This ought to be every Dentist’s favorite step in the A-Patient Process because it is the one where the case gets built, solidified, committed to and embraced by the patient.
There is nothing more exciting, other than the finished product, than this right here – creating the vision and sharing the possibilities.
I call it helping patients see the big picture.
And really it’s just not that hard to do, but we get in a habit of focusing on micro instead of macro, as most dentist’s nature is to think about the details.
When you draw a patient’s focus to the details, the patient doesn’t see the big picture of his/her mouth and the patient either gets overwhelmed or they lose interest altogether.
Before you can start treatment planning, certainly before you can explain the diagnosis and before you start moving forward with talks about procedures you have to discipline yourself to bring the patients perspective to a full mouth view and understanding.
This is the place where the bigger cases, where comprehensive dentistry and where all of the profit in your practice is won and lost. Right here.
If you will embrace this and master the art of the big picture vision and possibilities with your patients, you will win bigger and more often … on a daily basis.
Dentists complain about not getting big cases anymore or that they are few and far between. I always ask them “Well how many do you present?”
And they say “Oh you know 2 or 3…” or some will say “5 or 10”
I respond by saying “Per month?”
They reply “No, per year.”
“Well, no wonder you aren’t doing very well.”
Look, we can all agree on this because it can’t be argued, it’s not that you are lacking patients who require dental care and it’s not like every one of your patients has a Hollywood smile (or even a healthy mouth) to start.
The problem is in your system, in your approach, in your case building. You are neglecting to help patients to see the full spectrum and continuum of care you provide.
I often label it as health, function and beauty (or cosmetics or aesthetics).
Every patient should be diagnosed completely. At the very least, you must share with them what you are capable of doing and the vision you see for their mouth.
Asking them questions like:
“What would you like to do?”
“Would you like to know why?”
“I’m curious, what you would think about this?”
“If you could change anything about that picture right there what would it be?”
The bottom line is this, most dentists and their teams are not taking time to build cases and to educate patients about their mouth.
They are at best taking a few intraoral photos (if they even are taking photos) of problem areas instead of doing a tour of the mouth, instead of doing a complete series of extra-oral photos and showing them the truth.
Here is the simple fact, if you are not excited about dentistry and about what you can do for their mouths then how do you expect the patients to be excited about it.
Share the vision, show the possibilities, use as many pictures as it takes and engage patients in their treatments so you can build cases that incorporate their entire mouth. You are training them, educating them and making your life and theirs so much easier from this visit going forward.
We are our own worst enemy when it comes to A-Patients and this will fix it when you follow the simple rule that the more dentistry you show and share the more that the patients will accept and care.
I would tell you, when it comes to sharing the vision, it is about more than just full mouth smile makeovers and doing arches of veneers (and of course I would love for you to be doing more of those because I believe patients deserve the smile that matches their personality). You can control the clinical philosophy but you should never think you are doing your patients a favor by telling them about one tooth or even one quadrant by being bashful about your diagnosis.
No one respects that.
No patient believes you.
No one wants to come back and be told they have a new problem.
So it is going to be better in the long run and for the real relationship with your patients if you share your philosophy and approach with them. Explain why you are looking at the entire mouth and educate them on the importance.
Remember this: diagnosis has nothing to do with what you or your patient actually decides to do, it has everything to do with what is actually going on inside of the patient’s mouth.
When patients see the difference of what their teeth, gums, smile, mouth could look like, there aren’t many people who will say they don’t want it – the problem is you don’t show it.
Patients can’t say yes to something that you haven’t offered or told them about.
We leave so much dentistry in their mouths. Which really does you and the patient a disservice and it destroys trust long term.
If you get in the habit of making sure every visit incorporates the patient’s whole mouth, you are going to be shocked by what happens to your daily scheduled treatment and cash payments over and above insurance.
Vision and possibilities are enough to get anyone excited. Do yourself and your patients a giant favor and stop short changing them and in the process selling yourself short on what you can do for them with the incredible skills and passions you have invested in.
If you want more A-Patients try this for me: give more of them a chance to become one.
Next week, we finalize our A-Patient Creation System and talk about Step 6. It’s going to be the key that unlocks A-Patients on demand in your practice. After this, you are going to see bigger cases and better patients out of every single column of your schedule. You are going to give every new patient a chance to be the best they can be by letting you be the best you can be.
