If You Confuse, You Lose

Confusion—#1 Roadblock to Case Acceptance.

Solution:  Simplify.  Simplify.  Simplify.

 The biggest roadblock to successful case acceptance is confusion.  In any sales situation, confusion is often the chief enemy.  Think about your own experience.  Have you ever gone into a store already knowing what you were going to buy—a five minute event—but ended up wasting time and leaving empty handed?  Why?  Because a “helpful” salesperson presented several different options and ended up giving you too much information and too many choices so you felt completely overwhelmed and incompetent in making a decision?  You end up using a ‘life line’.  All you wanted was a blue shirt but you didn’t realize there were so many choices and so many hoops to jump through.  Simple always wins.  Always.

Because of the traditional ways we have been taught to present dentistry, we become our own worst enemy.  Even the magic of well meaning technology often sets up superfluous roadblocks and presents more obstacles for our patients to leap over.  Our techniques end up being too confusing and complicated for the patient, so we hear comments like,

• “Wow!  That’s amazing.  I need to think about it.” 
• “I have to discuss this with my husband/wife.”
• “What will my insurance pay?”
• “I’ll do the treatment doctor if my insurance will pay for it.” 

Because we have confused our patients, their only line of defense is to surrender the responsibility of the decision to their insurance company or spouse or someone else who can’t really help.

The following is a short yet incomplete list of common mistakes nearly all dentists make when presenting treatment for consideration.

2. Not having great, simple photos.

Pictures are paramount to your success simply because they are the only tool the patient has that will help them make decisions regarding their mouth and smile.  I recommend having 2 sets of photos.  The first set should include either quadrant or half mouth shots of the posterior teeth and two or three pictures of the anterior teeth.  These should be taken without uncomfortable lip retractors if possible.  A common mistake I see is taking a photo of one tooth or area and enlarge it on the screen to show cracks, etc.  By enlarging the photos of only one tooth at a time, patients end up having to make one decision per tooth vs. one decision per quadrant, etc.  The result is confusion.  The fewer decisions, the better. 

Another tip.  Do not, under any circumstances, let the doctor touch the intraoral camera.  This is a service best handled by a team member.

            The second set should be ‘after’ shots of a patient you have recently completed whose mouth was similar to the one you are currently viewing.  Again, this is best done by a team member who should point out, “This is a patient our doctor finished up last week whose mouth was similar to yours.  What do you think?”  My experience has been that a real, live picture of a patient completed by you (not some photo you have purchased from another dentist) lends credibility and allows the patient to see an existent result. 

Some would argue that imaging is best.  I agree that with certain patients, imaging may be best at portraying anterior esthetics.  The downside with imaging is that clinical credibility may be in question.  Plus, it often slows down the sales process and puts an unnecessary step in the buying process.  Wax ups are similar in result.  Use them only if necessary.  More steps results in more confusion.  Which leads to the next mistake.

3. Too much talking.  Not enough listening.  Too much information and detail.

In an attempt to educate the patient and establish credibility, we oftentimes introduce large roadblocks by talking more than listening.  When we talk more than the patient does, we communicate that what we have to say is more important than what they have to say. 

Recently a fellow speaker (not a dentist) went to a dentist and shared his story with regard to his visit.  He had two teeth that had been bothering him for several weeks.  He had a similar scenario previous and had since spent time thinking about what was wrong.  His self-diagnosis was that the molar on the left had decay under a filling because it was sensitive to sweets and that the molar on the lower right was cracked because it hurt to chew on.  But, when he went to his dentist, he didn’t get to share his thoughts because the dentist spent the entire time talking, telling him what was wrong and didn’t take time to listen.  Then doctor then introduced several diagnostic options and what the many choices of materials, etc. that might be used to fix the hurting teeth.  Then he asked my colleague if he had any questions.  Frustrated, he said, ‘No’.  Nothing happened.

Too much information is very confusing.  Stop educating and start listening and understanding.  Have we really been successful in converting non-flossers into compliant flossers by educating them?

4. Diagnosing done chairside.

When a new patient or an existing patient presents at your office, diagnosis is best done by the patient (with the doctor’s guidance) in the consultation room.  Using the photos helps this work very well.  With that in mind, patients are less likely to “self-diagnose” in the chair when the doctor is in a hurry and has someone waiting for his/her attention.  Schedule time for a one-on-one session outside the operatory 2-3 days after their first visit.  The doctor should give the patient undivided attention to understand what is important to the patient and learn how the patient sees the dental office best helping.   Stephen Covey calls this process  allowing the patient the “psychological air” to express their feelings.

5. Selling parts vs. end result benefits.

Here is a list of words that get in the way of case acceptance and confuse the patient. 

• Crown
• Bridge
• Ortho
• Perio
• Inlay/Onlay
• Blood
• Pus
• Neuromuscular therapy
• Root Canal
• Bleaching

You get the message.  I’m not suggesting that these words cannot be used in later appointments.  Don’t use them thinking they will help sell your services. 

            Think about it.  What are you selling?  vs.  What is the patient buying?  If you are selling parts and procedures, you are not on the same page with the patient.  Patients want to know what the end result benefit looks like, not the many steps that it takes to get there including all possible options.

6. Spending too much time in either/or or both first appointment and planning appointment (one on one).

Longer than 5 minutes with the doctor in the planning appointment is a red flag that something is not going well.  The exam takes more time but is completed after the patient tells us what they want to accomplish in their terms.  I sometimes call that the patient’s treatment proposal.  That doesn’t take very long.  My rule of thumb is that the doctor should be limited to approximately 50 words.  The rest of the talking should be done by the patients in responding to carefully selected questions to help the patient build value for what they want to accomplish.  If it takes longer, usually the guilty party is the doctor talking too much which confuses the patients.

If you don’t think you are confusing your patients, think back to the last treatment appointment when the patient was being seated and they look up at you and ask, “Now, what is it we are doing today?”  Is what you are currently doing really working?  Is it taking too long?  Does it require a “production” on your part?  If so, you might be confusing and complicating the process of case acceptance. 

Simplify your life.  Alleviate the stress.  Stop making it difficult for the patient to make treatment decisions.  You’ll love how it feels.