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This is post number five in my series “New Patient Machine – How to Develop a System that will guarantee New Dental Patients and raise your treatment acceptance”. If you haven’t had the opportunity to look at the first five steps, you can get to them here:

New Patient Machine – How to Develop a System that will guarantee New Dental Patients and raise your treatment acceptance

The Initial Call Makes all the Difference in the World

The Importance of “Pre-Connecting” with your New Dental Patient

Your Secret Weapon

Today, let’s examine what needs to happen when your new patient walks in the door.  Remember, this is the first time they have ever been in your office.  Obviously your appointment coordinator did a fabulous job getting the patients scheduled, sending out the new patient packet and getting them in the door.  So what is the next step?

When was the last time you were a new patient?  Maybe you saw a new ophthalmologist or changed family physicians.  When you left that first appointment did you leave thinking “Wow! “?  Were you impressed with the professionalism of the staff and doctor?  Was it more than you expected?  Did you leave there wanting to tell everyone you know about this great new doctor and your fabulous experience?  Chances are that you didn’t have that experience because if you did you would remember it vividly.

The New Patient Experience

After many years of marketing and evaluating dental practices, I have come to the conclusion that one of the best marketing tools you have is your new patient “experience”.  Yes, I said experience because that is exactly what it is – an experience!

If you don’t know without a doubt that you have the best new patient experience in your community then you let’s talk about how to make that a reality. You want your office to be the one everyone is talking about, not the dentist down the street right?

Before we dive into the new patient experience itself, let’s talk about who should be the “director” of the experience.  In the last post we talked about using a treatment coordinator in your practice. If you have a treatment coordinator, this is definitely part of their job description. What if you don’t have a treatment coordinator? Some offices enlist and train one of their dental assistants.  Others have used their office manager.  You need to choose the person in your practice best suited for this position.

Your patients are asking themselves three questions….

Your new patients are asking themselves three questions during the initial interview –Can they trust this doctor, does this doctor care about me, and is the right dentist for the job.  How you handle this most important interview will determine if you get the job; and potentially a lifelong patient and the referrals of friends and family. There’s a lot resting on this interaction.

Once you’ve have chosen the correct staff member to handle the interview, let’s further define the new patient experience.

The initial interview can last between 15 and 30 minutes and is usually the most important part of the first visit.  The information that you gather from this interview and the relationship that you are developing will determine how much dentistry your patient will have done and how soon they will do it.  It will also determine the likelihood of this patient developing into a good referral source for your practice.

The purpose of the new patient interview

The purpose of the new patient interview is to help your patients open up and tell you their history – that could be their past dental experiences, their fears, their expectations or how much money they have or don’t have.  The key is to let your patients determine what they want you to know.  Don’t try to control the conversation.  Remember, you are learning about your new patients. You are developing trust and creating rapport. The key here is active listening. Stay engaged with the process without controlling the process.

Our goal is to not only find out the patients clinical needs, but also their desires.

There are many treatment possibilities available and the only way we know what the patient wants is to ASK and LISTEN.  The New Patient Interview Form will give you an idea of the types of open-ended questions you can ask.

This is a progression of listening without making judgment.  You will be amazed at the amount of information your new patient will share with you if they feel like you are listening to them.  Once you have this information, you will be able to develop a treatment plan that you know they will accept because you listened to their concerns.

I would like to share a listening exercise that is extremely interesting.  A man was told to sit next to someone on a flight across the country – about 5 hours. Throughout the flight the man was instructed to talk to the person next to him, actively listening and asking questions about the other passenger’s life.  Easy conversational type questions like: what do you do for a living, where do you live, what do you like to do for fun – all in a conversational way, not like an interview.

He did as he was instructed and had a great conversation and learned all about this other passenger’s life.  When they landed the passenger next to him, Bob, was told about the experiment and was asked if he would answer a few questions.  The first question was what your fellow passenger’s name was.  Bob couldn’t quite remember that.  Then he was asked what he thought of the fellow passenger.  Bob couldn’t say enough about how wonderful this guy was – he’s one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.  Then he was asked what his fellow passenger did for a living – he didn’t remember that either.  Nor did he remember where he lived or really anything about him. He liked him because he listened and was interested in HIM.

If people sense that you care and are truly interested in their wants and needs, they will think you are the greatest dentist in the world.

Let’s look at this appointments sequence of events:

1.  Your New Patient arrives at your office.

2.  The Treatment Coordinator is there; ready to greet the new patient.

3.  Office Tour and Team Introduction – offer patient coffee, tea, juice, make them feel at home  (record preference for future consult visit)

4.  Review phone interview sheet

5.  Review patient registration and health history – highlight health issues

6.  Review New Patient interview sheet

7.  Introduce 4 levels of dental health

8.  Review “What’s next” (see New Patient Handoff post)

9.  Move patient to clinical area

10.  Introduce patient to clinical assistant

11.  While the patient is with the CA, you summarize findings with the doctor

12.  Clinical assistant begins Examination (see clinical exam forms)

13.  Clinical assistant introduces the doctor

14.  Doctor acknowledges and summarizes info from treatment coordinator

15.  Doctor proceeds with exam

16.  Doctor reviews the next step, putting together a plan, consultation and financial arrangements at next appointment. Thanks patient for coming in      and says goodbye.

17.  Treatment coordinator schedules next appointment, asks if the patient has any questions at this time.

18.  TC escorts patient to reception area and says goodbye.

In the next post we will discuss getting the patient “mentally prepared” for the clinical exam and the patient “handoff”.  If you liked what you read here, please share it with your friends and colleagues.  I welcome your comments and would be happy to answer any questions you might have.  Do you have a patient interview prior to the clinical examination?  Leave your comments below.  Thanks for stopping by.

Make it a Great Day!

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