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I’m surprised at the large number of Dentists who have no idea how important a role their Customer Service Systems, and lack thereof, play as to whether or not their patients book and complete the necessary treatment that is presented to those patients.

Case Acceptance.

Case Acceptance by the patient of treatment that is presented to them is totally dependent upon the relationships that that patient has established with the people who work in that Dental Office.

Because they can get their teeth fixed anywhere.

Not just with you.

You see, people do business with people they like.

Conversely, people do *NOT* do business with people they *DO NOT* like.

Period.

Because nobody likes parting with money at the best of times.

For anything.

So when it comes to parting with some hard earned folding for dental treatment for conditions that may or may not be hurting them that badly, if at all….well, people just don’t want to do that if they don’t have to.

Let’s face it.

That’s what dentistry is about mostly, isn’t it.

It’s about asking the customers to pay for treatment required to fix something they can’t see, which may or may not be hurting them…

And the easiest way for us to make sure our clients and customers accept that necessary treatment from us is by making sure that those customers have built up a solid relationship of friendship and service with everybody that touches them when they visit at our Dental Office.

So that the treatment they need becomes secondary.

Secondary to the relationships with our people.

Because when our customers like our people so much, and our people like our customers so much, it really becomes about “whatever”, when it comes time for our valued patients to schedule the treatment they need to have done.

And we know it.
The best dental office skills aren’t worth a crack if our clients and customers do not like our people.

Nor are the fanciest case presentations either.

If case acceptance and treatment acceptance was totally about knowledge and reason, then we’d all be frightfully busy.

Because if our patients did not get the message in a one hour consultation as to why they need to have this necessary dental treatment, well it only means that we need to take longer, because they’ve got to “get it” in two hours for sure, haven’t they?

Of course not.

Deep down, we know that it is not just about presentation.

It’s really about the patients’ needs and how and where they see themselves, and their time frames.

However, the role of our team to act as friends of our patients first and foremost is very, very important.

Because a good friend will offer worthwhile advice to a friend who seeks out any advice.

And that’s the primary role of everybody in the Dental Office.

To be that client’s friend and confidant first and foremost.

So that our clients believe they are in a relationship, a friendship, with our people, before anything else.

And when they love your Office staff, and when the feel love in return from your team members, then there is a trust, and a bond. And because of this bond, this friendship, these clients of yours will always more often than not want to return more often, and they are more likely and more ready to accept treatment.

It doesn’t matter how great your case presentation skills are…if you’ve got people coordinating your schedule with less than adequate people skills then your schedule will not run to its best potential. Similarly, if you have others answering your phone with less than adequate skills then the cancellers will find them and use them to get out of getting their treatment.

And they will get out of it if they have not been convinced of the emotional benefits of treatment and the emotional consequences of not doing…

And they are more likely to schedule and commit if the commitment to treatment is made with someone they truly  trust.

People will do it for their reasons not yours.

For their personal reasons, not your clinical reasons.

It’s the role of the people in our office, as our patients’ trusted friends, to help our patients realise and enjoy the benefits of the dental treatment they require.

The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple easy to implement Customer Service system that I developed that allowed me to build 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: david@theUPE.com

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