Practice Management Alert

Whether you’re talking with clients, patients, or the C-Suite, build trust with confidence.

Whether you’re working as part of a large organization or heading a solo consultancy venture, exchanging information and maintaining trust can stem from the way you communicate with people.

Try these tips for effective two-way communication, centered on tone, timing, and talk, from Jaci Kipreos, CPC, CPMA, CDEO, CEMC, CRC, COC, CPCI, to showcase your confidence in your knowledge and skillset, while also proving that you can listen, too. Kipreos spoke at AAPC’s virtual ELEVATE Leadership Conference in December 2021.

First, Listen

Listening (or reading attentively) is obviously key to communication because how else are you going to understand what the other party wants or needs? Establishing your tone and understanding the other party’s tone can provide a lot of information.

Tone affects how you listen, the clarity you provide, the actions you may take, and the results, Kipreos said. Listening helps you understand how a client (or other party) is unique, as well as helping you distill what about the services you provide — or how you provide them — is unique.

It sounds really basic, but listening attentively and then conveying how your experience aligns to solving similar problems can go a long way in making the conversation feel productive and safe.

“Rule No. 1 is definitely listening. It’s the key to success, and I can’t stress enough. No matter who you’re speaking with, you have to listen first,” she said. Even if you know what points you’re going to make while representing your business or skillset, listen first.

“Before you jump in, listen to that client, listen to whom you’re talking to, get a feel for how they sound and what they want,” she said. Giving them as much time as they need to talk it out may seem difficult at first, but it is both polite and effective.

Plus, this strategy provides you with enough information to ask good questions, and thus help someone figure out whether your skills and experience align with their needs, which reflects Kipreos’ rule No. 2: The client isn’t always right. Listening attentively and asking the right questions can help you both arrive at that conclusion if that’s how things shake out.

Carefully Establish Tone

Tone sets the pace and comfort of the communication and provides an opportunity to demonstrate that you care and are listening, she said. Plus, you always have the ability to change the tone of the conversation.

In setting the tone, you can approach a conversation so it feels relaxed or confident or conveys the assurance “I’m going to anticipate and meet your needs. Tone is all the ways in which you communicate in an interaction, beyond words alone — a certain attitude or feeling.

“You want to think about how your voice is conveying to them, how your expression is conveying to them” she said, or even how your workspace may reflect upon you, especially in the time of Zoom and other virtual meetings.

Kipreos said her office is messy and describes the mess not as a reflection of her final work product, but of her enjoyment of the work and reliance on many resources, which she likes to keep available and close.

Remember Timing, Too

Kipreos is an auditor and described how setting the tone — and focusing on listening, clarity, action, and resolves — can affect an interaction with a client once the audit is complete. In this instance, she focused on how tone, together with timing, can really demonstrate respect.

If the audit produced an exciting finding and she’s eager to tell them or has a lot of questions, she has to slow herself down. “I really have to be quiet, slow it down, and be clear, because, if I get too wrapped up in all my questions, sometimes I’m not hearing the answers,” she said.

“Part of going through this listening, clarity, action, and resolves with my  tone is remembering that, through all of this, I still should be listening to their responses, too — and making some nice comments, and thus, setting the pace.” she said.

“This is your opportunity to show that you care and you’re listening, so repeat things to make sure you’ve heard correctly,” she said.

Don’t be afraid of silence, either, even if it feels awkward in a virtual meeting. For example, if you’re taking notes, but are worried it may appear like you aren’t paying attention, you can easily explain: “I’m writing notes right now, so I’m kind of quiet because I want to make sure I get all this” or “I’m going to send you an email that covers everything we’ve talked about, and I want to make sure I caught it correctly.” It’s OK to say “‘I didn’t quite understand that, can you step me through that a bit more’ — that’s your tone of showing that you are listening, but you care enough to want to get it correct,” she explained.