The Really Big Question for today:
How on earth do you get the patient or client in front of you to choose, of their own free will, to go ahead with the IDEAL CARE you are presenting?
Have you ever really decided to get a patient or client to go ahead with an ideal treatment, and worked out a really good treatment presentation, only to have the person at the end of the presentation say, “I’ll have to think about it.” … And leave and not come back and start treatment?
Or have you ever given your best presentation only to have the person say, “I’ll have to go home and talk about it with my wife,” and see him leave never to be seen again? Or the person you are presenting to becomes grumpy or antagonistic to you or the fee that you are charging?
Probably all of the above would hold true for most practitioners. Would you agree that it might be a good idea to learn how to handle these various situations? Here are some helpful suggestions:
Sales, aka Treatment Presentations
First of all, Sales (Treatment Presentations) is NOT a bad word. There are people who do it so poorly that it can give the subject a bad name. When you mention this term to your average person they may think of a car salesman hammering away at his prospect and doing everything possible (honestly or dishonestly) to get the sale. This is not what we are talking about when we use the term sales in relation to helping a patient say “yes” to the ideal care they should have.
Definition of Sales:
The action of offering a product or service in exchange for something,
for example “money,” “chickens,” etc.
Further clarification: It means CARING about the patient and not buying in to all the reasons presented for not going ahead with ideal care. Think of people who serve others, like your barber or hairdresser, or your insurance broker. Your favourite sales people always have a lot of CARING in their presentation.
The patient or client often has a number of explanations or reasons why they can’t accept the care you are presenting. If you yourself agree with these reasons, then you will cease to be effective at helping them over the difficulties in the way of the patient getting the needed treatment. This does not in any way mean that you are cold hearted or uncaring for the person’s concerns.
On the contrary, you should be very caring for their concerns and let them know that. But at the same time, you should maintain your position that a solution can always be worked out somehow to overcome the barriers to getting the optimum treatment.
For example:
Patient or Client: “Can’t we just wait and see if it handles itself?”
Practitioner: “That’s definitely an option. For the sake of your health, there are other options that you could consider. Based on our exam, here is the best solution …
The First Hurdle
One of the first hurdles to overcome is getting the patient or client’s reality up to the same page as what you found in your exam and diagnosis so they are in agreement with you. They may have already checked with Dr. Google or their Aunt Matilda as to what the problem “really” is and what should be done about it.
You must find out what their reality is about the condition being presented and what they think needs to be done or what they have tried already, BEFORE you tell them what you found out in the exam. Otherwise, when you tell them what needs to be done, you are going up against possible other ideas that will clash with yours.
Once you know what is going on in the person’s head, you can do something to help them see what YOU see. This will take some education but the outcome will more often be a positive one.
I Recommend …
When you are presenting the treatment, avoid saying things like, “I recommend …”, or “Maybe it would be a good idea to …” etc. These leave the person wondering if you are certain about what you are saying. Use only 100% positive statements, such as, “Mrs. Jones, what I have found in the exam is that you NEED a ______.”
Successful Treatment Presentations
What is a successful treatment presentation anyway? Perhaps it could best be defined as a presentation by the healthcare professional to his patient or client that offers the person ideal care that they then choose to go ahead with and that you, the practitioner, get paid for as per the fee guide.
NOTE:
The above are a few tidbits out of our 2 Day Treatment Plan Workshop that we deliver 3 times per year.
You might also like: “EMOTION CAN PREVENT IDEAL CARE”
