When we onboard a new client into our coaching programs, we meet with admins/managers to go over the “roster.” Meaning everyone who will be going through the program, so we can talk about their history, strengths, growth areas.
Then we jump on a 1-on-1 call with each team member to get them excited about the program and start them through specific resources to improve their skillsets.
While onboarding a client last week, they mentioned a particular team member dealing with a common challenge we see from experienced team members:
This individual has been with the practice a while, and they know a ton about vision correction. As a result, this person tends to overload prospective patients with too much information.
Why is this an issue? Because their calls are taking way longer than they should, and this person has a mediocre close rate because prospective patients are overwhelmed and can tend to shut down.
So what’s the solution? First let’s understand what we’re dealing with…
The “Curse of Expertise” is a common cognitive bias. It happens when person A is talking to person B, and assumes person B has the background knowledge necessary to make sense of what person A is telling them.
(This happens to all of us in all kinds of scenarios btw. It’s not rare. My electrician did this to me just the other day when he had to replace a breaker. Dude just going on and on in all his technical terms I wasn’t familiar with…)
It makes sense why we do this, right? You’re an expert about what you do. If you’ve been doing it for years, you’re probably passionate about it. You could talk about it all day. (I feel you – I’m the same way about my work.)
These are all good things. The challenge arises when we let it spill onto our prospects by way of over-informing.
Keep this in mind – if we’re heaping information onto prospective patients, they have no framework to organize it all. It’s like we’re throwing an entire wardrobe into their arms, and they don’t have any coat hangers to organize the clothes or a closet to arrange them in. “Here, hold all this, figure it out!”
Heck, they don’t even know what questions to ask you in order to get the information they need (which is why the pricing question comes up so often).
We have a saying in our coaching programs that MORE isn’t BETTER when it comes to information.
But you can’t just “cut to the chase” all the time, right? So what’s the “information sweet spot”?
Here’s an easy way to think about it…
The info you provide needs to be centered on the goal of the specific interaction. What are you trying to do? Book a consult? Book surgery? Recommend a specific procedure? Address a certain concern?
Once you know that, it’s much easier to provide the right info in the right context at the right time. And leave out the rest.
You’ll find yourself having more efficient interactions, more fruitful interactions and ultimately more bookings on your consult and surgery schedule.
Your expertise is AWESOME. And when you apply it in the appropriate way, it can be an amazing asset for you. 💪🏻
Best,
Coach Troy