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36 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | 2/2017 Eleven tips for success in your dental clinic Part III: CASCO and PEC By Dr Anna Maria Yiannikos, Ger- many & Cyprus We have already reached the third part of our exceptional series on professional success and personal growth, and this journey has the title Eleven tips for success in your dental clinic. In this article, you are going to get the critical knowledge and specifi c tips that I promise you will help you deal with delays and with confl ict in a more professional and effi cient way! Now let’s start with delays! As dental practitioners, we work with patients that have special needs and diffi culties, therefore sometimes we fi nd ourselves in trouble due to inevitable delays. My question here is: How can we deal with them? However, most essential is, how can we control them? Be aware of the acronym CASCO, which stands for control, apologise, solution, change, and offer. you every fi ve minutes for the next appointment that awaits you. She can become your personal alarm clock that will wake you up and remind you of your next appoint- ment. You should also inform your “alarm clock” (aka assistant) how long exactly your next patient will have to wait in case of delays, so she can also inform him/her promptly and avoid possible irritability. 1. Control You can control your delays by as- signing to your assistant to remind 2. Apologise Do not be afraid to say sorry to your patients, this will show your humane side and they will really appreciate it. You can do it in so many ways, verbally (immediately when you face them) or you can send them an email expressing your apologies. But please avoid adding annoying excus- es, like ‘Sorry for being late, but I had a diffi cult surgery’ or ‘I am so sorry, but it is not my fault as the previ- ous appointment came 30 minutes late’. Do you think that our patients should care about our uncontrolled schedule? Or worse, the previous patient? Absolutely not! Please re- member to avoid any excuses that will make them more angry or frus- trated. 3. Solution Give them a solution for their next appointment. For example, you can say, “I suggest that next time we can book you especially the fi rst morn- ing appointment to ensure no de- lays.” 4. Change Do not be afraid to make the change—and change the habit of having delays at your clinic and cre- ate a clinic with no or limited delays. Trust me, this will add value to your clinic’s image—be aware that the best dentist is the one that respects his patients by being punctual. 5. Offer Be ready to give them a complimen- tary treatment to show your apolo- gies once more, they will really love that. Avoid phrases like “I will give you a free treatment”, instead ex- plain to them that ’this treatment is a gift from us’. You can combine two treatments without charging the second one. In this way, you will raise the value of the treatment for your patients. At the same time, explain the separate cost of each treatment and the benefi ts you just gave to your patients without mentioning the word free. For example, “I will now do a dental cleaning and in ad- dition we will do a polishing session with the new air fl ow machine that would cost 50 Euros. You will like the results much more than the ones from the simple dental cleaning, your teeth will shine more and the stains between your teeth will disappear completely.” Now let’s go to the sixth tip, which is as essential as the previous one and concerns how we can deal with con- fl icts. Unfortunately, there are times that we have to face problematic pa- tients or unpleasant situations with our employees or our associates. How can we face these conditions? Apply PEC to successfully deal with them. PEC stands for: 1. Perception Name it! Behave as an adult and get rid of fear and just say the problem. Think what the worst scenario is. By making this risk management pro- cess, you immediately acknowledge the fact that you could face it as well. Be ready to listen to the other party, ask them about their opinion, may- be their perception is completely dif- ferent from yours. 2. Emotions Deal with them and then start the conversation. You should not start a discussion in case you still feel angry about the person or the issue. Be well prepared and avoid to take anything personally. Be ready to express your feelings, you might be surprised with the oth- er party’s unawareness of the prob- lem. Remember to show your empa- thy with phrases like “I understand you”, instead of “You are right”. It is a pity to miss the wood for the trees! ÿPage 37