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Building Patient Trust: A Four-Step Process
Has this ever happened to you? You were just waiting and waiting for the other person to "come up for air." "Stop," you think, "for just one second so I could get a word in." While you were waiting for the opening, were you concentrating on his or her words, or what you were going to say? Your words and your thoughts, of course.
By being the listener and allowing the person to tell his story, you build rapport and trust quickly. But if you're a "talker," that's very difficult to do. Instead of focusing on who is doing the talking, you must learn to focus on what the other person is saying. You'll be surprised how many times you won't even get a word in edgewise, and yet the other person surprisingly ends your meeting by saying, "I really enjoyed speaking with you."
Successful people study human behavior and match and mirror styles all the time. Some do it intuitively; others learned it through training and practice. These people listen when they need to listen and speak when they need to speak. They pick up the pace or slow their speech according to their client. They deliver data to the analytical decision-makers and personal references to the people relaters.
They rarely sell ... but their clients do buy and buy. Employees stay and perform well. Turnover and low morale are just not problems for these managers. Top performers adapt and flex their styles so well that people feel like "he really understands me."
Burt Decker, a famous speech coach, has an interesting book: You Have To Be Believed To be Heard. In partnership with your patients, the role of the people on the dental team is to help inform and persuade the patients to make the best decision for themselves. Before you can begin to be persuasive, according to Decker, you have to be credible; you have to be trusted.
Credibility and trust are emotional, not rational things. You can't make someone trust you. What is most interesting is the fact that the more credible you are, the less information you need to supply to persuade someone.
Building credibility and trust begins by improving your communication. This involves a four-step process:
1. Begin with identifying your own behavioral style.
2. Learn how each of the four basic styles drives your own behaviors.
3. Recognize how your behaviors impact the actions and reactions of other people.
4. Become fluent in the how and when to adapt your behavior to the preferred style of other people.
Now imagine you held a key chain with the keys to the "credibility" door of every patient. Each time you choose to open a door, you fit a key in the door, turn the key and crack the door open. Voila! You open up the doorway to communication with every person you meet.
Unlocking the door is a first step in building trust and credibility. How likely is it that you can build trust looking through a peephole or talking through a door? Why else would someone allow you to open their door or invite you in, unless they trusted you?
The better the fit of the key and the faster you select it, the quicker the response and the more positive the interaction will be. Likewise, the worse the fit, or the further off base you are with your communication style, the quicker the door slams and the more locks are closed. The "lock" may even be changed!
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