Is Your Personality Turning Patients Away?

Dr Z: Is your personality turning off your potential patients? Sorry to ask it that way. Doesn't mean you have a bad personality, but it might not be a match or it might not be a fit for who you're talking to. It's really all about communication. And honestly, that's what I did my undergrad in. And it's amazing we ever understand one another when you think about our different personalities, our different cultures, the different environments we were raised. I have to filter everything through my head. It has to go through the air, somehow get through all your filters and what I meant makes sense to you. So yeah, shocking if we ever can connect with one another and make sense. And now we're gonna talk about you doing a no-charge consult, right? A sales call. And this may be one of the most important decisions this potential patient's gonna make in their life. Do they move forward? Are they drawing that line in the sand? Where they say, that's it. I can't live like this anymore. I'm done suffering. and I'm hanging on to what's ahead of for me. I don't want to deal with this. So yeah, it can be one of those before and after moments, you know, before what life was like. And then finally they made the decision to start focusing on their health, do what it takes, they're working with you. This is so exciting. And then what does life look like after that, right? This is a really important moment where you don't want to mess it up. You don't want to get it wrong. It's important, right? And that's why when we've talked about consults before, we talked about even scripting them. It doesn't mean you script every word, but it's like you know, think about an actor winning an Oscar. That was a script, but when they delivered it on that screen, it came across as real and the one time they were saying it, right? So what we do is we do a script that's a bit more of like an outline. So you make sure you hit the sections. But then everything you're saying is very personalized and very individual, but it helps to make sure you don't miss the key sections because this no-charge consult is really important. It's really important for that potential patient. It's really important for you for how you show up and connect with them. it's important for your practice and your growth and your stability, right? So important on many levels. And don't forget too, you know, when you're working with someone. and they're getting better and experiencing changes in their life. It's not just for them, but it's also then their family and their kids and the people they work with. Like a change in an individual, there's a ripple effect. Okay, so let's talk a little bit from the character code perspective. Like, what are the consults? what are the different personality types? What are people looking for? And I'm not gonna go through all the character codes like in detail because I'm just gonna give you a handout with everything in it. So if you go to the FMRport.com, there's a section where you can click character codes and you can just download it. And it will tell you more about each of the six character codes, what they like, how they connect, what their driving needs are, some marketing and sales advice, even some staffing advice, how to handle conflicts and piece de resistance. Great stuff for your marketing. So you should just go snag that. Doesn't cost you anything. I'm literally. Just giving it to you for free. This is something I've used for almost 20 years. It's been amazing. But I wanted to talk just a little bit about like what each of those character codes is looking for for their consult and what is a turnoff trigger. for the class president, that's sort of like your button-down type A personality, right? Now there's more to them than that, so grab the handout. but just to give you a little bit of an idea. so what they're looking for is structure and a plan, your authority and your certainty. Definitely your certainty. That's what they want from the consult. If you're hemming and hawing and seem unsure, they're not signing up. So forget about it. Their turn-off triggers would be vague advice, casual tone, where it comes across like you're not taking it seriously. And where this could be a mismatch. so that's why I want you to be mindful of this, is you could be someone who takes your clinical care very seriously, but maybe you're the cheerleader personality type. And so we'll talk about them next. And you're just a little bit more casual and fun-loving. That's just your personality. Maybe it's the way you were raised, whatever it is. It's just part of who you are. so if you don't understand a little bit of what you need to step up and say for that class president, you're gonna lose them as a potential patient. Okay, so that cheerleader character code. What do they want as a potential patient? They want warmth, they want encouragement, they want newness. If you can add a social aspect in there, a group component, even better. they're excited to do something new and different. What is a turnoff for them is cold delivery, or you just start overwhelming them. So let's say you're a scholar character code. We'll get to them eventually here. But that's you as the practitioner. And you just love going down that, you know, medical mystery rabbit hole. And you start talking to them about methylation and you start getting into like enzymatic function. And you know, you've lost your cheerleaders. And maybe they really needed you. Maybe they really needed someone who would go down that rabbit hole for them in that way. But because you did not understand how to communicate with them. At the no charge console, you lost them, and that's sad. So that's why I'm telling you this. Okay, the actor character code, they like to describe themselves as bigger, better, and bolder. and they like to be the only actor in the room. So a little bit more drama, a little bit more emotion. you know, one of their secret joys would be if you had to put forth some Herculean effort to rescue them. Anything that makes for a good story, they would like that. So in their consult, they definitely want your full attention. A little relatability could be good, some emotion. what is a turnoff for them is just data dumps and dry tone. They've left the building. Okay, for an activist character code, they are think of like you're just low-key, warm energy people, maybe a hippie chick. It doesn't have to be hippie. there's plenty of activists who aren't, but just, you know, connection is their driving need. So, of course, in a consult, they're looking for connection. If you walked in there and it was a really busy day and you were only giving it half your attention and you were barking out orders and you were moving really, really fast. Let's say you're a class president, so you were doing you know, many things at one time and it's like ding, ding, ding, and you didn't take time to like really see them and communicate with them and allow them like the gaps and the presence in the room. They would not sign up with you. So the activist wants connection, they want impact, they want to be heard. and the turnoff triggers for them would be hard sales or ego or you just like push them too much, right? So that wouldn't work for them. The artist character code, this is like your eclectic, unique, stylish, artistic type personality. and they're looking for uniqueness, custom. A personalized approach, that's what they want in that consult. So their turnoff is going to be a rigid plan, a protocol. Hey, I do it this exact same way with everyone who comes in. They're not going to like that, or any high pressure tactics, not gonna work for them at all. and then lastly, the scholar, the scholar character code. this is the only one that really wants like every detail. In fact, you're gonna have to work to make sure your consult doesn't run over. They want information, they want details, they want logic, they want proof. The turnoff for them would be you show up overly emotional, you hug them, you're overselling stuff, it seems fluffy and not tangible. and then also know the class president, the cheerleader, and the actor, they make decisions faster. If they're gonna sign up, probably they'll just sign up right on the spot or very quickly afterwards with a little bit of follow-up. the activist, the artist, and the scholar, they're slower to make their decisions. Nothing wrong with that. They just need the time and the space. and particularly that scholar is probably gonna take longer. You know, they're gonna really run all the numbers, they're gonna run all the data you gave them, they might make a spreadsheet about it, they might do a pro and con list. so just keep those in mind. So, is this something you've noticed when you're doing your no-charge consults? Have you been working with people and Like, you know, I thought that was a really good consult and they didn't sign up and I don't know why. Or I was in a consult with this person and for some reason I just couldn't like connect. We seemed like we were, you know, just on different pages. Why? Why was that happening? You might need to read about the character codes. and I'm curious, which character code are you? Let me know. And remember to grab the quick start guide. So it's called Because you can buy the book, yay, but I'm not saying this to sell books. I'm giving you this awesome quick start guide for free. So character code quick start is the name of the guide. There's a ton in there. Go to the fmreport.com. The functional medicine report.com. The fmreport.com. All right. Tell me which character code you are. Can't wait. And go out there and have some awesome consults where you can finally meet people where they are and communicate in a way so your message can be heard.