Blog - Page 127 of 310 - The McAnally Selling System

Personal Questions During Exam to Build Rapport

james2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

What personal questions should a dentist ask during the exam to build rapport with a CDP patient? Open-ended, friendly questions that surface common ground without feeling like an interview. A short list works for almost every patient: where they are from originally, how they came to live in the current city, whether they have family, what kind of work they do or did, whether they have pets, and what they like to do for fun. The doctor can ask these all at once or, much better, drop them in casually during the clinical exam when there are natural pauses. The doctor [...]

Personal Questions During Exam to Build Rapportjames2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

CDP Fifty Fifty Split: Clinical Versus Relational Work

james2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Why is the Complete Dental Physical a fifty-fifty split between clinical work and non-clinical relationship building? Because both halves are essential for the case to actually convert into accepted treatment, and underinvesting in either half degrades the outcome. The clinical half collects the diagnostic data the doctor needs: examination, imaging, photographs, study models where indicated, occlusal assessment, periodontal evaluation, and any specialty tests appropriate to the case. Without that data, the treatment plan cannot be built. The non-clinical half builds the relationship the patient needs in order to commit. Personal connection. Establishment of shared common ground. Observation of how the patient [...]

CDP Fifty Fifty Split: Clinical Versus Relational Workjames2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Dental Equipment Readiness Check Before Every Visit

james2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Why should every dental visit start with a check that all technological equipment is actually ready? Because the technology will eventually fail in some way, and the only question is whether the failure happens during the visit or before it. Digital cameras for smile preview photography, monitors and DVD players for educational videos, intraoral imaging equipment, scanners, computers running the practice management software, projection equipment for case presentations, all of it carries some risk of malfunction. A team member checking the equipment before the patient arrives catches problems while there is still time to resolve them. The patient who arrives to [...]

Dental Equipment Readiness Check Before Every Visitjames2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Smart Discounting Dental Practice Strategy Explained

james2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

What is smart discounting in a dental practice and how does it differ from generic discounting? Smart discounting is the deliberate use of strategic discount structures that lift case acceptance without eroding the practice's pricing position. Generic discounting cuts prices across the board to compete on cost, which positions the practice as cheap and starts a race the practice will eventually lose. Smart discounting uses targeted, structurally-sound discounts that serve specific behavioral functions: a retail-versus-paid-now discount on the diagnostic fee that rewards same-day commitment, a fee-applied-to-treatment mechanism that lowers the perceived risk of the diagnostic spend, a complimentary first consultation that [...]

Smart Discounting Dental Practice Strategy Explainedjames2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Fee Applied to Treatment as Loss-Minimizing Framing

james2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Why does telling patients the diagnostic fee will be applied to their treatment plan work as a loss-minimizer? Because it reframes the diagnostic fee as an investment toward treatment rather than as a separate cost that disappears. Behavioral science shows that loss aversion is a stronger motivator than gain capture. A patient paying a $500 diagnostic fee that disappears into the past feels the full loss. The same $500 paid as a deposit toward treatment carries no loss, only a redirection of funds the patient was already considering spending. The reframing is honest. The fee actually does get credited toward eventual [...]

Fee Applied to Treatment as Loss-Minimizing Framingjames2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Retail Diagnostic Discount Dental Practices Use

james2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

How does offering a retail diagnostic discount for booking at the consultation actually work for a dental practice? By setting a published retail price for the Complete Dental Physical and then offering a discount to patients who book and pay for it during their initial consultation visit. The patient who is still in the consultation room sees a price reduction available right now, conditional on commitment, and a higher published price available later. The discount taps into a well-documented behavioral pattern: people respond more strongly to perceived deals than to the underlying price level. The discount is real. The retail price [...]

Retail Diagnostic Discount Dental Practices Usejames2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Diagnostic Fee Range Dentistry Sweet Spot Explained

james2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

What is the right diagnostic fee range for a dental Complete Dental Physical, and why does either extreme cause problems? Between $350 and $750 USD, or equivalent in other currencies. Below that range, the fee fails as a qualifier and the practice attracts unqualified patients who pay the small fee, consume hours of treatment-planning time, and then decline the recommended work. Above the range, the fee starts driving away genuinely qualified, committed patients who interpret the price as either greedy or signaling that the practice will be unreasonable on later fees too. The sweet spot is wide enough that practices can [...]

Diagnostic Fee Range Dentistry Sweet Spot Explainedjames2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Dentist Thinking Time Value Behind the Fee

james2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Why do patients sometimes comment that a dentist is being well-compensated for their "thinking time"? Because the fee for time spent diagnosing and planning treatment looks higher per hour than what most patients pay in their own working lives, even when the dentist's fee fairly reflects the years of preparation, equipment costs, team overhead, and clinical risk involved. Patients see a one-hour visit and a substantial fee and do the simple per-hour math. They are not factoring in the doctor's eight years of post-secondary education, multiple post-graduate continuums, decades of accumulated clinical judgment, the cost of running a fully staffed practice, [...]

Dentist Thinking Time Value Behind the Feejames2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Dental Anchoring First Purchase Sets the Reference

james2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

How does the anchoring effect from a patient's first dental purchase shape what they buy later? Retail research consistently shows that the size of a customer's first purchase from a store strongly predicts the size of subsequent purchases. Customers who start with a small first purchase tend to keep buying small. Customers who start with a substantial first purchase tend to buy at higher levels going forward. The mechanism is psychological anchoring. The first transaction sets the customer's reference point for what is normal in this relationship, and subsequent decisions get measured against that anchor. Dental practices can use this principle [...]

Dental Anchoring First Purchase Sets the Referencejames2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Dentist Picasso Preparation Story on Fee Value

james2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

What does the Picasso sketch story teach a dentist about valuing their own preparation time? That the visible time spent on a piece of professional work represents a small fraction of the actual preparation that made it possible. Picasso was sketching in a park when an admirer asked him to draw her portrait. He agreed, studied her briefly, completed the sketch in under a minute, and named a price equivalent to roughly five thousand dollars. The woman protested that the sketch took less than a minute. Picasso replied: "Madame, it took my entire life up to this point to be ready [...]

Dentist Picasso Preparation Story on Fee Valuejames2026-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

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