Be Mindful of the the Words You Choose and Remind Yourself That You Offer Nothing But Luxurious Healthcare [Ep #212]

In this episode of the podcast, we are talking about how important it is for you to choose your words wisely. And remember that you are offering luxurious health care and nothing but. Stay tuned.

I’m Andrew Maxim. And this is the profitable practice podcast made for practitioners who are ready to build a six-figure practice with a million-dollar impact that also lets you close your laptop and be present with your family anytime you want to. Together, we will challenge the antiquated ways of running a practice, we will merge our brick and mortar online and build systemize and grow as maximized, practitioners. Welcome to the podcast.

Hey, everyone, thank you for tuning in to another podcast episode. This was supposed to be recorded in Ontario. But I got to say this view is so much better. I’m on my first family vacation in three years. My mother-in-law surprised us with a vacation to Cayo, Coco Cuba. And I am finally having a moment away from the kids away from the family. I am sitting on a blue beach chair as far down the beach as I can. And I am just watching the sunset. And listening to the ocean in the background. I wish you’re all here with me. Because it’s these moments that really make you appreciate everything that you’ve created. It really makes you appreciate time. We have no internet here except for in like the lobby in the bar. So, I’ve also been completely disconnected from Wi Fi which has also been freeing in and of itself. But I’m still showing up. I’m still going to record these podcasts as they inspire me. And this is very timely.

Anybody who has been watching my stories @AndreaMaximND would have seen the story that I made about Brooklyn’s trip to the dentist. So, Brooklyn is my almost five-year-old, we discovered three cavities that you could visibly see in her back pre-molars. And so, she has just developed this fear around going to the dentist. We haven’t done anything we’ve been provoked it we haven’t made it sound scary. But she has just through the grapevine through hearing what other people say. Even just lying back in the chair is something that doesn’t work for her now. Brooklyn also is one of those children who everything has to be on her terms when she’s ready. So being forced to go to the dentist, when she’s not ready is also part of this picture, which I’m more than well aware of. Even when we were potty training her. She was like, Nope, I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine. And then we just let it go. And all of a sudden, she sat on the toilet once totally got it. She was ready. And there we were. So that is definitely her she is definitely a I will wait until I am ready to do whatever it is that I need to do and not a moment sooner. However, we had to get these cavities filled. So, we tried the nitrous oxide the week before, would not take it just started bawling. And I did everything that I could I brought in headphones for her. We played her favorite songs. She was like totally chillin’. But as soon as she had to put the mask on, it was just an absolutely no go. I was in tears. It took me about three hours to recover from the mom stress of that event. And the cavity still had to get filled. So, we had to pre book general an anesthetic appointment a week later. It was a $250 deposit, nonrefundable deposit. And I was like whatever this is just the way that we have to go at least we tried the one way it was just not working for her. So now we have to do the general anesthetic. general anesthetic alone is $1,000. Let alone the three cavities that we knew of that had to be filled. So, we come back in a week later. It’s  mom again and I’m I didn’t even want to talk to anybody about it for that entire week. I was just so stressed out that, you know, she’s now associating me with these traumatic events. And we get there. She starts stalling. She doesn’t even want to sit in the chair. She again wants it to be all on her terms. Meanwhile, we’ve been building her up for like, weeks for all of these appointments.

And the general anesthesiologist is like, you know, I can feel his energy being like, we just got to get this done. Like there’s no time for her to look out the window or feel comfortable like we’re getting this done. So, I ended up having to literally grapple her head and her arms down while she is crying. The anesthesiologist is putting the mask over her face. And she’s crying bawling, trying to squirm being like I just need a break. And we had to wait 20 seconds before she would actually go out. Now, I don’t know if you have ever had your child go under anesthesia. But they make this incredibly terrifying garbling breathing noise once they start going under. And then of course, you have to get out of the room like everyone steps in, they put it on the table, you’re shuttled out to the waiting room. And of course, in the waiting room is when the tears start to flood and all of the worries that I have are starting to come to fruition, you know, is she even going to make it you know, you think the worst-case scenario is she even going to survive this experience, like Will I not have a child after this next hour. But the reason why I wanted to record this particular episode is the experience that I had, being an uninsured parent going through the expense, that is dentistry, the expense that turned out to be eight cavities, not three, with X rays with all of the things and how the woman who manages all the billing treated me. And I found it very much parallel to how we run our practices to how we run our businesses how especially and I can only speak to Ontario based NDs, a lot of people that we treat will only budget what their health insurance allows.

And so therefore, pricing treatment plans, things like that often coincide with what the average insurance company will provide on an annual basis. And we are no different, we certainly take that into consideration. But what I will say is, and I’m sure the universe is trying to teach me a lesson is over the past couple of months, I have become so annoyed with those patients that will only say, Well, I will only come to see you as many times as my insurance allows, I will not pay for anything above what my insurance will provide or pay for. And so now you’re limited to the scope to which you can provide your adequate care.

So, when we got this potential bill, when we found out that it was eight cavities instead of three, when we found out that she was going to need a silver cap, and all of these other things.

Immediately, the woman goes into scarcity mode, immediately. She’s just like, oh, it’s going to be a lot. You know, it’s really going to suck, like, really? And I just kept saying to her Look, lady, like, I’m fine. I know, I know, it’s a lot. I know, we don’t have insurance, it’s not a problem. And she just kept making it a problem being like, okay, you know, it’s going to be a lot more than you think. And I know, it’s going to be really expensive. And I know this is going to be probably hard for you to pay for. And I had to remind her again, look, I’m good. Like, I am not going to pay for things that are irrelevant. But I have no problem paying for things that we need, that are going to make my child’s health better. And I had to kind of put her in her place a few times. And I was like, look, I don’t care what the amount is, I have my credit card, I’m happy to pay for it. You know, like, let’s just end the conversation where it is. But I just recall so many different times where we are reconnecting, even booking the anesthesia appointment, where she’s just like, oh, it’s going to be a lot. You know, I’m kind of afraid to show you the quote.

 And so I immediately started reflecting on the language that we could potentially be using in our practices with our people, and how important it is for you to be so careful about the words that you use, about the tone that you use, and about remembering the value that you have to offer like – Frigg just to get the doctor signature so that Brooklyn could go under general anesthetic from her family doctor cost me 20 bucks for him to stamp a little box on a piece of paper that I had to go pick up cost me $20. My lawyers, my corporation lawyers charge me $22 For every email they send out to me, and every email that they read back from me, there was one bill that they sent that was literally $100 for 10 minutes’ worth of emails, and most of them were no more than five words long. And I’m just like, well, this is just part of it. This is service that I signed up for, whatever I kind of grin and bear it, I don’t love it. But it is part of how I want to run my business. And it’s just unnecessary expense.

So, when it comes to our health care when it comes to us providing them with, for most of us a multi six figure education, it’s really important for us to remember that what we are providing them is the most luxurious form of health care that they are ever going to receive. In no other health care realm, are they going to have the most access to us? Are they going to have the longest amount of time with us? Are they going to receive the most individualized and personalized care from us. And I can, again, only speak to the way we’ve set up our practice. But we are available for patients to email 24/7. Like, it is not something we bill for every email, it is not something that we charge for that is all encompassing in our service in the care that I choose to provide. And that is of no extra cost to them. And a great example of if you’re coming in with oh, it’s going to be expensive or are you sure you want to know what the total is, we had one of our team members totally showing up. And on one of our one on one mentorship meetings, she was just like, I don’t know what’s going on. But I keep attracting all of these people that are literally saying like, I will only use my insurance, I don’t want to pay for supplements, I don’t want to pay for this side or the other on extreme budgets. And she was just like, I’m just so fed up with this, because I feel like I can’t even treat them the way that I want to.

And so, the first thing I said was, well, the language you keep using towards me about how you are feeling about the practice is that people are only coming to use their insurance, they will never spend more than their insurance. And you know, you’re coming in with this, this totally inaccurate energy. And of course, where your energy is, is what you’re going to attract. And lo and behold, she you know, does sage ceremony personally, she kind of cleanses her energy, she resets for the week. And she doubles her revenue, literally within the next week. And she starts attracting people and things are more seamless for her and easy for her. So, it is so important energetically for you to be checking in with every single shift that you have virtual or online. How are you showing up energetically? Are you showing up with another person who’s probably just going to use their insurance who isn’t going to want to spend, you know, money on supplements or these labs or whatever? Or are you going to show up and say, Damn, I can’t wait to provide these new patients these follow up visits with the best luxurious health care that I can. And I am so excited to show them the $500 tests that I want them to run. And I am so excited to show them the $200 worth of supplements that I think that they’re going to need. And I am so excited to upsell them to my high-end program, which is two or $3,000. Watch what changes. And one of the biggest things that we’re doing in our business is if it’s the wrong fit, we are so happy to let those people go. Because Lord knows that the way people are feeling triggered right now. If they’re the wrong fit for our business, it is only going to make matters way worse than just letting it be,letting it go. And so, what I try to train my team on is your job, your only job is to provide every single patient or client that you see, with all of the recommendations that you would give, we use our gap protocol checklist, we use our frameworks we use, you know, of course, just our intuition on what it is that they need. And I tell them it is your number one job to recommend every single lab, every single supplement that you think would benefit them. And you let them decide. And you hold that energy and you come at it with nothing but transparency with positive energy with service mindset. And you let them choose and if they choose, you know a fraction of those items, half of those items, then it is their choice. And you can always you know, say well I recommended all these things you chose 50% of them, you know and here’s where we’re at so things are going to be slower. It’s not going to be nearly as accurate and that was your choice. It is so important to remember that it is a team collaboration. You are there to present the information so that they are the most educated individual that they can be it is their choice what items they are going to invest in or not. Which is another thing, be very mindful of your words, using words like investment is something that I will only use. And I will catch myself internally saying other things like cost or expense, or whatever you want to say. And then I will always make sure the I say the investment is going to be this, the investment for the gap protocol is about $2600. The investment for this lab test is $430 investment for all the supplements you’re going to need is going to be about $200 a month for the next three months. I always use the right terms to talk about costs to have that conversation with them. So that they’re also buying into the luxurious language. And they it’s kind of like a reframe, because if you start using expense, if you start using cost if you start using like, okay, here comes the total or Okay, are you ready for this, your total is going to be XYZ dollars, you’re already setting them up to say no, you’re already setting them up to perceive that what you’re offering them is expensive, and it isn’t expensive, it is investment into their health. And we have to remember that these same people that are choosing not to purchase, whatever it is you’re offering, are usually spending anywhere from five to $1,000 on takeout food, they are spending $200 on a pair of jeans, they are spending $500 on headphones, they will find a way to spend their money, if they know that it’s going to serve them if it is providing them value if it is hitting that dopamine reward that they’re looking for. So, it’s really important to also remember that we are Beats headphones, we are Apple laptops, we are, you know, high luxury jeans. And to remind the patients of that too. And maybe part of your onboarding process is to be very clear that this is going to be expensive, you are going to pay out of pocket. This is what it is going to cost you to get the health that you have wanted. And this is exactly why you’re here today. If you’re not willing to do that, I suggest you come back in six months. And that type of dialogue if you go back and listen to the podcast episode on authority building, and how important it is to maintain your authority and change that conversation in that authoritative dynamic. It’s, it’s all about your messaging. It’s all about in the words that you choose to use. It’s all in about the way you are setting up your business, and reminding yourself of the value and the luxury that you have to offer.

So, I would love to hear your feedback, your aha moments what you’re taking away from this episode on Instagram @AndreaMaximND , hit me up. And in the meantime, go ahead and download our free maximize the practitioner handbook. It is in the show notes. It is also all over our homepage. And if there’s any way that I can support you book that 30 minute, one on one call with me and I would love to chat. I’m Andrew Maxim. And I’m out.

If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe so you are notified when a new episode is posted. leave a review and drop me a message on Instagram @AndreaMaximND as I love hearing from you. Just so you know we also host a video version of most of our episodes on maximized business.ca Thank you so much for listening, and I will see you on the next episode.