DentaltownUK April 2017 - 17

Howard Speaks

Column

We sell the invisible, and it's all
about trust. You have to have staff
who believe in you, who will stay
with you for years and years, and
will help build trust between you
and what you sell to your patients.

example, said: "We're going to create a hospital where
we'll be known as the best-the ones to be trusted."
Same with John Hopkins-again, about trust.
Meanwhile, we have more women coming out of
dental school who are easier to talk to, more engaging,
more preferred by patients, and they're going to absolutely
crush it in dentistry. (Ask any mom in America whether
she thinks a male or female dentist would do a better job
on their child, and chances are she'll opt for the woman.)
Because communication builds trust, women can
hold a significant advantage over men. On average,
women say about 5,800 words each day, compared to
men's 1,500-1,700. Women talk more, and that is by
no means a negative-in fact, when you're building a
team in health care, this is a very good thing.
We measure success in two areas in dentistry-treatment planning acceptance and staff turnover. Look at
the stats on decay: For every 100 cavities that a dentist
diagnoses, only 38 get filled. Roughly one-third. I firmly
believe that if you write a prescription for high blood
pressure for Grandpa, he's going to throw it out the
window on his way to McDonald's. People are crazy.
I'm crazy. We're all crazy. You know who takes that
prescription and makes sure it gets filled? Grandma.
Or the grandpa's daughter or granddaughter.

Check out Howard Farran's
podcasts!
Listen to free Dentistry Uncensored with
Howard Farran podcasts about staffing and
motivation-and pretty much anything
under the sun!-by downloading them
from iTunes.

Women get things done and taken care of. When it comes to
your practice, that's usually your treatment plan presenter, your office
manager, your assistants. If it weren't for them, even those 38 out
of 100 cavities that do get filled would drop off. It's also because of
them that we see more than those 38 getting drilled and filled. They
know that they're selling the invisible. They know it doesn't really
come down to what insurance covers when they can see the patient
just bought a new $800 iPhone, and they just heard about their
vacation to Disneyland with the three kids. We all know patients
have that $250 to save their tooth. ■

See Howard Live!
Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, is an international speaker
who has written books and dozens of articles. To schedule
Howard to speak at your next national, state or local dental
meeting, email rebecca@farranmedia.com.

2017
29

MAR

19-22

Patterson Dental Rock & Roll
Hall of Fame Event
Cleveland, Ohio

Townie Meeting 2017

APR

Caesars Palace, Las Vegas

Winnebago County Dental Society

APR

29-1

JUL-Aug

Rockford, Illinois

Pearly Whites conference
Melbourne and Sydney, Australia

dentaltownuk.com \\ APRIL 2017

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/dentistry-uncensored-with-howard-farran/id916907356?mt=2 http://www.dentaltownuk.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DentaltownUK April 2017