Decoding the Patient Mindset

You’ll hear a lot of talk these days about creating a great patient experience, but what are the practical steps to achieving that? What I’ve learned is that everything that happens in a dental practice—everything the patient hears, sees, tastes, smells and touches—has an influence on case acceptance.  Nothing is neutral.  Human beings are always responding to their environment, often in subconscious and non-rational ways.

The most successful practices have a team with a great attitude, an office environment that is clean, appealing and comforting, technology that reduces discomfort and speeds treatment, and use the right words in the right situations.

The reason this works is that patients in general don’t have any way of evaluating their dentists’ clinical skills.  They don’t know if their margins are good or occlusion principles are being properly applied, but they can assess the experience of being a patient in a matter of minutes.

I’ve learned how patients think from nearly 30 years of dealing with consumers who are trying to choose a dentist, and believe me when I tell you that this is not a rational process for most people.  And I’ve learned from great dentists and consultants the best ways to influence that subjective process in a way that leads the patient to choose the best oral health and invest in their smile.

These are practical, systematic steps, not some arcane, mystical process.  Easily learned, easily applied.  And the end result is loyal patients who accept treatment and recommend the practice to everyone they know.  And what better result could you hope for?

Ensure that your practice is a place patients want to go. Join me, A-dec and Patterson in Philadelphia and Detroit for this in-depth presentation on strategies for practice growth. These presentations contain valuable information for everyone in the practice. Space is limited so register today!

About Post Author

Fred Joyal

Fred Joyal co-founded 1-800-DENTIST in 1986, and in recent years has shared his marketing knowledge and experience to individual practices and group audiences. He published “Everything is Marketing: the Ultimate Strategy for Dental Practice Growth” in 2009, and it is now in it’s fifth edition. His weekly blog, GoAskFred.com, covers everything from practice marketing and communication to social media and digital advertising, and includes whitepapers and videos design to entertain and inform dental teams. He has spoken at many large events, including keynoting CEREC 27.5, and also a number of smaller groups, study clubs, and dental schools.

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