I see far too many teams and doctors who throw out all kinds of excuses as to why their patients don’t accept treatment. I’m sure you’ve heard your fair share… fear, time, money, need, and insurance.
But these are all simply illusions in their minds. If everyone who was a little afraid, or tight on time or had other bills to pay or thought they could skip a procedure or thought insurance should cover more – declined treatment – then next to no dentistry would ever get done.
Not every patient walks in ready to accept the role dentistry can play in their health and happiness. Sometimes, in order for these patients to believe in the treats, you have to play a few tricks to break the spell they are under.
There are three “tricks” we’ll cover today. None of which should be new to you, yet they are the ticket to making a bigger and more meaningful impact in your patients’ lives.
First you “trick” your patients by what you expose them to and how you educate them.
You may or may not know where your patients are at in terms of their mindset, at least until you ask them, but why wait. Instead, fill their minds with all with all of the ways dentistry can benefit their lives.
You get to decide how they think about dentistry, how they value their health, and what possibilities they imagine.
This can all be done in advance, with some not-so-tricky techniques. From videos in advance of their visit via email to case studies and testimonials shared beforehand, from the pictures and posters on your walls to what’s playing on the tv.
Controlling the environment and the information your patient is getting before, during, and after they are physically in your practice is a key trick that should never be overlooked and can’t ever be done purposefully enough.
The next “trick” I like you to play is what the patients are actually experiencing. Think of your diagnosis and all throughout your communication as if telling a story. As you speak, they must visualize in their minds.
By making things more real to your patients, you get them to take ownership over their health and outcomes. After all, it’s easy to dismiss what’s hard to imagine.
Remember my 3 P’s… Pictures, Proof, and Pain. These 3 P’s take something vague, hard to see, or hypothetical (as in the smile they could have) and make it tangible and real.
It’s crazy to me that every treatment room doesn’t have models to play with, before-and-afters photos, and other examples to use in order to make all this more real to your patients in the chair. In addition to simply leveraging more diagnostic tools to demonstrate their state of health.
And be sure to take it all the way. Don’t stop at their “current state of health.” You are not done until you have showed them what they deserve, what is optimal, and what healthy looks like.
There is a great line used by a wonderful educator in dentistry who says, “Normal doesn’t mean healthy.”
And this is the trick. You must show not just what they have come to know, feel, and see as “normal.” You have to move that to the vision and definition of what “healthy” is. That will help more of your patients move forward and accept treatment.
One of the most detrimental mistakes with case acceptance is not moving the patients beyond just their current problems into their future possibilities. We talk about this all the time. Are you using everything in your power, everything in your bag of tricks to help your patients believe so they can begin to achieve.
Finally, one of the most powerful tricks of all is to play the “what-if” game and this all works better when you’ve played the first two tricks on your patients before but it can also stand alone.
You literally say, “well what if we…” or “let’s imagine we…” and then you help them see the future. You can change their thought process by giving them permission to open their minds, imagine what’s possible, and ultimately recognize what they deserve.
The trick is to anchor your statement with a desired outcome you are helping them to gain. This is how you move beyond the clinical aspect to make it personal.
You know this, but do you do this? And do you do it with everyday ordinary procedures? Do you do it with the creation of bigger cases, implants, ortho, rebuilding bites, and worn dentition?
Quite literally your patients are in your hands. They are walking into your world looking for leadership and guidance. Otherwise, why did they even show up. Sometimes it just takes a trick or two for your patients to believe.
You don’t have to logically justify or clinically teach your patients. They don’t have your knowledge and experience… instead know that they are coming to you for your wisdom.
Often the best way to impart that is to prove it, to help them experience it first hand, and to “trick” them into seeing all of the “treats” you are going to bring into their lives!
