Logical reasons versus emotional reasons. The truth is facts tell stories and emotions sell.
Again, Tony Robbins brilliantly makes the distinction between the motivating effects of logical things like “facts” compared to the motivating effect of “emotions”. Just think of how motivated I was to take action when my voice affected me “emotionally”. Emotional reasons to “buy” are far more motivating than “logical” reasons.
There are countless sales training programs they teach to present the facts and features such as for example, “The car is red. The car has nice hubcaps. The car does zero to 60 seconds,” etc.
But in the case of a car, way more motivating than the colour, hubcaps and speed is getting that customer to imagine or in fact, test how that car makes them feel behind the wheel.
When it comes to emotional reasons, dentists have got it made because they are working with something that’s very powerful. Self-esteem, self image and physical appearance or even what others think of us.
In the case of a cosmetic dentist, it’s the emotion of the perceived self- esteem they either lose when their smile is “lost” or the feeling they imagine getting when they’ve got that perfect smile. How does it make them feel?
Just think again of the emotions drummed up in the patients mind while they are lying vulnerable, mouth wide open, on the table listening to the dentist say “Ah, that’s not good”.
If that’s me on the table, as it has been before, my modus operandi is, “Whatever you need to do is fine, just fix it, I don’t care what it costs.”
Interestingly because the “need” is so high, very seldom does that patient EVER ask the price.
You see this if you do posture examinations in the mirror with your patients, specifically females. One of the most common things they will comment on is their hump or the fact that they don’t want to get one.
While X-rays are very powerful because it makes it easier for the customer to tangibly see what’s going on, don’t underestimate how motivating something as simple as saying “stopping the hump from getting worse” can be.
Remember that, very seldom does a patient seek help purely because of pain.
You can’t just speak about fixing the back pain i.e. features and facts. You’ve got to talk about how the back pain is affecting them and the emotional reasons around it.
