Let's get started. Thank you today, Steve, for being here, and I'll turn it over to you.

Perfect. Thank you, Sheela. Welcome, everybody.

This is going to be an information packed hour.

I've got some resources I'm gonna share. Having your phone handy would be helpful. There'll be a QR code or two, that we'll have available with things that you will wanna take advantage of. So as Sheela mentioned, I am today's webinar is being sponsored by Pearl AI.

I am, just by way of disclosure, the founder of the Total Patient Service Institute. We're a coaching education, company that focuses on one word, and that word is yes. How to hear yes more often from your patients at every point of interaction. Today, we're gonna focus on yes to the appointment and yes to showing up.

Our community that we have created over the years of, practices that subscribe to our practice management philosophy is the Crown Council, all over the country, with practices that we supply on a daily basis with information AI we're gonna talk about today. So that gives you a little bit of context. If this helps, I'm not a dentist. I consider that to be an asset in what we do, because I'm I'm a consumer researcher and have been my entire life. I look at things from things from the consumer standpoint, what works based on how the consumer thinks. And we're gonna talk about, in terms of scheduling and cancellations and consistency, what works in the consumer mindset today that can add more predictability and consistency, to your practice.

This is a resource for today. You're welcome to scan this QR code. This is gonna be your stop cancellations hack sheet.

This is this will highlight the key things that you'll wanna implement in your practice.

So if you're like most, you're watching today, probably flying solo.

I will promise you that one of the takeaways from what we'll share is you will want to share this with your team.

This is a whole team approach. It's just not for the front office.

So for those of you that are are working in the front office, there's gonna be application for every member of the team, including the dentist. So, scan this. This will help you take it back to the team and help implement, the things that we'll talk about today. So with that, I'm gonna give you a quick exercise. You're welcome to enter this in the chat box. What word best describes your feeling when it comes to dealing with cancellations and the no shows.

So you're welcome to enter that in the chat box. Typically, I hear words like frustration, anger, exhaustion.

Thank you, Bridget.

Yeah. It's a challenge, and I think everybody would agree that even more of a challenge today than it used to be in the past.

There's probably been more than one day in your experience when you walked in and the schedule ended up looking like this, a train wreck, because of all the changes.

You do your best to create a productive schedule and then life happens.

So we're going to talk about really two areas, that you can, that you can use both prevention and first aid. What you can do to prevent cancellations and then what you can do in the heat of the moment, to try and save an appointment.

So who's at risk today? New patients because they're anonymous. You've never had any interaction with them face to face. They're at high risk. Hygiene patients because many times the attitude is, it's just a cleaning. Right? What's the big deal?

Third area is financial flu patients. So these are the patients that wake up the morning of treatment and they're sick, what they're really sick of is thinking of having to make that payment that's due on the day of treatment. And so they're sick. We'll talk about how to deal with that. And then, basically, every every patient on your schedule today is at risk.

So let's first start talk about, prevention. What can you do to prevent cancellations in the first place? There will be things here that you've heard before. Some there may be some new things.

What I would challenge you to think of is if you hear something you've heard before to say to what degree are we implementing this? Are we carrying it out in the practice? Right? So knowing is not doing.

Doing is doing. Right? So we wanna make sure that we're actually implementing the things that we already know that we're supposed to do. This is a team effort as mentioned.

So in the next few minutes, you're gonna see how every member of the team participates in this effort. The doctors, the dental assistants, the hygienist, the front office team, everyone has a role to play. So here's the basic rule that patients will place as much importance on their appointment as you do or conversely, they are unlikely to place more importance on their appointment time as you do. So urgency and importance is one of the key things.

So I'm not gonna ask for feedback on this. I just want you to consider this. If you had to choose one of the following answers, one of the best cancellation prevention techniques for new patients. Let's talk about new patients first.

What would you do? Charge a fee for canceling, double book, doctor welcome call, or text, email, and call repeatedly.

So let me talk about these real quick.

I get asked a lot, should we charge a fee for canceling? The research shows, again, I'm very research based, the research shows that charging a fee for canceling may actually have the opposite effect that you think it does. So for example, if I'm scheduled for a cleaning and that cleaning is gonna run me, you know, dollars two hundred, whatever it might be, or a restorative appointment where the fee for that restorative appointment could be a thousand, two thousand five hundred, whatever it might be, and you have a cancellation fee of fifty dollars, I think I'll pay the fifty dollars. It's cheaper.

So again, the research says charging a fee for canceling may have the opposite effect that you think it will. Double booking, not a real good not a real good strategy unless you're working in some Medicaid type environments. That's a whole other webinar. So let's talk about c.

D, I'm gonna take off the list. Unless you wanna be like my pest control company that when they're coming to do their treatment, they send me a text, they send me an email and they have an automated phone message as well. It drives me crazy. Not a not a great approach.

We'll talk about a different approach here. So let's talk about the doctor welcome call. So this is one of the most proven strategies, that we have tested all over the country and has a direct correlation with the show rate for new patients. So here's the process.

Number one, you print out tomorrow's schedule.

You highlight all the new patients.

You hand that to the doctor in your morning meeting. I'm assuming you have a morning meeting. The doctor then will call or message all of tomorrow's new patients.

And then in the next day's morning meeting, he'll report back or she will report back on the results of those calls. And it basically is simple. Did you make the calls or didn't you? Yes or no?

No excuses. No explanation. Just did they get made? So there's a loop of accountability there.

So that call or that message sounds like this. If you were making it to me, if I were your patient, then it would sound like AI. Steve, this is Doctor. Jones and I'm looking forward to meeting you during your appointment, your first appointment in our office tomorrow at three o'clock.

So I'm calling to let you know that we'll have everything set up and ready to go for you and if there's anything that I should know before you come in that would make your visit more comfortable, give us a call. Here's our office office number. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you tomorrow at three o'clock.

See you then. So this is a welcome call. It's not a confirmation call. It is not a reminder call. It's a welcome call from the doctor.

Okay? It's very important that this comes it differentiates your practice from almost any other health care environment they've been in to get this kind of a welcome call. Now with today's technology, we have practices that are doing this in all kinds of different ways. It may be a phone call.

It might be a voice text, where it sends them a text message, but you hear the doctor's voice. It could be a video welcome where you have a custom video that you send with this same message that they they they can get by text or email. So there's a lot of different ways to do this, but the point is that it's a touch point from the doctor the day before they come in, and we'll have a direct correlation to the show rate of for new patients. They they feel important because they've been, welcomed by the doctor before they ever commit.

Bottom line is, they're not anonymous.

They know now, the doctor knows where you live. Right? So it has a positive impact on the show rate. So test it, Do that for two or three weeks and see what the correlation is with your show rate for new patients.

Second prevention item is insurance verification before their appointment. So this gives you an opportunity to have another touch point in terms of having financial arrangements that are clearly understood before they come in. Helps prevent the financial flu.

So this is one of the great features that I appreciate about the Pearl AI pre check module that, the AI goes out and does the insurance verification for you forty eight hours in advance, gives you all the information back about that patient, what their benefits are, benefits remaining, and basically everything you need to know about their insurance.

So that then in in your follow-up calls before they come in, in different cases, then this can be a point of conversation.

And the more you can figure out the financial arrangements before they come in or the more clear that is, then the higher the show rate. Let's take all the all of the guesswork out of it.

Alright.

Let's talk about, a second task for the doctor. In addition to the doctor welcome call is a doctor chair AI conversation when a patient accepts treatment.

AI? So, let's say that I'm gonna move ahead with a couple of crowns, whatever the treatment might be, then this short thirty second reinforcement from the doctor helps to shore up whatever scheduling takes place after. So you would say to me, Steve, we wanna do everything we can to help you get the outcome that we've discussed today.

We're committed to helping you move through treatment in a timely and a comfortable way. So in order to do that, I need your help. Now I'll pause here real quick. Those are four of the most powerful words I know.

I need your help. I need your help. Most people cannot resist the request for help, so AI love to use those AI as possible. I need your help.

In order to help you get everything you want, we need to make sure that your appointments are set at times when you have the least likelihood of any type of a delay or interruption in your schedule so that nothing stands in the way of doing what we've talked about today. Does that make sense? Right? So I'm just reinforcing the appoint the importance of those appointment times when they get scheduled.

And then you'll say, so if you'll work with Susan, our appointment coordinator, we'll both be committed to the schedule that the two of you put together to make sure everything happens as planned. Fair enough? AI. So coming from the authority coming from the authority, it's just a short reinforcement of the importance of those appointment times that you're committed to them and you ask them to be committed to them as well. Some additional importance on those appointment times.

Now, so those are the the two biggest doctor responsibilities, welcome call to new patients, chair AI conversation when there's been agreement on on the treatment that's gonna be done. Let's talk about hygiene. So here's a hygiene rule. Hygiene patients are at risk, AI, because many times the the the impression, the feeling is, it's just a cleaning.

Well, no, it's not. It's more than just a cleaning. So So here would be the AI conversation at the end of pretty much every hygiene visit. You would say to me, Steve, congratulations.

You're doing a great job of taking care of the work that AI Jones did for you.

And the best insurance policy you have to stay on track is to do your home care every day without fail and make sure that nothing stands in the way of our regularly scheduled appointments and then you could explain because that helps us disrupt that bacteria from recolonizing, keeps your mouth healthy, helps us be able to clean those areas that are harder to clean at home and keeps you healthy and on track.

So then you would say, so I want you to know that when we have an appointment scheduled together, I have that time reserved especially for you and I work hard to make sure nothing stands in the way of that. So if I could make a suggestion, do for yourself what we're doing for you here in the office. Make sure to put that appointment time on your calendar.

That way, if a potential conflict comes up, you can tell them you have a prior commitment.

Does that make sense?

Now there's some key psychology in this verbiage. This last part, I'll just give you a quick highlight.

In AI, in behavioral economics, this is what we call priming.

So what I've done here is I'm priming them. I'm basically saying giving them a scenario that when something comes up that might threaten or disrupt this scheduled appointment, then I'm saying to them, so you can tell them you have a prior commitment. And that prior commitment isn't just to me, it's to your health, your well-being, and your overall wellness. Right?

So I'm priming them to have the skills to know what to do in the eventuality that they have a potential conflict that comes up. AI it. Priming them for that eventuality. Again, placing more appointment, more emphasis on that appointment time.

So that's the hygiene role.

We highly recommend that hygiene scheduling take place chairside. We have a lot more success in show rates when scheduling takes place AI, the commitment is to the hygienist, to the provider, the patient, that's a lot more successful than doing it, upfront.

AI. Scheduling hacks. So these are preventative, shortcuts that will help, create and maintain a more productive schedule. Hack number one is manage your schedule, so it doesn't manage you. So, what I would never say when scheduling, you would never say to me, so Steve, would you like to schedule your next appointment?

Never ask me if.

There's too many wrong answers to that question.

So, our philosophy is you wanna be like the hotel California.

Right? You can check out AI you like, but you can never leave. Right? You'll never leave the practice.

Well, the best way to make that happen, always make sure the patient has a future scheduled appointment. The correct verbiage for that would be Steve, which day of the week, Monday through Thursday, do you have the most control over where you have the least likelihood of any type of an interruption in your schedule. Right? So in other words, I'm setting this up, communicating.

Let's set this up so we can make sure it happens.

So you can say which day of the week, Monday or Wednesday, whatever it is, whatever your options are that are available.

I'm not asking them if, I'm asking them when, you know, and giving them some options based on when would be the best time for their next appointment AI it would not be interrupted.

Next system, if you're still using appointment cards, and we recommend it, you hand the appointment card to the patient, let them fill it out. Right? Let them fill it out. So what the research says is that we tend to place more importance on things that we that are that show up in our own handwriting than if it's somebody else's handwriting. So, again, just a a little tip of AI.

As you're working on that appointment, hand them the appointment card and a pen and say, alright. Let's explore when would be the best time. Let them write it down.

Next, take a look at the verbiage that you have in writing.

Many times we find verbiage AI an appointment cards that incentivizes cancellations.

So it has verbiage that says, that has something about if you cancel within twenty four hours, there's a fee, which basically then says this is not a serious commitment until twenty four hours before. And that's the wrong message.

We want it scheduled the right way the first time.

So this is our preferred verbiage that says, please mark this important appointment on your calendar today. We look forward to seeing you at this time that has been reserved especially for you. Right? So it reinforces, yeah, we're we take this, as as an important commitment and we hope you will too. Next question for the patient is which method of communication do you prefer? Phone, text, or email?

AI? We're not gonna bombard them from all directions, but customize the communication by saying Steve as a courtesy, We may be sending you periodic messages before your appointment. Will that work for you? I don't say we're gonna send you a reminder. We're gonna send a confirmation because that implies that the commitment they're making today is not a real commitment.

So this is the preferred verbiage as a courtesy we send you we'll be sending you periodic messages between your appointments or Steve between appointments which way would you prefer to communicate? Phone, text, email? What works best for you?

Let me show you the wrong way to do it. Now let's talk about that communication between appointments. I've given you these are some ones that I've saved from different medical offices that have have texted me. There's a lot of examples of what not to do.

Here's one. Steve, you it's this one says, you have an appointment with doctor Walker on this day, this AI. And then they give me the the option. There's three options here, two of which are unfavorable to the office.

So it's like, oh, reschedule, cancel. So I got lots of options to get out of that appointment. This creates scheduling chaos. So I don't want that.

I don't want to be giving easy ways for patients to mix and match. Or how about this one? Steve, please confirm your appointment.

Right? So that implies it wasn't firm in the first place. So if I don't respond, if I don't confirm, it must not be a commitment. How about this one?

You must check-in now for your appointment. It's like really? Is this like a prison?

So watch your language here. Here's some interesting data.

Here's what the consumer research shows. When you use a patient's first name in the messaging, text message or email, their first name, you'll have a fifty seven percent drop in cancellations.

K. Significant impact just by using their first name. Last names don't haven't been found to make a difference.

First names make a difference. I'll give you an example.

If you're using, text messages to collect for collection for patient remainder, there's a fifty seven percent increase in collections.

So significant increase in terms of response rate. So here would be an example of of a suggested message. So Steve, your appointment is at nine thirty AM on Monday, May twenty six. We're looking forward to seeing you then. And then my preferred response down below, you'll see reply y for yes. So if you want a response from them, then you can do a user defined response.

It's a AI. A y for yes, not a c for confirm. I'm not confirming. I'm not reminding.

It's just a simple reply. Yes. So I've used their first name and I give them an option to reply. So again, we're trying to reinforce that once we schedule this, right, it's a it's a go.

Alright. Plan ahead. This is hack number two. So this is a concept we call excitement calls.

These are they're not reminder calls. They're not confirmation calls. These are just random, just fun touch points with patients to keep in communication between appointments. So for example, in hygiene, when there might be a hole in the schedule and you don't have a patient, you have you can you can call on it, you can call unscheduled patients.

There's a lot of different things you can do. And one of the options AI calls. Just reach out randomly to patients to stay in touch. So if I got that message, it would it would be something like this.

Hey, Steve. This is Jolene, your hygienist. I was thinking about you today. I'm gonna see you in a couple months but I just want to let you know that when you come in AI have some really exciting news to share with you about your health, wellness, some things that we're learning that, can't wait to share with you.

Right? So, it's just a touch point, keep them in the loop and that then merits then you got to do your research and have new things to share with your patients every time that they come in. So for example, here might be a new one. If you just incorporated AI into your practice, this is something really cool you can share with them.

As I would say, so Steve, here's something new that I just love is we now have the technology that allows you to see what we see when we look at an x-ray. So I know in the past it's kind of looked like this it's just kind of a big gray blob, but now this will help you see exactly what we see when we look at an x-ray what we actually see and it gives you some talking points. So anything that's new or different, right, they're talking points to keep the patient engaged and and improve the patient relationship. Hack number three, the unexpected will always happen.

You know it, this isn't a new concept to always keep an ASAP list to fill the schedule at the last minute. So that's previous cancellations, no shows, patients that have had delayed treatment, overdue hygiene, unscheduled treatment.

So to keep that front and center so that in the event those exceptions you can fill those immediately. If you're going to communicate with your ASAP list by text, here's a re every a recommended message. Good morning, Steve.

This is Diane from Happy Day Dental. Identify yourself. So they know this is not an automated message. We have an appointment time that's become available tomorrow at nine AM.

Would this work for you? So there's a lot of of in terms of research, what works here. You've used the patient's first name. You've identified yourself as a real person, so they know they're texting a real person, not not the office, not some automated message.

This is a conversation with the person. You have not used the word cancellation. So you're not gonna say we've had a cancellation tomorrow at nine. Would that work for you?

Just say we have an appointment time that's become available tomorrow at nine AM and then ask for a response. So what we know about text messages is that ninety seven percent of text messages get a response within three minutes.

So as long as you've got their permission to, to do that, then it makes it a lot easier. Okay.

So Jerica says, our office uses AI Trellis for appointment reminders. Replying c is the only response Vine recognizes to link the appointment conference confirmation the appointment book for Dentrix. With that said, what do you suggest the verbiage be used for that for appointment reminders? So, and they may be the exception.

Most all the technology companies I've checked with, they do have user defined, responses. So if that is not the case, if c is the only choice you have, then I would say reply c for yes.

So, again, you'll see this in just a minute, but verbiage matters. So if that's the only choice you have, Jerica, then then you can do c c for yes. I know that.

And so if that's the only choice, then you can if if they allow you to at least, customize some of it, that would be my preference.

Hack number four, common sense block schedule. Right? So the best way to stay in control your schedule pre block for the types of appointments you want.

And then hack number five, give patients options. Right? I never ask them again if they want to schedule. I give them a choice of what we have available to schedule.

So what you would say to me is, alright. So, Steve, for your next restorative appointment with doctor Jones, would next week, would Wednesday or Thursday work better for you? Right? I'm gonna give you're gonna give me the option based on what you have available.

So you never say to the patient, what works for you? When would you like to come back? What is your you're gonna say, would a Wednesday or Thursday work better for you? Wednesday, great. Morning or afternoon, again, you're giving me choices based on what you've pre blocked for that type of treatment. Right? Always give me a choice.

Don't give me a chance. When would you like to come back? Would you like to come back? So you manage it with the block schedule.

Give me choices based on what you pre blocked. And then hack number six is the twenty four hour rule, which is you don't violate the blocks unless it's twenty four hours in advance. So then within twenty four hours, it's like we're pulling out the ASAP list, and we're gonna put in those blocks whatever we can schedule so that we have a productive schedule. So preserve the blocks up until twenty four hours, and then it's good to work on your ASAP list to to fill the schedule, backfill it with whatever you can.

Okay. This one should be a giveaway by now.

So if you're gonna take this quick poll, which words should you never use verbally or in writing? The word confirm, remind, cancel, or all of the above?

It's all of the above. K? We're gonna take so I'm gonna challenge you to take this back to your whole team, to go for an entire week without using any of those words. You can't use confirm, AI, or cancel. You can't use those with each other, and you can't use those with patients.

So then you might ask, well, Steve, should we be confirming our patients? K. So we're not going to use the word confirm or remind because it implies it wasn't firm or that they didn't remember.

So if you're sending me a message, it would be again, Steve, your appointment's at nine thirty on Monday. We'll see you then. Reply y for yes. Or, Jerica, in your case, reply c for yes.

Right? But I'm not I'm not gonna confirm. I'm not it's not your we're reminding you about your appointment AI Monday. No. Because it implies that they're not responsible enough to remember on their own.

Right? So no confirm, no remind, no talk of cancellations. Again, little things add up to be the big things.

Hack number eight.

The most powerful words for patient commitment are the words will you. So I'm gonna be asking for a commitment. So for example, you would say, so if you're calling, you would say, Steve, this is Jerica, from Jerica, whatever your office name is.

This is Jerica from ABC Dental. I'm calling about your reserved appointment with doctor Jones tomorrow at three o'clock. Now I wanted you to know that we'll have everything ready for your appointment. We're looking for it we're looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at three o'clock. Will you be here?

AI. So the it's just that simple again, AI. Will you be here? So, again, I haven't said I'm calling to confirm.

I'm not calling to say I'm reminding you. I'm calling about your reserved appointment with doctor Jones tomorrow. We'll have everything set up and ready to go. AI forward to seeing you.

Will you be here? AI? That's again, there's so many applications to those two words, but the challenge here is start asking for commitments. Don't make requests.

Start asking for commitments to get a yes from your patients so that they're committed to come.

Hack number nine, prevent the financial flu. AI? So the financial flu again is when patients get sick because they don't wanna pay on the day of service. So the secret here, and this is a big cancellation prevention, separate the payment from the day of service.

So the bigger the case, the bigger the payment separate it from the date of service. So payment isn't when they they show up for that large procedure. So you can pick a dollar amount. We have a lot of practices that say, hey. If it's over five hundred dollars, then we're gonna separate payment from the date of service.

So in hygiene, you can probably take a date of service and we have practices all over the country that kept using their COVID financial protocol. So here's what happened. Is during COVID, because we were trying to minimize, you know, the contact with different people in the office, then many practices got in the habit of calling in advance and making financial arrangements with the patient before they came in so they wouldn't have to stop by the front desk to make payment. We have many practices that have continued that same process, especially for AI.

So patients are paying in advance for their hygiene appointment, not on the day of service. We can use that same protocol for restorative treatment that you can separate if it's over five hundred dollars you can separate and you make the financial arrangements. You separate the paint the date of the payment is different than the date of service. So you make the financial arrangements and you would say to me, so Steve, we're you're going to to reserve your appointment time. It'll be two hundred fifty dollars today that we'll go ahead and run, which will one hundred percent of that goes towards your treatment.

And then, we'll run the balance on the Monday of the week when you're coming in. So that way, you don't have to worry about making payment when you come in. AI have to worry about is getting here and we'll take great care of you. Right? Just how we do it. So again, the overall principle, separate payment from the date of service for your bigger cases.

Hack number ten, peace of mind. Right? So this is giving your patients the highest level of peace of mind for their health and their long term wellness.

So this is one that we've tested across the country, that and there's a huge demand for this today.

This is, what's called the insert the uncertainty index. This is a, consumer index that's been tracked for many, many years in terms of how much uncertainty is there in the economy. We're in an all time high today, all time high. So what consumers are looking for now is certainty in an uncertain world. So this is one way you can do this. So dental warranty is a protection plan that protects all types of restorative treatment. So anything that goes in the mouth, then their protection plan will cover that work for up to six years.

No fault, meaning if it has to be repaired or replaced, then it can be repaired or replaced up to the full amount that they originally paid for that treatment.

The office gets reimbursed for doing the work, and the patient gets the repair or the or the, replacement at no extra charge for over six years. Now with that comes the responsibility on the patient's part to keep up with their regularly scheduled hygiene appointments. So this becomes an additional incentive to keep your appointment, right? To keep your appointment, so that we can keep your protection plan in place. So if you'd like a demo of how this works, you can scan that and the team at Dental Warranty will walk you through how providing more protection, more peace of mind for your patients can increase your show rate and keep a more consistent schedule because they have now one more reason to show up.

Alright. Quick question.

Which day of the week is the most dreaded cancellation day in the office?

Sunday night, Monday morning, the last day of the work week, or every day?

Now, Sunday night, those of you that work in the front office, you're home sick knowing what you have to face on Monday morning because of all the overnight, over the weekend changes and cancellations and patient messages.

So we've done this to ourselves. We've made Monday a disaster.

It is the it is the most challenging day of the week because of everything that's happened over the weekend.

So to minimize that, could I suggest the following change? And there's a couple of things I would suggest.

Change the after hours message.

So change your after hours message because, typically, it's like, hey. We're not here. Leave us a message.

And then and then it's like, hey. Steve Anderson here. I'm not gonna be able to make it in for my Monday appointment at eight AM.

And then, you know, it's it's time stamps Sunday midnight. Right? They called when you knew they wouldn't they knew you wouldn't be there. So change that that after hours message to say thanks for calling, for calling after hours, and AI to reserve appointment. Here, you know, leave your name and phone number. If you have a dental emergency, call nine one one. Or if you have a conflict with your scheduled appointment, either please call back during business hours or please call the doctor or please call this number.

Our voice mail system is not monitored for scheduling changes.

Right? So, again, you leave a very clear path for if they're calling to change, they're gonna have a different path, but it's not just leave a message. So we gotta pick up the pieces and figure it out.

There is some great technology that's coming out now in terms of AI driven after hours, responding to after hours calls. So I'll give you a little sneak peek of coming attractions. We're actually training AI how to handle requests for cancellations after hours. So that's coming, because there's a proper way to handle that. In the meantime, for your after hours message, change it with specific, specific instructions.

Illness remedies. So these are people who call and say, I can't come in. I'm not sick. You know?

Or I am sick. It's it's more challenging today to, you know, question that. So the prescription here is one, reappoint right now. So if they're well enough to call, they're well enough to reappoint.

So go out two weeks, and reschedule that appointment, which then demands that you know what we call your t three.

So your t three is what is your schedule today, tomorrow, and two weeks out? That you keep that view constantly in view so that you know where the options are, to be able to to place people.

If they call to cancel, so this is we're now into first aid. Right? First aid, what do you do in the heat of the moment?

The first thing typically when people call and they go, oh, I'm so sorry. I can't come in. They're very apologetic.

And so the, the the trap is that we wanna apologize. We wanna say, oh, you know, it's okay. Well, no, it's not. Right? You wanna respond, not react.

And so the the recommended response is when they say AI can't make it in, is to pause, say, oh, say, oh, would you mind holding for just a moment while I get your records?

Put them on hold, pull up their chart, see what they're scheduled for, see in all the notes why they scheduled that particular treatment. K? So you've got context.

And then you can get back on and say, Steve, thanks for holding. Now I'm reviewing your records. We have you reserved tomorrow at two PM with doctor Jones for the prep work on those eight veneers, which I know you said you wanted to have done before your high school reunion that's coming up.

If you got that context.

Right? So then it's the ask, Steve, what can we do to keep this appointment? I know this is important to you. What can we do to keep this appointment as originally scheduled?

I'm just gonna ask in a nice way. I'm gonna ask one more time. What can we do to keep this as originally scheduled so we can help keep you on track? Now in some of the cases, what they found, they may say, well, if it's that big of a deal, I'll cancel my golf game or I'll cancel this lunch.

Now if if it is unavoidable, if there's, you know, a meeting that's been called, they have to be there, then we'll take the next step. You would say, so, Steve, let me see what I can do to find something that will work for all of us. Now which day day and time do you have the most control over when you have the least likelihood of any kind of an interruption in your schedule so we can keep this from happening again? Right?

So again, the message the messaging consistently is in our practice, the culture is when we make appointments, you know, we stick to the commitment.

Okay.

So let's talk about frequent offenders.

So these are the ones that just, like, continually cancel no show. They're they become infamous in your practice.

So if this is now gone on, you know, three or four times, you're not gonna dismiss them from the practice.

I get to ask that, you know, if they don't show up, we're gonna dismiss them from the practice. Well, give them a chance. You know, sometimes these are are people that have a hectic schedule, maybe they're organizationally challenged, maybe they whatever it is. So you would say this for starters, you say Steve, I need your help.

There's those four words again. For some reason we haven't been able to make these appointments work like we need to. I just look back and we've rescheduled this appointment at least five times. So what would you suggest we do to get this back on track?

Right? Go to them and say, what what would help you, so that we can help you get back on track to make this happen? Right? We're helping them.

So, then on your VIP this is your VIP list. This is part of your ASCP list. So these are the ones that just have a problem showing up, hectic schedule, organizationally challenged, short term memory problems, whatever it is. And so what I would say to this patient is, so Steve, why don't we do this?

When we have an appointment that becomes available short notice, like same day or next day, may I have your permission to shoot you a text, give you a call, whatever their preferred method of communication is, to see if you would be available to come in, you know, same day or next day. Would that help you? For some people, that's what they prefer. Just AI you let me know when you got an opening, you know, so I don't have to plan that far ahead. And if I'm available, I'll come in. So AI, frequent offenders can be your best friend on your ASAP list to get them in on short notice.

Alright. So that is a lot. Those are a lot of tips in terms of how to continually build and manage a a schedule that, you know, that happens as planned. That's always our goal. It never happens exactly as planned, but this will up the score and, make it make it easier. So here's some suggested action items.

This is a team sport. Everybody needs to be involved. So take it to the team. Take the hack sheet that I shared. If you came on later, you can scan this for the hack sheet.

So, take that to your team, go through what everybody's role is in scheduling cancellation, track your success, highlight your save of the day at your morning opportunity meeting, so that you're you're making this a fun thing to build and maintain, a consistent predictable a predictable schedule.

So this is an example of many of what it takes to be able to run consistently with your team. Everybody has to be trained. The best teams that we work with at Total Patient Service and in the Crown Council, they train on a regular basis, just like a sports team.

They're training on a regular basis. So here are some suggestions, four ingredients for keeping your team trained in areas like we've talked about today. Number one, what's your source for content? So where do you turn for proper training that's been proven to work?

So you gotta have a source. So for example, at Total Patient Service, we have an entire virtual coaching platform that'll help you keep your team trained. Number two, what's your cadence? How often do you do it?

So the best teams don't train just because they have a problem. They're ongoing on a regular basis even every week. They are doing some type of training to keep everyone trained and to increase their skills.

Number three, who's gonna coach it in? AI? In other words, who who's responsible for keeping the team trained and driving the implementation?

It's a coach's job to make sure the team wins.

So whether that's a mentor, could be someone that's highly qualified on the team, or it could be a professional coach. We have a lot of those at Total Patient Service, but somebody's gotta be accountable for coaching it in to help the team win. And then finally, how are you gonna measure effectiveness and results? So this is an example of a scoreboard.

There's a lot of digital ways to do this. I prefer this because it's updated daily. It's in the break room. It's AI.

And, the team can talk about it every day, but it measures more than just production and collections.

It's measuring, for example, how many cancellations did we have today. Right? We wanna keep that number to a minimum.

So measure your your success.

So those are four ingredients.

Just as a quick update from our team at Total Patient Service, there's three ways that teams interact with us. Virtual coaching, where they work on a virtual coaching platform, distance with a live coach that trains in proven systems to hear yes more often from your patients.

Events. So we have training of team training events all over the country on a regular basis where teams come together to learn together and train together. And then we have in office coaching where the coach actually comes to the practice and works with the team. So that's how we interact with with teams on an ongoing basis.

So for a guided tour of how those work to keep your team trained on a regular basis, you can scan, scan this QR code, to schedule a tour of how you can keep your team trained to be a top performing team. Takes training, it takes practice, and when you have a system built in, it makes it easier to perform at the highest level.

So those are a couple of, tips and tricks. I know, Sheela, you also have a quick update from Pearl as well as, for those that would like CE for today, there is an hour's worth of CE for those who would like it. So we'll have the that coming up here shortly.

And, Amanda, yes. We do work with practices in Canada. We love Canada.

We don't want you to be a state of the United States. We love Canada. For what candidate?

So yeah. Yes, Amanda. We work with, practices in Canada. Alright. Sheela, it's all yours.

Excellent. Well, thank you so much, Steve, for all of this information. We we are gonna be hanging out for another few minutes to answer any questions. So if you have something you'd like to bring up, please feel free to, put that in the chat.

This is your CE code, so feel free to scan that. And a couple other kinda quick housekeeping tips, this video this, recording, this webinar will be recorded, and it will be sent to you. So that'll be nice. There's also additional webinars at hello pearl dot com that are on demand, and some of Steve's previous webinars are there as well. So we invite you to check back, so you can hear Steve again. And I would also like to invite you, Steve, if you don't mind if I share my screen here for just a minute.

Just real quick, if you scan that for CE credit, all you have to do is just fill out the form. It'll ask you for information, and then you're you're, you'll get an email with instructions on how to retrieve your certificates. So it's it's really easy. If you want CE, you need to register for it today.

Can't do it a month from now. Can't do it today. There's a timing issue here. So hopefully that helps. Okay. I will unshare my screen, Sheela. It's all yours.

Perfect. And we'll pop that back up in just a moment.

Yes.

You saw some of the images that Steve showed earlier. And in addition to everything that you learned today with preventing these cancellations, so much information today. Just those small tips and tricks about how we can change our verbiage, and things we haven't thought of before. Right? It's interesting to hear patients' perceptions, and I learned a lot today on this call.

But having these images AI once the patient arrives is really also a game changer for enhancing that case acceptance. You know? Steve was also saying the ability for your patients to see what you're seeing as a clinician, really allows them to accept dentistry earlier and more often, less invasive, less expensive. They love you that way, and they come back more often. So if you would like to schedule a demo that shows, your patient's images in color in real time and also a historical look back, or if you're interested in Pearl's, pre check insurance verification system that also looks into EOBs and to specific histories. We are, excited to have you scan this QR code. You will also be able to get a thirty day trial, free month.

So we look forward to really just meeting with your team, see how Pearl can best assist with you.

I also wanna make sure that we go back to that CE credit in just a moment just in case anybody wants to scan that one more time. And I think there may be a few questions here as well.

Okay.

One of the questions, Sheela, is how do I scan if I'm on mobile?

She's watching this on her cell phone.

Yes. I think probably we'll take a picture, and then also AI can just a quick screenshot, and you can get that in. But I can also put the link inside of the q and a for you.

Oh, that'd be great. Yeah. You do that. Perfect.

Okay. I got a couple of questions. I'll, switch back to the CE code if that's alright.

So there's that.

Alright. Couple of questions, for patients. This is from Bridget.

Patients who wanna reschedule through text. You can't pause and say, oh.

What's the suggested reply text? So here's here just skip ahead to the next deal. So, Bridget, if you had texted in, I I would, again, go look up their record, look at what they're scheduled for, the whole deal, and say, Bridget, thanks for reaching out.

So you're scheduled tomorrow at two o'clock for, you know, the the the prep work we discussed.

What can we do to keep this as originally scheduled so that we can keep you on track? Again, it's a conversation, so I'm gonna use the same verbal skills on text as I am on the phone. And if they just, you know, if they say, look, I had a meeting that's come up and it's my job. It's mandatory. I have to be there. Then we're gonna go to the next step to say, okay, let me see what I can do to get this rescheduled.

You know, which day of the week do you have the most control over so, you know, we can keep this from happening again, right? So same thing. So just skip the o and skip the that and just but again, same verbal skills, text messaging as you do verbally, would help.

Okay. I think that takes care of the questions, Sheela.

Hey. Thanks for hosting today, Sheela. It was great to be with you as always. And thanks for everybody for for watching.

This is an ongoing effort, never ending to, you know, keep the entire team trained on how to schedule appointments, how to keep them in place. So, we're here as a resource to to help. Our big deal, Sheela, is we think dentistry ought to be the number one patient service segment in healthcare. We see more of America than anybody and Canada than anybody else in healthcare.

We ought to do it better than anybody else. I think we can do it. And this will be this is just one of many many things you can do to provide great patient service and to hear yes more often from your patients. So let's make it happen.

Excellent. Thank you, Steve, so much for spending time with us today, and we look forward to seeing you and all of you that have joined us today in the near future.

Have a great day.

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