Monday Morning Meeting: How to Handle Hard-to-Talk to Patients – The Chatterbox

Monday Morning Meeting: How to Handle Hard-to-Talk to Patients – The Chatterbox

As you know, not every patient you speak with is going to be responsive and excited about their dental care. Knowing how to handle these hard-to-talk to patients will help you succeed in communicating. We recommend picking up Robin Wright’s Tough Questions, Great Answers: Responding to Patient Concerns About Today’s Dentistry. Here are some tips she recommends… This week’s patient is The Chatterbox Patient.

 

The Chatterbox Patient

Ask this patient a question and he/she is sure to respond with every single detail they can remember. Yes or no questions, turn into 2-3 minute answers and after a while, you’re in danger of running over your allotted time to speak with them and disrupting the schedule.

The only tactic that will work with the Chatterbox is to gracefully, tactfully interrupt.

Do This:

• Summarize the patient’s point or answer.
• Ask focused, specific questions.
• Avoid asking open-ended questions.
• Try to ask laundry-list questions (ex: Please list your medications.) 

Don’t Do This:

• Don’t allow the patient to talk themselves out. They won’t.
• Don’t ask open ended questions.
• Don’t ask vague or general questions.

We highly recommend picking up Tough Questions, Great Answers: Responding to Patient Concerns About Today’s Dentistry by Robin Wright. In this book, Wright goes in depth into the best and most effective methods for handing customers and their questions. How to answer your patient’s questions is one of the most invaluable tools you and your staff can have. Tough Questions, Great Answers can be found on Amazon; Here is the Link to Purchase! http://www.amazon.com/Tough-Questions-Great-Answers-Responding/dp/0867153202