Accelerate My Practice Blog

We find so many people have these stories in their heads that they project onto their patients. Are you guilty of projecting onto your patients? Assuming their situation or the outcome of the appointment? Here is how to get out of that funk, out of that mindset. Honestly, you'll be surprised with your case accpetance if you do. 

Let's talk about 3 specific common stories in the Dental Industry.

Story 1:

"They can't afford this."

Stories such as someone saying "I have the hardest time, when I put myself in the shoes of the patient and I have no idea how they can afford five crowns." What is the story of? Personal judgment, the story of fear, what is that story of?

Whether it is your dental patients, your dental team, or yourself change is often met with resistance. I recently read a book called The Five Second Rule that discusses this. The concept of the book is that anytime we are resistant to making a change there is some fear or something that is holding us back; this is the same mindset that holds our patients back from accepting treatment. Research has shown that when we face a challenge and feel resistant that counting down from 5 to 1 is an absolute game changer in how we move forward.

IT WON'T HAPPEN TO ME.....I'M JUST A SMALL DENTAL PRACTICE

I would bet that all the dental offices, that had their patient information breached, said the same thing.

I hope all of you have had the opportunity to watch the TV show of March 13 where Darren interviewed Charles Kaplan of Data Guardian Pro. Scary stuff! The more I researched, the scarier it became. Do you even know if your data is encrypted? Do you know what the HIPAA rules are?

How are the economy, technology and insurance companies driving our patient's decisions to accept the treatment plan you are delivering? Not only are they deciding WHEN they will do that crown but even IF they will ever decide! Perhaps knowing how to overcome this challenge is to know more about how the other "elective spending" products are influencing patient behavior. Did we just say, "dentistry is elective spending"? It's not what we want to believe but when our patients are more interested in buying the latest iPhone than investing in the health of their mouth and body, we need to understand WHY.

We are so busy being BUSY!

What is the cost of being too busy? When did we stop making room for the big things in our life and start allowing the little things to take up our time? Health, exercise, family, vacation, education, community service... is there enough time?