How many times in your professional career have you taken the time and care to do a Treatment Plan Presentation to your patient or client, offering them the most ideal service that you can provide, and then had them tell you:
- I can’t afford it.
- I’ll have to think about it.
- I need to talk it over with my wife/husband.
- Isn’t there something cheaper we could do?
- I need a second opinion (they thought this silently to themselves).
- Can we just wait and see if it handles itself?
- Does my insurance cover this?
- And so on (you probably have a bunch more).
People pay good money to you to come and get an exam and a diagnosis from you and then sometimes reject it. Why is that?
And the answer is …
Actually, there may be many answers as to why they don’t go ahead:
- They are not the decision maker in the family on finances.
- They seriously can’t afford it right now but too embarrassed to say.
- Dr. Google gave them a different diagnosis than you.
- The last doctor they saw didn’t tell them they needed that service.
- They think insurance policies are meant to cover 100% of their needs.
- They don’t trust you.
- Sticker shock – not enough experience with your fees.
- They didn’t follow your explanation of the treatment.
- You didn’t build enough reality with them on why the procedure is necessary and get all their thoughts out into the open and deal with them one-by-one and go over the consequences of not going ahead, and then build enough agreement that they needed to proceed.
The last one is the correct answer. There are actually 5 steps that you must do with each presentation to get the correct result of a patient or client going ahead with the ideal care they deserve to have:
1. Exam and Diagnosis:
Here you do a full exam on the patient and also get all the person’s thoughts and their reality on their condition. You will often find that they have a completely different idea of the problem, thus conflicting with your diagnosis.
2. Findings and Recommendations:
Now you have to bring the patient or client’s reality up to what you know to be true (what they really need from you). You should then find a reason connected with the condition that will motivate them to go ahead. Use models, diagrams, digital technology, etc. to make the problem and solution real. Do NOT say, “I recommend that you…” or “You should …” – these statements are wishy-washy. The correct wording is, “Mrs. Jones, you NEED to do …”. It is much more positive and certain. Patients and clients are actually paying you as an expert to tell them what they need to do. So don’t let them down!
3. Fee:
Inform the patient or client that the fee is $_____. Don’t be vague or avoid giving the amount. If you must ballpark, ballpark high – it is easier to come down than to go up.
4. Consequences:
Let them know what the consequences of not proceeding are. No scare tactics allowed. However, they do need to see that the consequence is something they want to avoid. “And that is something you want to avoid, right Mrs. Jones?”
5. Let’s get the treatment started!
If possible, take the first step of the procedure. If not possible, at least get a firm appointment set up for as soon as possible to begin the service.
There is a world of wrong ways to do presentations and you want to avoid those, right? Try the steps above in the right sequence and see some magic happen!
