Navigating the 100-Question Patient

Andrea (00:04):
Well, hi there. I am Andrea Watkins, and if you're listening to this while juggling three patient calls, checking in a couple patients, taking a payment, selling skincare, and trying to catch your doctor in between procedures, you might be working in an aesthetic practice.

Blake (00:18):
And I'm Blake Lucas and this is Practiceland. This is not Your doctor's podcast. Welcome back to Practiceland. Thank you again for listening and tuning in. Make sure you're hitting that subscribe button. Really appreciate you being here today. We're lucky enough again to have Heather Hughes Hardy and Jenna Hennig. Heather and Jenna, they are natives to Practiceland. They live in Practiceland. They've seen what works and what doesn't in a growing profitable and happy aesthetic practice, and they're here to give you the real world in practice strategies that actually move the needle, which I'm all about. I love having actionable things that you can take with you right after you listen to our episodes. Today we're talking about the so-called hundred question patient today. So this can also be referred to as someone said this the other day and I loved it. I laughed out loud. They called it the Askhole. So this is the person that just inundates you with so many questions. Jenna or Heather, do you have any personal experience with this type of patient?

Jenna (01:22):
My experience is far too personal. This is my husband and it's the most frustrating thing as a wife to ever deal with. I can't take him anywhere. We'll be there for literally four hours if I let him ask all of his questions, which is helpful because I typically find this person is usually somebody with a very analytical brain and they really want to understand. They've come in, you'll look at his notes tab on his phone and he has them all written out, listed out. I had an experience with him one time where he was asking me questions. I was like, Shelby, I can't have this conversation with you. I don't want you to ask me a ton of questions. Just figure it out. I literally looked over at him, I saw him click into his notes app and just started pressing the little backspace button.

(01:59):
All the little questions were going away and I was like, Ugh. But I think it's very normal and it's natural for patients to have questions and to want to feel like you really understand, that they fully understand the treatment plan, but it really can put them into a sort of rabbit hole where you're kind of getting way off track and it's going to create more problems than it solves. So typically I had a patient that I experienced this with where we had blocked about 30 minutes for her consultation. I knew that she was somebody who liked to ask questions and wanted make sure that she was fully prepared. And so what I do find is helpful is the pre handling aspect of it, so making sure that as you're explaining your treatment plan, you're asking certain questions as far as what timeline are you looking to get this done and what is the most important aspect of everything we talked about?

(02:46):
What's the one thing you want to see first? If it's about asking if they have a certain budget they're trying to stay within, asking if they explored financing options, asking about what their support system looks like, if their spouse knows if they're here with you already today, and when you get that information, when they start asking all these questions, you can refer back to that information and then at the end you can tell them, I don't want to make you feel pressured in making a rash judgment. So what I told this patient, because towards the end we were just like 5, 10, 15 minutes, I was really running behind in clinic, and so I told her, I was like, Hey, I don't want to make you feel like you're rushed. I want to make sure that all of your questions are answered. Here's what I'm going to do.

(03:26):
I'm going to type out your treatment plan for you. I'm going to type out how I would pace it out, the pricing for each option, what your priorities are and how I would propose pacing this out for you. From there, we can then schedule a call. We'll schedule for about 15 minutes. Setting the timelines really, really important where we can go over any additional questions you have. That way you have time to go over it with your husband, you have time to look into your financing options, and we can kind of go from there and that really helps just restructure and get the control back so that way you're not just circling and circling and circling.

Blake (03:56):
Where does this come from with patients? Where does it stem from? What's the cause of the person that just asks so many questions?

Heather (04:04):
Yeah, I think there are some people like Jenna's husband who are just truly analytical people that love to have all of their questions answered, cross the t's dot the i's, but I found specifically within aesthetic practice that more often than not, it's typically some type of anxiety being masked as curiosity. And these patients really want to feel a sense of control and questions are how they feel like they're going about getting that control. But too many questions can obviously drown the consult and then probably the conversion too, which is why structure really is your superpower here.

Blake (04:42):
When you're in a consult, Heather, how do you anchor the conversation? How do you maybe guide high volume question patients without making them feel like they're shutting down or youre trying to shut them down?

Heather (04:54):
Yeah, I feel like structure and emotional pacing are definitely the key. I really liked the way that Jenna kind of talked through it earlier on the provider side and then on the care coordinator side or the med spa coordinator side or somewhere else in the practice. Really kind of going back and reinforcing that with the patient. This is setting clear timelines. This is the time that we have to go through this today. I still want to answer all of your questions. Here's how I'm going to go about doing that and giving them a plan so that they're not just left hanging dry like, Hey, I got another patient I got to go. It's like, how about you write these down? I'll give you a call and then we'll go back over them.

Blake (05:31):
Heather, I love, you always have some type of secret formula or methodology here, so I'm really interested to hear what is your secret sauce for overcoming obstacles, moving the conversation toward Yes. What is your method here?

Heather (05:48):
Yeah, I think it's something that we've kind of talked about, but it's calling it when you see it, so setting that tone early and then having a really nice compassionate tagline that you can use when this is coming up. If you start to notice like, oh no, we're going to have a lot of questions here. Taking the time to say, Hey, I'm going to walk you through my full plan first and then we'll go over any questions that you have. Does that sound good? Making it gives some psychological safety and keeps you in the driver's seat, but in a way that's really respectful and maintains that professional relationship.

Blake (06:21):
Right, absolutely. I think about some of the conversations I've had with patients and there are those individuals that just love to jump in right in the middle of what you're trying to explain to them. Even if they'll ask you another question that maybe is repetitive and you're like, I'm literally trying to answer that right now, if you just let me get worded. So Jenna, how do you handle those interrupters?

Jenna (06:47):
It's a very delicate situation because usually, I've been there before I had to work on that, a lot of not interrupting people. I think Heather and I both have, and it's almost like part of it is either you get so excited that you want to contribute something or, and I have to get this out so you can answer this question, and so if you shut it down to harshly, you're really going to break the sort of rapport that you have with that patient. So if I am dealing with a patient that I know is a serial interrupter, then I'll just kind of tell them. I'll preface it with, okay, I'm going to explain the timeline, the downtime, the recovery, and the treatment plan itself. I'm going to go through each one of those and then afterwards we can go through any questions that you have and that helps 'em kind of remember that, okay, you're going to go through all this and at the end you gave me kind of permission to ask, or if it's somebody who I know is really going to want to interrupt, I'll tell them, I'm going to go through each of these things.

(07:40):
Let's give the timeline first and then we'll go through any questions that you have. That way it breaks it up for them, and it's not like you're giving your spiel for 15 minutes and they feel like they're just having to sit there keeping tabs of all their questions in their minds. For me, I'm like, I can't remember. I'd have to have a pen and a pad to write down everything that's popping into my head as you're explaining it to me. So giving them a chance to speak is really important and letting them know when that's going to be. First, we're going to go through the timeline. We'll talk about exactly how we'll pace this out. Then we can go through any questions you have about that, how does that sound? Then they get to respond, and then you kind of go from there. If they do interrupt you, you can kind of just give 'em a chance to explain. Yeah, I'm going to explain that next. We'll go through pricing here in just a moment, but let's get back to the overall treatment plan and how we're going to space it out and just sort of redirecting and maintaining that control.

Blake (08:22):
Yeah, you're giving 'em that cadence, or setting that cadence very soon, and then you're curbing them throughout that whole process to make sure that we're staying on track. At work, I'll be in a meeting and it's so easy to be just derailed, and then all of a sudden you're like, how did we even get here? Why are we even talking about this? This isn't even close to our goal.

Jenna (08:43):
20 minutes later.

Blake (08:45):
And you're like, oh, no, and then you're thinking about, I have more meetings after this. I have more people that I have to get with, so I think there's an organization piece of this or just proper time management even piece of this that this applies to. So it's awesome. We were talking about getting off track and asking, there's so many questions. I think there's so many opportunities to fall behind or take too long. If you feel like this q and a with this patient starting to drag on and you're at risk of falling behind, what do you do?

Jenna (09:17):
Another hard one. I mean, because the thing is you don't want to make anybody feel rushed either, so I think that's where it really just comes back to if you're worried about falling behind a understanding that you want to give each patient as much time as you possibly can, but also it's okay to say like, Hey, we did block 30 minutes for today's appointment. I want to make sure that I am able to answer all of your questions that you have. We are reaching the end of our appointment time today, but let's go ahead and schedule a follow-up visit. I want you to go home, write down all the questions that you have. I'm also going to send you that recap email with exactly what the treatment plan is, what the timeline is, X, Y, Z, and I want you to review it. Write down your questions. Let's schedule a follow-up call for tomorrow for 30 minutes, 15 minutes. Again, setting that timeline so we can go through any additional questions that you have. How does that sound to you? And that way they're knowing, okay, you're not dismissing me. You're not rushing me out, but you're right, I did only book for 30 minutes. And so it's really setting those boundaries. Exactly, without making them feel rushed, but also making sure that they know you want to answer all those questions for them.

Blake (10:16):
And Heather, say you're the PCC and you're in the consult maybe with the doc, and you start to notice that this ask all behavior is happening and it's starting to really get in the way. Is it appropriate for you to step in and help get things back under control, or what do you do in that situation where you have the doc there?

Heather (10:39):
Yeah, I'd say hopefully that the provider, the doctor would feel comfortable keeping the control. That's something that we really believe in quite deeply that a provider should have that radical ownership in their patient relationships, and I'd highly recommend having a compassionate transition line ready. I think we've given several throughout the episode that you could potentially use if I was the PCC and the provider just was not comfortable, and I knew that, and that's the dynamic, and sometimes that's the case and you have your PCC for that reason. There's that trusted relationship. So if yours is that you step in that moment, I might say something like, Jenna, I really appreciate how thoughtful you are in your questions, but Dr. Blake does have to keep his allotted time for the appointment and we want to be really mindful of your time and the next patient, so what I think what might be most effective is to have him walk through next steps, and then you and I can sit down and jot down any additional questions that you might have. He'll review them and then I'll get back to you. I feel like this is a respectful but kind of assertive way that still leaves the door open, but again, I would say in every case possible, if the provider can do it, that's definitely key, but if you're in that relationship, define that dynamic of when the provider feels it's appropriate. You never want to be the PCC that steps in when the provider didn't want you to.

Blake (12:02):
Yeah, absolutely. We don't want to have that interaction. Absolutely not. Alright, as we come to the end of the episode, I always want to give our listeners something that they can take with them, some actionable item after what we've talked about today or the topic of this a hundred question type of patient. What's one thing that a PCC or coordinator could take with them after listening to today's episode?

Heather (12:26):
Yeah, I think we've kind of hit it several times that you don't want to try to win the consultation by answering everything. You win it with your structure, controlling the pace, anchoring your recommendations back with what matters most, and just keeping that clear boundary when you know that that's starting to happen.

Jenna (12:49):
For me, it would probably be something that Heather always says is clarity is kind, and so remembering that sometimes too many questions can lead to a confused patient, not a clear patient, and remembering that you're the authority individual in the room who has the expertise and who is going to be able to deliver the answers. So maintain control of the conversation, maintain the frame of the conversation, and that way that's how you're going to be able to best serve that patient.

Blake (13:15):
Amazing. Heather, Jenna, thank you again. Can't thank you enough for all of these amazing tidbits. I really hope our listeners are taking this to heart and are able to put this into their daily routines and be better because of it. Thank you so much again. Remind us one more time, where can we follow you online?

Heather (13:35):
Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram at Heather Hughes Hardy, same name on LinkedIn. I'd love to connect.

Jenna (13:42):
And I am on Instagram at Austin Beauty Boss and on LinkedIn at Jenna Hennig.

Blake (13:49):
And listener, got a question you want Heather or Jenna to answer? Send us a message on practicelandpodcast.com. Thank you again, Jenna and Heather, thank you listeners for tuning in to Practiceland. Stay fabulous and have a great day. Got a wild customer service story or a sticky patient situation? Send us a message or voicemail. If your tale makes it into our "She did what?" segment, we'll send a thank you gift you'll actually love. Promise, no cheap swag here.

Andrea (14:15):
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