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Imagine if you walked into a Police Station and the Police on duty there were not wearing a uniform?

I mean, they were in civilian clothes.

Imagine if you walked into McDonald’s placed your order, and the boy that took your order just said:

“Chips?!”

You see, at the Police Station, we’ve come to expect, that when we walk in, we’ll see people dressed in blue, wearing a badge. And we’ll know they’re police.

We’ve come to expect this.

And at the fast food outlet, in the McDonald’s scenario, we know what the boy means, but it’s not the same.

We may not want them, we may *never* want them, but we’ve come to expect the standard question:

“Would you like any fries with that?”

Ask that question out of the blue any time, anywhere, and the person you say that too, will immediately respond, “McDonald’s”.

Say “Chips?!” to that person, and they’d have no idea what you’re talking about.

And that’s my point.

In dentistry, in dental offices I visit around the world, employees are not behaving in a uniform manner.

In nearly every case, in nearly every office that I visit, every employee is pretty well allowed to say what they want, to whom they want, and often when they want, without rhyme or reason.

Although in some offices, the process of working out what would be best to say, and when, and when to respond, had been, dare I say, “looked at”, there was no uniformity, no consistency, in the answers and the questions, and the icebreakers even, used by the team members.

Without a consistent formula, of what to say , and when to say it, and sometimes more importantly, what NOT to say, like I said, without a consistent formula, how on earth can you expect a consistent result?

In The Ultimate Patient Experience Programme, that we tailor to your individual office, and which you and your team work with me to create for you, we work out the *best* way to say what, and when, in your office. And then we set that in stone, metaphorically, for the time being, to become the standard, or norm, for your office.

So that there’s consistency.

Consistency from one day to the next. From one hour to the next. From one team member to the next.

So that the telephone is answered in the same way, with the same greeting, every time. But it’s a greeting that your office came up with, and agreed upon.

But it’s consistent.

So that your patients are greeted with consistency, each and every time, at every stage of their visit to your Dental Office. So that there are no clangers, no awkward silences.

Imagine if your Dental Office was known in your town as the place where all they talk about is the weather?

Wouldn’t that be pretty ordinary?

In formulating your Dental Office’s protocols and procedures manual, thought needs to be taken to work out, what phrases ands words are best used when, and what phrases and words are best avoided, and never to be used.

As an example, the cringe-worthy phrase “Not a problem” should be banished from your office with great haste.

Immediately.

Along with the simple fact that it’s a banal mindless, thoughtless response, it is also a double negative, and as such, conveys a subliminal negative impulse.

The use of polite and courteous alternatives, such as:

“You are welcome”

“It’s been my absolute pleasure”, and just plain

“Thank you”

all of these create an aura of appreciation, in a much more positive manner.

Dentistry is hard enough to sell, and I use that word purposefully here; it’s difficult enough to sell just because it is dentistry.

It’s a grudge buy.

No one wants to do it. Or at least, no patient wants to do it.

No person wakes up and says to themselves, “What am I going to do today? I might just go and get a filling done.”

Do they?

The use of carefully crafted phrases and responses that are best used at specific times throughout the patient’s visit, when needed, that are consistent, and purposeful, will have your Dental Office standing out from the crowd of ordinary offices in your area.

Because no other dental office in town speaks to their clients and customers with such courtesy, with such interest , with such purpose.

But you need to be consistent.

And you need to be firm on policy of delivery.

There’s absolutely no point in doing this, in creating this new practice blueprint, if it’s not adhered to by all team members.

Every team member must follow the procedures and scripts in order to ensure that the best is being delivered at all times to your dental clients.

Otherwise, what’s the point?

What’s the point indeed, if different team members are allowed to change the words? Allowed to deliver what *they* want? Say what they want, not what’s best.

The office just becomes a mish mash. A rabble.

And that’s not good for business…

And that’s for sure…

The best words to use, and when we use them, are all explained in The Ultimate Patient Experience, a simple easy to implement 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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