Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 29

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Chris Ramsey / Co-owner of Ritter & Ramsey

Watch the full video of interview by clicking here!

 Key Takeaways:

• Take care of your team. Your team will take care of your patients, and your patients will take care of our profits.
• Strive to be the best. You don’t have to be the best in the WHOLE world, but be the best in YOUR world.
• Success isn’t the same for everyone. Define what success means for you.
• Make sure you can answer the question “Why do people choose to come to your office?” Make sure you define your answer and clarify that vision with your team.
• Achievement is not always related to fulfilment.
• Chris Ramsey created a lecture program called M.A.S.T.E.R., dedicated to teaching people how to be great at what they do and do more of the dentistry they love.
• Mindset – The conscious, unconscious, and subconscious parts of your brain.
  • Your brain is working like a hard drive, storing information randomly.
  • Typical dental experiences are usually TERRIBLE. It’s uncomfortable, can be painful, and is filled with bad news.
  • You have to make the dental experience positive – start with a positive, and end with a positive.
• Addressing Choice – dentists have to stop overwhelming patients with too many options.
  • When it comes to choices, more is not better.
  • Influence people so they feel like the decisions they make are their own.
    • Use body language for subconscious influencing.
    • People remember most the last thing you told them.
    • The sequence you use in presenting options matters.
  • Storytelling – Approach as if you’re getting ready for a TED talk. There is an art to storytelling.
    • Craft a message map.
    • People make decisions based on emotions.
    • Use a voice recorder to really listen to what you say and how you say it.
    • Dentistry is not a commodity, it’s a service.
  • Training the Eye – Learn how to read body language.
    • Women are innately better at reading body language than men.
    • Strangers read each other at an accuracy of 20%. You can’t guess people’s reactions solely by first impression.
    • Scratching the neck indicates “I don’t really agree.”
    • Playing with hair is subconscious calming tactic.
    • Arms crossed could mean a million things, don’t assume it’s nervousness. Look at their hand position. If fists are clenched they are defensive.
    • See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil; touching their mouth/face, rubbing of eyes, rubbing/touching their nose, or touching of ears indicates anxiety or covering of truth.
    • Someone turning their torso towards you invites you into the conversation. If they turn away it’s a cue they might not want to talk to you at the moment.
    • Don’t rely on people’s faces to tell you the truth. Read their body cues instead.
    • Pay attention to the clues and craft your message accordingly.
    • Look for pacifying behaviors, assess what made them nervous, alter the conversation and move it back to neutral. Once there aren’t any more pacifying behaviors, stop talking.
  • Expectation – Why do things cost what they do? Is your product worth what you charge?
    • It’s all psychological, it’s all about the experience.
    • Trigger effect is something intangible that triggers you to say something is valuable.
    • Attention to detail is important.
  • Recognizing Persuasion – Social perception and influence is incredibly important to your business.
    • Search out the easy & right things to do for people. Those things go far to prove your value and create customers for life.
    • Reciprocation rule; do unexpected things for people and they will reciprocate.
    • Why spend money trying to get new patients who you don’t know rather than spend money on patients you already have? Invest in your patients.
  • Every person that comes through your door wants to feel a connection. You and your team should do everything you can to foster that connection. Make it about them.

 References

• Digital Smile Design (DSD)
• The Dip by Seth Godin
• Purple Cow by Seth Godin
• Poke the Box by Seth Godin
• Linchpin by Seth Godin
• Blink by Malcom Gladwell
• TED Talks
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
• Influence by Robert Cialdini
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

 Tweetables:

I don’t think anybody listening to this podcast ever wakes up, stretches, and says “I can’t wait to be mediocre today!” – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Success isn’t the same for everyone. Define what success means for you. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Take care of your team, your team will take care of your patients, and your patients will take care of our profits. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. – Albert Einstein

It’s time to start trying new things, and start failing. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Failure is just a seminar. A mistake is just a learning experience. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Your practice is not stagnant, that is a myth. You’re either growing, or you’re dying. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Every person that comes through your door wants to feel a connection. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 28

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Dr. Chris Ramsey / Co-owner of Ritter & Ramsey

Watch the full video of interview by clicking here!

 Key Takeaways:

• Take care of your team. Your team will take care of your patients, and your patients will take care of our profits.
• Strive to be the best. You don’t have to be the best in the WHOLE world, but be the best in YOUR world.
• Success isn’t the same for everyone. Define what success means for you.
• Make sure you can answer the question “Why do people choose to come to your office?” Make sure you define your answer and clarify that vision with your team.
• Achievement is not always related to fulfilment.
• Chris Ramsey created a lecture program called M.A.S.T.E.R., dedicated to teaching people how to be great at what they do and do more of the dentistry they love.
• Mindset – The conscious, unconscious, and subconscious parts of your brain.
  • Your brain is working like a hard drive, storing information randomly.
  • Typical dental experiences are usually TERRIBLE. It’s uncomfortable, can be painful, and is filled with bad news.
  • You have to make the dental experience positive – start with a positive, and end with a positive.
• Addressing Choice – dentists have to stop overwhelming patients with too many options.
  • When it comes to choices, more is not better.
  • Influence people so they feel like the decisions they make are their own.
    • Use body language for subconscious influencing.
    • People remember most the last thing you told them.
    • The sequence you use in presenting options matters.
  • Storytelling – Approach as if you’re getting ready for a TED talk. There is an art to storytelling.
    • Craft a message map.
    • People make decisions based on emotions.
    • Use a voice recorder to really listen to what you say and how you say it.
    • Dentistry is not a commodity, it’s a service.
  • Training the Eye – Learn how to read body language.
    • Women are innately better at reading body language than men.
    • Strangers read each other at an accuracy of 20%. You can’t guess people’s reactions solely by first impression.
    • Scratching the neck indicates “I don’t really agree.”
    • Playing with hair is subconscious calming tactic.
    • Arms crossed could mean a million things, don’t assume it’s nervousness. Look at their hand position. If fists are clenched they are defensive.
    • See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil; touching their mouth/face, rubbing of eyes, rubbing/touching their nose, or touching of ears indicates anxiety or covering of truth.
    • Someone turning their torso towards you invites you into the conversation. If they turn away it’s a cue they might not want to talk to you at the moment.
    • Don’t rely on people’s faces to tell you the truth. Read their body cues instead.
    • Pay attention to the clues and craft your message accordingly.
    • Look for pacifying behaviors, assess what made them nervous, alter the conversation and move it back to neutral. Once there aren’t any more pacifying behaviors, stop talking.
  • Expectation – Why do things cost what they do? Is your product worth what you charge?
    • It’s all psychological, it’s all about the experience.
    • Trigger effect is something intangible that triggers you to say something is valuable.
    • Attention to detail is important.
  • Recognizing Persuasion – Social perception and influence is incredibly important to your business.
    • Search out the easy & right things to do for people. Those things go far to prove your value and create customers for life.
    • Reciprocation rule; do unexpected things for people and they will reciprocate.
    • Why spend money trying to get new patients who you don’t know rather than spend money on patients you already have? Invest in your patients.
  • Every person that comes through your door wants to feel a connection. You and your team should do everything you can to foster that connection. Make it about them.

 References

• Digital Smile Design (DSD)
• The Dip by Seth Godin
• Purple Cow by Seth Godin
• Poke the Box by Seth Godin
• Linchpin by Seth Godin
• Blink by Malcom Gladwell
• TED Talks
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
• Influence by Robert Cialdini
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

 Tweetables:

I don’t think anybody listening to this podcast ever wakes up, stretches, and says “I can’t wait to be mediocre today!” – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Success isn’t the same for everyone. Define what success means for you. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Take care of your team, your team will take care of your patients, and your patients will take care of our profits. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. – Albert Einstein

It’s time to start trying new things, and start failing. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Failure is just a seminar. A mistake is just a learning experience. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Your practice is not stagnant, that is a myth. You’re either growing, or you’re dying. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Every person that comes through your door wants to feel a connection. – Dr. Chris Ramsey

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 27

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Fred Joyal / Founder of 1-800-DENTIST

 Key Takeaways:

• Many dentists still struggle with basic ideas of effectively promoting and marketing their practices.
• Patients judge you by their experience, and 90% of the patient experience is non-clinical.
• Developing clinical skills is important, but success is determined by the office’s culture.
• Building better relationships with your team and patients will make you wildly successful.
• A good patient who you treat well will earn you five new patients.
• The best marketing strategy is to CARE. The new economy is centered around caring and convenience.
• Dentists obsessed with adding value for patients are those who are killing it. It’s not about you.
• Everything the patient experiences (sees, touches, tastes, hears and smells) affects case acceptance.
  • Most of our decisions are not rational, they’re based on feeling.
  • If you don’t trust the doctor it doesn’t matter how much pain you’re in.
• Patients should feel in control of their decisions based on your communication with them.
• If you put people in a better mood they’re more amenable to accepting treatment.
• You can’t always compete on a macro level, so deliver experience on a micro level.
• If the dentist isn’t comfortable communicating benefits to patients find someone who is and have them present treatment options. The dentist only has to be good clinically, have remarkable personable people around who can’t resist upselling dentistry.
  • Assess the personalities around you and find people to complement your weaknesses.
• If your business is making time AND money for you, that’s a business. If you work hard and it makes money because you put in more time that’s a job.
• Create freedom for your team to make you aware of where you can do better.
• Learn how to build rapport with your patients. Keep focused on your mission to help educate the patient and prevent future pain, not on closing a sale.
  • Learn public speaking skills, study neurolinguistics. These skills will catapult you to the next level.
  • The whole environment has to support your mission; whoever is presenting the case needs to listen, watch body language, empathize with their position. BUILD TRUST.
• Express appreciation to your team members. That’s where real motivation comes from.
  • Exercise: for the next week, express appreciation to everyone you encounter, to an absurd level. At the end of the week, gauge how you did. You’ll see the reaction and see how it makes such a huge impact.
• Work hard to make the people you encounter feel better about themselves.

References

• Everything Is Marketing by Fred Joyal
• Becoming Remarkable by Fred Joyal
• Get Fred’s books for $10, including shipping, by using code FREDJOYAL

Tweetables:

Don’t be obsessed with you, be obsessed with your patients and adding value for them. – Dr. Craig Spodak

People want to buy but they don’t want to be sold. – Dr. Craig Spodak

You’re not on an island, surround yourself with people who can fortify your weaknesses. – Dr. Peter Boulden

Nobody is great at everything. If you do everything, you’re probably average at everything. – Fred Joyal

Feeling gratitude without expressing it is like wrapping a present and not delivering it. – Fred Joyal

Trade your expectations for appreciations and your whole world changes in an instant. – Tony Robbins

The business doesn’t serve you, you serve your people. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 26

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Stuart Faught / Founder of PatientSnap.com

Key Takeaways:

• Online reviews are crucial to the success of your dental practice, they can also be very hard to obtain.
• Make sure every patient receives a text message right after their appointment asking for review and giving links to post a review.
• Key platforms are Yelp, Google, and on your website.
• 88% of patients are currently checking online reviews before going into a practice.
• There’s a democratization of small business; people have a much greater power to make or break your business.
• Shoot for getting the most stars and the best reviews.
• Cadence and consistency are important. Look at your review request process as an evergreen strategy and not a quick fix.
• Respond to every negative review, and at least some of the positive reviews. Every review response is another marketing opportunity.
• Even the best practices will eventually get a bad review. An occasional bad review actually authenticates all your positive reviews.
• Use bad reviews as a way to get patient feedback and an opportunity to keep them as loyal customers.
• Reviews translate your culture, can add value to the business’s sale price, and attract top-performing talent to your office.
• Best practice:
  • Doctors have say-so on which patients should get request to review
  • Have one person accountable for actually sending
  • Use technology to send a text
  • Ask screening questions first; ask if experience was positive or negative
  • If they’re positive they’re sent links to review on Yelp, Google, or website
  • If negative they are sent to feedback comment box and assure them you’ll work to make things right
• It has to be easy or they’re not going to do it.
• Target conversion rates is at least 10% of requests.
• Don’t spam, patients shouldn’t be asked to write a review more than once every six months.
• Make reviews fun, get your team excited and reward your team and patients for their efforts.
• Review add-ins are also key; work to get patients to check in, add a picture, and interact with the review platform as much as possible.
• We’re just barely scratching the surface with “social proof.” Everything is moving toward video and authentication.
• PatientSnap.com is offering a 30-day trial to listeners who try out the demo.

Tweetables:

Online reviews are the modern day word of mouth. – Stuart Faught

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. – Dr. Craig Spodak