I have been really thrilled by the great feedback from last week. I get great comments every week, but when you are inspired to take action and turn my topics into progress – I’m ecstatic!
In fact, the impact of last week was so significant, we just did a deeper discussion into the five ways to avoid sabotage and devaluing you, your team and your dentistry in your patients’ minds during our Monthly Practice Profit Accelerator Call for our top doctors.
This whole topic is the perfect power punch for your team to really focus in making a difference by enhancing your patients’ feelings of importance and relevance they have personally about the dentistry you are recommending.
Now, as Promised, I’m turning the tables to WHAT TO DO instead of WHAT NOT TO DO; which are both equally important. I can’t over emphasize that the things that destroy patient value are more often the culprit to ruining case acceptance.
If you want to call all of those points last week Defense – we are going to move to OFFENSE and how to deliberately create value in the minds of your patients and make the outcome of the dentistry (never the dentistry) more important to them.
Because each of these points are VERY significant in and of themselves, I am breaking them down and probably going to cover a couple each week until we get through them all.
Your assignment is to take each week’s Report and do more than just read it. You will be best served to print it out and incorporate it into your weekly Team Check-in. Ask each Team Member to commit to doing ONE thing more consistently with every patient they interact with. You will be amazed at the ENERGY that is created and how much more dentistry will be accepted, scheduled and paid for every single day because of it.
Remember this… every little thing adds up. There is NOT – ever – ONE thing that makes all the difference; it’s all the ‘things’ combined together that creates a winning formula for your success.
This is why I often say success is NOT an a la carte menu. You can’t pick and choose what to do because you might be missing the parts that would have added up to push your patients over the edge to yes.
And so we begin. The first INCREASING VALUE STRATEGY and destroying price or insurance focus is…
#1 – Set The Tone Through ALL Communication
Okay, so this one sounds obvious and repetitive because we have done it many times before. However, you can’t do it enough.
The keywords here are all of them…
SET – this means that you control it. You tell patients what to think, how to feel and ways to decide; NOT in an abrasive manner but by your verbiage, your commentary as well as your questions.
TONE – this must not be taken for granted – on the phone you can either be hurried or attentive, you can be multi-tasking or focused, you can be professionally personable or you can be impersonally robotic.
This is the same for a website or booklet or brochure or welcome letter. Your tone matters. How you come across and where you put your focus. It is important to ask yourself for every point of contact with your patients…
“Is this giving our patients the right image of us, is this guiding them in how we want them to perceive our dentistry and what we want them to believe about us?”
We could invest an entire month on this one right here. For today though, don’t miss the final part of the principle – Through ALL Communication.
Where does your communication (print, phone, online, in person, posters on the wall, forms, etc.), seem incongruent with what you are trying to accomplish? More importantly, what can you do to improve the way your communication sets the tone and builds the value in your patients’ minds throughout your entire process and experience.
Next up, one of my absolute favorites…
#2 – Make It All About Them
There can’t be anything more fun that this one. If I ask any Doctor or Team Member what they like best about what they do they always say “the patients.” If the patients are the focus, then why not take that to the next level, to an extreme even, and let your patients know this.
I teach and talk about the structure around helping patients set goals and also to layout the doctor’s expectations for every patient. This is very important because it accomplishes both of these in one – set the tone and make it about them.
Far too many practices have experiences for their patients built around the team or doctor and not the patient. While it is important to “sell” the doctor, build authority and establish credibility (this is something we should go in depth on and we will, after our Value Building Series), the way to get a patient to not “feel sold” and to become a part of the process (as well as take ownership and responsibility for their health, smile, mouth, outcome) is to turn the tables on them by putting the focus on the patient as an individual.
This means quite literally saying to the patient, “We are here for you. We have so many patients that come in not knowing exactly what they want or knowing what is possible. But today, this very moment, we begin this journey together for the health and beauty of your mouth and smile. We are going to give you the attention you deserve. So, to get started, tell me what you’d like to see happen today…”
The point is that you must create and articulate the value to your patients and then draw them in to help them see the importance and relevance even before you start.
The “making it about them” is even easier in the treatment room and clinical experience. You simply have to engage them with what you are doing and show them what you are talking about. Along the way, make certain they are with you – in all ways – and then ask them to describe what they want to see happen.
Here’s what I know: just like patients take their mouths for granted, doctors and teams take for granted that a patient doesn’t really care that much unless we help them to and that’s by making it personal.
This is powerful stuff here. I sure hope you do something with it and ask yourself how can we make our experience even more patient-focused and get them to be more involved.
This week, I’m going to finish with a little bonus add-on and again remind you that it’s the little things that matter and get noticed. This can make up for a lot that is missed. If you think friendliness and a smile doesn’t mitigate the focus on fee, you are mistaken. Everything adds to or subtracts from value. If you do it right (and consistently), you will be amazed at how enthusiastically your patients will say yes to the dentistry.
Standing up and walking around to greet someone. Sitting down with them making sure they understand all the questions on the form. Going and getting the coffee or water or tea and handing it to the patient personally. Repeating their name, making some small talk to build rapport.
The list goes on. But it never matters what’s on the list or what I say here. It only matters what you actually do. The key is in the routine and building it into your processes so it happens.
I’m excited to see where you take this. We are going to have a lot of fun as we move through these Value Building and Experience Enhancing Principles in the coming weeks.
