Why Your Best Consults Might Not Book Today (And It’s Totally OK)

Amy (00:00):
So think of a ballroom dance. Somebody is the lead and it might look like they're both doing it, but somebody is directing what step we're taking next. That is your role to keep it moving forward. You want to do it gracefully and gently, but you do need to keep it progressing forward.

Andrea (00:24):
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 (00:37):
And I'm Blake Lucas, and this is PracticeLand. This is not your doctor's podcast.

Andrea (00:43):
Hi there. This is Andrea Watkins back with Practiceland, not your doctor's podcast. And I am absolutely stoked today for the guests that we have. You all are in for a special treat. Ms. Amy Anderson is here with us today. Amy, cheers, round of applause. Thank you so much for joining us.

Amy (01:00):
Thanks for having me, Andrea. I've been looking forward to this.

Andrea (01:04):
Awesome. So Amy Anderson, for anyone who lives under Rock and you don't know, she's the founder and CEO of ACG Practice Partners, and she has spent her career inside of aesthetic practices, watching, rebuilding, training consultation teams, helping launch new practices. And I get the pleasure to meet up with her when we're all across the country speaking at different industry events. And Amy is always just this positive light and always there to help encourage and help people grow and empower them with knowledge. So you are going to love this episode and any other time that she comes on here, we're so honored that you've taken time out of your schedule to join us. So thank you so much for being here.

Amy (01:48):
Oh my goodness. I'm the one that considers this a privilege. I love nothing more than working with practice staff. As you mentioned, I grew up in a practice. I worked many of the jobs from medical records, pre - EMR days, right? Do you remember those things? The paper charts that we used to have to file and put paperwork in.

Andrea (02:07):
Back in my day.

Amy (02:09):
Back in my day. I worked in medical records. I worked the front desk. I was a PCC. I did insurance authorizations and billing. Oh, don't need to do that again. But all of that, and then managed a practice before moving into consulting. So my heart is in practices and helping staff just level up their game, find ways to improve, be more efficient. And I'm always learning from the practices that I work with. And I love this podcast for that reason too. I listen, I learn little nuggets, and I take it forward with the clients I work with now.

Andrea (02:44):
Yeah, I love that. I think that's why we come from similar backgrounds of being inside of the practice for so many years and now get the privilege of working with practices across the nation in our consulting. What we're going to focus on today is the consultation and how so often everyone measures the consultation by whether or not the patient booked. Did they book same day? But nobody really agrees on what else is that consultation supposed to really accomplish. So we're going through this whole process with patients. Obviously our job is to lead and grow our practice and lead patients through this process. When you walk into a practice and you do personal practice assessments, you go in, assess what's going on, and then we can figure out the pieces of how to empower them and help grow them. What can you tell in the first five minutes whether a team really understands what the consult is for and how to conduct one or not?

Amy (03:45):
Let me first answer that by saying what I think the goals of the consultation are. I mean, yes, of course we want to book the surgery. That's what we're here for. We ultimately need to fill our surgeon's schedule, but that's almost the byproduct. I really focus on this as we're building a relationship, we're developing rapport with the patient, we're getting to know them and we're serving as their guide on this journey that they're on. And our role is to match them to the right treatment plan, the right financing options, the right timing for all of this, even if sometimes that's not your practice. And I know that that can be a difficult thing to admit sometimes. We all think that we are the best solution for everybody. And of course we want to have that mindset going into it, but sometimes the right answer is they will be best served somewhere else.

(04:40):
And so when I think about the purpose of the consultation, it's to get to know this patient, understand what's driving them. This is a very emotional decision. Nobody wakes up and says, "I need plastic surgery because my annual physical says I need to do that." It is an emotional thing. There's something that bothers us and that's driving us to pursue this. And so getting to know them. And so when you ask how do I know that when I'm observing in a practice, the first thing I'm kind of watching for is who's doing all of the talking? Because to really get to know somebody, that means if I'm the patient coordinator, I should be asking questions and then letting them respond. The patient should start that process doing more of the talking and I should be asking and learning, not jumping straight into let me tell you about the procedure and how much it costs and our available dates.

Andrea (05:40):
The very best patient care coordinators ask the very best questions. They do. And from people like Amy and myself, we can obviously help you figure out what are those questions. But if you're not asking the questions and listening, you can't actually figure out how to help people solve their problems.

Amy (05:58):
And it's a little bit of an art form. I mean, most of us don't come out of the womb just knowing how to do this, so we practice it. We listen to other good coordinators, we pay attention, we listen to that style, listen to coaches like you, Andrea, walk through that journey and then practice that art of just asking good questions, listening to the answer, and then following up with the natural question. Just like when you meet somebody at a social event, at a dinner party, we are all attracted to the people who ask us about ourselves, not the ones who stand there and say, "Well, let me tell you what I do for a living." They brag about themselves and we're like, "Oh, get me away from this person."

Andrea (06:41):
Drink please.

Amy (06:41):
It's not naturally attractive. Exactly. So think about what works in a social setting and apply it similarly in your consultation.

Andrea (06:50):
And with the consultation process, just about every coordinator is going to be measured on their conversion rate. It's what's your conversion rate? How many people are scheduling of those that we meet with? And we have this key performance indicator that is telling us how well we're doing. What do you think this number is missing?

Amy (07:09):
The first thing I want to comment on is I never just compare one conversion rate of one surgeon or one practice to another. I hear the question like, "My conversion rate's 65%. Is that good?" I'll say, "Well, I don't know. Compared to what? I need to know, are you mostly doing face, breast, body? What's your price point? How far out are you booked out? And what has your conversion rate looked like over the last six to 12 months?" So we want to look at it over time and see consistency or growth just one month at a time doesn't really tell me much. And also how we measure it is really important because if we're only measuring consults to surgery that happen in that month, I'm losing the follow-up that we drill into patient coordinators that if they don't schedule the day of the consult, we want to have very specific follow-up for weeks and months to come. And if I'm not measuring that conversion rate in a way to capture that, then it's almost like we don't get credit for any of that follow-up effort, which we know is so important.

Andrea (08:18):
Right. And it's still generating revenue and it's also doing it in a way that isn't you have to book same day or else it's a failure. So you and I have had discussions about this previously and you said something, I'm going to see if I can get it out of you today. You said something that I thought was so incredibly important about the patients and the lack of necessity to have a same day close for everyone. What is your theory on why do we not only need to focus on that same day booking number?

Amy (08:55):
Well, listen, we all love a same day booking, right? That's the gold standard and we all get excited and we high five and it feels great and our job's a little bit easier because I don't have to do the follow-up. However, people, humans are not all wired the same way. We do not all make decisions at the same pace. Some of us just naturally take more time. We need more research. We need more time to wrap our head around it. We might need to talk to other people, read more about it before we move forward, and that's okay. I know recently you had Troy Cole on the podcast. He was fabulous. He went through the DISC model, D-I-S-C, and that's a model we also use because it helps us understand how people make decisions and where about half of the population is ready to book same day.

(09:51):
They're excited, they're fast, they're decisive, they'll move forward quickly. Those will be our same day conversion rates, but more than half of the population, they simply need more time. And if they feel that pressure that you're really drilling into them and really pressuring them to move forward, it totally is the ick. It shuts me down.

Andrea (10:12):
It's absolute same. It's absolutely the ick. Yep.

Amy (10:16):
It is not comfortable. And in my opinion, it completely diminishes this relationship that we're trying to build. I am asking you questions, I'm asking you to reveal to me your deepest insecurities, and then I'm disregarding when you say you need a little more time to think about it or you've got questions or a partner that you want to talk to, and I'm trying to pressure you into moving forward. That kind of unwinds all of that goodwill that we just spent an hour working on.

Andrea (10:47):
The trust and the safety that's developed throughout the consultation process with the phone call, with the in-person consultation, it goes out the window when someone feels that you're pressuring them to make a decision. The very specific words that you used when you and I had spoken about this before was everyone has a different buyer behavior and you shouldn't push one sort of buyer behavior into that same day scheduling model that yes, to your point, 50%. If we can get 50% same day, that's great. There's other surgeons out there. I have one client in particular who I've kind of had to break them of this mindset of be backs. He would call them B-backs. B-backs never book. I'm like, first of all, that's wrong. And if they don't, and if they ghost you, that's because you haven't put in the real time, energy, and effort in developing the relationship that is going to help them make the best decision in their time.

(11:44):
And within a week they will schedule. And so we've been tracking, I've been working with them since February. We were tracking and we changed their process so that we weren't discounting same day just to get to book. And so we're getting full revenue now, but we're also scheduling 50 to 60% same day. And then now we're almost up to 80% total, and that's usually within about a week. But that's happening because there's genuine authentic relationships, which is what I want to get into with what you talk about, which is you teach the FORD method, which until you and I had talked about this, I really had never heard about this before. So I'm really excited for you to educate me and to educate our listeners about this. So FORD stands for?

Amy (12:31):
It stands for family, occupation, recreation and dreams. And it's really just a simple memorable framework that you can use to make every patient feel seen and valued. So FORD, occupation, recreation and dreams. This is not something I made up. I learned it from Karen Zupko and I think she learned it from somebody else in sales and we all just build on it and carry it forward. But it's just a simple technique to think about these. We should be asking our patients about the various parts of their life for a number of reasons. But first and foremost, this is how we build relationships. We're getting to know them when we're finding out do they have children? Do they have a partner? What do they do for work? What do they do for fun? What are they planning this around? I mean, this is information that helps us understand their motivations as well as some barriers or limitations that we might have to work through that might hold them back from either a timing perspective or just they got three kids under the age of four and they want a tummy tuck next month. Who's going to help you carry those babies around? There's some real practical information that we learn from this.

Andrea (13:48):
Yeah, absolutely. So when you're talking, let's kind of break it down F-O-R-D. When we're talking about the family portion of this, we're in the room or we're on a call with a patient, we're asking them questions, which again, people who ask the best questions are going to get the very best results and have the best relationships with their patients. Family, what does that sound like? Not in a training deck or something like that, but you're on the phone with me and I've called you and said, "I'm interested in a facelift or I'm interested in a breast dog or a tummy tuck." What is a family type question? Where does that come into the conversation?

Amy (14:21):
Sure. Well, sometimes I often find this one particularly very naturally comes up. It gets offered sometimes even without asking. If they've filled out an intake form on their medical history, often it has asked about pregnancy and childbirth. And so we have information in different places to glean from. So if I see that on their intake form, I might just say, "Oh, I noticed here that you have two kids. What are they into these days? Or how old are they? Are they back to school?" Some of that is truly relationship building, but knowing the age lets us know how far past pregnancy they are. And so as we're thinking of various breasts or body surgeries, that timeline is important. We want to make sure they're further past that and/or where they are in family planning process. So another way I ask about family is more in the context of who supports you in this decision?

(15:21):
Is there a spouse or partner, anybody in your family that is going to come to the consultation with you or is part of the decision making process? I never want to make assumptions. Families look very different these days. They come in all sizes and shapes, and so I want to be broad and inclusive in how I ask that question. And I also want to make sure I don't offend the woman who I just think they need to consult their husband who would be paying for this. We don't want to make any assumptions about gender, relationship, who's paying, but just that open-ended question of who supports you in this decision? Is there anybody that is part of this decision-making process that we should include in the consultation?

Andrea (16:10):
Perfect. I love that. And that, again, will help you also understand, because in some cases you ask a question like that and they're like, "Well, my husband, but he doesn't really support this yet." Or, "My husband, I've talked to him about this, but he doesn't want me to spend the money on this or my spouse." We hear that a lot. Yeah. Or my mom, I'm a 21-year-old. My mom, I still live at home. They still support me, but I really want a rhinoplasty. That's what we hear a lot as well. So asking these questions in the aesthetic space specifically, it also helps us to identify what could be a potential objection so that we can make sure we're leaning into this person that's not supportive of the patient's decision. And you can also say to the patient things like, "I would love for you to invite your husband so that I can help you advocate for yourself and also so that he feels comfortable and has an opportunity to ask us questions as well." But if you don't ask the question about family and you don't know who that other person might be, you're missing an entire opportunity to address a potential objection before it even comes up.

Amy (17:15):
That's exactly right. The more we know, all of this is information gathering.

Andrea (17:19):
Like the little rainbow from the 80s, the more you know.

Amy (17:23):
That's going to be our new logo. But seriously, everything you just said, it helps us prepare for those potential barriers. And I love that you use the word advocate because that really is what we are. We are advocating for our patients, and so that's why we're asking about this information now. And it will help us move things along further and maybe increase our same-day booking because we may be able to start proactively handling those barriers before they just show up at the very end of a consultation.

Andrea (17:53):
Yep. And when you can show the patient as well, "I'm on your side and I'm here to help you through whatever barriers you have, whether it is family or any of the other things that we'll get to, it really helps them also trust us more, feel more safe, which are the two primary emotions that are going to lead them to taking next steps so that we can help them change their lives. So family, got that one down. As far as occupation, so we got the F in family. We're going to move on to the O with occupation. This is one that a lot of people get wrong, and I have asked this question in so many different ways, and I think I've finally got it, but I cannot wait for you to share what your recommendation is of how is figuring out what people do for an occupation different than just asking what they do for a living or what do you do for work or do you work outside of the home or how do you recommend asking this?

Amy (18:49):
I don't know that this is super profound, but I am very mindful that not everyone works outside of the home. And the last thing I want to do is ask a question that's going to offend my patient. Exactly. I usually ask a version of, "Talk to me a little bit about work. Do you work inside or outside of the home?" And then I stop talking and let them answer because whatever the answer is is going to be information. So how do you ask that?

Andrea (19:18):
So I ask this, and I've taken, again, pieces from lots of different people that I listen to on a daily basis. And what I've found right now that's working really well is, "So tell me a little bit about your daily activities. What does your day look like?" And that way they can say, "I'm at home with the kids. I have three kids under three," or, "I work outside of the home, or I work from home," or, "I care for my aging parent," or whatever. "Do you work out regularly? "Then they can just tell us what's their day look like instead of going straight to," Do you work? "But more," Tell me a little bit about your daily. We're going to get into recovery. I'll give you some information about that, but just tell me a little bit about what's your daily activity look like?

Amy (20:05):
I think that's great. And I think that will actually probably often touch on both occupation and recreation, because I imagine somebody might work in or outside the home and they go to the gym every day, which would be a recreation item, but they're going to tell you that as they describe what a normal day or week looks like. So I think that's a great question.

Andrea (20:25):
Yeah. Cool. So occupation, we ask them about their daily activity. Do you work inside or outside of the home? What does that look like? Is it an active job or not? Recovery's going to be different for someone who's an EMT and working in an ambulance, carting people around all day, or someone like myself who sits on my def and talks to people through a speaker and a microphone and a camera, right?

Amy (20:46):
It absolutely looks different for recovery, and it can also tell us about motivation because you might be sitting at home, but you're in front of a camera all day staring at yourself on Zoom. We've had these conversations. We know the motivation.

Andrea (21:01):
I just had a facelift six weeks ago because of this, guys. This is the case. This is the truth.

Amy (21:06):
Exactly. So that gives us an idea. If somebody is selling high-end real estate, they have to look apart if they're giving presentations or Andrea, I know you're on an airplane every other week flying around the country to visit practices or give talks. That's information too. That's going to influence your recovery. Are you able to stay off of an airplane for a few weeks while you're having that initial recovery? So all of that is super valuable information about motivation. We also might have an idea about ideal timing if they work in education. They are most likely going to be timing their surgery around fall break, winter break, spring break, or most likely summer break if it's a longer recovery.

Andrea (21:52):
That's a really, really great point. I love that. Everything that you can just be connecting the dots from the answers to these questions that we're asking.

Amy (22:00):
Yes.

Andrea (22:01):
Okay, let's move on to R and D. So recreation and dreams, they kind of both point to why a patient is sitting in front of us in the first place or why we're talking to them on the phone. So how do you get to this part without it really turning into an interrogation? Because now we've asked several questions, "Who's your family? What's your blood type?" No, not your blood type, but how do we get into this part and what are the R and the D? What are your examples there?

Amy (22:31):
Early in the process when they're first calling in and we're having that initial conversation, I'm going to probably ask a question around tell me a little bit, are we planning around a certain event, any kind of special occasion coming up? What makes now the time that made you reach out? And a lot of times that will give us an idea of the dream that there's a class reunion, there's a wedding, there is a big vacation. I'm going on a cruise next summer and I finally want to wear a bikini. All of these are dream aspiration. It really is what they envision themself as they look better and feel more confident after having this procedure.

Andrea (23:12):
Perfect. And then anything specific on recreation?

Amy (23:17):
Yeah, recreation, again, I'm trying to think of how I'd ask that question. Like I said, it may have already come up if we ask your way of tell me about your daily life, what do you do day to day? But I might just say, what do you do if they've shared about their job, what do you do outside of work? What do you do for fun? And I ask these questions again thinking about recovery. So I can immediately think they're training for a marathon and they think, well, I'll get a breast aug and I can get back to running a week later. Maybe not. We're going to apply our surgeon's criteria for is that two weeks down? Is that six weeks down? When can they walk on a treadmill or walk at a fast pace versus when can they get back to running? So asking just what they do for fun would be how I bring that up.

Andrea (24:06):
And I think it's really important too to stay as you're asking these questions, this isn't an interrogation. We're not checking boxes as we're going through, okay, now I got to do F, now I got to do R, now I got to do O and R and D. This isn't a checklist. This is a guideline to open conversation with the patients so that we do have the opportunity to learn as much as we possibly can about them and build that trust and rapport with them.

Amy (24:36):
That's right. So it's not linear. I'm really glad you said that because it should not be like I have to ask about family, then occupation. The information comes at you very naturally through the conversation and what I coach PCCs on is get two to three FORD points. You do not have to get all four on every patient. It is truly that idea of if you actually had a conversation and cared about them and expressed interest, you should have very naturally picked up two to three very personal things about them that fall under that FORD category.

Andrea (25:12):
Thank you for clarifying that as well, because I think you do want to make it natural and you don't want to then get somewhere else in the conversation and say, "Oh, I got to go back and ask you about what are your dreams because I got to get the D of the FORD." Again, we want it to be natural. And I think the very best PCCs that ask the best questions are authentic and just by nature of who you are as a human being, you're curious. You're just curious about other people.

Amy (25:37):
That's right. And one of my rules to live by is don't make it weird. If it feels forced, don't ask the question. If it didn't feel like a natural part of the conversation, move on. I would rather you show them a good experience and make them feel comfortable than ask a bizarro question out of left field that they're like, "What? Why would she bring that up right now?"

Andrea (25:59):
This is so weird. And I've listened to so many phone calls where when you're just starting out as a PCC and you think you have to hit every single bullet point and you're just getting comfortable with an outline of a dialogue, they will do something that I'm like, "Don't do that. You're just making it weird. Just be cool. Just be cool." Exactly. Just be cool. It's fine.

Amy (26:20):
Words to live by.

Andrea (26:22):
Yes. So we're going through this process. We're gathering information from patients. We're learning all about them so that we can figure out how to help them. Where does what we're actually learning go? Does this go into a chart, into the CRM, just into somebody's memory bank, hoping that they don't get hit by a Mack truck on the way to work tomorrow? What are we doing here?

Amy (26:41):
Yeah. Well, obviously the answer is it can't just stay in our memory. And I mean, if you leave it to my memory, it will be forgotten in about an hour. Exactly. So we definitely want to take notes. Most of us are using a CRM or practice management system, so I want to digitally capture those notes in a designated space where everybody in the practice knows where they go, and I want the whole practice to reference them and to build on it. So what that looks like, I might've done the initial call and then the patient comes in and the MA or nurse is potentially rooming them and going through history. Isn't it nice if they seem like they already know you, that there was this warm handoff of information? So I know when you talked to Amy, you shared that you're planning this big trip next summer.

(27:32):
That's so exciting. Do you know where your cruise is going? It can just be a short little reference, but it tells them everything that you care, you paid attention, you took the note, and it's now been handed off to the next person. We've automatically fast-forwarded that relationship building because now that nurse reflected on that conversation and it feels like she knows me just like the first person did.

Andrea (27:58):
Yeah, it goes straight back to safety and trust. So when we're building this rapport and we're having some small talk, we're asking definitely intentional questions. I probably am the first person to raise my hand and say I've definitely crossed over this line between rapport and small talk because I think basically every stranger is just my new best friend I haven't met yet. So where do you, from a professional standpoint, draw that line and know when you're crossing over and building rapport, I'm doing my job, I'm helping them feel safe and trusted, but then maybe we're just going a little bit too far with it.

Amy (28:41):
Yeah. I love that you asked that, Andrea, because I think a lot of patient coordinators, similar to you, we love people and we love learning about them and it can be very easy to just gab. And so we have to remind ourselves there is a purpose here beyond just becoming besties. We are actively moving them forward. And so I want the conversation to be relevant to surgery in some way or the procedure may not even be a surgical option, but whatever the procedure is, is there something here that I'm learning to tie back to that? And if not, then I know we've kind of gone off on a tangent. I mean, I do want to see the pictures of your dogs and I want to know their names, but if that's more than 30 seconds, now it's taking over and we're off focus from the consultation.

Andrea (29:32):
Absolutely. Thank you. And if you could just come around with me and help keep me and reguide me and redo my directions and every conversation I have, that would be great.

Amy (29:43):
Listen, it's not easy because if you get the patient who also loves to gab, they want to tell you, we've all been in the room or on the phone with somebody who wants to give you the full life story. So I also want to remind you that your role is to be the lead. You are guiding them. Think of a ballroom dance. Somebody is the lead and it might look like they're both doing it, but somebody is directing what step we're taking next. That is your role to keep it moving forward. You want to do it gracefully and gently, but you do need to keep it progressing forward.

Andrea (30:20):
I love that. The leadership aspect is something that we talk about all the time, which is we're not just a transactional order taker, I'm here to schedule an appointment and take your deposit when you're ready, but it's leading and guiding and being intentional with the conversations and the actions that we're taking with the patients. Don't sleep on leadership. You don't need a manager role. You don't need a COO role. You don't need a title like that to know that you are a leader with patients if you're helping them through this process.

Amy (30:55):
That's right. When I think about it, asking questions is the best way to lead, at least in the beginning of that experience. That might seem counterintuitive, but if we allow the patient just to come in and start peppering you with questions and you're just spitting out answers, that's like, I have the visual of putting a coin in the machine and we're spitting out the toy at the end or something. Right. That's how it works. And that can be all over the place. We're not going to cover everything. So again, we are very intentionally guiding the conversation through actively asking questions and keeping it moving forward.

Andrea (31:33):
I love that. Then with all of that information that we're gathering, what do we do with it later? When a patient's thinking about it and you're following up, they haven't taken the action to move forward, this is something that I visit, I think on almost every call that I have with a client. I would love to hear your feedback as far as a PCC, "Okay, great. I asked all these questions. How do you use it to your advantage to help lead them?"

Amy (32:04):
Yeah. Well, I think we all agree that the weakest version of a follow-up is, "Hey, I'm just checking in. Have you made a decision?" It's so ineffective and they're probably not even going to answer the call or respond to that text because it just feels automated and very weak. And so I always am looking for those personal tidbits to reference and loop back into that follow-up. So maybe they've shared that they have three kids and they're all school aged, and so I'm following up right now, which we know is kind of back to school time. So I might reference that, "Hey, I know things have been a little crazy with back to school. Hope the kiddos had a great first day, but thought this might be a good time now that they're back in school to check in. You'd mentioned surgery in January, so as those dates are filling up, I really wanted to reach out and make sure that we got your date locked in." That feels so much more personal and like you remember me than just following up.

Andrea (33:12):
We were talking a lot about getting to know the FORD method, family occupation, recreation and dreams, and really learning about them to build that relationship. You already in this episode referenced the episode we did a few weeks ago with Troy about DISC. There's a very specific personality type in that DISC model where they don't give a shit about building rapport. They want the details, they want to know exactly what they need to know, and then they need dates and then they want to move on. How do we manage that interaction where it's just really clear from the beginning, this is more of a D personality style and they don't really want to build rapport and give us answers to these questions. What's your advice there?

Amy (34:04):
Well, I think the best PCCs read that. We read the body language, we read those verbal and nonverbal cues, and we have to know how to flex our style. It doesn't mean I'm going to just jump to giving answers, but in my head I kind of have a minimum of questions I need to ask. I'm not saying it's a number, but there's certain information I still need to gather. I'm going to do that, but I'm going to read the cues. I'm going to be more succinct. I'm going to keep it moving forward because I will drive them crazy if I force them to tell me about their dogs or their kids or what they do for fun. But they might be very open to talking about what they do for work or a little bit about the family situation if it's clear that this is directly relevant to surgery.

(34:53):
Another thing I might do is instead of just asking the question, explain why I'm asking. It would help to understand a little bit more about what your daily life is because there's some certain recovery things I'd like to go over just to explain why I'm asking so that they don't feel like I'm just making small talk.

Andrea (35:13):
I love that. There's one takeaway, there's so many takeaways already from this episode, but I really, really love that is for the more direct to the point person, we still have to gather information and exactly what Amy said, make sure they understand why you're asking the question. You're not just sitting here bullshitting to waste their time because that D style is very, I got things to do, I got people to see, I got places to go. But if they understand the reason why we are asking the questions we're asking, I think it will definitely open them up more to not being annoyed with us as we're really trying to gather that information and learn about how we're going to help them meet their goals.

(35:58):
One last question while we talk about the FORD method and having those conversations with patients, say for example, coordinator, they have back-to-back consults tomorrow. It's going to be a Tuesday when this airs. So either it's Tuesday morning and they're headed into work and they're listening to us or it's Wednesday, they're listening in back-to-back consults all day. What do you think is one thing that a coordinator could take into their interactions with patients today that's really going to help them with this methodology? I can't speak, so maybe that would be one thing that could help.

Amy (36:36):
You're so funny. Yes, I would say today, tomorrow, as you go into your next consultation, think about asking questions and using FORD to guide that and pick the one area that feels most comfortable. And if that's family, if that's occupation, whatever that is, whatever they feel most comfortable or natural and just start asking it. Even if it feels a little weird, just go in saying, "I'm going to find out what they do for fun and somehow I'm going to figure out how that comes up in the conversation or I'm going to find out a little bit more about their family situation." Set that goal in your mind and then figure out a way to naturally incorporate that. And then all the things we said to make sure you notate it afterwards and you write it down, but just go in and start somewhere. Don't feel like you, again, have to ask about all four areas.

(37:28):
You don't have to ask 20 questions, but go in with the mindset of I'm going to first ask questions, get to know them, and I'm going to ask at least about one Ford area so that I'm sure I learn that personal information about them before moving forward.

Andrea (37:44):
I love that. Thank you so much, Amy. One last thing before we go, we like to do a little segment here on Practiceland called "She did what?" With people like yourself who are in practices all over the nation every single day, I am sure that you must have some wild and crazy story. It could be a patient story, it could be a team member story, a doctor story, anything, and you don't have to name names, but what's something wild and crazy that you have seen that you'd like to share with our listeners?

Amy (38:17):
Well, as we were talking, I had several ideas come to mind and maybe there'll be a time to share all of them at some point, but one that's actually very relevant to what we're talking about today. A friend of mine went for a consultation. She visited with a surgeon who didn't know anything about her, didn't know her connection to me, nothing. Nobody was trying to do extra, I don't know. It was almost like a secret shopping experience, although it was a real consultation and she had already decided she was moving forward. She wanted this surgeon. She had a timeframe in mind, all of the signals of I'm ready to go. At the end of the consultation, after the coordinator gave her the quote, she didn't even ask about dates. She just looked at her and she said, "Well, why don't you go home and speak with your husband and then if he's okay with it, call me back and we'll schedule surgery." Can I tell you, the look on your face for those of you not watching, is exactly the look on her face.

(39:18):
She was so offended. She was so deeply offended that there was any implication, one that she needed to talk to her spouse, that she hadn't talked to her spouse, all of the assumptions.

Andrea (39:31):
That had a spouse that she was heterosexual, all of the things.

Amy (39:34):
All of it. All of it.

Andrea (39:35):
There's so many assumptions in those two little sentences.

Amy (39:38):
So much. And it was enough. She actually did not book there. She was so upset with the experience that she left and she did not have her surgery. And this coordinator, I happen to know her and she's as lovely as can be. She meant no ill will from it, but she totally put her foot in her mouth. In her world, this was her bias. She would never make this decision without talking to her spouse, but we cannot put that on our patients and we cannot assume others see the world the same way and you can actually lose patients. So that was a shocking enough, she did what? I can't believe she would say that. So don't ever say that to your patient.

Andrea (40:24):
No. And if you have been asking the right questions all along, you would know everything about that patient and we wouldn't be presenting a quote with that information anyway. Wow.

Amy (40:35):
Exactly.

Andrea (40:36):
Incredible. Well, thank you for sharing the jaw dropping for those. I mean, my jaw is still tight from surgery, but it dropped pretty far. Well, I can't thank you enough again for being here. Could you just share with our listeners here, where can they find you? ACG Practice Partners. You are just an elite service in our industry, and I know you and your team, all of you ladies have so much real world experience, but where do we find you guys?

Amy (41:07):
Oh, thank you for that. Our website is acgpracticepartners.com. We're on Instagram and YouTube, ACG Practice Partners. Personally, my Instagram is Amy Anderson, MBA. Would love to follow you. Follow me, I'll follow you back, and we'll hang out online together.

Andrea (41:27):
Fantastic. Thank you again so much for being here, Amy, and I look forward to our continued conversations.

Blake (41:35):
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 (41:47):
Are you one of us? Subscribe for new episode notifications and more at practicelandpodcast.com. New episodes drop weekly on YouTube and everywhere you can listen to podcasts.