Truth Telling to Help Patients Get Healthy

I’m thrilled so many of you appreciated and embraced last week’s huddle.  It really sank in and hit home about how much we pull up short and hold back on doing what’s best for the patient simply because we get nervous, in a hurry, gun shy among the many other reasons.  You’ve realized you need to give the answers straight up (just as you would want) and stop short changing diagnosis or going small instead of big picture on the treatment plans and discussions.

I say all the time to doctors and teams, “Patients can only say yes to something they are given an opportunity to say yes to.”

It is your responsibility, and really great privilege, to help your patients deserve more for themselves and see dentistry as something beyond a reactive necessity in an emergency situation.  Instead, thoroughly educate, comprehensibly illustrate and enthusiastically share about optimal care, enhanced smiles and overarching benefits of what you can do for them.

This is (at least it should be) what it’s all about.  And it makes dentistry fun for your patients and of course fun for you.

I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.  The life-changing stuff is fun.  Happy and appreciative patients are what you show up for every day.

Unfortunately, the focus is on the skeptical or even resentful patients.  The truth is, you often create these patients without even knowing it because of the verbiage, communication, experience and process.  As I constantly remind you, you get more of what you think about most.

This occurs by not controlling expectations and perceptions of the patient in advance and/or even misleading patients (often on accident), by not following our agreed upon principles of trust and transparency.

You worry about a patient believing so you withhold the truth, soften the reality or provide only a partial picture.  Then wonder why the patient doesn’t fully believe you and have complete confidence in your recommendations.  Without the truth, there can be no trust.

You remember me telling you previously: whatever needs to be conveyed to another team member (and/or the doctor) should be said in front of the patient.  It saves time and builds trust because ultimately the patient needs to hear whatever it is you are saying (most likely even more than the person you are telling).

This, once lived out in full color in your practice, changes everything.  It creates a tangible energy, waves of momentum, feelings of urgency and sense of excitement that compels patients to want to be part of the action and therefore do something (dentistry) with you.

Of course, there are tactics, strategies, tricks, scripts and all this stuff that can help you do better and improve – but – nothing is as effective as just being real and authentic as you fight for (not against) the patients to help them achieve a victory.

Today, I want to dig deeper into this idea and I want to go to a second round of specific ways you can engage your patients in state of ideal, life-changing, optimal dentistry based on the philosophy you practice by and goals you have for your patients.

I want every single team member to get on the same page.  Here’s how we’ll do that…

I want you to go either PROBLEM by PROBLEM that you see in patients’ mouths that they often don’t admit or agree to accepting.  Problems should be seen by you as opportunity to help your patients…

Or… You can go Procedure by Procedure in context of problem/solution (such as you are doing implants over a bridge; or you are doing ortho to correct bite versus just straighten teeth; or you are doing sleep or tmj; or you are selling smile makeovers; or you want to emphasize the significance and importance of perio).

And I want you to open the discussion with your team to come up with the top 3, 4, 5 or more most frequent instances with your patients.  Then practice doing a lot of TRUTH TELLING about what the patient really needs to hear and how you would bring it up, present it, overcome objections, etc.

This is a BIG topic and important assignment for a Monday Huddle, so you should defer this to your weekly meeting or monthly training.  This critically important.  I want to be sure you didn’t just pass over last week’s game changing principle.

Get to work, send me your results of what you come up with and use these to build more consistency with your communication and explanation with patients.  You should be able to develop the skills necessary to compel more patients to move forward faster by solving their problems and doing the treatment that really gives them the life changing outcomes and benefits they deserve.