"I object!"

Dental Products Report, Dental Products Report-2010-04-01, Issue 4

Even if you have the best relationship with a committed patient, sometimes in the “real world” you will get an objection. The good news is, there are tools to navigate around the stop sign. Here are five we recommend and what you can say when a patient tells you "If my insurance won't cover it, I can't afford to see the hygienist every three months": Active listening: “Sounds like you have some concerns regarding affordability?”

Even if you have the best relationship with a committed patient, sometimes in the “real world” you will get an objection. The good news is, there are tools to navigate around the stop sign.

Here are five we recommend and what you can say when a patient tells you
"If my insurance won't cover it, I can't afford to see the hygienist every three months":

Active listening: “Sounds like you have some concerns regarding affordability?”

Feel, felt, found: “I can understand how you feel, many of our patients have felt the same way. What we found was, by working with them to make the financial commitment as stress free as possible, we didn’t have to compromise their care.”

Inducement method: “If there was a way we could minimize the financial impact for you, would you be willing to explore options so we don’t have to compromise your oral health?”

Quick return: “That’s the very reason why we need to help you find the resources for three-month intervals, so we can avoid the cost of even more expensive procedures that go beyond your insurance.”

Get the cards on the table:  “Can you help me? What do we need to address, so you can rise above your financial concerns and go ahead with this very necessary treatment?”

Rather than just tell you how these tools can help, we applied them to a very real-and these days, very common-objection you may hear in your practice.