Would you buy a used car from that dentist?

When I was single, I was a musician. There was nothing that stopped me from playing saxophone. When I was single I tried again and again to meet, greet and find women. I didn't stop after a rejection. I tried again and again to hone down my skills so I would be expert at alto sax, and also sex. Every experience was a learning experience. There were no failures, only results. When I lost the gig and was thrown out of the band I learned exactly how to be obnoxious enough to do this consistently. I also had learned the proper way to be rejected by women. Eventually I was able to find a way, my way, of presenting myself so I always got the job. Others might have been better musicians, but none were better at getting the job. On the "women" side, I got married to someone who I love on an ongoing basis.

As dentists, we are continually selling ourselves on an ongoing basis whether we believe it or not. You cannot not sell yourself. The truth is we are always selling a product, service, concept, treatment alternative, idea, and of course ourselves. Most people have not a clue how to sell anything. Go to a used car lot to learn all the things you should never do. Make that a learning experience. The beauty behind selling dentistry is that there is no magic statement or method that will make a patient want treatment. Each patient will need to be treated differently, just like their teeth!

As a dental student you started by learning concepts which became skills needed to treat patients. The process for some was fast, for others it was slow. The students with the best hands were not necessarily the students who were the best at science. Some loved periodontics while others hated it. Eventually we all learned what we felt we needed to know. We learned to represent a stump of a tooth as a crown prep. We learned to represent cutting off the gums and drilling on our jaws as osseous surgery. We now see things differently from non-dentists.

Sales is very much like learning dentistry. Some will be very good at it, and some will need to learn basis skills to allow success to occur. Everyone is different. Everybody's practice is different. When I am hungry, sometimes I will put on a suit and go to a fancy French restaurant. When I am hungry, sometimes I will get in my car and head for a drive through window to get Burger King. The Burger King is located next to the French restaurant. The owners of the French restaurant don't care that Burger King is down the block. Although I believe the food is of a higher quality at the French restaurant, I also have no doubt that the Burger King makes more money. I have also seen many seemingly good restaurants fail. Just like these restaurants, our practices are also different. There is no right type of dental practice, there are just those that succeed or learn the lesson of failure. Together we will develop a way to succeed.

What do successful practices have in common when they sell (present) treatment? The salesperson is very organized, dedicated to certain treatment beliefs, incredibly honest and very persistent. Selling is listening, not talking. Selling is asking, not telling. Selling is a negotiation in which all parties see the benefit of the sale. Selling is understanding what the patient's needs are and the ability of the dentist to provide for those needs. It is also the understanding of what must be clinically done and the finances that the patient will need to complete this agreed upon negotiation.

When I went to buy my first computer I was asked a barrage of questions. I didn't know a floppy drive from a meg of ram. I felt like an idiot and I was very confused. I walked out of the store because people who are confused do not buy anything. If you confuse patients, they will not buy anything. If they feel that they don't understand you, they will not buy anything. When you sell dentistry you must ask sequential questions of patients so they understand what it is you are asking them to buy. I understand that we must inform patients of all possible treatment alternatives, but we usually can steer a patient to a modality of treatment we believe is best. Additionally, we can not have financial arrangements for treatment unless we know exactly what treatment option we are trying to achieve. Too many choices create the death of a sale, which is not beneficial to the patient or the doctor.

When I bought my first computer, the salesman asked me what I wanted to do with the machine. He then showed me a few computers he felt would suit my needs. When I told him I primarily was interested in organizing my finances, HE ASKED ME if he could recommend a good software package. I told him yes. Next HE ASKED ME if I wanted to save a copy of my computer entries in case of a power problem. I told him my financial records were very important and I would always want a copy of them in case the computer lost data. HE ASKED ME MY OPINION. He said I could backup all the data on 10 of these disks, or I could put all the info on one tape and he wanted to know my opinion. I told him I felt I didn't need the tape backup. He said fine and I bought the computer. Three months later I went back to the store and had the same person install a tape drive. It struck me that this salesman was really a nice guy. We buy things from people. We don't buy things from dentists, computer experts, or salesmen. People buy things from other people.

In the next installment of Dentalogics, we will continue learning how to question, and answer effectively, to increase our bottom line while providing the quality of care we want. By utilizing specific methods, we will teach you how to sell and enjoy selling. We will teach you the HOW. I will give you specifics that work for me, but they may not work for you. These specifics are the WHAT. They are interesting but not as important as the HOW. Remember the adage, "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for his life."