Why does my chiropractic office miss so many phone calls?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
A chiropractic office misses calls because one front desk person is doing three jobs at once: checking patients in, taking payments and answering the phone. Chiropractic visits are short, so the desk is busiest exactly when the schedule is fullest. The phone loses to the patient standing at the counter, and new patients rarely leave a voicemail.
When do the calls get missed?
Calls get missed in clusters, not evenly through the day. A chiropractic office turns patients over quickly, so there are rushes: before work, at lunch and after five. Those are the same hours people with jobs are free to phone.
Then there are the hours nobody is there at all. Offices that close for a long midday break or shut on certain weekdays have a phone ringing in an empty room.
How do I find out how many calls I miss?
Ask your phone provider for a report of calls by hour, with answered and unanswered separated. Compare the unanswered hours with your schedule. The pattern tends to be obvious once it is on paper.
Then do the sum with your own numbers: missed calls a week, times how many of those were new patients who would have booked, times what a new patient is worth to the office over their care.
What are the ways to cover the phone?
There are four honest options. The right one depends on how many calls you miss, at which hours, and what a new patient is worth to you.
- Stagger breaks and hours so the desk is never empty while the phone is on. Free, and it only covers open hours.
- Hire a second front desk person. The best cover during the day, and the most expensive.
- Use an answering service. A person takes a message after hours, and your team calls back.
- Use an AI receptionist that answers, takes the details and books the exam, at any hour.
How does Margin stop a chiropractic office missing calls?
Margin puts Mia, an AI receptionist, on your line. She can answer every call, or only the ones your front desk does not reach. She answers questions, takes messages, books the new-patient exam onto your portal calendar and tells the office. If a caller asks for a person, she tells your team and steps aside.
A caller who hangs up is texted back within a minute from your office's own texting number. That part starts once phone carriers approve the number, which takes a few days to a couple of weeks.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Mia, the AI receptionist, on every call
- Missed calls texted back within a minute
- Booking onto your calendar
- Your portal: every call, text and booking
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for chiropractors and physical therapistsSee the portal with a sample business
Related questions
Do new chiropractic patients leave voicemails?
Some do, but a new patient has no tie to your chiropractic office yet. When the call goes to voicemail, it is easy for them to hang up and ring the next office in the search results. Existing patients are more patient. They already know you.
Should a chiropractor answer the phone during adjustments?
No. A chiropractor leaving a patient to take a call serves neither person well. The phone needs its own cover in a chiropractic office: a staff member whose job it is during rushes, or a service that answers when the desk cannot.
Is a missed call worse than a slow call-back for a chiropractic office?
They are close to the same thing. If a chiropractic office calls a new patient back an hour later, that person has often booked elsewhere. A text within a minute keeps the conversation alive until someone can speak to them.