Treatment Plan Script MUSTS

When you give a treatment plan script, and the treatment plan script is so important, if you follow my work you know all about the treatment plan script. You know that this is a script that you give your patients after the interview, before the treatment, on their first treatment because you need to teach them how acupuncture works, how many appointments they need, in what type of timeframe do they need them, what they’re going to expect. You need to educate, you need to over-educate your patient the first time that they’re in your office in order to get them to be enrolled in how many appointments they need and in the treatment plan order, which is two appointments in the first one to two weeks and then backing into once a week.

A common thing that I hear from acupuncturists is when they’re first learning to deliver this script, they give the patient options and they are not using direct vocabulary words. They’re using ‘maybe’, they’re using ‘usually’, they’re using very unconfident words that create a lack of confidence in the patient. It also creates a lack of direction for the patient, and the patient really needs you to be completely direct and optionless in order to give them a direction. When you give them different options, it confuses the patient and it takes away their trust in you and your credibility. And by giving them options … for instance, I hear a lot when the acupuncturist is explaining to the patient that you’ll need them to come in at least twice a week in the first one to two weeks, that they’ll get some type of reaction or facial expression from the patient, in that moment, and then they’ll change their mind. They’ll be like, “Well, you know, you can come in once a week.” Because they get nervous, which is totally normal.

The thing is though, that when you backtrack like that and you don’t … what’s the word? Like just stand firm in the treatment plan that you’ve given your patient, then that takes away a lot of your credibility and it takes away a lot of your patient’s trust in you and belief in you that you know what you’re doing. Any time that you’re giving your treatment plan script to your patient, anything that’s coming up in your head as what you think is going on with the patient, like what do you think they’re thinking, do you think they can handle it, do you think that they think it’s too expensive, it’s too many appointments, that you’re being a salesperson, whatever you start to think that’s coming up in your head is actually from you. It’s a projection from you. You need to … to not respond to your triggers, and that is what’s happening a lot when a patient is saying … I mean, when a acupuncturist is saying, “Hey, I need you to come in twice a week for the first one to two weeks” and then they see like a facial expression or something and they’re like, “Well, maybe … maybe once a week you can come.”

The fact of the matter is, you’re giving a huge disservice to this patient because they need twice a week in the first one to two weeks in order for the acupuncture to work. When you don’t hold firm in that, then you’re … the patient, it might … the acupuncture treatment might not work for the patient. The patient might think acupuncture doesn’t work, which isn’t true. You’re not helping the patient. You’re not being of service to the patient.

I want you, when you are giving your treatment plan script, to not use any type of ‘maybe’, ‘if’, ‘usually’, like uncertain words. You want to give all direct, confident, this is the way it is, period, there are no options, this is the way acupuncture works. And you’re explaining it to that patient and you’re not explaining it to them … well, for sales reasons because you’re explaining it to them to explain how acupuncture works, to explain what they need to do in order to get better. And you need to become aware of what are the stories coming up in your head about you giving this treatment plan script so that when they come up, you can recognize that they’re your stories and to not react to your stories. And start to switch in your brain the emotions and things that you are associating with this treatment plan script. Instead of associating it being salesy and pushy, then start to associate emotions and thoughts with it of you’re being of service, you’re helping this patient heal, you’re excited to give this treatment plan to them, to explain how they can actually get better. You just need to associate different feelings, emotions, words with it.

And again, don’t give the patient any options. If you haven’t gotten the treatment plan script yet, go to sixfigureacupuncturist.com and put your email in and you’re going to get a manual that has a treatment plan script in it, so you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. And when you give this treatment plan script, it is … is … yeah, I want you to give it by making it your own, like you don’t have to be like word for word. Hey, Diego. What’s up? ‘I can also apply it for the shifts of my massage …’ Oh, yeah. Totally. This is the same for a lot of these practitioners.

Anyway, I don’t want you … like you don’t have to … Thanks for talking, though, Diego. I love talking to people on here. You don’t have to give it verbatim, I always tell people, “Take my scripts and then make it your own.” But, you want to make sure that you hit the certain points in the script and you want to make sure that you are very direct and very specific what the patient needs to do, not option wise. Don’t give them any options. Just tell them, “This is how it works and this is what happens.”

Occasionally … in the beginning of acupuncture, you need to treat them twice a week for the first one to two weeks. Occasionally, you’re going to get a patient that just flat out says they cannot come in twice a week whatever, for time reasons, for financial reasons, and that’s okay. However, in response to that, you have to be crystal clear to that patient that, “Acupuncture then might not work for your situation. If we can only get you in once a week in the beginning, it just might not be enough to get you over that first hump that we need to get you over, or it could take extra long time to heal you because we’re only able to do once a week.” If a patient says they can’t, fine, but then, explain to them very clearly that, this is not how acupuncture works. If we utilize it this way, it just might not work, because you never want the patient leaving the office thinking that acupuncture doesn’t work or you’re a bad practitioner.

When you … that’s why you need to over explain the treatment plan script and over explain it if they can’t come in twice a week in the first one to two weeks. But do not give them an option if you think that they can’t handle it because, again, a lot of times that’s just projections coming up from you and it’s not really happening within the patient. Of course, if the patient says they can’t come twice a week, that’s when you just explain to them, “I’ll still take you in the practice but it might not work.”

Those are my tips and tricks for your treatment plan script. And thank you for joining this evening.