DPS Founder and Leader Ed O'Keefe

DPS VIP members heading to the Magic Kingdom

DPS and Disney World Class Customer Service!

Behind the Scenes Tour at Disney

4 Traits of Highly Successful Case Acceptance

There are numerous factors that go into a high level of case acceptance.  And if we
polled the group there would be answers like:  doctor’s skills and training, verbal skills
of the dental team, clear communication to the patient of the need for care, or physical
pleasing appearance of the office.

All of these are valid points, but more than anything else, there are 4 central core
characteristics that drive successful beliefs and behaviors.  Successful doctors are
‘successful’ because they picture themselves being ‘successful’ first, and worry about
the ‘how’ later.

To achieve, you must have:

1.  Strong Goal Clarity. You must have clear, detailed, written goals of what you want
to happen for at least today, 30 days, 60 days, and 1 year from now.  And in your heart,
you must believe these goals are achievable AND that you deserve to achieve it.

Starting today:  Phrase all your goals in present tense.  Instead of saying, “I want to
increase case acceptance by 20% in 60 days” say “I have increased case acceptance by 20%”.
Get your mind focused on the success from the beginning.

Another valuable tool to measure your achievement and be able to fine tune actions is the
proper use of meeting.   Vern Harnish was at one of our event and he called this the
“Rhythm of Meetings”.  Vern told to group you need daily (your morning huddle), weekly,
monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings  to always be clear what you need to be doing
as a team (and an individual) to meet your goals.

Disney is a company of 100,000 plus employees all over the world.  How do you keep all
these people focused on the company’s goals?  You let them know what they need to do to
make that happen.

Good communication from management down to the street sweepers makes it clear what the
goals are for this Fortune 500 empire.

2.  High Achievement Drive- this a dormant power of potential lying deep within each
of us.  And it usually stays dormant until something ignites that fire.  For most, it
is simply the need to have those clear, concise, written goals.  We need that reminder
several times a day.    Goals are about passion and you must feel you are worthy of
that success!

I love it when fresh out dental school doctors join DPS.  They are so excited to change
the world.  I would assume from talking to so many doctors over the years, you have that
same vision deep in your soul but you might have forgotten about it.  By creating your
clear goals and posting them where you are reminded what is important to you several times
a day, you too can create a passion driven business.

Dentistry is one of the greatest careers on Earth! You don’t fix teeth, you change people’s
lives and that is powerful!

3.  Emotional Intelligence has gained more attention lately.  The phrase refers to ability
to understand the emotions you’re feeling (and those of others) and their impact on your
behavior.   Disney is good at this!  They know to gauge their guests’ emotional level and
even control it.

Ever been in line at Disney?  Not a fun thing especially if you have 4 tired, grumpy kids
who have been there all day.  But Disney controls the experience and your emotions as you
wind along not realizing where that line goes.  Plus they plant distractions along the way
to keep you involved with the experience until you reach your destinations.

Disney also schedules entertainers during busy times like singers and dancers that are
keyed to the theme of the area as another distraction during those peak times.  It’s no
coincidence that parades happen right during rush time.  Everyone loves a parade and they
take the stress out.

By recognizing and anticipating all the potential emotions a patient may be having when
they enter your office, you and your team will be better equipped to not only handle them,
but also turn those negative frustrations into positive encounters…just like the folks at
Disney.

4.  Excellent Social Skills And I’m not talking about being a silver tongue devil
either.  When you really want to connect with people and understand you NEED TO LET
THEM TALK.  The 80-20 rule is golden here.  Let them do the majority of talking, you
listen actively, and be able to restate it back to them.

“Hello, Mrs. Jones.  I’m Dr. Brown.  It’s nice to meet you.  How may I be of service to you?”

And then shut up.

Patient voluntarily walked through your door.  They want something.  It is your job to find
that out.  Most of the time, they don’t really know themselves. But with good listen habits,
open ended questions, and a pleasant expression—everyone will love you and your case
acceptance will skyrocket.

Think about, Mickey Mouse doesn’t say a word when you meet him at the Parks but he can get
you to do whatever he wants… include spend a lot of money on a magical experience.

Having a “Mickey Mouse” business is a good thing.

If you want more information or resources on improving your case acceptance, My good friend Wendy Briggs is the best at this!  Click Here to check out her FREE DVD showing you the 7 Most Common and Costly Case Acceptance Mistakes…..please click here find out more.

All my best for your success,
Ed

I’ve been reading a great book called “Integrity Selling for the 21^st Century” by Ron Willingham. It was recommended by one of my VIP members to the group during a mastermind meeting.

Great read and I encourage you to pick it up.

But anyway, it demonstrates the value and ethics of the sales process.

And hopefully by now, you understand and appreciate as a human being; we are all in the sales business regardless of our profession.

Selling doesn’t just involve money, but anything of value…time, companionship, respect, education, etc. It’s something of worth.

So what are you ‘selling’ to your patients?

Gold, plastic, prophy paste?

NOOOOOOO!

You are selling something way more valuable than that. You are selling confident, comfort, youth, happiness, and health.

If you don’t see the value of these in dentistry, how are your patients and your team going to???

Ask yourself, “what am I doing to build value for my patients?”

• Are you developing trust and rapport before they even walk into the door? Trust and rapport are out of your hands many times because they occur BEFORE the patient even meets you. Prospective patients gauge your office on other satisfied patients…your raving fans. Are your patients leaving the office screaming from the roof tops that you’re the best? If a patient has a ‘fine’ visit, that’s not good enough. You have to be GREAT! A quick way to analyze your trust with your existing patients is to take your new patient total for the month and divide it by the number of those patients who came from direct patient referrals. 50-60% is that ‘fine’ level that can be improved and below that, you need to seriously evaluate your systems to see where people are disconnecting with you.

• Are you sitting down and discovering people’s wants or needs first?

You can have everything in life that you want if you just give enough other people what they want. Zig Ziglar World Famous, Lifetime Sales Master

People are more apt to trust and open up to you when you listen to them, care about them, and have a sincere desire to understand them. Interviews and initial exams are not about how great you are, your degrees, your qualification.

It’s about the patient’s wants, need and desire. They assume that if you have “Dr.” in front of your name, then you know what’s going on.

Your job is to find out about them.

This reminds me of a funny story about a sales rep that went into a doctor’s office uninvited, of course, for the 6^th time. The first 5 times she went in with the regular ‘spill’ about how great her product was, what awards it has won, how many patents it has, and blah blah blah.

Well, she struck out 5 times. But by the 6^th, she has gotten smarter. And instead, she went in and told him “Doctor, I’m not here to ‘detail’ you today. I’d like to just a few minutes to better understand your practice and how I can serve you better.”

Wham!! Homerun!! Out of the park!!!

Are you truly serving your patients?

Is it easy to do business with you?

Does your office and team ooze warmth, understanding, compassion, and world class customer service to each and every person that walks through your doors or calls your number?

All these things are part of your sales process.

You all know I am a big supporter of marketing, but the best marketing in the world can’t fix these problems if they are occurring in your office.

Sales and customer service go hand in hand.

If you would like help improving your “integrity selling” and “customer service”, check out solutions to your dental practice growth needs here.

Here’s to your success,

Ed

Jim was known for his quotes that pretty much summed things up.  He used his talents to help others have their “Best Year Ever”, something we help and encourage our members at Dentist Profits to do as well.

Let’s examine just some of Jim’s quotes and how they can change your life and your practice.

“Start with wherever you are and with whatever you’ve got.”

Anyone can be successful.

It isn’t defined by where you came from or what kind of DNA you have.  Each of us of the opportunity to rise up out of any situation, any economy, any geographic region… and achieve the success we desire.

 “Be a student, not a follower.”

You need information to find the best solution for you and not to mindlessly follow someone off a cliff. 

There is some effort on your part to discover that for yourself.  That’s part of the process.

Never stop learning.  Education is the key to finding help for any situation.  You have the answers; you just don’t know the answers you need to ask.

“Success is the study of the obvious. Everyone should take Obvious 101 and Obvious 201 in school.”

Pay attention.

Look around you. 

Find other who have been there before and take notes on how they did it.  You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time.

“Don’t mistake movement for achievement. It’s easy to get faked out by being busy. The question is: Busy doing what?”

Do you have clear, concise measurable goals that you must meet every day? 

Do you accountability for your team and their contributions to the practice? 

It’s hard to know if you are winning or losing if no one is keeping score!

“We all have two choices: We can make a living or we can design a life.”

Define your ideal lifestyle first, instead of worrying about how you are going to achieve it.  Reverse engineer-work with the end in mind!

“If you wish to find, you must search. Rarely does a good idea interrupt you.”

Actively check for solutions to your problems.  

Jim had a way with words!!!!  He will be missed.

If you want more information on ways to help you “Have Your Best Year Ever” in your life and practice:  www.dentistprofits.com/holidayspecial

I have a mentor who says, “You can steal my money, I can make that back. Steal my time—that’s gone forever.”

I tell you this to urge you to pick up the pace.

*****

Too many entrepreneurs are lying down and giving up the fight for the rest of 2009 thinking …it’s too late.

As kids we know to run through first base no matter what because who knows what will happen.

We also know, in a race, you blow through the finish line at full speed.

You don’t give up, slow down, or stop until it is really over.

******

So where did we forget what every 10 year old knows, and start bad habits like blaming the world for our success or failure (“it’s the economy, no one has money” or “my patients won’t do high end dentistry”, “it won’t make a difference at this point”) by giving up before the end.

*****

From now until the end of the year,

- You have 52 opportunities to increase your production.

- You have 52 possibilities to shatter your existing records.

- You have 52 more chances to become a better employer by setting the example for your team.

- You have 52 days to prepare for 2010.

*****

I wanted to give you some quick ideas to help you get your momentum going so you can flow into 2010.

1. Get your end of the year insurance cards and letters out. Remind your patients not to waste their benefits and use them before they expire on Dec. 31st. (my latest training “Uncovering the Hidden Profit Goldmines In Your Practice” I go into this strategy and give you the exact marketing pieces to send out. For more information CLICK HERE)

2. Pull a hygiene audit and see who is past due. Don’t waste the time and energy you’ve already invested in establishing that initial relationship with your existing patients. Keep them moving forward with their care. Let them know you haven’t forgotten about them and you are here to serve their needs. Call them; send out postcard reminders with an offer to get them incentives

to get back in. Keep at it.

3. Remind your team “It ain’t over” and that everyone needs to be running at full speed past the finish line.

4. Get yourself a marketing assistant trained NOW before the end of the year!

*****

Our Marketing Assistant Mastery program takes the stress and responsibility off of you, doctor, to get someone in your office up and running for the beginning of 2010. Darcy, our head of marketing, will show your team member everything they need to know to launch internal and external campaigns, get them the ready- to- go-marketing ideas, and make sure you office knows everything you need to know to make 2010 the best it can be.

I urge you to go to http://www.MarketingAssistantMastery.com to find out how your team member can take just one hour a week for the next 8 weeks and turn that into increase production for the office with NO MORE TIME from the doctor.

Take action. Implement.

Here’s to your success,

Ed

******************************************************************

Done for You Marketing Assistant Training Program Training

If you want proven systems implemented in your office that will:

* Generate A consistent flow of new patients every month

* Produce a dependable flood of Referrals each and every month!

* Ensure Better Retention and Word-Of-Mouth Because YOUR patients feel like valued friends! (This happens when they are consistently touched!)

* Relieve you from the worry of whether or not your marketing (internal and external) is getting done properly. You have enough to worry about…this should be taken care of for you.

* Allow you to see your actual R.O.I. from each marketing, advertising, campaigns, ads….which will give you instant feedback so you can dump what isn’t working…and focus your efforts on what is working!

*Plus much, much more.

Go to http://www.MarketingAssistantMastery.com for information.

********************************************************************

We had Vern Harnish in, who is the author of “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” as our keynote speaker for the weekend.  He was fantastic!

We also had 4 of our VIP members sharing what they were doing in their offices and what is working.  They are putting up some awesome numbers despite what the news keeps saying about the economy. 

(I see this consistently;  people who ignore the cries from the press about the economy always thrive.)

One of our docs, and a good guy all around, Scott Schumann from Grove City, Ohio, was showing how he and his team are doing it…day in and day out.

Couple observations about Scott. 

First, he is just a machine.  He goes.  He doesn’t care what CNN or Fox News says, he just goes.

Second thing, he has a TEAM!!

 And by that, I mean a group of like minded individuals all working for a common goal.  There is a  great book I’ve been reading called “Overcoming the FIVE Dysfunctions of a Team”.  I highly recommend it.

In that book, it spells it out in black and white what a team is.

It is a relatively small number of people (anywhere from 3-12) that share common goals as well as the rewards and responsibilities for achieving them.  Team members readily set aside their individual or personal needs for the greater good of the group.

Scott’s crew fits that definition to a “T”. 

If you are at one of our meetings, you can’t miss them.  They are all dressed alike in their “Grove City Dental” gear.  They look the part… they act the part. 

And the results show!!!

One thing Scott has been great about is making sure his team is trained.  They all attend our events regularly and stay involved in the “Goals”. 

My good friend, Wendy Briggs, is the master of getting teams trained.  Wendy has worked with Scott’s crew, and not by accident…most of my top producing members, on increasing case acceptance.

Wendy did a Live Training for my members and their teams recently.  The doctors who came spent $$$$ on just attending the event.  Regardless, it was a bargain at any price because they were able to:

1.      Get their teams trained by Wendy

2.     Got tools and resources to go back to the office and start using Monday morning

3.      Get instant return on their investment without having to take the time or hassle of training an entire office.

Many folks weren’t able to attend that event so we created a DVD series and manual from the event called “Team Case Acceptance”.

Wendy shows the doctor how they can turn over that whole responsibility of training the team to her while getting results like Scott and his team do.  She can get everyone moving in the right direction to achieve those “Goals.”

Normally we sell this for $1997.    But since this is the month of “Thanksgiving”, I wanted to “Thank” everyone we have had the pleasure of working with by making this available for $1397 on sale until Turkey Day.

 I only have 47 of these Team Case Acceptance kits available right now, so when they are gone, they are gone…. 

So act now by clicking here to get yours today!! 

There is still almost 2 months left in the year to make a big impact for those who are committed to getting the results they deserve.

Make this a Great Year,

Ed

Here are the tips that he’ll give you:

As a dental town adviser, the first tip that I will give you is that you can have audio testimonials that you can put into your communications system while putting your callers/patients on hold. You see, people used to tell stories of old copywriters which used to actually send out letters and make it difficult for people to read, and it’s like they send them magnifying glasses! Or another thing is that other people run ads where there are lines over the ads that makes it difficult for people to read, so that it stands out in the newspaper and those ads pull very well! So, one good and effective strategy that I want to share is, when people call you and you put them on hold, one thing that you can do there is that you can have testimonials going, which I think is really good! In our case, we have a service that runs testimonials when people call and they get put on hold. We have multi-line phones. And we have a software that runs our phone lines. And one of the options is we have an audio patch plugged in that we use for the computers located in a headset jack (these are the headset jacks of an old boom box you get lying around because nobody uses them anymore). Then we have a CD that is just put on “repeat” mode. It just keeps playing all day but you got the patch in the headset jack, so everytime that the call gets put on hold it just gives out the testimonials. This is in contrast to the traditional way of putting people on hold, wherein they just get to listen to mild, soothing music in the background. Now, instead of doing that, a good and efficient way is to run testimonials. So we take all of the audio testimonials that we have, put them on the CD, and just put them on “repeat” mode. In here, we use the BND network. It’s like a phone wherein have a kind of box, and whoever hooks that up, can just put those cord when I want to play a CD. Anyway that’s more on IT stuff. The important thing here is that you can play audio CD with testimonials playing, because, in our case, we don’t want people to hear nothing when they get put on hold. Through these testimonials, they will learn how good your practice is, how beneficial it could be to them, etc.

Another tip that I’m going to give you as a dental town adviser is to use your kids, or use your grand kids, or use somebody else’s kids in all of your marketing stuff. Now, you might ask why this would be a good idea. This is because it humanizes you and it puts personality in your advertising. So if you get to send out flyers, postcards, or any advertising materials that you have… bring along kids in your pictures that you put into those materials, be it your kid or anybody else’s kid. Putting personality in your advertising media will really help you in gaining more potential patients into your dental practice!

Check it out now…click the video.

Best,
Ed O’Keefe

Click the video to watch.

Best,
Ed O’Keefe

Get the scoop on these in-the-trenches techniques so you can start closing more of those high-end procedures today!

Click on the video now!

Best,
Ed O’Keefe

Watch this video to get the key to unlocking your shackles of the past and change your mindset instantly!

Best,

Ed O’Keefe
Dental Websites and Marketing Expert