Improving your practice’s case acceptance without spending anymore money
Are your patients not committing to treatment after you’ve discussed things?
Case acceptance is something I get asked about often. Sure, patients are more hesitant to spend money, or they just aren’t like they used to be. However, there is always room for improvement.
Do you ever get up to do something and when you walk out of the room you completely forget what you were doing? It happens to everyone. It isn’t dementia. There is a psychological trigger in our brain to wipe things clean when our surroundings change. It keeps us from having too much information in our short-term memory. And when emotions and anxiety are high, this trigger is more likely to wipe information even faster.
(Think ‘fight or flight’ response. If a bear is chasing you all of a sudden, do you really need to keep that grocery list in your head anymore?)
The same thing happens with patients. When you move them from the dental chair and into the business area to discuss their treatment plan, the slate is wiped clean. It gets emotional and flight or flight type responses are set in motion.
They forgot what you just said moments before.
The key to bettering your case acceptance is linking the treatment presentation and securing the appointment right at the chair after discussing your findings. Be prepared and do the bulk of the work before they even get up. Have your front desk ready to talk to your patient (in the operatory) as soon as you have explained the treatment plan.
There is no psychological disconnection and it improves your results.
I challenge you this week to look at your case acceptance. Test it out. Try bringing your team to the patient, not vice versa.
In this week’s video you’ll learn:
- What you can do to improve your case acceptance
- The value of presenting at the chair