When you see a patient for the first time there is so much you need to know before you can start treatment.

You look at the appointment that has been confirmed in the Appointment Book, you get the appointment description and maybe a few notes regarding the patients dental problem or concern and that is usually it.

Wouldn’t you agree?

So is this enough?

Is the information that is recorded from that first phone call and the appointment description enough for you to successfully look after the new patient?

I will say to you, NO it is not enough!

Before you can treat a patient you need to know more than just their dental problem and concern.

You need to know about the person sitting in front of you.

You need to know the New Patient’s Story.

I know there are many dentists who would want to say to me right now…..

“Why?”

I spoke to a Dentist recently who said to me, “but I just want to get stuck into treating my patients. I don’t want to waste valuable time getting to know them or their story.”

My response was, “it depends on whether you are looking for patients who come and go from your practice or patients who become long term patients who go ahead with treatment, keep their appointments and refer their family and friends to your practice.”

In your patient’s story lies the answer you need to help patients go ahead with their treatment.

What drives your patient is revealed when you get to know your patient.

You find out what is stopping your patient from going ahead with treatment. When you know your patient and what is standing in their way of starting treatment then you can offer solutions.

If you know your patient’s story, you understand where your patients are coming from and you see their perspective. Once you do this, you will be able to present treatment to your patient in a way they understand and will want to go ahead with.

The other amazing benefit for both you and your patient, when you know your patients story, is your patient will feel acknowledged and understood and will now trust you.

When you acknowledge and understand a patient you can now easily communicate with them and connect with them when you present treatment.

One of the best ways to find out your new patient’s stories is on the first phone call.

When your team are asking all of those questions they ask on the New Patient Call, make sure they are also finding out about the caller, not only their dental problem and concern.

I bring this up continually when I work with Dental Teams.

This is the gold on that first phone call.

Your team have the opportunity to find out so much about the caller on that first phone call.

Now the important part.

Get your team to write it all down. Record the New Patients Story in the appointment notes, ready for you to read.

Now you know so much more about your New Patient when you meet them for the first time at their appointment.

Your New Patient will love this.

You can now easily have a conversation with your New Patient then move onto their dental problem and concern.

That initial connection at the first appointment is where the patient’s trust and confidence in you starts.

You don’t want to ever miss out on the opportunity to get it right with a New Patient, you may not get another chance if you get it wrong.

So my advice always is to find out your patient’s story, but only if you are looking for a long term relationship with them!

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ACAS2020

I have the honour of speaking at ACAS2020 in Sydney February 21-22.

Find out how your team can convert more Phone Enquiries into kept Appointments.

If your team don’t know what to say on the phone and are not ready to book in appointments for Clear Aligners, then you will be missing out on a lot of patients.

 

Call Tracking Excellence

With Call Tracking Excellence your team will learn the SAME exact processes Jayne used to:
1. Dramatically improve new patient call-in conversions to booked appointments..

2. Retain existing patient appointments and…

3. Prevent ongoing losses from appointment cancellations.

Click this link to find out how to get started. It’s that easy! http://www.calltrackingexcellence.com/

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Thank you to all the fabulous dental teams who have attended my Master Classes over the last four years.

2020 will be the start of a brand new, NEVER done before 2 Day Event. As soon as I have all the information you will be the first to know!

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Dental Phone Excellence is a simple to implement complete Phone Answering System I developed that helped me to build an extraordinary dental practice in the heart of working class Western Sydney.

If you’d like to know more, download my sixteen page FREE special report “How I Quickly and Easily Went From 35% to 77% New Patient Telephone Conversions, and Doubled The Size of my Dental Practice Along the Way” and discover some of the many costly mistakes being made on your phone…..

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