Features tell, it is the benefits that sell.

Following on from my last article, where I wrote about the importance of making extra time in your appointments, if you are leaving the NHS to go private, to explain in detail your membership plan. I also wrote about the importance of speaking from the heart when explaining to the patients, why you are leaving.

In this article, I am going to make a few suggestions on the type of language that you use when communicating the Membership Plan to your patients, that will hopefully increase the number of yes’s that you receive from your patients.

There is a great saying in the sales and marketing world. This is, Features tell, but it is the benefits that sell, and this most certainly applies when you are selling your Membership Plans to your patients. One big mistake I see many dentists and their teams make is that they feature dump, in other words tell the patients all about the plan and the features of it, but do not talk about the benefits.

Let us define what features and benefits are.

• Features are representations of a particular product or service. It describes exactly what something is.
• Benefits show the end results of the above-mentioned feature. Namely, what a person can achieve by taking advantage of the feature.

People who buy life insurance do not want life insurance; they want monthly income for their families in case of the death of the person who provides the income to the household.

If you take the context of my Ethical Sales & Communication Course, I can say that we will spend two hours covering ‘How to discuss fees with self-confidence’ (feature) the benefits are that when you go back to the Practice you will feel so much comfortable explaining your fees to your patients, you will never reduce the fees in your head again (benefits).

If you were to put this in dental context, no one buys trays and bleaches, (when explaining Teeth Whitening) they buy whiter teeth.

Providing your patients with the benefits of purchase is crucial because they can move away from what the product is, allowing them to focus on how it can elevate their life. This is a shift from factual information to emotional stimulation.

So, what are the features and benefits of your Membership Dental Plan.

Well, here are a couple.

Feature- you will get to see the Hygienist every six months, that is twice a year.

Benefits- Dental hygienists are experts when it comes to the health of your gums. They provide therapies to remove plaque (tartar) that cannot be removed through brushing alone and demonstrate effective brushing and flossing techniques that can help prevent gum disease.

You can explain further, that by visiting the Hygienist, hopefully you will be able to keep your teeth a lot longer and you will need less work with the dentist. That is another added benefit.

You can also ask the patients if they drink tea, coffee, or red wine? Here you can mention that the Hygienist will do a professional deep clean twice a year, ensuring that your teeth stay white and as fresh as possible.

Another example is that the policy includes an emergency dental treatment if you are on holiday. Explaining them what cover is provided, but then explaining the benefits, which means they can carry on enjoying their holiday if they have any problems, especially if they are abroad in a foreign country.

Now can you now see the difference and how powerful the benefits are, compared to just the features?

My strong recommendation is to meet as a team, go through all the features of your Membership Plan and make sure you link each feature to a benefit. This is a great exercise to do as a team and is extremely valuable, getting the whole team to buy into the Plan is crucial, this must be a team effort, or it will not work.

Remember Features tell, it is the benefits that sells.