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One of the big questions that I always am asked is how do I get my staff to talk to my patients, and what should they be talking to them about?

That’s simple.

Let’s start by discussing what your staff should NOT be talking to patients about.

Procedural difficulties.

Your team members should never be “oversharing” with patients any procedural matter in the dental office that has not run to plan.Most of the time, the patient will be unaware that your office has encountered an unexpected moment during the day. So having a team member blurt out a comment that is not necessary is totally inappropriate.Your patients do not need to know that your dental lab was late, or that your postman has bad breath.

Team member weaknesses.

Your patients DO NOT need to be told that team members have failings.Any weaknesses in your team need to be kept in house and do not need to be shared with your customers.It is up to you as a team to support and strengthen each other with internal trainings and encouragements.Letting patients know that:“Oh, she’s always dropping things.”

“She never sets up trays correctly.”

do not add value to the patients’ perceptions of the dental office.

Other patients.

Your team members should never discuss other patients with your patients.When they do, the patient being spoken to will think:“If this is what they say about THIS patient behind her back, imagine what they are saying about ME when I’m not here!”It’s a no win, LOSE-LOSE situation.

Never say anything about anyone behind their back.

It’s GOSSIP.

And there’s absolutely no place for GOSSIP anywhere. Let alone inside a dental office.

Doctor’s Private Life.

The team needs to know what they can discuss with patients about the doctor and what they need to leave to the doctor to discuss.Again, it’s the question about offering up unasked for information that has no relevance to anybody and is at best only gossip.Comments about the doctor’s cars, houses, vacations, private schools, can make some patients feel that they are paying for those things directly.Of course your logical and rational patients will know that their dental fees pay for a lot more things within the business.

If your team are asked questions of a “fishing expedition” nature, then your office needs to have specific protocols in place that allow team members to direct those questions towards.

Themselves.

Team members should avoid talking about themselves and their activities and their own opinions.

Better still, team members should always be inquiring about the patient and the patients’ thoughts and experiences and travels.People do love to talk about themselves.It is their favourite subject.

Getting your patient to talk about themselves, and asking the patients questions along the way will always have the patient feeling at ease and relaxed prior to their dental treatment.

People who act INTERESTED in other people will be thought of [by those people] as being INTERESTING.

Isn’t that fascinating?

Finally, it is economic suicide to discuss sex, or politics, or religion EVER with your customers.

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My next public speaking presentation showing Dentists how to grow their Dental practices will be in London England on Saturday 4 August 2018 with Jayne Bandy.

For more information and to secure your seat click this link here.

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Have you read my book , How To Build The Dental Practice of Your Dreams [Without Killing Yourself!] In Less Than Sixty Days.

You can order your copy here: Click Link To Order

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The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.

Email me at david@theupe.com

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