Playing the game to win

Playing the game requires a win/lose mentality. Think about sports, someone wins and the other team loses. Most events in life you may approach in this manner. However, is it always beneficial to think in these terms? If you think a win/lose you may find that solutions that offer a win/win solution do not present themself to you because all you see is one side loosing.

Flip the switch. Next, time you are approaching a situation with a patient. Think win-win. Spend the time to ask yourself what would it look like if both sides were to win? What would you have to do? What would you have to give or what would the patient have to give in order for you to be able to win and for them to win?

In order to create an opportunity that wasn't there before you not only have to ask the right questions but you also have to be willing to do what it takes for everyone to walk away feeling like they received something.

For example, a patient comes in and isn't able to pay for services. A win/lose situation is that you complete the procedure but the patient doesn't pay that day and no payment plan is set up. A lose/lose situation would be if you don't complete the procedure at all for the patient.  You don't help the patient and the patient doesn't receive the procedure.

What would be a win/win? It may depend and it may be different in every scenario. However, by simply asking yourself what would have to change right now for both parties to walk away better off then they are right now, you have to not only take the time to ask questions, you have to be willing to not shut down the patient with a no before you even get started. For example, this may mean the patient puts down 5% for the procedure before you get started.

No matter what problem you are faced with you can take the time to look at it from all angles in order to help move your practice forward at every opportunity. I'm not suggesting that every time you will walk away further than you were today, however, you may find the more you walk away with a negotiation the better off you are in the long run.


Great teams take effort. Take time to work on your practice regularly to build quality communication and strengthen your results. For more information and to read other articles, please visit us at www.saltdpm.com.

The Uncommon Man

“Who is the uncommon man?” Coach Bill Courtney asks his Manassas football team in the documentary, “Undefeated.” The uncommon man is someone who could have let his anger defeat him. He is a team player who has made mistakes. But he is the player that came back from it and changed who he was on and off the field. Uncommon people, who stand against the odds and makes things extraordinary, build strong teams.  

A team is built on the character and determination of the people. It takes heart to win, and it takes even more character to loose and come back from it. What we carry with us everyday determines not only who we are but also, what we will accomplish.

The Manassas high school football team takes hard learned lessons and implements them. Their team had lost for years but with a group of dedicated volunteer coaches and hard working students they brought this team back to a fantastic season. They didn’t win the final game however; several of the players went on to college and learned more about being the uncommon somebody instead of today’s cliché. Football didn’t make these men, dedication and heart gave them the ability to put their differences, their anger and their frustrations aside and become something more then themselves.

It doesn’t matter how many times your team has failed. It doesn’t matter how many arguments you have been in or how many patients walk through your door if your team doesn’t put the team above themselves your team will destroy their own success.  

Great teams take effort. Take time to work on your practice regularly to build quality communication and strengthen your results. For more information and to read other articles, please visit us at www.saltdpm.com.