Good morning. I read a great book recently and I wanted to share some of the takeaways as they pertain to us at SPG. The book is called Useful Not True by Derek Sivers. We're going to give an intro to that. But really what I learned in this book or what this book reinforced, even if the lessons weren't necessarily new, was that there's so much value in understanding the concept of perspective. So when we think about perspective, it's easy
to think of perspective as here's where I'm standing and then here's what I see. From a perspective on a mountaintop, a valley looks way different than how the valley would look if you're standing in the valley for an easy visual example. But in reality, we're dealing with perspective differences every single day. Whether you're talking to your teammates, you're talking to patients, each of us has to oscillate between different perspectives every
single day. If we're doing it right, I would say that if we're only viewing interactions through our own perspective, through our own prism, then we're leading a lot of opportunity on the table. Number one, and the number two, we're not maximizing our impact that we can have on those around us, particularly our teammates and our patients. So today we're going to spend a few
minutes talking about perspective. So I want to first start by saying that dentistry is kind of a microcosm of life, because everything that we do in dentistry is predicated on how well we work with others. I talk about this with dentists all the time, whether I'm doing seminars or I'm or I'm interviewing them to join SPG or they're wanting to learn about the company or just in a consulting paradigm. I always try to share that most of us go into dental school, not really
understanding the magnitude of that statement is that we're playing a team sport. It's easy to go into dentistry. I was guilty of it. You go into dentistry thinking that you're going to be playing an individual sport where you're going to be treating patients, you're going to be doing your thing day after day, head down zoomed in loops on performing micro surgeries on people's faces all day long. But there's so much more to it than that. That's maybe 10 or 15% of the actual deliverable
of dentistry, as each of us knows. So in dentistry, what we get out of it is inherently connected and extricably so to how well we serve the needs of others, how well we serve the needs of those around us. And that's no different than life. How far we go in life, how successful we are in life, regardless of how we define that comes down to how well we interoperate with those in our circles. Because dentistry at its core, I'll say this until I'm blue in the face. I probably say this 100
times a month. Dentistry is a service business. We only exist because we're able to serve those who need it. And we package those services up as not just the actual deliverable, not just as the titanium attached to the zirconia and push them out the door. It's how do we provide that service? How is the patient made to feel? How does the patient communicate to their friends and family
about what they receive? Because it's not just transactional. There's all of the connective tissue of the service, which starts with how a person perceives us online when they're researching us all the way through, how are they made to feel when they leave the office with their new teeth? Every single link in that chain is connected by obviously the steps required in the process, but also through the prism of the way that they are made to feel as they progress through that
timeline of receiving care at SPG. It's interpersonal. The service that we provide is between two or more people. So it's impossible for any of us to think that we can just keep our heads down and not be a people person or be too introverted. We have to work well with others. And to be truly interpersonal, we have to understand different perspectives because if we have blinders on and we're only considering our own goals, our own biases, our own worldviews,
then we're not going to go very far. We have to broaden that aperture, take those blinders off, and understand that if we're going to do anything magnificent in this world, we have to work well with others. And in order to do that, we have to consider the perspectives of others, consider their biases, their beliefs, their tightly held predispositions and understand where they're coming from, understand where they're standing, back to the example of the mountaintop or the valley.
If I'm standing on the mountaintop and someone else is standing in the valley, I have to understand that they don't have the same perspective as me. And I have to put myself in their shoes, whether physically or psychologically, to understand that I need to tailor my verbiage and tailor my approach to where they're standing, not necessarily where I'm standing. So consider that. Wavelength management. That's another way of saying perspectives are different.
Are we on the same wavelength? Common example in dentistry, right? Patient comes in and at SPG, we attract the types of patients that are dintally disenfranchised. They haven't been to the dentist with any regularity. Let's unpack that. What does that mean? That means that there's a strong likelihood that they're scared. There's a strong likelihood that they're distrusting. There's a strong likelihood that they have a broad, sweet scope of needs. So more often than not, those things are true.
And I feel like it's helpful to understand that where our wavelength is, we know a lot about dentistry, we believe in the power of dentistry. We know that we're the best place to go for the receipt of that dentistry. But the person coming in probably isn't on our wavelength. So we're doing two things at once. We're trying to gently nudge them up to resonating on our wavelength. But then at the same time, we know that we sometimes have to match their wavelengths. We have to mirror,
that's a Robert Chaldini principle of persuasion. We want to mirror that energy. And so we have to talk in their language. We have to understand where they're coming from. And that's what I love about SPG is that we're able to individualize the care and thereby individualize the communication that each patient receives. Because we all know if we have four
consults in a day, no two people among those four consults is going to be the same. So the way that we talk about treatment, the way that we listen, the way that we reflect back is going to be different
based upon the patient and the chair. And I'll speak from experience. When I did, when I tried to do this well in the scope of a large GP dental office, where I was contact switching between doing hygiene checks and treatment planning for full-arch implants and doing crowns and doing veneers and doing a liner ortho, it's really, really hard to zoom in and actually individualize the conversation. It's really easy to be cookie cutter, rubber stamp, move, move, move. But in our
model, we don't have to do that. We have the gift of being able to stop, pause, individualize care, thereby having a higher degree of success per patient and also able to offer a better level of care, frankly, because we're able to focus only on what we do excellently. So what does that mean? Superpower is forming a quick connection. The faster we forge a connection with someone, that's another way of saying how quickly can we build trust or how quickly can we approximate
a trusting relationship between us and the patient? And that can be if we're a central team member, that can be how quickly can we build rapport with our practice teams? If we are a practice team member, how quickly can we build rapport with the people that we work with and our patients?
And a lot of times that just comes from being engaged, from being a good listener, from being an active listener, from having some humility to understand that you have to get on the person's level to whom you're speaking, so that they let their guard down a little bit and they're more likely to share and you're better able to get a connection with someone. Because if there's no connection, if there's no rapport built, then we're sunk. Like I'm sunk, we're all sunk. If we can't
build rapport with those that we're talking to. So think about how can you forge a quick connection with those around you? And a reminder, we're all leaders in this. So all of us are subject matter experts at the practice level relative to our patients. Obviously, you're going to get the one off situations where the patient has done years and years of research and they can recite torque values and long term survivability rates of implants. But far and away, we're the expert
relatively speaking. And so we have to avoid using that expert knowledge base as a crutch and just spouting out little details and little factoids to fill the space and focus on the connection. And then we can use the little factoids and the little justifications to further our case as we're building it. But first, we have to connect. So that's the super power. How can we forge a quick connection with the person we're speaking to? And this is an
inequality equation. So bring it up the math, right? So in this inequality equation, we have customer greater than server. So in my mind, that means as I'm leading the company, how can I put myself subservient to the needs of the company? How can I serve SPG? How can I serve all of my constituents? How can I serve central team practice teams patients? How can I put the needs of the person that I'm serving ahead of my own? Step one is connecting step two is listening. Step three
is tailoring communication in a way that's going to be collaborative. And it's the same at the practice level. If we're here to meet the needs of the patient, what can we do to prioritize that person's understanding and that person's development of awareness and put that ahead of anything else that we do? Because we have to prioritize that connection with the patient to have any hope of getting
across the finish line. And I would wager that our practices, our teams that are exceptional at getting yeses at enrolling patients in care and patients being thrilled to enroll in care, whether they do it instinctively or whether they do they do it on purpose, they forge this quick connection immediately, sometimes over the phone. Sometimes we are our best small consultants build an inextricable connection over the phone so that when the patient comes in,
they're already old friends. They already have they've already moved the needle across the continuum to be a third of the way or halfway towards treatment acceptance. So think about that. How quickly can we forge that connection on the connection call, ideally? And obviously, upstream of that, it's marketing, it's reputation, it's prioritizing Google reviews, so that when you're on that connection call, they're already saying, Oh my gosh, I've read all about you.
You're all over the Google reviews, like Callie and Prescott, for example, she got a yes on a patient like yesterday or the day before, because her reputation preceded her in a really good way. And so she didn't have a very heavy lift in the consult because reputation upstream on the Google reviews connection call. And then the patient comes in and it's basically a formality at that point. So that's working smarter, not harder by prioritizing the patient. So here's the book,
right? So useful, not true. You order it direct from the author Derek Sivers. He's an interesting fella because he was a kind of a tech bro back in the day before tech bro was a term. He operated a company called CD Baby. So back in the day, it was kind of like Netflix, but for CDs, where he stopped independent music artists that were not quite big enough to crack a major label,
like, you know, Gefan or Columbia. And so he's he stocked all these CDs, and then he would ingratiate himself to these local artists, and just build this big following so that people rather than going to Sam Goode or wherever, they would go online and in order music through him. And so in the course of doing that, he he went the whole gamut, the whole spectrum of emotions of starting a company, growing a company, running a company, getting burned out, and then doing
something different, he became a writer and a philosopher. But he wrote he's written like six or seven books. This one's great. It's a quick read. Highly recommend it. So final thoughts, final takeaways. I want to share this quote on perspective, because for whatever we do, however long each of us is with SPG, whether you're with us for two years or two decades, I want you to get something out of being affiliated with this company. I want you to look back on your
time very, very favorably, and with with some admiration and appreciation. And I want to pour into each of us so that we can become not just better team members, but also better humans in our lives. And once we understand this perspective piece, I think it enriches a lot of our connections that we have with people. So listen to this, right? So perspectives, a kid says a cat is a pet, a mouse says a cat is a threat. Sounds like Dr. Seuss. They can't see it any other way.
Their friends agree, which solidifies their view, making it feel totally true. So what does that mean? That means that you have an organism, you have a cat that to one group over here, it's a pet. It's non threatening. It's not a danger. It's for our enjoyment and enrichment. Then you have another group over here that is just petrified of the same cat, the same organism.
Nothing about the cat has changed, but from where the people are standing versus where the mice are standing, completely different perspectives, neither one is wrong, yet neither one is true. Because both can't be true simultaneously. It's useful for the people to believe that the cat is a pet. It's useful for the mouse to believe that the cat is a threat. So consider the perspective piece. It matters where we're standing. How does that relate to dentistry? An easy one is with
patients preconceived notions about care. Back in the day, I remember all the time, patients would come in having prejudged themselves, having already opted into a specific path of care. Easy one, right? Patient comes in, ailing dentition, longstanding periodontal disease.
They've been taking a two thousand every six months for every year because they have such advanced perio and they've self diagnosed into needing dentures because their parents needed dentures because their grandparents needed dentures because their family members needed dentures. Therefore, dentures was the path because they self selected for need, they self selected for financial candidacy. They just already know that I'm going to get dentures.
Are they wrong? Not necessarily, but it's an incomplete idea based on where they stand, based on what their life experience is and based upon the research that they've done. And so luckily, they come to see us and we're able to, number one, connect with them.
Number two, listen to understand their perspective. And then once we're on the same level, once we're on the same frequency, on the same wavelength, then we're able to talk about the drawbacks, then we're able to layer in some facts, then we're able to layer in some examples of patients that came in with the exact same situation, with the exact same preconceptions. But that patient saw the light, that patient opted into the best level of care that we're able to offer.
And then here's all the things that that acceptance of care unlocked for them, smiling ear to ear at their kids wedding, going out and eating steaks with their friends every Friday night, whatever it is, we're able to connect through social proof. This patient who's on the precipice of accepting care to others that are very similar to them. That's why we love
photographs. That's why we love before and afters. That's why we love pictures being worth a thousand words in the consultation rooms, so that we can point to Edna or Gerald or whomever and say that patient came in with very similar situation. Also was afraid that they were resigned to doing floppy removable dentures forever. But luckily, they chose to go all on for route, which unlocked XYZ that they were seeking. So make it easy on yourself, make it easy to connect the dots. And
this goes for doctors, smile consultants, operations managers, dental assistants. The more that we understand relating perspective to connecting with people, to helping people go in the direction that we know is going to be an amazing direction for them, the more effective we're going to be in our roles. So this applies to everyone across the board. And this is worth remembering for all of us, truly. And then I want to also touch on the piece about facts, because it's really easy for
dentists, for people that are dental specialists. And I would, I would label anyone who works in a dental practice as a relative dental specialist compared to the lay public that's coming in to receive our services, facts versus perspectives, two very different things. Facts are unassalably, measurably, replicably true, meaning that we can measure it any number of different ways, anytime of day, and it's the same. Facts versus perspectives, which most things,
when you really boil down to it, are perspectives. How does this relate to dentistry? It's really easy to say, look, you should do an all in four, because we have 99% 20 year survivability of dental implants, we get torque values of 70 Newton centimeters, you could drive a truck over a zirconia arch, and it would be indestructible, we have warranties, don't start with the facts, start with the perspectives, don't start with the cart, start with the horse, the horse is what does
a patient receive by going through with treatment? It's not teeth, it's what the teeth enable.
So let's get really, really clear on what the patient is solving for first. And if I'm in a denturing implant practice, I am building, starring, highlighting what that outcome is, so that every single time we interact with that patient, we're connecting the dots between where we're at in the process, whether we're a dental assistant, operations manager confirming the next appointment, doctor, we're relating everything that we do back to that outcome that we've committed
to, smiling ear to ear at your kid's wedding, whatever it is, that's what we're shooting for, that's the horse. The cart is any type of supporting evidence that we need to help bolster our case to get them there. So don't be overly reliant on the factoids, err on the side of connecting the dots between what they want and how we can help get them there, and use the facts as needed,
but don't lead with those. It's comfortable to lead with those. I've fallen into that trap more times than I can count, but the most effective I ever was at getting cases across the finish line came from connecting with the person, understanding what they're seeking, and then building that rapport to help them see that, oh my gosh, this is the person, this is the team
to help me get from A to B. I hope this helped. I feel like this is a ripe topic for us to communicate about because I bet each of us has immense experience at the practice level, seeing not just what went well, what are some cases where, man, I just got rapport quickly, whether I'm dental assistant, operations manager, smile consultant, doctor, that split connection with that person, and then everything else is easy straightforward from there
versus I didn't prioritize the relationship easy enough. We got off on not the wrong foot, but not the best foot. What could I have done differently? And so I hope this was a helpful framing. I'm hosting a book club for this book with some of the central team members on Friday. So if you're practice team member, doctor, whomever watching this, and you want to do a book club, if there's enough demand for this, I will happily facilitate another book club for a broader audience
than just the central team folks who've already signed up for it. So shoot me an email, Alex, at sharedpractices.com. If you want to learn more about this and to share some feedback or tips and tricks or things that resonated with you from this little short lesson, but thank you for all you do. Let's let's finish April strong. Everyone have a good week. Thank you. Hey, I wanted to catch you before the podcast was over. It's Dr. Stephen Voorholt here from the
Full Arch podcast. Shared practices podcast on all things Full Arch implantology. And if you've ever considered yourself considering or thinking or getting interested in Full Arch implants and what that looks like, please join us in Dallas, Texas, May 29th through the 31st. We have two courses run concurrently. Intro to all the next one is for those of us who have never done an arch, or maybe we've done a smattering of arches and we just kind of want to learn the basics again and
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