An Important Thing to Know
You do not win friends and influence patients when you use criticism, authoritative attitudes or high-pressure sales talk. You do win friends and influence patients when you really care about them and when you follow the rule be yourself. It is an interesting fact that people will respond to you according to how down-to-earth you are with them. If you come across as a phony or behave unprofessionally, they will perceive it and you will lose. If you try to be something other than yourself or if you’re insincere, then you also lose.
You can be very successful if you are truly interested in people. So, be interested in them. If you, doctor, have someone calling your patients who is not really interested in people, you are actually going in reverse because that person is doing more harm than good. (Your patients’ perceptions are usually pretty accurate and they can recognize a sham whenever they hear one.) To those of you staff members who are calling patients and are not interested in them I say, be honest about it and let the doctor know that it’s not your cup of tea.
If you try, you can find something interesting in every person. And they will recognize your sincerity and interest in them and will respond to it. You are not trying to sell; you are trying to give the very best service you can give.
But when you start being a sham or a fake and pretend you are interested in your patients, you end up hurting the practice and it won’t grow, but instead, will wither away and die.
