Effective Patient Communication

To build a highly successful practice, you need the excellent clinical skills you acquired in dental school. However, that alone will not guarantee a thriving practice. You and your team must also develop an innate ability to communicate effectively with patients. Young dentists often assume excellent clinical skills are enough to guarantee success. This is not the case. Unless your patients happen to be dentists, they will be unable to judge the quality of care. Patients tend to assess the quality of dentistry based on their own perceptions

of customer service and communication exhibited by the team. Outstanding customer service is critical to practice success — and it starts with good commu-

Roger P. Levin, DDS

nication.

Three Ways to Achieve Superior Communication When interacting with patients, don’t just “wing it.” Use effective scripting to stay focused and consistent. Scripting allows you to:

1. Answer all questions thoroughly. When patients ask questions about your services, they are expressing an interest in what you have to offer. You cannot respond with incomplete answers or take days to respond to their telephone calls. When you call your patients back, don’t make them feel like the response was a chore. Demonstrate that you are happy to explain the answers to their questions, and make sure they understand. Levin Group Data Center™ research demonstrates that a majority of patients will not follow through with treatment if they perceive an attitude of indifference toward their concerns. Remember that they chose to be a patient with your practice. Don’t let them regret that decision.

ROGER P. LEVIN, DDS Power To Succeed

2. Learn a minimum of 10 personal facts about a patient. In fact, do this before you initiate any diagnosis or treatment. Once you know 10 things about a person, you have the building blocks for a relationship. Simply being nice does not automatically create a relationship nor does sending recare cards or smiling at the front desk. Obviously, those things are needed but they are only aspects of effective communication. By taking the time to learn about patients, you effectively demonstrate that you care. It also serves as a stepping stone in the doctor/patient relationship. This process encourages people to share information with you. People usually only open up to others if they like them. In my practice management seminars, I always stress that half of the case presentation has nothing to do with the dentistry, but rather with how much patients like the doctor and practice. 3. Discover things that you have in common with patients. There are two ways to approach this strategy. One, try to find broad areas of common interests such as sports teams or reading topics. This is a good starting point and one that should be pursued. However, there is a second much more powerful technique — looking for specific things that you are both passionate about. For example, the doctor and patient are both dog lovers or have children of similar age. This approach allows for a much more powerful and longterm relationship to evolve.

in the patient with whom the doctor is conversing. The position of crossed arms across the chest is an authoritative one, which can be interpreted as talking down to the patient. Closed-mindedness or a lack of willingness to consider the patient’s point of view is also communicated by this stance. • Make good eye contact. Looking away from other people while speaking can be perceived as untrustworthy or dishonest. Excellent eye contact is critical since dentistry is a service that requires a high level of trust. Never allow eye contact to be broken. If the doctor is interrupted by team members during a patient conversation, his or her eye contact will only be sporadic at best. • Shake hands with patients. Shaking hands as you greet patients may seem like obvious advice, but Levin Group finds that many dentists fail to do so. A handshake creates a sense of connection. Patients feel comforted when that connection is made, especially when they may be worried about experiencing pain.

Conclusion Patients judge the quality of your practice largely by the way you (and your team) communicate. Verbal abilities and body language affect patient perceptions of quality and customer service, which are vitally important to the success of your practice. Using positive language and adhering to scripts are effective ways to deliver a consistent, effective message to patients. ■

Body Language is Communication, Too Patient communication also involves what doctors and teams don’t say to patients. The following tips on body language will help dentists become better overall communicators:

To learn how to run a more profitable, efficient and satisfying practice, visit the Levin Group Resource Center at www.levingroup.com/gp —a free online resource with tips, videos and other valuable information. You can also connect with Levin Group on Facebook and Twitter (Levin_Group) to learn strategies and share ideas.

Avoid crossing your arms. Crossed arms and legs convey a closed individual who is not particularly interested

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