Office Tips
by facastillon

Break The Routine

Written By Local Loyal Clients LLC

Have you ever heard the expression?

“Closed Mouths don’t get fed”

Well,

“Closed mouths don’t get FIXED”

Dental Visits have been SO Routine

For many patients that it’s a BRAIN NUMBING experience 

 Most Patients fall into the IN & OUT routine

Funny thing is,

Many patients head Out of the Office saying “Dang, I forgot to ask my dentist about” and think “Oh well I’ll ask them next time”

When the Patient FORGETS to ask the Dr something 

You LOSE an OPPORTUNITY to help and provide service 

And Ultimately not START treatment

It’s not enough to:

  • Come in 
  • Say hi 
  • Do an exam 
  • Spit out Recommended treatment 
  • Then say bye

What you DON’T REALIZE, you are training your patients to be use to that!

To BREAK patients out of their “ZOMBIE” Routine

You must FIRST break out of your “ZOMBIE” Routine

PRO and CONS to routine

PRO: Routine is great because you get confidence and become efficient

CON: Do it long enough it soon becomes brain numbing to you too. You TAKE OUT the PERSONAL interaction for both the patient and yourself and later, Both feel like its a Factory Assembly line

SIMPLE FIX..But harder to break how to do so is to ASK and just LISTEN

FACT: People love talking about themselves and love finding people willing to listen.

In other Words: You ASK them to talk about themselves and you LISTEN

Allowing your patients to talk about themselves:

Will start to BREAK the ROUTINE by having them think about their NEEDS and WANTS 

In Addition, they start to OPEN UP 

More Importantly, they begin to TRUST YOU 

Note: When you get the patient to talk about their thoughts you start to build trust 

It’s Important To WANT to get To KNOW your Patients

Sample Questions and Follow Up questions that work to open up your patient: 

  1. Any plans for today? Have you been planning it long? 
  2. Any projects you’re working on? Any others after that?
  3. What do you do for a living? How long have you been doing that?
  4. Do you live around here? Are you originally from here? 

FACT: It’s easier to carry a conversation when you find things in common with the patient

**Getting to know your patients will HELP you PLAN around their busy life

TIP: Keep a WHY mindset to Investigate their WHY, in other words you want to know WHY they do what they do.

NOTE: Be careful to not lose track of time BUT a good 5 min of getting to know your patients will GO a LONG WAY

Once you have them Opening up, you must be able to go back to the EXAM..

TIP: After talking to your patient about themselves politely say “Well, before I get carried away and keep you longer than you want to be, let’s get this Exam started”

If you recommend Treatment, Take the Time to Explain and Show WHY Then follow up with: 

  1. “Does this make sense to you” 
  2. “Any Questions?”
  3. “What do you think?”

If there is pending treatment Say, “HELP ME remember and lets be on the SAME PAGE” then ask:

  1. “When Are you planning to start treatment?” 
  2. “What have we decided on the Past Recommended Treatment?”
  3. “What are your thoughts on the Treatment?” 
  4. “Any Concerns?” 

NOTE: You must NOT listen to quickly respond, Stay patiently quiet and wait for the response. It’s NOT always about your professional opinion you MUST be UNDERSTANDING to the Patient’s Opinion