Session #12: Juan Acosta and Hypnodontics

Disclaimer: Transcripts were generated automatically and may contain inaccuracies and errors.

Imagine building a more successful hypnosis business just in the next 10 days. To learn how, please visit work smart hypnosis.com and take the 10 day Hypnosis Business challenge. Yours free today. Welcome to the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast with Jason Lynette, your professional resource for hypnosis training and outstanding business success.

Here’s your host, Jason Lynette. Welcome back. It’s Jason Lynette here continuing the series of interviews that I grabbed while at Hypno Thoughts Live 2014. This time it’s a conversation with Juan Acosta here for session. 12. And this was, uh, a fascinating connection that I made. Um, Juan and I, I think, have just kind of crossed paths on Facebook, but then got a chance to sit down and have a great conversation, and that’s what you’re about to listen into.

What I really wanna highlight here is that for someone who just got into all of this, The last couple of years. What he’s just done for himself is just, I, I think is just absolutely fantastic and, and it’s a wonderful example of, with just the right amount of focus, with the right amount of skill and talent and preparation, and just the drive to do something a little bit different.

You can jumpstart a business and do really well for yourself really quickly. Here’s what he did, and you’re gonna hear more about this of course in the interview, but let me highlight it ahead of time. Decided to work primarily in dental offices doing hypnosis, and by doing so, also put together the ultimate sort of, uh, confidence builder, the ultimate, um, giveaway that he can have to immediately establish credibility.

And this is a book that you should go out there and pick up. And actually, as I’m looking on, on Amazon right now, it’s still free if you’re a Kindle user. And of course you can use Kindle on iPad and a every tablet device. I’ve even read Kindle books using the Kindle software on my computer. So even without a Kindle, you can, but the book itself is like 13 bucks, so it’s awesome.

Um, so here’s what it is. Let me read the description cuz this is just so well written. Hypnotics, ethical influence language for dental professionals. Hypnotics is a practical manual that teaches dental professionals the language of ethical influence to help make their patients more comfortable and their practice more profitable.

Readers will be able to enhance their communication skills in any area of life, and particularly when it comes to patient and team member interactions. A must read for every dental practice owner and team. So here’s Juan coming in as that clear expert, as that obvious expert. And this is just a wonderful example that again, with the right focus, with the right skills, You can position yourself in whatever market you want as long as, again, you have the skills to back it up.

And of course, Juan absolutely does. He knows his stuff. So this, again is in my recording studio of the, uh, of the hallways at the Orleans Hotel. Here we go. A conversation with Juan Costa.

Uh, I wanted to learn better sales. I was doing, uh, real estate sales way back then and. I read a book on NLP and started using some of the techniques and of course one thing led to another, you know, found hypnosis through that and hypnotized my first person and it was on, you know, as soon as I said sleep person went down, I’m like, Oh, I wanna do this for the rest of my life.

You know, actually I have the similar experience of, it’s a stage hypnosis show, which is where I started uhhuh and kept all the volunteers, Everything was working, and I turned and faced the crowd at one point, and the description from my girlfriend, now wife, was, You had this expression of holy blankets working.

Yeah. . And the description of, I knew you were gonna quit your job. As soon as I saw that , that that is exactly what it was. I started with stage as well. Yeah. You know, stage and street performances. Mm-hmm. , but then of course people start asking you after the show, Can you help me quit smoking? Can you help me lose weight?

And yeah, why wouldn’t I, you know, I have the skills. Why not do it? So I, I then started going the, the hypnotherapy route. Loving it. So , and something that you’ve been doing recently is the Hypno Dontics program. And I’m curious to ask from a bigger perspective, first of all, how was it that you started to find that specific niche?

Was it something that you saw a need for and went after, or was it something you just found an interest in and just let it develop on its own? So I’ve always been the type to go after opportunities or seek opportunities. And, uh, after going through the H P T I program, You know, for school graduating from that, it, it being so geared towards medical and clinical, it, it was a, it was a natural step to look for professionals to, to network with.

Yeah. And uh, it just so happens that I met a dental sales rep, one of the people that. Sales supplies to dentist and he says, I work with a lot of dentists. I’m like, I would love to work with a lot of dentists, . So he made the introduction and uh, I hit it off really great with the first dentist who asked me to speak at his next event, you know, like a month later.

And then a week after that I was working, managing his dental clinic. Mm-hmm. . So it just kind. It just kind of happened, you know, it landed on my lap. At first I was, I was searching for dentist. I mean, I was definitely, definitely out there hoping to get dentist because of the multiplication factor. You know, if a dentist sees two or 3000 patient visits in a year, and not only I’m able to see the 20 or 30 patients, they might actually refer to me, but actually teach the dental professionals how to use some of the simple skills that we use.

Cuz that’s really all, in many cases, is. Ideas and concepts that can actually create change. So, um, when I started working with dentists, I thought, I’m just gonna teach them. Mm-hmm. how to do the simple things. And as a positioning technique, I know that I’m not becoming obsolete as a hypnotist. They’re not gonna learn how to get people to stop grinding their teeth or, uh, stop smoking or anything like that.

You know, it’s for the patient, for the comfort of the patient. And then they still refer people to me for. Other issues. Yeah. You know, that are, that are beyond their scope of what I’m teaching him. I share a similar experience of I needed a bit of surgery, a gum graft, and wonderful descriptions of things,

And the thought was, I’m talking to the peronist before the procedure. And it’s fascinating cuz he even knows some of the history of Dave Elman. He knows some of the history of hypnosis and he’s already on board. And there came the similar opportunity of just, uh, let’s get together and come in one morning while the staff is coming in and just kind of talk about effective phrasing.

Yeah. Um, the side note to the story is we’re talking about, here’s how you talk about the comfort. Here’s how you talk about the change and what’s possible. Now, meanwhile, during my procedure, he’s using all the negative language just to play with me going, Okay, now I’m shredding the roof of your mouth. Oh, wow.

That’s a lot of blood. Uh, . But, but you’re right. It’s that as in pain, . Which there were words I said, with the mouth wide open and the clamps. He goes, I can understand exactly what you’re telling me to go do , but Oh, okay. In that scenario, again, you’re there as the expert, but also that positioning of now when someone comes in and perhaps.

There’s some gum recession, I’d imagine from the smoking behavior they now have you as a resource too. Absolutely. And that’s how we marketing the hypnotist is saying to dentist, Listen, you referred people to an endodontist for a root canal because you don’t wanna do it. It’s beyond your scope. You refer people to a periodontist to look at systemic disease and things with the gums.

You should refer people to a hypno dentist, you know, another dental specialist to help uh, people with the unconscious behaviors that are keeping them. Getting the treatment they need. Mm-hmm. and. Not only that, not only sort of offering our services to their patients for their comfort and their wellbeing, but we’ve found that what that’s done is, is helped them increase their bottom line, right?

Yeah. The more patient satisfaction, better and more online reviews, which turns into money in their pocket. And we’ve seen growth, practice growth from that. And that’s when we sort of veered off the, the only hypnotherapy offering and went into, Hey, let’s consult with this dentist and teach them how to grow their.

Through patient satisfaction. So essentially we’re doing the same thing except just multiplying our reach, helping more patients be comfortable and practices be profitable. That tends to be one of those small categories of giving referrals that most people don’t think about. That if I give you the referral and you have a positive experience, that’s also reflecting positively back on me.

So, yeah, that there they are quitting smoking with the hypnotist there they are going through whatever behavior change, even if it becomes something that’s outside of the dental categories. Right? Yeah. Definitely they have actually gotten referrals for things like clients with fibromyalgia or kids with adhd, adhd things that are not really on my prescription pad that I give dentists.

Yeah. You know, they’re, they’re not even there. They’re not related. But because I’ve positioned myself as somebody that is helpful to their practice because I’ve gone in and I’ve listened to ’em say something to their patient and gone, Hey, you know what, Say this instead. And they’ve noticed that the minor change that I’ve offered them, Returned manyfold, you know, in, in either money or just patient satisfaction reviews and that sort of stuff.

Uh, then that’s when become valuable and it’s, it’s positioning, you know, Now I’ve taught him something and I, and now when somebody comes in, they get the idea, the possibility of, you know, he taught us this. I wonder. If it’s something that works for this. So I, I’ll get a call from a dentist and go, Hey, I have this person, you know, with fibromyalgia and I know that you do pain for the mouth.

Is that something that works? Absolutely. You know, send them my way. Yeah. So, yeah, it’s been a, it’s been a really cool ride, . And you mentioned before that the strategies, the approach is actually rather simple. Could you give us like kind of an overview of what the mindset is for change? The hypnotics methods that you’re talking about?

Yeah, I hypnotics or hypnotists. You know, my business works essentially on the premise of, uh, the model of tfr, if I may. Thoughts leading to feelings. Feelings leading to actions, action leading into results. So we teach dentists and their teams how to put the right thoughts in their patients. You know, like you were saying in your, in your event that I, that I listened earlier.

uh, we teach them, uh, how to use those simple skills. Mm-hmm. , you know, put the right words in the right order for just creating that minor change, you know, instead of talking. Patient pain. Talk about what’s your comfort level. You know, simple, minor things that we know as hypnotist are very, are very valuable.

They don’t really understand and that’s really, that’s why I’ve written a book about it. Yeah. You know, just simple, diluted the message of hypnotherapy without teaching them how to be hypnotherapist. Mm-hmm. , just the ingredients that they need to be successful. Yeah, just the, the stuff that I’ve found from practicing that is useful in that setting.

What, what happens is I got such a huge advantage last year at working with the dental clinic. Uh, I went. Basically not knowing any dentist to hiring and firing dozens of them seriously and training them on the processes of the clinic. And at the same time, my job was to be on the phone with every patient that called and actually get them to schedule their appointment and show up for their appointment at a clinic that only takes cash or credit.

Like they don’t take insurance. Yeah. So it’s not, it’s a, it’s. A little harder than when people call and, Oh yeah, I have my insurance. You know, just put it on there. So I, I used the skills of hypnotherapy to become influential with the patients and actually get them to come in. Mm-hmm. , so their, their NoShow rate immediately dropped.

Nice. You know, their, their income immediately grew. It was, it was something pretty staggering. Actually, on the first month, they, they’ve, they’ve hit 20, uh, 20 something thousand the first month, 20,000 of. That’s what they’ve been hitting before they started working with me and the first month they started working here was 28,000.

And then it continued to be that, you know, 28, 26, 20, like it, it increased noticeably during the time that I was working there. And I wasn’t doing anything special. I was just being me. I was just being a hypnotist, working at a dental practice and thinking, you know what, I can do this better. Yeah. Yeah.

So I’m curious, curious to ask though, you have a very specific niche mm-hmm. that now you’re known. of the clients you’re working with, what percentage would you say are outside of that niche? Uh, see, it’s hard to define the niche because I actually don’t see a lot of people that are coming for dental specific issues.

Yes, I, I do get some teeth grinders, I get some people with tmj. Um, but the referrals are, you know, smoking, like I said, smoking, pharmacia, adhd, They come from d. Different backgrounds. What I’m doing the most of now is training, right. So I see less private clients. Mm-hmm. and I see more dental clinics and, and practices.

We like to work what can teach the team how to deal better with their patients and you know mm-hmm. , which the phrasing then becomes by being that expert as the instructor, by being the trainer. By accident. That’s also getting you clients. Yeah. And that, that’s where, that’s where most hypnotists go wrong.

Right. You know, they walk into the practice and they go, Hey, I’m a hypnotherapist. I can help your patients do this. I’m this and this, and here’s my business card. Send me business. Who wants to do that? Right there? There need to be a target market. You need to talk to the dentist and ask, what are your needs?

You know, how can we help you treat them like a. Understand their needs and then when they want your services, offer your services. Don’t offer your services before. It’s. Too, you know, too early. You don’t have to search too early, so. Awesome. Where can people find your book? Oh, they can find my book on Amazon.

And actually there’s a, well, this is not gonna go out before the launch, so we’re launching it this weekend. So we’re pretty excited. Uh, um, the book can be found on Amazon, just search for H Node Dix. There are actually, I believe, three books that show up with the, the wording hypnotics somewhere, but it’s hypnotics Ethical Influence Language for dental Professionals.

So yeah, fine. They on. Great, Juan. Excellent meeting you. You as well. Thank you, Jason. Thank you. Thanks for listening to the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast and work smart hypnosis.com. Please visit the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast, listing on iTunes and share your positive feedback.