Unlocking the Potential of Implant Dentistry: A Conversation with Patti Williamson

[00:00:04] Joseph: Welcome to Marketing Matters with Wheel Media. As your host for this episode, I am joined by our very favorite, Patti Williamson. How long have I known you now, Patti? Probably like, like six years, I think. At least six

[00:00:19] Patti: At least. Yes.

[00:00:21] Joseph: Let me just start by introducing Patti for our listeners. Over 20 years in this dental space. You probably know more about implants, technically and otherwise, than most dentists in America. I mean, regional manager with Nobel for, I don't know, how long was that?

[00:00:41] Patti: Uh, it was about five, six years.

[00:00:44] Joseph: When you're in the position that you were in to help doctors do more implants, that becomes very far-reaching, like with consulting, it naturally kind of goes into how can I better market myself and help patients understand my abilities to do implants, which involves not just the way the doctor presents himself to the patient and explains what he can do, but it involves the entire team.

[00:01:18] Patti: Yes, it does.

[00:01:19] Joseph: So, and so with all of that experience, you must have you kind of started to move into that area kind of naturally, didn't you? Can you explain that?

[00:01:30] Patti: Yeah, it actually started in New York City, believe it or not. I had a periodontist who had just opened up a practice, and he was looking to increase his case acceptance in dental implants, and he's like, "Patti, can you do a lecture for me on communication skills? Right? And bring the passion to the team members of my referral practices so that we can get on the same page and increase our volume of implants and treat more patients better." And that's really how it started. It was pretty fascinating and exhilarating as an individual to see how motivated these folks got, and his business just blossomed.

[00:02:08] Joseph: I spoke to one doctor back in the day that said, you know, "I heard Patti speak and lecture about implants and taking a team approach to doing more implants," and he said, "I just thought, you know, this is exactly who I want my staff to hear. So I brought in Patti. And she was just like immediately part of the team. She coached on their level, all of the things that they needed to understand to better, you know, refine their approach and their communication." And that doesn't surprise me at all to hear a doctor say that. So with this episode, I think we talked about, you know, maybe just sharing three things if you could that that seem to be the most popular or the most in demand that are really critical for a practice that's wanting to do more implants, maybe better understand.

[00:03:00] Patti: Yeah. So it's a great topic. One of the things that I try to speak to my practices about is, "Let's look at what you have in your practice already that we can get a good quick start on and increase case acceptance that way." And it really does come down, as you said, Joseph, to just a couple of tools to get the ball rolling.

Now, we could go fancy into AI and all of that stuff down the road. But right now, let's look at the patient brochures you have in your practice. Let's have a lunch and learn and practice those brochures so that when the doctor finishes his wonderful or her wonderful presentation to the patient, your team members can then really communicate exactly what you said to the patient again because what we know is when the doctor leaves the room, they're going to look to the team member, and they're going to say, "What do you think?" And the more tools the team member has readily in their verbal skills and in any type of communication skills, it helps close cases. It's just a fact.

[00:04:08] Joseph: Just using the material they already have and understanding that material really can arm them with a lot of essential dialogue that they don't really think about until someone kind of coaches them through how to maximize the content in that brochure.

If it's something that they have available for the patient to read, whether it be the brochure or like the website, the staff should, the team should know what those things are and be very well-versed in those. And so that's the first start. That's where you start. That's

[00:04:47] Patti: Yeah, it is. I talk about branding, right? So, you know, when I first meet with the doctor, I'm like, "What is your brand? What is your vision? Where do you want to go?" And then once I get that from the doctor, I say, "Okay, now how do we share that with your team? How do you get that message out there?"

Right? And once again, it's with what they have currently, and you mentioned a website. We spoke pro patient brochures, but the website to me, you know, I've had practices have these beautiful websites built, and the team members have not ever looked at them.

Now, we know today from the fact that our consumers, our patients, carry their cell phones around and are lost without them. They utilize it as a tool to find things.

So we want our team members to have the ability to answer any of the questions that come up from a patient asking a question about a website. So back to those easy-to-implement tools. If you have a Lunch and Learn with your team on how to utilize everything that's on your website, what common questions could come up, doctor works with the team to get those answers down. It's an easy stream of dialogue from the website to the phone call, to the patient in the chair, to closing the case.

[00:06:04] Joseph: I learned somewhere that in sales, the first rule of sales is to know your product.

[00:06:11] Patti: Yes.

[00:06:12] Joseph: And so you knew that product inside and out as an implant specialist.

You're helping the staff understand that they have to understand their product.

And a lot of their product is already spelled out in dialogue, in content, on their website, and on the brochures, and all of the printed content that they have. But if they're not familiar with it, they don't project that very well to the patient, do they? Is there kind of a negative connotation in the team about selling implants?

[00:06:46] Patti: The word "selling" scares dental practices. Right. But they are a for-profit center, you know, and I say that kindly and gently because they are changing people's lives. And one of the biggest passions for me being in this industry so long is to see how gifted they are, the team members and the doctors. So when we think about selling, as we said, it's really more about educating your patient to give them a futuristic look at what it is they could possibly look like.

You know, so if I can position it in an education way, which I'm really passionate about because education is king, if you can educate somebody to emotionally understand how something like a dental implant can change your life, then you justify it with logic, right? We buy with emotion, and we justify with logic. So that's what I try to get across to the team. Albeit, yes, they're closing cases, but honest to goodness, they're treating patients better with new options and they're giving them beautiful smiles, and that's really what they signed up for.

[00:07:56] Joseph: So when we talk about selling, we're not trying to sell something to someone that doesn't need what we have to offer.

And maybe that's part of the mindset that we get hung up on. But when it comes to really educating that patient with regard to the implant, are there other technologies or tools that you suggest or recommend that can also assist with that?

[00:08:21] Patti: Yeah, there are. First and foremost, we spoke about brochures, which I think is important. The other thing is, too, is dental models. They are very easily obtainable today. And to have a model, if we think of humanistic behavior, we like to read things, we like to see things, hear things, touch things,

so if we have the printed material, if we have a model, and we can show them how it can benefit them, and then take it a step further and go into the visual field of videos and patient testimonials. To me, those two really are the icing on the cake. We are a visual society today.

We like to hear what other people say, not only about the practice, but about the procedure and how it has changed their life. And then also, animated instructional videos are hugely beneficial because if they're 10 to 15 seconds long, that's a very good time frame for our adult learner today because the attention span is fast. It's fast.

[00:09:29] Joseph: I was surprised how many dentists would try and just explain things and then not show them any additional marketing or educational collateral, expecting that patient to go home and explain to their loved ones and others that may be trying to help them afford what that investment is.

[00:09:49] Patti: It's usually, you know, a multiple-person decision. And I am a huge proponent of our team members, and or with the doctor's approval, of course, right? Because we want to make sure we're following guidelines for upon the clinical decisions.

But if you have videos on your website, send that video link in a text or an email to the patient so they have that information. So when they go home, or they talk to the person that's going to help them make that decision, there are resources. A lot of times, patients are in a fear mode when they're in the dental practice, even though we know our dentists and team members don't hurt patients, they still have that fear mode.

So if you give them the tools to take home and show their decision partner, we might say, it gives them the understanding of how it can change their life. And now that decision partner isn't just thinking about finances. They're thinking about what the patient can look like and how it can change their life.

[00:10:53] Joseph: Good point, Patti. I remember when my wife was diagnosed with the need for a single implant, a single unit, and she came home all apologetic, you know, with what this was going to cost. I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, if she comes home feeling that way with me having been in dentistry for, you know, eons, how does a patient feel that it's just learning about what an implant is and how much it's going to cost for maybe the first time?"

[00:11:23] Patti: You know, you have the patient who is shocked that they need something done that's that much of an investment.

Then you have the patient who has done four months of research, and then they have other questions. So, you have to, as a team member, be ready for that, right? And to be able to know the history behind that. And that's where I really like the huddle, my morning huddle with team members, because if the doctor leads the huddle, and they have information that this patient, when they called in said, "Yes, I've been to six offices."

It kind of gives that team member a little bit of history to build up so they can prepare themselves to be able to serve that patient the way that they need to be to get that case closed.

[00:12:09] Joseph: So, the team needs to be able to quickly assess where the patient is in their journey.

[00:12:16] Patti: A thousand percent. A thousand percent. And, you know, one of the things that I enjoy doing with team members as a level-up type of education is to speak to them about personality and behavioral styles and understanding where that patient is in the journey as quickly as you can, and then pivot. Yeah, to be able to give them the resources that they need while they're in that mode. If you have someone that's just looking for how long, time, price, that's one way to handle it. If you have someone else who's just learning about it and they want research, then the team member needs to be able to have that research readily available for them so that they can feel that they're getting all the information that they need to make the decision for the investment.

[00:13:02] Joseph: What other type of communication skills have you found are very helpful, or where do you feel that a common area that they're really lacking most, and it's just a blind spot?

[00:13:16] Patti: So one of the things that I love to focus on with my team members when I'm in a practice is the skill set of using your words. Commonality of, and consistency in language is key. If we think about our clinical expertise that our doctors and our team members have, they are really good at what they do.

And how do they get there? They get there by practice. Think of our athletes. They get there by what? Practice. What I find, especially in the implant dentistry world, is if we don't practice our words and how we're going to speak to the patient in different scenarios, then we can sometimes lose that patient or stumble and lose what that journey could look like to close the case.

So it's a role-playing session. My team members don't like it, but it really is a good session because they role-play in their skills clinically every day. We want them to do that with their words.

[00:14:17] Joseph: Role-playing, they're not comfortable with that.

[00:14:21] Patti: No, none of us are.

[00:14:22] Joseph: It's awkward, isn't it? Especially when you're doing it in front of the rest of the team. Because that's like being on stage, isn't it?

[00:14:29] Patti: Yeah, it sure is. And I try to do it more one-on-one when I do it with the team because, and it's really about utilizing, when we do the role-play, it's utilizing the models, utilizing the website, utilizing the patient brochures, and having a dialogue.

It's about having that dialogue to get them comfortable. And, you know, when you think of "All-on-4," for instance, there's a lot of different terms for that. And that's a dental procedure that replaces all teeth in a fixed solution. So, you know, how do we get our team members up to par verbally on consistent language so that the patient understands it?

So there are my examples I use, and it's always one-on-one in front of a team is tough, and I wouldn't want to put them through it because I wouldn't want to do it.

[00:15:22] Joseph: That's very considerate to do the role-playing one-on-one. I don't think I was ever that kind. I usually did it just as a team. No wonder they were uncomfortable. Um, let's talk about case acceptance.

[00:15:37] Joseph: As a general rule, is there a system for where, what that patient journey should look like, in your opinion, as they move that patient from one individual to the next?

[00:15:51] Patti: Yeah. I call it the patient journey. Right? I learned this wonderful skill set from our practice, a general dental practice. And they use what they call the "handoff" in a manner such that the patient comes in, and the person as, and if they're a new patient, right? We love to have our new patients come when? First thing in the morning and first thing after lunch, because why? We want to make sure we're on time for our new patients.

Right? So that's not always the case, but if it is, and if it's not the case at the huddle, we want to identify, "Hey, we have six new patients coming in today. What is that going to look like? Who are they? Who is going to be responsible for the greet and the intro?" And at that point, when they come in, you greet them warmly. "So happy you're here. You chose the best place," right? That's that welcome. Then when the assistant comes to get them to bring them back, have them do a little tour, a little bragging session about the doctor and the team and the practice, and learn a little bit more about the patient as you're taking them back to the chair, right?

That's part of that handoff. And if we think about that, sometimes our team members are so busy that they just kind of run them on in and sit them down. If you can take just 15 to 20 seconds and have that little handoff discussion, you're building rapport, right? You're building that instantaneous rapport that they called your office because they liked the rapport they saw on the website.

Now you're continuing that as the patient journeys in. When the patient then sits

in the chair, the assistant in front of the patient will then hand off to the doctor and explain to them everything they talked about, you know, "Mrs. Jones has a discomfort in the lower left quadrant. We're going to take a peek at that. Here's the x-ray." Then the doctor does their stuff. Then once treatment is decided and the patient journeys back to the financial team, the assistant in front of the patient, again, reaffirms everything that happened, everything that they're doing, and what the plan is, and then hands off to the financial individual and says to the patient, "We're, you know, you are in the right hands. She's handled so many patients just like you, and she's going to find the perfect scenario and treatment for you." So it truly is about a journey and the handoff for the patient.

[00:18:16] Joseph: So the journey is very much takes place inside that office as part of what we all think of as case acceptance. It begins with that patient accepting you as a practice long before they accept the treatment that may be maybe presented or diagnosed.

[00:18:40] Patti: Yes, 100%. And honestly, just if it goes even a little bit earlier than that, if we're going to speak about patient journey, what do we know about people today? Are they going to check out a review before they call a practice as a new patient? We know that's going to happen. We know in the, what, mid 80s, 84 percent of people today in health, you know, looking for healthcare treatment will look at a website and reviews before they click to call.

So when we think about that, it starts, that relationship starts before they're even in the office, but you want that continuous care all the way through.

[00:19:19] Joseph: Yes.

[00:19:21] Patti: And it builds an emotional relationship. Once the emotional relationship is built, then the patient will justify what needs to be done because they can see, they can envision themselves, and then they will financially, logically make that decision.

[00:19:35] Joseph: I've heard that referred to as when there is buyer's remorse, it is when they're unable to justify their emotional decision with logic.

[00:19:48] Patti: Correct.

[00:19:49] Joseph: And we don't want that to happen. A patient is just too valuable to lose because we didn't perform the other part of that acceptance plan, which has everything to do with us.

[00:20:03] Patti: And I think to add on to that, Joseph, when we think about patient case acceptance, we also have to think about what you just said. We are going to run into scenarios where we're going to get no's, right? And I always encourage my practices to have a pending file of those who "I had to think about it," or "I'll get back to you," or they just haven't responded. They ghosted you. What is that really look like within the practice, and how are you going to tend to those? Because they're still warm leads, right? And find out where they're going, what's going on, stay in touch with them and try and kind of learn from what happened to make yourself better the next time.

[00:20:45] Joseph: Let's go back to the huddle as well. A huddle is always essential in a dental office. And if a practice is doing implants, it kind of takes on an additional level of importance.

[00:20:59] Patti: Yes.

[00:21:00] Joseph: What are your thoughts on that?

[00:21:01] Patti: And if you have three denture patients coming in, or potential new denture patients, or partial patients, as a team, what does that look like? Meaning, is the team member ready to discuss? Set it up, tee it up for the doctor, understand the pain points of the patient. If a patient doesn't love their teeth and they're tired of having to worry about what they eat, their smile, they don't smile, then that is all great information to discuss in the huddle on how you're going to talk to that patient about it and then present it to the doctor.

So I always encourage my teams to look at, with the doctor, obviously look at the huddle, look at how many potential implant patients you have, and focus on those for increasing that case acceptance.

That's exactly what I was referring to, that you're looking through a completely different lens when you're doing implants with a morning huddle.

[00:22:07] Joseph: Yes, there are things that the doctor knows that he may have not yet communicated to that clinical assistant that will be seeing that potential implant patient, and vice versa.

[00:22:18] Patti: Yes. And that's where it's key, having that open dialogue in the huddle about the potential patients that could benefit from implants, right? That's our goal, right? If we can help change their lives with dental implants and give them a smile that they love, then there's your win, right?

I mean, so many of these patients focus on all the things that aren't working within their mouth, right? And if we as a team can kind of get that emotion, right, and it is emotion, it's

[00:22:48] Patti: from our team members too.

[00:22:49] Joseph: You bet. It's got to be. Their connection emotionally has everything to do with with how that patient may respond to what is needed. And they, and the team has plenty of stories, don't they? If they've been around a while, they have plenty of success stories that they can draw from.

[00:23:07] Patti: Yes. Yeah. And third-party validation within HIPAA confinements, of course, but third-party validations within the confinements of what you can and cannot say, but still show them the emotion that you can change their opinion to give them that futuristic look of what they could have or what they could look like, is so beneficial. And then follow it up with a little bit of a link or a patient story that you can send to their phone that they could take home with them.

[00:23:38] Joseph: It's more than just a clinical diagnosis, it's now a personal connection that might mean all the difference in that patient saying, "This is where I want to have the implant done," or "This is why I need to have this done."

[00:23:55] Patti: When we talked a little bit about communication skills and role-playing, they're the things that have to be worked out ahead of time, right? You have to understand how you're going to handle all of those and what that's going to look like when you're presenting to the patient.

So you're still consistently giving a positive message, but say cost is something the clinical team is not going to get involved in. They still have to know how to answer that when the patient asks the question, and I'm not saying give the details but have an answer saying, "Hey, Sue up front is amazing. She helped three people this week right exactly in the same shoes as you. I know she's got the best answer for you."

[00:24:34] Joseph: To convey with confidence that we know we can make this affordable, and we do it all the time.

[00:24:40] Patti: Yes, and financing is a huge thing for them.

[00:24:43] Joseph: It is. It really is. More so in a practice that does implants than any other practice, because we're talking major investments here.

[00:24:54] Patti: Yep, investment in your smile is what I always say.

[00:24:58] Joseph: Interesting. Have you found that in some practices there's one individual that seems to be the most versed, the most relied on, or the most skilled in communicating with patients with implants on the clinical team?

[00:25:14] Patti: You know, when we have teams that really want to advance in this space for dental implants, we encourage the office manager to find that champion, and whoever that champion is gets to wear the hat of treatment coordinator.

[00:25:31] Joseph: Okay.

[00:25:32] Patti: They get to be really the journey person, the contact person for that patient.

Now they may branch off to talk to the finance team, but then they come back to the coordinator, or the coordinator could present, you know, practices of course are different, but I'm a big proponent of finding that emotional champion. It's really important. And you will know within your practice who has that personality to kind of wear that and run with it.

[00:26:00] Joseph: Interesting. And it's not always clear to the practice until you go in and help them see that, uh, that necessary element.

[00:26:13] Patti: Yes, and that comes to monthly meetings, you know, speaking about the good and the bad and the ugly in your monthly meetings is really important. And having that champion, you know, be able to speak about his or her successes, what they learned, and how they could be better at it. I had a practice not too long ago where the person who was at the front answering the phone and greeting people ended up getting promoted to treatment coordinator because this individual had that passion to really do that. They can still answer the phone when needed, but now they're actually closing these big cases because they have the passion and the drive. And the entire team has really escalated in their overall enthusiasm because they've seen how this works.

[00:27:02] Joseph: That is such a crucial component to doing more implants. And yet, in my work with dentists, they tend to focus on the clinical side. But there's so much more than just the clinical education side, isn't there?

[00:27:20] Patti: There really is. And, you know, I do though like to piggyback with my clinical partners, whichever implant company that they're working with in the office. If we are going to go down the route of trying to increase our case acceptance, we practice our skills. We use the tools that we have within the practice and the website.

But I also will ask who is the implant company you're working with, and let's get them in to do a lunch and learn so that the team, every part of the team, can understand what this looks like and how it can change people's lives, right? These are all easy tools that you can implement. Now you could go down and buy fancy equipment and all that down the road, right? But these are the things that can get you started quickly and effectively.

[00:28:10] Joseph: I love the approach of, start where you are, and you probably have more resources available to you than you realize, but they're dusty.

[00:28:20] Patti: Yes. And, you know, the other thing to think about when we talk about those easy tools, your manufacturers have patient brochures and flip charts, animations, all of that stuff free for any practice. Any practice, you know, and it's right there at your fingertips. It's just about asking for it.

[00:28:43] Joseph: Yeah.

[00:28:43] Patti: Then work with your web company to start adding videos.

[00:28:47] Joseph: Yeah, the videos that they might show in treatment while that patient is in the office should be a video that's accessible when they get home, right on their website. Not to mention how much that video would optimize their search engine.

[00:29:08] Patti: Yeah.

[00:29:10] Joseph: Isn't it though? It's huge.

[00:29:13] Patti: Yes. Yes. Lots of moving parts on that, you know.

[00:29:17] Joseph: Patti, this has been so enjoyable. We could talk all day about this stuff. We both have a lot of passion around helping doctors do more, and it's because we know that the patients, the patients are really the beneficiaries, aren't they?

[00:29:35] Patti: Yes, they are. I mean, it changes people's lives. Dental implants change people's lives. And when the practice starts to see the patients coming in and saying things like, "Why did I wait so long?" It gets them all fired up to, you know, quote unquote, "sell more."

[00:29:58] Joseph: You go, Patti, how would you like people to contact you if they'd like more information on what you can do for their practice?

[00:30:05] Patti: The best way to reach me is via email or my cell phone. I'm a big texter. My cell phone is (908) 123-4567. And my email address is p.pattiw@gmail.com.

[00:30:23] Joseph: Wonderful. I can see why you're so busy now that you are in consulting and helping practices do more implants in a way that you probably wanted to do and did to some extent along the way as a manufacturing rep and in the management side of all that. But this has got to be far more fulfilling.

[00:30:47] Patti: This is such a fulfilling turn in my journey because I am changing patients' lives through the expertise of the practices I touch. That's just an amazing gift that I get.

[00:31:03] Joseph: It doesn't get any better than that. That's awesome. Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:31:09] Patti: Thank you.