2 ways to communicate more effectively with your patients

by Dr. Nate Booth

You need to make sure that all three of your communication tools — words, voice quality, and body language — are congruent. The word congruent means “in agreement.” Have you ever heard someone use all the right words to tell you something would get done, yet you still got the gut feeling that it wasn’t going to happen? That’s because the message conveyed by the person’s voice qualities and body language didn’t match his or her words.

Here are two surefire ways to be congruent when you are communicating:

1. Come from a place of caring and service. If you truly care about your patients and want to serve them, then your words, voice qualities, and body language will all match. Statements such as “We’re here to serve,” and questions such as “How can we (I) help?” and “How can we serve you best?” are superb words to use.

2. Have confidence in the entire team’s clinical abilities. Confidence or the lack of it is almost always manifested in a person’s voice qualities and body language. That’s why I’m such a huge believer in advanced clinical training for the entire team. Education instills both the trainees and their coworkers with confidence that they can do their jobs well. Patients can pick up on this confidence a mile away.

Author bio
Dr. Nate Booth is a speaker, consultant, and author who provides dentists with the information and systems they need to thrive in their dental practices. He is the creator of the in-office, DVD-based program, The “Yes” System: How to Make It Easy for People to Accept Comprehensive Dentistry. For more information, go to www.theyessystem.com or call (800) 917-0008.