Every once in a while, you run across a phrase or word that really means something to you. Far more than the actual words, this statement embodies a deep cultural emotional description that might affect a large part of your vision in life or work. The challenge I face when sharing something that means a lot to me is that I worry that the words I have used, or the particular phrasing may not impart the weight I have given it in my practice of dentistry. Let me give you an example of a “mantra” that I have used for decades. I have used it to design systems, protocols, growth and my vision of practice into the Super General Dental Practice culture. It is one of these we have spoken about and discussed many times before, it is in Chapter 18 of the Super General Practice book (www.supergeneralpractice.com for your free digital copy). It’s a practice that embraces the concept of a “Purpose Driven, Doctor Led, Staff Owned” mentality and culture. Today, I want to show you one more area that will add fuel and I hope understanding to the strategy of “forced change”. Remember that the word forced does not mean “coerced”. In our context it means an action taken or strategy acted upon that once implemented creates a ripple effect of changing almost every aspect of your protocols and culture. Once taken, this action creates an avalanche of change by merely putting into motion a singular strategy will has a far-reaching impact on your entire practice and team.
Let’s take a look at this mantra that can change everything you do.
“ALWAYS GIVE PATIENTS WHAT THEY WANT, WHEN THEY WANT IT, AT A PRICE THEY CAN AFFORD”.
For all you exceptional critical dental thinkers, don’t immediately assume you understand the what and how of these phrases. Their meaning or application in changing your entire practice for the better should take on a surprising importance as we dissect each component and look at its actual intent.
I want to break it down and try to transfer its meaning and how we applied this in my practices.
ALWAYS GIVE PATIENTS WHAT THEY WANT: Every dental practice is a small consumer driven business. In other words, our potential patients (the consumer) will always have the right to choose where they want to go to have their dentistry done. They literally vote with their feet and their wallets. So, take a hard look at the number of new patients you currently get monthly. The “average practice” gets 20-30 a month, and my position on average is that no consumer wants to go to just an average dentist. Like it or not, no consumer will be satisfied with a doctor or office that is “just OK”. I certainly wouldn’t, and your patients won’t either. If you want more new patients, you have to give them more of what they want in order to become remarkable in the eyes of your potential patients. One of the biggest mistakes dentists make is thinking that “patients want what I have to sell them”. You go to a weekend sleep apnea course, ortho course, TMJ course, etc., and come back to work on Monday only to exemplify the hammer and nail mentality as you quickly diagnose every person in every chair with the malady you just became an expert on this last weekend. Most doctors in this category are searching for something to sell their patients. They have already failed at mastering the fundamentals so they jump to something else. This means most doctors fail to consider “what the patient actually wants”. The second huge mistake made by dentists is wanting the dentistry more than the patient does. It’s a line in the sand that, once crossed, you can never get back on the correct side. The minute a patient perceives you want the dentistry more than they do, they will feel like they are being sold something and they will become defensive. Do this and watch your case acceptance and production take a nose dive. So, success in dentistry basically revolves around “helping” patients want what they need. Certainly not just telling them what they need or what you would like to do in their mouth. The first giant step is to find out exactly what they want and give it to them. If a patient wants to start with a front tooth, start with the front tooth. If they want to wait on something, wait. Until you understand what and how to give them what they want, nothing will ever happen, and nothing happens until a patient says yes. Your job is to figure out what they want, give them that, while you show them that dentistry can do miraculous things: it can be painless, it can fit their budget, it will last a long time, and we can fit it into their schedule. Give them what they want. Make sure it’s not just what you want. Take the time to listen and then act quickly to make it happen. It is all about giving them what they want and more.
WHEN THEY WANT IT: Too often we forget that each and every patient we see lives his or her life on some preset schedule. Almost every minute of their life is already scheduled. They see “our need” (not theirs) for case acceptance and doing the dentistry as a huge distraction and disruption in what they are already doing. If you have listened to what they want, you then need to make sure that you figure out, with the patient’s input, when they would like to do it. Too often we tend to want to push patients into our schedule, only to find out that no-shows and cancellations go over the top. If this is happening, we are forcing patients into times that were convenient for us, but an afront and disruption to their own busy schedule. This is never more apparent than with the traditional dentist that works 8 to 5 Monday through Thursday. No one finds these times “convenient” or easy to put into their schedule. “Peak demand times” (Monday through Friday 7 AM to 9 AM and 3 PM to 5 PM and Saturdays 8 AM to 1 PM) are the hours that most patients would prefer to come in but are for the most part completely ignored in case acceptance and financial arrangements in a majority of dental offices. We tend to not think like our patients. Instead, the team and doctor look at this part of successful patient relations as just giving them a time and we are done. In the new dental economy, you’d better be sensitive to patients needs and be sure you give them what they want, when they want it.
AT A PRICE THEY CAN AFFORD: This is a misunderstood concept. Most dentists read this and think “I am not lowering my fees or negotiating the price of what I do”. That is not what this phrase refers to. Like scheduling for convenient patient times, money or the lack thereof infects everyone. So much so that the average dental patient can’t afford a single $500 out of pocket expense. They have to borrow it, take it out of savings, or rob Peter to pay Paul, by paying for dentistry from money already allocated to things most patients consider more important. Your part in this last section of our mantra is to discuss how we can help them fit this new expense in their already crowded budget. You can discuss options such as outside financing at no interest, phasing the treatment over a longer period of time, alternative treatment, and helping them want what you are suggesting. Since the average penetration of dental insurance in the US is about 75% in most locations, many if not most of your potential clients will want to use their insurance to defray some of the cost of doing their dentistry. Like it or not, you will find that the number one question that any new patient will ask is: “Do you take my insurance”? What they mean by this isn’t do you take it, but more specifically, are you in my network. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the “cost” of dentistry will always be part of the discussion in helping patients want what they need in dentistry. Surprisingly, patients can always afford something they really want, but not necessarily what they need. Lawsuits tend to pop up when you close the sale and forget the part about giving patients what they want, when they want it, at a price they can afford.
The takeaway here is to sit down with your team, and in your own words help them understand what “always giving the patient what they want, when they want it, at a price they can afford” means and how, if we embrace this mission statement, we can transform all of our systems and protocols. It will bring to the surface a new engagement of being caring and compassionate in the patient’s eyes. A soft sale that helps the patient want what they need. It will create a new way to stage the entire process of attracting patients, onboarding them perfectly, and overdelivering your services in a way that patients will always show up, pay for their treatment, and refer everyone they know. This can be a forced change strategy that is so easy to initiate that there won’t be any stress about implementing this overriding new perspective on how you should run your practice.
Michael Abernathy
[email protected]
972.523.4660 cell
PS. Here is one more self-explanatory mantra that more of us should consider: Produce more, collect it all, and keep half. Maybe we could have a tattoo day at the office and put this on the back of each of the front desk team to help them remember that how much we can pay them, how nice an office we can build, and how stress free our lives could be if we just paid more attention to the details.