What is Your Communication Style?

by: Dr. Timothy J. Gay, DC

Practices that are the most successful have the highest level of communication between doctor’s, patients and staff.   Communication is a sharing and selling of ideas or opinions that people either accept or don’t accept based upon believability or indifference.   Communication is based upon your personal style, confidence and expertise about the subject that you are covering.

The hidden ingredient is your personality and behavior that direct you in the way you convey your message. If you want to understand the way others tick, the first person to look at is you.  Do you have a high level of confrontation?  Do you have the ability to start a conversation with a perfect or even an imperfect stranger? Some people have the capability to talk to anyone about anything.

The first category is the friendly communicators that are just sharing an experience or a story about something or a lesson learned. They appear not to be selling anything, but are very good at masking a sale with honesty and a by the way attitude. They tend to be good listeners and have solutions that make sense to whoever they are talking to.  They are the considerate soft sellers that are easy going and tend not to be strong closers and prefer to have someone else or even the potential prospect to close themselves.

Another category is the overly enthusiastic or excited communicator.  This person bases communication on the hype factor. They have the ability to motivate people to take action based on the emotional appeal that there is an amazing opportunity and they are missing out.   They have a high level of passion and belief that gives them the energy needed to get their message across. These people are great at rallying but difficult at the close.   Frequently, they don’t have to close because people want what they have based upon their enthusiasm. These people have total belief in what they do, along with a confrontational level that is high because they want everyone to have what they are offering.

The next form of communication is the straight forward or the candid approach. This is not a soft approach or emotion-based, but is based largely on facts. This is the person that knows statistics and the truth about what they are representing.  These people are not the first to talk and may not talk at all unless spoken to first.   The vast knowledge about what they do and how they do it may never be known and even though they are extremely intelligent they may be socially delayed.

Having knowledge and information but not the ability to share because of being bashful or even fearful that someone may question them and reject their ideas shows very little confidence in what they know to be right. Conveying a message and creating the perception of knowledge on a subject will only enlighten a person to a point. True emotion must come into play to show the impact and importance of the knowledge.

Last but not least is the methodical communicator.  This person is well rehearsed, well dressed and has taken the time to figure out the actual talking-points needed to communicate and make valid points, yet not appear to be a pushy salesman. Between the first three communicators there is a value driven motive.  They are part motivator and part communicator, with a subtle tone and not overbearing but strong enough to make an uncomplicated point.

This type of communicator is moving toward a close, based upon questions answered that are posed to help educate the subject at hand. This person can talk to a crowd, be one-on-one, use ice breakers and compliments, understanding that all people really want is to be recognized, appreciated, and approved of.  This communicator listens for problems and comes up with the solutions to their problems and asks how they can be of service. They can be the closer or let someone else close.

These are four of the types of people that we see everyday in our lives and generally each facet fits into their level of achievement. Some are introverted and should do the introverted type of marketing or advertising; others are extroverted and enjoy going out and meeting people directly.

In the end, you need to do what makes you a little uncomfortable and make yourself the best communicator you can be.  Learn as many ways as possible to get your message across by having others understand what you want and what you want to accomplish.  Obviously there are few of us that fit into any one box but each of us carries our own traits and beliefs that make one of these types stand out from the rest.

When you witness the actual miracles in your practice, you will truly understand that it all comes down to your faith, conviction, and certainty for why you do what you do.   If you don’t get that you won’t get the rest.

If you want to build a bigger game in your life then do what is right.  Remember that you are great. Your greatness can be compared to Mother Theresa, George Washington, Martin Luther King and Albert Einstein.  These people had something that came from within that directed them to do what they believed to be right. It drove them to greatness. They were the power of one person with the right people around them to help move toward the reality of what they communicated and believed to be right.

Dr. Timothy J. Gay is a thirty-plus year veteran of Chiropractic health and wellness.  Dr. Gay is the founder of Ultimate Practice, as well as a national speaker, an author, and has numerous CD and video products for the chiropractic profession.  A highly respected and nationally recognized speaker, he holds many seminars around the country on a variety of topics.  Dr. Gay can be reached at
1(866) 797-8366, or ultimatepractice
@ultimatepractice.com.  For more information on Ultimate Practice, visit their website at www.ultimatepractice.com