Blog - Page 31 of 310 - The McAnally Selling System

Discussing Fees With Patients: Wait Until After

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

Should I discuss fees while I am presenting treatment options? No. The first time through the options, there are no fees, full stop. The moment money enters the conversation, you add a whole new layer of complexity and emotion, and it hijacks the patient's attention away from understanding the actual treatment. So I walk through every option on its own merits first. What it does, what it looks like, the benefits, with photos in hand. Only after the patient understands and can picture each path do I bring fees into it. Think of it like test driving cars before you ever [...]

Discussing Fees With Patients: Wait Until Afterjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

How I Open Presenting Treatment Recommendations

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

How should I open the recommendations part of a case presentation? Put the patient's interests on the same level as your own family before you recommend a single thing. The first words out of my mouth heading into recommendations are some version of, I am only going to suggest what I would recommend to my own family or a close friend. That one sentence reframes everything that follows. The patient stops bracing for a sales pitch and starts hearing advice. It is the difference between a salesman and a trusted advisor, and patients can feel which one they are sitting across [...]

How I Open Presenting Treatment Recommendationsjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Confirming Patient Understanding Before Options

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

How do I check that a patient really understands their diagnosis before I present options? I stop and ask, then I wait. After laying out the findings I ask directly, does any of this surprise you, and I let the silence sit. If they say nothing surprised them, good, we move forward. If they ask me to explain something again, I go back to the photos and illustrations and stay simple. I do not pile on more technical detail to sound thorough. Here is my rule. If the patient or their spouse cannot repeat the basics of what is wrong back [...]

Confirming Patient Understanding Before Optionsjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Showing Dental X-rays Without Confusing Patients

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

Should I show patients their 3D scans and detailed X-rays during the presentation? No, and showing them is one of the easier ways to lose a case. Anything three dimensional or genuinely complicated to read does not belong in front of a patient. They cannot interpret it, so it just becomes a source of anxiety and confusion. What works is simple illustration. A clear picture of damaged bone next to undamaged bone. A photo with an arrow pointing to exactly where the problem sits. A high vaulted palate that makes a denture hopeless. And never present an image silently. Show it, [...]

Showing Dental X-rays Without Confusing Patientsjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Explaining Bone Loss to Patients in Plain Words

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

What is the best way to describe missing teeth and bone loss to a patient? In the plainest words you own, like you are talking to a high schooler. I never say edentulous or severe resorption to a patient. I say things like, you have this many teeth left, 15 of them are savable and 15 are not. Your upper teeth only have 10 to 20 percent of their foundation left, not much, but still something to work with. Your lower bone has an infection, but we can treat it with predictability. Notice the pattern. State the problem honestly, then immediately [...]

Explaining Bone Loss to Patients in Plain Wordsjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

The 25 Minute Rule for Treatment Presentations

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

Why do I keep losing patients during long treatment presentations? Because you are probably violating the 25 minute rule without knowing it. There is a window where a patient stays engaged and capable of deciding, and it is short. Once you push past roughly 25 minutes, especially with a tooth by tooth breakdown or a wall of technical jargon, you stop informing and start exhausting. A tired, overwhelmed patient does not say yes. They say they need to think about it, which usually means no. So I treat that 25 minutes like a budget I cannot overspend. Every slide, every finding, [...]

The 25 Minute Rule for Treatment Presentationsjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Simplifying a Complex Treatment Plan for Patients

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

How detailed should I get when presenting a complex treatment plan? Less than you think, and the quadrant is your floor. The instinct from dental school is to be thorough, tooth by tooth, every finding documented out loud. That instinct will sink you on a big case. The real secret to simplifying complexity is deciding how far down the detail needs to go and then stopping there. Sometimes you talk about the whole mouth. Sometimes upper and lower. Sometimes by quadrant. But the moment you start a tooth by tooth analysis, you lose the patient and blow past your time. Think [...]

Simplifying a Complex Treatment Plan for Patientsjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

The Three Things That Make Up Dental Health

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

How do I explain dental health to a patient without confusing them? Break it into three things and never more. I tell every patient their total dental health comes down to three parts. The teeth themselves, the foundation around them which is the gum and bone holding them in place, and the joints, muscles, and ligaments that let everything work together for chewing and supporting the head and jaw. Put those together and that covers both how your teeth look and how you feel. That is the whole map. Once a patient holds those three buckets in their head, every finding [...]

The Three Things That Make Up Dental Healthjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

White Coat Blood Pressure and Dental Case Acceptance

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

Does a dentist in a white coat actually raise a patient's blood pressure? It does, and the numbers are not small. The research shows systolic pressure jumping about 10 points and diastolic about 5 just because the doctor walked in wearing the coat. That is real physiology, not nerves you can talk a patient out of. So think about what that means for a high stakes case conversation. The moment you enter, the patient is already in a low grade fight or flight state, and a stressed brain does not absorb complex treatment plans or make calm financial decisions. I use [...]

White Coat Blood Pressure and Dental Case Acceptancejames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Why a Patient Problems Slideshow Wins Big Cases

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

Should I show patients a problems slideshow before I walk into the room? Yes, and most dentists skip this and pay for it later. Before I ever sit down with a big case, my coordinator walks the patient and their spouse through a short slideshow that lays out the problems in plain pictures and a few words, then ends with a hint of what the finished result could look like. That does two things. It gets me out of the room so the patient can react honestly without me hovering, and it primes them so I am not starting cold. By [...]

Why a Patient Problems Slideshow Wins Big Casesjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

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