Veronica Makowski: [silence] Hello? Hello?

Emma T.: Hello?

Veronica: Hi.

Emma: Hi. Am I the only one?

Veronica: You are not the only one.

Jeff: Hello?

Veronica: We are going to give it a few minutes, uh, for everybody to join in here.

Emma: Okay.

Jeff: For some reason, my Zoom’s not detecting a camera, but I’m-I’m here. This is Jeff.

Veronica: Okay, awesome. Hi, Jeff.

Emma: Hi, Jeff. I don’t, I don’t… Do I need my, do I need my camera on?

Veronica: Uh, if you can, that would be great.

Emma: Let’s see, I have an outdated here technology. Just a second.

Hesham Sally: Hey guys. Uh, just logged in quickly to say, unfortunately, we’re gonna have to reschedule this meeting. I apologize a lot. [background conversations] Uh, and I hope you guys are okay with that. [background conversations]

Veronica: Okay, and who is that?

Hesham: Uh, this is, uh, Hesham. Hesham Sally. We, um, [background conversations] we need, uh, we, uh, the-the-the Dental Crafters. With Dental Crafters. [background conversations]

Veronica: Got it. Okay, we will definitely, uh, make a note of that. And the, uh, just so everybody knows, these calls are recorded, so in the event you miss one of the calls, they are uploaded into Lessonly to view.

Hesham: Perfect. Thank you.

Veronica: My pleasure.

Hesham: Bye. [background conversations]

Veronica: So how’s everybody doing today?

Jeff: Fantastic. Doing great.

Leslie Ramos: Good, good, how are you?

Veronica: Good, good. We have a crazy week this week. We just got back from our Annual Forge Growth Conference that we had in Miami. Who came to that last weekend?

Jeff: I was there. It was great.

Leslie: It was good.

Peggy: Amazing.

Veronica: What are s-, what are some takeaways that you guys got from this weekend?

Jeff: For me, the biggest takeaway was listening to the patient. Listening to what their concerns are, their needs are, their desires are, and really design the plan that fits their specific needs in terms of full mouth restoration.

Veronica: Great. Anyone else?

Leslie: I really enjoyed the speakers that were there.

Peggy: Yeah, the speakers were amazing. It was very impactful. Um, some of the stuff I even brought back and like shared with my dental team and stuff like that. So kind of implemented some things, and it really impacted me.

Veronica: Who were your favorite speakers out of the weekend?

Leslie: I liked Tim.

Peggy: Tim was the, um, Anthony, Molly was amazing. I actually watched her movie over the weekend because I’d never seen it. Never heard of her.

Veronica: Yeah. Awesome. Anyone else? Any other key takeaways from over the weekend?

Lisa Maisonet: Veronica, for us, it was just a reminder to go back to the basics, right? Not to forget that 10-10-10.

Jeff: That’s right.

Lisa: So even Bart going back and reviewing that and just some of the things that we sometimes forget. That was so extremely helpful.

Veronica: Yep. That is a really great point.

Jeff: I was so impressed with how smooth Bart was. He just went from just flowed, just flowed really well. I’m sure he’s been doing it for a long time, but it was good to hear that presentation.

Veronica: Awesome. Great. Yeah, so mark your calendars if, uh, especially if you missed this one. Uh, our next course is June, I believe, 21st and 22nd. And that’s also going to be at the Fontainebleau, but in Las Vegas. So, uh, the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas, it’s a brand new hotel. I believe they’re opening date is next weekend. So [crosstalk]…

Nasha Nicholas: Can you repeat the dates for that one?

Veronica: Yes. It’s June 21st and 22nd. And we’re making it even bigger. So [laughter], like, if you can just imagine. You thought our speakers this weekend were amazing, you can’t even believe what we have in store for June. So it’s-it’s gonna be pretty wild. Uh, if we already have openings for tickets, so if you are available that weekend, great. Call your account manager, call your, uh, trainer, and just let us know how many tickets you need. You are actually grandfathered into the pricing. The tickets are, uh, probably doubling, to be honest with you, with all of the resources that we’re putting in. Uh, so our, all of our TCI members get grandfathered in special pricing, so make sure that you guys at least get a few tickets to lock in those rates for your group.

Um, other real quick housekeeping items. We, our next Power Session is in January. I know we have a lot of new members that started now after this weekend. Um, a lot of you are planning your schedule for 2024. Uh, some keys to highlight. In April, we do have our doctor only Power Session. It’s our one and only Power Session that we do specifically for the doctors. So please be sure that your doctors know about that, uh, that April date so they can book their flights and get their accommodations, uh, for that April session. And that is actually on April 5th.

Okay? And then for our treatment coordinators and patient advocates, um, our schedule’s in Lessonly. Uh, we have a PDF, uh, it’s gonna go out in the recap email again. So for the treatment coordinators and patient advocates, pick at least 3 or 4 for the year and pre-schedule those. As our program is growing, uh, the… we can only fit so many people right in-in our lecture space. I believe we cap it at 130. And, of course, since these are so interactive, we always wanna make sure that we have enough one-on-one time for you. So we try not to go over that 130 mark. Uh, so that being said, pick out the dates for the rest of the year for next year and just let us know what dates you’re coming to so we can just hold your seats for that.

Uh, any questions on the courses, the Power Sessions before we dive in? No? All right, crushed it. I’m going to share my screen here. I’m sorry, was that somebody asking a question? No. Okay. [pauses] All right, everyone see my screen? [background conversations]

Veronica: Thank you.

Lisa: Yes. [background conversations]

Veronica: Okay. So for… We have a really, really great consult that we’re showing today. Uh, it’s the Treatment Coordinator’s Porter, and it’s from Dr. Hilton’s office. This is, uh, somebody coming in for a second opinion. Porter does a really great job and the doctor following the 10-10-10 process. Um, so we’re just gonna dive right into it. Um, and if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write it in the comment section and then, uh, we’ll try to get to everyone’s questions and comments.

Porter: All right. So I know, in general, just the teeth keep going bad. I assume there’s some pain there. Can you tell a bit about that?

Patient: Um, well, I-I had weight loss surgery 3 years ago.

Porter: Okay, cool.

Patient: Uh, my teeth were amazing, amazing before I had the surgery. And I-I get cavities maybe once every 5 years.

Porter: Yeah. Happens.

Patient: And it’s I-I had better teeth. My… I had all growing up, I never got cavities. They’re just had really good teeth. Um, I had weight loss surgery and after that, I mean, everybody knows when you have weight loss surgery, you start to lose your hair. Well, and I didn’t think about it impacting my teeth.

Porter: Yeah. Okay.

Patient: But I didn’t get all the nutrients and stuff in my teeth, and now my teeth are going bad. Well, I’ve started having more stomach issues and I’ve been losing a lot more weight and I’ve lost about 30 more pounds and my teeth are going even worse. And then on top of that, I got trigeminal neuralgia on the right side of my face. And now these teeth are going even worse.

Porter: Oh no. Okay.

Patient: So I’ve lost, I lost one tooth. They had to pull back in March or April.

Porter: I’m just going to make a quick note, but keep going. Yeah, [crosstalk].

Patient: No, you’re fine. But they pulled back in April and then I just broke a tooth on this side about a month ago. And so it just, it’s, and then I have a couple of teeth that have gone bad on this side. I just don’t… I get, I don’t eat a lot, I don’t… my stomach doesn’t handle a lot of food and so I don’t get a lot of nutrients.

Porter: And it’s made worse by teeth that don’t work as well?

Patient: Yes.

Porter: Okay. That sounds like the worst [laughter]. I’m really sorry, that sounds so bad. Um…

Veronica: Okay. So, um, the one comment that I have here, right in the very beginning is just like LaSandra said, right? We have to go back to the basics and we… The camera might not have recorded this part, but it is critical that we frame the consultation and set expectations right in the beginning, because what happens, right, if we don’t do that? We ask the patients, “So what brings you in today?” And then they can go and tell us their whole life story, right? You can tell that with the way we framed the question here, uh, this patient went more into her medical history at first. She then dove into her dental history, but more of the clinical side. Uh, but then the fact with her medical history, she started talk-… She finally got to the point where how it’s affecting her life, right? So with framing the consultation, uh, who here can tell us what do I mean by framing the consultation?

Jeff: What you need to do is-is lay out a, um, a-a menu of what you’re gonna be discussing about the-the patient, the patient needs or concerns or wants and-and go from there. But you need, you need to keep it confined.

Veronica: Okay. Does any other treatment coordinator here know the framing expectation anchor that you can share with us?

Debbie Sher: So I do. Um, I think, um…

Veronica: Okay, let’s hear it.

Debbie: From what I, from what I would gather would be to find out where the patient feels that they are now and where that they want to be. And then we determine on how they’re gonna get there. So the patient frames where they’re at and where they wanna be.

Veronica: Exactly. So just to, thank you, so just to give everybody an example. Hey, my name is Veronica. I’m the treatment coordinator here at Progressive Dental. And my job here is to create a customized treatment plan specifically to you, right? And so in order to do that, I need to know 2 things. I need to know, number 1, where are, where you’re at right now? So in terms of, um, in terms of how can you eat? Can you chew? Um, are you missing anything? Like how is this affecting your life on a day-to-day basis? That’s really what I need to know first. And number 2, is I need to know where you wanna be, uh, in-in the future? So anything with aesthetics, maintenance, uh, functionality. And we’re gonna go through all of that.

‘Cause when I know where you are right now and where you wanna be in the future and what’s important to you, I can work with the doctor so we can create that customized treatment plan for you. Does that make sense? And then you transition right into, okay, great. And we have our patient intake form and we know already what the patient’s coming in for, uh, if they’re coming in for dental, uh, dental implants or the full arch. And you would dive into that. Okay, so it looks like you’re having trouble eating and chewing certain foods, ’cause they wrote it on their piece of paper. And then just go straight into that conversation. Um, without having that frame in the consult, uh, just like I mentioned, the patient can start wandering off ’cause they don’t quite know what specifically you’re looking for. Uh, so it gives them, gives them some direction. Does anybody have any questions on that or any comments? Oh, let’s move on.

Man 1: I think it’s super good.

Veronica: Great.

Porter: With the trigeminal neuralgia, is that pretty constant pain or is it just every now and again, like it’s pretty shooting?

Patient: Um, they have me on pain medication and they also have me on, um… So it is a nerves that affect the nerves on this side of the face. So they have me on the nerve medication.

Porter: Okay, like a nerve blocker or something?

Patient: Yeah. Um, so they have me on Gabapentin for that. Um, sometimes it’s worse than others, but they’re… I-I kind, I pretty got-got it pretty much under control. I do have flare-ups of that. Right now it’s under control.

Porter: Okay. So with your teeth, it’s functionality you can’t eat, is it, what would you rate the pain and how often? How constant is the pain in your teeth? Or is it not too bad?

Patient: It’s not too, too bad unless I chew on something wrong. So I just have to be careful on what I eat.

Porter: Okay, so you’re not able to like eat some things that you would normally like? I mean, I’m not sure what you like to eat, but there’s like some harder foods that you can’t have, right?

Patient: Yes.

Porter: Okay. And about how long have you had… how long has it been going on that you’ve had to like kind of alter your eating habits because of your teeth?

Veronica: So just one suggestion there. Uh, when-when Porter mentions like, “Oh, I don’t know what kind of food you like that you probably can’t eat anymore,” just assume if a patient needs a full restoration, right? Full, full arch, their teeth are all mobile and moving around, they barely have any teeth. Just assume they can’t eat an apple or corn on the cob or stake. And just throw that into those-those conversations.

Patient: I got, I got diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia, uh, so it’s probably been the one that just got pulled. It’s been over a year. Um, I was chewing gum and it broke.

Porter: Oh no. And just, so just a year of really, I mean, it was you’ve already had a tough time before that, but a year of even worse?

Patient: Yes.

Porter: Okay. Um, okay. So I’m gonna ask you a few questions that seem very obvious, but I’m gonna ask you like how important some things are for you on a scale from 1 to 10, which seems obvious.

Veronica: Okay. So we’re 3 minutes and 47 seconds into the first 10. And we just did our fact finding for the current situation. Um, on a scale from 1 to 10, um, let’s see. Uh, Lisa, I-I see you guys there. On a scale from 1 to 10, um, how-how confident do you think we are? Like did we get all of the information that we need as ammo for-for the current state?

Jeff: No.

Lisa: I-I think I would’ve maybe asked a little bit more to get to know them a little bit better. Their situation before I go into now let’s go ahead and think about the future and go into the scale of 1 to 10 and talk about maintenance and aesthetics and…

Veronica: Okay, so gimme an example. How would you take a deeper dive?

Lisa: [inaudible] I’m trying to put my, the girls on the spot too. [laughter]

Veronica: Sure. Can anybody, can anybody else in the group help out? How-how else can we take a deeper dive into this patient?

Jasmine Wilson: I would just… Oh.

Veronica: They have just…

Lisa: I think it’s essentially what she would want. Like she [inaudible]… what is…

Rebeca Maisonet: [inaudible] to a couple of implants or…

Lisa: Yeah, like what is her, what is her outlook? What is she…

Veronica: Well, we didn’t get, we didn’t get in the… to the outlook yet. We’re just at current state.

Jasmine: [crosstalk] So I would just reference… Oh, go ahead.

Jeff: I would ask, on a scale of 1 to 10, how her problems are affecting her daily life in terms of eating, smiling, presentation or make [crosstalk]…

Casey Dark: Can you just ask her how this is impacting her quality of life?

Jeff: Put a number on it though.

Jasmine: But she’s wanting to get more about her current situation. So I would reference her sheet to get more of her current information if we’re trying to get her to elaborate. So whatever she filled out there, just asking those multiple choice questions there. So you’re trying to find more about her current situation. She’s wrote it there for you, so reference the sheet and have her elaborate.

Veronica: Great. Yeah. All really great suggestions. Um, my one suggestion would be when the patient mentions… There-there was a point in time where the patient mentioned that her dental health is really affecting her medical condition even more because she feels like she’s not getting enough nutrition. So I would take more of a deeper dive in that ’cause you can tell that that was a really big pain point for her. And ask her, “We-well what makes you feel like you’re not getting enough nutrition? Like, are you taking, uh, like is there something that’s happening? Are you having, uh, to take extra supplements? Like talk to me about that a little bit.” Just to, just to take more of that deeper dive.

Um, overall, I think we did a good job getting, uh, getting where she’s at right now. Um, I just think that we could have, uh, could have gotten a few more details just to have in our back pocket just in case um, things go differently or not the way we expect in the close. So now we’re moving… So now Porter’s moving on to um, the future state. And-and, by the way, when you do the frame and you’re telling the patient, “Hey, I wanna know your current state, I’m-I’m going to need to know your future state,” feel free then to use that vocabulary in the first 10, right? So you’re telling the patient, “Okay, well, let’s talk about the current situation. It looks like you’re having problems eating and chewing certain foods. Tell me more about that. And when you’re done with the current state, just use that as a transition and as an anchor saying, “Okay, great, I have, I think I have a great grasp on where you are currently. Let’s talk about the future. Let’s talk about something fun, right?” And just transition into that. So let’s keep going here.

Porter: Is that everyone would say 10 but some people don’t prioritize some things over others and that’s okay. And that’s kind of how we determine some things. So assuming, you know, we’re giving you teeth that work great, how important is the function of them on a scale from 1 to 10? And by function I mean that you can eat anything you want, um, that they feel like normal teeth and they function like normal teeth.

Patient: That one is pretty high for me.

Porter: Yeah, okay.

Patient: I want them to look real and I want them to function.

Porter: Okay. Yeah, I mean, I would too [laughter].

Patient: Yeah.

Porter: But, and it is, again, it seems like a silly question, but some people they’re like, okay, like function, I’m okay on a seven but I wanna look perfect. So that’s okay. 10. And then looks, looking like normal teeth that they don’t look…

Veronica: So good but try to get an actual number from the patient, right? It keeps them accountable ’cause right now she’s saying like, “Yeah, it’s really important to me.” Throw it back-back at them. So 10, right? Is it 10? It’s very important or are you more like a 6 or a 7? How-how important is important? And get the actual number from the patient.

Porter: Like they’re necessarily implants. They look totally natural. That’s high up there as well for you. Would you say 10?

Patient: Yes.

Porter: Okay, cool. The last thing is maintenance. And by maintenance, we essentially mean that, uh, just like with normal teeth, you’re gonna want to come in, not for cleanings, but we want to check, see how things are going. We can clean under the implants so that where it meets the gums, just make sure that it’s clean under there. That it’s not gonna cause any issues. Um, so that they need maintenance in that sense like any sort of teeth. Now some of them have different longevity as well. Um, some will last 5 years and it’s a 10-minute procedure to replace them and some will last for likely your whole life and you won’t have to do anything. But they all do require some maintenance. So in terms of like longevity and how long that lasts, how important is that to you? And-and actually if I can interrupt before you go, knowing that even if it’s one that doesn’t last as long, we’re gonna replace it every few years for a small fee. Sorry, go ahead. [inaudible].

Patient: So that’s a hard one because I had like ones that last a lifetime and then I could just come in for cleanings.

Porter: Yep, okay. Okay, so we’ll say that’s a 10, and well is that a 10 or is like 8, 9, 10?

Patient: It’d probably be a 10. I’d be open for other options but…

Porter: Okay, the preference is a 10.

Patient: … the preference is a 10.

Porter: Okay, cool. All right. Um, so what we’re gonna do is not everyone’s a candidate. Um, what we want to do is we want to take an X-ray and make sure you just have enough bone there that we can do implants. Uh, as I said, yeah, we just wanna make sure this is a viable option for you. We’re not gonna recommend something that is just not gonna work for you. ‘Cause sometimes you could do it, but it will only last for a year. And if that’s the case, we’re gonna go over the other options with you. So we’ll do the X-ray, um, we’ll come back in with Dr. Hilton, we’ll come in and we’ll kind of review your options with you. It looks like you have questions. Go ahead.

Patient: Do you guys, do you guys do bone grafts?

Porter: We do. Yep, yeah.

Patient: Okay. Because I’ve been told that I can do a magazine[?] bone graft.

Porter: Yep. Yeah, so we absolutely can do bone grafts. Um, but even then it sounds like if you’ve been told that, I’m sure that’s the case. But some people are even gonna be on bone grafts.

Patient: Okay.

Porter: Okay. So let’s get the X-ray done. Um, and then we’ll come back in here. We’ll have Dr. Hilton review it with you and we’ll go over, as I said, we have a bunch of different ways we can do it. Like up to 20. He’ll probably recommend just like 1 or 2 that are gonna work best for you. And then we can go over those. Does that sound okay?

Patient: Um, my other question is, is how soon I can get it done?

Porter: Yeah, we can get it done super soon. Um, we have…

Veronica: So, definitely, I would say when we’re telling the patient everything was great, right? We’re saying there’s so many different ways that we can do this. There’s like 24 ways that we can do this. But our job here is to find the one way to do it for you based on what you want and what you need, right? Because we’re telling her we’re gonna present you with 1, maybe 2 options. And what happens when we present somebody with 2 or more treatment plans? Who can tell me?

Jeff: They’ve gotta think it over. See which plan they want to do.

Veronica: Yep. They’re probably gonna leave the office with saying they’ll think about it. Right? Right?

Debbie: Yeah. Yeah.

Veronica: It’s, they’re the few words we don’t like hearing [laughter]. So, um, definitely the moral, like here the goal is to always do one treatment plan. Like that’s the goal of the consult. So let’s, uh, let’s keep going.

Porter: [inaudible] who’s wanting it done pretty quickly. Are you feeling like you want it done quick?

Patient: I need it done before. I need everything done looking good before March.

Porter: We can absolutely do that.

Patient: Um, I have… a trial hearing with, against my ex in March that I invited…

Porter: You’re making me sad [laughter].

Patient: No, you’re fine. I-I’m really trying not to cry. I just…

Porter: You need it… You can… you need it by done by March?

Patient: I need it done by March.

Porter: Okay, we can absolutely do that. We, depending on how soon, we can do it as soon as 2 weeks. Um, generally, you’re looking at 2 appointments.

Patient: My-my problem is money bill. Um, my ex has taken everything from me. Um, sorry.

Porter: A-and if we had tissues, I’d give ’em to you. I’m sorry. [laughter]

Patient: No, you’re fine. My ex has literally taken everything from me. He’s taken… I-I lost my house, I lost my, I’ve lost everything. And on top of that, he hurt my kids. And that’s what we’re going to trial for. And I need, I need confidence, and I need, I need to go up there strong. And that’s-that’s what I’m, I need, I need… my teeth are falling apart.

Porter: Okay. Yeah. I have my own kids and I’m so sorry. That’s so hard. And I-I’m not in your situation and so you don’t need me to say that ’cause you know that.

Veronica: So this is, this is what we needed from the very beginning, right? Right? She’s going through a divorce. Her husband hurt her kids. She’s sitting here crying. She’s saying, “I need to get this done by March ’cause I need to be confident. I need to walk in there and I need to win for my kids.” Right? So this is what we needed. But what did we also find out?

Leslie: Money is a pain point.

Debbie: Yeah, money’s a pain point.

Jeff: yeah, money’s an issue, right.

Veronica: Yep, that money’s an issue. That money’s an issue. So let-let’s see what happens.

Jeff: Would… shouldn’t he have asked for credit? Because who’s financing this?

Veronica: I’m sorry?

Jeff: I said we can always, she can always finance this if that’s an option for her.

Veronica: Exactly. Exactly. So let-let’s see, let’s see what Porter does in this case.

Porter: Okay. Before, well, we want to go over…

Patient: Sorry, I was trying not to cry.

Porter: You’re okay. It’s-it’s a big deal. Like it’s okay. [laughter] Cry about, but like of course you don’t want to, I don’t want to.

Patient: I-I’m missing, I mean, one right here and I-I hate to even, I don’t like to smile. I don’t like to…

Porter: Yeah. Yeah, I mean that affects a huge part of your life, right? And, especially in trial, you wanna be confident. I get it. Okay. So 2 things then, let’s-let’s make sure you’re a candidate. Let’s go over some pricing stuff too to make sure it works. Of the practices I know of, we’re probably the most flexible in pricing. You have a ton of payment options. Tell me what you can afford per month and let’s go over that. Let’s see if we can make it work.

Patient: Um…

Veronica: That was beautiful. That was 100% beautiful and seamless, right? I know as treatment coordinators, when we’re put into this scenario, especially in the first 10, some of us might find it awkward ’cause we’re not used to it. And we may be like, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ll talk about it. We’ll talk about it later. Let’s just talk about the treatment first, right?” No. If somebody, if somebody tells you money is an issue, we-we just go head on with that and we talk about it, right? So Porter does an excellent job with saying, “Okay, then we have to figure out 2 things. Number 1, we have to figure out if you’re a candidate. And then number 2, let’s talk about your financials and see how we can make this work.” And then he asked, “How, like, how much can you afford? Like let, you know, let’s have this conversation.”

Patient: I’m moving back in with my aunt, and so as soon as I move back with my aunt, I can afford quite a bit.

Porter: Okay. Gimme a ballpark and-and we’re not gonna hold you to it, but let’s just make sure we can work with it.

Patient: I could probably work by 4 to 500.

Porter: Okay, that’s doable. Okay. Other thing, would you rather put down a good amount and have a lower payment or put down less and have a, have like the higher end of the payment?

Patient: Um…

Porter: I know that’s a loaded question. I’m not gonna hold you to anything.

Patient: No, you’re okay. I don’t really have a lot to put down.

Porter: Okay. Okay. That’s okay. Do you know how your credit situation is? Because we have ones that work for low credit, but do you know if your credit’s okay or what your score is-is?

Patient: Um, 777.

Porter: That’s great credit. Okay [laughter]. I can’t guarantee we can find something, but we have a ton of options, so we’re gonna go over them. Is that okay with you? And we’ll get you pre-qual. Now some of these are gonna require soft credit pulls. It’s not gonna affect your credit score. Are you okay with that?

Patient: It won’t affect my credit score?

Porter: No. We have 5 options in one will and we can skip that one.

Patient: Okay.

Porter: Okay. The other thing is have you applied and have you been denied? ‘Cause I also don’t want to even do a soft hold…

Patient: No, [inaudible].

Porter: Okay. Okay. We can do the X-ray, let’s get that done. But do you have any concerns you want to go over with me now I’m not addressing? Because I wanna make sure [laughter] we’re being so transparent with you and being super transparent about the process. Okay, no questions now? Let’s do the X-ray.

Veronica: Okay, so great. We got that she can afford 4 to $500 a month, which is doable, right, for full arch. Uh, we also learned that she has no money down. No money, right? So this entire sale right now is contingent upon that she gets approved for financing.

Jeff: Right, finance deal.

Veronica: Mm-hmm. So good news is patient’s telling us she has a credit score of 777, but at the end of the day, do… like right now, are we 100% sure that this patient’s gonna get financed? No. So even when you’re in the first 10, I wouldn’t worry about like asking, “Hey, are you okay if we do a soft check?” Um, I would, I would just go into it. If-if the whole deal is reliant on the fact that it’s going to be finance, say, “Okay, great, $500 a month, definitely doable. Even if you don’t have any down payments, we work with this really great company called Proceed Finance. You know what, let me pull it up right now and let’s just see what we can get you, uh, get you pre-qualified for.”

And then that way, you know, ’cause it can go, and a lot of you guys know this, it can go 2 totally different ways if it’s approved or denied. And maybe it’s, even if it’s approved, we run into situations where they’re not approved for the full amount. They may be approved for 15 or 20 and then we have to, uh, figure out a treatment plan to work within that budget. So up to this point, Porter, really great job. Um, you know, adjustments here and there, but really, really, really great. Really great. So let’s move on to the doctor section here.

Porter: Okay. You can leave your purse here. We’re just gonna step right here. Hilton’s gonna come in here a second. He’s just gonna go over with you that you’re a candidate. Which it sounds like you are, ’cause you’ve been, you’ve been somewhere else, right? In the-the consultation. Out of curiosity, what ha-, what ended up happening there? Did they just not work with you on financing or?

Patient: Um, 3 of my teeth was gonna cost about $20,000.

Porter: Okay. Well, I can tell you right now we’re gonna be less than [laughter] that. Um…

Patient: And I just I couldn’t afford. It was these 3 and it wasn’t even fully implants, it was fixing, it was, it was just, there was a lot of money that I…

Porter: That’s a ton of money. I can’t afford that [laughter].

Patient: No.

Porter: Um, and I should have asked, are we, are you looking at doing bottom top or just top?

Patient: I’d like to do both.

Porter: Okay. All right.

Patient: I just want, I want something that’s gonna be permanent and looks good, and if I need to come in for cleanings and stuff, I can do that. But I just want something that’s gonna fix at least something. I don’t… I at least want something in my life not to fall apart [laughter].

Porter: Yes, I get it. Yeah. And, um, yeah, it sounds like with the weight loss that, you know, that’s hard and then the teeth are even making that worse, right? Okay. All right. Let me grab Dr. Hilton. Um, we’ll, he’ll probably take like 3 or 4 minutes just to review.

Dr. Hilton: Cool. Awesome.

Porter: Sorry, we’ve all asked that now [laughter].

Patient: No, that’s okay. [laughter]

Dr. Hilton: You said it’s easy. Just go by Teia.

Patient: Teia, yes.

Dr. Hilton: So I like that. Great. Well, um, I’ve got some notes here as to, you know, you’ve got some teeth pain, difficult to eat. Um, you’ve got some court coming up, your weight loss surgery and you’ve lost too much and so you’re not able to get those nutrition that your body needs. So you’re looking at, um, kind of that’s what kind of started the teeth down that road, is that right? Um, are you looking at wanting to do the whole thing or just one or the other?

Porter: Yeah, sorry, I should have update you. Yes, go.

Patient: Yeah, the whole thing.

Dr. Hilton: Whole thing. Tell me a little bit about, um, the tri-…

Veronica: So, um, really great recap. Uh, one fine adjustment is the whole goal of the 10-10-10 process, right, is to position the treatment coordinator as the figure of authority to the patient. Okay? And, uh, many times we’ll see where the treatment coordinator is not acknowledged in the second 10 by the doctor. And, uh, we really want to reinforce that, hey, the treatment coordinator, they’re-they’re there for you. So doctors, uh, when you come into the room, uh, really good touch point just to say a quick, “Hey, I’m Dr. Hilton. I-I know that you’ve been working with Porter. He recapped me on your entire conversation and here’s some of the-the highlights and the notes that-that he relayed to me.” And then go into your recap. Just to give that boost of confidence to the patient that the treatment coordinator is-is there as a backup. So it’s a very fine detail, but it makes a really big impact.

Dr. Hilton: trigeminal neuralgia. Is that pretty well controlled with the Gabapentin?

Patient: They’ve tried to take me off the Gabapentin a couple of times and put me on something else that did not work well.

Veronica: Okay, I’m gonna fast forward a little bit ’cause we’re going through medical history.

Dr. Hilton: Tell me exactly what you’re looking for? More function, aesthetics, both? Are you looking for like that white Hollywood, or are you looking for just like, “Hey, I just want things to work and look decent, you know.”

Patient: No, I want permanent good teeth. I-I don’t want ’em to look fake.

Dr. Hilton: Yeah, that’s the one thing. Some that go like Hollywood Chiclet and it’s like you can see from a mile away those things aren’t real, so [laughter].

Patient: No, no, I want ’em to look real.

Dr. Hilton: Okay. Yeah, let me pull up your, uh, scan here and we can take a look and see what we got.

Porter: Can you drive from [inaudible] for work…

Veronica: So, uh, Porter, uh, should have had the recap prior to the doctor entering the, uh, the operatory. So, uh, doctors just make sure that when we have the 10-10-10, ’cause Porter already asked, on a scale of 1 to 10, how important is aesthetics function, maintenance, right? And now we’re asking those questions a secondary time. So just make sure that that information’s relayed to the doctor so the doctor knows. And rather than asking those questions again, we can just comment on it. And now we’re going through the CT scan.

Patient: It’s about a good, well, depending on traffic, it’s about 35 to 45 minute drive.

Porter: Okay, that’s not terrible. It’s-it’s a good bit though too.

Patient: It’s- it’s not bad.

Porter: Um, and the clinic you work at is in South Jordan?

Patient: Mm-hmm. Over in Daybreak [inaudible].

Dr. Hilton: Okay.

Patient: I don’t have any root canals. Root canals.

Porter: You had met… you had gone somewhere that was looking at maybe doing 3 implants, is that right? Okay.

Dr. Hilton: So they were just kind of picking which teeth maybe looked like they needed the most help?

Patient: The, this side, my right side up top.

Dr. Hilton: Right side. Okay. Like you’re missing the one tooth here?

Patient: So they were gonna do implant on that one. And then the one in the middle is the… and then the one, um, so I have the im-… So I have the one that’s missing right here, and then this one’s good. So maybe they’re only gonna do 2 implants ’cause this one’s good, I think. And then this one is not, this one’s broken.

Dr. Hilton: Got it. Okay. So they’re gonna work on that upper right side. When did you, um, have that treatment plan put together?

Patient: Um, I was looking at that. I went to [inaudible]… I went a couple weeks ago. I’ve been really trying to find somewhere that can fix my teeth.

Dr. Hilton: Gotcha, gotcha. Well, yeah, I mean, I’m looking at these teeth. It looks like, you know, it looks like there’s some decent teeth in there, for sure. And it looks like there’s some that need some work. So, you know, I think you would be a candidate to, I mean, you could do what we do here and take all the teeth out and do the implants and the whole shebang. You also have the option of potentially, you know, fixing each tooth and doing a crown and filling or whatever’s needed. You know, single implants. You know, so I always want you to know that that’s an option as well, um, if you wanted to go that route.

Patient: My problem is my health. Health isn’t getting better. And with all the stressors and they’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on? If my [inaudible], I just think that my teeth are gonna continue to go bad. And that I try to fix them and it just doesn’t work. I just want a permanent solution.

Dr. Hilton: Gotcha. No, I-I totally get that. And that’s what we do here. So if you wouldn’t mind, I’m just gonna take a quick peek inside. Um…

Veronica: So we see this a lot. We see this a lot when, uh, when treatment coordinators send us consultations of younger patients that may have, uh, some of their teeth that can be restored. Patient wants full arch or is debating on having full arch. And we end up giving them a-a lot of different treatment plans, whether it’s the full arch or saving what they have, restoring them and doing, uh, just single to multiple implants. The goal of this second 10 with patients like this, we have to figure out what they want right there on the spot.

And this patient clearly is saying, “Hey, I get it. I know I can do it individually. I know that I can save my teeth, but with all the medical issues that I have going on, I want one fixed permanent solution.” Right? She’s-she’s made up her mind. She’s made up her mind. So, um, knowing that the patient is on a scale from 1 to 10, she’s a 10 on all 3 aesthetics, function, maintenance. That she wants to fix permanent solution, uh, the-the treat plan, if she’s a candidate, uh, should-should be like our high, our high tier.

Jeff: And there should be no other discussion either. That should be the whole solution.

Veronica: I’m-I’m sorry?

Jeff: There should be no other discussion. That’s the whole solution, is a full mouth implant.

Veronica: Right. So let’s-let’s keep going seeing here.

Dr. Hilton: I know this isn’t a dental chair, but it’s hopefully more comfortable and [laughter]-

Patient: Yes.

Dr. Hilton: … less nervous sitting in that. So let’s just take a quick look there. That’s a little tooth back there that needs a little TLC. Oh, look, not bad. Bite down for me. Yeah, I mean, I’ve definitely seen a lot worse, right? Um, your teeth aren’t-aren’t, uh…

Patient: I’m glad you’ve seen worse.

Dr. Hilton: Yeah [laughter].

Patient: I mean, I’m not gonna say I’m happy for the patient, but [crosstalk] I’m glad mine aren’t the worst.

Porter: They seem way worse, and most of them are worse too.

Dr. Hilton: Yeah. I mean, there’s definitely people who are like, “Okay, I’ll fix some teeth,” and then they go bad and they fix ’em and it becomes this money pit. And so they’re like, “Why even do that?” And so why not just take ’em out and do implants? The biggest thing with maintenance, with implants, is just cleaning them, right? So they don’t get cavities, they don’t erode from, you know, stomach juices like normal teeth do. Um, but the bone around them is what needs to be maintained. So if things aren’t kept clean and healthy that way, you can lose bone and-and you can lose implants. So I always like to tell people, you know, it’s a permanent solution as long as you stay up on that, no problem. Um, but yeah, in your case, I mean, it looks like you’ve got plenty of bone, um, for us to place implants.

Implants love bone. That’s the only way they work [laughter]. Um, so looking at your X-ray here, there’s plenty of space to put implants and figure that all out. Um, it’s just kind of knowing exactly what to expect, um, and the whole process of everything and write the expenses and stuff like that. So I think as far as a candidate for taking things out, as long as you’re aware that you’re like, “Hey, I just don’t want to fix things here or there, I just want to go take that leap to taking everything out.” And you’ll definitely get on that road. I think, uh, you’d be a great candidate to get some implants in there and have a good solid foundation for a great smile.

So questions for me on anything there? Okay, great. Well, I’ll leave you with Porter and he can talk to you about, um, those options that we have as far as what teeth we can make for you that we have gone to those implants and go from there, so.

Patient: Okay.

Dr. Hilton: Okay. Nice to meet you.

Patient: Nice to meet you too. Thank you.

Dr. Hilton: Thanks so much for coming in. I feel like it’s so late now that it gets dark so early.

Patient: I know.

Porter: [crosstalk] that’s the worst.

Dr. Hilton: Like it is ten o’clock.

Patient: I-I hate that. [laughter]

Porter: I hate it too.

Dr. Hilton: I’m like, “It’s not that late. It’s only 5:42, you know.” So.

Patient: I-I go to, I feel like I go to work, I take, drop the kids off in the dark and I pick ’em up in the dark and…

Veronica: All right, so we’re done first 10, second 10. So far so good. So far so good. So let’s go here to the third 10.

Porter: It’s not here, is it?

Patient: No.

Porter: I shouldn’t have misplaced it. Okay, I’m going to go [inaudible].

Patient: [laughter].

Porter: Okay, I got my computer. Let’s do it. Okay, so we have 2 options that Dr. Hilton thought were good for you, and we’ll go over both of them. Okay?

Patient: Mm-hmm.

Porter: Um…

Veronica: I heard this and I was like, “What? What do you mean 2 options?” Right? We just did the second 10, we talked about fixed permanent, and now we’re coming in and saying there’s 2 options.

Jeff: Stick with one.

Veronica: So right, right up front, I was like, “Uh-oh,” right? ‘Cause what’s probably gonna happen, we’re giving 2 options.

Jeff: Lemme think about it.

Veronica: Let me think about it. Yep. So, uh, right there I was like red-red flags are already coming up for me.

Porter: As I said, there’s a ton of ways to do it, but the 2 that we felt that were best for you is one’s called Onyx and one is called Zirconia. And the only difference between those 2 is the actual material, material of the teeth. So the actual implant material, the abutment, which is kind of the bridge between the implant and the-the actual teeth, that’s all the same. It’s just the material of the actual teeth that we’re changing. There’s pros and cons to both of those. Um, and we’ll go over pricing for both of those. And I, from with payment plans, both of those are within your realm. One is at the high end of your, of your range, and one’s gonna be pretty well within your range. Does that make sense?

Patient: Which one’s the best?

Porter: Best is subjective, so let me go where them both and you decide which one is best. But they’re both gonna get, well, actually I know what one I think is best for your case. Um, probably Zirconia, which is a more expensive one. And the reason being is we don’t always recommend that.

Veronica: Okay, so based on like this minute, minute and a half conversation, what is the patient’s body language? And on a scale from 1 to 10, how excited is she right now?

Jeff: 3.

Debbie: 2.

Leslie: Not at all.

Jeff: Yeah.

Leslie: [laughter].

Veronica: Yeah, we have…

Jeff: Yeah, she’s closed. She’s closed. See.

Veronica: Yeah. We have, we have no emotion right now. She’s kind of like hidden and her arm, like she has her arms tucked into her lap. So we haven’t talked about this in-in a while in TCI, so I just want to bring this back into perspective. Um, again, like Lisa said, going back to the basics, uh, with celebrating candidacy, right? The patient just went through a whirlwind. They met with the doctor and the clinical part for patients isn’t that much fun. Um, a lot of times they don’t know if they’re a candidate or not. So when you get the doctor out of the room, you come back in and you’re sitting with the patient, like just level with them for a second. Be like, “So are you excited? Like you’re a candidate for forage[?] implants. Like you’ve been wanting to do this for 20 years. We’re gonna…”

Jeff: Right.

Veronica: Right. You’re-you’re going to get your brand new smile for March. Like let’s do it. Like we have to like lift their spirits up a little bit ’cause right now they can walk into the close very, uh, very just scared, not knowing what’s going on. What are they about to show me? And they’re asking themselves a lot of questions in their head. So we just have to just take all that off the table just for a hot second and get their emotions back up and get them a little excited, okay? Before we do any type of presenting at all. ‘Cause if you’re about to present a treatment plan or really anything, um, in front of a patient that’s in this mental state, it’s hard to get them up from-from there.

Porter: But it’s because with your GERD, it’s gonna… tho-those are gonna hold up a lot better to any type of like acid reflux or anything like that.

Patient: Um, with my stomach issues, I do swell up.

Porter: Yeah, and that’s gonna be the one that holds better.

Patient: I haven’t been throwing up lately, but my stomach kind of acts up when it wants to. And then I will go through time periods where it’s hard for me too before it just come up. Now we’ve been trying to figure out why, but at least for a while.

Porter: Okay, and that’s okay. And that’s kind of what-what he had said. So the Zirconia is probably the best option for that.

Patient: How much is that one?

Porter: That is gonna be about 500 a month. Let’s go over the price. Lemme pull it up for you.

Patient: How much is it total?

Porter: It’s like, uh, 39-ish total.

Patient: Looks like [inaudible].

Porter: Yes you could. We’re gonna go over it. Um, okay, lemme pull it up here. That’s the wrong one. The other thing I want to bring up too is that… Actually, I don’t want to bring it up ’cause I was gonna say if you do the less expensive one, you can upgrade. But, frankly, this less expensive one with- with the like throwing up every now and again is not gonna work great. So we’ll probably recommend a better one. Not better, more expensive one because it’s a really, really durable material that is probably not gonna hardly get affected at all by any stomach acids that are gonna get [inaudible]. Does that make sense? Yes. Okay.

Veronica: Yeah, so ba-based on everything like her-her medical history, the fact that she wants a 10-10, uh, a 10-10-10 on all the scales, we should just be presenting that one Zirconia. If in the event, at the end, if the patient can’t get financed for the full amount or we’re-we’re not going to scale into that option, then we present the-the more of the less expensive plans. But we’re just, we’re just giving the patient what the patient wants, right? So just be presenting that-that one treatment plan.

Porter: Right. Let’s go over pricing. Lemme pull up the pricing bundle here. Okay, let’s go over it. That’s the wrong one. We don’t care about that one. Okay, you’re gonna see a different price than what I said. It’s not this much. [laughter] It’s okay, we’re gonna go through it. Okay. So full arch Zirconia, generally, what we put here, this is general retail with your plan-pan at most places for this type of thing. We only do this, we’re gonna knock off some costs here for you, okay? So you can ignore these prices for a second, but I wanna show you everything that it includes because some offices, because they don’t do this all the time, they’re not gonna include all the costs all the time. Like, they might have someone come in and do their sedation as a third party and they’re gonna hit you with $1,000 cost on the day of surgery. But this is everything. So first off the exam, which is free today, and the 3D scan we’re doing, diagnostics and case planning.

That’s if you, when you decide to move forward with it, we’re gonna make a full surgery plan. We’re gonna make a plan for what teeth you want, what you want ’em to look like, and that’s all that. Surgical guide is it’s a very precise surgery that needs to be done. We need to make sure we’re drilling the implants into the exact right spot. And what-what doctors do is they’ll print off a physical guide that they put in their mouth during surgery and make sure they’re drilling down to the millimeter at the right spot. Um, and that’s like a piece of equipment that you have to make custom for each person. IV sedation is the cost of sedation ’cause you’re sleep, the actual extractions, bone grafting, the implants are the screws that go in. They’re not the actual teeth. Um, abutments are the bridge between the implants and your teeth. And then there’s 2 provisional arches. Now the provisional arches are some teeth that we put in while you’re healing and then you get in your permanent Zirconia arch after-after your healing is over.

Patient: How long does that take?

Porter: It depends, but usually it’s about 3 months for total healing. It’s like 5 days until there’s no more pain. But it’s 3 months until like your bone has really bonded with these implants. So you have the provisional arch, which works as well as normal teeth. Um, not quite as durable as those Zirconia. So the provisionals last, rated to last for 5 years. We’re gonna have it in your mouth for about 3 months. And then there’s the final Zirconia arch, which is the high end, which we recommend with [inaudible]. And then maintenance visits, and then night guard. Let me go through, um, how we’ve kind of invested in the company. And we have like an in-house lab, we’re gonna knock a lot of these prices down.

Patient: So [inaudible] my teeth for trial, I have to have them next month in December, because that would put it in March.

Porter: So these teeth, the provisional arch, they’re gonna look like teeth as well, even though… These are, these are approved by the FDA to be a final product. So this is, we could, technically, we don’t recommend it in your case, specifically, these teeth are good enough to be a final product. And you will have these the day after you pull your teeth.

Patient: The day after?

Porter: Yeah.

Patient: So I’d have to come back the next day?

Porter: Yes. We can do it same day. It’s kind of a gimmicky thing some offices offer. For the most part, there’s-there’s gonna be a lot of inflammation and if we put ’em in right when you have your teeth pulled out, then your gums will pull down and sometimes there’s a gap between your teeth if we put it in-in your gums. So we wanna make sure we usually do it the next morning. Um, so we’ll put these in the next morning and these will look like no one will be able to tell if they-they look like real teeth. But this is just the upgrade of something that’s super durable. They’ll look very similar. This one is incredibly durable and super strong. So, yes, if you want it, like if-if you did it today or if you did it 2 days before your court, you’d have teeth that look fully natural and like real teeth. Does that make sense? This is just gonna be the really durable one we’re gonna put in after 3 months.

Veronica: Okay. So a few notes. The… Porter, the base of your presentation, great, amazing. You went through a step by step, each line item, explained it, what it is, and that’s what we’re supposed to do. The one tweak that, uh, I would, uh, do for next time is… I know, especially for treatment coordinators that are just starting in-into the program, it’s like we show this piece of paper that has this huge dollar amount and we’re like, “Oh, I know you’re gonna see a dollar amount here, but don’t worry, it’s not really the dollar amount you’re gonna be paying, right?” So we’re telling them that upfront. So just try to stay away from that. Uh, just show them the piece of paper and say, “Hey, we… good news is like a lot of different places do it different ways. Good news is, the way we do it, we bundle in all of our services. So let me show you what you’re going to get for this full arch Zirconia.”

Go through, just like you did, line by line and then build the value, right? Since we do this all the time, we get discounts from our, uh, implant reps. We have an in-house lab that costs on savings and all-all of your value adds on why you’re discounting, uh, the services. And then start crossing them off. Um, and then you wanna write a total at-at the bottom to show them how much they’re-they’re saving. So just that slight adjustment there. And one other thing I wanted to point out again, uh, since we’re talking about celebrating candidacy is notice how the patient is still in the same exact position. Didn’t really move a muscle. She’s still very like monotone and she’s just not in the mental state where we want her to be.

So to give you an example, when she’s asking about the-the temporary teeth and how those are going to look like, with a patient like this, since we know like, hey, March is coming up. She’s going to cus-… or like she’s-she’s going to trial with her ex, and that is her urgency and that is her primary goal is to look good and be confident. Rather than going the route of, “Hey, this is FDA approved, like this can be a final product.” I would say like, “Don’t you worry. After you get this done, what we’re going to put this temporary, you’re going to look like a million dollars. Like your ex-husband, he’s gonna really regret [laughter]. He’s really gonna regret it when he sees you, believe me. Like, so don’t even worry about it.” Right? So sometimes patients ask these type of questions and they get clinical, but just, you know, there’s-there’s other ways that we can handle these questions emotionally, and to-to help us with-with their purchase. So I know that we are running out of time here. There’s 4 minutes left. Um, Porter, are you on the call?

Porter: I am, yes.

Veronica: Awesome. So, overall, I think you did a really, really great job and thank you for sending in your video for us. And thank you for allowing us to show it to everybody. Um, how did this consult end? Can you tell everybody how this consult ended?

Porter: Yeah, she was approved for financing. She had everything ready to go. She ended up having to get brain surgery and had to pay for that. Um, and so we’re still just in a follow-up stage with her right now.

Veronica: Got it. Okay. So, um, what-hat were, what were some of your take-takebacks from-from the call today? What do you think?

Porter: I mean, obviously, a lot of things. I think there’s-there’s several big things, but a big thing for me was celebration. It does seem like, uh, very difficult to be, to be pushing. I mean, this is a huge decision, but it’s really difficult to be pushing it if they’re not excited about it, right? Like how are you gonna sell that if there’s no positive emotion [laughter]? So, yeah, I think celebration for me is a huge one. Obviously, with, there’s more mistakes than that, but I think that could have made a really big difference. And then, and then, yeah, streamlin-streamlining some of the things, you know, asking better questions upfront. Um, just really sticking to that script.

Veronica: Yeah, but you also did a lot of things really, really well. So what would you say are like the 2 highlights of-of this consultation that you think you crushed it on?

Porter: You know, it-it doesn’t show here. Um, but one thing I really think I crushed it on, even though I didn’t celebrate the candidacy, I do feel that we had a really strong… This is, this is eye-rolly a little bit, but I feel like we had a really strong emotional connection. She’s been really responsive. She has answered all my calls, which I… is very rare for what we’ve seen. So I do think an emotional connection was pretty good there. Um, and then, yeah, uh, correcting myself a bit and going into the 1 treatment plan versus 2 I think was a pretty… Obviously, better if I did 1 in the first place, but I’m glad I was able to pull it back there a little bit. [laughter]

Veronica: Yeah. Yeah, no, super proud of you. That-that was exactly the right move. I think, um, another really great highlight that, um, you did in this consult is the fact that when she started talking about, uh, going-going to trial and that money was a concern, you did not shy away from that and you jumped right in. So kudos to you, kudos to you for doing that. Um, does anybody here have questions for myself or for Porter or any questi-, or any comments?

Jasmine: I have a question. It was in the first 10 when you mentioned we… she started talking about financing in the 500 and you mentioned go ahead, and applying with proceed during the first 10. Is that correct? That’s what I wanted to confirm.

Veronica: Mm-hmm. Correct.

Jasmine: So you would do that if you already know she has, she can pay $500 a month. We talked about the credit, you would go ahead and get that done in the first 10?

Veronica: Yep, just get it done. Just get it done ’cause you don’t know. Like I see consults all the time where the treat-, where the patient’s telling you that they have like a 780 credit score, but really they have a credit score of like 500, and that they don’t get approved, you know, and [crosstalk]…

Jasmine: Because I was [crosstalk] to the third, but if I know this information you’re saying just go ahead and do it. That’s a good spot.

Veronica: Go ahead and do it, yeah, because you-you can be spending an hour of your time with a patient that doesn’t get approved for anything or [crosstalk] may have a limited budget that you’re working with. And then you have to bring the doctor back in and say, “Hey, I know we just did a treatment plan for 32, but we only got approved for 15.” Right?

Jasmine: Okay.

Veronica: So we just need to know that information from the very beginning, and if price is a concern and if we are working within a specific budget, make sure the doctor knows that when you’re recapping them before they go into the second 10. ‘Cause that doesn’t put you in a great position as a treatment coordinator if you know the patient can like only afford $18,000, not a penny more. And then the doctor’s treatment planning a $32,000 treatment plan.

Lisa: So that happens.

Jasmine: Well, I get, I get good with getting a total, but-but I wait until the third to do the financing part and then they’re, like you said, I’ve spent an hour and they’re not qualified, but [inaudible].

Veronica: Yeah.

Leslie: Yeah. So, uh, Veronica that really happened to me a lot as well. So in the first 10, I usually don’t ask for the credit score. Usually, I always ask them in the third. Um, so like yesterday we had a $30,000 case and she said she had like a 7-715, uh, credit score. Um, so I thought, you know, it was great, but she only got approved for 26, and the APR was, it was through proceed, but it went through landing point. The APR was 23.99, and she was like, “No, I’m not doing that.” So, um, me going, doing the first 10, bringing the doctor in and do the fi-, the third 10 finance and-and then the patient can’t afford it. Um, what can I do in that situation? And I know that the patient, oh, also it could happen they don’t have a good credit score, but they-they don’t wanna give you a budget. It is happening a lot with a lot of the patients.

Veronica: Yeah. So we have a specific power session just on that, where we go through how to get that-that money question out when the patient’s like, “Well, you-you don’t, you don’t need to know my budget. You tell me how much you charge, right?” So there’s just a specific way that we need to frame it with like… There-there are so many different ways to do this. There are multiple options. We can get you a treatment plan for, you know, $500. We can probably get you a treatment plan for $60,000 just depending on what your budget is and what you want is what we’re going to, what we’re going to present to you.

So that’s why we work with patients in terms of their-their budget and with what their wants and needs are. And-and, um, I definitely recommend on, I’m gonna make sure that those topics are in the recap email so you have that. But, you know, big takeaway is get the financing done in the first 10 because we don’t wanna have these conversations an hour and a half into the consult and then, you know, we’re just stuck.

Leslie: Right. Right. So, um, if the patient tells me, “I don’t have a, I don’t have a good credit score, uh, what should I do after that?” And they don’t have a down payment in mind, and you are trying to get that budget, you know, what-what’s your budget? Like, it’s really hard for me to just, you know, go ahead and not knowing what the credit score is. And-and if they say, “I don’t have a good credit score, should I still bring the doctor in?” It’s-it’s been happening a lot with me.

Veronica: So that’s a really great segue into your funding worksheet. When you have somebody that thinks it’s like $50 or has not even a penny to put down, uh, take out that funding worksheet and say, “Hey, get it, I-I get it and I’m here to be your advocate and I’m here to help you get what you want and make sure that you get some type of treatment.” A lot of our patients, they use this funding worksheet to help organize and find different resources where they potentially have cash or investments available. Like you don’t even know how many times I have heard that the treatment coordinator thought the patient was broke ’cause the patient was saying that they were broke, that they had bad credit score, but then they had like Harley’s in their garage or like boats or some type of collection that they were able to sell and then come back to get their treatment.

So this funding worksheet, it-it line items out all of, all of those different resources. Um, it isn’t Lessonly as well. So I would definitely recommend on downloading that. And, hey, if after the funding worksheet, the patient doesn’t have like a health savings plan, if they don’t have a 401(k), if they don’t have this, if they can’t refinance their house, like it… we literally give you so many options. If they can’t do any of that, then at the end of the day you say, “You know what, Mrs. Smith, um, why don’t you go ahead and take this home and here’s my business card. Maybe there’s someone at home that can help you go through all of these. And you-you might be surprised, there may be things that you might not be thinking about. So when-when you come up with, uh, the totals, give me a call so then we can work together.”

And you know what, I would have, in my back pocket, uh, a place in your area where you can help patients. ‘Cause, again, not everyone you’re going to close. And we don’t expect you to close 100% of the leads, right? With the type of marketing that we’re doing to this demographic, uh, it-it’s-it’s a hit or miss, right?

Jasmine: Right.

Veronica: If you’re, if you’re missing all your teeth, you’re probably not like a doctor or lawyer that’s making a lot of money. And-and your credit score probably will not be so great, right? So we’re going to run into those scenarios. So make sure you have somebody locally where we can still help these patients, even if they can’t get treatment with us, maybe they’re somewhere in your area that you can send them to, uh, to get an affordable denture or maybe there’s a school in the area that-that helps on-on low budgets.

Leslie: So you want me to do that in the first 10 or in the last, in the third 10?

Veronica: First 10. Yeah, first 10.

Leslie: First 10. Okay.

Veronica: If they bring up money, they can’t…

Leslie: Yeah, because it, you know, it’s gonna look, also, look, you know, the doctor haven’t seen them. We don’t know what the doctor can recommend. But they always come up, you know, I don’t have a good credit score. Um, so I don’t know how to, you know, just, you know, skip it to the third 10 and not bring the doctor in. I know they’re not ready financially, so we’ll-we’ll…

Veronica: Yeah. And you’ll be surprised. You’ll be surprised, a lot of patients will even thank you because we [laughter] we-we see consults where at the end they’re like, “It’s $60,000. I told you 5 times in the beginning that I don’t have money and I’ve been here for 2 hours and you’re telling me it’s $60,000?”

Leslie: Okay. Yeah.

Veronica: Right? So [laughter], right, it-it goes both ways. So you’ll be surprised how many patients will be, uh, very happy that you just have those conversations with them up upfront.

Leslie: Okay. Perfect. Perfect.

Lisa Heath: Hey, Veronica, Veronica, when you’re not sure exactly what the doctor is going to determine as a treatment plan, in the very beginning, are you saying to still go ahead and try to get them pre-approved through proceed with just what a general, just, let’s just throw out, let’s just say 20,000? Just tell ’em, “Hey, I’m gonna just see if you can get approved for 20,000? I don’t know what your treatment’s gonna be, but it’s a good idea that it could be somewhere around this amount or…”

Veronica: Uh, yes. So I won’t even-even mention any of that to the patient. I would put what your top tier for full arches, whatever that price point is, I would request that amount. Because you can always scale down and you don’t have to take out that full amount. And if you put in, let’s just say, 32,000, patient gets approved for 32,000, you say, “Okay, great. It looks like financing’s not going to be an issue for us.” And then you just move along. You don’t have to go through any of the financing, um, any of the terms and conditions. You don’t have to show them price points. You just need to know in the first 10, are they approved for financing if the whole deal is reliant on financing, right? Can they get approved and how much are they approved for? Because that-that is going to change the entire second 10.

Lisa: Okay, but just don’t let it, just let, don’t tell them like the amount that I’m putting in to get ’em pre-approved for. Just go ahead and do it and just see what it sh-, what proceeds shows me, basically. But don’t make [crosstalk] to them at that time.

Veronica: Exactly. Exactly.

Lisa: It’s kind of hard [crosstalk] that if they’re, if they, if they’re sitting right here and I see that they’re pre-approved, um, you know, let’s just say for their whole 30 to not have a like, “Oh, well, you know, not have any enthusia-… Not show them what I’ve done and not, you know, bluff and not be excited about it enough to not say anything and they’re literally sitting like 2 steps away, you know, right here in front of my face.

Veronica: Right.

Lisa: You know, it just seems like I would, I just… I don’t know. I just, when you bring it up early, to me it just kind of, not enough rapport sometimes feels like it has been built. But I can definitely see if someone says, “No, I don’t have any money, I’m broke and I don’t know how I’m gonna afford to pay for this and I don’t know what I need.” And then you’re like, “Okay, well, let’s just first start by get-, seeing if you get it pre-approved?”

Veronica: Exactly. And-and you just have to frame it correctly with-with telling them, you know, there’s so many different ways that we can do full arch. Many places they do full arch one way. Good news is here we do it 5, 6, 7 different ways at different price points with different pros and cons. So our first step is to see where we are at budget wise. Because sometimes it’s easier to, for us to know what your budget is and then we work backwards to-to get you into the treatment plan, um, that you need. Right, so, um, I definitely wouldn’t make those conversations awkward. It might be awkward the first few times you do it ’cause it’s just not something that you do right now. But just stick with it. I promise you it’s gonna… those conversations are just gonna get easier and then the… after a few times of doing it, you’re gonna be like, “Oh, I don’t know why I was so worried about that.

Lisa: Mm-hmm. Okay.

Veronica: All right? All right everyone. Well, I know we’re 10 minutes over, so thank you so much for being on the call and taking time to be with us today. Don’t forget about the Power Sessions in 2024, okay? Pre-schedule those. And if you need anything, let us know.

Lisa: Okay, thank you.

Veronica: [crosstalk] some marches.

Woman 1: Thank you. Thanks.

Jeff: Thank you.

Veronica: Okay, bye.

[END]