Tuesday’s Patient Tip

Don’t sell to your patients. It is your job to educate your patients. You’re the one patients depend on to tell them about any dental problems they might have and what options they have to fix those problems.

If you want your patients to accept treatment you’re going to have to earn their trust, and that certainly won’t happen if you try to sell them products or treatments they don’t want or even really need.

You move from educating to selling when you charge staff members with selling a certain product or service to patients and offer rewards for each sale they make, said Dr. Ann Boyle, Provost and Vice Chancellor Professor, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville School of Dental Medicine. The discussion in your office should be about what type of care you can provide your patients, not how many implants you can sell in a week or how many patients you can get to buy this whitening product.

The difference is in how you talk to patients. You need to tell your patients their choices, but when you start sounding like a car salesman trying to push a used car off the lot, your patients will look at you differently and start to tune you out. Not only will they refuse the product you’re selling, they won’t get the treatment they need-unless of course it’s from a dentist down the road who focuses on educating rather than selling.

Your patients are your practice. Without them, where would you be? You have to know the best ways to attract them to your practice, get them to accept treatment and make them happy, life-long patients.

That’s where we can help. Check back regularly for tips on how to keep your patients happy, healthy and loyal.