Last week we set the tone, we showed our differentiation and we created an emotional connection with the prospective patients so they begin to understand the level of seriousness and importance we take their care, health, and dentistry.
Now we want to immediately take control of the patient value perception through a one-two punch of action and education.
Educated patients will always be your best patients.
And I do not mean educated in school and I do not mean they arrive to your practice with an understanding of dentistry.
No patient does that – if you are relying on patients to come in and sell themselves then it’s no wonder you are not reaching your potential. Here’s a thought, if they knew how important dentistry was, then don’t you think they would have done something with their oral health before now.
First of all, it has to do with all of the experiences they have had going into other dental practices during their lifetime who have led to the destruction of their expectations and the shape of their current value perception.
We have to change that. You understand, I said ‘have to’. Otherwise we will be leaving the patients’ decisions over your future diagnosis up to their past experiences and existing perspective, and we see where that has led them.
So, education is the only way.
In order to change their value perception, every aspect of the patient experience matters and every word of the touch points and communication should reinforce the significance of what they will be going through.
We do this with the follow-up phone call where more questions are asked. We do this by having a defined and amazing welcome process that engages the patient in preparing for their upcoming visit. We do this with the type of questions that they answer.
All of this begins to shape their vision of dentistry and to grasp the value that you will have on and in their lives and mouths.
Education comes from material that is sent, from videos that can be placed in the welcome experience for the new patient process and from stating (unequivocally) what your goals are.
You can see emergencies without being an emergency clinic.
You can do minimalistic care without promoting delay.
You can accommodate patients without being seen as a convenience store.
As we said last week, you have to decide who and what you are and how you want to be seen. What do you want the value perception to be?
Do you desire to have comprehensive diagnosis?
Do you believe all patients deserve to have a smile that matches their personality and elevates their self-esteem and confidence?
Do you wish to engage your patients in a holistic health based relationship that is going to take more than one visit?
Whatever it is – share your vision for them – your passion for dentistry early and often in conversation, in video, in material, in testimonials, in follow-up, in preparing for the first visit.
You get to decide what you want their perception to be and once you do, then you have to integrate an education based processed to move them to that goal.
Think about it right now… in how many ways, places, points of contact, actions that occur in your patient experience – for any patient – are you contradicting your own personal philosophy and stated clinical principles?
And perhaps the more important and deeper question for this week is: what are you doing about it? What are all the ways, places, points of contact, actions that occur in your patient experience that support, reinforce and educate patients on your practice philosophy and clinical principles.
As long as you have Patients…you have the potential for more A-Patients. No different than you must set yourself up for success, you have to set your patients up for success.
This has to be done right here at this point in the process – step 2, controlling and creating the value perception through patient education to get their minds and expectations where you want them to be before anything else happens.
Step 3, next week… and this is where the biggest cases begin to have their foundation built, right here long before they have ever sat down in your dental chair.
I’d expect at this point with just steps 1 and 2 you’ve got work to do. So get to it and be ready back here to take more patients to A-status than you’ve every thought possible.
