
Asking for a Decision—THE CLOSE – Part 1
Surprisingly, many offices present cases but fail to ask for closure. Whether it’s from fear of rejection, fear of confrontation or just fear of offending someone, they just don’t ask! To be effective you need a great closing question and this is a perfect example where a scripted approach will be most effective. To close means to get the patient to say “yes” to what you prescribe. We don’t call it closed until four things have happened.
The patient has:
- Committed to the full comprehensive dental treatment plan that the doctor has recommended.
- Arranged a payment plan to cover all the finances related to his or her optimum dental health.
- Scheduled an appointment for his or her first treatment.
- Left the office with a smile, glad to pay you for providing the service.
Ask the magic closing question…
“Mrs. Smith, do you see any reason why we shouldn’t proceed with this?”
Then be silent and wait, even if they are uncomfortable. If they state that there are no reasons not to proceed, then proceed!
“That’s terrific Mrs. Smith, we look forward to taking care of you. Let’s get started with our appointments”.
Another close option you may consider:
The Assumptive Close simply requires you to speak as if the decision was already made to proceed. This is done to save time and can be effective for routine, everyday procedures. Since this close basically eliminates the decision, it should not be used for anything beyond routine. For example:
“Mrs. Smith, It’s been over a year since your last X-Rays, I’m going to go ahead and take some bitewing radiographs for you. Are you OK with that”?
Notice how permission can still be asked, even though by being assumptive the stage has been set for an obvious “yes” answer.
We will explore further Close options in Part 2
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Dr. Robertson is a founding partner and lead appraiser of The Dental Broker Team. A graduate of the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto, he has also studied with the Canadian Chartered Business Valuation program. Beyond the scope of appraising and selling practices, he has worked hard to establish solid relationships with executives at the major Canadian banks with whom he has developed the appraisal formulas used by our firm. Because of this dialogue, his reputation, and his grounded research based approach to valuation, he has been called upon by the major Canadian banks to consult on trends, predictions, and perspectives in the Ontario and Canadian dental practice marketplace. He has authored articles on the topic of practice appraisal rationale in Ontario Dentist, The Journal of The Ontario Dental Association, and presented publicly with the Canadian Dental Association on the topic. As a dentist and brokerage partner, he contributed to the development of the Career Options Initiative with the Canadian Dental Association. Dr. Robertson is the author of The Science of Opinion, a research-based paper that establishes the only known evidence-based formula specific to dental practice appraisal value. He is the author of the book, From DEBTistry to Dentistry: A Buyer’s Guide to Successful Transitions.