The 5-Minute Secret: How One Question Transforms Nervous Patients Into Excited Treatment Acceptors
What if the difference between a patient saying “yes” to treatment and walking out the door came down to one simple question? After 30 years connecting with patients—from embarrassed adults with missing teeth to nervous kids dreading expanders—Dawn Scott has discovered that authentic human connection isn’t just nice to have, it’s the X-factor that makes patients choose your practice over the dentist on every corner. In this powerful episode, Dawn reveals why talk-through-the-walkthrough matters more than your clinical skills, how to “read between the lines” of patient body language and health histories, and the psychology-backed techniques that make going to the dentist feel comfortable, safe, and truly positive. Whether you’re competing with DSOs on price or struggling with case acceptance, this conversation will fundamentally shift how you think about the patient experience from the moment they find you online to the moment they enthusiastically say “let’s start.”
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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- 00:00 – Introduction and sponsor shoutout to Marketing 32’s performance-based guarantee
- 01:02 – Meet Dawn Scott: 30 years exploring the power of human connection through dentistry
- 02:05 – The furniture store encounter that launched Dawn’s dental career as a teenager
- 03:02 – Learning dentistry “by default” while working full-time and going to college at night
- 03:31 – The original dream: Working for Coca-Cola and getting a PhD to teach internationally
- 04:57 – The business intelligence breakthrough: Becoming the liaison between sales, marketing, and IT in dental manufacturing
- 05:20 – Life shift: When deployment to Afghanistan and missing a baby’s birth changed everything
- 06:18 – Dentistry kept finding her: The orthodontic treatment coordinator offer that seemed temporary
- 06:44 – The mission emerges: Realizing the profound impact of helping patients overcome shame about their smiles
- 07:37 – Why patients haven’t smiled in 30 years and how connection makes them say yes by default
- 08:39 – The authenticity problem: Why shadowing other TCs felt inauthentic and directive
- 09:39 – “I sell hope”: The difference between selling dentistry and selling worthiness
- 10:09 – The X-factor in an era of DSOs and dentists on every corner: How people feel in your office
- 10:39 – Why in 2025 are people still afraid to go to the dentist?
- 11:15 – Where Marketing 32 ends and your job begins: Getting patients to the door vs. what happens when they walk through
- 11:36 – The sofa test: Creating the comfort level of visiting a friend’s house for coffee
- 12:05 – Unpacking baggage: Sometimes it’s a little box, sometimes it’s a U-Haul truck beeping at the door
- 12:19 – The magic formula: What you say, how you say it, and what order you say it matters
- 13:15 – Inside Cook Orthodontics: The gold standard practice experience in Dublin, Ohio
- 14:19 – You can’t shortcut the investment: Why spending time on the front end makes dentistry sell itself
- 14:51 – When beautiful offices backfire: “I don’t even know if I can afford to come here”
- 15:18 – The power of vulnerability: “My parents couldn’t afford braces when I was growing up either”
- 15:48 – Meeting patients where they are: The virgin teeth problem and relating when you can’t personally relate
- 16:20 – The used car salesman trap: Why you must talk about the “not good stuff” to build trust
- 17:06 – Co-discovering dentistry together: Moving from directive to collaborative conversation
- 18:19 – Talk through the walkthrough: The simple technique that changes everything
- 19:10 – The x-ray room example: How to eliminate surprises and anxiety in real-time
- 20:02 – Why the hundredth time for you is still their first time (and only time)
- 21:03 – The black thing on the x-ray: Why patients brace for the worst when they don’t understand what they’re seeing
- 22:00 – Reading health histories strategically: Explaining hand-wrist x-rays differently to radiologists vs. non-medical parents
- 22:42 – Guiding emotions, not just procedures: “Just hang tight, you can relax”
- 23:03 – Sales as choreographed experience: Addressing objections before you ever reveal price
- 24:03 – Being present is the best gift: You’re not a number, you’re somebody’s mom or dad or child
- 24:59 – The warm drink psychology: Robert Cialdini’s science of influence in the dental chair
- 25:55 – The art set strategy: Helping parents focus by making younger siblings comfortable too
- 26:47 – The golden nugget question: “How do you feel about today’s visit?” and why nobody asks it
- 28:13 – Speaking at the American Private Dental Practitioners annual meeting in San Antonio (February)
- 28:47 – The upcoming TC workshop launching spring 2026
Dawn Scott never intended to build a 30-year career in dentistry. As a teenager working at a furniture store credit department, she planned to work for Coca-Cola, travel the world in international business, and eventually get a PhD to teach college. But when her dentist came in to open an account and later hired her for the front desk, dentistry began its persistent pursuit. What started as a means to pay for school evolved into a seven-year journey earning her bachelor’s degree while learning dentistry “by default” to manage scheduling effectively. Even landing her dream job in business intelligence at Brassler USA—teaching sales reps how to use customer data to grow dental practices—couldn’t keep her from dentistry’s gravitational pull. After her husband’s deployment to Afghanistan, life shifts and four children later (including surprise twins), Dawn found herself as an orthodontic treatment coordinator, finally embracing what had been calling her all along.
The transformation came when Dawn realized the profound impact of authentic human connection in dentistry. Patients walk through the door carrying shame about missing teeth, fear about costs, or anxiety from decades of bad experiences. Traditional treatment coordinator approaches felt directive and inauthentic—”this is us and this is what you need”—rather than meeting patients where they are. Dawn developed a different paradigm: “I sell hope. The dentistry is yes by default.” Her “talk through the walkthrough” technique eliminates surprises by narrating every step—from adjusting the x-ray machine before they bonk their head to explaining what the black spot on their scan actually means. She reads health histories to understand if she’s talking to a radiologist or someone with virgin teeth, adjusts her language accordingly, and creates space for patients to unpack their baggage, whether it’s “a little box” or “a U-Haul truck beeping at the door.” The science backs this up: Robert Cialdini’s research shows even small touches like offering a warm drink creates warmth toward the person you’re with.
In an era where DSOs compete on price and there’s a dentist on every corner, the X-factor is how people feel when they’re in your office. Marketing gets patients to the front door, but what happens when they walk through determines everything. Dawn’s golden nugget—the question that unlocks every door of doubt—is deceptively simple: “How do you feel about today’s visit?” Nobody asks how patients feel, only what they intellectually understand. This one question creates the platform for vulnerability, addresses hidden objections before price is even discussed, and transforms the patient experience from transactional to transformational. As Dawn powerfully states, when patients know you want their treatment as much as they want it, when they feel you’re on their side navigating HSAs and FSAs together, when they experience genuine connection—they say yes all day long, even if you’re more expensive or less convenient, because feeling safe and comfortable is worth everything.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Dawn Scott Connect: Dawn’s website for connecting with dental professionals about treatment coordinator training, keynote speaking, and consultation services
- Cook Orthodontics: Dawn’s home practice in Dublin, Ohio—the gold standard example of exceptional patient experience in orthodontics
- Marketing 32: Performance-based dental marketing agency that gets patients to the front door with a growth guarantee
- Previous Episode: Katherine Eitel Belt: Recent Marketing 32 Show episode on effective leadership communication and team collaboration
Quotable Moments:
“I sell hope. The dentistry is yes by default. I sell hope that you are worthy, you are deserving of this. It’s not selfish, it’s not cosmetic—it’s making them feel comfortable.” – Dawn Scott
“The X-factor is how people feel when they’re in your office. Making them feel comfortable, they’re gonna say yes all day long, even if you are a higher price or they have to go out of their way because they feel safe and comfortable.” – Dawn Scott
“To be interesting, you have to be interested. And they have to know that you care about where they’re coming from. You start there and then you pivot.” – Dawn Scott
“Sometimes it’s a little box and I take the lid off. Sometimes it’s a U-Haul truck beeping at the door with all their baggage.” – Dawn Scott
“Marketing 32 does a really great job getting patients to the front door, but it’s what happens when they walk through the door that matters.” – Dawn Scott
“We do this a hundred times—this is their time. And it’s special for them and it’s their experience.” – Dawn Scott
“We want to talk about the not good stuff in dentistry when we’re talking about the good stuff. It’s sort of like a used car salesman—they’re gonna tell you everything great but avoid all the bad stuff, so you feel like this is too good to be true. What is she not telling me?” – Dawn Scott
“Being present with somebody is the best gift that you can give them. You’re not a number, you’re a person. You’re somebody’s dad or mom or child.” – Dawn Scott
“Psychology says that when you’re holding a warm drink, it makes you feel warm towards the person that you’re with.” – Dawn Scott (referencing Robert Cialdini)
“How do you feel about today’s visit? If you say one thing, ask that. You’re gonna get all the information you need because nobody asks that. Nobody asks how I feel about it.” – Dawn Scott
“Sales is a choreographed experience to get someone to say yes. You’re walking them through an experience, navigating every little speed bump that could come along the way.” – Brett Allen
“When they know that I’m on their side and it’s not just ‘this is what you need, do you want to sign up for tomorrow?’—it’s not shallow. We want that person to feel like we care about them and all the parts and pieces.” – Dawn Scott
Action Steps
- Implement the golden question immediately: Start asking every patient “How do you feel about today’s visit?” and genuinely listen to their response before proceeding
- Practice talk-through-the-walkthrough: Narrate every step of procedures as you do them, eliminating surprises and guiding patient emotions in real-time
- Read health histories strategically: Before consultations, review what patients do professionally so you can adjust your explanations to their level of understanding
- Create your vulnerability moments: Identify 3-5 personal stories from your own dental experiences or family situations that help you relate authentically to common patient concerns
- Audit your office for “too fancy” syndrome: Walk through your practice with fresh eyes and identify where physical appearance might create affordability anxiety
This episode is brought to you by Marketing 32—the only dental marketing team with a performance guarantee where if you’re not growing, you don’t pay. Marketing 32 is truly invested in your growth, helping practices across the spectrum from solo practitioners to 30-location groups acquire new patients and break through growth plateaus. They get patients to your front door through proven digital marketing, SEO, and patient acquisition strategies. But as Dawn reminds us, what happens when patients walk through that door is up to you. If you need help with the marketing side and want to see if you’re a great fit to work together, reach out to Marketing 32 at marketing32.com for a quick discovery conversation.
Episode Transcript:
Brett Allen (00:19)
Hi, Brett Allen here, host of the Marketing32 show where I connect with leading dentists, dental influencers, and industry experts to bring you guys the greatest and latest insights and innovations to help your practice grow and thrive. This episode, as always, is brought to you by our team here at Marketing32. We’re the only dental marketing team that I know of with a performance guarantee that if you’re not growing, you don’t pay. We’re truly invested in your growth. If you need help growing or you’re curious about marketing, reach out to us at Marketing32.
We’ll have a quick conversation and make sure it’s a great fit for both of us. Quick shout out to a recent interview that I had with Katherine Itil Belt. She did an awesome episode all about effective leadership communication and how teams can collaborate and how you can lead your team. Really great episode. You should go check it out. I have a new guest today, a new friend. Well, not really, kind of new. We met recently this past summer through SCN.
Don Scott. Welcome to the show, Don.
Dawn Scott (01:21)
Hello, Brett. I’m excited to be here. I’ve been looking forward to this conversation all week.
Brett Allen (01:26)
Yeah, it’s going to be great. Let me read your intro. She says, began as a simple short term gig at the front desk when she was a teenager exploded into a deep decades long mission, exploring the incredible power of human connection through dentistry. Dawn’s mission 30 years in the making is to show other dental professionals how to treat patients as a whole people and build genuine connections that make going to the dentist feel comfortable, safe, and truly positive. I love that.
Dawn Scott (01:56)
Yes, that’s
Brett Allen (01:56)
I think what,
yeah, and as we get into your story and how you got into dentistry and what you’re doing today and your journey over the years as a treatment coordinator, I think there’s a lot of value in what you’ll share about connecting with people to increase production, to increase the flow in your practice, get patients to actually accept the treatment they need, all of that. So tell us your story.
Dawn Scott (02:19)
Exactly.
Brett Allen (02:22)
I know this goes back to when you were a teenager, but let’s hear that story. So how did you get into a dental office as a teenager?
Dawn Scott (02:25)
Yeah, yes,
yes, yes. So my senior year in high school, I worked for a furniture company and I did, went to school part-time, worked ⁓ full-time and my dentist came in to open an account. I worked at the credit department. The next week, my dad was in the dental office and the dentist said, wow, Dawn was so professional. What is she gonna do after high school? And I wanted to go to college but I knew I was gonna have to work my way through it. So he hired me as his front desk person. So I was always…
we’ll call it administrative specialist. We are not the front desk, but that’s how we refer. So he hired me. I didn’t know anything about dentistry, but I always loved going to the dentist and it was the business side of things. So was excited about that. So I worked full time for general dental, went to college at night. And what I realized at the front desk is I needed to understand dentistry to be able to manage his schedule. And back then it was a single hygienist, two operatories, one doctor, much more complex now. And so I learned dentistry by default.
Brett Allen (02:55)
Okay.
Okay.
Dawn Scott (03:21)
⁓ Full mouth series of x-rays, learned about teeth, did whatever I had to do. And it was really just a means to pay for school, but I didn’t want to work in dentistry. I thought I was going to work in international business. I wanted to work for Coca-Cola or some big company that I could travel the world. I love people from all over. And then as a second career, get a PhD and teach college. So I always loved teaching, training, business, but I’m in the dental office, right? So I learned dentistry by default.
Brett Allen (03:32)
Okay.
Dawn Scott (03:51)
I finally finished my four year degree seven years later and I wanted to get my master’s degree. The dentist didn’t want me to leave. So I’m like, okay, I’m going to hang on a little bit longer. But now I need to like drive two hours every day to go to school. So it took me 10 years to get my degrees. So I’m finally like, okay, I’m ready to work for Coca-Cola or some big company. So the director of the MBA program had the company, Don Waters was the then CEO of Brassler USA. They make dental rotary instrumentation.
Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia. That’s where I grew up. That’s where I lived. And he was looking for his first MBA intern. And so the director came to me and he’s like, Dawn, you have a 4.0, you know about dentists, their customers are dentists. And I said, no, at first. I’m like, no, I’m supposed to work for Coca-Cola, not dental. You know, that was just a means to pay through school, pay for school. And he said, when are you ever gonna work side by side as CEO? You don’t have to work thereafter. So it was my last semester of my MBA. I begrudgingly said, okay. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.
I got to be in all the leadership team meetings. And so at the end, when I graduated that December, he not only offered me a job, but he created a department that didn’t exist before. And being in marketing, you’ll appreciate that. was the early 2000, it was called business intelligence. So now we know that to be the secret sauce and the gold of our customer buying habits, right? So we had a force and our IT guys could query information out. Our sales reps needed it.
Brett Allen (05:11)
Yeah.
Dawn Scott (05:17)
but they didn’t know how to communicate. So I was the liaison between sales and marketing. I took information out, I put it in a format. I taught the sales reps how to walk into those dental offices and better serve them and to grow the practice. I did that for three years. It was my dream job. My husband did ROTC in college. We met in college. He did one week in a month, two weeks a year. So for 10 years, peacetime.
Brett Allen (05:26)
Okay.
Dawn Scott (05:40)
Well, I finally graduated, we bought a house, we wanna have a baby, and he gets deployed to Afghanistan after 9-11. So we missed the birth of our oldest daughter. Next life shift, so it took me 10 years, finally get this opportunity, and we moved from Savannah to Dublin, Ohio. His mom owned a restaurant, she wanted to grow the restaurant, we never wanted to be in the restaurant business, we would just come visit once a year. But when your husband goes to war and misses a baby and comes back, it changes your life and your perspective. And I’m like, you know what, as long as we’re safe and happy and together.
Brett Allen (05:46)
wow.
Dawn Scott (06:10)
So I worked for Brassler from home for a year, but I’m a people person. I don’t want to just log into a computer. I hired somebody into my position, had three more children. I tried for three and got a bonus. My youngest are twins. And so here I am helping grow the restaurant business, being a mom. And I took my daughter to an orthodontic exam and my twins were in first grade by this time, just a few weeks into first grade. And the treatment coordinator said, have you ever thought about going back to work?
Brett Allen (06:12)
Okay. Yeah. ⁓
Dawn Scott (06:38)
So dentistry kept finding me. It was the first dentist and Don Water. So it’s like, I never solicited and I thought, okay, I’ll do this one or two days a week until I raise my kids and then I can really do what I wanna do. And so I always loved dentistry, but I thought that I had to have some big corporate office and fancy title to make some kind of impact in the world. And so what I’ve learned over the last 35 years,
Brett Allen (06:41)
⁓ kept pulling you in.
Mm. Mm.
Dawn Scott (07:04)
and have really come to embrace as I connect with patients, especially in orthodontics. We do complicated cases. It’s not just about braces and aligners. I have patients that come in, they feel ashamed of their smile. They’ve got missing teeth. Their teeth have extruded. Now we’ve got to straighten everybody up to even have room for that implant. They haven’t smiled in 30 years because they feel this shame. Connecting with them and making them feel comfortable about their dentistry, they’ll say yes by default.
Brett Allen (07:12)
Yeah.
⁓ wow, I am.
Dawn Scott (07:32)
We want patients to say yes to their dentistry. Number one, it’s good for business, right? We’re in the business of making money. That’s the business side of dentistry. But we want them to say yes because it’s good for them. It’s what they need. We’re living longer. We want our teeth to endure the journey. And it took a lot of courage to walk in the door. So I realized being able to ⁓ really see the shame and the embarrassment or
Brett Allen (07:44)
Mm-hmm.
Dawn Scott (07:57)
Maybe they’re just nervous about going to the dentist. Maybe they’re afraid they can’t afford it because it’s expensive. know, orthodontics, it’s gonna be 4,000 to $10,000 in one lump sum, you know. So I realized that dentistry has found me to be able to connect with patients and say, hey, it’s okay, you walked in the door. And that was the first step.
Brett Allen (08:03)
Yeah.
Yeah, big investment,
Dawn Scott (08:18)
and we’re gonna figure it out together. So I ended up being in this treatment coordinating role and I didn’t know anything about orthodontics. So I taught myself orthodontics about the appliances. And when I shadowed other TC’s, their process did not feel authentic to me. I feel like it didn’t create an environment. It was very, hey, this is us and this is what you need. Very our focus. You have to meet patients where they are and you have to be able to allow them to tell their story to even know where to start. And that’s where the magic is.
Brett Allen (08:20)
Right.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, that’s great. And I’m so excited with where you’re at now and how you’re helping treatment coordinators and what you’re doing from an advisory consulting type role and what’s coming in the future. I know this is early for you, but I think you’re hitting on something that’s so important and that’s how do we increase case acceptance and the link between marketing and practice experience and the teams like
Dawn Scott (08:59)
Yes.
Brett Allen (09:14)
everything is marketing, everything is linked together. But I think what you said is perfect where it’s like, look, if you’re treating people as people and you’re connecting with them and being genuine in that conversation, then the byproduct is, okay, I’ll move forward with treatment. It’s not, yeah.
Dawn Scott (09:17)
It is.
Yeah,
when they feel, want it for you as much as you want it for you, let’s make it happen. I sell hope. The dentistry is yes by default. I sell hope that, hey, you are worthy. You are deserving of this. It’s not selfish. It’s not cosmetic. It’s making them feel comfortable. And in this era, there’s a lot of competition. There’s a dentist on every corner, multiple buildings across the street. We should have choices.
Brett Allen (09:37)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Dawn Scott (09:59)
They’re advocates for themselves. You have DSOs, anybody compete on price, right? So how, let’s say as a private practitioner, whether you’re a specialist or a general dentist owning your own practice, maybe you’re not the least cost, maybe you’re not the most logistically close, how are you gonna get them to say yes to you? The X factor is how people feel when they’re in your office matters in how they make their decisions. And so making them feel comfortable, they’re gonna say yes all day long.
even if you are a higher price or they have to go out of their way because they feel safe and comfortable. How do we create that environment? It’s possible. So I’m on a mission to change how people feel about going to the dentist. Dentistry has gotten a bad rap for a long time. Ever since it was created as a science, right? People used to go to the barber shop and the medical doctor to have their teeth extracted when they were in pain. So it’s an uphill battle. And unfortunately that carries through. why in 2025?
Brett Allen (10:54)
Mm-hmm.
Dawn Scott (10:59)
Are people still afraid to go to the dentist? They shouldn’t be, right? And so it all, so being able to work with dental professionals and have them see a filter by which to enter the patient’s story and start there, not be so directive. The dentistry is gonna find itself, you know, we’re making two assumptions that the patient needs the dentistry and we do good dentistry. Those are the two assumptions. Everything else, being able to figure out what bucket.
Brett Allen (11:01)
Right, yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Dawn Scott (11:28)
has the barrier. So marketing 32 does a really great job in getting patients to the front door, but it’s what’s happened. It happens when they walk through the door. Yeah. And it’s not just, you know, the most obvious is pronounce their name right. And maybe, maybe Google their name and figure out how to say it. And if you book apologize for it, cause somebody’s name is so personal. And so it starts there with making you feel like, Hey, you matter. And I’m to get your name right. ⁓ to
Brett Allen (11:35)
Right. Yeah, we can’t do everything. Yeah.
The end.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Dawn Scott (11:56)
Welcome to our office. This is a comfortable space. You know, when you go to a friend’s house, if you feel comfortable or not sitting on their sofa and having a cup of coffee, that feeling. And it’s possible to create authentically when you let them lead the story. Everybody has their baggage to unpack. And I joke and say, sometimes it’s a little box and I take the lid off and you know, we kind of revisit it. Sometimes it’s a U-Haul truck, beeping at the walker, the walker, at the baggage. To be interesting, you have to be interested.
Brett Allen (12:03)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, you got a big, big job.
Dawn Scott (12:25)
and they have to know that you care about where they’re coming from. And you start there and then you pivot. So there’s not a one size fits all. How you say and what you say and what order you say it matters to how that person needs to hear it. And that’s really when the magic starts.
Brett Allen (12:25)
Mmm. I love that.
Mm-hmm.
I love that, the experience of the patient when they come in, making them feel like connected, right? ⁓ So this reminds me, ⁓ you guys, if you don’t know about Dawn Scott, she’s the treatment coordinator at Cook Orthodontics in Dublin, Ohio. And if you go look up that practice online, you go look at their pictures on social media, which Dawn helps manage and everything, you’ll see it’s the gold standard for dentistry in terms of like a
Dawn Scott (13:00)
Yes.
It is.
Brett Allen (13:11)
patient experience, lots of ops, a great team. You sent me your Halloween, I’m showing the camera. ⁓ This is their Halloween group, their Halloween costumes. But I mean, if you just look at the practice, you can tell that’s a high-end practice. Like this is a nice practice and you probably have a lot of ops. mean.
Dawn Scott (13:17)
Y’all smile under construction. Yes. We have an amazing office.
Yes, it is.
We do.
We do.
Brett Allen (13:35)
When I think of a practice and I think of, because I drive around town, I meet with Dennis all over, we have a team of awesome people, we’ve helped over 260 practices, and we worked with the small solo practitioner who just has an assistant all the way to the high end, multi-location, 2730 offices, one brand. There’s a whole spectrum of practices, right? And there’s a whole spectrum of what type of patient experience you’re curating and…
I think it’s so important for teams to recognize that it’s not just when they’re in the chair and the doc is talking to them. What goes into a patient saying yes starts with what is it like when they experience you online? How do they find you? What are they hearing about you in the community? All the way through to what it’s like when they come to the front desk, what it’s like when they’re walking back, what they’re hearing, smelling.
It’s a choreo, like you said, you said something to the effect of it’s a byproduct. The yes is a byproduct. So all of this builds.
Dawn Scott (14:38)
It sells itself, all
of it, and you can’t shortcut that. And that’s the thing, if you invest time on the front end to get to know that patient, make them feel comfortable, it doesn’t take much. It just takes the right things. And then they let their guard down. So within five minutes, now, if you walked into our office and you saw the physical office, it’s pretty amazing. Now, some patients, the first read is, I don’t even know if I can afford to come here. It’s so beautiful, right? So sometimes it can come back to be like, ooh, maybe it’s too fancy, you know?
Brett Allen (15:02)
⁓ yeah, because they’re, yeah.
Too
Dawn Scott (15:08)
We want… That’s exactly right.
Brett Allen (15:08)
expensive. This place is going to cost a lot. Yeah.
Dawn Scott (15:10)
And so sometimes we’ll joke about that. Well, how is a person even be able, how will they be able to joke with you about that if they don’t even feel comfortable saying it? People say that to me. It’s like many therapy sessions in my office and I joke it’s because I care about them and I want them to feel comfortable. And I say, Hey, guess what? My parents couldn’t afford braces when I was growing up. I had to pay for them myself. Guess what? My kids had palliative spanders. I was actually the parent across the desk. When we can lean in,
Brett Allen (15:18)
Mmm.
Yeah, kind of bring it back. Yeah.
Dawn Scott (15:37)
and share those stories, it matters, it’s relatable. So let’s say you’re a dental assistant, you’ve never had a crown, or let’s say you have virgin teeth and you’ve never had a filling, good for you, yay. We love the dental office, right? We smell acrylic and the suction and the zoom of the handpiece, it’s our everyday, but there are patients that walk in the door and they’re instantly tense because it’s not their comfortable environment, but we’re only thinking about ourselves because that’s our happy place. It’s not necessarily there. So just having that understanding of that,
Brett Allen (16:04)
Mm-hmm.
Dawn Scott (16:07)
And then let’s say Mrs. Jones needs a crown and I’ve never had one. So maybe I can’t say, I’ve had a crown. It’s better than what you imagine. I can say, guess what? There was a patient last week who had your same concerns and she did an amazing job. Everybody wants to feel the sense of community. Everybody wants to feel like, I’m not alone. And I’ll offer up, we have to talk about the not good stuff in dentistry when we’re talking about the good stuff. It’s sort of like a used car salesman. They’re gonna tell you everything great about that used car.
Brett Allen (16:19)
Hmm. ⁓
Mm-hmm.
Dawn Scott (16:35)
but avoid all the bad stuff so you feel like, this is too good to be true. What is she not telling me?
Brett Allen (16:35)
Yeah. No, you got to go there. Yeah.
Dawn Scott (16:40)
You’ve got to be able to have the hard conversation, you know? And so being able to say, ⁓ our brace is going to hurt or is this procedure going to be a little uncomfortable or maybe it’s a little more expensive than I thought. But when they know that you’re there on their side, say, hey, go look at your HSA and FSA.
Brett Allen (16:42)
Yeah. Thank
Dawn Scott (16:59)
Let’s see if you can add adult ortho to your plan or whatever. When they know that I’m on their side and it’s not just, this is what you need. Do you want to sign up for tomorrow? It’s not shallow. We want that person to feel like we care about them and all the parts and pieces. And you know what? Life is hard for everybody. You can find a place that you feel comfortable. Of all places, the dental office, which notoriously has never been. What a nice surprise and shouldn’t.
Brett Allen (17:09)
Mm-hmm.
Dawn Scott (17:26)
all of our experiences be that way? Shouldn’t we all feel like we’re not alone? It’s really that, and it’s teachable. And so there are ways to be able to explain dentistry in a not complicated way that gets patients excited about it. And you co-discover it together. It’s not, hey, me telling you, it’s, hey, let’s have a conversation just like we are today, Brett.
Brett Allen (17:28)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. So let’s kind of get into the weeds a little bit more of like, ⁓ I know you’re coming out with a program and ways to work with clients in the future. ⁓ let’s talk a little bit more specifics for our listeners. Like what are things that they can do? What are things that they can say? What’s, what can they work on with their team so that they improve this overall patient connection? Yeah.
Dawn Scott (17:56)
Yes.
comfort level. Yeah.
There is something that’s like so simple. And when I say it, it’ll be so obvious, but it’s not done well or often enough. And I call it talk through the walkthrough. So have you ever had a patient, let’s say you bring them back and you have to take an x-ray and you go into the x-ray room and it’s this big machine that looks really scary, right? And that’s not scary to us because we use it all day long, but it looks scary.
Even my adult patients, they’re just little kids on the inside and they have the same fears, even if they come in and they’re very accomplished in their career, they feel nervous too. So patients think they’re trying to anticipate what you think you want them to do. And so I call it talk through the walkthrough and I don’t just talk to hear myself talk, which some people might joke about, because I love to help and I love people. But I say it with intention because I want them to know.
Brett Allen (18:55)
You
Dawn Scott (19:00)
I’m in charge in a good way. You can just let your guard down. You don’t have to try to think about what I want you to do. So when I greet them in the waiting room, if they’re new patients, we’ll do like a full tour. Let’s say it’s a patient that I’m bringing back, know, Suzy, how are you doing today? We’re gonna take a quick x-ray. Let’s say it’s a periapigol, a bite wing pan, doesn’t matter. CT, we’re gonna go into the diagnostic records room and I’m gonna stop right here and tell the computer what type of x-ray I’m doing so you can just hang tight for a minute.
Brett Allen (19:14)
Mm-hmm.
Dawn Scott (19:29)
So now they feel like they can just stand there. I am saying these exact words. And that way it’s not scary. They’re not like analyzing it. And then we’re to head over to the machine. And this is actually a new machine. So I’m going to show you a few things about it. So when we do a pan and you’re biting on the bite stick, ours is a new machine and it’s very nuanced whether you’re over this thing that I call the speed bump or not. Your teeth have to be in that little groove. Now, if you don’t visually point that out to them.
Brett Allen (19:31)
you talking through what it is they’re doing. Yeah, direct them.
Dawn Scott (19:54)
and they come around and then let’s say the machine is low and this person is tall and you haven’t had a chance to adjust it because they think you want them to walk in and then they bonk their head. It just makes for this whole awkward experience that can totally be avoided by just saying, hey, hang tight here. I’m just gonna get the ⁓ computer ready and I’m gonna show you a few things first. So they know that we’re not doing it yet. It lets their guard down instead of like having to worry and anticipate. I point out the bite stick. So literally when they hold the handlebars and they bite on the stick,
Brett Allen (20:05)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dawn Scott (20:21)
They can tell when they’re over the speed bump and they go right back and the x-ray is done in two seconds. So what does all that matter? Number one, you get an amazing x-ray, which matters, right? Number two, they felt comfortable. And number three, they know that I’m a person that’s gonna tell them everything we’re doing as we do it. Now, there’s no surprises. And so it seems simple enough, because it’s routine for us, but guess what? We do this a hundred times, this is their time. And it’s special for them and it’s their experience.
Brett Allen (20:29)
You have to repeat, yeah.
There’s no surprises, yeah.
Yeah. And on that hundredth
time, it’s like you’re just going through the motions, not realizing this is a new experience for the patient. Yeah.
Dawn Scott (20:53)
That is exactly right.
And then when the x-ray pops up, let’s say you go to a medical doctor for an x-ray and you’re not an expert in that field and you’re looking at the x-ray and you’re like, my gosh, that black thing must be something really scary. And maybe it’s nothing, but you’re imagining, right? We’re imagining and anticipating all the bad things you’re about to say to me, because we all brace for the worst, no matter where we’re at, like, when’s the shoe going to drop? I don’t want people to go that way. It’s 100%.
Brett Allen (21:17)
Hmm. What’s the news? How much is this going to cost? Yeah.
Dawn Scott (21:23)
I need them to be open to hear what I have to say and go along the ride with me. So when you present it that way, they know that there are no surprises and that we find it and we co-discover it together. So when that pan pops up, and I’m actually gonna pull it up in my office and not stay in the actual room, I’m gonna say, hey, this is your pan. I’m gonna send it to my computer and we’re gonna go look at it in my room. And so I’ve created language to be able to explain dentistry in a not complicated way.
whether it’s analogies, it’s like getting people to relate. So I’m not gonna explain, we take hand-wrist growth x-rays in our office. And so there’s a skeletal maturation index one through 11, and there’s certain growth indicators that we ⁓ coordinate with certain orthodontic appliances when we’re doing overbite, underbite, trying to help jaws grow. There are certain indicators. And so I’m not gonna explain that hand-wrist x-ray to a parent who’s a physician. Let’s say they’re a radiologist.
Brett Allen (21:52)
Yeah.
really?
Dawn Scott (22:20)
I read their health history and I know they’re a radiologist. So I’m gonna explain that x-ray differently. Let’s say it’s a dental professional that comes in. So read the health history and read what the parents do. And so then you can explain it to them because you know where they’re coming from. Simple things like that, that seems so simple, but we’re not cognizant of it and we don’t think about it. It’s, how would I want somebody to explain this if this was my first time? And I see their visit as the first time every time.
Brett Allen (22:20)
yeah.
Hmm.
Do your due diligence, know them. Yeah.
Yeah.
Dawn Scott (22:50)
It matters.
Brett Allen (22:50)
I love that
you said ⁓ you explain everything you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and then one thing that you pointed out is you tell them how to feel, right? Like you tell them you can relax. Like just hang tight, you can relax. And you’re guiding their emotions too. a friend of mine, yeah, yeah, a friend of mine, Alex Hormozi, ⁓ he said once,
Dawn Scott (23:02)
Hey, just hang tight!
Yes. And so now we’re emotionally connected. Yeah.
Brett Allen (23:17)
Sales is a choreographed experience to get someone to say yes. So you’re like, you’re walking them through an experience, navigating every little speed bump that could come along the way, foreseeing what pain points they may have, ⁓ pricing, like all of these objections, they manifest themselves before you even get to the case presentation part where you’re revealing price. There’s these little cues that the patient…
Dawn Scott (23:42)
Yes.
Brett Allen (23:45)
reveals all throughout the process that if you can address it in the moment, then you’ve done the job and then you’re not coming. Because we don’t want to address the objections at price. Yeah.
Dawn Scott (23:49)
percent.
The objection, no, you want to lead them
out where they’re saying, I can’t wait to start. How do I make this happen? And I haven’t even gone over the price yet because they don’t care. They’re going to say yes because of their experience. And if you’re not open to seeing them and hearing them and allow them to share their story, I call it reading between the lines, just very nuanced. And it’s not necessarily intuition, it’s awareness. Being present with somebody is the best gift that you can give them, right?
Brett Allen (24:00)
Right!
Right.
Yeah.
Dawn Scott (24:22)
being present, I’m not distracted, I’m not checking off boxes of my process, which is how we usually feel with healthcare. It’s like, ⁓ here we go, just heard me through. No, you’re not a number, you’re a person. And you’re somebody’s dad or mom or child. You know, when little kids come in and they’re nervous about pallet expanders and maybe they’ve heard bad things within five minutes, so like, yay, when do I get to pick colors and braces? So guess what? Susie’s mom doesn’t have to try to convince her to be excited about expanders when they get in the car.
Brett Allen (24:22)
Hmm.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Dawn Scott (24:52)
I’ve taken that on for them. And so being able to explain things, whether you’re working with a child and then nuanced to an adult, you can talk clinical talk in a way that doesn’t have to sound so clinical and go back and forth. And it depends on how the person needs me to explain it to them. All of those things matter and how they feel. Psychology and science says so. So much so that ⁓ Robert Cialdini is the godfather.
Brett Allen (24:55)
Hmm.
Right.
Hmm.
Dawn Scott (25:18)
of decision-making and influence. And he says, even little things like, so let’s say I’m taking an eight-year-old, so we meet in my room, I do the tour, ask them how they feel about visiting the orthodontist. I’ll say, do you feel nervous, excited, curious? And sometimes body language is ⁓ different. They might look like they’re nervous, but then they say to me, I’m excited about braces. So I’m like, okay, I wanna pick that up based on you were chewing your fingernails a second ago. So you can always use just one thing, you build the story. And I’ll tell the parent, know,
Brett Allen (25:44)
Yeah.
Dawn Scott (25:48)
Hey, you just get to relax. If you want to bring a coffee back, you’re welcome to do so. We’ll be back in a minute. So I take them to the x-ray. So psychology says that when you’re holding a warm drink, it makes you feel warm towards the person that you’re with. And I didn’t even know that was the thing until I studied Robert Cialdini and the science of influence. it’s amazing how just those little things and just offering a smile. know, if a parent brings younger siblings, I always pull out.
Brett Allen (25:54)
Yeah.
⁓
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dawn Scott (26:14)
stickers and an art set and I literally pull their chairs up at the end because guess what that parent gets to do? They get to focus on what I’m saying to them, don’t worry about the two and the three year old. And because I had four children under five, I get it. And so I want that parent to be full in and I don’t want the distractions but I want everybody to feel comfortable and welcome. It matters just those little things.
Brett Allen (26:21)
Right. Right.
Yeah.
Love that.
Yeah. Well, this has been a great conversation. We’re about out of time. Like I told you before the show, this is going to go fast. ⁓ I always close the show with one question and that’s like, if there’s one golden nugget you could share, excuse me, that would help push that domino that has this domino effect across a ripple effect in the practice for a treatment coordinator or for a doctor.
Dawn Scott (26:42)
I know, it goes by so fast, I could talk for hours.
Yeah,
it could be.
Brett Allen (27:03)
What would
be that golden nugget advice?
Dawn Scott (27:06)
How do you feel about today’s visit? If you say one thing, how do you feel about today’s visit? You’re get all the information you need because nobody asks that. How do you feel? I might intellectually understand the dentistry we’re doing today, but nobody asks how I feel about it. And if somebody says, I feel great, then you’re golden. You jump right in. You know, I’m a little nervous. What are you nervous about? It allows them the platform.
Brett Allen (27:13)
Ooh, that’s an open door.
Hmm
Hmm.
wow, yeah.
Dawn Scott (27:34)
and they don’t have to just brace the whole time and be nervous, how do you feel about today’s visit? And if they say great, then we’re golden. If they say something else, then you lead them to until they do feel comfortable and it literally takes a minute to be like, wow, this person really cares about how I feel about today’s visit. We should. would be my one advice. Yeah. It’ll unlock all the doors of doubt.
Brett Allen (27:34)
To be vulnerable, yeah.
walk down that road with them.
How do you feel about today? That’s great, I love that. That’s good, that’s good.
Well, I know, so this has been so great. There’s a lot of value in this episode, and we’ll put other things in the show notes for how they can get a hold of you. We’ve got your website, DonScottConnect.com. Dawn also speaks to you guys, so if you’re doing any kind of study clubs, speaking events, coordinating all of that, she can come and help you and share.
Dawn Scott (28:07)
Okay.
Yeah,
I’m actually speaking in February in San Antonio, the American private dental practitioners ⁓ annual meeting. So private dental offices. So I’m very excited about that. Yeah.
Brett Allen (28:33)
Awesome. how can people connect with you? Just go to your website and they can connect with you there.
Dawn Scott (28:38)
Yeah, they go to their website.
Yep. Or they can email me directly, Dawn at Dawnscotconnect.com. I would really love to be able to just connect and see what your needs are. I’m coming up with a TC workshop that I’ll be revealing sometime in the spring. I do keynotes about just my life experience and how that helps me connect with patients. When we have things that we can pull from our own personal experiences, that’s when the authentic connections happen.
Brett Allen (29:01)
Hmm.
Dawn Scott (29:07)
And that’s what we’ve been talking about today. So how do you make people feel comfortable? It’s bringing a piece of yourself and you feeling comfortable sharing and meeting them in the middle. So I do keynotes and a workshop and I’m just excited to see where this takes me.
Brett Allen (29:20)
Yeah, this is great. Well, okay, we’ll put that email in the show notes as well. So if you’re driving or whatever, you can go there. ⁓ Don, thank you for your time today. This was a great conversation.
Dawn Scott (29:31)
Thank
you so much. All right. See you next time.
Brett Allen (29:34)
Okay everybody, until next time on the Marking32 show, have a great day.
