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How a multi-location DSO tripled new patient conversion and freed up its call center
A leading pediatric dental group serves tens of thousands of patients a month across a large network of Southern California practices. Every new patient, every reschedule, every after-hours question runs through one centralized call center, making it the group's biggest growth lever as well as its biggest bottleneck.
New patient calls were outpacing the call center's capacity
For a network this size, inbound call volume was quickly outpacing what the call center could handle on its own. Calls came in after hours, on weekends, and through overflow when agents were already on the line with other patients.
But the deeper issue wasn't volume, it was distribution. Every call went to the same place. So when the call center reached capacity, every incoming call went straight to voicemail.
The call data showed the gap clearly. In January 36.9% of inbound calls were being classified as "Unassigned," meaning one out of every three callers were failing to get through and likely moving on to call the next practice.
For pediatric DSOs every missed new patient opportunity compounds. Since families don't switch pediatric dentists often, if a new patient books elsewhere they're usually hard to win back.
"Pediatric is unforgiving. A family that calls and doesn't get through will book down the street, and you won't see that kid for years if at all."
COO
Multi-location pediatric DSO
Deploying Fiona on every call and turning her into the team's most knowledgeable staff member
With Fiona deployed, calls that were previously getting lost to voicemail were now being answered right away. Patients received immediate help, agents stopped inheriting so many callbacks, and parents were booking on their own schedules rather than waiting days for the office to get back to them.
To increase Fiona's success with patients, the Flossy team also invested time observing the subtleties around conversations, the types of calls coming in, the questions parents were asking, and the scheduling logic that each location followed.
From there it became a process of continuous tuning. The team noted what worked best with patients. Which voice they were most likely to engage with. Which greeting best kept parents on the line instead of hanging up. Even how to phrase scheduling questions so that more parents said yes. Each test made Fiona more effective, decreasing representative requests and immediate hangup rates, increasing new and existing patient bookings, and creating an overall better experience for patients as well bringing in additional revenue for the group.
"What I appreciated was that Flossy kept tuning. Month one was a starting point. By month three the system was operating at a completely different level."
COO
Multi-location pediatric DSO
Multi-Location Pediatric DSO
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New patient conversion tripled in three months
New patient conversion through Fiona more than tripled in three months, climbing from 14.8% in January to 51.9% by March. The top-performing locations went even further, with one reaching 88% new patient conversion.
As Fiona got sharper the call center became much lighter. Requests to speak to a representative fell 79%, because Fiona was successfully handling concerns and resolving calls without needing to escalate to a human. This gave agents more time for the work that actually needs them, like clinical questions, complex insurance situations, and in-office patient support.
The gains also compounded across the funnel. The unassigned call rate where patients used to drop before reaching a location fell from 36.9% to 17.2%. More callers were making it to booking an appointment instead of abandoning mid conversation. Reschedule completion nearly doubled over the same period, leading to fewer no-shows that would have not been rebooked.
The most significant impact wasn't just the numbers, but that every new patient call was now reaching someone that could help them. For a pediatric group that's more than a booking. It's an entire family that will likely stay with the practice and their provider for years.
