20 Dec 2013  •  Practice Management  •  4min read By  • Ruth Martin

New Girl On Tour!

Ruth Martin is the newest addition to the Marketing Team at Practice Plan as an Events and Marketing Coordinator. She joins us as a guest blogger to fill us in on the recent Workshop Tour and her first thoughts on the industry.

Having only been with the Practice Plan Events Team for three weeks, I’ve already been to Birmingham, Bristol and Newcastle as part of the 2013 Workshop Tour. Ashley Latter was this year’s guest speaker and is one of the leading consultants on ethical sales and communication to the dental industry. On my very first day, I was whisked away to Birmingham and I’ve not looked back since! The tour kicked off in Manchester with an amazing 280 delegates and over the next 11 dates, hundreds of dental practices have turned out to listen to Ashley and his tales of Erica the hairdresser. If you have been at any of the workshops you will know all about the beautiful Erica!  As the tour ended this week in Newcastle, I thought it would be a great chance to look back and think about all the great advice that Ashley has given out over the tour.

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but a great opportunity for me to meet lots of people. Ashley is such an engaging speaker, whose advice on communication is transferable to every part of your life. As you can see from the picture below, he is great at getting people up and about. It was very interesting to see the ideas that everyone was coming up with at the end of the day. All of the practices came away with great ideas for the future and the whole day seemed to really motivate and energise the practice teams, with many of them considering options that 24 hours earlier, they wouldn’t have dreamt of.

Photo 5

Here are some of the key points that I took away from the day:

Ashley Latter’s 10 top tips

  1. Everyone is in sales – every person in the practice affects the patient’s experience, so everyone needs to work together to make it as positive as possible
  2. Build rapport – don’t just see patients as a treatment plan, get to know them
  3. People don’t buy on price, they buy solutions and will always find the money for what they really want
  4. Communication skills and positive attitude account for 90% of a sale, only 10% is from product knowledge
  5. Treat every day like it’s an event – you are in show business! Don’t get caught in the drudge, treat every patient like they are the most important person to walk through the door
  6. Step out of your comfort zone
  7. Listen to what your patients really want and offer them a solution
  8. Be genuinely interested in your patients and they will become genuinely interested in you
  9. Understand how and when your patients would like to do business – many professionals are only available during lunch hour or after 6pm.  Take this into account when considering your opening hours
  10. Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals

Everyone I’ve met has been so nice and welcoming.  The practices have been great at giving me advice on the industry and being at Practice Plan is like belonging to one big family.  I can’t wait to get stuck in organising my own events next year. First up will be four new dates for the highly successful ‘Perfect Patient Journey’ workshop presented by Sheila Scott and Michael Bentley.  All four dates will take place in March 2014 and we’ll be touring through Heathrow, Exeter, Southampton and Nottingham.

Roll on the 2014 Workshop Tour – see you all there!

Ruth M

For more tips from Ashley Latter on how to effectively communication with your patients, visit our resource library!

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