Of course, you know where I’m going with this given last week’s message. Assumptions are both good and bad depending on which way you point them.
If you are assuming the worst then the worst is often what you are going to get. You know the person who is always having a bad day and you wonder if it’s because it truly is a bad day or because that person simply expected to have things go wrong.
It’s really simple. I’ve said this before and I got it from one of my friends and mentors Lee Milteer who said, “We are a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Brian Tracy has said in the past, “We become what we think about most of the time.” They are all true.
Oddly enough, you have to commit to being better to get better but you can constantly be negative without trying at all. Either one is still a decision.
We are now flipping the coin and looking at this directly with your patients. I want you to commit 100% (and I truly mean 100%) of the time to a philosophy and a mindset that every patient deserves the best outcome possible and that no patient in the right frame of mind would ever NOT move forward with treatment.
Every call will schedule and be a great patient.
Every patient will come in and want full mouth everything.
Every treatment plan will be paid full in full at the time of scheduling.
Every successful outcome with a patient will lead to a quality referral.
Just assume the best. Period.
If you begin expecting this, you will act with, communicate and convey the most powerful and influential success trait of them all…
CONFIDENCE
The problem with last week’s assumption is that it conveys weakness, insecurity, doubt and apathy.
The super power of this week’s assumption is that it conveys the opposite. Strength, wisdom, certainty, empathy and positive emotions that would make a person want to proceed.
Now it gets better because you can actually use your language to back up your beliefs and assumptions – WHICH WE ALL DO, unfortunately most often when it’s negative. We seldom do and never do enough when it’s all positive.
If a patient asks, “Is my insurance going to cover that?” You respond immediately with, “Oh certainly not, no insurance is going to cover this type of advanced and meaningful treatment; insurance, sadly, is only for the most basic and maintenance type procedures. That’s okay though every patient wishes otherwise but the reality is what you need is what you need and you are too important to let anything stand in your way. That’s why we are here to help.”
This serves as a useful example. The point being that we don’t let anything be turned towards the negative. You find the positive and focus on that.
If a patient puts too much emphasis on money, you reverse it to being about their health. There is no amount of money that would be too much for what they deserve because they have only one mouth but they will have more money. Move towards the assumptions, actions and statements that reinforce your expectations.
If you stay focused on the goal, you will be amazed at how the patient will also.
This is challenging but it gets easier when you are confident enough to preempt everything with assumptive language in advance.
I just might go there next week.
