Do you consider the personality style of your patient?

Have you ever considered when you are communicating your services to a patient, what type of personality style they have? In my opinion, one of the areas that is important when communicating whether it be to patients or a team member is their personality style. In fact it can be absolutely crucial, because if you want to be able to influence somebody to take on board your ideas, then you might have to adopt a different style or approach depending on the personality style of the person you are speaking to.

What will work with one person, does not necessarily mean it will work with another. Let’s therefore look at some personality styles of some patients that might come into your practice.

If you look at people’s personality styles they probably fit into four categories. These are pragmatic, extrovert, amiable and technical. Let’s look at the characteristics of each one of these people in a light hearted way.

Firstly, pragmatic people. Typically pragmatic people are time-conscience and probably don’t like too much chit chat. They want to come to the Orthodontist and be in and out as quickly as they can. They may be in a position of leadership, possibly a manager, or a director of their own business and with them, time is money. They don’t like detail and want things explaining in layman’s terms as quickly as possible, without any fuss. These are the type of people who don’t like holidays and they cannot sit around a beach all day as they get bored very quickly and have short attention spans. Within a day, they are organising football games and competitions to keep themselves busy. They probably don’t like watching games and the thought of sitting for 90 minutes watching a football game, or a long cricket match is not on their agenda. They are probably very competitive and love squash, tennis etc. They want to get things done quickly and they also make decisions quickly and once they make a decision, they stick with it and they want to get on with it.

The second personality style we are going to look at is the extrovert. Extroverts are probably in some sort of sales role, or a job where they are talking to people all day possibly a hairdresser. They like to be around people and are usually good company. You might know people that when they walk in a room, it lights up and these are often extroverts. People like being around extroverts, they are fun. They will probably love going to sporting events and they cheer the loudest if their team scores. You are not likely to see extroverts at the canal fishing; they will just get bored after ten minutes. At a drop of a hat they will go and travel 300 miles to watch their favourite team, or to go to an event or concert. They like to spend time building rapport with people and they will also love competitive sports, games and competitions in which they will want to win. They will make a decision very quickly and when they do, they want something yesterday. They don’t need a lot of information. Do a good job for an extrovert, then ask them for referrals, because they will know other extroverts and they will help you with more of the right type of patients. They will love you for life and can really help your practice.

The third personality types are amiable. They are likely to be the quieter type of person and could be in a civil service job, or an administrative type of position. They are safe people and don’t take risks. They have probably been living in the same area all their life and driving the same car, as they won’t like the car salesman putting pressure on them to make a purchase. I am probably exaggerating here but amiables probably wear pullovers, smoke a pipe and drink cocoa before they go to bed. They are nice people and think of other people a lot and they probably are the type of people that you will see fishing, because it gives them time to think. They love thinking. They will own a caravan and you will see them at the latest caravan exhibitions, eating their egg sandwiches and drinking from their flask of tea.
However, they are slow decision makers and they certainly will not like to be rushed. You have to spend time getting to know them and the important thing for them is that they feel comfortable with you and that they like you. You must spend time building rapport with these people, as they will not like to be rushed and create a very warm environment where they feel comfortable and they can ask lots of questions.

Last, but not least are the technical patients. You will spot these people a mile away. They may wear glasses and be in some sort of technical job ie dentists, accountants or some sort of engineering job. They dress conservatively, certainly not flash, or wear labels and they will probably have the latest gadgets. If you ask the technical person the time, they will tell you the time in the UK and then the time in all the continents over the world. Ask them the temperature in the car, they will give it to you in centigrade and fahrenheit and the forecast for the next 3 days. They love information and will have pie charts all over their offices. They will know to a penny what they spend on their mobile telephone, gas, electric and they will have all the website addresses where you can save money. Technical people love cricket and they will spend all day watching the game filling in the score sheets. In my opinion technical people are very slow decision makers and they will not like to be rushed. They will love to get all the facts and figures and they will want to see pie charts before they make decisions.

So that is a light hearted look at the four types of personality categories that people fall into. So why is this important? Mostly it is that you are going to have to change your style to the person you are dealing with.

If you are presenting to extroverts, then you will need to be enthusiastic about the end results. For example, show them before and after pictures and they will be excited about testimonial letters. If you are excited, they will probably be and as I have already mentioned, they will make a quick decision, probably based on emotion and when they do say yes, either book the next appointment, or get on with the procedure there and then. Do not give too much technical information to extroverts, you will not only lose them, but also you will bore them at the same time.

I find pragmatics make decisions based around logic. They will weigh things up against the benefits of what the procedure will give them. They are fast decision makers and like extroverts do not like detail. These people are very time management conscious and will probably not want to miss working time, so you will make a pragmatic person delighted if you can do early starts, lunch appointments or late nights. Please mention this when you are selling your services, it could be a deal breaker and also they might pay for this. They might want to negotiate, as they like to get some sort of a deal, so be aware and be prepared.

In my opinion technical people also buy on logic. They are not emotional people and they will probably not like the enthusiastic approach. What they do like however is information and they will love charts, statistics and background information. I once spoke to a dentist who told me that he was once selling an implant procedure and the patient who was a finance director could not get enough information. He wanted to know everything. Do not rush these people, they do like to consider options and of course they like to weigh things up. Last thing when quoting prices, please be precise to the final figure, including the pennies.

In my opinion amiable people buy on emotion and the feel good factor will be important to them. They will want to know that you have their best interest at heart and they need a lot of re-assurance. However, again like technical people, they will not want to be rushed. They are naturally slow decision makers and they will have to feel that you have their best interests at heart, that you care about them. You have to spend time building rapport with amiable people and also ensure that your nurse is with you at all times. They can be vital here and especially in walking the patient to the desk, as they are likely to either change their mind, or ask the nurse another question. They want re-assuring and to feel safe. However if they do like you and you do a great job for them, don’t be surprised if you get a nice bottle of wine, or chocolates at Christmas. They will remember you and they will be very loyal to your practice.

A question I often get asked is how quickly can you find out that fits into which category? Why not start doing this with your team, it’s a great exercise. Discuss their different styles and then go around the room and see who fits in where. You will have a lot of fun and also you can see which group some of your patients fit. In general, however, you can, by practising, quite quickly find out within just a few minutes of meeting someone where they fit and also how you then need to adapt your style towards them.

Is this important? The more I have been in the business of working with people, I believe this is crucial. If I look back at some of my failures in sales, it was because I didn’t consider the personality types of the people who I was trying to build a relationship with. I also urge you to consider if someone has said no to you, when it should have been a yes, maybe consider if it was your presentation style towards this person maybe you rushed when you should have taken time, or maybe you bombarded a pragmatic with too much technical information. Maybe we didn’t spend time considering the style of that person.

In my book “Don’t Wait For The Tooth Fairy” there is an entire chapter dedicated to personality types. It makes no difference whether you are a National Health dental practice or a top end cosmetic practice, if you have a passion for providing excellent communication to your patients then you will love this book. Get your copy here for only £15