Motivational Moments with Eric Vickery: acknowledge objections, engage empathetically, and overcome them with clarifying questions.
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About Eric Vickery
Eric holds a degree in business administration and brings a strong business and systems approach to his consulting. His initiation into the field of dentistry was in the area of office management. He managed dental practices for over ten years and has been consulting over 250 offices nationwide since 2001.
Episode Transcript
Transcript performed by A.I. Please excuse the typos.
00:02
This is Dental All-Stars, where we bring you the best in dentistry on marketing, management, and training. Hello friends. Welcome to your weekly motivational moments with Eric Vickery, president of coaching at All-Star Dental Academy. This week, I want to talk to you about part two of handling objections. So I know that last week we talked about categorizing and really listening for them.
00:25
Today we’re gonna acknowledge and engage. So now you’re hearing the objection, you’re not avoiding it, you’re acknowledging and you’re engaging with that. So how do we do that? So the first step is really just to hear these words and understand the concept, okay? So step one, two, and three. So when a patient says, I can’t afford that, you actually have to determine, is this an objection or is this a life condition? And if it’s an objection, what type of objection is it?
00:53
Is it really a money objection or is it a lack of urgency objection like we talked about last week? So, if a patient were to say to me, yeah, I’m not sure I can afford that. I hear you, right, listening. I hear you. I get where you’re coming from. You know what? We all have to be careful on how we manage our finances these days when it comes to your medical bills, your health insurance, all of those things. They play a role. So, I’m not sure.
01:21
These two things are connected. I hear you and I get it. You’re acknowledging and you’re listening and you’re acknowledging. Now step three is your engagement. My step three is always the same. Let me ask you this. That’s all, it’s always the same. Let me ask you this. So I put all three together. They say, I can’t afford this. I hear you, you know, I get where you’re coming from. We have to be really smart on how we budget these days with our finances when it comes to medical and dental expenses. Let me ask you this.
01:51
Is it the total cost that you’re focusing on? Is it you’re wondering how to fit this into a budget? Or maybe is it, do you really need this right now? And I’m giving them an either or option. I gave them three options. It’s always great if you can give two options because A, you could be really correct and you nail it right on the head, or B, you’re not right and they’re gonna give you another option. So what I’m doing is I’m actually splitting this up. Is it you’re looking at the total cost or is it you’re trying to fit it into a budget?
02:21
Or is it, do I really need this? Lack of urgency. And then they’ll give you something back. Once they give you something back, now you can engage in more questions. So when you think about this engagement part, step three, it’s question, question, question, question, question, until you get an answer. So again, it may sound like this, Ricky Bobby, how do you feel about moving forward with this plan? I can’t afford that. I get where you’re coming from. Makes sense that you would wanna
02:51
make value and budget and pay attention to your finances these days. Let me ask you this, is it the total cost you’re wondering about? Is it how do you fit this into a budget? Or is it maybe you’re wondering do I even really need this right now? Well, I’m just not so sure I need it right now. It’s not even bothering me. I get where you’re coming from. You know, it makes sense that you’d be thinking that way. Let me ask you this, have you ever had a toothache before? Have you ever heard of a root canal?
03:21
All right, and then you can go down. We call it play it forward. You can use another skill set there. So if you ask enough questions, you’re gonna run into one of two things. Solving the objection, which was just lack of information, engagement. They didn’t understand what’s happening. Or number two, you’re gonna run into a life condition where your patient says, “‘Yeah, there’s just no way for me to afford this. “‘I wanna do it, but I can’t do it.'” There are no financial options in the world other than doing it for free that would work in those situations. Now, time will move.
03:51
and hopefully they’ll have the money down the line. Know this, if you’re using all the skills that we weren’t working on, you’re gonna prevent a lot of objections. So my hope is that when you get to this section, you’re really finding out that these are life conditions, not objections. If you’re getting a lot of objections, it means you’re not doing something earlier in the system when it comes to case acceptance. If you’re getting life conditions, it’s understandable, and you’ll wanna…
04:21
be sympathetic to your patient, or maybe empathetic actually, and have a next appointment set up with them for their hygiene visit and stay connected with them. All right, if you want more information on this, you want coaching, you wanna dive in deeper, just email heather at alls We’d love to help you out. All right guys, have a great week.
04:45
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Dental All-Stars. Visit us online at allstardentalacademy.com
