by Roger P. Levin, DDS
Without question, verbal skills are one of the most important success tools that any person, especially a sales representative, can develop. Whether you are speaking to one person or an entire group, your ability to communicate effectively will determine how influential and successful you really are. The power of your presentation will dramatically affect your results. Scripting for all situations encountered by the sales representative is the logical way to foster and reinforce consistent, effective communication with your clients and prospects.
Good communication
All businesses face the same need to communicate effectively. In many service industries, there is a widespread problem. Most people believe that they are already excellent communicators. Therefore, if a listener does not understand or react appropriately, the problem resides with that listener. The truth is that good communication skills do not always come naturally to people. Verbal skills are much more of an art than a science.
The good news is that virtually everyone can learn to improve their verbal skills, which is almost a guarantee that they will be more successful in life. Not only do verbal skills help to create and maintain a superior positive attitude, but these same skills will also change the way people view your level of intelligence, sophistication, and manners. When a good speaker talks, everyone listens.
The power of positive communication
With few exceptions, people are attracted to positive people. Even better, the effect is contagious. Not only will the sales representative with a positive outlook have a better impact on dentists and dental teams, but dentists and dental teams will also be more receptive to listening to what the sales representative has to say. When you use verbal skills to present yourself with positive enthusiasm, dentists and staff members respond in kind. This builds a true relationship, which is more important to your sale than superficial kindness.
Creating a cycle of positive communication is a remarkable achievement because most people speak more often in negative language than positive. One way to turn this around is to begin to use three times more positive words than negative ones. In fact, you can remove virtually all of the negative words from your vocabulary. Talking positively does take some skill training. Once you have mastered the technique, it simply becomes a question of which words and phrases you want to use to create a positive environment in the course of discussions with dentists.
What you say to dentists and teams is not something that should be left to chance. You can’t just wing it. Scripting your conversations is critical in order to stay on message and avoid any misstatements. Although scripting may sometimes seem like complicating something that appears very simple, it is necessary in order to convey a consistent message to each dentist and team - and it is good customer service. The goal of successful client management is to win the trust of the practice by giving team members ultimate customer service while, at the same time, convincing them to use your product.
Summary
Simply having excellent products is obviously not enough to achieve your sales goals. In the end, people will acknowledge the quality of the product you represent by the way you communicate.
Nothing you do in your sales presentation will equal the impact of your verbal abilities because they affect a dental team’s perceptions of quality and overall customer service experiences. Avoiding negative language and verbal mistakes as well as adhering to scripts are effective ways to deliver a consistent, effective message to dentists.
Roger P. Levin, DDS, is founder and CEO of Levin Group, a leading dental practice management consulting firm that is dedicated to improving the lives of dentists through a diverse portfolio of lifetime services and solutions. Since the company’s inception in 1985, Dr. Levin has worked to bring the business world to dentistry. A popular lecturer, Dr. Levin addresses thousands of dentists and staff worldwide each year in 100-plus seminars and at the dental industry’s most prestigious meetings.
