Defining Trust in the Art of the Consult

Episode #409 with Dr. Christopher Ramsey

Trust is hard-wired in our DNA. Otherwise, who would ever go to a dentist? Letting a stranger crawl into your mouth would be out of the question! But even while trust is innate, it still must be earned. And to help you effectively gain your patients’ trust, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Christopher Ramsey to explain the four categories of trust so you can understand, define, and apply it to your consult. For secrets to an enthusiastic yes, listen to Episode 409 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Clearly define what reputation and trust means for your practice.

Your patients’ first impressions of your practice are critical.

Apply benevolence, integrity, competence, and predictability.

Genuine trust needs to be earned and will take time.

Strive to understand the people coming into your practice.

Quotes:

“Humans are pretty predictable if you take the time to understand them.” (5:48—5:50)

“One of the best quotes from a book called Mindset is, I cannot see a better ability than taking the time to understand other people. Because if you don't, you will always default to the one thing that you know, which is yourself. And if you have a life where you think, ‘Well, they don't act like me. They don't talk like me. They don't walk like me. They don't do what I would do, so something must be wrong with them,’ that's not good.” (5:50—6:12)

“I would find myself asking the question, ‘What makes your practice unique? Why are people even coming to you?’ You may have bought a practice that's been there for 30 years. Maybe you started from scratch. You're working with your dad. You're working with your mom. Okay, it’s all different. But what's going on? And everyone would say, ‘Well, we have a really good reputation.’ And that would come up all the time, ‘We have a really good reputation.’ ‘Excellent. Great answer. If you don't mind, define reputation for me.’ And then, people would stumble and be like, ‘Well . . .’ And people said, ‘I know it in my head. I just can't get the words out.’ So, I said, ‘Imagine you're that same person now at work. If you can't define it to yourself, how are you defining it to the people around you that you're asking to carry this business?’” (11:33—12:25)

“[Bergland says in The Neuroscience of Trust], we all have a propensity to trust. It’s how we’re wired as humans. It’s in our DNA to want to trust. That's how we’ve evolved as humans. And so, the thing you need to understand about trust is it is innate within us to want to trust. It’s been the key to our survival. So, right off the bat, as humans, we are wired that way to want to trust. I meet somebody and I go, ‘Yes, I'll trust them.’ Because think about if that wasn't wired. No one would go to a dentist for the first time! You have to walk through their door, meet a stranger, and let them crawl inside your mouth, which is in and of itself an intimate experience. That's a lot of trust for a stranger.” (16:16—16:55)

“What we found was, after going through all the literature, there were 23 references of trust in psychology, 23 for management and communication, and then another 19 spread across sociology, economics, and political science. What was really cool was, when it was all said and done, they broke [trust] into four basic categories: benevolence, integrity, competence, and predictability.” (22:02—22:25)

“Predictability, by definition, is important for dentistry because predictability is a person’s actions that are consistent enough to be forecasted in a given situation. Well, what does that mean in dentistry? That means people can look at stuff online and go, ‘Wow, look at all the smiles they’ve created. I see that they’ve done this before. There are some predictable results in what they're doing. Okay, let me now look at that person.’ So, I do like predictability as being one of the categories.” (22:54—23:23)

“Benevolence is about this relationship, but it’s your ability to connect, no ego, person to person, can you connect with this person. And I think that's extremely important right off the bat. The question that a patient is going to ask in their own head when they're sitting there is, ‘Does this person care? Do they really care about my situation and what's going on?’ And what does your team and your office and your demeanor and your everything, what does that present? Does it even give the illusion that you care? Or are you just moving like this, get them in, get them out, I'm barely listening, ‘Yes, yes, yes. I know what I'm doing. Please stop talking. Just open your mouth. Let me do my thing,’ and people are like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. I need to know that we’re, in some way, connecting as two individuals.’ So, benevolence, right off the bat, was a huge, huge aspect that was important for people to understand.” (28:04—28:57)

“Dentistry is the only industry where we say it’s okay to go spend an hour somewhere, pay for a service, and have them beat you down on everything that's going on. So negative, all the time, and it drives me crazy because we keep training hygiene and dentists to be negative.” (31:30—31:46)

“From benevolence we go on to the next one, which is integrity, making good faith agreements, telling the truth, and fulfilling those promises. Basically, it’s a set of your values. And what the patient is really thinking is, ‘Will they do what they said they're going to do? Are they going to stick to what they agreed to do?’ This is another reason why I'm really big on case fees. When you decide to get work done with me, I'll give you a fee. Once I give you that fee, I promise you this: no matter what happens, no matter how south this may go or what problems we’re going to run into, nothing will change. I promise to do this service for X. We’re going to stick to X, and I'm going to see you to the end. And dentists, you cannot be nickel-and-diming people to death or changing gears, ‘Oh, you lost that tooth. Now, you need an implant. Oh, that implant crown is a little bit more.’ That's terrible.” (32:39—33:29)

“Integrity is extremely important in dentistry. Will they do what they said they're going to do? What are the set of values that make me feel like if I choose this person, my hard-earned money, they will see it to the end, and I will get done as promised? And that's a huge, huge, huge part that builds that concept of trust.” (33:32—33:51)

“Lastly, we have competence, having the ability or power to do for one what needs done. Competence is sometimes substituted for the word ability. But the bottom line is, can they do what they say they're going to do? And that means within their field.” (42:32—42:57)

“Do you realize the importance of the person who answers your phone? That very, very first point of contact, someone’s going to judge your practice. And let's say Suzie, who answers the phone, maybe it wasn't great. It wasn't the best it could be. That person on the other line goes, ‘That wasn't great communication, but I'm still going to go.’ But now, they're walking through looking for all those little things to confirm, ‘I knew it. This place sucks. I don't want to be here.’” (44:20—44:46)

“There's this thing called a primacy effect, that very first impression. That primacy effect takes place in confirmation bias. So, if they're amazing from the first point of contact, by the time they get to you, they already want to convince themselves, ‘I believe this person can do what they say they're going to do because I trusted myself to come here because Suzie was great. The staff has been great. I like this person that I've just met,’ meaning the dentist, and they want to convince themselves, ‘I'm in the right spot.’” (45:29—45:56)

“Confirmation bias is going to be an important thing. So, if you're going to want people to trust you, having never met you before, you've got to nail it at the front end, meaning your team has to be on point so that by the time you walk in there, their confirmation bias leads more towards wanting to agree that they believe they're in the right spot and they're with it.” (1:03:03—1:03:20)

“Wanting to trust someone has a very powerful neurobiological root built within us. But genuine trust has to be earned, and it takes time. So, don't be surprised if you're new in your practice and you're getting strangers coming in, and they're not converting to you because they have no trust in you whatsoever. They don't know. The only way you're going to be able to do that is going to either be time, or you're going to have to be magical with some of those other elements I talked to you about.” (1:03:26—1:03:56)

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

1:07 Dr. Ramsey’s background.

2:31 Take time to understand people.

7:17 What Dr. Ramsey learned in the service industry.

10:35 Understand reputation and trust for dentistry.

15:14 Humans are hard-wired to trust.

20:17 Defining trust: predictability.

23:24 The concept of threes in trust.

27:25 Defining trust: benevolence.

32:35 Defining trust: integrity.

42:26 Defining trust: competence.

42:58 First impressions and confirmation bias.

45:57 The art of the consult.

54:50 The biggest element to conversion.

1:02:34 Last thoughts on trust.

1:05:53 Dr. Ramsey and Dr. Ritter’s Protocol course.

Reach Out to Dr. Ramsey:

Dr. Ramsey’s website: https://www.christopherramsey.com/

Dr. Ramsey’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.ramsey.9889

Dr. Ramsey’s social media: @chris_ramsey_dmd

Resources:

Mindset by Carol S. Dweck: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/44330/mindset-by-carol-s-dweck-phd/  

“The Neuroscience of Trust” by Christopher Bergland: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201508/the-neuroscience-trust

The Anatomy of Trust by Brené Brown: https://brenebrown.com/videos/anatomy-trust-video/

“Trust as a Social Reality” by J. David Lewis and Andrew Weigert: https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/63/4/967/2232120

The Thin Book of Trust by Charles Feltman: https://www.thinbook.com/shop/p/the-thin-book-of-trust-v2

Think Again by Adam Grant: https://www.adamgrant.net/book/think-again/

Course Karma: https://www.coursekarma.com/

The Protocol courses with Dr. Ritter and Dr. Ramsey: https://www.theprotocollive.com/register/

Dr. Christopher Ramsey Bio:

Dr. Christopher D. Ramsey, DMD, was raised and currently practices in Jupiter, Florida. His practice focuses on comprehensive esthetic and restorative dentistry. Dr. Ramsey received his dental degree from Temple University School of Dentistry in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1999.

Dr. Ramsey is a member of the American Academy of Esthetic Dentistry (AAED), a member of the American Society for Dental Aesthetics (ASDA), and an Accredited Member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD). He is a graduate of the Kois Center in Seattle, Washington and an Alumnus of The Pankey Institute in Key Biscayne, Florida.

Dr. Ramsey is on the editorial review boards for the AACD Journal and the Journal of Implant and Restorative Dentistry. He has published numerous articles on customer service-related topics, adhesive technology, implant therapy, scanning technology, and cosmetic dentistry in several publications, such as Journal of Implant and Restorative Dentistry, Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry, PPAD, Dentistry Today, Contemporary Esthetics, Signature, and Dental Products Report. Dr. Ramsey is a product consultant for Ivoclar Vivadent, 3M, The Dental Advisor, and to numerous dental manufacturers, which allows for greater insight into the newer materials and techniques.