Creating value with scripting in your dental practice
In the post-recession dental economy, the success of your practice depends heavily on how well you communicate with patients. From scheduling to case acceptance, generating referrals to collections, you and your team need to motivate patients to consent, accept, endorse, and comply. Scripting has proven to be an invaluable technique for accomplishing this, and Levin Group’s result-oriented “Value Scripting” sets the standard for effective and motivational communication.
Why create value?
To attract new patients and keep all patients active, practices must differentiate themselves from the competition and continually strengthen the patient-practice relationship. Value is the differentiator. By creating value—for the doctor, team, recommended treatment, appointments, and everything else about the relationship—both your patients and your practice will benefit.
From systems documentation to scripting
In order to function smoothly and productively with a minimum of stress, your practice needs to develop and implement step-by-step protocols—management systems—for every aspect of operation. Every step should be carefully documented, ensuring that (a) anyone who uses the system will know exactly what to do, and (b) everyone will follow the same steps, every time.
Once a system’s documentation has been written, it can be used as the basis for scripting. Many of a system’s steps involve verbal interaction with patients, so using the system successfully depends heavily on your ability to “guide” patients to respond the right way. Scripts show you and your staff how to influence patients with what you say.
Scripts as training tools
Once scripts are written, staff members can begin training with them, in other words, learning how to operate practice systems. Role-playing with scripts is an excellent technique for learning what key points to emphasize in conversations with patients. Scripts are guidelines; they are not meant to be memorized and followed verbatim. Through role-playing, team members become comfortable with making points and building value in their own words.
Conclusion
By patterning scripts on step-by-step systems and using them to train team members, you can empower everyone on your staff to create value for the doctor and practice, value that translates into greater trust, compliance, and loyalty. At a time when competition is intense and financial concerns are making many patients reluctant to accept treatment, or to even come in for routine visits, the benefits of using Value Creation Scripting™ are greater than ever.
ALSO BY DR. ROGER LEVIN:How to differentiate your dental practice to survive in the new dental economy
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