[Part 3] The Entrepreneurial Dentist: Relationship Based Dentistry

There is something very powerful about a “relationship” in life and it becomes even more enhanced in business because it has to do with trust and commitment.  The reason why this is such a significant thing, when it comes to dentistry, is because it is the very opposite of two things – what the patient expects and what the industry is known for.

You are here and reading this because I have lived the saying from Earl Nightingale, in his famous recording called LEAD THE FIELD, that if you want to be successful and you don’t know what to do, you should just look around and do the opposite of everyone else.

This is a real secret to what the extraordinary dentists do.

You see, every patient expects to come to the dentist, to be told they have a problem, to be caused pain, to have to pay for that pain and then to dread the process all over again.

Or a patient expects to come in for hygiene, barely (if even) see the doctor, repeat twice a year and eventually suffering some emergency.

Patients don’t think anything else.

They don’t have any clear expectations of their dentist or their relationship with a practice other than waiting for “surprises” and they certainly don’t believe we have any expectations of them aside from brush and floss.

Therefore, when a practice actually approaches patients from a relationship based approach (where you put the PERSON not the dentistry first; when you engage them as a human being not just a mouth full of teeth), it really makes a difference.

This is perhaps the most powerful REFERRAL Factor of them all.  I always say if you want more referrals you must be more referable.  This is how you do it.

When you make ‘going to the dentist’ about an ongoing, continuous journey to optimal health and you make it about more than just a transaction – that is the key point to everything in life.

Not Transaction Based, but

Relationship Based.

When you do this right and you combine it with comprehensive dentistry, full mouth vision, thorough and complete diagnostics, and authentic care and concern for the patient, you achieve something so special and so important in the mind of the patients because you move their views of you away from insurance and money.

As with any relationship, you create a reciprocal commitment of loyalty and devotion that brings with it a compliance and follow-through to what each party asks of the other one to do.

Yes, you are reading this right.  This is about being warm and fuzzy.  This is about making your practice fun and personal.  This is about being real with your patients and having the ability to talk tough when necessary and to hold your patients accountable.

You have to earn that right by first earning their trust.  That is done by establishing the goals and expectations of each person and to set forth your “rules of engagement” for the standard you hold every patient to.

I can’t emphasize this enough.  You must include the patient as a team member – NOT just a customer.  This is our greatest advantage in dentistry.  Yet most pretend to be standing behind a counter accepting an order at a fast food business as they are completely transaction-minded.

You are above that, if you choose to be.

Relationship based dentistry is achieved by being real, being up front, being transparent, being direct (not being bashful), and always starting the relationship off on the right foot.

Most practices have no idea where their new patients are from last year.  They have no method of integration or development of their patients to become better patients.  They don’t do anything other than see the patient, diagnosis (if they do that) the dentistry, do the dentistry… and on to the next one.

And that’s about how it feels to the patient.  Obviously not building a positive relationship.

You see, the Entrepreneurial Dentists value relationships in their own lives.  Their friends, families, teams and patients.  They may not be the most outgoing or extroverted person but they hold dear QUALITY over quantity in their relationships.

This is because they know the currency that is far greater than money (and is completely irreplaceable) is authentic and genuine relationships.  Both in life and in dentistry.

This is what makes someone truly rich – always first in people (relationships) before money.

When you take your approach seriously, you can build a process, system and philosophy that cultivates strong relationships.  You will see your retention of your patients increase dramatically.  Then, with increased retention, you will experience a multiplier effect on your case acceptance and acceleration of treatment that patients say yes to.  You will start climbing far above the basic level of treatment and you will get more of the life changing care that THEY and YOU deserve.  That is, if you do what is necessary to make it happen.

And this leads to a never ending and consistent flow of quality referrals because the patients who say yes (who do dentistry) are the ones who refer others to you.

We’ll pick up right here next week with this very important Entrepreneurial Dentist Pillar of Success related to a REFERRAL DRIVEN PRACTICE!