Dr. Don Deems, the Dentist's Coach - Free Newsletter: <span style="font-weight:bold;">New Patient Experiences</span>

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New Patient Experiences - The Truth
September 09, 2007

Recently I was asked to present two programs to the Virginia State Dental Association, both of which are about "new patient experiences". I also get many requests and questions about how one goes about creating a "new patient experience". It seems that many doctors feel that if they could just create this great new patient experience, that it would really help their practice. Well, the answers are yes and no.

Related to this "new patient experience" is an "experience" often forgotten once after the "lottery" of the new patient experience has taken place. That "experience" is what your patient experiences from your office on an ongoing basis, hopefully for many years after they have come to your practice. Not unsurprisingly, many doctors looking to upgrade their "new patient experience" also have lots of patients leaving the back door of their practice, only to give another dentist a chance at creating an experience the patient wants.

There are also tons of courses and workshops available on "new patient experiences" - even mine for the Virginia State Dental Association! And if you go to a meeting, usually the room offering a program of that nature will be jam-packed! It seems everyone wants to know THE SECRET to new patient experiences.

If you look at many of the journals that come across our desks, you'll see articles about how to create these new patient "experiences". In fact, I've even got my own series of these going right now in AGD Impact - a series of 12 articles about "Ritz-Carlton" touches for your practice. Closer inspection of many journals reveals numerous articles and advertisements for systems and steps at some type of new patient experience designed to get your patients to say "Yes" to your treatment recommendations, and thus, the money tree is then there for you to pick. Right?

Yes, it is true that most patients have lots of dental needs, or at last could benefit greatly by the advances we have made in dentistry today. But that's not the point. Getting patients to do treatment DOES pay your bills and salary, but it's not the heart of what we do as healthcare professionals.

In this article, I'd like to address all three points I've made so far: the new patient experience, retaining new patients, and doing the dentistry.

There are a few things (perhaps that's understated .) that dental school did not prepare us for. For now, let's just focus on three areas that are highly relevant to the points I've made so far.

Communication, Relationship, and YOU

In dental school, our patients were "three-unit bridges", "four Class II's", and "four quads of SRPs" - not real people, you know. Our instructors taught us how to diagnose and treat - a daunting task in and of itself in the time frame allotted for school. Left out of the curriculum was how to relate and communicate with that patient, often called "chairside manner" (akin to "bedside manner" of our medical colleagues). Those graduates who naturally had the best chairside manner usually did well more quickly than others who had not developed those skills, assuming they also had the clinical skills to do decent dentistry for patients. After all, patients can only grade us on whether it hurts, looks bad, or their experience of working with us isn't so easy, right? They don't know about the importance of so many details of dentistry that we spend hundreds of hours trying to perfect, nor are they able to tell if we have achieved those details.

What's in a good "chairside manner"? Most everyone could list at least a few components of a good chairside manner, such as empathy, listening, calmness, and caring. Do you demonstrate those characteristics each and every encounter you have with a patient - and not just the new patient? What other attributes would you say a good chairside manner encompasses?

At the heart of any patient experience in your office is ultimately the connection that YOU have with the patient. It's not the beautiful surroundings, the fragrant aromatherapy, the smell of Starbucks coffee or free pastries, the scent of fresh flowers, the colors that soothe the eyes and souls, or the music that settles the nervousness. It's not even your staff - although many patients DO leave a practice because of a negative experience with a staff member. It's YOU. Their connection with you is what will weather staff mistakes, staff turnover, bad coffee, stale flowers, moldy pastries, music they don't like - and dentistry that didn't work out as planned.

How does one go about creating that connection with each patient that will endure the onslaught of marketing from other dentists, technological advances, and everything else I mentioned previously?

I'm sorry to say it's not a recipe. There are no steps to follow. But there ARE concepts and focal areas for you to become aware of and develop. These are:

1. Understand that your practice and any experience of a patient in your practice won't change until you do. Yes friends, that is what we call "personal growth". It's about WHO you are as a person. Develop yourself as a real human being.
2. Recognizing that your ego gets in the way. Well all have an ego, so don't fret. Understand that much of our life journey is about letting go of the ego. In reality, most problems in dental practices occur because of ego issues! Do some real work at recognizing how your own ego gets in the way of listening to your staff and patients, at how your ego clouds your ability to make the best decisions, and how your ego is not your best friend!
3. Become an expert listener. If there's one thing I run into as a coach over and over, it's the discrepancy between how we think we listen versus how we really listen. There's lots of room for development in this area! Listening is much harder than talking, yet we all think we're listening experts .
4. Get your life in order. Simply said, how can we truly care for others when our own lives are in disarray? Your practice will suffer and so will your patients. Get focused, get your life cleaned up, and reap the benefits.
5. Learn the language of emotions. There's a whole new wonderful world out there when you can tap into your own emotions and the emotions of others. Funny as it may sound, it's like the business world has just discovered people have emotions! One of the most richly rewarding journeys you'll ever make is the journey of connection to your emotions and the emotions of others, which allow trust, intimacy, understanding, connection, love, sharing, and caring.

Yes, go ahead and read the articles and attend the workshops on patient experiences. Learn everything you can. And when you're ready for real change - real changes that know no barriers - do the deeply personal work that you didn't get to do in dental school or perhaps to this point in your life. You won't find courses on how to make these real changes at dental meetings - it's just not "sexy" enough to calm the fears of meeting planners who are looking to at least break even on the costs associated with putting on a meeting. In fact, put me next door to a course on porcelain veneers and see which one gets filled up! (Hint: It won't be mine.)

Is it time for you to take what you already know and do something different with it for a change? Are you ready to take the journey that most of your colleagues never take, and thus never enjoy the benefits of? As a professional personal coach, I travel that journey with many people, and the rewards that each receive because of that work are many - for them and for me!

Is it time for you to make that journey? If so, let's talk. I'd be honored to be your personal coach.

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