The GREAT Advantage: Part 2 – Winning the Case

Transcript performed by A.I. Please excuse the typos.

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This is Dental All-Stars, where we bring you the best in dentistry on marketing, management and training.

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Scaling and route planning, using words that number one that they don’t understand as well as telling them that they have to do something. And I had an experience one time where I reviewed a treatment plan with a patient and I said, doctor’s number one priority is your upper right. It looks like there’s three crowns that need to be done. That was probably almost exactly how I said it. And the patient looked at me and said, that’s where you’re wrong. It’s not my priority or it’s not the doctor’s priority. It’s my mouth and I don’t want to do anything. As an admin person reviewing that I

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I had nothing to stand on. was just like, okay, well call us when you’re in pain. Like I didn’t even know how to respond at that. But if I had known he’s a lawyer, he has court dates and all of these things, and it’s really important for him to make sure that that doesn’t get interrupted. I would have gone about it in that way of saying, I know how important your schedule is. So focusing on our reasons for doing dentistry versus the patient’s reason for doing dentistry would be the number one mistake.

01:13
Welcome to dental all-stars. I’m Alex Nottingham, founder and CEO of All-Star Dental Academy. And with me is Shelly Van Epps, COO and executive coach at All-Star Dental Academy. And our topic is the great advantage, part two, winning the case. In part one, we talked about winning the phones and part two, we’re talking about winning the case. And this came from a webinar done by Omni Premier Marketing where Shelly presented beautifully. And I know you’re going to love it. So.

01:42
Take a listen. now we’re going to shift over into the actual appointment, um, in the discovery standpoint here. So there are four different things that people want when they call a dentist. Number one, appearance. They’re looking to improve their smile or they’re concerned about the look of their teeth, their confidence when they’re taking pictures or when they’re talking to other people. That’s just one of the, one of the four. Um, comfort.

02:12
They’re in pain or they want to stay out of pain. That’s one of the four things that they’re looking for. They’re also looking for function. They’re not probably going to call it function, but I’m having a hard time eating food. Um, my dentures are loose or I don’t want dentures because I’m blah, blah, blah, whatever their reason is. We’re going to get into that in a minute, but they want to be able to eat food. They’re, they’re not able to do that currently, or they want to make sure that they can continue to eat foods or their health.

02:40
They’re checking a box and saying, okay, I know I need a physical. I’m supposed to go to the dentist twice a year. I’m supposed to go get my eyes checked. I’m supposed to do all these different things and I’m doing what I’m supposed to do to make sure I stay healthy. Or maybe they have a disease that they understand their oral health can play a role in. And so they’re choosing to come in for their dental care. That shows up, I just need a cleaning um kind of patient. And so they’re coming in.

03:05
And we know that they are going to land in one of those four boxes, if not one, perhaps multiple. Now the part that we really need to dive into, and this is where a lot of teams stop. They find out what’s important to the patient, but where they stop is not getting the why. Why is that actually important to this particular patient? Why is having a confident smile that they can smile and take pictures? Why is that important to this particular person, this patient that we have here?

03:35
So we have this outline, another acronym, SWOT, um that we’re going to go into as far as how you find out the patient’s why. It would be very strange to just start these questions without an introduction, especially if this is an existing patient. So if it’s a new patient, it might be a little bit easier, but we always want to introduce before we start asking questions. So I just say something along these lines. This is not.

04:04
Exact, but this is an idea of a way to say it I want to ask you a few really important questions and the more that you share with us the better We’re going to be able to help you so that makes sense Now when you start asking these next questions, the patient isn’t like well, this is really weird. Why is this person asking me questions? I’m clearly here at the dentist. So obviously I want to have them look at my teeth uh This is just that entry point. We call that a permission statement to get you started

04:33
We then move into the SWOT analysis. And some of you may have heard of SWOT. It’s S-W-O-T um for strengths or what they like about their mouth, weaknesses, things that they don’t like, opportunities, or the way that it would look or feel or function if it was ideal, and their threats. What would stand in their way? This is using the Harvard Business School method that they use for analyzing.

05:00
Businesses and all systems all of the different things you’re probably using it to some extent in your team meetings um But this is a really great analogy to help your team be able to think about okay What what am I trying to ask and it helps to be able to not get scripted when we get scripted it becomes more transactional So having just an outline. Okay. I want to know what the good things are. I want to know what the bad things are I want to know

05:28
what this patient is looking for in an ideal scenario and I wanna know what’s gonna stand in their way. That helps you to be able to release from being transactional and lean into being more relational. Remember that people buy with emotion and justify with logic. And so I’m gonna give you an example. So I love black, I wear black almost every single day and if I was to walk into a store, I’m probably going to…

05:54
Gravitate towards a black shirt and my husband is going to look at me and say Shelly you already have 55 black shirts You don’t need that black shirt My emotion is telling me. Yes. I do. I need another black shirt Now I go into logic mode and I’m gonna say okay. I do need this shirt I need this shirt because it’s on sale. It’s long sleeve. It’s lightweight It has buttons my other ones don’t have buttons and I’m going to start justifying my purchase

06:23
with these logical things because my emotion is over here saying, I need it, I want it, I want it, I want it. And so the same thing is happening with your patients. They buy with emotion and they justify it with logic. What happens is a lot of times we start with the logic. And so we’re telling them you have a broken tooth, you have decay, you have an abscess instead of starting with their emotion. And the emotion is their why. So we have to do this emotional exam before

06:51
We ever find their conditions and and that’s for this reason but also to avoid judgment I had a patient one time he came in and his he had a grown out a lot of facial hair and In his facial hair. I found out in conversation. He had grown that out because he was so embarrassed of his smile He had been asked if he had done meth in the past by other dentists. He was very very self-conscious of it

07:20
And I had this basically this preclinical exam conversation with him of asking, is it that you like about your smile? Tell me, describe how, describe what you like. And I had not looked in his mouth and he just looked at me and he said, I don’t like anything. And I said, well, tell me more about that. And he explained what was going on. Now, had I asked that question in that way, after looking in his mouth.

07:46
Totally different scenario because what I did discover when I got to taking records is that everything was broken, nearly to the gum line, everything that you could see was black. It was quite damaged. It was not in a healthy place whatsoever. Not to mention the poor guy was in a lot of pain. And so making sure that you have these conversations before you start taking x-rays, pictures, ITARO scans, whatever records that you’re doing, your period charting.

08:15
have this discussion with your patient beforehand to avoid that from happening. That tends to be a logistical thing that you need to work out within your practice, but I highly, highly recommend figuring that out. This can be done by anybody on your team. So I’ve had admin team members be really good at this emotional exam. I’ve had assistants be really good at it. I have some doctors who choose to do it. I have hygienists who do it.

08:42
It does not matter who the patient or I’m sorry, who the team member is that’s doing it as long as they can be present and they can follow the process. So we’re going to start with, tell me what you like about the appearance and function of your smile. Again, you make this your own. These red words that I’m popping up here are the words that are most important from a standpoint of open-ended conversation. You want to get them thinking and you want to get them talking. So explain what you don’t like would be that W or the weaknesses.

09:12
Describe the ideal smile. Some team members like to use the on a scale of one to 10, how do you feel about your smile? And that gets them integrated into asking some of these questions because anything less than a 10, how do you feel about that? You can just get the patient going with starting with some conversation. Describing that ideal smile, this is your opportunities. This is where you find out that a patient is.

09:37
wanting to have ortho or isn’t happy with the shade of their teeth or they’re not able to eat the foods that they enjoy or they’re missing a tooth and Doritos stab them in the gums all of the time and they really want to have that tooth replaced. So having them describe what it is that they want is really important. And then this next question, the one scripted part is why is that important to you? We’ve tried this in a lot of different ways.

10:04
But being this direct with that particular question is what’s going to get you the most um feedback from your patient. Why is that important to you? If somebody says, just want my natural teeth for as long as I can possibly hang on to them, completely can appreciate that. Why is that important to you? You might think, oh, nobody wants a denture. Well,

10:28
That’s true. Most people don’t want a denture, but why they don’t want a denture can show up differently. Maybe their grandmother had a denture and she sneezed in church and it flew across the room. Maybe they, as a kid walked into the bathroom and their mom’s teeth were in a jar and it traumatized them. Maybe they really, really love steak and their understanding is that with a denture, they’re going to have a lot harder time chewing steak because the teeth move around.

10:53
You don’t know until you ask this question, but once you know that that is an emotion, that is an emotional tie that helps them to hang on to their natural teeth. Completely understand, you know, I want to help you to be able to keep your natural teeth. Then this next question comes up. What would stand in your way? If we were to discover anything that could jeopardize your teeth or a tooth, what would stand in your way of making sure that we get that back to health or

11:21
If they’ve always wanted straight teeth and you’re talking to them, what has stood in your way of straightening your teeth in the past? Now you’re knowing their obstacles before you ever even diagnose, before you start talking to them about recommendations. Not that you’re gonna change your recommendations, but you can approach it in a different way in your presentation to the patient. If you know that cost is what has held them back in the past.

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and you know it’s going to take a lot to get them back to health and to get them where they can hang on to their natural teeth. You can say, no, I know you mentioned budget or cost was a concern. What I’d like to do is put together a plan to let you know what it would take to get you healthy. And from there, you’re in control. You can choose to take care of some of this, none of it, or all of it. But my goal is to help you get where you want to go. And we have an amazing team. They may even be able to help you budget that where it fits into your monthly budget.

12:15
would it make sense for us to go ahead and put together a plan? Now you’re getting some of that buy-in, which is what we’ll go into or I have information on for um after you do the emotional exam. So here’s a copy of the backside of that great call um sheet, which gives you an outline for the emotional SWOT or that emotional exam. It also goes into and gives an example of what a permission statement would look like, which I mentioned a little bit ago as well.

12:47
As you finish the emotional exam, this permission statement is really, really important. So you’re basically asking their permission to go ahead and do the exam, which you’re going to do. You’re going to take the records. We’re going to go ahead and start with your records. And if it’s okay with you, I’d like to be able to share with you anything that we find today, whether it’s something that is in great health or if there’s a concern. How would, how does that sound?

13:17
Does that sound fair? You’re getting their approval to go ahead and move forward with their exam so that you don’t have that fear of being shot as a messenger of the one who has all this dentistry that’s being recommended and here you are about to do an exam and you find a lot of things. You want them to say, yes, it makes sense for you to tell me what’s wrong. And a lot of times that’s a hard thing to do. There may be a lot. This patient maybe has been to a dentist six months ago.

13:46
and was told everything is perfectly healthy and now they come to you and you’re about to find a lot of issues. So this statement helps you to be able to transition into going over their conditions without overwhelming them and letting them know you’re in control. You can choose to do some of this, none of it, all of it, totally your decision. I know what your goal is. You reiterate their goal. I know your goal is to make sure that you maintain your teeth for as long as we possibly can and I’m on your side.

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And because of that, I’d like the permission to share everything that I see today. And then from there, we’ll work together. So that’s ultimately that permission statement. So today I went over part one of the getting the patient to a closure. So the law of research with the phones, the emotional exam with um the SWOT analysis and getting that why and then that permission statement.

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There’s a whole nother segment. Now we got to do the records. We got to do the exam. We’ve got to go over the co-diagnosis and then ultimately get that patient’s buy-in to move forward. And because we are limited on time, I do have this here. Feel free to go ahead and download this ebook because this ebook goes into part two. It goes into the 95-5 rule where our president of coaching

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uh reviews the importance of focusing on conditions before you move into treatment recommendations so that the patient owns their situation, it’s their condition, not our condition. And then also the case presentation formula which tests the buy-in. Is the patient understanding the conditions and do they truly um have a concern with what it is that you found? And so feel free to download that copy. Highly encourage you to do that.

15:34
Great ebook for anybody on the team ah because this is all about the team. This is not just the doctors helping to get that case acceptance. And with that, I am open to questions.

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if we have any.

15:56
Oh, there is a few. So the first question, Shelly, is when asking about what they like about their smile, should you still ask these type of questions if you know they are financially struggling? Yes, absolutely. Even though they’re financially struggling, it doesn’t mean that they are not going to find a way to make something happen.

16:17
And so I may not have the budget right now, but if I take away the opportunity for this patient to tell me exactly what it is that they’re looking for, we’re doing them a disservice. So it could be that they might not do something right away and that’s okay, but at least they know what their options are. And sometimes they’ll go on and talk to a family member or a friend and all of a sudden they have the funds to be able to do something. uh

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you know, in the future. So absolutely still find out what their goals are. the next question is, sorry if I miss this, how do you handle patients when they do not want x-rays? Oof. Good question. That’s a tough one. You have to set the expectation. And I don’t know if this is referring to new patients or existing patients or it doesn’t really matter. In order to thoroughly diagnose, you need x-rays. It’s like

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I’ve seen the little meme or the little, um I don’t know what it is. It’s like one of those skits and the doctor goes, oh, no x-rays. And they come in with the mask over their eyes kind of thing. And they’re like, okay, let me do your exam. That’s ultimately what they’re asking you to do in that scenario. So tying it back to what their goal was to begin with in order for me to truly tell you if you have a tooth that could end up causing you pain in the near future.

17:42
I have to have all the tools available. I have to have these images in order to be able to tell you that you have an infection brewing or whatever. So you have to tie it back to what’s important to them versus telling them that they need something. I like to use the, I love to use the oil change place. My husband always tells me, just go get an oil change. You don’t need anything else. I promise your car is fine. And when you pull in, the first thing they say is, oh, you need an air filter too. And I’m like, no, don’t.

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husband told me I only needed to have my oil change. And so instead, if they share with me, this is your air filter, what’s happening is this is going into the air and with that going into the air, you’re breathing that in. How concerned are you with that? They’re tying it back to something that’s important to me. I’m going to not just tell them to replace. I’m not just going to tell them, no, I’m going to say, oh my gosh, do you have one of those right here in our off? Do you have one right now? Can I get one today?

18:40
And so the same thing needs to apply from the x-ray standpoint. How is it going to benefit them?

18:48
Love it. Okay. So the next question is if you had 90 days inside of a client practice and your compensation depended on increasing case acceptance, what would you do step by step? Oh my gosh. Number 90 days to increase. Wow. Okay. And your compensation depends on it. So obviously everybody’s compensation to some extent depends on this case acceptance because if the practice isn’t healthy, then we can’t pay any of our team members.

19:18
the same. um everybody has a play in that. But number one, I would make sure the emotional exams are happening on a regular basis and the transfer. So if you’re not the one that’s personally doing these emotional exams, make sure that you’re getting a solid handoff from your team where they’re telling you about the conversation that they just had. So if I’m an assistant and I just had this emotional exam and the doctor comes in, I’m saying

19:42
Shelly, if it’s okay with you, I’m gonna fill Dr. Smith in on everything we’ve been talking about. Dr. Smith, Shelly’s really concerned about this tooth on the upper right. We were looking at the pictures and there’s a large crack. It’s not bothering her yet, but it’s really important for her to get that taken care of before she starts having pain. She has a vacation coming up, whatever it might be. Train your team to help you because as a doctor, you can’t do this alone. It would be very, I shouldn’t say you can’t because there’s always…

20:11
away, but it’s going to be very difficult alone.

20:17
Okay, so the next question is, what are common communication mistakes that hurt case acceptance? Oh, another great question. You guys have good ones. So that one, I would say saying that you need something. Taking the patient’s desires out of the equation and just saying, you need a crown. You need scaling and route planing. Using words, the number one that they don’t understand.

20:44
as well as telling them that they have to do something. And I had an experience one time where I reviewed a treatment plan with a patient and I said, doctor’s number one priority is your upper right. It looks like there’s three crowns that need to be done. That was probably almost exactly how I said it. And the patient looked at me and said, that’s where you’re wrong. It’s not my priority or it’s not the doctor’s priority. It’s my mouth and I don’t want to do anything. As an admin person reviewing that I could, I had no, I had nothing to stand on. was just like, okay.

21:14
Well, call us when you’re in pain. Like I didn’t even know how to respond at that. But if I had known he’s a lawyer, he has court dates and all of these things, and it’s really important for him to make sure that that doesn’t get interrupted. I would have gone about it in that way of saying, I know how important your schedule is. know interruptions are not going to be, you know, I go into how this taking care of it was going to benefit him. So focusing on.

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our reasons for doing dentistry versus the patient’s reason for doing dentistry would be the number one mistake, I feel. Awesome. We’ve got some more great questions. If a patient leaves after saying they need to think about it, how much and how often do you follow up with them? Right now we wait because we do not want to bug them. Okay. I start by asking permission.

22:08
I love that permission statement. So if they say, really need to think about it, completely understand. know that you’ve got a lot of information today. um I would love for you to go ahead think about it. And I love to follow up with you next week. Is it okay if I give you a call on Monday? Or is it okay if I call you early next week? So you’re asking permission so that you don’t feel like a bugaboo, like you’re bugging the patient and pushing the patient. You’re helping them. I know how concerned.

22:34
You’re using their why I know that you’re concerned about this. know you have a lot to think about. Is it okay if I follow up with you? I like to do at least three outreaches if not more depending on the conversation that I’m having with the patient following case presentation if they don’t move forward. And we use a treatment presented tracker to help us keep track of that as well as what their objection was. So was it money, time, fear, urgency or trust? What thing did they say was in their way?

23:02
so that we can help them overcome that obstacle when we get back on the phone with them without feeling really pushy in the moment.

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Okay, so what kind of coaching programs do you have? Is it for everyone on the team? We have trouble getting all of our team members to do what we want them to do for calls, etc. Got it. So we actually have the online program that helps to be a self-study program for the phones, customer service, all of those types of things. And then in addition, a lot of offices like to have coaching as well. We do self-funding coaching is what we focus on. So we’re making sure that we’re keeping an eye on

23:41
what you’re investing as well as the return on investment. So we pride ourselves in that and everything that we do is month to month, whether it’s our online program or our coaching programs. And most common is to have two calls a month, one with the doctor and or leadership team focusing on the business. So we’re looking at what’s going well, what challenges are you having? And then we have a call with the team and these are all virtual just like we are right now.

24:08
And your coach is working with the team on integrating new systems and helping them with verbiage and things along those lines. And then helping with accountability to make sure that the team is actually implementing. So the next call we come back, okay, we talked about the emotional exam. Tell me some wins, how’s it going? What challenges did you have? And we work through those challenges in those team meetings. Awesome. We’ve had some great questions. I have one Daniel question.

24:36
If a doctor listening today wants to improve their case acceptance, what conversation should they have with their team first? Oh, I would start with your vision. Honestly, I always start with your core values. What’s most important to you and where are you trying to go? And I think that team members really truly connect well when they understand your why as the doctor, if they feel like you’re just doing this to pad your pocketbooks for yourselves.

25:04
They’re gonna be less likely, but if you really show them your vision and why you got into dentistry, it’s to help other people. It is to have an income, obviously. We’re not doing this for free, or maybe some of you are doing it for free because of insurance, but um you’re doing this to help people and you wanna do it in a specific way. That’s why you’re here today. You’re talking about relationship-driven case acceptance and things like that.

25:30
You wanna make sure that your team understands that and that you need their help. And I would say being vulnerable enough to say, hey, in order to do this, I need your help. Most team members are absolutely on board with helping. And that goes back to that, the five steps of an all-star practice. If you don’t have a team that’s ready to help you, then that’s where you’re at in your process. It’s like, get the people on your bus who are ready to help you.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode of Dental All-Stars. Visit us online at AllStarDentalAcademy.com