Dublin
• The Mall Dental Practice               Thurles
• The Mole Screening Clinic            Dublin
• The Sandycove Clinic      Sandycove
• The Scotia Clinic                Tralee
• The Weir Family Health Clinic      Bandon
• The Well              Sandyford
• Total Dental, Cork            Cork City
• Total Laser Health            Tempelogue
• Trim Physiotherapy Clinic             Trim
• Trinity Chiropractic & Natural Health Centre         Dublin
• Universal Hair, Scalp and Skin Clinic          Dublin
• Urban Beauty    Rathmines
• Vasectomy Mid West     Ennis
• Village Dental Practice   Blanchardstown
• Wellington Eye Clinic Dublin        Sandyford
• Westend Beauty Clinic   Sligo
• Westland Row Medical  Dublin
• Wine Street Wellness Centre     Sligo
• Wolf Therapies Physical Therapy & Acupuncture Clinic    Fermoy

By Christine Brookes No comments yet

We’ve Introduced a New Enquiry Handling Process

At WhatClinic.com, we’re always striving to improve the quality of our enquiries. We want clinics to avoid dealing with those which are irrelevant and spend more time dealing with genuine prospective patients. With this in mind, at the start of January we launched some new processes, led by our new Enquiry Quality Team. We’ve also drafted a comprehensive Refund Policy, and added some FAQ’s on refunds to our general FAQ page.

How does it work?

Our Enquiry Quality Team focusses totally on ensuring the quality of the enquiries we deliver.  That means using both automated and manual checks. We not only put automatic filters in place, but we have also implemented a formal review process, so clinics can forward enquiries to the team for review.  By tracking and reviewing examples of bogus and spam email, we can further adapt our automated systems, to better improve the quality of the enquiries we deliver.  We can also award refunds if clinics have been sent a spam or bogus enquiry that has managed to make it through our filters!

What is spam?

Examples of spam would be an identical enquiry sent to many clinics in rapid succession purporting to be genuine. A bogus enquiry might be a question about a treatment that a clinic obviously doesn’t do, such as an eye clinic being asked about an arm or thigh lift. Other examples might be emails from people looking for a job, or emails from companies trying to sell a product or service.

Our refund policy

We have drafted a detailed Refund Policy which outlines when and how a clinic can claim for a refund if they believe and enquiry is false. There are some basic criteria that have been set down by the team, to help clarify what does and doesn’t qualify.  There are lots of different types of enquiries, so this can lead to lots of questions and queries.  But that’s ok!  Our team are on hand to help, and we’ll always review an enquiry if it has been submitted for review appropriately.  You can also email our Enquiry Quality Team at refunds@whatclinic.com

How do I apply for a refund?

If a clinic receives an enquiry and chooses not to respond because it is bogus/spam/irrelevant, all the clinic needs to do is flag the enquiry when it first arrives. This is done by indicating where appropriate

 ‘I will not be contacting this patient’ and selecting the reason for no contact from the list provided. If the reason given is in line with our refund policy, a refund will be issued.

A clinic can directly ask the Enquiry Quality Team for a refund by sending an email to refunds@whatclinic.com. Due to our new streamlined process, all disputed enquiries will be processed promptly and efficiently.

These are some of the questions we commonly receive about enquiry refunds:

I got a bogus/spam enquiry, do I have to pay?

This enquiry is for a treatment I don’t offer. Can I get a refund?

This enquiry was a no-show. Can I get a refund?

If you want to find out more, go to http://whyjoin.whatclinic.com/faqs/

These are some of our key promises:

• Every enquiry placed is tracked and recorded
• We endeavour to only send genuine patient enquiries to clinics
• Enquiries are delivered direct from the potential patient
• Each enquiry refers to a specific treatment in a specific location
• We always endeavour to filter any enquiries sent in error
• All disputed enquiries will be processed promptly and efficiently
• We will refund enquiries that are proven to be invalid

We only charge clinics for genuine patient enquiries, which are defined in our refund policy. Thanks to this policy, they can be sure that what they are paying for is potential business only, not irrelevant queries or spam.

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By Christine Brookes No comments yet

Review of ‘Floss’ by David Holland

‘Floss’ is a business development guide written by sales expert, author, speaker and coach David Holland. It is intended as an aid for dentists who want to grow their business and need a few pointers in the right direction to get started. However, the beauty of the suggestions and ideas contained within is that they can easily be applied (with a few adjustments of course) to general practitioners, surgeons, opticians, beauticians…in short, anyone who runs a clinic.

This is certainly a book for those who are unfamiliar with the world of marketing and sales, as common marketing and sales terms are explained clearly, in layman’s language. David Holland clearly knows who his target audience is – dentists, not salesmen or marketing experts.

Because of this, the vast majority of projects that he suggests are quite straightforward and can be carried out by just about anyone who is motivated and has a few basic resources in place. Many of these basic resources – for example, multiple telephone lines and SMS services – are listed. Cost effective routes to procuring them are also provided, such as 60 day free trials and discount codes on first orders from certain companies

Accessibility is something that this book achieves quite well – Holland is quite adept at convincing the reader that the suggested initiatives are easy to put in place, not very time consuming and will achieve results.

A lot of the suggestions offered are the product of common sense; such as the concept of being more than just courteous to one’s customers. Instead, Holland suggests that dentists should make a concerted effort to be friendly and helpful. This may seem so self explanatory as to border on patronising. However, sometimes the simplest and most obvious ideas can become lost when searching for new and innovative marketing initiatives.

In the pursuit of ensuring one’s patients receive the high quality treatment they need, it is easy to forget that little additions such as referring to them by name, walking with them from the waiting area into the surgery and making conversation can make a huge difference to the rapport between dentist and patient.

At the end of each chapter is a list of ‘Resources’ – software, kits, printing, further reading and / or pre-written copy to get the reader started on their new venture. In this regard there is a mutual benefit from offering such information as many of the resources are to be found on the website of David Holland’s own management consulting company, EXELA Limited. To be fair, no attempt is made to hide this mutual benefit – in fact, Holland makes this fact quite clear, to avoid any suspicions of an ulterior motive.

One or two suggestions gave readers at WhatClinic.com moment for pause. In Chapter 3.3, page. 33, ‘Floss’ suggested asking letting/estate agents for access to data relating to people who had moved to the areas:

“In return, you want them [agents] to provide you with the names and addresses of the movers…”

Personal data, like names and addresses has many stringent guidelines, that can vary in different countries. We do not recommend the sharing of personal data, or requesting it from a third party. Contacting those people may in fact do more harm than good, if they find the contact intrusive or unwanted.

The second point is that while Holland quite rightly refers to the importance of having staff available to answer the phone out of hours, he does not make mention of the importance of voicemail when those inevitable missed calls occur. The importance of returning all missed calls promptly is also overlooked. Please see our blog post on this subject, ‘Important Support Information for Christmas Patient Enquiries’ (which equally could be applied to missed calls all year round) at http://whyjoin.whatclinic.com/blog.

At only 95 pages, ‘Floss’ is a short read that is full of new suggestions for many clinics. For others, it reinforces the importance of selling themselves to patients, instead of presuming patients will automatically come to them.

Check back here regularly to get the latest market leading tips and advice for clinics in every sector, or sign up to http://blog.whatclinic.com/ to receive posts automatically. Simply enter your email address under ‘Updates by email’ and click the ‘Subscribe’ button to stay updated.