I was recently at one of my favorite restaurants for dinner and asked the waiter if I could substitute a seaweed salad for the ginger salad? He looked up from his notebook and replied “No.” I hesitated slightly as I waited for him to say something else but that was it. I looked around at other tables and noticed other people eating seaweed salads. I turned around to look at him and said, “Okay.” After he left our table I thought to myself, did he mean that I just couldn’t substitute one salad for the other? I wondered if I could have had a seaweed salad for an additional fee. I would have gladly paid more for a salad that I wanted. He didn’t offer me that option though.
This experience reminded me of how important it is for us, as dental team members, to try to answer patient questions with a "Yes". Instead of focusing on what we don’t offer, discuss what we can assist with. For example, when a patient asks to make $100 payments on a $2000 treatment plan, if you spoke your initial response it might be "No, I'm sorry we don't offer in office payment plans past 90 days." Instead respond with what you can do. "Yes, we use Care Credit to offer low monthly payments for our patients."
So the next time a patient asks you a question, before responding consider how you can answer them with a “Yes…”.
This experience reminded me of how important it is for us, as dental team members, to try to answer patient questions with a "Yes". Instead of focusing on what we don’t offer, discuss what we can assist with. For example, when a patient asks to make $100 payments on a $2000 treatment plan, if you spoke your initial response it might be "No, I'm sorry we don't offer in office payment plans past 90 days." Instead respond with what you can do. "Yes, we use Care Credit to offer low monthly payments for our patients."
So the next time a patient asks you a question, before responding consider how you can answer them with a “Yes…”.
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