Understanding Your Why

Have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you entered? Understandably, this happens and is likely to happen more often as we age. Ironically, walking into a familiar room with unfamiliar thoughts can be puzzling, but walking into a dental office is a different experience. For most patients, this experience is some combination of fear, anxiety, possible pain, and significant financial considerations.

At GnA Consult, our expertise lies in teaching other consultants how to uncover the patient's "why." This process is often straightforward, but we tend to complicate it unconsciously. The "Why Now" is typically a simple answer.

So, you made a phone call or walked into a dental office with a desire to restore or improve your smile. Why now? The consultant's challenge is to revive the thought at the exact moment when the patient commits to making the appointment. Patients willingly and readily want to discuss dental hygiene, a beautiful smile, and proper chewing functions, glossing over the real impetus for their presence.

Uncovering this truth can be possible when rapport is built. Once rapport is established, many patients feel comfortable sharing their simple truths. When a consultation lacks rapport, it often leads to a conversation filled with wordy, surface-level facts, which results in a nonproductive exchange. Throughout the consultation, we continuously encourage patients to understand the truthful phrase, “If it is to be, it's up to me.”

Unlike walking into that familiar room, and experiencing those unfamiliar thoughts, our consultants stride to reveal the truth of the patient's entry. We work as a team to create an environment that enables the patient to understand their clarity of purpose.