I’m sitting here watching my son’s tennis drills session and something weird just happened.
For WEEKS now, I’ve been telling him to go low to high with his forehand. Literally, I’ve said it 50 times if I’ve said it once. And what happens? He has a flat forehand, and every other ball slams into the net. It’s like I’m speaking a foreign language or something.
Then, not 10 minutes ago, his tennis coach has the discussion with him — “Let’s talk about going low to high with your forehand.”
And you know what happened within 15 minutes? My son has adjusted his swing and BOOM! Eight perfect, deep forehands in a row. Beautiful arcs sailing over the net. Picture-perfect technique.
I’m sitting here like… 🤔
But that’s when it hit me: there’s something almost magical about hearing advice from an “outside expert.” It’s not that they necessarily know more (though often they do), but their words carry a different weight than hearing the same thing from an “internal source.”
It’s like when your spouse tells you something a hundred times, but then a random stranger mentions it once and suddenly you’re all, “Wow, what a brilliant insight!”
This psychological quirk is just part of human nature. We’re wired to sometimes tune out the familiar voices and perk up when we hear the same message from a fresh source, an outside authority.
I see this all the time with LASIK and cataract surgery teams. The office manager / admin can repeatedly tell staff how to communicate with patients about premium options, but it doesn’t sink in. Then an outside coach (yours truly) comes in – sometimes with similar advice – and suddenly everyone’s nodding and implementing.
To drive home an important point – it’s not just WHO is communicating (though that obviously matters), but also HOW they are communicating it. Not only does the tennis coach have the authority and expertise, but he can explain the concept better and in different ways.
Something I’ve learned from investing multiple six-figures in high-end coaching for myself, as well as $$$ spent on private sports coaching for my children – good coaches have a hundred ways to communicate the same concept.
Thoughts, analogies, how a move should feel, when to pay attention to what’s happening BEFORE a misstep (or after it), etc.
It’s because we have different styles of learning, and depending on what mental blocks we’ve built up inside us (which we often don’t even know about), we need to hear / see / feel in multiple ways for a concept to “click.”
So if your instruction is falling on deaf ears, it may be time to try saying it / presenting it / engaging in a different way.
This is precisely why so many surgical practices are finding such tremendous results with our E3 Conversion System Bootcamp. Over 12 weeks, we install both the mindset and mechanics your team needs to convert more prospective patients into high-ticket surgeries, without being the least bit salesy.
And we have all the analogies, mindset approaches, tactical maneuvers and “get out of your own way” techniques your folks need be confident in their “forehand” and compete on behalf of their patients.
When your team hears and experiences these conversion principles from our coaches, something often clicks differently for them.
If you’re ready to have your team hit those conversion “forehands” deep and with confidence, let’s chat about how the bootcamp might serve your practice.
Just don’t tell them I compared LASIK sales to tennis,
– Troy “Still waiting for my son to listen to ME” Cole
PS – I’m speaking at ASCRS twice next weekend, and both talks will include coaching approaches on what I discussed today.
My talk Friday AM with Michael King – “From Awkward to Impactful: Making the Financial Conversation a Key to Patient Success” – digs deep into the mental blocks teams have on the topic of money (and how to overcome them). Hit me back if you want more details on this masterclass, you definitely don’t want to miss it.