Changing your mindset to create WIN – WIN

Many studies have been done about what makes a person successful in life. In fact, here is a simple exercise to do. Think about a dentist who you know who is successful and develop a list of all the skills, attitudes and attributes that person has. Once you have done this, list them into skills, attitudes and product knowledge. I bet on the list there are many skills such as, good communication and listening skills, and the ability to build empathy with the patient. On the attitudes side, are there things like positivity and enthusiasm? Have you also got product knowledge? On occasions, when I have a discussion with a dentist, the technical skills are often left out. Although vital, technical skills of doing the job only usually account for about 10-15% of a person’s success and without good communication skills, the ability to build empathy and to truly understand what your patient is looking for and why, you might never be able to put your technical ability into practice as much as you would like.

The challenge that you have is you were not taught these communication skills at dental school. The bottom line is that every day you are selling ideas and treatment plans to your patients and whether you are successful or not will probably all depend on how good you are as a communicator.

So why is there sometimes negative thinking with regards to the word sales?

Well, maybe our national media doesn’t help. It seems that whenever we see something in the news about selling, often it is about unscrupulous tactics from salespeople supposedly conning their vulnerable customers. I often think this is unfair, as it is only a very small percentage that might give the many millions of good sales people out there a bad name. If you think about it, without the ability to sell, the whole country would come to a halt and nothing would ever get made.

What is the definition of sales?

A dictionary definition will tell you that it is to exchange goods and services for money or kind to convince of value.

There is nothing in the definition that states that it is about pushing people or forcing people into decisions. Let us look at another key word here – the word value. I think value is about finding out what true value is to the other person in their context, or in other words their situation. So what about changing your mindset from one of selling, or pushing to:

Finding out what the patient thinks is value (wants and needs)
You showing them how you can satisfy them
When they believe you can, that person will probably buy

It really isn’t about selling it is about being the provider of significant value. To do this effectively and to be successful in dentistry you have to be able to talk to people and find out what they want and need, listen well and check back that you understand and then provide them with a solution that they understand and can benefit. Once you can do this then people will buy and only then.

So think about how you can change your mindset. Look inside yourself and ask what is stopping you. If you think you provide significant value to patients then why not give more patients the opportunity to have more of the same services? You are doing them and yourself an injustice if you don’t. Pay attention to what you are saying to yourself such as can’t, or won’t and change to can and will. Change your mindset to the fact that “I provide significant value everyday to patients” and read some of the letters that you receive from happy patients.

Sales is something to be proud of. Without your ability to communicate well and listen emphatically, patients will not get what they need and in most cases want and no one then benefits. It is something to be proud of, when done right, both parties benefit. My view is that the patients always benefit more than the dentist.