The trick to selling high-fee dentistry is to stop selling it.

Instead of selling patients into high-fee dentistry, try inviting them.

Selling vs. inviting; here’s the difference.

Too often, I hear dentists selling high-fee dentistry. I listen to tactics like creating contrived urgency, manipulative closing questions, not-so-subtle threats about conditions worsening and being more expensive/time-consuming/painful to treat in the future.

Here’s my selling advice; stop it.

Instead, invite patients into care. Here’s how.

Inviting is about asking. For example, Kevin is partially edentulous and headed towards more dental problems. During his exam, you talk about his conditions. Make him aware of his conditions. Let him know how his conditions might progress if untreated in patients similar to him. Then, invite him into a conversation by asking if he’s interested in knowing more about his condition. Here’s how all this sounds.

“Kevin, during your exam, I noticed some of your teeth are loose. I’ve seen situations like yours in many of my patients. Typically, when patients don’t do anything about loose teeth, they lose these teeth over time. Does this concern you? Is this something you’d like to talk about?“

Asking Kevin if he’s interested in talking about his loose teeth feels like an invitation to him. No pressure, no threats, no contrived urgency.

Think of it like this. Which of these statements feels better to you;

• “You need to come to my party tonight.”
• “Would you like to come to my party tonight?”

Inviting Kevin into a conversation vs. telling him what he needs feels far better to Kevin.

An invitation is a far more collaborative and influential approach to recommending complex high-fee dentistry.

Providing more fee-for-service dentistry begins with patients liking you; really liking you. Liking you leads to trusting you. Trusting you leads to patients being influenced by you and accepting fee-for-service dentistry.

It all starts with being likable.

What is it about you that patients like? Is it your full-mouth x-rays, or study models, or periodontal probing? None of this is likeable for patients, yet procedures like these constitute much of the new patient experience.

Do this; if you’re interested in building likeable relationships with complete care patients and providing more fee-for-service care, check out the online in-office training program, Treatment Acceptance Mastery here.