No Consequence, No Urgency
Those of you who have worked with me previously know that, to confirm the training date you have selected for your practice, I send out a brief Letter of Agreement that includes this sentence:
“Receipt of your deposit formally confirms this date for your practice on our calendar.” The message being: put off the paperwork and run the risk of a consequence (losing the date).
My letter of agreement used not to say that; in the past I would simply send out the agreement letter and wait for the paperwork/deposit to come back. Then, several years ago, I had a doctor place a ‘hold’ on a training date with me and, once the documents were sent to him for the reserved date, he sat on them for several weeks. During that time period, several other practices approached me about the date that I was holding for this client.
“No”, I told them, “I’m sorry, that date is already taken by another practice.”
Only it turned out that it wasn’t; when I finally called the doctor to inquire about the missing paperwork, he informed me that he had decided some time earlier to postpone, and no longer needed the date. Which is fine, except that the date, which could have been filled by another client, went unused.
This outcome wasn’t the client’s fault; it was my fault. Since there was no consequence for putting off the paperwork, the paperwork got put off, and I paid the penalty for not making my friend Consequence a part of the decision process. Like all of you, most of what I sell is my time. I learned from that experience that my no-consequence policy wasn’t good for my time management, so I changed it. Since I have implemented the new policy I have not had it happen again.
A priority is defined as a task for which there are negative consequences for a failure to complete on time. As this story illustrates, the reverse is also true: if there are no negative consequences for putting off a decision, the decision is likely to idle. Whether the issue at hand is that of a patient starting treatment or a practice engaging a consultant, we all want the same thing – a purchase decision involving our time and services being a priority for the person making that decision.
Once you and your team have completed the initial consult with a prospective patient, you are entitled to a prompt decision. The question then becomes, are you giving them a reason to make one? Below are a few examples of ways in which your friend Consequence can help motivate your visitor to act promptly:
- An upcoming fee increase
- Limited appointment/date availability
- A condition likely to worsen as the child ages
- A limited time offer with a deadline
- Missing the Prompt Decision Discount that I discuss in The Book of Pearls, which gives new patients a financial incentive to commit to treatment while at your practice
The approach here is not pushy, but rather, “pully” – think of it as a nudge. If the person likes your practice and plans to move forward, it is in your best interest to ‘nudge’ them by giving them a reason to act now rather than later. Remember that people will forget most of what you discussed within a few days of the meeting. Everyone understands the benefit of a beautiful smile, but most people are motivated more by the avoidance of pain than by the acquisition of benefit. Keeping that point in mind, and bringing your friend Consequence into the decision process, will help you to lose fewer potential patients to the apathy that inevitably sets in with the passage of time.
