In an unstable economy, it is more important than ever to have solid case presentation skills and work with your patients to resolve objections.
As you carefully design treatment plans to meet patient needs and improve oral health, it can be frustrating when they decline to move forward with treatment. Especially if you don’t know why. The two most common reasons for not scheduling are:
- Cost of treatment
- Anxiety or fear
Fortunately, there are ways to ease these patient concerns and boost case acceptance.
Thoughtful Communication
Communication involves two things — listening and talking. Both components are equally important.
Patients know when someone is fully listening or half listening. Busy schedules require efficiency, however, efficiency can feel like abrupt communication to the patient. Combat this perception and provide a great patient experience by:
- Maintaining eye contact
- Speaking slowly and softly
- Avoiding dental jargon
- Minimizing interruptions
Resist the urge to quickly summarize the patient’s concerns. This may help the dental team member stay on time, but it doesn’t help the patient feel heard. The patient needs an opportunity to express their concerns in order to agree to a solution. Some patients take longer than others to move through this process. Be patient and listen.
Good Case Presentation Skills
Presenting a treatment plan is just as important as creating one.
- Make use of intraoral images. This allows the patient to see what the clinician sees and can improve case acceptance by 35%.
- Create tangible value with models, before and after photos, and educational videos.
- Ask open-ended questions to engage the patient in the conversation. The quickest way to shut down case presentation is with a closed-ended question that requires a yes or no answer. Create dialogues instead.
Provide Options
Options help the patient feel in control. Provide both anxiety management and financial options. If a patient hesitates to schedule, ask why they are hesitating and let them know you may be able to help. Uncovering their barrier is the first step to resolving it.
You have the power to create calm, highly communicative interactions for your patients that will enhance the patient experience and improve your case acceptance rate!
Contact us for additional resources, scripting, external finance options, and ways to enhance your case presentation skills.
Your success is our success. Please reach out to us anytime.
Learn more, visit the Practice Support Team page, email us at PracticeSupportTeam@BurkhartDental.com, or call 1.800.665.5323.
Category: Practice Consulting
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