Getting a patient or client to go ahead with the ideal care they deserve to have is sometimes like pulling teeth (pun intended). You went to school for 4 years in order to be able to give perfect treatments and you would think that since a patient or client came to you with a problem, that they would just go ahead and let you do your job! And many do just that.
However, there many folks who are a little trickier to deal with when it comes to getting them to accept the ideal care you are offering. Leaving aside for the moment elective treatments that are non-essential for optimal long term care, you are only trying to give your patients or clients the best possible service. Many, many healthcare professionals have given up on this and now just tell the patient or client the options and leave it to the person to figure out what to do.
“Can’t afford it” Handling
This is a common objection that patients or clients will present you with. However, it is actually a very small percentage that TRULY can’t afford the treatment you are offering and this article is not about them. In those cases, there is nothing that you can particularly do except to present ideal care and see what happens. Sometimes relatives help out, etc. You do your best.
The most common reason for someone to not go ahead with the presented treatment plan is lack of perceived value of the service being proposed. In your presentation, you must make sure that you enhance the value of the treatment because most people who value something and want it will find the money. They will make it a priority. A lot of your services were not planned for by the person and so it has to be inserted into their budget which may already seem strained to them. Don’t forget, you are vying for their disposable income … a trip to the Bahamas versus what you are presenting.
You therefore need to work on enhancing the value and benefits of the treatment in their eyes. This may also include telling them the consequences of not going ahead with the service as well (not as a scare tactic though!). Most of your public has little or no training in the work you do and cannot therefore know or predict what would happen if they didn’t go ahead with the treatment plan.
Is it a legitimate objection?
One of the difficulties in dealing with the “I can’t afford it” objection is being able to tell if there is legitimacy to it.
So if the patient or client says they can’t afford the treatment ask them “if money wasn’t a problem, would you go ahead?” Watch how long it takes them to answer. For those who perceived the value and benefits and want the treatment, their response will be near to an instantaneous “yes.” Then you can work through financial options with them, and they will go ahead.
Instant Replay
For those who don’t perceive the value and benefits, there will be hemming and hawing, and ultimately they won’t go ahead. They don’t perceive enough value and benefits. You may have missed in your presentation somewhere. In this case, you can then take the opportunity to expand on the value and benefits. “Is there anything I haven’t made perfectly clear?” “Is there further information you would like?” And of course, you can present any financial options as well.
With these questions and options, and really getting the value and benefits into their zone of reality, you will now find that most patients or clients will make a positive decision which will then allow you to deliver the ideal care they need and that you know how to deliver.
Make their day and yours by really caring about the patient or client receiving the ideal care they deserve to have and help them go ahead with it.
