You (the practicing dentist) have now hired a skilled, positive person as the treatment coordinator (See previous post) in order to maximize dental practice growth. Now, what are some best practices as the treatment coordinator begins their work of presenting the value of the case to the patient?
Treatment Coordinator Focus
The treatment coordinator needs to focus on explaining the value of the treatment to the patient completely before mentioning the investment needed to gain the treatment. Remember, in the first phase of the interview, you are in the business of educating people about the dental problems that they are experiencing and the consequences that they will face if they do nothing about them.
Here are some great steps for you (the treatment coordinator) as you begin your communication with the patient:
- Introduce yourself to the patient if you have not already met them.
- Inquire about their visit that day, addressing them by name.
- Review the proposed treatment with the patient step by step, explaining in layman’s terms any unfamiliar words or dental jargon.
- Connect the patient with the proposed treatment at a deep emotional level by following these steps. a. Show a magnified color picture of the patient’s problem including appropriate annotation. (Pictures are truly worth a thousand words.) b. Hand the picture to the patient. (Forcing the patient to hold the problem in their own hands is an important emotional step.) c. Begin to ask questions that lead your patient into owning their problem, such as “Are you able to see here how much tooth decay has already occurred?”
- Explain how the treatment that the doctor has proposed will address the obvious problem that they are seeing and holding.
As your treatment coordinator presents (or sells) treatment, they must remember what buying is: an emotional decision that is justified by logic. And the two dominant emotional motivators driving your patients are fear of loss and desire for gain. Throughout the interview, the treatment coordinator must be aware of whether the patient is being primarily influenced by lower-level Maslovian fear factors such as health, safety, and survival or by desire for gain factors such as ego enhancement or self-actualization.
Present the treatment accordingly, because one thing is certain: Patients only buy treatment for their reasons. The better the treatment coordinator understands those reasons, the higher their closing rate will be and the more dental practice growth you can expect.
Treatment Coordinator and Objections
After explaining how the proposed treatment will address their problem, the treatment coordinator needs to answer any questions or objections that the patient might have to the treatment. This is usually done best by using the “Feel, Felt, Found” response. “I know how you FEEL, Mrs. Jones, about the possibility of pain during the implant procedure; however, other patients of Dr. Smith have FELT that way until they FOUND that the new methods of pain management are completely effective. Dr. Smith uses these methods on every implant case and even has an initial routine that includes a calming medication if you would like to come early and go through that with him. How does that sound to you?”
Probably 90% of the time, refusals after the value of the work has been established and/or the financial terms have been agreed upon are a result of fear of the pain of the procedure. Dentists and treatment coordinators need to remember that when patients express fear, they are coming from something in their past. Attempt to help the patient move on out of their past negative experience by emphasizing the FEEL, FELT, FOUND approach. This method works because the patient feels understood, realizes that others have felt the same way they have, and yet they have gone on and found out something different.
For more help with bringing in patients for your treatment coordinator to talk to, reach out to Client Connection Group today! Our social media advertising and general dentistry resources have made all the difference in the dental practice growth of our customer dentists all across the country!