james, Author at The McAnally Selling System

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So far james has created 3065 blog entries.

When to Order a Digital Smile Preview for Patients

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

When should I order a digital smile preview for an implant patient? Order it fast, the same day if you can. The smile design service has a lag, often a day or more before the preview comes back, so any delay on your end stacks on top of theirs and pushes the whole presentation back. That matters because the gap between the exam and the presentation is already the danger zone where patients cool off. A digital smile preview is one of the most persuasive things you will put in front of a full-arch patient, because it lets them see the [...]

When to Order a Digital Smile Preview for Patientsjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Should I Send a Personal Note to Every Patient?

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

Should I send a personal note to a patient after their consultation? Yes, and make it dead simple to execute. Have the note pre-addressed and stamped so all I have to do is write a line or two and sign it. The minute the patient walks out, it goes in the mail. Why bother? Because liking is something you keep building, not something you establish once. The easiest compliment in the world is telling them they made a great decision to start investigating their treatment now. Studies going back to the 1970s show compliments move what psychologists call compliance, which just [...]

Should I Send a Personal Note to Every Patient?james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Why Your Dental Practice Needs a Morning Huddle

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

Why does my dental practice need a morning huddle? Because it changes how the whole day runs, and skipping it is how cases quietly fall through the cracks. After a big consultation appointment you have tasks to assign, discussions to have, and decisions that need a team, not one person guessing. The huddle is where you catch all of it. You can do it the same day or the next morning, but it has to happen somewhere. This is where you confirm the smile preview got ordered, where you compare what each person heard from the patient, and where you decide [...]

Why Your Dental Practice Needs a Morning Huddlejames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

How to Find a Patient’s Real Treatment Motivation

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

How do I figure out a patient's real motivation for wanting implants? You do not get it from one question. You collect it across every touchpoint and then piece it together. Listen on the very first phone call, because the reason they picked up the phone is often sitting right there. Watch for it during the free consultation, both what the assistant hears and what you pick up in your short question period. Then listen again during the exam. By the time you huddle, you have four separate shots at the same target, and you compare notes. The reason this matters [...]

How to Find a Patient’s Real Treatment Motivationjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What Is Patient Dental IQ and How to Use It

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

What is a patient's dental IQ and how should I use it? Dental IQ is just my shorthand for how much a patient already understands about how their mouth affects the rest of their life. Do they know teeth can change how they feel about themselves, that gums and teeth affect the whole body, that a smile changes how other people treat them, that disease can be serious without ever hurting? If they know all of it, the IQ is high. If they do not, it is average or low. Here is the part dentists get wrong: it does not matter [...]

What Is Patient Dental IQ and How to Use Itjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Why Your Team Should Name Barriers to Treatment

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

Why should my whole team weigh in on barriers to treatment? Because no single person sees the whole patient. Everyone on the selling team picks up on something different. Your assistant catches a comment you missed, your coordinator reads a hesitation you did not, and you noticed a reaction nobody else did. So during the huddle, ask each of them straight out what they think is standing between this patient and saying yes. Plenty of times you will all land on the same answer, and that is fine. But the value is in the times you do not, when someone names [...]

Why Your Team Should Name Barriers to Treatmentjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Marking Up X-Rays for a Patient Case Presentation

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

How should I mark up X-rays and photos for a patient presentation? Keep it simple and understandable, and let the patient see the bird's eye view instead of a clinical lecture. Pick the simplest photos and X-rays they can actually relate to, then make a few plain notations on them. The how does not matter much. Use a graphics tablet, use a mouse, or draw on a physical printout and have someone digitize it later. What matters is that the illustrations come from the dentist doing the diagnosis, not from staff guessing what you meant. The patient does not need to [...]

Marking Up X-Rays for a Patient Case Presentationjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Why Use a Treatment Planning Checklist for Cases

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

Should I use a checklist for treatment planning and fees? Absolutely you should, and I cannot overstate it. A treatment planning checklist forces you to move through a case the same way every time: look at the condition, make the diagnosis, decide the plan, and hand it off in a format your staff can turn into presentation materials. Without it, what is in your head never makes it cleanly onto paper, and the case stalls. Do the same thing with fees. A simple spreadsheet that tabulates the fee beats doing it from memory every time. You will be faster and, more [...]

Why Use a Treatment Planning Checklist for Casesjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

How Many Treatment Options to Present: Three

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

How many treatment options should I present to a patient? Three, ideally. Not four. Four makes the case more complex, and you do the patient no favors by piling on complexity when they are already deciding on something big. Three options sit in a sweet spot for how people actually make decisions, and it gives them room to choose up or down without feeling cornered. Sometimes the clinical reality only supports two, and that is fine, present two. But when you can responsibly build three, do it. This is something you decide at the sit-down review of the clinical data, not [...]

How Many Treatment Options to Present: Threejames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Should You Adjust Case Fees After the Presentation?

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

Should I ever adjust a case fee after presenting it to the patient? No, and if you do, you are not the painless dentist you claim to be. Decide on every fee adjustment up front, during treatment planning, before the patient ever hears a number. That is the moment to ask whether unusual clinical factors or unusual patient behaviors change the fee. If they do, fold it in now. If you skip that decision and try to raise the fee after the fact, you have created an administrative root canal for the patient, and you have broken the painless promise. People [...]

Should You Adjust Case Fees After the Presentation?james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

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