Before we went down to dinner, Grace reported the broken handle to the receptionist. What happened in the next hour blew me away. The Manager of the hotel came to our table in the restaurant, to discuss the matter, he listened attentively as Grace explained what had happened and after listening, he apologised. He then suggested that he called their handy man who was willing to travel that evening to fix the problem. We told him that it could wait till tomorrow when we would be out walking, which he arranged whilst he was still with us. He then did something which blew me away, he told us that we could have a bottle of champagne on the house. Grace and I are now raving fans, that is why hence I am happy to share this with you.

Since Covid, my clients are telling me that patients’ expectations are higher and that they are receiving more complaints than ever before.

So, what can we take away from the actions of the Manager of the ‘The Inn at Whitwell’?

1. If you receive a complaint act quickly. Don’t delay and don’t procrastinate.
2. Listen attentively to the clients’ concerns, put yourself in their shoes. As Dale Carnegie states in his classic book ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ ‘See things from the other person’s point of view.’ How would you feel if it was you?
3. After listening attentively, apologise. At the end of the day listening attentively and saying sorry, genuinely will mean so much to your patients.
4. Put it right. The Manager was willing to get his handy man to fix the problem that evening, the next day was sufficient. I was delighted with either option.

However, what really blew me away was the bottle of champagne he did not need to do this. What can you do that will shock your patient, what will surprise them?

We had a great two nights at Inn at the Whitwell, the rooms are great and the setting and scenery is superb. If you do decide to go, the Cheese Onion Pie is fantastic.

The post How to deal with Complaints & Create a Patient for life first appeared on Ashley Latter.

The mistake the salesperson made is not new it is a story I hear all the time- trying to sell to their customer, without truly understanding their wants and needs.

So, what is the opposite to this?

For me, it’s all about finding out your client’s problems, solving them in a language that excites them, to create a better future for your client. They should always benefit more than you.

To achieve the above and create a win for both parties, you need to do four things extremely well:

1. Build rapport with the right client – trust is crucial to a successful transaction and the best way to build trust, is to build rapport. In the dictionary, the definition of rapport is a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well. The word right, is a patient who is genuinely interested in what you are proposing. If you are an NHS dentist, you need to accept that not everyone will be interested in private treatment.
2. Ask questions – we are all problem solvers. The more problems we solve, the more successful we will be. In the above situation, if the salesperson would have asked my client the three essential things that her new car needed to have and why they were important, he could have come up with the correct solution. There are many advantages to asking questions, the main one is that you will create new opportunities.
3. Solve the problem – we are now ready to offer solutions, options that meet the criteria of your patient, in other words we offer the correct solution to the patient in a language that they understand and benefit from. Patients buy the destination; they do not buy the aeroplane. Many dentists like to talk about the aeroplanes.
4. Commitment – if you have built rapport, asked questions, and solved the problem, the next step is to ask the patient how they feel about what you have proposed? Hopefully, they are happy. If they are happy with your proposal and you go through consent, you now have the patient committed. You have a win win. The patients get what they want, and a brighter future and you win, because you get to deliver the dentistry that you love to do.

So, as you can see there is a big difference. What I have discovered over 30 years of being in business, is that no one likes to be sold to, they hate pushy and needy salespeople. If you become truly world class at the above four steps, then your patients will buy from you, as that is really what we all want.

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We are currently looking at a different databases/CRM system in our business. During a training course that I took part in myself during lock down, I got recommended to a product by the tutor and for the sake of this discussion, let us call it Product X. Now I know product X well, it has been on my radar for a while now, so to be honest, I am a good prospect for this product. We got referred to a salesperson who duly contacted me, and a Zoom consultation was set up last week, so far so good. 10/10 for their eagerness.

The big day arrived, and I entered the Zoom consult to be met by a lady and after a little bit of chit chat, she then went into the questioning process, here is roughly how the conversation went.

Salesperson- so tell me Mr. Latter what do you and your company do?

Me- well I am a Business Trainer in the Dental World; did you look at my website to learn all about my business?

Salesperson- no I am sorry I have not, tell me more?

My heart sank, here is a lady trying to get me interested in a new service, as a customer, we would be spending £6000 per annum, and she could not take the time to research my company.

So, what could it have been like if she had done her research?

Salesperson- Ashley, I had a good look at your website last night, wow you have a very impressive business and I love your website. It sounds like you have a niche marketplace serving dentists, tell me how did you get involved in this industry?

Another example. I went to test drive a new Range Rover, from the garage I purchased my last car from and also where I just purchased one for my wife. The sales lady who I had correspondence with could not make our appointment, so I had a test drive with someone else. This was two weeks ago, I am still waiting for a follow up call, an email, nothing so far.

Last, if I come back to this earth and I had the same selling and marketing skills that I possess now, and I could choose a profession(s) to operate in, it either will be an owner of a Dental Lab, or a builder, if I had to choose one, I have a possible leaning towards being a builder. I have had two builders now visit my building to see a potential £10,000 job and a month later I am still waiting for quotes. What did Woody Allen, say about successful people ‘Ninety percent of life is just showing up’?

What is still apparent though, is that sloppiness is still around and its everywhere, buckets with holes in and opportunities leaking out.

I am certain we are going to be heading into a difficult economy, if you are a Millennial this will be your first experience of one, I have personally been through four recessions.

One trait I always find during tough economies, is that people become more demanding as consumers, demand incredible services and an experience, they cannot abide poor salesmanship and customer service.

If you receive an enquiry, act on it as quick as you can, show you are keen, build a long term relationship. Open your cabinets and chase up old treatment plans, you might need to make 20 calls, you might get 18 no’s’, but two might just say yes. Make sure you have the patient journey spot on, that the reception team are truly world class at converting opportunities, train them to handle new calls, they are the most important people in your Practice. There are no places anymore for Sales Prevention Officers.

Now is the time like never before to make sure you are on top of your game, in a tough economy, you will get less opportunities, you must make everyone count.

The post Sloppiness is still everywhere first appeared on Ashley Latter.

Have you ever considered the location of where you answer the telephone to a new patient in your Dental Practice?

With each new enquiry potentially worth £3000 plus, where the phone is answered, really does matter.

Here is a short story that makes this point. Read on, because it could make the difference to whether a patient comes into your Practice, or the one down the road.

Last week, I was walking around Tesco’s getting my lunch for work. I noticed a guy pushing a trolley down one of the aisles, doing his shopping, he was also looking after his two children, who were both under the age of 6. If that was not enough, he was engrossed in a business conversation. This business call was going on for several minutes. I knew that it lasted this long, as I was following him for a short while (incredibly sad I know). The guy was discussing a car hire with a prospective client on the other end of the call. Now I did not find out the final result of that call, but what I do know is that Tesco’s was probably not the best environment to be speaking with a potential new client. There were so many distractions. Think about it, the distractions of the young children, the staff talking on the tannoy in the background, the background noise from other shoppers in the store and so on.

However, who can agree that this scenario is repeated in many dental practices by the receptionists? Answering the telephone at the desk is similar to the Tesco scenario with lots of background noise, patients standing in front waiting to be seen to, other phones ringing and so on.

We can all agree that both environments are not the best places to answer the telephone to new patient enquiries.

One of the things that I stress to clients who take part in my 1-day reception course is the importance of having a highly skilled receptionist answering the phone to a new patient away from the reception desk. There are several benefits of doing this, here are just three;

1. You allow yourself more time to speak to the patient on the phone.
2. There are no distractions, no background noises
3. You will be fully invested in the patient, which will allow you to listen attentively and assist with their enquiry and build a relationship with the new patient.

With every new patient enquiry potentially worth on average £3000 to the practice, it really does make sense to answer your phones away from the desk. When my clients have undertaken this new strategy they all report back an increase in the number of new patients.

The post Where do you answer the telephone in your Dental Practice? first appeared on Ashley Latter.

I find this so true, especially when some dentists come to discuss their fees with patients and I do say some dentists, not all have this issue. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Often, on my courses dentists will tell me that they regularly discount their fees in their head. So, for example if a crown is £600 by the time it comes out of their mouth, it is £550, and £50 has gone missing. All this took place in the dentist’s head, so the patient does not know a discount has been given. There is not a course that I have ever delivered, where at least half a dozen dentists inform the class that this is a common behaviour. On questioning a dentist on why they do this, they often inform me that they do this because they feel if they make the treatment slightly cheaper, then more patients will say yes. The other common reason I hear is that they tell me how a patient has made some sarcastic comment about their fees. Examples of these comments are ‘am I paying for your car?’ or ‘where are you going on holiday this year?’ I am certain you all have had a time when you have heard this from a patient. The challenge is that some dentists take this to heart, and it then starts impacting their behaviour and they get into the habit of fee reduction.

Now the big problem when you reduce the fee in your head, is that it becomes a habit that is very hard to stop and these £50s don’t half add up. If you just did this twice a day and you work five days a week, you could potentially be talking about £500 a week, which amounts to £20k a year and over a lifetime, you could be talking about many hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost income. All because, some patient made a sarcastic comment about your fees.

If this resonates with you, here is the big take away from this short article. Stop listening to people who are not qualified to give you business advice. You will never learn to value yourself if you let these instigators infect your mindset.

Every day you provide incredible value to patients lives in terms of giving them amazing smiles and of course the many health benefits you provide on a day-to-day basis. If you start to think like this and stop listening to some of the negative feedback you receive, you will never reduce your fees ever again and you will get properly rewarded for the value that you bring every day.

The post Be very careful who you take your business advice from first appeared on Ashley Latter.

She then went onto say that she would offer the products to the patient but stopped when a patient commented about the price and that she could get them cheaper in her supermarket.

I am going to be honest; I was taken aback by her response and that she would let one patient impact her behaviour with the hundreds of other patients that she treats every month.

Let me share with you what I told her and the whole group, and I hope it will be useful for the readers of my newsletter. If they felt the patient would really benefit from using tepees, then if they are not offered to the patient, they are being done a disservice. You all know the benefits of using tepees. The chance of them remembering to buy them from Asda would be very slim. Have you ever seen a shopping list which says, bread, milk, egg, cheese, wine and tepees? The chances are, they will not remember to buy them. So, what if they are cheaper, I would put a sign up in the dental practice informing them that are slightly more expensive, but at least they are supporting a local business and not a supermarket or Amazon.

My last piece of advice to her and her colleagues, was that we should not let one person from the past sabotage the future. I see this all the time on my courses where one patient’s sarcastic comment can have a negative impact on the behaviour of a team member or a dentist. In past newsletters, I have written about how some dentists reduce their fees in their head, because of some sarcastic inappropriate comment from a patient.

Be very careful who you listen to.

There are probably thousands of pounds worth of missed sales by not discussing with your patients the products that you provide, I would definitely look at this and discuss in a team meeting how to increase these sales, a team bonus would definitely help.

The post So what if they are cheaper than Asda first appeared on Ashley Latter.

Let me give a practical example. Many years ago, I only delivered one course that was my Two-day Ethical Sales and Communication programme. Once people went through this programme, that was it.

If you fast forward to now, I have four other instructors and we still deliver the two-day programme. Alongside this we also have Advanced Master Class, a Reception, Speaking and Confidence, High Impact Presentation, Practice Managers Club, Entrepreneurs Club and In House Programme where we go into Practices and will design a course for them. Although the Two-Day Ethical Sales and Communication programme is our most popular course, we don’t rely so heavily on this course anymore.

In our business, we don’t solely rely on ways of attracting new clients, if we were to add up all the ways that we market our business it would be around 18 different methods. How many different methods of marketing do you use to attract new patients?

If you are a Referral practice, do you rely on one or two big referrers to give you your new patients? If so then you might need to expand your base. What would happen to your business if this practice stopped referring overnight?

If you are an NHS practice, do you offer private treatment to your patients or does the majority of your income come from the NHS? Although the NHS provides thousands of patients, you only have one customer, which is of course the NHS. If they make any wholesale changes to their contracts- what situation would you be in?

Last year, many of my Orthodontic clients lost their NHS contracts overnight and most of my work was helping them to grow their private income. Overnight they lost their biggest client. Some of these practices had a contract for over 25 years and this disappeared.

Maybe you rely on one extremely good employee I know of one practice who has an incredible employee, a brilliant treatment coordinator, however, if anything was to happen to her, the practice would be in trouble.

I urge you to take a step back and investigate your practice and see if you rely on one of anything. If you do then I strongly suggest that you act upon this immediately. If you market for new clients, expand on the methods that you use. Don’t rely heavily on one method. If you are an NHS practice, why not upsell the private options and grow, don’t just rely on one customer. Taking the time to do this might be the most rewarding time you spend this year.

The post The most dangerous number in business is the number 1 first appeared on Ashley Latter.

You may think to yourself ‘well why aren’t you in Turkey getting the treatment?”

Now you can think this, but please don’t say it to the patient. The bottom line is that most patients probably don’t want to go to Turkey, but they just want re-assurance that they should stay and have the treatment in the UK.

What can we say to the patient, so it gives them more confidence.

Here is a list of what you could say and these might help you if you get the same question asked. For this example, let’s say it is Implant Treatment that they are considering.

1. If something goes wrong
You must explain that this is medical treatment and that sometimes treatment can go wrong, you need to say that if this is the case, then they might have to go back to Turkey to have further treatment. You might mention, if this is true, that you have first-hand witnessed work that has failed in Turkey and that it is difficult to fix the issue.

2. Regulation
This is a good time to mention that dentists in the UK are regulated, mention the GDC, CQC etc and that dentists might not have the same regulation in Turkey.

3. The Implant system itself (materials)
The materials that you use can often be a difference. For example, I am not sure of the number of different Implant systems there are out there, some one once told me there are over 500. This Practice uses a brand that was consistently in the top 5 for quality and longevity, this is a difference. You might mention here that for the fees that dentists are charging in Turkey they might not be a top brand.

4. Re-assure the patient with your aftercare policy
Here you simply explain to the patient that if anything does go wrong, you are here for them, that you will put it right. Possibly mention that you will give them your business card, or the card of your nurse/TCO. This is a big factor

5. The qualifications of the dentist
The qualifications of a dentist can be a big factor. The dentist who asked me the question had extra qualifications. He also took referrals from other dentists, from other Practices which meant that he was very highly regarded in the area and amongst his colleagues and ran study clubs. You can also mention the number of implants that the Practice/dentist has placed. This is a massive factor.

6. The number of procedures
Again, this dentist had done over 5000 procedures and had a very high success rate, higher than the average dentist, another significant benefit to the patient.

7. Possible Guarantee
Do you offer a guarantee? This again re-assures the patient.

So, as you can see seven good differences, which will give the patient confidence and re-assurance that they should stay and have the treatment done with you in the UK.

If this is something that you are hearing a lot in your dental practice then it is important that you discuss this with your whole team and have ongoing discussions. They might get asked this question at the reception desk or on new telephone enquiries. It is important they know how to answer them.

Final thoughts on this subject, as I have already stated, a small percentage of patients will always buy on price, but the vast majority don’t, they just want re-assurance that they are doing the right thing staying in the UK, otherwise they would already be in Turkey. So, getting this objection might be a good thing.

Training your team on world class ethical sales skills and customer training has never been more important, especially if the economy does take a dip in the coming months.

The post How to sell your treatments ethically, when the patient says I can get the treatment cheaper in Turkey first appeared on Ashley Latter.

I could write a very long article on this subject, but in short, when patients give you this objection, they want to know WIIFM, (what’s in it for me). What isthe difference between what your practice does, compared to the practice down the road? When I asked them what they say, they were stumped and some of the answers they gave were a little woolly.   We then brainstormed with the whole group, and we produced four differences listed below. This might help you if you get the same question sometime.

1. The Implant system itself (materials)
The materials that you use can often be a difference. Let me give you an example I am not sure of the number of different Implant systems there are out there, some one once told me there are over 500. This Practice uses a brand that was consistently in the top 5 for quality and longevity, this is a difference.

2. The dentists (qualifications)
The qualifications of a dentist can be a big factor. This dentist who delivers the treatment has extra qualifications than most of the dentists in the area. They also take referrals from other dentists, from other Practices which means that they are very highly regarded in the area and amongst colleagues and run study clubs. This is a massive factor.

3. The Aftercare
This is important, especially as it is surgery. This Practice has an aftercare package that is different to any other Practices.

4. The number of procedures
Again, this dentist has done over 5000 procedures and has a very high success rate, higher than the average, another significant benefit to the patient.

So, as you can see four good differences.

According to the BBC we are heading for a deep recession, and if they say there will be one, they have never got this wrong. If this is the case, then patients just might spend a little more time shopping around, visiting a few Practices before they decide to have the treatment done. Most patients will not buy on price alone, but if they are going to invest more, they will want to know what they are getting, what is the difference. Educating and training your team to be able to communicate this effectively and with confidence, is going to be a must.

The post How to stand out from other Dental Practices when you are more expensive first appeared on Ashley Latter.

Before I share my strategies, let me share some background, so that you can get some context. I had a client who had just taken my Two-Day Ethical Sales & Communication Course, he had achieved some excellent results and now was transferring his NHS patients to a Membership Plan. However, his biggest barrier to promoting his plan, was that he felt that he would receive negative publicity, especially as his Practice was in a small town and everyone knows everyone. He did not want to come across as the ‘greedy dentist’ especially as he lived in the town, as well as working there. I helped him with his letter, and he was pleased with the final letter going out, but he still had these concerns, by the way, after spending over 38 years coaching dentists and their teams, this is quite normal.

So here was my coaching.

1. Extend his appointment times by 5 minutes and that way you can explain to the patients on a one-to-one basis why you are leaving the NHS.
2. When you speak to the patients, speak from the heart and explain in your own words why you are having to make the change. This is the key, to speak from the heart, be honest and upfront. You need to explain that you are finding it increasingly challenging to provide the dentistry that you want to do under the NHS and hence that is why you are making the change.
3. Explain the added value that you can bring to patients in the future and the benefits of joining the Plan (More about this in my next article)
4. My client had another dentist in the Practice who was still operating in the NHS, so there was an alternative if the patient did not want to go on the plan.
5. Except that some patients might not join the plan and do not take it personally. The likelihood is they are not rejecting you, they are rejecting you new offering, i.e., the membership plan. Again, I will go deeper into this in future articles.

I also stated to him that the people who he thought might not join the Plan, probably would and the ones who he thought would, might not.

Point number 5 is crucial. I have spent close on 34,000 years personally training dentists, and I do know that some dentists take this to heart and can take rejection personally. Please do not. They are not rejecting you; they are rejecting your new offering. If you do take it personally, then it is not fair on the next patient who you communicate with. Patients want to see a confident dentist not one that looks like they have had a day of rejection.

In my next article, I will share some tips on how to present the plan to the patient, that will increase your acceptance rate and your numbers.

The post When you need to speak from the Heart. first appeared on Ashley Latter.

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.

The post Features tell, it is the benefits that sell. first appeared on Ashley Latter.

I love this quote; it is one of my favourite inspirational quotes. He is right. When you are presenting the Plan to your patients if you feel they will say no at the end of your presentation, you will come across with less enthusiasm than you should, and the likelihood is you will get a no. I remember many years ago once buying some CDS in a record store in Manchester, this was obviously before they closed down and when I went to pay for my goods at the till, the person said to me’ I don’t suppose you want to join our Membership scheme’ or something like this. I said no, because that was exactly what he was expecting. It was the worst pitch of all time.

So, you must communicate the benefits of the Plan with 100% enthusiasm, every time, even if the last 5 patients all said no to you. You need to communicate as if the patient is going to say YES and make no assumptions. If you do, it will give the patient more self confidence and you are more likely to get more yeses.

The other subject that needs addressing is closing. I have now delivered Business/Sales Training for 30 years now, the second biggest mistake I see dentists, team members make is whenever they are presenting a Treatment Plan/Membership Plan to the patient is telling them to go away and think about it. If you have taken a course with me in the past, you are probably smiling as you are reading this. Let’s go back to the subject of the Membership Plan. Here are my thoughts. Once you have talked about the benefits of the plan, do a Test Close, this is a simple statement such as ‘

How does this Plan sound to you?

How do you feel about it?

If you get a positive response to this statement, then just close. Please don’t say to the patient go home and think about it. This is not a life and death decision, your plans probably work out on average 60-70p a day, it is less than a newspaper or a bar of chocolate and in return your patient are going to receive truly world class dental treatment. You are doing them a disc-service by not closing the Membership Plan.

I hope this article has been useful and a good reminder of the skills and mind set that you need to have in order to get more patients on your plan. With all the limitations of the NHS now, there has never been a better time to recruit members to your Practice and the opportunity to develop lifelong relationships with new patients and their families. Remember if you recruit a new patient and they stay for 10 years, they are going to be worth at least £3,000 to you.

The post Don’t forget to CLOSE first appeared on Ashley Latter.