iDentistry The Journal identistry_jan_april2019 | Page 18

The Journal
21. Give choices or options to your patient:
People like being pampered; they feel happy
when they are spoilt for choices. They want to
feel they have control, especially when it comes
to their mouth and their money. We always got
to give our patients; different choice or
alternatives to reach the same goal (read
treatment outcome) and side by side or in the
end, present our best recommendations for the
same, never worrying about the fate of the
same (whether it would be a YES or a NO by the
patient) and leave the final decision to them.
When it comes to costing, give those options
that don’t stress their budget and these may
include cash, cheque, net banking or a credit /
debit card. We have to be always flexible in our
patient approach in our clinics.
Having only one option is not an option
~Unknown
22. Create your own Benchmark or high
service standards to emulate: One of the
biggest obstacles in improving the patient
experience in dentistry is our industry’s insular
nature and the way this makes its problems self-
reinforcing. Putting it in simpler way, we
compare ourselves to each other, to the clinic
next door, to the dentist close by in
neighbourhood and benchmark their customer
(read patient) services accordingly. There is a
proverb in hindi which goes like "Andhon Mein
Kaana Raja" which loosely means that in a
group of foolish people even the one with
meager amount of intelligence is considered
brainiest. Literally, it means that in a group of
blind people, half blinded (blind from one eye) is
considered the king. It just has the symbolic
meaning and it reminds people who consider
themselves great amongst the crowd of foolish
that they are just a frog in a well. Applying it here
in the point it means that if your benchmark
(comparative point) is weak, in all probabilities,
your own set standards would be pretty weak
and shaky as well.
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Let your past achievements be your motivation;
not your benchmark.
~Shaili
23. Cross the bridge of patient expectations
by performing beyond them: Anger mostly
stems from hidden frustration and usually
frustration creeps in with unmet expectations.
Delivering more than what you promise should
be your main mantra in clinic because
exceeding your promises does you and your
practice a great favour only. The usually cause
of frustration and anger by patients (if at all, it
happens) in our clinic is because of over
promise and under delivery. Whenever you over
deliver, make sure, you let the patient know the
same tacitly, but an advice, never ever always
over-deliver, because that moves the bar up
and becomes the expectation for every time.
Your service should always be ‘value based’
making sure your patient understands that
sometimes there are necessary constraints on
their wants and you don't disappoint them ‘cost
wise’. Under-promise and over delivery should
be the mantra of every practice.
Expectation is the root of all heartache
~ William Shakespeare
24. Create entry for more patients by
attracting them: When it comes to our health,
we tend to trust family and friends over any
other marketing channel or rate list because we
know it is the job of advertisers to sell something
and although, we can very well see the inbuilt
marketing involved, a personal
recommendation is totally another story
entirely. These recommendations usually
include a caring dentist, clear and informed
communication, the ease of operation and
working and the enhanced level of comfort. The
positive aspects of personal recommendations
extend all the way to social media platforms and
third-party review sites. By delivering on them,
we can do our image build up amongst existing
patients and attract new ones. Patient care,
though, is a double-edged sword.
Vol. 15
No. 1
Jan-April 2019