Today, I’m bringing you a completely different type of Weekly Report. We have been talking about High Value Patients for some time. Most Practices believe it’s up to chance. Most Doctors think it is about the “type” of patient/person walking in which means they (not you) can blame everyone but themselves and their teams for their patient outcomes.
That’s just not true that it’s up to chance and the randomness of the type of patient that walks through the door. Thank goodness.
You can completely and deliberately control the outcome of your patient experiences simply by controlling the process you take them through.
Last week, on our Monthly Practice Profit Accelerator Call, Kevin and I discussed a lot about setting proper expectations with your patients. Not just about your clinical philosophy and overall experience but actually setting expectations for each and every step in the process and with each team member and their own engagement with the patient.
People want to know what and why – not the how. This is why it is very common to lose a patient in the clinical discussion by describing too much about the how versus sticking to the ‘why’ and ‘what’ related to their treatment, health, problems in their mouths, solutions to get to their goals, etc.
Since we have been talking about getting you more high value patients, I want to walk you through some of the key places and points of interaction with your patients that can be to your great advantage, if you use them properly and have an appropriate, authentic, genuine, transparent strategy for each one.
Pay attention because inside of these ten components are millions and millions of dollars of treatment that you usually would lose. You are missing out on so much opportunity to help more patients get healthy because of your negligence in handling these key areas in the most effective way possible. This is all about how you can help your patients become higher value to you and lead them to great decisions for themselves.
Careful, don’t pre-judge them just because they will sound familiar. Every practice, doctor, team and patient goes through most of these in some way shape or form and many of them repeat for all types of patients not just new ones. So if you are missing something or doing something wrong, you are costing yourself a lot of lost treatment and profitable dentistry along with squandering ways to make your patients appreciate you more.
Inside of these are your keys to case acceptance, better quality patients, more valuable dentistry and above all else the retention of your patients.
I’ve set this up with just short descriptions to serve more as a checklist for you to keep and allow you and your team to do your own assessments of how well you are doing at creating higher value patients for yourselves.
Are you selling yourself short and letting your patients down or leading the way and making things happen for each and every patient giving them the best chance possible to become an ideal patient for you and achieving their own best optimal outcome they deserve?
Points of Engagement Where Expectations Matter and Influence Can (and must) Be Had to Elevate the Value and Quality of Each Individual Patient…
On The PHONE – all patients’ first impressions should be genuine care and interested curiosity in serving them and making them comfortable for their first visit, as well as clearly explaining what they can expect.
In The PACKAGE – there is no better place to convey your philosophy of care, share patient stories and educate patients in a non-threatening way.
With The MATERIALS – the way your paperwork and history forms are laid out and the questions covered within make a dramatic difference to the patients receptiveness to further discussion and also to their view of whether you are different or the same old, same old.
During The INTERVIEW – this is not about a job interview, it is about getting to know what is important to the patient and helping them to understand what should be important by presenting the principles of your practice based on what you believe every patient deserves.
As Part Of The TOUR – if you do one, make sure it is relevant and mostly about your patients and their outcomes (what people come to you for), not about clinical gizmos and pumping your own ego, patients want the focus on them.
In Every DESCRIPTION – in every communication, in every piece of material, in every poster on the wall and in every description of what you do it is important that you always bring it back to what matters most to the patient (you only know that by doing proper discovery in the previous points).
While Gathering The RECORDS – there is perhaps no more important place to bring the patient up to your level of expectations of dentistry than the interaction the clinical team member has when doing x rays and photographs by using these ways to truly involve the patient in the process.
Throughout The EXAM – Doctors can work magic here by being a great listener, by asking smart questions and by not rushing the diagnosis; if you make anything unimportant then they will justify inaction and indecision because it seems ‘okay’ to you.
Embedded In The PRESENTATION – in every treatment presentation it is necessary to reinforce positive assumptive language and expectations with your patients because after this experience you couldn’t imagine any patient would do anything but say yes and therefore you must stay confident and proceed accordingly; if you are ever wishy washy or act like there may be a choice to not say yes then you are destroying everything you have built and all the value that has been created.
Consistently In All Of The FOLLOW-UP – there are two aspects that must be present in all communications (whether they are hand written notes, emails, text, phone calls, letters and any and all ‘next steps’): consistency and congruence; you lose more patients and more yeses because there is ANY inconsistency from team member to team member, step to step or at any point where a patient feels you are not living, practicing, conveying whatever it is that you are preaching to them.
We did it. I did it, I guess, is more accurate, but now it’s your turn.
Here’s how to implement and perfect each of these areas in your practice…
It’s a six-video series entitled: “The High Fee, High Value Patient Acquisition System.” You’ll discover how to easily attract and create high value, A-Patients into your practice who desire only the very best care possible.
Get the inside scoop on attracting and serving the kinds of patients who truly appreciate you and are happy to invest in the high-quality services you offer.
Get Your Free Access to the Six-Part Training: High Value Patients >>>
