Chances are that your practice exists for the purposes of delivering ideal care to your patients, right? If that is done well and in quantity, staff get paid, the rent or mortgage get covered, the loans and expenses connected with the practice get paid, and, if you are really, really good … even you as the owner will get paid.
The question is: How do you get more patients or clients to say “yes” to the ideal care you would like to be able to deliver? It is unfortunate for you and your team that these same patients or clients have so many other demands for their attention and their net income … mortgages, car payments, food on the table, more vacations, flashier cars, trendier clothes, bigger houses … and so on.
It has therefore become of ultra importance that you and your team are better trained in the art of getting the “yes” from patients or clients to go ahead with your treatment presentations. There is an old saying: “You can lead the horse to water but you can’t make them drink.” However, presentation tools, correctly used, can overcome those barriers more often than you may think possible.
Emotions Can Get in the Way
As you will have already observed almost every day at work, patients or clients are in one emotional state or another, and if it a low, or negative emotional state, it can make it seem impossible to get them to go ahead with the ideal care you want to deliver.
If the person is enthusiastic about life in general, and the service you are presenting is right for him or her, you can be pretty sure you’ll get them to go ahead. But what about people who have to think about things seemingly forever, or don’t seem to be showing much interest at all even though it is something they really should go ahead with?
Or maybe you’ve met people who are afraid to buy, even though they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. How many more treatments would be accepted if you could learn to get the person on your side no matter what kind of mood they’re in?
Some providers approach this problem by just continuing to give the patient or clients more and more information – hoping something will spark their interest. But really, the emotional state, short or long term, is an aspect of the human condition, and it’s not going to be addressed with a list of features and functionality.
In fact, going on and on enthusiastically about service you are presenting will not only be unsuccessful, it might even turn the patient or client off.
Get them on board
How do you get the patient or clients on board despite their emotional state? Well, have you ever had one of those days you’re pretty sure is near the top of your “worst days of my life” list and a staff member pops into your office cheerfully talking about how great everything is? What’s your reaction? It’s not likely you started celebrating with them; more likely you wanted to put as much space between the two of you as possible.
And if that cheerful person who popped in was a salesperson, what would their chances be of making a sale with you?
However, if a salesperson walked in and said, looking a little harassed, “Kind of a tough day today, don’t you think?” You would likely respond with “I’ll say. Come on in. Want a coffee?” He feels like you’re on the same page. You understand him. You’re on the same wavelength, and now you can have a conversation.
The trick is to approach the patient or client from the same emotion state as they are in. If the prospect is enthusiastic, then you be enthusiastic. And if he’s miserable, you’d better be a little on the miserable side too. If he’s conservative and cautious about things, and you just brush off that cautiousness, acting as if there’s nothing to be cautious about, he’ll feel like you don’t “get him” at all, and there goes your presentation.
Practice brings about skill
Give it a try. It doesn’t have to be with a patient or client … you can try it with a friend, family member or co-worker:
- Find someone who’s not in a great mood today. Try and get them to cooperate with you in some way, but do it by approaching them very cheerfully. Watch their reaction.
- Now spot the emotion they’re going through and see if you can approximate that. Then go for their cooperation again. Chances are, you’ll get it.
It is very important to match the emotional state as precisely as possible.
If you are interested in becoming really, really good at this, we offer some courses to train you on this. For the patient and clients’ sake so they accept the ideal care you are proposing.
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