Sharyn Weiss

Think like an advertiser. Incorporating these three common advertising themes into your treatment presentations can help get your patients to ‘yes.’

As a dentist, you’re likely constantly looking for ways to increase case acceptance in your practice. Here’s something you may not have thought of: Dentists can learn treatment presentation secrets from commercials!

Advertisements on TV usually fall into three themes. Here’s a break down of what they are and how you can use them to benefit your practice.

The first theme, and the one dentists use most often, is the fix-it mentality. This also can be called prescriptive motivation.

Advertisers tell viewers they have a problem that only this product can fix. Similarly, dentists tell patients about their dental health problem that the treatment plan will address. This approach works fine if the patient agrees the problem is both urgent and important enough to fix. Fear only works for a while, and then you have to raise the fear stakes. Telling the patient the tooth can turn into an emergency only works if the patient is afraid of emergencies. And people are gamblers. They gamble that this situation won’t happen to them or if it does, it won’t be as bad as the dentist suggests. Advertisers know fear doesn’t work for everyone, so they also employ two other themes.

Advertisers know people are motivated to protect themselves and their family’s well being, so theme two highlights how the product will shield the viewer from harm. Dentists and hygienists use protective motivation when designing treatment plans that prevent further decay. “Mrs. Patient, I know how important having a healthy smile is for you. That is why we’re going to have you come in every four months for your hygiene treatment.” Protective motivation assumes the patient has something about her oral health she wants to protect or keep. It assumes health is something the patient desires. But sometimes protection is not enough of a motivational force.

People aspire to a lifestyle or image of themselves they want in the future. Most people aspire to be more successful, youthful and sexy. Commercials that use this powerful motivational force show the viewers how this new car or even a particular cereal will make them feel richer, will help them to become thinner or even make them into a better parent.

I believe dentists can use aspirational motivation more often and to greater success. It’s easy to sell cosmetic dentistry using the patient’s desire to look more attractive. You can even sell getting rid of old amalgams by appealing to the patient’s desire to have a mouth that is consistent with their image of themselves as healthy, up-to-date and attractive. Everyone aspires to something; the key is to know what motivates that particular patient. Busy mom? We know you aspire to being a good parent who is a role model for her children. That is why you need to do this treatment plan. Making this appointment shows your children that you take care of yourself and your oral health in the same way you take care of your children. And the benefit is that for one hour, we take care of you. All you have to do is sit.

Choosing which theme will work best for which patient means you have to understand your patient’s emotional and psychological point of view. Share this article with your team. And then at morning huddle, talk about the patients who have delayed treatment. Use your team as a focus group to decide which motivational theme you will use with each patient. If it works for major advertisers, it can work even better for you.

Sharyn Weiss, MA, brings to Pride Institute and its client more than 15 years of experience in training on a diversity of topics, including communication skills, leadership, experiential training, change, and conflict. In addition to being the published author of two books about experiential training, she is a contributor to the 2001 and 2004 versions of the Training and Performance Sourcebook. At Pride Institute, she serves a dual role in assisting in curriculum development and consulting. Sharyn holds a B.A. from Queens College and a M.A. degree in Training and Development from Ohio State University. 

 to ask Sharyn about this article or for more information about Pride Institute, or call Pride Institute at 800-925-2600.

Articles

Want to improve case acceptance?

	Every team member has a role to play in making sure hygiene patients feel comfortable and well taken care of. Because the hygiene visit is the appointment patients are most likely to cancel, your words and tone must be consistently professional and compassionate.

	In this article you will learn how to use active listening and benefit plus procedure statements to reassure patients you have heard their fears, frustrations and questions.


	Active listening is a technique that helps patients identify and thereby reduce their emotional concerns. Active listening has a formula but it is not a formulaic response because it is always adapted to the patient. An active listening statement begins with a lead-in such as “It sounds like” or “I’m hearing” or “I sense.” This tells the patient you are trying to paraphrase.

	The second part of active listening identifies the emotion the patient is experiencing. You may have to intuit this emotion unless a patient directly says what he or she feels. Common feelings patients express include disappointment, confusion, apprehension, frustration, overwhelm, stress or even positive emotions such as anticipation or excitement.

	The third component of active listening is restating the content of the patient’s message. This should be a brief summarization. A sample active listening statement is, “I hear how frustrated you are that you need to get scaling and root planing again.” The last part of active listening is sometimes the most difficult. It is simply silence. After we active listen to a patient we need to pause and wait for his or her response. The formula for active listening looks like this: Lead-in plus emotion plus content. Pause.

	Once you have engaged in active listening with the patient, the next step is to use a benefit plus procedure statement. Benefit statements influence the patient to want to do the suggested next step. Benefit statements consist of two parts:

	The benefit to the patient based on his or her motivators and concerns. This tells the patient “what’s in it for me.”

	The procedure or the next step that is necessary to obtain the benefit. A benefit plus procedure statement ALWAYS begins with the benefit first. This grabs the patient’s attention because it matches the patient’s motivator or concern. The benefit plus procedure statement connects the patient’s “wants” to the patient’s “needs.” Benefit plus procedure statements usually begin with “Because you said” or “So that you” or “In order for you.”

	Using the situation we named earlier, the communication would sound like this:  
	(Active listening) “I hear how frustrated you are that you need to get scaling and root planing again.”  

	(Benefit plus procedure) “So that you don’t face this situation in the future, let’s spend some time talking about how you can care for your gums at home.”

	Here are some additional examples of how to respond to patients using these communication tools.


	Nancy says to the appointment coordinator: “I know I have to come in for that cleaning, but I just don’t have much time. I know your hygienist is just doing her job but she spends so much time telling me how to brush and floss. I really just want to get in an out as quickly as possible. Can you get her to hurry up?”

	Active listening: “It sounds like you’re feeling frustrated about how long the home care instructions take.”

	Benefit plus procedure: “So that you feel relaxed during your appointment and also get the care you need, I will communicate your concerns to the hygienist.”


	Mona says: “Oh I’d hate to come back just to hear more bad news about my teeth. Can’t you just tell it to me all now and then we can see if my insurance will cover it?”

	Active listening: “It sounds like you’re feeling discouraged about possibly hearing bad news.”

	Benefit plus procedure: “So that you feel totally comfortable about your course of treatment and we can answer all your questions about what insurance will cover, I recommend that we set aside time so that we have plenty of time to talk.”


	Tom says: “Well I guess I could come back here four times a year but I only have a limited amount I can spend on my insurance plan and I’d much rather spend it on getting my old silver fillings taken out. I can’t believe how bad they look when I talk.”

	Active listening: “It sounds like you’re pretty eager to replace your silver fillings.”

	Benefit plus procedure: “Because you will want any new fillings to be placed on a solid foundation, let’s get you scheduled with hygiene first and then we’ll talk about getting you scheduled to see the doctor.”


	As you can see, active listening and benefit plus procedure statements are foundational communication tools that can be used in almost any situation. They communicate that you are listening and that your message is tailored to your hygiene patient’s unique concern.

 Every team member has a role to play in making sure hygiene patients feel comfortable and well taken care of. Because the hygiene visit is the appointment patients are most likely to cancel, your words and tone must be consistently professional and compassionate.

Communicating with hygiene patients

	Emotional intelligence is sometimes referred to EQ, as opposed to IQ which stands for intelligence quotient or intellectual intelligence. In a contest between people with book smarts versus people with street smarts, people with high street smarts or EQ are more likely to be successful, more productive, more profitable, less likely to be fired, are better at selling and make better leaders.

	In your own practice, you have likely observed individuals who have great technical skills but poor people skills. Ultimately it is hard to work with employees with low emotional intelligence because the dental practice is a customer service and team-oriented environment.
	
	Organizations, just like people can be emotionally intelligent...or not!  For a dental practice to be emotionally intelligent there must be a connection between the stated values or philosophy of the practice and the behavior of all of the employees including the leader. Sometimes organizations really operate under a different set of values than the ones they present to the public. When the unstated values do not mesh with the stated values, then the organization is disconnected with itself. This results in an emotionally unintelligent company that is unable to learn or to be truly self-aware.
	
	In this article you will take a short assessment to discern how emotionally intelligent you think your practice is. Distribute this assessment to your team members and use it as a conversational tool. The goal is to increase your self-awareness which is the foundation of emotional intelligence.

					We provide on-going training about communication skills for employees.

					We understand how each employee contributes to the practice’s vision.

					When things go wrong, we don’t try to find someone to blame for the screw-up.

					Managing our own and others’ emotions

					Our vision /philosophy includes the understanding that we strive for a better future for our patients as well as for employees.

					We have official meetings where we honestly share our opinions. We don’t have “unofficial” meetings after the meetings where we share what we really think and feel.

					We’re always interested in learning new techniques or expanding technology to help us to improve.

					We have ground rules for meetings.  We respect and act in accordance with these norms for behavior.

					There is usually a low level of tension here or tolerable levels of stress.

					Self awareness, Adaptability, Managing emotions

					Employees (including the Dr) are willing to admit when they’ve made mistakes or have had failures.

					Self awareness and Conscientiousness

					We intentionally treat our patients with respect and compassion so that they feel safe, valued and well treated.

 Emotional intelligence is sometimes referred to EQ, as opposed to IQ which stands for intelligence quotient or intellectual intelligence. In a contest between people with book smarts versus people with street smarts, people with high street smarts or EQ are more likely to be successful, more productive, more profitable, less likely to be fired, are better at selling and make better leaders.

What is your emotional intelligence?

	Meetings are microcosms of an office’s culture. They reveal the practice’s true values. Consider a dental practice where meetings are infrequent, poorly run and allow team members to be late, bored or passive. One could conclude that this behavior extends to all areas of the practice, including the treatment of patients. It would suggest that team members’ ideas and opinions are not highly valued and the processes of decision-making and problem-solving are not priorities. In contrast, an office that holds frequent, well run meetings where team members are expected to contribute likely has a culture where collaboration, team work and communication are highly prized. Which practice do you have? Which practice do you want to work in?

	At some point or another, most of us have been to meetings characterized by high drama and little productivity. Unfortunately, every time a group of individuals meets there is the possibility that disagreements will be handled poorly.
	
	Ground rules represent a collection of agreements the team makes about how they will treat one another. Ground rules prevent meetings from running “a-ground.” They create a sense of order and safety within the group so that individuals can share their ideas comfortably. Because it is crucial that ground rules reflect the team, you can’t simply impose them on the team. The team needs to work together to identify their own norms.
	
	To create your own set of ground rules, ask the team what agreements they would like to make about what they should and should not do during meetings. Ask, “How would we like to behave so that our meetings are safe and productive?”
	
	Following is a list of classic ground rules. Your team can adapt, edit or add to this list to create ground rules that reflect your team’s dynamics.

	Avoid killer phrases such as “we already tried that” or “it will never work” or “yeah, but”

	It’s okay to disagree; it’s not okay to be disagreeable

	Honor views that are different from yours

	No back-tracking for people who are late

	Turn off cell phones and do not leave to answer calls

	Develop your own ground rules and post these in a prominent place where it can be seen while you meet. If a team member violates a ground rule, calmly point to the list and ask the team member to respect the written norm. At the end of each meeting do a quick evaluation to see how well the team abided by its ground rules. Developing and abiding by ground rules is a crucial element of productive and successful team meetings.

 Meetings are microcosms of an office’s culture. They reveal the practice’s true values. Consider a dental practice where meetings are infrequent, poorly run and allow team members to be late, bored or passive. One could conclude that this behavior extends to all areas of the practice, including the treatment of patients. It would suggest that team members’ ideas and opinions are not highly valued and the processes of decision-making and problem-solving are not priorities. In contrast, an office that holds frequent, well run meetings where team members are expected to contribute likely has a culture where collaboration, team work and communication are highly prized. Which practice do you have? Which practice do you want to work in?

Developing the ground rules

	Every dental practice engages in some degree of customer service in order to stay in business. However, in some offices the focus on customer service takes a back seat to the focus on clinical skill. The thinking might go something like this:
	
	“Patients come here to get dental work, not to talk about how their weekend went.”
	
	This mindset is ultimately misguided and shortsighted. When patients only get their dental needs met and don’t have positive social or psycho-emotional interactions with a practice, they view their experience as a transaction. And because it is a transaction they do not feel loyal to the dentist or to the office. These patients rarely refer because they do not perceive that they received anything special or meaningful that would attract a friend or colleague. A competing dental practice offering a “deal” or a more convenient location can easily entice these patients to leave. In fact, you may see the refugees from these offices show up as new patients in your office. These are the patients who left a dentist not because they were unhappy with their margins, but because they experienced a gap in customer service.
	
	

	Patients who do not experience a viable difference in the way they were treated at a dental practice are neutral or unsatisfied customers. In fact, authors Thomas O. Jones and W. Earl Sasser, Jr. in a Harvard Business Review article called, Why Satisfied Customers Defect, suggested that even customers who are satisfied with their service as opposed to highly satisfied can and do leave. “Completely satisfied customers are - to a surprising degree-much more loyal than satisfied customers. They will only remain rock-solid if they are completely satisfied,” they wrote.
	
	The authors highlighted four levels of customer service”
	
	1.    The basic product or service that customers expect all competitors to deliver
	2.    Basic support services
	3.    A recovery process for counteracting bad experiences
	4.    Extraordinary services that so excel in meeting customers’ personal preferences, in appealing to their values or in solving their particular problems that they make the product or service seem customized
	 
	Satisfying your patients isn’t enough. You have to turn them into highly satisfied patients by providing extraordinary service.
	
	

	Extraordinary is defined by the patient-not by you. The overall experience of going to your practice must not only exceed the patient’s expectations but it must also completely align with the patient’s values and preferences. You will be perceived as extraordinary when you create the impression that the patient is receiving treatment (both clinical and relationship-oriented) that is personalized for the patient’s unique needs.
	
	In order to do this, you must make the effort to know and understand your patients. This goes further than simply asking them about their weekends. You need to ask about what they truly value and need from you. And then you must stop, listen and reflect on their answers. When you can connect your treatment plan to what the patient values and wants in life, you create the perception of personalized treatment.
	
	Fred Lee, wrote in his book, If Disney Ran Your Hospital that, “To exceed the patient’s expectations and get a ‘five’ (very satisfied) it takes somebody who goes beyond doing a task in a courteous way. Because of the emotional distress that accompanies most healthcare problems, this usually means doing or saying something that shows a genuine concern for the patient’s state of mind. It means exhibiting some heartfelt empathy for the patient’s anxiety and pain.”
	
	Creating a customer service culture at your office with empathy or “heart” as its central element will lead you and your team to engage naturally in extraordinary customer service.
	
	

	Following are simple yet effective ways to raise the customer service bar at your practice.
	
	1.    Offer new patients a tour of your office, showing off diplomas, certificates of achievement, technology and, of course, the patient bathroom.
	2.    Take the blood pressure of all new patients and give them their reading on an appointment or business card.
	3.    Send new patients a hand-written thank you letter after their first visits.
	4.    Hold monthly contests (example: guess the number of toothpicks in a jar) to win a prize at a local establishment.
	5.    Offer gift certificates for patients who are kept waiting for their appointments.
	6.    Sponsor patient appreciation days when patients are offered a food item such as a slice of banana bread or muffin after their visits.
	7.    Offer hospitality and comfort items such as blankets, juice, lip balm, protein/yogurt shakes, etc.
	8.    Buy reading glasses of varying strengths for patients who forget to bring their glasses.
	9.    Send anniversary cards to patients on their first, 5th and 10th year anniversary of their first visits.
	10.    Send flowers or gift basket to a patient’s workplace after completion of large treatment.
	
	These actions, by themselves, may not convert neutral or satisfied patients into highly satisfied customers. Every customer service initiative must be accompanied by personal, compassionate communication skills and excellent clinical care. The entire team must embrace the idea that they represent the practice’s philosophy and their own highest values in every interaction. This is the core of excellent customer service.
	
	

In addition to being the published author of two books about experiential training, SharynWeiss is a contributor to the 2001 and 2004 versions of the Training and Performance Sourcebook. At Pride Institute, she serves a dual role in assisting in curriculum development and consulting. Ms. Weiss holds a B. from Queens College and a MA degree in Training and Development from Ohio State University.

 Every dental practice engages in some degree of customer service in order to stay in business. However, in some offices the focus on customer service takes a back seat to the focus on clinical skill. The thinking might go something like this:  “Patients come here to get dental work, not to talk about how their weekend went.”