james, Author at The McAnally Selling System

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So far james has created 3065 blog entries.

Give Complex Case Patients an Emergency Contact Path

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Should complex case patients have a way to reach me in an emergency? Absolutely they should, and giving them that pathway is part of caring, not just risk management. A patient carrying an advanced condition is already anxious. The last thing they want is to be scrambling at night, calling around, trying to find anyone who will help them when something goes wrong. So before they leave, hand them a clear mechanism to find you if there is a problem. It costs you almost nothing and it lands as genuine concern, which deepens the relationship right at the point where trust [...]

Give Complex Case Patients an Emergency Contact Pathjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Asking Patients About Previous Dental Experiences

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Why should I ask about a patient's bad experiences at other dental offices? Because they came to you for a reason, and that reason is gold. I ask, any recent dental experiences that did not go the way you would have liked? Patients pursuing major treatment have usually shopped around. If they had loved the last place, they would still be there. So they will tell you exactly what turned them off, the rushed feeling, the surprise bill, the dismissive doctor, whatever it was. That is a map of the mistakes you must not repeat. Listen, write it down, and then [...]

Asking Patients About Previous Dental Experiencesjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Why Patient Motivation Questions Matter at Every Visit

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Why do I keep re-asking patients what motivates them at every visit? Because the real reason a patient wants treatment rarely comes out the first time you ask, and it is the most valuable thing you can learn. At the complete physical I ask again, what do you want to see different in yourself? This is my last clean chance to surface the pain that is actually driving them, before I commit to a plan. People hold back. They give you the safe answer first, then the true one once they trust you. If you only ask once you build your [...]

Why Patient Motivation Questions Matter at Every Visitjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What Is Risk-Based Treatment Planning in Dentistry

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What is risk-based treatment planning in dentistry? It is planning around what is likely to go wrong, not just what is wrong today. Instead of cataloguing existing holes, you assess the patient across categories of risk. Functional risk, decay and caries, periodontal risk in both hard and soft tissue, and esthetic risk. From a single snapshot of a mouth, and the experience of having seen thousands of them, you can forecast what is probably coming for this person over the long term. That changes the whole conversation. You are no longer fixing one tooth, you are protecting a future. It is [...]

What Is Risk-Based Treatment Planning in Dentistryjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Questions for Building Similarity With Patients

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What questions build similarity with a patient during the exam? Weave them in while you work, and write the answers down. Where are you from originally? Almost always something similar or interesting falls out. How did you come to live where you are now? There is always a story. Do you have family, children, grandchildren? They will tell you, and you will find common ground, oh, I have that many kids too. If they work, ask what kind of work, and share a bit of yours. And do not skip this one: do you have any pets? For plenty of people, [...]

Questions for Building Similarity With Patientsjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Setting the Stage at the End of a Consultation

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

How do I end a consultation visit so the next appointment goes well? You set the stage, and you do not rush it. The end of that exam visit is one of the most important moments in the whole process. Tell the patient plainly: we got everything we need today, next time we will review what I found and walk through your options, and we will see you that day with your husband, John, as well. Then ask if they have any questions for you. That last line cleans up anything left hanging. Notice what you just did. You defined the [...]

Setting the Stage at the End of a Consultationjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Non-Clinical Factors That Set Your Dental Implant Fees

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What non-clinical things should affect my dental implant fees? Plenty, and if you only price the clinical work you are leaving money and sanity on the table. Roughly half of what sets your fee has nothing to do with bone or teeth. How badly the patient wants the esthetics, because high esthetic demand means more steps, more headaches, more remakes. Whether it is a re-treatment case, which carries its own minefield. The patient's expectation of long-term outcome. And then the behavioral side, which I watch for at the exam. Some people are simply harder to treat and harder to be around, [...]

Non-Clinical Factors That Set Your Dental Implant Feesjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Building Rapport With Patients: a Bank Historian Lesson

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What can a bank's historian teach me about building rapport with patients? A lot, and it is one of my favorite examples of liking at work. Wells Fargo put a staff historian on the payroll to chase high net worth clients. Instead of a sales pitch, the historian researched the family, often generational wealth, and uncovered stories the family itself never knew. Then they simply said, we found some things about your family we would love to share. People love their own history, so they listened. The result, by the time that article ran, they had targeted roughly four billion dollars [...]

Building Rapport With Patients: a Bank Historian Lessonjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What Technology You Need for Implant Case Presentation

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What technology do I actually need to present big implant cases? Keep it simple and buy only what helps the patient see. You need digital photos so you can manipulate images and build a real report for the case presentation. A panoramic film, or a cone beam if your cases call for it, lets you show the patient their right side, left side, top and bottom, and they get it instantly. Add a large screen so everyone in the room sees the same thing, and a way to project those photos, PowerPoint or Keynote, it does not matter. A digital smile [...]

What Technology You Need for Implant Case Presentationjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

When to Schedule a Separate Financial Visit

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

When should a patient have a separate financial visit? Set a fee level. Below it, run the patient through the normal way you handle basic treatment. Above it, even if the problem itself is simple, that patient should come back for a separate financial visit. And by separate I mean front office only. The financial coordinator, the treatment planner, whoever owns that role. Not the doctor, not the whole clinical team crammed into one room. The reason is that money pressure and clinical pressure do not mix well in the same conversation. Pull them apart and both go better. It does [...]

When to Schedule a Separate Financial Visitjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

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