Page 17 - Mosaic Digest Magazine

exemplified by his founding of The Phelps Institute, where he trains dentists in the essential business skills needed to thrive in today’s competitive landscape.
“I wrote ‘Grow Your Dental Membership Plan’ to improve patient care nationwide.” – Dr. Phelps
of us out there teaching this material to small businesses and large organizations, we can achieve our goal faster.
What strategies do you use to inspire and motivate your team, and how do you foster a culture of ethical influence within your organization?
It starts by laying out the challenge at hand and asking for their advice and input on how best to tackle and solve that challenge. From there, working as a team where everyone is clear on what their roles are and making sure they have the tools to achieve them. Lastly, adding the accountability we all need to stay consistent with the expectations that were given to us.
How do you apply Dr. Robert Ciald- ini’s principles of influence in your daily business operations and deci- sion-making processes?
It starts with being the detective. Study- ing the situation at hand while attempting
to identify which Principle or Principles
of Persuasion are naturally present in the situation for us to tap into. From there, you have to step out of the situation for a moment and formulate a plan on how best you engage those Principles in an ethical way. Lastly, you take that plan and put it into action.
What do you see as the future trends in the field of influence and persua- sion, and how is the Cialdini Institute preparing to address them?
I could definitely see new Principles of Persuasion being discovered. Dr. Cialdini himself found a new one, Unity that he wrote about in his last book, Pre-suasion. While there is ample research on the concept of Pre-suasion, which is arranging for a person to be more receptive to your message, before they encounter it, I’d love to see additional research around the idea of Post-suasion. What do you do after the moment with that individual has passed? How do you influence them back to the table to keep the topic alive? To address this, the Cialdini Institute is com- mitted to funding future Behavioral Science research projects. Keeping our fingers on
Transitioning from his impressive accom- plishments, Dr. Phelps’s insights into the intersection of dentistry and entrepreneurship reveal a wealth of knowledge that is both in- spiring and practical. In our conversation, he shares the motivations behind his writing, the challenges he has faced in building multiple companies, and the strategies he employs to foster a culture of ethical influence within his teams.
the book to get the word out to my colleagues and improve patient care Nationwide. For The COMPLETE Book On Dental Mar- keting, I wrote that book during the COV-
How has your certification as a Ciald- ini Method Certified Trainer influ- enced your approach to both dentist- ry and entrepreneurship?
To start, going through this year long training process and getting to learn from
Dr. Cialdini directly allowed me to devlop
a deeper understanding of each Principle of Persuasion and how to ethically apply them to managing my team members, add more in- fluence to my marketing systems and improve
Dr. Christopher Phelps is a transformative leader in dentistry, inspiring others with his innovative approaches and commitment to ethical practices.
my communication and sales processes.
What were some of the biggest challeng- es you faced while founding and building multiple companies, and how did you overcome them?
Time was the biggest obstacle, followed by Multi-tasking. To overcome these issues, I made the concious effort to block/schedule dedicated time to proactively focus on my different companies and made sure focus on one company at a time. Once I was able to leverage that focused time, I was able to fix the problems in each company and continue to grow.
What inspired you to write “Grow Your Dental Membership Plan” and “The COMPLETE Book On Dental Marketing,” and what impact do you hope these books have on the dental community?
Grow Your Dental Membership Plan came about after I did a series of onsite educa- tional events at active, independent living retirement communities. During my talks here, I realized that there was a barrier that was keeping a significant number of patient’s from going to see any Dentist unless they hurt or where in pain. Once I realized this barrier and that a Dental Membership Plan could help overcome that objection, I wrote
ID shutdown. Partly because I needed a “COVID” project to focus on during that downtime but also because the average dentist understanding of dental marketing and how to make it work for their practice is still severely lacking. With this book, I wanted
to give them the answers they seek so that could learn, like I had to the hard way, how to be the CEO of their marketing department and correct the inefficiences on the telephone, treatment presentation and attrition that are costing us more in marketing than we should have to spend.
How do you integrate your knowl- edge as a certified Kolbe Trainer into your business practices and client interactions?
For my practice coaching clients at Sunrise Dental Solutions, I use Kolbe to help them have a better understanding of themselves and their team members. To give them ob- jective criteria to define if this team member is the right fit for this seat on the bus or
are they a better fit for a different seat. To evaluate the seat (job tasks and duties) as it may be miscategorized and really should be two different seats with two different set of instinctive strengths working them. When you start working in your Kolbe strengths, it’s not really work and your happiness, productivity and longevity in that job role can last a lifetime.
As the US Chief Executive Officer of the Cialdini Institute, what is your vi- sion for the future of the organization, and how do you plan to achieve it?
As CEO, I plan to take the science of Influence and Persuasion that Dr. Cialdini has spent his life researching and developing and spread this information to the World. First,
to help the people better defend themselves from those who might try to leverage the Principles against them in an unethical way. Second, to help everyone become more effec- tive communicators. Both in their work and home life. To achieve this, it will require a combination of factors. First, integrating our trainings into in person and online Univer- sity education programs. First in Business schools and then in all different types of grad- uate and undergraduate programs. Starting off understanding Influence and Persuasion can be huge advantage for those coming
out of school today. Next, we’re recruiting existing coaches, consultants, organizational trainers to join us through our Cialdini Insti- tute Licensed Trainer program. With more
the pulse of the latest research to help guide human behavior and it’s application in the workplace.
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