Don't Make Assumptions by Ashley Latter

Discover the biggest communication mistake dentists make, which costs them thousands of pounds in lost income

Imagine that you’re walking into a high-class restaurant. Its decor is stunning; it has marble floors and the walls are adorned with the finest artwork.

As you breathe in the magnificent aromas of the award-winning menu, you are approached by an impeccably dressed maitre d’. You request a table for two by the window, but as you do so, you’re aware that she is constantly looking you up and down, studying your appearance from head to toe.

Rather than handing you a menu, she instead suggests that you may prefer to eat down the road at a nearby fast food outlet or at a cheaper restaurant. She informs you that there is no table available, despite there being only a handful of people being served.

Try to imagine how you would be feeling: shocked and embarrassed, yet equally disgusted. While you may launch into a tirade there and then, what is absolutely certain is that it wouldn’t be long before you were recounting this tale to family and friends.

These days, the story would then quickly spread beyond your closest circles via Twitter and Facebook, allowing dozens—perhaps even hundreds—more to learn of how appallingly you were treated.

The power of social media can never be underestimated. It can certainly help grow your profile—or help to destroy it. Though this may seem an extreme scenario, how many times a week are you guilty of similar prejudgment? How often have you made assumptions about a patient’s finances, on the basis of how he was dressed, where she lived or what he did for a living? Or even her postcode.

I’ve coached more than 15,500 dentists on a two-day Ethical Sales and Communication Worldwide course over the past 20 years, and have heard many admit that they’ve been guilty of this. In my opinion, it’s one of the biggest mistakes dentists make.

So what happens when you prejudge patients?

1. You may be costing yourself many thousands of pounds’ worth of new opportunities for you and your practice.
2. By not making your patients aware of all the options, you are denying them the opportunity to choose their favourite. You won’t even be making them aware of your diverse range of treatments. Remember that as a matter of informed consent, it’s important that you do mention all the options.
3. You’ll be missing out on delivering technical skills that you’ve probably spent hundreds of hours learning—skills you may well have developed during weekends and nights away from your family. Some of these courses will have cost you thousands of pounds—not to mention the amount of kit you will have invested in that will now have to remain pristine in its box!
4. You will never fulfil your true potential.
5. You might not fulfil the dreams of your patients.

The final two points are, in my opinion, criminal.

I’ve heard stories from my clients who tell me that when they stop prejudging, they’re shocked by how many new opportunities they’ve created—sometimes extra thousands of pounds per month—with patients they have known for years.

There are opportunities everywhere. Just don’t make any assumptions.