June, 2022
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Veronica Makowski: –some really quick housekeeping items for everybody. Uh, our program is growing like exponentially. So if you are planning to come to one of the power sessions this year, definitely I would take some time in the next few days to sit down with your doctors and your team members and plan out the rest of the year if you guys are going to be coming down. Um, so again, we’re capping it to 50 people per power session. And a lot of, uh, a lot of the dates till the end of the year that were almost at that max. And we have another boot camp, uh, coming up at the end of June, which means we’re gonna have a bunch of new members in the program that are gonna start coming down as well. So make sure that, uh, you look at the calendar and Lessonly[?] and in the recap you know that we’ll send out today. I’ll make sure to put in the-the registration links to all the power sessions for the rest of the year. And like I said, take some time to, um, take some time to look at your calendar and get-get that marked on your books. Uh, for those of you who are just joining in, if you can rename yourself in Zoom to your first and last name or anybody that’s joining the call with us, so we can make sure that you have credit for attending the call today.
[silence]
Veronica: Okay. All right, let’s go ahead and just get started. Today, uh, we have, uh… I have a really great video to show everybody. It is of a patient who is coming in for uh a second or third consultation. Um, they’re currently in both upper and lower dentures. And with their upper and lower dentures, um, she obviously wants to fix full arch and Kelly from Dr. Etheridge’s[?] office, she closes her on zy–zygoma. Um, it’s a zygoma case, a full arch zygoma. So, uh, there’s some really great points in this consultation. So I’m just gonna go ahead and get started here and start sharing my screen.
[background conversation]
Veronica: Okay [pause]. And any– Everybody should know the drill. If anybody has any questions, comments, um… Ooh, Erica, we’re not blonde anymore. That’s different. [laughs] It looks great.
Erika Powell: Thank you. I was like she’s not going to even know who the heck’s signing in right now.
Veronica: Yeah. [laughs] So, if you guys have any questions or comments, uh, during this-this session, please go ahead and use the chat function and then just type it in and I’ll make sure to answer any-any questions that you may have throughout the video. Okay.
[silence]
Erika: There I am, sorry.
Veronica: Okay. So I just muted everybody for now. Uh, feel free to unmute. That function is also available for you.
Kelly: Do you want your dentures? Because my job here is to really get you what you want. Okay? I’m not a dentist. I work with a dentist, but Dr. Etheridge[?] is very compassionate. I think you’re really gonna like him. That’s number one. Number two, again, my job is to find out exactly what you’re going through now, which you’re telling me, and I appreciate that. But another part of that is I need to find out what exactly what you want. Do you want implants or do you want a denture that fits?
Erika: Are we pretty much able to just do like an open…
Veronica: Sorry, Erika. Go ahead.
Erika: No, that’s okay. I said, um, are we able to just do pretty much do like an open dialogue, or did you have something specific that we’re starting with?
Veronica: Yes. So, um, today, uh, we’re, I’m, I’m showing a, I’m showing a consultation of Kelly. She has a patient that’s coming in with a double denture on the top and denture on the bottom. And she’s looking for fixed full arch. Uh, her previous dentist said that she can’t really get anything done because of the massive like bone loss that she has. So this ended up being a zygoma, um, zygoma case, and she closed it at the end. So, we’re, um, I’m just gonna play the video and we’re gonna go through and highlight some areas of improvement and-and things that did, um, right.
Erika: Okay. Okay.
Kelly: So, functionality, on a scale of 1 to 10 is like sky high for you. Yeah.
Patient: It’s not functional.
Kelly: Aesthetics. How important is aesthetics to you? Just the way they look.
Patient: It’s important. I need it to be normal.
Kelly: So…
Patient: Because I deal with the public on a daily.
Kelly: Right. What do you do, if you don’t mind me asking?
Patient: I work with the sheriff department.
Kelly: Oh, very interesting.
Patient: I’m not a deputy, but I’m what they call correction support person.
Kelly: Wow! Very cool.
Patient: Um, I’ve been in between.
Kelly: Oh my goodness. I love to hear that. That’s great.
Patient: The public [inaudible].
Kelly: Of course.
Patient: You know, I’m talking on the phone. You can’t, you can’t talk on the phone and get you [inaudible].
Kelly: No.
Patient: Oh my God. It’s awful.
Kelly: Yeah.
Patient: You’re talking to your co-workers and you know your mask is on.
Kelly: Right right you feel… Yeah.
Patient: It come right out.
Kelly: Yeah. Okay. So…
Veronica: Okay. So I’m gonna stop right here. Um, so right in the beginning, uh, Kelly does a great job. She starts off with the framing. Like, hey, my responsibility here is to convey, uh, to create a custom treatment plant for you. In order to do that, I need to know exactly what you’re telling me right now. Right? The patient must have been telling her some of her, like, current situation and what she’s dealing with. Um, and then she-she looked back, and she backtracked to make sure that she did hit that anchor point, which is great. Um, and, and then I need to know where you want to be. So like, where you want to be in the future, right? And then we went straight into what do you want with function aesthetics, which is an anchor point that we need to hit. I think that we hit that a little too soon. Um, you can tell that the patient wasn’t really done telling her story yet with her current situation.
So, nice thing about this patient is this patient talks a lot, right? You just asked her one question and she’ll give you all the information that you need. Like, I love patients like this. Um, definitely not an S personality. It’s an I type of personality where-where they’re open and they’re honest with-with their communications, um, with their type of communication. So the patient is basically saying like, yeah, I’m looking for something that, that’s not really removable, that’s sturdy, because I work for a sheriff’s office and the Corrections Department. And I’m on the phone all day, and my denture keeps slipping and I can’t have a denture that keeps slipping. And I’m like talking to people over the phone and I’m choking on my denture is what she’s, what she’s telling Kelly. So, um, again, this is a really, really great type of patient to have when literally you ask them one question and they just go and tell you that exactly the information that you’re looking for.
Kelly: Below you see it’s not sticking up through the roof of your mouth, because you have a [unintelligible] consider a flat helmet. You know? So he’s gonna take a look. He’s gonna take a look at that. Do you have dentures upper and lower? How are the lowers doing?
Patient: The lower stick.
Kelly: Oh, usually it’s the other way around.
Patient: Uppers do not.
Kelly: Interesting. Okay. Yeah, I could see that. I could see that.
Patient: But I don’t have a problem with this.
Kelly: Interesting. I’m telling you, usually it’s the other way around. Yes. Because, because of the palette.
Patient: It’s only partial. Because this is my real teeth in the middle.
Kelly: Got it. That’s why. Okay. All right.
Patient: It just clips in like…
Kelly: Okay. So that’s kind of a, that’s kind of a good thing. Because lowers are usually a lot worse. Okay? All right. So, I’m gonna do it with a 3D scan. Okay? I’m sure you’ve had them before. You’ve been through this before.
Patient: Right.
Kelly: Um, it’s good to tell Dr. Etheridge[?] of that and then he’s going to come in and kind of talk to us about what’s going on and what he sees and what we can do. Now, if bone grafting is needed…
Patient: Uh-huh
Kelly: Um, it just prolongs the process, but we don’t charge extra for bone grafting. We include that in our-our pricing. Okay? Um, as far as budget, I know you’ve done research. This is nothing new to you. I’m not going to go into detail about every little thing because you’ve-you’ve sat through this before. But as far as budget, what are you thinking? Because I need to figure out how to get you what you want.
Veronica: Okay. So who can tell me why Kelly’s going into budget if the patient didn’t say anything about price?
[silence]
Veronica: You can unmute yourself. This is an interactive session. You can talk to me.
Dottie Wind: I can say something, if that’s okay. Okay. She probably went into there just because this woman’s already had other consultation. So she’s very aware of pricing. You might as well go right into pricing or financing because it’s almost like why beat around the bush. This is not her first consult. Why not go into, alright, you have an idea of pricing, so this is what we offer.
Veronica: Exactly. Thanks, Dottie. So that’s exactly right. Um, and this is what I love about Kelly. Like she’s been doing this for a while. Um, she definitely doesn’t beat around the bush, like Dottie is saying. Um, with this patient, she’s obviously been to a few, uh, a few other consultations. She knows that she doesn’t have enough bone. Uh, she told Kelly this even before she started the recording. So, that’s why Kelly said like, hey, if you need bone grafting, then that’s included in your bundle, um, at no charge, which we’re going to go over. But like, tell me, what are you thinking about in terms of pricing? Because obviously, this patient has been to other appointments, and this patient didn’t move forward with another doctor for some reason. So many times, pricing is the biggest reason why patients don’t move forward. So she just goes in and asked the question.
Patient: And I’m thinking too, is there any way you could talk to my insurance and let them know this is not cosmetic? This is a necessity.
Kelly: Yes. But when it comes…
Veronica: So the patient says, is there any way that you can talk to my insurance, let them know that this is not cosmetic, that this is a necessity? Right? So, if I was Kelly, the scale of likelihood for this patient closing goes from here to like, it’s like dropping a little bit, right? Because the patient’s just talking about like, hey, I want my insurance to cover all this. Can you make it happen?
Kelly: …the implants. We’ve seen probably the highest coverage for implants ever in this office. For implants, it’s 2000. But we do a benefit check. Okay? And we apply what every single benefit that you have towards whatever we do. Does that make sense? So we-we definitely do that. So, that we will do. And then the rest, you and I will talk about how we’re going to get you from A to Z if implants are an option for you. And if they’re not, what does Dr. Etheridge[?] recommend at this point and time? We need to help you. We have to help you. I want to help you. Okay? Um, my heart goes out to you. And we’re going to figure it out. Okay? We’re gonna figure it out. We just got to… It may just be a longer process, but that’s okay. At least we’ll be on the right path. Okay? And I know Dr. Etheridge[?] is gonna, is gonna help you feel better anyway. Okay? So let’s get the 3D scan. Um, I’m gonna get the machine up and running.
Patient: Sorry [crying]
Kelly: No, no, please look out. It’s emotional. It’s emotional.
Patient: I’m sorry honey [crying]
Kelly: Okay [sigh]. Let’s face… Let’s put a plan together for you. So I’m gonna…
Veronica: Okay. One-one, um, type of feedback here if, for us as treatment coordinators, we may see patients all the time that are in very similar situations that are struggling to eat and chew. And for us, that may be normal, um, but we have to remember that everybody’s an individual and they have their own story. So, for me, um, with this patient, right, we asked her about the price. We told her, hey, sorry. Like with your dental insurance, they’re gonna cover max about 2,000 dollars. And we started talking about maximizing the insurance benefits and hey, let’s go and do this CT scan. And the patient, what does the patient do? They just start crying, right? She starts bawling. She’s like, “I’m sorry.”
And for me, I would have taken a step back and be like, “Well, I can see that you’re really, you’re really hurting. You’re really hurting about this, or you’re really concerned about something. Are-are you getting emotional because of the financial aspect? Or are you getting emotional because of everything that you’re going through? Like, talk to me a little bit about that.” Because you want to see, like, why the, why the patient, like what triggered the patient to-to start crying? Like, yes, it’s overwhelming. And yes, we know it’s overwhelming, because we might see this all the time with patients. But we want to know what’s going through their head. Does that make sense? Okay, so [clearing throat] um, let’s keep moving on here.
Kelly: Get the, get the machine up and running. I’m just going to put on a video while you’re sitting in here. You don’t have to watch it if you don’t want to, but at least it will be something that maybe you might get some information on. Let me show you… Are you familiar with the different options when it comes to implants? Let me show you that first.
Veronica: Oh, and one more thing. Um, we asked her if she’s looking for some type of budget, right? Um, and what she’s looking to spend. But we never actually got that answer. Like
we didn’t actually get an answer from the patient. So the patient really, they deflected on the answer. They answered our question with a question. Did you guys see how the patient did that? We asked, what’s your budget? And the patient’s response was, “Well, can you have my insurance cover it?” So they, like this patient deflected real fast. So, we-we didn’t really circle back around and-and get that answer which Kelly does a good job. And she-she-she tries to get an answer again. So we’ll, we’ll see that come up, um, one more time. There’s, I’m going to fast forward a little bit here. Um, I want everyone to see what happens during the patient education.
Kelly: To not, you know I only want to assume what-what option do you kind of gravitate more towards? The removable? or this?
Patient: Sturdy. With more sturdy.
Kelly: Well, they’re both going to be sturdy. They’re both going to be completely sturdy. Just one is something that you can maintain at home and clean and hold. Um, kind of what you’re used to now. And the other is you can’t. They’re completely fixed. You cannot remove them. So, those are the two options. And you don’t have to make a decision now. I’m just kind of giving you an idea. I want you to just think about what might be a better option for you because everybody’s different.
Patient: What I’m saying is would food get caught?
Kelly: [inaudible]
Patient: I’m saying like within, like, like with the dentures, you know how to get the teeth [inaudible] get caught. Would food get caught in those?
Kelly: In these?
Patient: Uh-huh.
Kelly: Uh, it can happen. I mean, you got to clean them, you got to maintain them maybe with a Waterpik[?] at home. Like, but it doesn’t happen quite often. It’s not like, it’s not like a denture. It’s like night and day to a denture. Yeah. And so is this. This, even on this…
Veronica: So, what I love about the patient education sections with Kelly, um, she does a really good job with telling the patient their different options and letting her know like, hey, you want something that’s sturdy? Well, both of these options are great options, right? Both of these options are sturdy. One is a denture on implants, and one is just fix that you don’t take in and out and they’re just fixed all the time. Only the doctor can remove them. But she’s basically telling the patient like whatever option that you choose it, it’s, you’re going to be in a much better place than you are right now. Right? And especially because we don’t know what the patient’s budget is. If they don’t have a budget for fixed, we don’t want to talk about the Implant Supported Denture like it’s a worse option. So then, at the end, they feel bad that they are ending up with Implant Supported Denture because they should only be going with the fixed full arch, for example. So she does a really good job making sure that the patient, the patient knows that. [clears throat] Um, I’m going to fast forward a little bit. Basically, she takes the patient back. She does the CT scan.
[silence]
Kelly: So if implants are a good option for you, and Dr. Etheridge[?] will talk to you about that, he’s really good about trying to give someone options. Like you can go this way or you can go this way. Um, I want to kind of talk to you. Are you looking to finance?
Patient: [inaudible]
Kelly: Yeah. Okay. As far as the payment, what are you looking to spend on something like this? Have you decided on that? Like, what do you want to stay within?
Patient: Like I said, I induce before. Some people give you like, there was one they give for about 16,000 dollars but that wasn’t including the, the fix it and make the teeth after. You know what I’m saying? And I’m like, wow. And then another one gave my, um…the one that was taking the phone out the hill. The first one was 16,000 dollars [inaudible], and the tape on the hill, that was like [inaudible].
Kelly: It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I just saw him walk in. So I wanted him to talk to you about a customized treatment plan anyway. But the way we do pricing is we bundle everything you could possibly think of so you’re not going to get another bill. You’re not going to see another bill for this or that or… So I’m going to explain that. But I want him to look at the-the, um, the film, yeah, before we can have that conversation. So, okay, so let me grab him.
Veronica: Okay. So let’s talk about what happened here. [coughs] Excuse me. So Kelly realizes that she doesn’t have the budget yet, right, from the first question. So she takes a CT scan, sits the patient back down, and asks, “Okay. So are you looking to finance for this type of treatment? And if so, what type of financing option are–are we looking at? Or what type of uh monthly payments are you, of can–can you afford?” And what did the patient do? Patient, same thing. Patient’s deflecting the answer, right? The patient answers with, “Well, you know, I heard that there are companies that will give you a loan, but then I think like, oh, again, another loan. I just paid something off. And this last doctor that I went to, they told me that, um, they’re gonna use one type of bone, but if they, if it won’t work, then they’re gonna have to take a bone out of my hip, and that’s going to be extra money.”
So she like totally deflected the question again, right? Like an expert. Like an expert deflector. [laughs] It was like so natural. And then Kelly, you know, she starts talking about the bundles. And I see this all the time with-with patients. Like you ladies are trying to hit the anchors and you’re like, “Okay, I’m going to ask this question, because I need this answer.” But then the patient does such a good job deflecting. And we allow them to deflect and we never go back and be like, “Hey, hold on a second. I never actually got my answer” Right?
So, Kelly says, “Hey, I see Dr. Etheridge[?]. I’m gonna go grab him.” So some issues can come up, especially with this scenario. Um, the biggest one is that this patient may not be qualified at all, uh, to even get any type of financing. Or the 30 or 40,000 dollars may not be in their budget. So, if the doctor comes in and we’re treatment planning zygoma implants for 50,000 dollars, whatever it may be, it may totally not be realistic, and we’re just treatment planning the patient’s something that they’re never going to move forward with in the first place, right? So that’s my, that was my biggest concern when I was first watching this video. It’s like, hey, we don’t know what this patient’s budget is. They’ve been to multiple consultations. We asked them twice what her budget is, and she deflected both times. I was like, this case is like, this is not going to close. This is not going good, right?
We’re doing all the right things. We’re doing all the right stuff. But we just, like the patient is giving us hints, but we–we don’t, we don’t quite know. We don’t know if this patient is qualified or not. So, it can go, it can go sideways really quick. So I’m going to fast forward a bit. Dr. Etheridge[?] comes in. And I want to show everybody the recap process on how Kelly recaps to Dr. Etheridge[?] the-the patient’s situation and their scenario. I really like how she does this. Uh, it’s super casual. She gives just the right amount of information and the important, the-the important pieces of information. So I’m going to play this for everybody so you guys can see this.
[background noise]
Kelly: So Carolyn’s here. She’s been through a lot.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Yeah.
Kelly: And, um, she’s been to a couple of dentists.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: [clears throat] Okay.
Kelly: I’ve told her different things. Um, the main thing is, though, that she, um, doesn’t have enough bone on the top for an implant option.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Okay.
Kelly: And she’s been told a couple of things.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Yeah.
Kelly: And then the denture she’s wearing now doesn’t fit at all. Um, she-she talks a lot for her job. She’s in the public a lot.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Okay.
Kelly: Um, and she has to use a ton of adhesive and even that doesn’t even work and it floats in her mouth, and it’s just terrible.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Frustrating, right?
Kelly: Yeah.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Yeah. Yeah. Now, how long have you had that denture?
Patient: Not even five years.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Not even five years? Did it ever fit? Or was it better?
Patient: In the beginning, it fit.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Okay.
Patient: And I didn’t have a problem. I didn’t even had to have adhesive.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Really?
Patient: None.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Okay.
Patient: Then, you know, they tell you every so often you have to get it…
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Realigned? Yeah. Uh-huh
Patient: In this side. So I found that. Now I get that. But then the thing is shifting and falling. And then…
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Did the realign worked when you have that done, or no, not really?
Patient: No.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Okay.
Patient: And it hasn’t even been five years.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Okay. Gotcha.
Patient: And it’s awful.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Uh-huh.
Patient: You know, it’s like you have to use so much adhesive to where you swab[?] and it is all goopy[?] and is still not holding up.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Sure.
Patient: And when you try to talk on the phone with people, it’s hard because there’s gonna be times it pops up. You know what I’m saying?
Dr. Etheridge[?]: So you end up having to kind of talk, trying to hold your tongue against it to try to…
Patient: Exactly.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Yeah, yeah,
Patient: Exactly
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Yeah. It’s frustrating, for sure.
Patient: Very…
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Yeah, well, I take a look to the scan. I’m gonna tell you something that I’m sure you already know, you don’t have a lot of bone at top, there. Uh, when was the last, when, when, when was the last, when, when were the teeth extracted at top like how long goes is that like years and years ago or the day just finally extracted that same teeth five years ago?
Patient: Uhm…
Dr. Etheridge[?]: When they made this denture?
Patient: It hasn’t been 5 years.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Okay
Patient: You know, what they did [inaudible], I don’t have no uppers.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Right
Patient: I have a lot of [inaudible]
Dr. Etheridge[?]: uh-hmm
Patient: but no uppers.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: [clears throat] Okay, but, but my, my question I guess is have you been in an upper denture for, for many many years or did you like when, when they made this 4 to 5 years ago was that when they’re pulled all the rest of teeth?
Patient: Well, everything at partials
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Okay
Patient: Up to the top
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Up and then, and then when they made this 4 to 5 years ago they pull the couple uh, couple of teeth, couple more teeth? Okay.
Patient: Yes
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Uhm, have you heard of zygoma implants? [silence] Okay, the zygoma is basically what that is your cheekbone. Okay, right up here and they make this uhm, uh, implants to place into the zygoma which, they’re longer but they go from the inside up into the zygoma and exit kind of the, the head of the implant would be in the mouth where we can possibly get 4 of those 2 over here on the side, 2 over here on the side [sniff] uhm, and, and be able to screw in teeth okay, to the…
Veronica: Okay so now doctor, Dr. Etheridge[?] is basically going through in doing patient education for zygoma implants uh, which is great, right? And that’s what we want. So, we wanted treatment [inaudible] to be able to do all the basic patient education, what’s an implant? What’s a denture? Implants for the denture fix full arch so, the patient knows all their options but then when something like this comes up, the Doctor has time to do education on let’s say, zygoma implants uhm, and they don’t have to talk about like what the difference between the implants for the denture is and uhm, a denture in a fix full arch. So, uhm, they’re basically at the end of this consultation. Dr. Etheridge[?] tells the patient like hey, you’re a really great candidate for uhm, for the zygoma implants that’s something that we can do which is super excited for you so, let’s go ahead and just get you schedule work with uhm, another surgeon down the street where we’re gonna get you in and uhm, you’re gonna be good to go. So, I’m gonna fast forward to Kelly’s part with the third ten.
[silence]
Dr. Etheridge[?]: It would be temporary
Patient: Oh
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Yeah, it would be a temporary so that’s kind of comfortable for you…
Patient: Okay.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: …with the way of teeth come together if it looks okay we could just use that …
Patient: Okay
Dr. Etheridge[?]: …and it kind a jump starts the process it’s not, its, it’s many..
Patient: Okay
Dr. Etheridge[?]: …appointments to get everything done. It’s basically…
Patient: O-Okay
Dr. Etheridge[?]: …where we’re at. Yeah.
Patient: Okay, understood.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Okay, does that make sense?
Patient: Yeah
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Okay, alright. Perfect, then.
Patient: Thank you so much.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Okay, thank you and you’re in great hands so, okay…
Kelly: Thank you so much
Dr. Etheridge[?]: to get to that…
Patient: Thank you.
Dr. Etheridge[?]: …So hopefully when you get that done for you. Okay, I’m looking forward again stop, stop, stop running with it and, and get it done, right?
Patient: Yes
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Alright, nice.
Patient: Thank you so much
Dr. Etheridge[?]: Yes, ma’am.
Kelly: Thank you so much Dr. Etheridge[?]
Dr. Etheridge[?]: and you’re well apreciated, too.
Kelly: Yeah, he’s fantastic
Dr. Etheridge[?]: I saw it yeah, thank you. [door opens]
Kelly: So, what do you think about? Do you like them?
Patient: Yeah, it’s really nice.
Kelly: Yeah. He’s very uhm, like he said, he’s, he’s very compassionate and lets you understand the process. He doesn’t want any questions. And zygoma’s, they’re a little bit more expensive, I’m, I’m gonna be honest. However, once they’re done, they’re done. Like, you’re not gonna have the same issues over and over again. Will[?] be placed, they’ll heal out, you having a teeth and that’s it. So, what are your thoughts on that?
Patient: Okay, but what are we talking, right?
Kelly: Okay, what’s it? I wouldn’t even know so, I gonna get the price sheet and I’m gonna give you this folder, too.
Veronica: Okay, so, we started of the first ten with hey, how did you like the doctor? he’s great, right? yup, he’s great, I love him uhm, and then we go straight into like, whilst I go was, I wanna let you know they’re a little more expensive. I’m gonna be honest but once you get them done, they’re done, right? And then, we ask the question of, so, what, what do you think about that, right? So, the patient, now all they’re thinking about is the price, right? Cause we framed that question about the price. Where we should be saying like, if I was Kelly, I’d be like hey, you know all those doctors that told you that you couldn’t get this done and the doctor like other doctors wanted take to put you in a surgery to take bone from your hip and then put in the bone from your hip and your mouth to do uh, to give you some type of solution like, you don’t have to get that done. This is super easy like, I can’t believe you haven’t heard about zygoma’s before like you’re, like you’re awesome candidate for zygoma’s. How do feel like, what do you think about that?
That’s what, that’s how I would frame that question. How do you feel about that that you’re a candidate for zygoma and you don’t have to do all the other things that [laugh] the other doctors were telling you to do, right? So, the way that uhm, we framed this question, we started of, we started of on a good track with yup how do you, how do you like the doctor? how do you feel about the doctor? But then, we just like go straight into the price. So, uhm, that, that’s one area right here that I would tweak.
Veronica: And now we’re tweaking out the bundle.
Patient: Okay, it’s my first time hearing about that one.
Kelly: Zygoma’s?
Patient: Yeah. They didn’t, neither one of them [inaudible] the same. Wanted bone from the hip, the bones and the other one said to the other bone
Kelly: Yeah [silence] So with, with the procedure uh, then again the zygoma uhm, it’s it is an implant. Just a different implant they’re longer but uhm, the actual teeth is gonna be the same as what we talked about so it will be uhm, the type that doesn’t chip, doesn’t break or what not. So, give me a second.
Veronica: Alright, so the patient said like yes, zygoma I’ve been to all of these other doctors. I’ve never heard the zygoma before. So, my, my reaction, I would be a little shocked and be like, you haven’t really like, they haven’t told you about zygoma? like that’s a little bizarre. That’s a little bizarre like this is one of the, this is the best option for, for patients in your case like good thing you came to us. Good thing you came to us because you don’t have to go through all the other extensive options that, that the other doctors were giving you. So, we’ll definitely holding on that.
Kelly: Okay, will go over this with you. Let me come over here. Alright, so because he places a lot of these implants, right? uhm, we’re able to offer some discounts. So, I’m gonna go through that with you. I’m gonna show you what that looks like, okay? So we have a single upper arch implant zygoma, okay? that’s, that’s the key word if you wanna do research when you go home, you wanna look at that, these two. So, the consult we just had so, we’re not gonna charge you again for that. 3D scan, they’re gonna take their own but we’re not gonna charge you for that, okay? That, that’s 3D scans. Small design, so we’re looking at [pause] 4 zygoma implants. 2 on one side, 2 on the other side and [inaudible] Those are the round pieces that go on top, remember I showed you those? Okay.
Extractions not needed. Pro graphing not needed. The prosthetic which is the temporary, okay? We might be able to lower that, okay? Since, what…
Patient: are we going…
Kelly: …we’re seeing here yup, yup. So, I don’t think we’re, you’re gonna need that charge, okay? So, the final custom hard work is the zirconia teeth. That’s, those are the teeth that’ll chip or anything. [inaudible] are included my card[?] So, with everything we’re, we’re looking at 49,000
Patient: Yeah
Kelly: but we are able to bring it down to 37 for you. That’s with everything and that’s including the zirconia teeth so, you wouldn’t have to worry about anything after that. Like, you, they, they last for the rest of your life, okay? So, it’s an investment, but once it’s done, it’s done. You don’t have to worry about that anymore. And that’s where they customized the zygoma’s. So, uhm, do you wanna look at the financing? right now? I’m gonna put this in here and I’m gonna include the paper work if you do come back or when you do come back, you just have to fill this out. It’s like 4 or 5 pages. What are your thoughts? Talk to me.
Patient: Uhm
Kelly: I mean, I’m excited for you that this is an option for you. How are you feeling about that? cause you don’t seem too excited.
Patient: No
Veronica: So, I love that, right? She’s like feeling out the patient and we spent like the entire power session uh, on this whole celebrating candidacy. So, I love that Kelly picked up that the patient didn’t seem excited, right? So, typically, you wanna do this before you present the price to see if they’re excited about the treatment that they were getting to the option but [clears throat] you know, e-even given this fact like Kelly did a good job like, going through the bundle and just seeing at the end like hey this patient like we’re not vibing anymore, right? We had a different vibe in the first ten. We had a different vibe in the second part of the consultation with the doctor and now the patient’s kind of shutting down. So, she asked the patient like hey like I’m excited for you like this is even an option but you don’t seem excited like, talk to me about that, right?
Patient: Just, a, it get consoled me [?] Like I think [inaudible]
Kelly: Okay, okay, okay
Patient: Yeah, consoled me[?] Like I think [inaudible]
Kelly: Okay, okay, okay
Patient: Yeah and you know that was a big thing like you know along today cause
Kelly: [inaudible]
Patient: [inaudible] lasted 5 years
Kelly: uh-hmm, okay
Patient: and uhm, I, personally I have not even been able to enjoy,
Kelly: Yeah
Patient: no, I mean…
Kelly: Right
Patient: you know in that
Kelly: I get that, I get it
Patient: Uhm, and then [inaudible] like oh, and then you’d like, well, how will I be able to manage that?
Kelly: Right
Patient: you know, what is the, the, the monthly payment and the interest on something like that that’s even if they would call[?]
Kelly: uh-hmm, right, right
Patient: and let me get it, you know.
Kelly: Well, when you’re ready. I’m not gonna…
Veronica: So, I know it’s a little difficult to hear so just to recap, patient was like well, I’m just concern about the financing, right? I just paid off some of my loans. I haven’t really enjoyed being debt free and now just the fact that I’m gonna have to get another loan, I don’t know how much the payments are or what the interests rates gonna be and that’s even if I get approved, right? So that’s scale that I was talking about in the beginning words like how likely is this patient going to like close, it’s like from here to asking her one question, she talks about insurance is going down.
We ask her about her monthly payments she deflects, it’s going down and she’s not wanting to tell us the answer. We ask her again do you wanna go into the financing. She’s not answering at all. It’s going down so then, Kelly’s like hold on a second. What’s going on like talk to me, right? She’s feeling it and the patient finally comes out and just says all of these which is good cause again it’s good when we have patients that are open but if Kelly didn’t ask those questions and was just like real with the patient and didn’t catch on that something was like happening that the patient wasn’t excited anymore and just wasn’t upfront with the patient, she probably wouldn’t have got all these answers. This patient probably would have walked away. So, [clears throat] uhm…
Patient: Let me get [inaudible], you know…
Kelly: Right, right. Well, when you’re ready. I’m not gonna push you at all cause this is all, this is your decision, okay? I can do a pre-qualification with that thing in your credit at all, okay?
Patient: Okay
Kelly: uhm, we do offer a warranty on the implants as well, okay? So, if anything happens [inaudible] you taken care of, alright? So this is a full folder I’m gonna give you this. Uhm, but if you ever, if you wanted to look uhm, you know let me give you this financial sheet, too. I had a sheet that list like maybe 20 ways that people have found financing for something like this and I could just give you the sheet and you can have to go through it on your own time, okay? Alright, and I understand what you’re saying completely. Okay…
Veronica: Alright, so we should just assume, right? We should just assume that the patient wants to move forward the financing and when the patient says like, that’s even if I get approved like what are my payments gonna be? I would be like well, let’s find out. Let’s find out right now. Let me just pull it up, right? It’s not gonna do anything to your credit. It’s not gonna hurt you so, here just gonna take a minute and I will just pull it up and start like typing their information in and uh, to proceed it and just go, right?
Cause right now, we’re kind of assuming that she doesn’t want to move forward with the financing and we’re waiting for her like permission to do it kind of and, and it’s just like a weird situ… like we’re just letting it, letting it linger. So, uhm, definitely be more aggressive when it comes to, to that uhm, I’ve been seeing this a lot and then uhm, also we just like moving forward in scheduling the, the appointments. Just assume that they want a schedule. Assume that they wanna pay and, and just like move right into it. We don’t have to make it this like awkward like do you want to do it or you, you, you ladies know what I mean. So, let’s see what happens here.
Kelly: Well, I thought I have the sheet, I can email them to you. Let’s see. Yeah, I’ll email it to you within the hour cause I don’t have one printed. The other option is if you didn’t want to go through this which I think that it’s a great option for you uhm, [clears throat] you can always come back for a second consult with Dr. Ethridge[?] about your current denture and see if there’s anything he can do about that. It’s up to you.
Patient: What about that…
Kelly: Just take a look at it and see if there’s anything that he can help you with as far as that floating in your mouth like he didn’t, he wanted to focus on the implant option for you right now. Yeah
Patient: uh-hmm
Veronica: Right and here, here is the part of the consultation and like we lost it. We lost it now we’re giving her the option to come back for another consultation to talk about her dentures like we totally lost this case, right? But she, she turns it around.
Patient: Let me see if I can qualify without bringing my credit?
Kelly: That is correct
Patient: Okay
Kelly: That’s a soft inquiry. We can do that now?
Patient: Yeah
Kelly: Okay, okay.
Veronica: The we’re, we’re waiting for the patient’s say like well, you so you’re telling me that you can just check right now and it’s soft inquiry. She’s like okay maybe let’s just go ahead and do that, right? So, we’re, if we, if we would have just said like hey let’s just do it like you don’t know if you’re gonna get financed, let’s just go ahead. I’m gonna pull it up and we’re, like let’s just do it, right? The patient would, wouldn’t have not said no and we wouldn’t have been giving her all these different se–scenarios. So now, they’re basically going through proceed finance.
[silence]
Kelly: Okay, you’ve been approved.
Patient: To who?
Kelly: uhm, with our…
Veronica: You’ve been approved. Patient’s in shocked. She’s like, by who? Like who’s crazy enough to approve me, right? But she got approved. She got approved by a proceed for her full amount.
Kelly: In financial. Uhm, you’ve been approved for the full amount. So, here are the options. I’m, I wish, I’m gonna put this on the screen since the door’s shut, okay? It’s, it’s, I wanna make sure that it’s private.
Patient: Right
Kelly: But you tell me if any of these are something that you wanna deal? and if not, it’s up to you. But they did approve me for the full amount which is, these are the monthly payments. So, for [inaudible] and twenty months at 13.9 percent, it’s 574. At [inaudible] and eight months and so on, and so on, and so on.
Veronica: So, [clears throat] Kelly has been showing the different monthly payments. Keep in mind, before you run any type of proceed application, you wanna know what that patient’s monthly budget is, right? So for this patient, her lowest monthly payment is like 539 I think she said so, we don’t even know if the patient can afford that on a monthly basis. This patient, she, if, we actually gotta figure from her. Maybe she would have said like a hundred dollars a month and I can’t spend a penny more. So, we would have had to like think of other treatment options or tell the doctor about that even before he came into the appointment. Let the doctor know like hey, this patient can only afford a hundred dollars a month and, and I tried running them through proceed. They got approved for 500 but they can’t even make that 500 dollar payment.
So, we have to come up with like a different option. So, and now when Kelly is going through these options like I see it all the time in this recordings when we don’t have the, the number, the patient can be like well the 500 dollars like that’s way too much. That’s totally out of my budget. I’m not doing it and they just walked away or I needed to think about it where [clears throat] if we have some like, some number from them at least above part of what they’re willing to spend on a monthly basis, then, we don’t fall into that trap. Uhm, because we know that they can spend like 4… if it, as long as they stay like at least to tell you 400 dollars, they can probably afford 600. It’s typically doubled that they can afford whatever number that they give you.
Kelly: Can you see that okay? And then if you pay it all with let’s say you finance for like 6 months and you end up paying it completely off, there’s no penalty or anything it just stops. It’s pay off your loan.
Patient: Oh really, I could pay it in the office window loan in that [inaudible] [pause]. And the thing is, I wouldn’t have to go for the lower amount
Kelly: uh-hmm
Patient: A month, you know?
Kelly: Right
Patient: Because that is, that’s like a, a payment because I’m still paying [inaudible]
Kelly: Right, I get that
Patient: You know
Kelly: I get that [whispers] It’s exciting that you were approved for the full amount. I mean, you got approved up to a loan of 45,000. You got…
Patient: I just, I just wanna get everything done now. I suppose I could stop working overtime again to try to you know [breaths] so, okay. Let’s do it.
Kelly: Which one?
Patient: I gotta go for the cheaper one.
Kelly: Okay, the [inaudible] and 20 months. So when I hit select…
Veronica: So, this is what I love about this part. Kelly literally like just, she stays quiet, right? After presenting the options, like she’s not really giving like her other options like well, if you don’t wanna do proceed we can look at like x, y, and z. She’s like literally letting the patient sit there and figure it out in her head. And what’s nice is this patient is figuring it out, out loud. So, [clears throat] when you’re presenting these, especially when you’re presenting these uhm, different financing options with proceed, if the patient’s just silent give him a minute cause their just processing. You’ll have patients like this perfect scenario where the patients literally talking out loud. [cough] And she says, well, 540 dollars is kind of expensive but I supposed that I can start working overtime to make those payments.
I can start working overtime again. And then at, and Kelly just was like uh-hmm, uh-hmm and [coughs] excuse me [coughs]. And at the end, patient said okay let’s do it. Let’s do it, let’s do the lowest option, right? Let’s do the one hun-let’s do the hundred twenty thousand dollars a month. And Kel-and Kelly close the case. So, uhm, with, with this particular scenario there’s a lot that we did right and there’s a lot that could have went wrong, right? Just with the financing aspect, if we didn’t have the monthly payment upfront so, this, uhm, Kelly really great job for closing this case [coughs] excuse me, uhm, you did awesome like hang all the anchors especially with her current situation and getting that, transferring that over to the doctor. So, [coughs] this was a case uhm, of around 40 grand that they were able to close. Uhm, so does anybody have any question or comments on uhm, on this co-consult? [silence] No? No questions?
Participant: I got [inaudible] yes uhm, so you’re saying that what she, once they got [inaudible] said I can work overtime, how did it close in cause I guess you know, I’ve had patients before that’s still kinda talk to themselves out of it after looking at the lowest amount so you’re just saying that the lady was like, never mind this is doable, I’m ready to go forward?
Veronica: Yeah, lady said it’s kind of expensive but I guess I can start working overtime she’s like, yup, let’s do it. Let’s just do it. Let’s do the lowest option.
Participant: Okay
Veronica: Uh-hmm, and at least that way they’re talking about it in front of you and not going home and thinking about it, right? That way you know what their obstacles are and what their challenges are and what their thought processes is. And you might be able to help them through some of that because if you don’t have this conversation there, right there then they’re gonna go home and they might never call you back and you’re just gonna be sitting there thinking like this was like the perfect patient. I don’t know why she didn’t close.
Uhm, uh, just another side note for those of you uh, who do not place zygoma implants, I’ve been seeing this more and more often recently, uh where you’re getting patients for this consults, make sure that you’re working with an oral surgeon in the area uh, for zygoma implants and you have that specific bundle created. Uh, I’m not sure if it was Kelly’s practice or another one of uhm, last year when we started running into this but uhm, make sure you have like specific bundles printed out cause the last thing you want is to have a consultation come into your practice that end up being zygoma and you’re just leaving everything up in the air cause you, you have to tell him like hey well, you have to go to the oral surgeon. See if how much they’re going to charge you. They have their own fees for zygomatic implants. It’s a totally different type of implant and then, it’s like, it’s just so messy.
So, same, same process just close them there at your office. Have that bundle and make sure you’re working with the, a good surgeon in the area that’s placing them where you have a really good communication with their front desk team uhm, where you can just like, literally pick up the phone and call them and schedule an appointment like you don’t wanna send a patient home if you like okay, well you’re all set, here you go, call this office and figure it out yourself or, or have them leave and say okay, I’m gonna call this office and figure out when you can come in and then I’m gonna call you with an appointment. No like you wanna get everything done, right, right there when the patient’s there.
So, if you don’t have that done definitely put that as a to-do list cause you’re gonna start seeing more and more of these patients coming in for zygoma, zygomatic implants. Alright, alright well, thanks everybody for joining in today uhm, again if you don’t have, if you’re not registered for the power sessions uhm, a lot of them are starting to fill out for the rest of the year. We only have a few of them. I know a lot of you guys are coming this weekend. Uhm, so super excited to have you here and then we have our peer mentorship calls next Tuesday and next Thursday. So, please RSVP for one of those days. Alright, well, that’s all I had for you ladies today. Ladies and gentleman, if you need anything from me or our team, let us know and we’ll see you next week or maybe Friday. [laugh] Bye, everybody.
Participant: Bye!
[END]