This original article was featured in the February 2021 issue of The Chiropractic Assistant Magazine

Abra Cadabra!  Time for you to make some magic at the front desk!  When we think of magic, we think of something that seems impossible being accomplished against all odds.  Did you picture someone in a black suit with a wand pulling a rabbit out of a hat?  What about someone on stage in Las Vegas doing card tricks?  Real-life “magic tricks” are actually just illusions or sleights of hand put on by a well-trained person who has practiced over and over.  And guess what?  We as CAs are no different! 

Phones constantly ringing, patients behind schedule, emails to respond to, a busy front desk, marketing to plan, etc…  It can all get extremely overwhelming!  Where the real magic comes into play is taking all of this in stride and giving the illusion that everything is calm and under control. 

What makes your front desk magic a success is your ability to bring your vision and desired outcomes to life. In order to do this, you must have smart systems, procedures, tools, and training in place. The real magic is mastering these things that will ultimately allow you to run the front desk smoothly, multitask with ease, increase productivity, and experience more joy in the work.

Let’s take a look behind the curtain and reveal how some of the front desk magic is created! 

Checklists: 

Have you ever had those moments when you think you forgot something but you can’t quite remember what it was or if you ever actually did it?  We have always had checklists for essentially every single process to combat this problem. The checklist gets marked off as things get done and show who completed it. This helps with accountability too!  

We have a daily operations checklist for all front desk actions that must get done every workday. For example:

• Open up the office by turning on lights, music, TVs
• Check voicemail/emails and get back to patients right away
• Reviewing the schedule with the doctor so they know which patients need re-exams, what time new patients come in, etc.
• Post services and payments into EHR
• And a list of tasks to work on during any downtime

We literally have a checklist for:

• New patients 
• Re-exams
• Insurance verification
• Balancing the end of day report
• And more!
  

These checklists ensure that our team is working efficiently and that the patients receive a consistent and enjoyable experience each and every visit. In addition, having these checklists will help to onboard and train new team members to ensure their success working in the practice.

Automated Tasks: 

If you have read any of my articles before, you know I’m a big advocate of automating as much as possible. Automating things helps free up time (and we all need more time). Here are my top five tasks to automate:

1. Payments/Email Receipts
2. Patient Education/Marketing Emails
3. Social Media Posts/Marketing
4. Appointment Reminders
5. Data Backups

Have you ever thought about how much time you can actually save by automating emails or payments?  Automating payments and email receipts can save an average of 40 hours per month. I estimate my top five automated tasks save me about 60 hours a month!  Sounds incredible, right?  Now, I don’t use that freed-up time to file my nails… I use my time wisely and put more creative energy into working on the business and meaningful patient care. This makes the work I do much more enjoyable.

Related: Four Things You Can Do Today To Make Tomorrow Better (Practice Tools)

Transcend Yourself: 

This may not seem like something that can produce magic but I promise you, it changes EVERYTHING. Transcending yourself means to rise above or go beyond; overpass; exceed.

To be the best version of yourself, you should be attending seminars or webinars about chiropractic, listen to personal growth and leadership podcasts, read books about developing strong habits and communication skills, and take a course on managing emotions under stress. 

Some of my favorite books about transcending yourself:

• Girl, Wash Your Face – by Rachel Hollis
• Atomic Habits – by James Clear
• You Are a Badass – by Jen Sincero

The lessons you learn by doing the things I’ve outlined in this article will enable you to not only walk the walk but to talk the talk.  You’ll feel confident and you’ll feel like you can handle anything that comes your way!

These are just a small portion of things that you can do to conjure some magic at the front desk.  However, we are still missing the most important part– practice, practice, practice! Rehearsing and implementation are where you start to see the magic work! Do you think a magician practiced until they were able to do that trick the first time and then stopped?  Absolutely not!  Being a CA is no different.  We continue to work at mastering our skills until we can do these things with confidence, expertise, and joy!

Now get out there and create your own magic!

Check out our other articles!