Veronica: Hello, hello.

Woman 3: Hello.

Veronica: Hi, everybody.

Woman 3: Hello [chuckle]

Veronica: Hey, guys, how’s it going?

Woman 3: Pretty good.

Veronica: Good, good. We’re just gonna give everybody a minute to kind of join here and get all their audio connected. For those of you in the meeting now, please make sure to either comment in the chat box, your name, and the practice that you’re with. So, we can take attendance and you get credit for being on the call today. Um, or you can also rename yourself in the Zoom. So, like if you have, if your name says iPad, you’re not getting credit for attending the call today. Right? Because we don’t know who you are. So, I don’t know who iPad is, so just make sure that you’re either commenting in the chat with who you are, what practice you’re with, or changing your name… [crosstalk]

Veronica: All right. So as people are joining in, just some housekeeping items really quick. Um, make sure you’re registering for your power sessions. We have a really good one coming up this Friday. Uh, on Friday, we’re talking about pacing and leading and how to keep the patient in-, for the consultation where they’re staying on track. Uh, so, we’re going to be talking about that this Friday. We have a…

Woman 4: Why is this not working?

Veronica: Oops, somebody is not working. [laughter]

Woman 3: We can hear you. We can hear you.

Woman 4: Oh, sorry.

Veronica: We have a really, umm, popular one coming up, either in June or July for patient advocates where we go through lead management and how to um, help you better convert those leads over the phone and via text message and follow-up sequences. Long story short, just make sure you’re looking at that schedule for the next few months and start working those out. If you can just register for the rest of the power sessions, the rest [crosstalk] second part already selling out. Um, if you don’t know where to find those, you can find those in Lessonly under the events tab, it will give all of our topics, and the days that we’re doing those, so be sure you lock yourselves in.

All right, so again, for those of you that are just joining in, just one more quick message. Make sure that you’re putting in your name and your practice name, either rename yourself or put it in the comments, so we can make sure that you get credit for joining today. Like I see somebody called Implant here. Implant, I don’t know who you are. Okay.

All right. Well, let’s go ahead and get started. I am super excited about the consul that I’m gonna show you guys today. Um, is Jeanette here from Advanced Dentistry? Jeanette, are you on call? No, I don’t think she’s on yet. So that’s okay. We’ll just get started.

Uh, so, I’ve been getting this a lot where, you know, we’ve been showing videos of the first 10, we’ve been showing videos of the third 10. And we’ve been getting a lot of requests from our treatment coordinators. Like, that’s nice, Veronica, you’re showing us the first 10, how we’re supposed to do it. You’re showing us the last 10, how we’re supposed to do it. But you never show us a proper triage. We always talk about it in theory, and we role-play it, but we never actually showed you how to triage a patient. And, um, sometimes I get treatment coordinators that are like, how, how in the world are we supposed to see a patient, bring them into the office, and then have them not see the doctor? Right, a lot of you have this type of mindset, like that’s just rude. They’re here to see the doctor.

So, this video that I’m going to show you today is, again, her name is Jeanette, and she does a really awesome job with triaging this patient. Uh, through all the coaching calls that I have with her, she takes direction really well. Um, and I’m a, I’m a hard trainer, and I do a really hard critique. So, she always takes the feedback super, super well. She implements it right away, and then she sends me new consults like that very next week with the different items that we talked about. So, I’m going to show you one of her videos. This is uh, a patient, he’s a truck driver that has a bunch of missing teeth and is coming in for a double full arch, and Jeanette actually triages him out within 21 minutes. And she does a beautiful job with it, and the patient is excited, and they have a great rapport. So, I’m gonna go ahead and start sharing this video.

So, through this process, if everybody can go ahead and just mute themselves as I’m showing the video, um, and then feel free to, if you have any questions, just type the questions into the comments. Um, Brenda and Krista, if you can help me monitor if any comments come in if I miss them since everybody’s chatting in like their names? So, if in an event I miss it, just let me know what the question was. All right?

Woman 4: You can go at my office if you want.

Woman 5: Okay, thank you.

Veronica: Here we go.

Man: The bottom jaw, I think only missing three on the bottom, not including the wisdom, and the top is just a mess. I think I’m gonna need like a full makeover on the top. And the bottom, I’m not sure what is salvageable on the bottom. Would it be better to do separate implants or bridges? I just, overall, I just want to get where I can chew my food, you know?

Jeanette: Yeah, I will do that right now.

Man: Well, I can chew. There are still a couple of areas where teeth actually come together, actually, grinding the food up. But I know it’s not-

Jeanette: You’re not comfortable.

Man: Yeah. And then there’s a lot of other teeth where it has broken away, where your food is stuck in a lot.

Jeanette: You want to be able to eat your food comfortably.

Man: Right.

Jeanette: Okay.

Man: And not to mention, I know in the long term, it’s better for digestive health, too.

Jeanette: Correct. Yeah, for your overall body health. Yeah, definitely. What about your smile? Are you happy with your smile?

Man: Actually, not. I always try to hide my smile. I think it’s probably been 20 years since I really had a confident smile. It really affects my, um, in the past I have been treated for depression and anxiety. It’s kind of-

Jeanette: Mess with that, right?

Man: Yeah.

Jeanette: Well, we’re gonna get you to smile confidently. Don’t worry. No worries at all. Just make sure I have…

Man: [inaudible] the Easter Bunny [laughter]. And I’m like, this is not but in terms of food. I guess I don’t avoid it too much. I more or less try to cope with it and try to, you know, chew certain ways.

Jeanette: Okay. So, you can’t [inaudible], it’s all right to not know, but-

Man: I just can’t figure it’s been happening… [crosstalk]

Jeanette: So, what has changed now that you’re like, “I’m ready to do this?”

Man: Well, I recently had to cease operation of my company, and umm, so now I’m working for someone again. And I’m actually in the process of bankruptcy, which I’m not sure, you know, how that’ll affect everything but. I’m-, it’s that point where I’m getting a fresh start in that respect. Let me start, you know, tackle this, because it’s something I wanted to do for years. Just work and everything. I just really had the motivation, I guess, to do it now, you know, I want to completely turn my life around, I guess, so to speak, you know. So, with a fresh start in that respect. I want to freshen up my overall health the way it was 15 years ago… [crosstalk]

Veronica: There we go. So, let’s talk about what just happened in this consultation. Five minutes into the consultation, this patient is already telling us, “Hey, I’ve had to get rid of my business. I’m not working for somebody and I’m in the middle of declaring bankruptcy.” Right? Obviously, price is an issue right there. Like your flag is up, like triage. This is major triage. Right? So she, she-, um, even before he said that I do want to point out Jeanette did a good job when he was describing his pain points and how it was affecting his life.

She actually asked him a little bit before that three-minute mark, like, “Hey, are there certain foods that you can’t eat or that you can’t chew?” And she asked the patient. “Well, basically why now, right? Like you’ve been living this way for a really long time. What made you decide to do the treatment now?” And that’s where the patient went in, and he’s telling us about his money issues, right? So, we know, we now know that this is somebody that we have to figure out their budget and what their financial situation is. So, let’s keep moving forward.

Jeanette: Okay. Perfect. So, we can definitely help you do that. And just remind me, the top you’re looking to just remove everything?

Man: I think the best thing, because whatever is left up there has got a lot of decay. And one, I’ve only got two full teeth left up there. The rest are partial and in pain.

Jeanette: Okay.

Man: I guess I have one front, so that’s full. And the rest are partial.

Jeanette: Perfect. And I only ask these preliminary questions when the doctor is in here. But the purpose for today is to answer all of the questions, give you um budget for [inaudible] each thing, but also to really get you things that aren’t clear to you in your health [inaudible] want you to tell me, um, so we will let him know that is important to you as well. But have you done any research that you mentioned bankruptcy? Have you done any research on how much this could cost you?

Man: I tried and I would always come up to call for a consultation. So, I figured, I guess the only way to really find out is to see someone who has done some research.

Jeanette: Yeah.

Veronica: So, this is what I love about Jeanette, is she’s never scared to ask the patient direct questions, right? The patient said, “Hey, I’m in the middle of declaring bankruptcy,” and let’s him talk about the situation. And then she goes back and says, “Hey, I know you mentioned like we can do a lot of things for you. But I know you mentioned bankruptcy. Is there some type of budget that you had in mind? Like have you researched this?” And she’s trying to get the patient’s perspective and see where he’s at, right? To gauge, like, does he think that it’s going to be for free? And insurance is going to cover it? Does he know it’s $30,000 in arch? Or does he think it’s $15,000, where is he at with it?

Man: What was the other question?

Jeanette: Did you have any research before this?

Man: Oh, the research part. Yeah, I mean, like, I’ve looked into like the differences between the implants and the full archs and the singles, and the-, or dentures. But, you know, I’ve had a partial denture before when I was getting work done to the upper, and the partial was just to stop the teeth from crowding each other. I think I was planning on getting a bridge done. That’s what it was. And something happened where I couldn’t finish the work. But that’s why I had that in there. It was just temporary. I don’t feel comfortable. I’d much rather get implants. I know there was a third thing on there, Do you have a removable implant?

Jeanette: Umm so yeah, let me give you what you’re looking at. Let’s talk about your top teeth because that’s the only definitive thing we’re going to track. Right now, we don’t know what’s good at the bottom, or what’s not at the bottom. So that’ll be a whole different plan. But just so you get the ball rolling on ideas on prices, I’m going to show you some things. Okay, so we have a snap.

Veronica: Okay. So, Jeanette asked, “Have you done any type of research in terms of the different treatments to gauge where he’s at?” So, it seems like to me that the patient has done some type of research, right? He mentioned, “I know that there’s a partial denture. I was supposed to get a bridge. There’s maybe something with implants. I would prefer implants, right?” And always, like we always say, “There’s what you want, there’s what you need, and there’s what you can afford.” They can be three different things. So, this is the conversation that we’re about to have with the patient.

So, Jeanette now goes in and she starts pulling out models, and she gives ballparks for each model. So, I’m going to fast-forward here a little bit. I’m going to skip the patient education part.

Jeanette: Fixed. This fix is the same material as this, but just not removable. But it does need extra. It’s actually little bit different. It’s a hybrid. This one’s more plastic. Plastic. It’s called a hybrid composite. So, it’s in between. Not quite Zirconia, not quite regular plastic. Okay.

Man: Different like is it much stronger?

Jeanette: The Zirconia? Zirconia is the strongest thing out there. It is stronger than your natural teeth. It doesn’t chip, it doesn’t wear, it doesn’t stain. You can go on a bone with it, and it’ll be fine. So, this is Zirconia. Okay. This is the most famous in dentistry, and it’s also the cool thing that you can get your natural equal weight and everything you can split. So that should resemble the weight of the teeth in your mouth anyway. So, it’s not going to be walking head forward or anything like that, but the plastic version of that costs anywhere from 27,000 to 28,000. And that one goes 32 and up.

Man: So, this and that are pretty similar just-

Jeanette: Different materials.

Man: Okay. [laugh] [inaudible]

Jeanette: Yeah.

Man: The Zirconia is, you said 32, 33 and that’s only one arch.

Jeanette: Usually. Everything here goes per arch. 15 to 20, 27 and 28, 32 to 33 per arch.

Man: So, with this [inaudible]. You said for the top, you would need 4 implants from the bottom.

Jeanette: Yeah. [inaudible] The bottom will be [inaudible] closer to 20.

Man: Right. Okay.

Jeannette: Yeah.

Man: Got you. And then when they wear it, they can have something. They can just [inaudible].

Jeanette: [inaudible] to the lab and get a new one, like just get it right.

Man: Just that piece.

Jeanette: You don’t do the surgery.

Man: And this one, you will just unscrew. Is that what… [crosstalk]

Woman 1: So, my only critique and feedback, Jeanette, I think you’re on the call now for this one, and this is something that we’ve been working on is getting the budget from the patient, right? So, we asked the patient in terms of like the research, how much do you know about this, and what’s going to cost you? And I would say, like, it sounds like budget and affordability is something that you’re concerned about, and you may have a number in mind for the treatment. So, since you’ve done this research, you know the different options, do you have a budget in mind? Because many times, it’s easier for us to take what the patient’s budget is, and then reverse engineer the treatment back to that budget because there are so many different ways that we can do this. And try, really trying to pinpoint the patient on that budget. I can tell you with this guy. We get it at the end. He doesn’t have a budget. He doesn’t have any money for it, and we’re gonna get there with the final stages of the triage.

But we could have saved like five minutes here because we’re going through all these different options and educating the patient on, you know, zirconia versus acrylic and the different materials, but this the patient education part could have been totally shortened. Because once we get the budget from the patient and the patient tells us like, “Hey, I don’t know. I can only put like $2,000 down. I’m not going to get approved with financing because I’m in the middle of bankruptcy. So, I have a really bad credit score, and I can possibly get my mom to cosign, but I don’t think so.” Right? That’s a patient where you say, “Well, $2,000, that really doesn’t even get you into a basic treatment like a denture, right? Like if you’re looking at dental implants, you’re looking between $15,000 and $32,000.” And you keep the triage short. So, I think that Jeannette, even though you did a great job explaining the different options to the patient, it definitely-, with this one specifically, if we had the budget up front, that patient education part definitely could have been shortened. So, let’s keep going and see what happens.

Jeannette: You don’t remove them. You don’t remove them. The doctor does.

Man: Right.

Jeanette: But if [inaudible], if you were to wear these, then the doctor will remove them. [inaudible] Maybe you’re filling your teeth for the meantime, and that one would come back. We put this in. Nothing will ever happen to it though.

Man: This is also a hard thing.

Jeanette: It is, it is, and it’s also like how-, I mean everybody has different priorities, right? Like how important is teeth for somebody?

Man: Oh, I know I definitely-, because even with the car situation, I’d much rather have the teeth in because I had two cars and a work truck, a pickup truck that I’m actually going to lower, paying down like what led the other car go, and I just started trying to save as much money as possible, and this is one reason why because I want to get my teeth done. It was definitely…

Jeanette: I know, the top…

Man: Way up there on the priority list.

Jeanette: Good, good. I’m glad. I’m glad you know, not only build your confidence and you know, anything else so also your overall health. I had a patient come in here and she was going from doctor to doctor’s, she had [inaudible] issue. And one of the doctors finally looked at her and said, “You have no teeth to chew your food.” But I can’t help you if you can’t chew your food. So, you know what I mean?

Veronica: So this is awesome. What Jeanette just did here. At the beginning of the consultation, the patient mentioned like, ‘Hey, my teeth are falling apart, and it’s affecting my overall health,’ and he mentioned digestive issues. So, the fact that Jeanette remembered that from the beginning and then, like, even though, right? And she knows he’s not qualified, and he’s telling us that he filed bankruptcy, but she’s still creating urgency for the patient and letting her know-, letting the patient know like, ‘Hey.” basically she’s saying, “Good news is like we can help you, and there’s patients out there that have no teeth, and I had a patient that just came in here where she went to her doctor, and her-, and coz she’s been having, digestive issues, and her regular medical doctor can’t help her at all.” Right? So, she’s at that point-, so, she’s telling the patient like, ‘You don’t want to get there. Like you’re lucky right now that you can still eat, right?’ and giving him an example of a like worst-case scenario to increase that urgency.

Jeanette: Hold on, right? I’m gonna be able to help you with certain things because your mouth is the gateway to everything else.

Man: It’s, it’s the first step to digestive health issues.

Jeanette: To really, overall health because your mouth is the gateway to the rest of your body. So, you know, the same plaque and bacteria that’s in your mouth travel to your heart, travel to your brain, travels to your arteries, everything else. So, I didn’t want you to be blindsided. I wanna, you know, we-, you were very open with me. So, I want to be very open with you. Especially because of the situation that you disclose to me. I don’t know how that affects this. Were you looking to finance it? Or were you looking to…

Man: Payments, somehow [laugh]

Veronica: Number one, out of all of Jeanette’s consultations, she does a really great job of just like getting on the patient’s level, right? Many times, with, with right when we’re doing something over and over and over again, we’re seeing patient after patient, we can get very clinical and very like, “What are my steps?” So, she does a really great job to just like pull back and say, “Hey, I don’t want to blindside you. Like I’m your advocate here, right? I want to make sure that I’m here to help you. You’ve been open with me, so I want to be open with you.” That, that is like her communication style, which works really, really well. So, when you are in a consultation with the patient, right? It’s-, of course, we always have to be professional, but many times we, we go-, come across as a little too professional where we’re not emotionally connecting with patients. So, make sure that you really pay attention with that throughout your consults, and that you’re mirroring and matching your patients. If they’re feeling sad, we have to bring our tone down and get on their level. If they’re happy, we have to be happy. So really keep that in mind for the next few weeks.

Jeanette: As far as, ’cause again, I only, I don’t know if not everyone’s situation is different, and I don’t want to just be like, “Oh, finance it.” Cos some people come in here and hey, they have a better you know, position.” They just pay for the treatment, which is great. Kudos to them, but not everyone’s like that. So that’s the only reason why I bring it up because we do finance and we do payment plans for our patients, but they are through a third party. So, it is relying on a good credit score.

Man: Right. So, I would definitely need a cosigner for that.

Veronica: Right. So, she asked, “Hey, would financing help?” and he’s like, “Yep, I’m definitely going to need some type of payment plan.” And she says what? “Perfect,” right? “There are not that many patients that pay this in full, right? That’s why we have financing options here at our office to get you a little affordable monthly payment. But it is third-party, and it goes through a credit score,” right? And she stays silent to see what he says. And he responds back with, “Yeah, I’m definitely gonna need a cosigner for that,” right? Like he already knows. He knows that he doesn’t have a good credit score and that’s pointless going through, proceed right now at this point.

Jeanette: Yeah. I mean, listen, as long-, I don’t want to make things difficult because it really is not that difficult. As long as you find somebody that can help you put it through financing and then you come up with a number that you’re comfortable with a month, that’s all I need from you. I’ll take care of it, meaning paperwork and then [inaudible] processing it, everything. You just gotta get up and say, “Yeah, I’ll help you,” and I’ll take care of the rest.

Veronica: All right. So, Jeanette says, “Hey, the biggest thing is figuring out how we’re going to finance this. I’m here to do whatever I can to help you move forward with treatment. But until, basically, we don’t-, until we have that budget, like, there, it’s basically-, right, she’s saying it’s pointless to move forward to see the doctor.” But she’s saying it in a way where like, “Hey, I’m here to help you, and let’s work together on this budget so we can move forward,” right?

Jeanette: Do you, do you have anybody in mind?

Man: Well, there’s, I have a sister and a mom that I can ask, and you know, I don’t want to put, I’m sort of an empath, so I kind of, you know, it worries me to even … [crosstalk]

Jeanette: Ask them.

Man: They’re right to put something like that on them, but I guess I’m… [crosstalk]

Jeanette: I’m sure your mom will love to see you when you smile.

Man: Yeah. I mean, they both you know, would probably love to see me be happier and…

Woman 2: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you can come with them and see what’s happening. You can, whatever, whatever you need from me, I’ll do to just keep the process for you. [inaudible] Uhm, I think that.

Veronica: Does everybody see what she’s doing here? Like she is being so nice and accommodating to the patient. The patient says, “Yeah, I think I can have my mom or my sister co-sign for me, but I’m an empath. So, I don’t, I don’t want to put that financial strain on them,” is what he’s saying, and Jeanette goes back with, “Well, hey, like I’m here to help you. So, if you think of bringing in your mom or your sister back for another consultation, and we can walk them through your scenario and work together with them, I’m here for you,” right?

Jeanette: We need to get our docs in a row before we proceed with everything else. Because it’s really not for somebody to come in and move this and this and this. If you can’t get it right. So as long as you have that co-signer, the rest will be okay. I’ll take care of it.

Man: Okay. Yeah. Well, I will work on it.

Jeanette: I’m going to give you my card.

Veronica: “So she’s saying like, ‘Hey, you can come in, you can see the doctor, and we can give you all of these different options, right? All of your different options. We can treat and plan all of it. But until we know what your budget is, and we figure that out, that’s the most important thing. So, we can just streamline everything. So, once we figure out what your budget is and how we’re going to pay for the treatment, then we can figure out a way to get you into the treatment and what type of treatment we’re going to get into. Because we can talk hypotheticals all day, right? And she just does it in such a natural way where she levels with the patient and really guides them through like she is their advocate. And you can see like the the patient has built really, really good rapport with her. And you can tell that he now has a good relationship with her. And he told her in the consultation that he has two cars, but he’s looking to sell one of his cars in order to pay for the treatment, even though he’s going through bankruptcy. So, this is a really good example of a patient that doesn’t have the money right now but can move forward at some point. So let me just, the video is almost over. So let me just keep playing this and then we’re going to go through something else.

Jeanette: Wow. So yeah, the rest, I take care of them. I’m a hygienist myself. So, I went to school for this. I really do enjoy it. It’s life-changing for you, but it’s also really rewarding for me to actually transition into your lifestyle. So, whatever happens, to help you, I’ll do it. So even if you want me to talk to them on the phone, explain to them what’s happening, anything like that, we can go from there.

Man: I’ll get in touch with them.

Jeanette: Do you want me to give you a call?

Man: Yeah. I mean you could call, I mean…

Jeanette: Is text better?

Man: Text is probably better.

Jeanette: Text is better? Okay, sure. So I’ll…

Man: [Inaudible]

Jeanette: What do you do?

Man: I, I deliver for Home Depot.

Veronica: Okay. So now they just go into like five minutes of background on the patient. The patient’s telling her how he bought a truck, and the truck broke down, and the trucking industry actually went really, really bad, um, during COVID and the year after. So, he lost his truck. That’s why he’s filing for bankruptcy. But now he’s working for Home Depot. So, he tells this story to Jeanette for about five minutes. And then she says, okay, great. Well, again, I’m here to help you. Let me walk you out. I’m always here for you. So, it’s perfect. Like this was-, I see some questions coming through. So, I’m going to get to those. But yes, this is the first 10, the first 10 minutes of the appointment, before the doctor actually has seen the patient. So uhm, my one comment is the funding worksheet. Jeanette, we just shared the funding worksheet together last week. So, Jeanette didn’t have this one that we’re incorporating. However, the funding worksheet is in Lessonly, and we’ll send it out with the recap email. For situations like this, if a patient knows that they won’t be able to get finance and just like can’t even afford a monthly payment, right? This is really where the patient’s coming from right now. Uhm, patients don’t think that they can liquidate something. I just had a conversation with somebody about a week ago. Like, us as Americans, we have a lot of things. We collect a lot of things, right? People are collecting coins, cards, and cars. They may have a motorcycle that they don’t use. They may have a boat or a jet ski on the side of the house. Like, we just have a lot of stuff, usually. So, with the funding worksheet, you can walk a patient through, and even though they can’t get financed for a case, um, maybe that there’s-, uh, walking them through and asking them if they have anything that they can liquidate or sell or doing a reverse mortgage. This guy wouldn’t qualify for a reverse mortgage, but maybe he has a 401k or just different options like that, that you can walk through with the patient. And it gives the patient a take-home where they’re able to take this worksheet home and talk with their wife or husband or mom, sister, dad, whatever it may be to try to total up as much money as they can to get the treatment. So, I’m gonna get to some of these questions.

Q. Am I mistaken? I thought we are taught not to do financial or treatment plan options in the first 10.

A: Yes. So, we don’t go through, we should not be going through price if the patient doesn’t mention price. Okay. If the patient doesn’t say anything over the phone or in the first 10, like how much does it cost? Hey, I’m going through bankruptcy issues. If they don’t mention anything like that and they just go through the first 10, like great, then great. Let’s not bring it up. But if the patient says anything about financial concerns, how much, how much is this? Hey, before we take our CT scan, like, how, like, can you give me ballparks? Things, the cues like that, you immediately go into triage. And, and we start figuring out what the patient’s budget is, and if we need to get them approved for financing, if the patient needs to go the financing route, then yes, I would pull a proceed right there and be like, okay, great, well, let’s see how much we can get you approved for so we can back the treatment into your monthly payment and be like, you know, just pull it up on your screen and start typing their information. Proceed application is super easy. You only need seven fields. So, it’s fairly simple. And see what their budget is. So, if the patient is, right-, why do we do this? We do this because the patient, if the patient is going into the second 10, and they have a budget of, let’s say $10,000, but the doctor is recommending a treatment that costs $60,000, how are we being of service to the patient? Does that make sense to everybody?

Like we see this in videos all the time where the patient at the third 10, like they mentioned price in the first 10, they’ll mention price in the second 10, the doctor will tell the patient like, “Oh, don’t worry, Susie, we’ll go over everything with you on the third 10,” right? Like after the exam, and then the treatment coordinator is stuck presenting a treatment that the patient can never afford in their lifetime. Right? And the patient, like I’ve seen so many videos where the patient just gets super upset. They’re like $50,000. Like you just wasted my time. Right? There’s no way I can afford this. I see it all the time. So, if somebody is asking the price in the first 10, we, yeah, I saw, I think that’s Jeanette that they appreciate you not wasting their time. Jeanette, do you want to come on camera really quick?

Woman 6: Oh, sorry. Jeanette’s not here.

Veronica: Oh, Jeanette’s not here. Oh, that’s so sad. Okay.

Woman 6: [inaudible].

Veronica: All right, no problem. So, um, so with the, so with these patients, like, um, like Advanced Dentistry, saying that a lot of times patients like they actually appreciate you not wasting their time and that you’re being their advocate in the first 10 minutes of the appointment, that if it causes an issue, we’re just tackling it there. So that’s why I was saying that Jeanette does a really, really, great job because she can level with the patient. And if she has any type of cue that the patient has financial concerns or they need any type of funding, she just levels with them. She levels with them and says, “Okay, no problem. I can see that the budget may be like that-, you may be looking at some type of budget that you want to stick within or a dollar amount. So, what are you thinking about in terms of the treatment? Are you looking to spend 10,000, 30,000, 15,000?” And see what they say, right? And it’s like, “Okay, well, if you don’t have a total budget, are you looking to split it up into monthly payments? A lot of patients, we have great financing companies, and we can get you some really low affordable monthly payments. So, are you like, can you do $500 a month, $1,000 a month, $600 a month? What are you looking for in terms of monthly payment?” And once we have that budget, whether it’s a total budget or if it’s a monthly budget, that’s where you can go through, pull up proceed, and we should be filling out that patient recap form at the end of the first 10. And it is super critical for the doctor to know what the patient’s budget is for their second 10. As we should, if the patient has monthly payments and is only approved for $15,000 through proceed, we should not be treatment planning a patient for $50,000.

That just sets the treatment coordinator up for failure, for failure. So, the doctor has to know what that budget is. So don’t be scared to talk about the price if the patient brings it up, bring it up. If the patient does not bring it up, then don’t worry about it and just move on. So, this was a really, really great example of how, um, she triaged that. Let’s look at some-, anymore?

Q. Would you recommend for her to try to finance them or said he-, or since he said his credit score is bad, skip that step?

A. Honestly, if the patient tells you, “No, my credit score is bad. I’m going through bankruptcy.” I’m going to need a cosigner. I would probably just trust that. [laugh]

Right there, there, I mean, they’re gonna know. They’re not gonna tell you that if their credit score is great. Um, you can mention to them and be like, “Hey, are you sure? Like, I have proceed finance which approves, um, for credit scores to like 580? Are you sure you don’t have a credit score around that, that type of credit score because we can just go ahead and process that?” They’ll tell you right away like, “Oh no, my credit score is negative five,” right? They’re, they’re gonna tell you. There’re usually people with bad credit that are honest before you put them in through financing.

Q. Is this the first 10? We usually don’t talk about financing ’til the third 10.

A. I believe I answered that question. Umm, let’s see.

Q. No exam, no x-rays, no diagnosis. What if they’re upset for seeing- for not seeing the dentist or the free consult and x-ray?

A: So, that’s a great question. Many of our practices, if you do it correctly. Right, Emma? If you do it correctly, and, for, for instance, this guy with Jeanette. The way the communication was, she got his pain points, she got his vision, and like what he wants, and when, when it came to the financial aspect, she did an amazing job just letting the patient know like, “Hey, I’m your advocate here.” She basically told the patient like, “You can go and see the doctor, but until we have a budget, we can recommend treatment, this treatment, that treatment, that treatment.” So, at the end of the day, if we don’t have your budget, then, like we need to get that straightened out first before you see the doctor. So, I would just keep that in mind. I have yet to see a patient that was triaged in the first 10 that would be upset not to see the doctor for their consultation. But, in the event, if you do have somebody that is upset and wants to see the doctor, then, you know, take the CBCT, have them see the doctor, but the doctor needs to know like, “Hey, this guy, he’s not moving forward with anything right.” The doctor needs to know that. But if you do it correctly, they’re not going to feel like you’re, they’re being rushed out, and that they, you know, that the doctor doesn’t want to see them, for example. Let’s see.

Q: There are many third-party financing companies, heard that although proceed finance doesn’t approve doesn’t mean other financing companies may not, since they all look at different things sometimes, thoughts on that?

A: Yes, Linda. So, I always recommend on having at least three financing companies at your practice, uhm. Proceed Finance does a really great job with approving, um, lower credit scores. However, their, you know, you will run into, um, you will run into patients that get approved through another company but won’t get approved through Proceed, so I would do Proceed first if they don’t get approved, Jeanette does also a very good job at this, she works with another financing company where she takes the patient’s phone, pulls it up, and then just fills out all the applications on the patient’s phone as well. So, yes, ha-, try to have at least three.

Q: Sorry, I had to walk out for a second. Did you say they don’t have to see the doctor for the first visit?

A: If you triage properly and the patient cannot get financed, has zero money, thinks Medicaid is going to cover it, and they have no down deposit, no, they don’t need to see the doctor. We just have to politely triage them out, utilizing the funding worksheet, showing them their different options, and letting them know that once they figure out your financing, then you let me know, I’m here to help you. The hardest part is figuring out the financing. The rest of it is easy, right? Just like Jeanette said in the video, the rest of it is super easy. Let’s figure out your financing, let me know how I can help.

Q: We use another company, Alphaeon, but what is another one that you recommend? We always do proceed first, though, as they tend to pre-qualify the highest.

A. Ah, so some more are Ally, and I believe Sunbiz, Lending Club. So, we’ll send out the recap email, and I’ll make sure to put in the different financing companies there.

Q. We had a patient get proceed for 25% interest with a 780-credit score.

A. Was it like a 10-year term? I’m going to guess it was like a 10-year term, that-, it was so high.

Q. So, you don’t do the CBCT scan until the second 10? We try to have it already done when the doctor comes in.

A. Honestly, it’s all part of your workflow. We recommend on just bringing the patient back first to see the treatment coordinator during the first 10, and then, hopefully, you have somebody that when you complete the first 10, you can go meet with the doctor and give the patient recap and let the doctor know what the situation is. And while you’re meeting with the doctor, the patient is then taken back by a dental assistant, and the CBCT is done. So then, that way, the patient doesn’t have a like long wait time in the operatory and that can be done at that time. And again, if the patient thinks Medicaid is going to cover it, doesn’t have a dollar to their name, and can’t afford the treatment, you don’t have to do the CBCT. So that’s why we always recommend on just doing the first 10 first.

Q. The entire way I get a lead to come in for a consult is to tell them that the doctor will give them their opinions, so I don’t feel like you can tell them that they won’t get their opinions from the doctor.

A. So that’s just modi-, that’s modifying the script over the phone, um, for just-, and keep in mind, we’re just talking about specifically these full arch patients, right? This demographic that we’re marketing to, these are patients that haven’t been to the doctor for years, like 15, 20, 30 years. They’re procrastinators. Who knows if they’re even going to show up if we’re marketing to a demographic that doesn’t have a lot of teeth, a lot of teeth are missing, and we have to replace everything. Usually, they don’t have money to pay for everything out of pocket. A lot of times, they have really low credit scores. So, we just have to do our best to triage them. So just specifically these patients, I’m not talking about all patients, but for patients coming in for dental implant treatment. Uhm who is that Amy? I would just recommend on switching your verbiage and letting them know that during this consultation, we will be going through multiple dental implant options. But I wouldn’t set the expectation and just throwing out there that they’re actually going to see the doctor. So, I would just, I would just modify that.

Q. Why not get more information from the initial call and be able to send out links to help the patient get finance or have them get a family member to help them? I feel like getting more, [cough] excuse me, more of this information over the phone, trying to create a relationship, get why and then you’re able to move forward. Great. Otherwise, you’re bringing the patient in and still not being able to help them.

A. So there- there’s like really two parts to this uhm. I do have practices that, over the phone, they get all the information. And if the patient’s asking price, they’re triaging over the phone. However, beware, right? Beware. Because if you’re triaging hardcore over the phone and you don’t have a lot of volume that means that we’re potentially triaging patients over the phone and the treatment coordinator is not getting enough opportunities to close at the office. So, if your practice that’s just starting of, five, five arches a month, 10 arches a month, even 15 arches a month, I would say, I, I wouldn’t hardcore triage over the phone. It’s better to get as many patients in through the door, um, and giving the treatment coordinator enough opportunities to close in an office.

Q: Sorry, back to financing. Okay, can you also put in the email if those financing companies are hard or soft increases on patient credit?

A: Um, I can try [laugh]. I’m going to try. Okay.

Q: Our issue is getting qualified patients, and any advice on this? We are seeing Medicaid patients.

A: Again, it guys, comes with the territory. That’s why it’s really important to book as many people as you can to your office. It’s just, it really is a numbers game. It really is a numbers game. So, if you get out, if the patient’s, if the patient advocate is getting Medicaid or Medicare over the phone, keep in mind, right? Keep it in mind.

Q: Oh, people that asked about Medicare.

A: They have it, typically because they’re older, right? They’re retired. Just because they have that type of insurance plan, it doesn’t mean they cannot afford treatment. That’s like the number one mistake I see all the time with marketing companies. “No, we don’t take it, bye,” but in reality, how many offices out there do all in four and can provide a service for a patient with Medicare? Like, none, unless they want to get a denture. So, with those patients, I would still bring them in because you can probably get them financed. A lot of times they have money in the bank that they can put down. So even though you don’t take Medicare, don’t be scared to bring those patients in, because you have like a high probability of closing those too. So don’t just triage them out. Guys have a lot of really good questions.

Q: I have close Medicaid patients, but most are unqualified or Spanish speaker with no Social Security.

A: So sorry. Uhm, yes, Medicaid and Medicare are two different ones. Medicare is, it’s Medicare I’m talking about, not Medicaid.

Thank you. All right. A lot of really, really good questions. Well, I hope everyone enjoyed this triage. I’m glad that I was able to show it to you guys. Jeanette has been busting her butt, and you know, like I said, we’ve given her a lot of critiques, and she’s doing an awesome job. So, Jeanette, we’re sending you a gift card; it’s coming your way today. So, just really quick, guys, don’t forget about those power sessions. It’s really important. Like, we’re getting a lot of people last minute, like the day or the week of registering for power sessions. A lot of these power sessions are almost filled up, so they cap at 120. So, make sure you go in there and let us know what power sessions you’re registering for. Okay, so watch out for that recap email. And if you guys need anything else, let me know. Go close somebody, go close some arches. All right. Bye, guys.

Michelle: Thank you. Bye.

Veronica: Thanks.

Woman 7: Thank you.

Veronica: Thanks.

[END]