Is your practice transactional or transformational?

JoAn Majors discusses the importance of creating a human connection

It is easy with today’s advancements in efficiency and technology to provide orthodontic care and become transactional, if we are not careful. It is black and white with simple strategic outcomes. Although many times transformational care can include transforming one’s appearance, at least in our industry, it begins and ends differently. Let me ask you a question — how much of this is driven by human connection?

When we strive for the best possible patient (and parent) experience, we often overlook connection and curiosity when we focus on efficiency. For instance, when your potential new patient calls and asks (and we know they do) if you take “their plan” or if you “offer Invisalign” treatment, how does your team answer this? Do they take a posture of curiosity to learn more? Likely not, unless they have been trained in a proven system to do so. Do they feel skillful (and most do) by being factual and efficient with a yes-or-no answer because they know no difference? This is transactional behavior, not transformational. Sometimes they have been instructed to do so or most often not instructed at all. I’d like permission to dive deeper on this noteworthy behavior.

When I perform a seminar or a workshop for a group, I’ll often start with an exercise involving all attendees. In my experience and decades of research from the front of the room, I know that if team members “discover” a need on their own, adoption of the content or process then increases dramatically. The soft skills communication systems I might suggest are needed in the first place, will have more validity. (It’s their idea, if you will and not mine.) It makes the following training much improved. When I conduct this exercise, it gets people up out of their chairs and moving around watching each other’s interaction. I’m also able to see the leaders emerge as I observe.

One of the four questions I use in the beginning, asks them to describe in three words or less what makes a five-star review in a professional setting. As the program progresses, and I offer a few other participation opportunities, I allow them to review and discuss in small groups so the learning increases. Around a mid-day break, I have a few participants come up and read off this large sticky note sheet with the answers from the early exercise about the five-star review. They do this reading each word aloud, and the audience will say together “soft skill” or “technical” as the descriptive words are read. It has been my experience doing this exercise with four significant questions that 80%-90% of the words used are, in fact, soft skills. Remember, they are reviewing their own research. They are now ready to truly lean in and work on these areas they themselves have pointed out to be primary for great service.

In today’s connection economy, the relationship is more important than ever. In a time when so much can be done digitally and often in fewer patient visits, each encounter should be intentional and well designed for the best possible patient experience. I worked in a busy orthodontic practice early in my career, and our doctor would walk through the multi-chair facility with “lite” interaction with the adult involved. Today with busy parents and people, many of the encounters are brief at most. Remembering that there’s a person attached to those teeth is critical to growth of the business. Marketing is much more sophisticated for both adults and children. Therefore, deciding what your practice will be known for is an important part of your success.

Doctor, deciding if you are known for the fee, the plan, the location, or the experience will help you learn if you’re more transactional or transformational in your communication. This also helps you lead your team in knowing what matters most for that shopper, referral source, or others calling or coming to your office. It will also help them understand their role in helping you create the environment that supports the type of practice you want to have. This is a critical piece of your planning and shouldn’t be left to chance.

In my latest book, Permission to Be Honest, — Tough Talk on Soft Skills for Providers of Care & Their Teams, I offer many simple variations that can considerably change the outcomes of a current or no system. The simple practice of a telephone process that is based in transformational language and systems is specific and proven to onboard more new patients or shoppers than no system or one that isn’t measured. Here is an excerpt that I hope will make sense of what I am suggesting about the initial connection with your potential patients and those who are referred to as the gatekeeper in our practices.

“The gatekeeper sometimes limits a doctor’s potential success. In most cases this is not intentional, but it often occurs because, again, they don’t know what they don’t know. In some instances, they don’t know who they don’t know. Let me assure you this is not to place blame on anyone. However, it is to suggest that if you have no system in place, one is being created right now by default, period — one you have no knowledge of and no control over. Doctor, if this doesn’t cause concern for you as a new provider or a seasoned professional, it should.”

You are confident in the care and skills available to those who end up in the chair(s) in your practice. But if you are perfectly honest, do you ever wonder if your team can genuinely convey the “value” of choosing your practice over others? It never surprises me to learn that many feel unsure about what is happening regarding those mystery callers. In other words, there is no system in place that is measured regularly to ensure that the team is connecting with curiosity and creating value for the care. Is the system that is in place there by default or intention?

Greeting or warm welcome?

In closing, I’d like to go back to the beginning. Frequently, I’ll ask a doctor if they know how their greeting and welcome for a new caller might go. Often, they look puzzled and share some version of, “Good morning, or thanks for calling, Amazing Smiles, Jessica speaking, how can I help?” What I’d like you to carry forward from this piece is simple and significant at the same time. Please read carefully. New callers make a judgment (I know it’s a strong word) about your care, based on the service first.

Most practices believe they welcome patients in their office with a greeting. Not true. Using a greeting and quickly answering the only question a caller knows to ask with yes, no, or a fee is not a warm welcome. It does not set you apart. It does set you up to be about the fee, the plan, or something besides the exceptional service. A warm welcome is intentional, believable, happens immediately following the caller’s question(s), and includes their name. It is personal! It feels and sounds quite different, and new callers know it’s great service immediately. They are engaged and connected at a completely different level because we have used their name and welcomed them before spouting fees, yes and no’s. This is transformational, not transactional.

P.S. If you’d like the paper on Greeting versus Warm Welcome, send me an email request, joan@joanmajors.com; I’m happy to help!