Are you focusing on your patients – or on yourself?
Date: June 2, 2014Category: Author: David Hall
When I went to buy a car recently, a couple of the salesmen I dealt with told me the same sales philosophy: “I’m not here to sell you a car,” they said. “I’m here to help you buy a car.”
I liked that approach. And, in each case, the salesperson was true to that philosophy. They were helpful. They listened to what I wanted and tried to answer my needs, rather than trying to push me into something I didn’t want.
I thought about that approach when I was reading a book I just bought: How to Get New Dental Patients with the Power of the Web. I was struck by their marketing philosophy, which came out early in the book as it addressed how to turn phone calls into appointments. Let me quote from the book. On page 21, they give a sample telephone script for “closing the sale” on getting the patient to make an appointment:
Mrs. Turner: “Hello, my name is Belinda Turner and I’m wondering about dentures. How much are they?”
Front Desk Julie: “That’s an excellent question, Mrs. Turner, and I would love to provide you with an answer. We can schedule you for a full evaluation to see if dentures are right for you, or if another service might be better. Only then can we provide you with an accurate quote. I would be happy to schedule an appointment. Is Monday, April 15 good for you?”
Mrs. Turner: “I’m not interested in any other services and I just want to know how much dentures are, please.”
Front Desk Julie: “I understand your concern, Mrs. Turner. I assure you that you will be very very satisfied with Dr. Smith’s evaluation and the fee he quotes you. Since your fee might be different than someone else’s, depending on the size and type of dentures you need, for example, it would really be better if you came in to see Dr. Smith personally. We would love to meet you in person. Can I put you down for the 15th?”
The underlying assumption in this approach to handling Mrs. Turner’s question is that the office has something they want the patient to do – make an appointment – and their objective is to talk her into that. Now, I understand that there are underlying issues here. Yes, there are varying complete denture services. Yes, the patient may need more than just a denture when the dentist looks at them. But there is no effort at all here on the part of the office to be helpful. Rather the mindset is that the dentist is going to tell the patient what to do and that is it – no discussion.
Here’s another way to handle that call, which is consistent with how we advise the practices that we serve:
Mrs. Turner: “Hello, my name is Belinda Turner and I’m wondering about dentures. How much are they?”
Front Desk Julie: “That’s an excellent question, Mrs. Turner, and let me see if I can be helpful. It’s impossible to tell exactly what you need without the dentist seeing you, but I can tell you that our simplest set of dentures costs $650. But you could need other services such as tissue conditioning or alveoloplasty that could increase that cost. And if you choose an implant-retained denture, which is a much higher quality service, the cost could be considerably more.
Mrs. Turner: “But the basic, simple dentures would be $650, right?”
Front Desk Julie: “That’s correct, Mrs. Turner. If you’d like, I could schedule a complimentary consultation with Dr. Smith for you. You would get 5 or 10 minutes with him. He could look over your situation and give you a better idea of all your options, what would work for you, and how much it would cost.
It may seem to some people that this is a simple difference in approach, but it’s more than that. There is a fundamental difference in attitude here. Do you, as the provider of services, have a basic respect for your clientele? Do you truly want to help them? Or do you simply see them as a ticket to achieving your own ends? Do you have a “high-pressure” attitude? Are you trying to sell the patient a denture? Or are you trying to help them with their dental needs?
The basic patient-centered reason for not quoting fees over the phone is that you can’t quote an accurate fee without seeing the case. Okay, having been in private practice for many years, I understand that. But I have listened to recordings of phone calls of one of our clients where the prospective patient has become exasperated trying to get a simple ballpark idea of what dental implants would cost. What I advised this office to do, which they implemented with considerable success, was to tell the caller a range of costs. This office charged $900 for a mini implant and $3000 for a standard implant. So they simply told the patient that there was a wide range of costs for a dental implant, anywhere from $900 to $3000 per implant, and there could be extra charges if bone grafts or other services were required. Then they followed up by offering a complimentary consultation as I illustrated above. By giving numbers, the receptionist was able to communicate her central message that she couldn’t give an accurate fee without seeing the patient. It also satisfied the patient by giving them a ballpark figure and giving them a sense that this office would try to be helpful.
I would not want to do business with any company that believed in the philosophy advocated in this book. Would you?