By Roger P. Levin, DDS
Is your treatment coordinator (TC) successful at motivating patients and parents to accept orthodontic treatment at your practice? Can your TC close 70% of patients? Or 80%?
Working with the orthodontist and other staff members, the TC should be able to routinely achieve a 90% acceptance rate. However, this can only happen if trained to overcome obstacles that occur during the consult appointment.
When parents or adult patients are trying to decide whether they’ll accept treatment, a well-trained TC should be prepared to give reassuring answers to such questions as:
- How long will treatment take?
- How much will it cost?
- What do you offer to help make payment easier?
- Will it be difficult to keep teeth clean?
- How often will you need to see the patient?
- Will there be any pain or discomfort?
- Will you be using the best ortho technology?
- Why come to you instead of letting the regular dentist handle treatment?
- Will your orthodontist and staff be pleasant to work with?
- How is your practice better than any other ortho practice?
The range of patient inquiries is broad, encompassing technical, emotional, practical, and financial matters. What makes the selling process even more challenging is the fact that some of the most important issues may not even be apparent.
Beware the Unspoken Objections
Parents or patients may inadvertently conceal the obstacles most likely to block acceptance. In other words, the TC must learn to “read” prospects and parents during the consult, detecting unspoken questions and hesitancy that they may not even recognize.
Whenever a treatment presentation has gone very well yet fails to win acceptance, some undiscovered objection is probably the cause. TCs should become a student of not only the presentation process but also the parent or patient decision-making process. By doing so, they will be well on their way to achieving the 90% case acceptance rate that Levin Group trains TCs to reach.
To learn how to run a more profitable, efficient, and satisfying practice, visit the Levin Group Resource Center at www.levingroup.com/ortho. You can also connect with Levin Group on Facebook and Twitter (Levin_Group) to learn strategies and share ideas.
