In case you didn’t watch the recent Vice Presidential debate, you might be confused on who “won.”
(If ‘winning’ is even a thing for a debate like this)
Depending on where you check your headlines, you might see that the VP destroyed Kamala.
Other news sources will tell you Kamala took Pence out behind the woodshed, and she dominated the debate.
Everyone saw the same show. So how can people draw such starkly different conclusions?
Last night’s debate is just another example of what happens every single day in politics.
A thing happens. Half the media says it was great. Half the media says it was the worst.
The president’s Coronavirus response… Russian collusion… Obamacare…
Countless examples of what Scott Adams calls “2 movies, 1 screen.”
How does this tie into growing your surgical volume?
You’ve heard the old adage that “Perception is reality.” And that’s certainly proven true in the examples above.
But here’s the trick you need to steal from politicians and the news media…
Politicians and the news media don’t let people come up with their own perceptions.
A thing happens. A pundit gets on TV and tells viewers what to think about it. Viewers adopt that perception.
CNN is NOT waiting for you to conclude that Kamala destroyed Pence. Fox News is NOT hoping you see for yourself that the VP ruled the roost last night.
No, they take action. They form the perception. Then they tell us what to think.
In politics, this might feel like a shady practice. But I submit that it’s actually helpful in an area like surgical procedures.
Why? Because most patients don’t have any frame of reference. Most have never gone down this road before – of vision correction or plastic surgery or a cosmetic dental treatment. All the information is new to them.
So if you leave them to draw their own conclusions – to create their own perception of reality – it may be skewed.
We’ve all been in situations where someone explained a concept to us in a new way. And we say, “Wow, I never thought about it like that before.”
That’s what you want to do with your patients.
A few examples:
Your premium price
- Wrong perception – “Wow, that’s expensive!”
- Right perception – “Wow, these guys don’t cut any corners or spare any expense when it comes to the health, safety and outcomes of their patients.”
The driver who is tired of waiting for the patient on surgery day
- Wrong perception – “These guys take forever. This is really inconvenient.”
- Right perception – “They are committed to making sure every I is dotted and T is crossed on surgery day. They take no chances, don’t get in a rush, and stay focused on each patient.”
I could go on, but you get the picture.
Help your patients form the right perception, and they’ll love the reality you create for them.