Summary

Club K Dental opened in 2025 with a small team and an office open three days a week. In February, Dr. Josh Knapton brought Annie on as one of the practice’s first hires to answer missed calls, respond to chats on their website, and to book appointments.

Since then, Annie has booked 61 new patients and 125 appointments in total, about a third of them through website chat. Then, as patients were starting to become due for their first round of recare, Club K tasked Annie with reaching out to any patients that weren't scheduled for an appointment so that they could stay ahead of their reappointment from the beginning.

Challenge

Most startup practices run into the same two problems in their first few years.

The first is coverage. Patients call any day of the week, but a new practice might only be open a few days of the week. That was the situation for Dr. Josh Knapton and Club K Dental, who were open three days a week. On the other four days, most new practices depend on the doctor or a team member grabbing the phone between everything else they are trying to do to get the practice up and running. And, if that call is missed, the marketing that brought them in goes to waste.

The second shows up later. A practice’s first recare patients come due while the team is still figuring everything else out, so calling overdue patients gets pushed to “when things calm down.” Three years later, the overdue list can run to 500 patients, and patients the practice worked hard to win in the first place stop coming back.

Implementation

Club K brought Annie on before either problem had a chance to build. Their Annie works alongside the practice’s office manager, who handles treatment conversations, escalations and anything that needs a person’s judgment.

The team still answers the phone when they can. When they can’t, on a busy morning or one of the four closed days, Annie picks up and books the appointment. She also answers chats on Club K’s website at any hour, so patients who would rather type can ask a question or book a visit without calling.

Most offices hear “recare” and think of the long list of patients that has built up over the years. But what if you were on top of recare from day one? Club K tasked Annie with recare outreach in August, right before the first batch of patients started to become due in September. For any patients that weren't scheduled after their original appointment, Annie reaches out several times over the course of a few months via calls, voicemails and texts, so a patient who misses the first call still gets another chance to book.

Results

Since Annie went live in February, she has booked:

• 61 new patients, 48 by phone and 13 through website chat

• 125 appointments in total

• About 3 in 10 conversations outside weekday 9 to 5 hours, including nights and weekends

• 60+ hours of team time saved on phones and chat

New patients make up nearly half of everything Annie has booked, which is what a startup practice needs most. Website chat accounts for 43 of the 125 appointments. That’s about a third of Club K’s bookings that came in without anyone free to answer the phone, which is a growing trend as younger demographics start to make up more and more of a practice's patient base.

Annie has reached out to 170 patients through recare so far, with just 7 conversations needing to be passed along to the team. That's 170 patients the office didn't have to call themselves, and only 7 times someone needed to step in. Instead of working through a recare list, the team can focus on higher stakes tasks and the patients in front of them at the practice.

Opening a new practice, or sitting on a recare list that’s been growing for years? See how Annie works alongside your team.

Book a Demo