What factors help you decide to buy a certain car?
What criteria helped you decide to buy your last washer and dryer?
And why do you buy your groceries where you do?
Think about this and when you last provided a diagnosis for dental implants or even something as simple as tooth whitening?
How did you present treatment diagnosed to your patient?
Did you tell your patient how cool it is that you can easily screw in the implant or did you explain about the high-tech NASA Technology and these Implants are made of titanium and should last the rest of your life if cared for properly?
Did you tell them the implants are inexpensive?
I highly doubt it!
Your patients are making their decision on the expected result and how this will benefit them.
So, they are not buying a washing machine based on how well it is designed but how well it works to clean their clothes, how it functions and it is possibly all that plus the cost to buy it.
Your patients reason to pay, schedule and return for treatment and routine appointments is the same as why the shop at a specific grocery store and why they decided to buy their car, etc.
Here are some tips to Keep Your Schedule Full:
- Create a partnership with your patient
- Help your patient to own their oral condition
- Show your patients what you see
- Show your patients what their oral condition is
- Show your patient what their condition can look like when they choose your care
- Show them any treatment you have completed in their mouth
“Remember when you had that open space and food was getting trapped there? Look how beautiful it is now? And you don’t have that terrible feeling of food stuck between your teeth anymore, do you? We can do the same thing in your mouth over here.”
- We suggest to our clients (Dentists and their team) that if a treatment plan is X dollars or more (Typically $2,000) the patient will return for a special consultation with the office treatment coordinator.
- This is a separate appointment with someone in your office who can review the value and benefits of why the patient needs to schedule this appointment and keep in mind what is specifically valuable to the patient
- This is someone on your team who is comfortable talking about dental treatment. They are
- Someone who is not afraid to talk about how much something costs – ex: comfortable talking about money
- Always remember to show-off your beautiful dentistry
- Take before and after photos
- Place these photos on the walls of your office
- Place a photo album of your patients before and after photos on a coffee table in your reception area
- Be sure your team is comfortable bragging—complimenting doctors amazing clinical skills and the patients’ outcome!
- Create Your Own “Wall-of-Fame!”
When working with our clients and inside our member-site called “Hygiene Empowerment, we teach you more about Case Acceptance and how you can keep your back door closed!
ABOUT DEBBIE SEIDEL-BITTKE
Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS is an international dental consultant, coach, speaker and author. She is also CEO of Dental Hygiene Solutions, powered by Dental Practice Solutions. Debbie is a world-class leader in creating highly profitable hygiene departments. She is a well-known former clinical assistant professor at USC in Los Angeles and a former hygiene department program director. Dentistry Today recognizes Debbie as a Leader in Dental Consulting for the past 12 yrs.
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