There’s a ton of hype in Major League Baseball right now about the Torpedo bat. Here’s one of 100 articles about it – essentially it’s a bat with less wood at the barrel end, and more in the middle, so it looks similar to a “torpedo.”
Apparently several Yankees used it in a game and hit a bunch of home runs. Now all the commentators and pundits are asking if this is the next big thing in baseball, will all the teams start using it, is it even legal, OH MY GOSH THE INSANITY!
There’s one problem with this whole storyline – it’s not “new” at all.
In a fascinating interview on my local sports radio station – the afternoon drive hosts spoke to the founder of Warstic Bat Company and asked him about the Torpedo bat.
The wild thing is, he explained how this style of bat actually is NOT some revolution in hitting tech. The bat design has been around for decades. A few players have used it over that time, but it’s just not a good bat for most hitting styles.
The hosts were stunned. Everyone thought this was some new breakthrough in technology. He told them, “Dude, I could go make you a torpedo bat right now, we have the template for it along with the 100 other bat styles we make. It’s nothing special.”
Lots of lessons we could learn from this. Today I want you to consider how this parallels with what your patients experience.
People who don’t have the information (prospective patients) may think something is new, novel, revolutionary or even unproven. Vs. the folks who DO have the information know better (you / patients you educate).
SO 1. be aware of this asymmetry and 2. use it to your advantage.
1. Be aware.
You have patients who don’t know we can fix astigmatism with refractive surgery, even though we’ve been doing it for decades.
You have patients who don’t know there’s more than just LASIK. You have patients who are oblivious to the fact there are specific procedures to fix their reading vision.
Know this.
2. Use to your advantage.
Do you think Major League Baseball is upset that the entire general public and most of the media are misinformed about the history of the Torpedo bat? Heck no. They’re getting eyes and attention on the sport.
And is it causing any harm? Nah. Hey if torpedo bat is “new to you,” who am I to burst your bubble?
And people are learning about the bat, about different bat styles, more about baseball. So the increased attention and excitement toward Major League Baseball is worth a bit of nebulous misinformation about an obscure bat.
Same goes for you. You don’t have to paint an entire, to-the-letter accurate history of every procedure you offer. It’s not necessary. It’s boring. It wastes time. And it confuses your patients!
But what you SHOULD do – lean into the aspects of your procedures that people are interested in, the various features that align with their buying priorities.
Here’s what I mean – take EVO for example.
For the cautious personality, you need to reinforce trust and longevity – “This technology is proven over the course of 20 years, it’s trusted, over 3 million of them have been done around the world, and our surgeons selected this very procedure based on their years of experience and research.”
For the inspiring trend-chaser, you want to hype up the newness, high profile and excitement – “Yeah, this is the latest and greatest version of the EVO procedure, now all these celebs are doing it, they all love it! Let’s do it!”
Depending on who we’re talking to, we’re simply focusing on the info that’s important to the prospect.
But Troy, those are wayyyyy different approaches. How do I know which one to use?
Exactly. This is where personality styles come in. Learning your and your patients’ personality styles is like a “Cheat Code” (a client’s words, not mine) for effective communication. Because you don’t feel like you have to say everything. You can focus on the important things.
In our DISC for Doctors & Teams program, we teach elective medical practices 1. how to understand your own personality style, 2. how to determine someone else’s personality style, and 3. How to meet them where they are to take them where they need to go.
And while it’s insanely effective, it’s not rocket science. Anyone who saw me and Susan speak at The Outliers Meeting in Nashville learned a lot about being a “DISC Detective” in just our 30-minute presentation.
It’s something you can pick up and start using after just one session.
So if you want the full details on this conversion-boosting superpower… if you want the cheat codes… just hit reply.
– Troy “hitting homers with the right words” Cole