At this week’s Extreme Business workshops we have been showing and telling on how treatment plans are presented to patients.
Three P’s have emerged:
- People – who actually prepares and presents the treatment plan?
- Presentation – in what format is the plan presented?
- Packaging – what does the treatment plan look like?
People
The growing visibility of marketing champions and TCOs creates an opportunity for clinicians to work in partnership in the preparation and presentation of plans.
We even discussed the role of the salaried apprentice dentist in assisting with this function and, thus, getting to know the ropes.
Presentation
There is universal agreement that the treatment plans produced by practice management software are better used as small print, appendices and compliance documents, rather than a primary part of the patient experience.
The more advanced practices are putting these documents back stage, whilst on stage they are using Powerpoint/Keynote that contains:
- a narrative for the patient to follow that avoids jargon;
- embedded clinical photography and scans;
- Digital Smile Design (where appropriate);
- embedded webcam video, allowing both clinician and/or TCO to offer a running commentary.
Packaging
For some time now (including The Practice Plan Tour) I’ve been carrying around what has become known as The Campbell Box – the “if Apple made dental treatment plans” creation that evolved from a conversation Colin and I had over breakfast (was that three years ago now?). In the last 9 months, there has also been a (smaller) SCED box – Scottish Centre for Excellence in Dentistry. In both cases, the presentations are loaded on to USB sticks.
Yesterday in Manchester we saw an early version of a new arrival on the scene – The Berwick Box from Indra Rampersad and the team at Berwick Smile Dental Care.
Along with this “artisan” approach, you can see from the photograph that the treatment plan itself (and accompanying information) will be loaded on to a wooden-cased USB stick – alongside branded print media and compliance material that sit inside.
Why?
It’s not about whether the People, the Presentation or the Packaging will increase your conversion rate or average treatment plan value.
It’s about having pride in what you do and the way you do it.
The type of patients, team members and clinicians who don’t appreciate all of this identify themselves as being unsuitable for your core values and brand standards.
The patients, team members and clinicians who do appreciate this are your keepers and your advocates.
