Blog - Page 92 of 310 - The McAnally Selling System

The Two Systems Behind Patient Decision Making

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

What are the two systems patients use to make decisions about dental treatment? Patients run on two decision systems, and your sales process either keeps them in sync or it does not. The first developed early in our species for survival. It runs automatic, on stealth, scanning for trouble while you go about your day. You use it without noticing, the way you avoid an accident before you know what happened. In subtle moments it just asks, does this feel okay in my gut, is something amiss. The second is the reflective system. It is slower, it brings in logic and [...]

The Two Systems Behind Patient Decision Makingjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Managing Children During Big Case Consultations

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

Should I worry about kids being in my office during big implant consultations? Yes, and not for the reason you might think. There is nothing good or bad about seeing children in your practice. It is a decision and a location choice, and it can be the right one for you. But understand what a big niche case actually is. It is about that one adult patient making a major decision about their own dentistry. It is not about the children. Plenty of things in life get sold for the kids. This is not one of them. A patient weighing a [...]

Managing Children During Big Case Consultationsjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Prepaid Exam Fee: Stop Wasting Time on Tire-Kickers

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

How do I stop low-cost exam offers from wasting my time on tire-kickers? Put a prepaid exam fee on the table. Treat it exactly like a hotel reservation. The room is held with a card, you are not charged unless you fail to cancel within the window, and then you are billed when you show up. That structure does the filtering for you. The people who were only ever going to graze on a free visit quietly disqualify themselves, and the ones who book have already committed something real. Your free and low-cost blocks were never meant to be a buffet [...]

Prepaid Exam Fee: Stop Wasting Time on Tire-Kickersjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Why Single-Tooth Implant Patients Shop on Price

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

Why are single-tooth implant patients more likely to shop on price? Single-tooth cases carry a price fixation more often than not. It does not mean these patients will refuse your regular fee. It means price is far more likely to be the deciding factor, so handle them differently than someone facing a full-arch decision. Here is the eye opener. If you have a much larger Big New Offer than the doctor down the street, those shoppers actually hand you an advantage. People want the more qualified provider, and you never have to say a word about being qualified, which sounds silly [...]

Why Single-Tooth Implant Patients Shop on Pricejames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Why Fearful Dental Patients Fail Appointments So Often

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

Why do fearful dental patients fail their appointments so often? Because fear is physiological, not just emotional, and it works against you the moment you book them. Fear fires off a cascade of responses in the body, and one of them is plain avoidance. A frightened patient is not in a mental state that wants to come to the dentist, so the system that protects against discomfort tells them to not show up. The further out you schedule them, the more time that avoidance has to win. If you advertise for fearful patients you have to plan around this, not pretend [...]

Why Fearful Dental Patients Fail Appointments So Oftenjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Free Exam Scheduling: Handle Patients Who Can’t Make Slots

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

How do I handle a patient who can't make my free exam time slots? This is a phone skills problem, not a scheduling crisis, and the answer is friendly and firm. The free visit exists at the times you block, period. If those do not work, you tell them you would be happy to schedule at other times, and here is how that works. The other times are paid. Then you take a credit card by phone to lock it in. That one move does two things. It protects the genuinely free slots from getting eaten by people who were never [...]

Free Exam Scheduling: Handle Patients Who Can’t Make Slotsjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Best Day for Scheduling Case Consultations in Your Practice

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

What day of the week should I avoid scheduling case consultations on? Keep them off the first practice day of the week. That day you are walking into every unknown that piled up while you were away. Lab issues, the patient who called with a problem, the emergency that has to get worked in, the staff catching up. Your head is dealing with all of it. A big case consultation deserves your full attention and a calm schedule around it, and the first day back rarely gives you either. So push your blocks to the middle and back half of the [...]

Best Day for Scheduling Case Consultations in Your Practicejames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Why Blocking Consultation Time Protects Your Production

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

Should I block out consultation time or just fit consults in whenever there's a gap? Block it. If you stuff consults wherever there happens to be a hole in the day, you wreck your flow and you risk running off schedule on the procedures that actually pay you. Think about the means of production in your practice. You are most efficient at procedures when you are already doing procedures. I will say that again because it matters: you are most efficient at procedures when you are already doing procedures. The more you string together before you hit that early afternoon fatigue, [...]

Why Blocking Consultation Time Protects Your Productionjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Implant Consultation Steps: Talk First, Drill Later

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

What should actually happen during a free implant consultation? Talk, do not drill. The free visit is for the patient to meet you, understand you, and like you, with reciprocity working the whole time. Get some basic educational materials on the table and walk them through it, but keep the focus on conversation. Do not slide into a full clinical examination, because that is one of the fastest ways to blow out your time investment. If it is an extended or complex case, catch that on the front end so your system can route it correctly, and for serious problems some [...]

Implant Consultation Steps: Talk First, Drill Laterjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Patient Behavior Screening at the Free Consult Visit

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

What information can I learn by watching how a patient behaves at a free visit? A lot, and it costs you nothing extra. Since people are far more likely to actually show up when you devote a valuable chunk of free time to them, you get to observe. Did they arrive on time? Did they bring their materials? Are those materials filled out? What is their demeanor, their attitude in the room? All of that tells you whether this is a serious, cooperative patient or someone who will fight you at every step. It is a built in screening tool working [...]

Patient Behavior Screening at the Free Consult Visitjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Previous 919293 Next

Big Case Marketing Blog