1. Selling is NOT inherently unethical.

Selling is nothing more than persuading or convincing another person to choose something that you recommend.  Let’s breakdown the key difference between unethical and ethical selling.  Unethical selling involves recommending something that has little to no value for the buyer (used car salesman selling a lemon to an unsuspecting senior citizen).  Ethical selling involves recommending something that brings real value to the buyer (hygienist convincing a patient to start non-surgical periodontal treatment).  The act of selling itself is ethically neutral.  It is how and what we sell that makes the ethical difference.

2. Hygienists are in the best position to sell.

We spend the most time with the patients and develop a certain level of trust with them, so it makes sense that we become the primary “sales people”.  We should not only sell the services that we can provide, but we should also help sell the services that the other team members can provide.  It may be selling veneers provided by the dentist or it may be financing (e.g. Care Credit) processed by the Office Manager, and so on.

3. Selling will benefit your patients.

If you’re offering real value to your patients, then how can they not benefit from what you have to offer, right?  Don’t be the hygienist who rarely goes beyond prophies and x-rays all day or the hygienist who talks a lot, but rarely brings up anything dental related!  You have a tremendous opportunity every working day to present a buffet of products and services that will greatly benefit your patients.  Don’t squander that opportunity to help your patients.

4. Selling is part of the dental business.

I know a lot of hygienists do not like to hear this, but it’s really important to understand the business side of what you do.  There is a cost to everything we do within a dental practice and the practice owner must cover those costs and earn some profit to stay in business.  The only way to do that is to sell products and services.  Increased sales will help the practice grow, which in turn will provide the resources to expand the valuable products and services we can offer our patients.  This may be a CEREC machine, a hard tissue laser, a WAND injection system in every operatory, and so on.

I would encourage every hygienist reading this to really embrace selling and to develop that very important skill.  It will not only benefit the practice and your patients, but it will also make you a better hygienist.  Like it or not, persuading and convincing is a big part of what we do.

Mark Frias, RDH

Highly Recommended Resources:

– “To Sell is Human.  The surprising truth about moving others“.  Great book by Daniel H. Pink

– Daniel H. Pink summarizes the main points of his book in this 8 minute YouTube video