Member Login
Facebook-f
Instagram
Youtube

Dr. Anissa Holmes

What to Say to Your Dental Patients if the Cost Is Too High

by

I don't know about you, but inside of my practice, sometimes we have people that come in saying, “Wow, that much for an implant?” Or, “Wow, I didn't know that Invisalign would cost so much.” 

I’m sure I’m not the only one experiencing this. It can be difficult to come up with an answer for these patients. This is especially true if we don’t fully understand ourselves. When we know, it’s much easier to explain costs to patients well.

If you struggle with responding to your patients when the cost is too high, you’ve come to the right place.

Know your profit margin.

Every owner should know their profit margins. Profit margins are the actual cost to be able to do a particular service. It takes into account the supply costs to be able to do that service, fixed expenses, and variable expenses per hour for the use of variable expenses.

Oftentimes, dental practice owners don't know how much it actually costs to run their practice per hour. What are your costs per hour for salaries? What is your cost per hour for use of your office? Make sure to include rent or mortgage, utilities, marketing costs, and other expenses. Divide those numbers into the number of hours you work. When we are not certain of our actual expenses, it’s easy to start to doubt your prices. You might just see the fee number and agree that your fees are high when the reality is, it might be that your operational expenses are too high, and that’s what’s requiring higher fees.

When you know that, for example, it's going to cost you $140 to do a filling in your practice, you won’t feel bad if a patient says, “Wow, $160 for a filling,” if that's your fee. Knowing your numbers help you better prepare your case presentation and enhance your verbal skills. 

If you haven't looked at your costs per hour, I highly recommend doing so. And if you want help, you could join our Platinum Coaching program and we can help.

Present your treatment plan with the patient's personal goals in mind. 

The other step to take if patients complain that costs are too high is to present treatment plans from your patients’ perspective. You must understand your patient’s goals and so you can help them see what investments they need to make. For example, many of the most successful dentists ask each patients, “What are your goals for your teeth, your mouth, your smile?” They then ask patients questions like, “What would it mean for you if you got this fixed?” 

The patients’ answers will help you better understand why they're there, what they want and desire. And they then present options to them in the context of how the options will help the patients achieve their goal.

We suggest asking patients for permission to present the case to them. Keep it simple, asking “Is it okay if I take some time and share with you how we can help you and how we've helped other patients just like you?” Of course the answer's going to be yes. Then present your treatment plan in that context.

At the end, say, “Now, this is going to be an investment. The great thing is that once you have your smile makeover done, this is what your life is going to look like.” Follow that with the goals they want that your treatment plan will help them achieve.

Once done, ask if they want your help. Encourage them that they’re worth it and show them options to help afford their treatment. You can say, “This is an investment in yourself and you're worth it. But we can work with you and create a customized plan so that you can fit this dentistry that you so deserve and you so want into your budget.”

Are you ready to help more patients move forward with their treatment?

If patients think fees are too high, we might not know our numbers enough or be presenting treatment in the context of their goals. These two steps can help you immediately boost case acceptance rate. And then you will be able to help more patients achieve their goals and live a better life.

If you want help, join our free Facebook group for dental bosses. In of that group, you will be able to mastermind and share with dentists and team members. You can also get help from my team by joining our Platinum Coaching program.

Training Dental Team Members Who Are Not Good With Patients

by

Have you ever had a team member who was afraid to talk to patients or was not outgoing or building connections with your patients? I have had several team members like that throughout the years.

Unfortunately, many team members who aren’t naturally outgoing or warm assume they have a disadvantage. However, the truth is introverted team members and team members who struggle to make connections can excel in the dental practice if you give them the right training, tasks, and direction. Here’s how to help those team members thrive.

Identify the personality types of your team members.

When people struggle to make connections, the first step to help them is to identify your team members’ personality types. Identifying personality types helps you understand many things about team members, including how they make connections with others.

I recommend using the DISC profile to identify personality types. Within DISC, there are four personality types. There is the D type, which stands for a dominant personality style. They tend to be the leaders and are okay with taking risks, but they also can come off as pushy. Then there is the I type, which stands for the influence personality style. They tend to be more outgoing and the life of the party. People with the I personality tend to not be very good at following through. 

The S style, which stands for steadiness, tend to be more sensitive with strong feelings of connection to other people. On the flip side, people with S personality types tend to be taken advantage of more often because they're so kind and loving. Finally, you have the C type, which stands for conscientiousness. People with C personalities are very detail-oriented. These are people that typically are going to be accountants or that may be surgeons. On the flip side of the Cs is sometimes they are very serious and sometimes they are really slow to make decisions.

Personality assessments can be very insightful and instructive, so we even administer them within our Delivering WOW Accelerator Program, as well as for our coaching clients in our Mastermind. It's been insightful to get feedback from doctors saying, “Now I understand why my hygienist, who's very outgoing, struggles with writing chart notes.” As team members start to understand their behavioral style and team members understand each other better, you can assign tasks accordingly.

Delegate tasks with each team member’s personality in mind. 

As we start looking at behavioral styles and the roles of our team members and the roles that they occupy in our practice, it's really important that we understand where they are in terms of a natural behavioral style.

I remember in the early days of my practice, I wanted to have social media implemented. We ended up giving that task to someone who had an S-style, so they were a calm natured, introvert. But they struggled with one of the key parts of our social media strategy, to collect patient video testimonials. There were great creating posts but were uncomfortable asking patients for video testimonials. We decided to switch it up and gave that part of the task to a team member that had more of the I-style. That person was very outgoing and loved talking to people. All of a sudden, it was easy for her to make that connection and get those video testimonials.

Once you start to assign tasks according to your team members’ strengths and put them in the area of their natural behavioral style, you'll see the results that start to happen in your practice. Then, give them training on tasks that fit their natural strengths so they can get better and better. The more you do this, the more your team will work better individually and together.

Build your team with diversity in mind. 

Take a look at the personality styles across your team. The best teams have balance. Start looking at building out your team with diversity of personality styles in mind. Think about what you have a lot of and what types of people can fill the gaps in your practice in terms of behavioral styles.

If you have a team that is full of I-types, you're going to have a lot of fun in your practice because there's going to be a lot of extroverts. However, consider that flip side of it, where if you're having too much fun, you need somebody to be serious, get things done, and make sure that everyone is being held accountable.

As you grow your team with diversity in mind, you will be able to build a better, stronger team. You will also be more able to put people in positions that match their natural tendencies, making everyone more likely to succeed.

Are you ready to train dental team members who are not good with patients?

If you haven't yet tested behavioral styles in your practice, I highly recommend doing so. Then, direct tasks and training to the activities that fit your teams’ natural strengths. If you want help, get in touch with my team and we can help.

In the meantime, join our free Dental Boss Movement group on Facebook. Inside that group, you will be able to mastermind and share with dentists and team members to help you grow your practice quickly.

3 Tips to Grow Your Dental Practice Quickly

by

If growing your dental practice quickly sounds attractive to you, you’re in the right place. After helping thousands of dental practices grow using our Delivering WOW programs, we’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t work. And the good news is that what works to grow a dental practice quickly is simple.

That’s right. A few simple strategies can make the difference between success and failure when it comes to growing your practice. That’s great news because fast dental practice growth is completely within your control—and you can use three of the best strategies in your weekly team meetings.

If you take the right steps you’ll get your desired results. Here are three simple tips you can start using in weekly team meetings right away to grow your dental practice quickly.

1. Ask your team members to share their personal and professional best.

We must remember that our practice is being run by a bunch of humans. We’re human. Our team members are human. Start every meeting by asking your team members to share your personal and professional bests for the week. 

Sharing personal and professional bests brings tremendous benefits to everyone on your team. We all share a human experience with ups and downs. Asking team members to share personal and professional best gives every team member an opportunity to share and open up with each other. Even if one of your dental team members is struggling that week, this gives them a chance to recognize that, get help, and move forward. And your team can understand where they are and they can support them.

And asking for everyone to share their bests helps people focus on positive parts of the week, even if most of it was stressful.

2. Review results and performance from the previous week.

Take some time from the weekly meeting to look at doctor production per visit, hygiene production per visit, production collection, and new patient numbers. Ask your team how many patients last week left without an appointment? Ask how many patients were rescheduled, that were unscheduled? Review your a/r from last week. Appoint a team member to collect and present those numbers so you can easily access and analyze them. Ask them to compare those numbers to weekly goals you set for each of them. 

When you don’t hit a goal for the week, analyze why and identify steps to hit the goal for the following week. For example, if doctor production per visit was low, ask what can be done to improve it. Can you pull a list of unscheduled patients and call to get them scheduled? Can you send unscheduled patients an email with a scheduling link?

Reviewing results and performance in a real-time, collaborative way helps catch issues fast.

3. Identify specific issues within your practice that need to be resolved quickly.

Before ending your weekly meetings, ask your team to identify any specific issues within your practice that don’t fit into the categories already discussed. This may be something like broken appointments or hygiene production per visit being consistently low. It could also involve a challenging HR or patient issue or training needed.

From there, brainstorm ways to resolve the issue, end the meeting with a plan to move forward, and identify a team member who will take ownership of the plan. Put that issue on the agenda for the following week.

Are you ready to grow your dental practice quickly?

Growing your dental practice requires you to be consistent and proactive. Take a few minutes to celebrate high moments with your team every week. Don’t sit around waiting for the month’s productivity numbers to be finalized before adjusting. Do that weekly. Don’t wait for small issues to be big before fixing them. Do that in real-time. Taking these three simple steps will help everyone in your practice perform.

If you want more help, your best next step is to join our free Dental Boss Movement group on Facebook. Inside that group, you will be able to mastermind and share with dentists and team members to help you grow your practice quickly.

3 Ways to Increase Treatment Plan Acceptance

by

What would it mean for your dental practice if you could get more patients to say yes to your treatment plans? How much could you grow your practice if just one out of every two “nos” turned into a “yes” when presenting a treatment plan? And, how amazing would it be if you could get there without having to make a hard sell to your patients? 

I don’t need to tell you how important case acceptance is for your dental practice. Maybe it’s not as sexy and exciting as marketing, but if you could increase case acceptance rates by even 10% or 20%, what kind of a difference would that make in your bottom line?

The good news is you can make that improvement, and potentially more. And there’s a pretty straightforward way to go about it. Here’s what you need to know.

There is no limit. 

Before we get into the three simple steps to turn “nos” into “yesses,” it’s important to understand that the only limit on how many cases you can close — including high-value cases — is the limit you set in your mind. In other words, there’s no ceiling on the number of cases you can close and the amount of money you can earn, and I want you to really think about that.

A lot of dentists hear me say that and they immediately push back. They’ll say, “We’re totally booked up, I’m working crazy hours, I can’t possibly do any more.”

If that's what you’re thinking, I’m going to show you exactly how to double or triple whatever your financial goal is. You’ll be able to use it again and again, and you’re going to be able to get the same positive results every single time. By doing so, you’ll be able to reshape your schedule, making more money while even working fewer hours and performing more life-changing dentistry instead of just drilling and filling. Here are three steps to turning “nos” into “yesses” to get you moving in that direction.

1. Start treatment plan presentations with a question.

There’s no pressure here, no weird sales tactics, no crazy script that you need to follow. You’re simply going to let your patient know you have some information to share, and then ask if they’re interested in hearing more. 

For example, you might say something like, “There’s something we can do to help prevent cavities. Would you like to learn more?”

You’re addressing the specific problem the patient has and letting them know they don’t have to keep having that problem because there’s a solution you can offer them. You have helpful information to share — but only if the patient wants to hear it. When the patient says yes share the information you promised.

Let’s continue the cavity example. In this case, you might say, “Great! It’s called a sealant. We just paint this special material directly onto the tooth so food, sugar, and bacteria can’t get through. That will significantly reduce the risk of cavities.” 

Be sure to name the product or service and explain how it works in really simple terms. Don’t use any dental jargon. Don’t overcomplicate things. Talk about this the way you would explain it to a young child.

2. Put out the resistance.

After asking the question and explaining the solution in simple terms, you’re likely to get a little bit of resistance. Anticipate that and put out the resistance before the patient brings it up. For example, with sealants might say, “Insurance doesn’t always cover sealants but most of our patients go ahead with them anyway because the peace of mind is so great. You also wind up saving money because you don’t have the kind of decay that can lead to cavities or even more extensive dental issues.”

Instead of waiting for the patient to ask, “Will my insurance cover this?” you’re addressing the issue head-on and giving them a reason to overlook the objection about insurance. 

It’s the same thing with higher-value services, too. You might point out that Perio Protect is going to save them a lot of time because they won’t need deep cleanings; it’s going to save them money because they won’t have to worry about costly surgery. 

The formula is the same: Address objection head-on and give patients a reason to move forward anyway.

3. Give patients a call to action.

A call-to-action is just a fancy way to say that you let them know what the next step is — how they can get started right now so they can move forward.

For sealants, it might sound something like, “We can start right now and have four sealants done in about ten minutes.” For Perio Protect you might say, “We can go ahead and take a scan right now and start working on your Perio Protect trays.”

Are you ready to increase your treatment plan acceptance rate?

Increasing treatment plan acceptance rates is as simple as one, two, three. Start with a question, address resistance while giving them a reason to move forward, and give them a call to action to get started. Three simple steps you and your team can follow. 

If you want more help Delivering WOW in your dental practice, we are helping hundreds of practices during this time through our Practice Accelerator Program and offering special value for you and your teams! And if you want to join a community of Dental Bosses just like you, I have a Facebook group where over 1000 Dental Bosses are already learning and growing. Join us in the Dental Boss Movement Facebook group today.

Get More Dental Patients (Even If You’re An Introvert)

by

You’ve likely heard that in order to grow your dental practice you’ve got to get out there and be visible. But no one tells you what you’re supposed to do if you’re an introvert.

I’m about to let you in on a secret: you can get more patients into your dental practice even if you are an introvert who tends to avoid the spotlight. 

I’m a really private person, and believe me, I’m much happier in my comfort zone. But I know just how important it is to get out there and share my message, my training, my experience with dentists like you, so I do it.

Here’s why it matters so much to step out just a little bit and how you can still build and grow your practice even if you’re an introvert. 

If people don’t know about you, you can’t help them.

If you’re anything like most of the dentists I know, you got into this field because you really want to help people. You’re in the smile business, so naturally, you care about your patients, and you love that you’re able to improve people’s lives. I want you to remember that, to hold onto that, as you listen to what I’m going to tell you.

You have a gift. You are an amazing dentist. You’ve taken the time to learn all kinds of specialized skills. And you’ve invested in courses to learn how to place implants or Invisalign or to put on sealants or to treat sleep apnea. 

You’ve also improved your patients’ lives and saved marriages. You’ve given people the confidence to smile and speak in public. 

You’re a really important person. Your hands are amazing, and you can do beautiful dentistry. 

There’s only one problem: If people don’t know about you, you can’t help them. So you must get the word out. If patients don’t know you exist, you can’t help them. 

So here’s how to get the word out, even if you’re an introvert.

Go live on Facebook and speak from your heart to the people who need to hear you.

I know exactly how terrifying that sounds. But you’ve done much harder things in your life, and what I can tell you is this: I’ve worked with thousands of dentists. The fastest way to get you to overcome those fears, introverted tendencies, and shyness, is to get started. The easiest way to start getting out there and connecting with the people who need to hear from you is to take a leap of faith and do a simple Facebook Live. 

To make this super easy for you, let me give you a simple structure to help you plan your Facebook Live videos:

1. Speak from your heart. 

Introduce yourself, tell people that this is the first time you’re doing a Facebook live, and let them know you’re nervous, but you’re doing it anyway, because you want to share this information with them. Then, tell them why you became a dentist and why you love serving your patients.

2. Acknowledge their fears.

Let your patients know that almost everyone has some anxiety around going to the dentist, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Reassure them that you’re not mean or scary, and that your office is actually a welcome place. Let them know what they can expect when they come in. 

3. Invite them to connect. 

Ask your patients to drop any questions or concerns they have in the comments on your video. Then follow up with each one and send them a personal invitation to come into the office. 

Yes, your first Facebook live will be a bit scary. But it was probably also a little bit scary the first time you treated a patient without relying on a more senior doctor for backup. You had to put on your brave face and push through, so you did.  It gets easier — and you get braver.

Plus, you get to help more patients who need your talents by making sure more people know about you and hear your heart for helping.

Are you ready to get more patients to your dental practice?

Way too many introvert dentists force themselves into less-effective, ineffective, or expensive marketing because they don’t believe they can use the most effective dental marketing strategies. But I know you can.

Start with this pattern and use Facebook to grow. Speaking from your heart will be much easier for you than trying to force yourself into some hype-filled video. Talk to your future patients, just like your webcam is a patient in the chair. And, if it helps, script out your video or use bullet points to help you get more comfortable.

If you want more help, I have a great tool that will really help you. You can get a free 12-month marketing plan that includes 80 strategies to grow your dental practice. This is the perfect tool to help you get started building the practice you’ve always dreamed of. Did I mention it’s FREE?

If you want to join a community of Dental Bosses just like you, I have a Facebook group where over 1,000 Dental Bosses are already learning and growing. Join us in the Dental Boss Movement Facebook group if you want support and training as you grow your dental practice.

Training for Dental Team Members That Ensures They Deliver WOW

by

Just like with any business, hiring is one of the most important parts of a dental practice. If we don’t put the right systems and strategies in place when looking for new members for our dental practice, we’ll end up with the wrong people on our team.

Bad hires are extremely costly. They lead to a high turnover rate amongst your staff—not to mention other problems like poor productivity—and can be super costly. Good hires, on the other hand, are the key to consistent performance.

That’s why these three steps are so important. We need to start before we hire people to ensure we keep bad team members away. Then, with the right ones on our team, we use the critical first week of work to get them on the right track for success. Here’s what to do to ensure you get the right people on your team and train them to become future superstars.

1. Make the expectations of the job clear before you hire them.

When we’re interviewing a potential employee, we need to ensure they understand exactly what roles and responsibilities come with the job. It’s easy to tell an applicant that they’re applying for the role of being your office manager, for example, but that’s a very general statement. The applicant might not know the unique tasks and duties that come with being an office manager for your specific dental practice. So, by making the job expectations clear, they’ll know whether they’re equipped with the right skill-sets to handle the position they’re applying for right off the bat.

And, just as importantly, any potential team member should have an understanding of your practice’s core values before they become a part of it. In fact, for my practice, during the interview and/or on the pre-interview application, we actually ask our applicants about which of our core values resonate with them the most.

2. Focus on orientation during the first week and continue training them for six weeks.

The first six weeks someone works with you is critical. During the first week, you’ll teach them the most important aspects of working with your practice. Make sure they can set goals. Teach them shutdown and start-up procedures. Have them read the office manual. Walk them through what’s expected of them in their role. Because all practices are different, we can’t assume they know what’s expected of them in your practice. Way too many practices assume someone with experience at another practice will jump right in and know what you want them to do. That is almost never the case, especially if you have invested in building a practice that does things differently to deliver WOW to patients.

After the first week, test them on what they learned and continue training them. Ask them to give you an office tour. Have them shutdown and start-up your office. As they learn, add additional responsibilities and give them additional training. Provide educational videos from your favorite CE curriculum—like our Practice Accelerator Program—so they know how to succeed.

3. Get your team involved.

As you build an amazing dental team that delivers WOW, you can start elevating your star team members to become leaders, too. In my practice, for example, we have a lead dental assistant who helps and supervises other dental assistants to set them up for success. 

One of the roles and responsibilities of my lead dental assistant is to go through the training and onboarding process with new hires. A dental practice gets busy, as we all know, and doing all the onboarding and training can be a bit too tedious for the practice owner or office manager to do by themselves. Getting your team involved by delegating the process to members of your team who can serve as role models can really free up your schedule and pave the way toward better productivity overall.

Are you training your dental team to set them up for success?

Putting new-hires through the right onboarding and training during the first week and throughout the critical first six weeks can be the best investment you make in your practice. Be sure to include onboarding as well as training and testing hires about what makes your practice different.

If you want help, we’ve helped hundreds of practices during this time in our Practice Accelerator Program and are offering special value for you and your teams!

How to Discuss a Treatment Plan With Your Patients

by

One of the highest-impact changes we can make in our dental practices is improving the way we discuss treatment plans with our patients. If we present treatment plans well, more patients will say yes to our treatment plans and get the care they need. If not, they won’t get the care they need and everyone loses.

I know how frustrating it can be to put your heart into a treatment plan you know the patient needs only to have them not move forward. It took me a while to learn how to get patients to accept treatment consistently. I learned quite a bit through trial, error, and investing a lot of time and money to become better at case presentation. Here are three simple principles you can use to see an immediate improvement in your case presentation skills.

Offer services you believe in.

This one’s easy but very important to keep in mind. As a dental boss, your priority is the health of your patients. That means you never recommend a treatment you don’t totally believe in. It also means making sure your entire team is on the same page when it comes to how you care for patients.

When everyone believes in the services they’re offering patients, they can talk about them with integrity and not a salesy tone. This goes a long way in giving patients confidence that they’re in good hands.

Bring that enthusiasm to your conversations with patients. Discuss all the wonderful things that will happen to them if they move forward, emphasizing the lifestyle changes they can expect. For example, explain how getting implants will give them the beautiful smile they want so badly. Explain how much it will impact their confidence and benefit all aspects of their life. In other words, share your enthusiasm about the treatment within the context of how it will benefit them.

Encourage but don’t pressure patients.

Before the whole world shut down IN 2020, you might remember heading to the mall or Costco and walking by people offering free samples. Maybe they held a tray of teriyaki chicken pieces with toothpicks sticking out. When you got close, they’d ask, “Hey, would you like to try this?” And, if you’re anything like me, you took them up on their offer for some free chicken pretty much every time.

No matter how hungry (or not hungry) we are, we often take the free sample, not because we feel pressured but because we’re encouraged by something we’ll enjoy. They don’t force us to take the sample. They’re happy to answer questions about the product. And they make it very easy for us to say yes by happily offering the tray with a napkin and the piece of chicken ready to grab. 

The same is true in restaurants when a talented server guides us through ordering drinks, appetizers, entrees, and, of course, dessert. We order more than we likely would without that encouragement but we don’t feel pressured. In fact, we often feel well taken care of when we experience tasty food we never would have ordered on our own.

That’s the way you want to present treatment to your patients. Encourage them by using a positive tone and guide them through making a decision that will benefit them. Show them how much of a difference getting treatment can make in their lives. But don’t pressure them to move forward. We’re healthcare providers, not salespeople, after all. If we encourage them by confidently presenting the treatment we suggest in the context of the benefits they will receive, more patients will say yes and move forward.

Speak in conversational terms, not in “Dentalese.”

We know more about dentistry than our patients do, no doubt about it. So, when we’re presenting them with a treatment plan, it’s up to us to explain things to them in words they understand. Don’t talk to them like they’re also a dentist—discuss the information they need in a way that they can easily understand. As my good friend Dr. Bowman says, don’t speak “Dentalese” to them.

Also, remember that you’re only presenting treatment you wholeheartedly believe in. When you explain the positive results patients will receive by accepting treatment in ways they can understand, they’ll trust you more. They’ll know you’re not trying to manipulate them with fancy jargon and frightening medical terms.

Provide a simple explanation. Bring up any potential objections and explain why most patients move forward despite that objection. When patients can wrap their head around what you’re saying when presenting your treatment plan, and they can see the value in saying yes to that treatment plan, they’re more likely to say accept treatment.

Are you struggling to get patients to accept your treatment plans?

The simplest way to increase production is to get more patients to accept your treatment plans. These three rules can help you get started doing that right away. 

If you want more help Delivering WOW in your dental practice, we are helping hundreds of practices during this time through our Practice Accelerator Program and offering special value for you and your teams!

How Much Should I Pay My Dental Team?

by

Whether you’re struggling with your marketing, productivity goals, or whatever else comes with running a dental practice, I’m here to help. For example, a member of my mastermind group once came to me asking for advice about paying her dental team. A team member had asked for a raise, and she was put in a tough spot. She simply didn’t know if she could afford to pay that team member more, no matter how much they deserved it. It’s a dilemma that every boss faces, dental boss or not.

And as a dental boss, I’ve had to deal with discerning how much to pay my team quite a few times. So, when that member of my mastermind group asked this question, I was quick to share some of the lessons I have learned. So, how do you know how much to pay a dental team member? Here’s how.

1. Determine how much value each team member offers with their skillset.

With any dental team, you should constantly be training and empowering your staff to do the best work they can so you can turn all team members into rockstar employees. Then give them productivity goals you want them to crush. By doing so, you will begin to get a clearer picture on their skills and productivity. 

Do they achieve their goals? Do they engage and apply the training? If so, those are good signs the team member is adding a lot of value to your practice. But simply achieving goals and utilizing skills enough for the practice to grow isn’t necessarily enough for each team member to get that raise they want. They also need to be continually growing those skills. Why? Because the more value they can offer, the more you can pay them. 

Help them be able to handle a more complex assortment of tasks. For example, if they’re not only handling phone calls like rockstars but can also be super effective at scheduling, they’re going to become a bigger asset to your practice. And when they’re a bigger asset to your practice, the positive return on your investment in them will enable you to raise their salary without putting yourself in a deficit. 

Once they get the raise, they might even increase their ROI more. Just by having that monetary incentive, their motivation might increase substantially. More motivation will likely make them even more productive. But they need to be productive in more than one area, or they aren’t working hard enough to increase their pay grade. That brings us to the second step.

2. Set up a pay-grade system that pays each employee based on the value that their skillset offers.

If you set up a pay-grade system that classifies what work warrants what pay, it’ll be easier to understand whether you can afford giving one of your team members a raise. Keep it simple, a higher amount or value of work should qualify for a higher amount of pay. This not only ties hard work to pay it ties continuous skill improvement to pay.

This type of pay-grade system will also make it very clear to your team about the expectations that need to be met in order to receive the different levels of pay that you offer in your practice. It’s up to you to help each team member understand that they can’t get a higher level of pay without putting in a higher amount of work. 

For example, say you have a dental assistant who has a limited skillset. They can assist with fillings. They can set up your trays. And they can sterilize the instruments. Most dental assistants can handle those tasks so that’s not exactly going above and beyond. So, that person would qualify for the level one pay-grade. If that dental assistant developed a broader skillset, they could earn more pay. I have a dental assistant in my practice who puts in the amount of work to warrant way more than a level one pay-grade. She can place sealants. She orders all of the supplies. She’s amazing at making all of the temporaries. She also can work at the front; handling phone calls, making appointments, discussing treatment plans with patients, etc. 

Because of her broad skillset she’s able to bring a higher ROI to the practice. And because she’s on a different level than many dental assistants, I can afford to increase her paygrade to level two and give her a higher salary. 

Are you paying your dental team adequately?

Dentistry is a fast-paced lifestyle with lots of stress, and you can’t blame your team members if they ever feel like they deserve more compensation for their hard work. But a dental practice is a business, and finances aren’t something to be impulsive about. Before you give your team member a raise, consider their skillset and the amount of work they’re putting in. And give them opportunities to expand both so they can add more value and earn more work.

If you want more tips and tricks about delivering WOW with your dental practice, we are helping hundreds of practices during this time in our Delivering Wow Practice Accelerator Program, and are offering special value for you and your teams!

3 Ways to Train Your Dental Team to Collect Payments Well

by

While a dental practice is a business, dental school doesn’t teach us much about collecting payments and managing operations. 

That’s what continuing education is for. And that’s what Delivering WOW is here for, too. We have helped thousands of dentists strengthen their practices while delivering WOW experience to each of their patients.

But we want to continue to be able to deliver WOW, we need to ensure our businesses are financially strong, too. And one of the most important parts of becoming financially strong is empowering our team to collect payments from our patients well. If you’ve struggled with collections in your practice, here are three tips that have helped my practice and many others improve.

1. Set up a system with which you can monitor whether your collections are under control.

By the time that many practice owners take a glimpse at their AR (accounts receivable) or collections, things have already spun out of control without them even knowing. They’ll find out that patients didn’t pay on time because their dental team failed to follow up properly about that patient’s claims. Now they have to break some bad news to that patient, and things can get ugly. It’s embarrassing—and frustrating for the patient—to call them to let them know they actually have a balance due or that you’ve misquoted their payment from the very beginning.  Chasing them around and demanding money make you appear unprofessional and can stir up some drama that might lead to a bad review online or worse. So, I recommend you utilize a system that helps you to track your AR from week to week. 

If you follow my blog, social media, or podcast, then you know I’m a huge fan of using scorecards. They can help you stay on top of productivity goals, measure metrics, and more. They’re just a great way of tracking numbers, and one of those numbers can actually be your AR. Using a scorecard to track AR has been super effective both in my practice and for many members of my platinum program. When we can use a scorecard to track AR on a consistent basis, things won’t spin out of control because your dental team will be on top of your collections numbers. When they see things spiraling out of control, they can let you know and you can decide how to counteract any chaos from erupting.

2. Be prepared to keep your collections in control by utilizing a process called “amnesty.”

If things do end up spinning out of control, it’s time to work the amnesty process. Amnesty helps us get back under control. Here’s how it works.

Say you suddenly realize that your AR is $50,000. Some practices turn those accounts over to a collection agency or, even worse, just write it off. That’s not a good idea—you're writing off $50,000 or selling it for pennies on the dollar. You could have used that money to pay for your kids to go to college for a year.

Instead, contact patients who have an overdue balance and let them know their account has come up for audit. Tell them you are giving them a courtesy call to help them out and to clear up their balance. Offer to lower the balance if they pay in full.

Perhaps they have a balance of a thousand dollars. Rather than charge them the full thousand, lower the amount that they have to pay so they don’t have to go to collections and you can create a true win-win. They pay less than they owe and avoid collections. You get guaranteed money and often at a higher price than what you would get through a collections agency. Many patients will gladly pay a smaller portion or go on an auto-debit to pay off their balance to avoid being sent to collections.

3. Put in place a reliable and effective means of getting in touch with your patients.

As surprising as it might seem, being unable to easily get in touch with patients is one of the most common problems I hear from members of my mastermind. They’ll tell me, “Anissa, our patients just aren’t responding. They see our calls and won’t pick up.” While phones are a great way to put yourself in direct communication with a patient, don’t make it your only contact method. If you can, use text messages and emails to start conversations. Especially with text messages, your messages will get noticed. Send them a text or email that lets them know there is an urgent message from their dentist and that you’d like to speak with them on the phone as soon as possible.

When a patient sees an ominous-sounding message like that coming from their healthcare provider, they’re more likely to give you a call. In all likelihood, they’ll even be a bit nervous. So, when the patient calls your practice and your dental team member speaks on the phone with them, make sure they make the purpose of the call immediately clear. Have them calmly greet the patient using all the right social cues and explain that the purpose of the call is to help the patient save money and resolve their balance. Once they understand what’s going on, your team member can proceed to get the patient’s credit card information and begin to sort things out via the amnesty process. If they don’t call back right away, send follow-up messages and call their phone to make sure they get your message. With people being so busy, if your message hasn’t been returned within a couple of days, it’s unlikely that it will be without additional follow-up.

What are you doing to ensure your payments are under control?

As dentists, we must work creatively to ensure the revenue we worked so hard to attain gets paid. When it comes to collecting payments, we must give our team members the tools and resources they need to collect payments well. Scorecards, amnesty, and multiple methods of contact can help everyone stay on top of accounts receivable. What works in your practice?

And if you want more tips and tricks about delivering WOW with your dental practice, we are helping hundreds of practices during this time in our Practice Accelerator Program and are offering special value for you and your teams!

How to Turn Around a Failing Dental Practice

by

For most businesses, the pandemic has made it a real struggle to keep afloat. Quarantining and social distancing have led to an absence of eager customers for almost every industry and profession. People are trying to stick it out in their homes and avoid getting infected with Covid-19, so they’re just not going to go out shopping or seeking services unless they really need them.

While things are slow for the vast majority of businesses, it’s safe to say that dental practices are definitely amongst those struggling the most. Patients simply don’t want to come in to get treatment unless it’s urgent. It makes sense; providing dental treatment is a very up-close and personal thing. While healthcare providers are typically great at being diligent with sanitization, some people just don’t want to take that risk.

Unfortunately, it’s not surprising to me when people come to me and tell me that their dental practice isn’t just struggling but is actually in the process of failing. Does that sound like you? Are you hustling like mad to get patients in the door only to find yourself coming up short at the end of the month? Trust me, you’re not alone.

In fact, I have some awesome news for you: I can help you turn your failing dental practice around. It’s nothing too complicated, either. These are just a few simple, amazing strategies that can do wonders for your practice. If you’re interested, keep reading!

1. Buy a whiteboard.

This sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? I can almost hear you thinking: “How could buying a whiteboard turn my failing dental practice around!?” Believe it or not, though, something as simple as a whiteboard can be the key to unlocking profitability, efficiency, and, subsequently, the growth you need to turn your failing practice around.

An ordinary whiteboard—one you can buy at any office supply store for a few bucks—is responsible for doubling my practice revenue. It’s done the same for hundreds of dental bosses all over the world, too. It’s not the whiteboard itself, of course, but what you do with it. And what you need to do with it is use it each month to track individual services, set goals for those individual services, and then shoot for the stars with each coming month. 

Here’s how:

  1. Start by listing all the services you offer on the whiteboard.
  2. Set target numbers for the month based on your revenue goals and write that number in RED.
  3. Every day, mark down the number of that service that your practice has completed month to date in BLUE.
  4. When you hit the target you’ve set, change the BLUE number to GREEN.

Your goal is to change all of your blue numbers to green by the end of the month. When you get every blue number to turn green, you’re meeting productivity goals—which means you’re at least keeping your practice afloat. 

But ending the struggle isn’t the objective; I want you to turn your failing practice around. So, next month, aim higher. Make those numbers larger. As each month passes and you keep turning those bigger and bigger numbers from blue to green, you’ll notice your practice is doing better than ever before.

2. Deliver a WOW customer experience.

At Delivering WOW, we’re all about providing each and every one of our patients an experience that WOW’s them. When we can make them feel like VIP’s, they’re bound to become raving fans of our practice who are quick to refer us to their family and friends.

That means our patients don’t just become loyal, they refer other patients who are likely to become loyal too. Having a dependable and ever-growing influx of patients coming through your practice doors is a big deal. You’ll be increasing the productivity of your practice — helping you hit those whiteboard targets each and every month. Any practice owner knows productivity is what paves the way for profitability and growth.

3. Give your team extensive training.

If you want your patients to be enthusiastic about the results they see after coming into your practice to receive dental treatment, you can’t be the only one WOWing them. Your team must, too, through the treatment they provide and the care they show your patients. The best way to achieve this is to provide your team with the right training. When your team improves their craft and can provide amazing results for your patients, your patients will be happy with their care. And when your team treats them like a VIP every time they walk through the door, your patients won’t ever think about going anywhere else for dental care.

When training your team on procedures, make sure to also train them in the benefits of the procedures so they can better connect with patients. So, don’t just give your team the right training in crowns. Make sure they understand the benefits of crowns, the different types of crowns you offer, and the long term effects if recommended crowns are not completed. Also give your team training about how to socially interact with your patients. Your team should be able to show before and after cases, answer questions, and refer patients to the proper resources. Train your front desk to handle phone calls effectively. Train your assistants to do preliminary work—X-rays, impressions, etc.—that allows you to be in and out in a jiffy. Set up your team for success, and you’ll see the results you want to see.

Need to turn around a struggling or even failing dental practice?

Turning a struggling practice around boils down to production and consistently delivering WOW experiences. And the key to doing that isn’t diagnosing more patients or bullying them into accepting unnecessary treatment. You just need to put the right systems in place and make sure all your team members are on the same page. If you do, you’ll get the results you want while better serving your patients.

Also, if you want to join a community of Dental Bosses just like you, I have a Facebook group where over 1000 Dental Bosses are already learning and growing. Join us in the Dental Boss Movement Facebook group if you want some support and training as you grow your dental practice.

How to Get More Patient Referrals to Your Dental Practice

by

If there’s one thing every dental practice needs to grow, it’s patients in the chair. Some need more patients. Others need patients in need of higher-fee dentistry. And others need more fee-for-service patients. 

If you’re worried about where your next patient is going to come from, rest assured that you are likely just one or two referral strategies away from growth. These are three of my favorite ways for dental practices to get patient referrals.

1. Tell a story that’s easy to share. 

When you talk about your practice in marketing materials, with patients, or in the community, are you telling a story that’s easy to share? If not, you’re missing out on an incredible opportunity to get current patients and others to promote your practice for you. Make it really easy for people to talk about you and your practice and they will start doing so. 

For example, we want people to talk about my practice as being somewhere patients look forward to going. So we focus on creating an incredible experience and also give patients ways to talk about that experience. One way we do so is by giving new patients an office tour and a chance to connect with a team member one-on-one. During that meeting, our team member talks about our core values and shows them the cool and fun technology we invest in to provide the best care possible. We make it simple for them to understand what makes us special.

When doing this in your practice, point out the details to your patients and why those details matter to them. You can say things like:

  • We invest in these items to create a spalike experience for you and help you relax.
  • At the end of your treatment, we’ll give you a warm peppermint-scented towel to refresh you.
  • While you’re waiting, you can flip through our coffee-table books.
  • All of the artwork in the office was done by local artists.

Let your team members show their personality. If they’re talking about the practice’s core values, they can share what means the most to them, and why. If they’re showing the coffee table books or the office art, they can point out one they particularly like or share an interesting fact about one of the local artists. When they’re talking about the overall experience, they can relate their own stories of dental anxiety — and how they moved past it.

2. Ask patients for referrals.

One of the biggest mistakes dentists make is not asking for referrals. It doesn’t need to be awkward or rude to do so, either. Whether a patient has come in for the first time or the 50th time, we highly recommend asking for referrals. It’s totally natural to ask for referrals, even from brand new patients, especially if you are investing so much time and energy to create a WOW experience for your patients. 

At the end of each appointment, ask your patient, “Did you have a good experience today?” They’re highly likely to say yes. When they do, it’s completely natural to then ask for that referral. Help them out by calling to mind specific people they can refer to you. For example, we give patients two business cards and ask them to give them to friends, family, coworkers, or a new neighbor who might enjoy a similar dental experience. It’s that simple. You can also ask patients to post about their experience on Facebook and tag your practice. Many patients will happily share a post about their experience.

3. Create a patient referral program.

Encourage patients to refer people to you by creating a referral program. Give them coupons or gift certificates they can give to friends and family and they will likely be even more delighted to refer people to you. 

Give your program a fun name, like Share a Smile or The Smile Exchange, and make sure that every person on your team tells patients about the program. For example, you could have your team members tell new patients that you have a referral program that your patients love because it allows them to share their WOW experience with loved ones while giving them something of value like a coupon or gift certificate. That message will get them starting to think about who would be a good person to refer to your practice. Then, at the end, hand them the coupon or gift certificate after asking about their experience.

Are you ready to get more patient referrals to your dental practice?

Patient referrals validate everything we do as a practice and keep us consistently growing without any marketing required. We just treat people well and they refer other people to us. That’s the ultimate compliment about the experience we work so hard to create. 

It all starts with treating patients to a truly WOW visit and putting in place simple strategies to get them thinking about referring others to you. 

If you want to learn about more ways to grow your practice, make sure to join our upcoming dental practice Marketing and Practice Growth Challenge.

And if you want to join a community of Dental Bosses just like you, I have a Facebook group where over 1000 Dental Bosses are already learning and growing. Join us in the Dental Boss Movement Facebook group if you want support and training as you grow your dental practice.

Treatment Planning — Presenting Your Plan to Earn a New Patient

by
Treatment Planning — Presenting Your Plan to Earn a New Patient

If you’re looking to increase your treatment plan case acceptance rate, your solution might be simpler than you expect.

Accepting treatment is a big decision for any patient, especially when high-value procedures are involved. No matter how much we want our patients to move forward with the care they need, many don’t.

When they don’t, we often assume it's because they either don't value the treatment or can't afford it. Some dentists double down by going in greater detail into the problem we are looking to solve. Others cut their fees or try to help patients secure financing. That can help but only goes so far.

If after all that you are still not seeing the treatment plan case acceptance rate you want, it’s like that you are using the wrong language when presenting your treatment plan. By eliminating these four words from your vocabulary, you can see an instant boost to your acceptance rate.

Stop using the word “maybe” when presenting your treatment plans

Stop using the word “maybe” when presenting your treatment plans.

Stop using the word “maybe” when talking with patients about the care they need. It conveys a lack of confidence. It conveys a lack of urgency. So, if a patient asks whether they need to address an issue, answer confidently.

Similarly, when suggesting something to a patient, be clear. Never say, “Maybe we should fix this issue.” Instead, say “We should fix this issue” or “Yes, fixing this issue will improve your health.”

Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you’re at a dermatologist, and after examining your skin they point out a mole. Which statement would make you more likely to get it removed:

  • “Maybe we should remove this mole,” or
  • “We NEED to remove this mole. It poses a threat to your health.”

Be clear. Be confident. Your patients need your leadership to achieve optimal health and move forward with treatment.

Stop using the word “cheap” when talking about price with patients

Stop using the word “cheap” when talking about price with patients.

When you tell people something is cheap, there are usually two thoughts that will go through their head. The first is that if it’s cheap, then it shouldn’t cost a lot of money. This is especially important when talking about good deals on high-value procedures. The second is that if it’s cheap, then it’s low-quality.

Instead of saying something is “cheap” or “cheaper,” say it’s a ” good value.” That conveys it as being more affordable but without the negative connotations. The procedure could still cost a lot of money but be a good value. And it can still be high-quality but be a good value.

When your discussion is on the “value” of the procedure, your patients also think about your treatment plan as an investment in achieving an outcome they desire. For example, you might say “The real value is you’ll be able to eat what you want. You won’t have to remove your dentures anymore. And you’ll be able to avoid large expenses that come from your teeth shifting or bone loss.”

Reminding patients of the value of your treatment plan and the outcomes they will receive, helps them better appreciate the benefits of moving forward with your plan.

Stop using the word “cost” when discussing financial terms

Stop using the word “cost” when discussing financial terms.

Speaking of low-cost, avoid saying the word “cost” at all when discussing treatment with a patient.

For example, if you tell a patient that getting an implant is going to cost them $5,000 and leave it at that, they will immediately think about how much money they have in the bank. If they don’t have $5,000 in the bank (or a credit card with a high available credit that they’re willing to tap into), they are less likely to move forward.

Instead, provide three payment options and them patients how other patients like them are able to fit dentistry into their budgets. When discussing monthly payment options, let them know how much the minimum monthly investment would be. Then ask if that would into their budget. If not, you can come up with another plan, such as to phase treatment to fit into their budget.

Stop-using-the-word-“problem”-when-talking-with-patients-about-their-oral-health

Stop using the word “problem” when talking with patients about their oral health.

While it might seem logical to use the word problem because people generally “solve” problems, the reality is more people try to avoid problems than solve them.

When you describe something as a “problem” to a patient, many patients will instinctively push back or procrastinate. “Problems” feel big and expensive.

Reframe your presentation using the word “issue” and position your treatment plan as the solution. It’s a gentler way of saying there’s a situation with their teeth but that you have a plan. Your patient is much less likely to push back when you present the issue rather than a problem.

Have you been using these four words when presenting your treatment plans to patients?

Consistent case acceptance can make or break your practice. And while word choice might seem like a nuance that doesn’t amount to much, patients are much more likely to move forward with treatment plans when you avoid these four words.

If you want help using the right words when presenting your treatment plan, join our Marketing & Practice Growth Challenge which has changed more than 400 dentists grow their practices. To join the challenge, click here. And if you’re ready to join a community of dental bosses just like you, I have a Facebook group where dentists come together to support each other and take action.

Integrating Sleep Medicine Into Your Practice with Vivos

by
Integrating Sleep Medicine Into Your Practice with Vivos

Sleep apnea is more common than you might think. If left untreated, sleep apnea can lead to potentially serious health risks, which is why it’s so important to target the root cause of sleep-disordered breathing.

To help further understand what sleep apnea is and how we can help treat patients suffering from the condition, I invited Bryan Ferre, Chief Evangelist at Vivos Therapeutics Inc., on this episode of the Delivering WOW Podcast.

The Vivos® System is a clinical breakthrough in the treatment of sleep-disordered breathing for individuals of all ages. Their treatment even includes more difficult cases of sleep apnea, including mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnea resulting from underdeveloped upper and lower jaws.

But, how does the Vivos® System work? And, why should you consider integrating sleep medicine into your dental practice? Bryan explains all in this episode of the podcast!

 

Integrating Sleep Medicine Into Your Practice with Vivos

 

In this episode, we discuss:

  • How sleep apnea treatments can help increase production per visit
  • The touching story about why Bryan is so passionate about sleep apnea treatment
  • The percentage of people who suffer from sleep apnea
  • How the Vivos® System treats the underlying condition of sleep apnea
  • How to seamlessly implement sleep medicine into your practice
  • The real value of sleep medicine and helping patients to overcome the issues that come with sleep apnea
  • Reasons why underdeveloped jaws have become so common

 

Integrating Sleep Medicine Into Your Practice with Vivos

 

If you’d like to learn more about the Vivos® System, you can check out their website and visit their conference website, breathingwellness.org.

Why You Need to Discover Your Story with Joshua Scott

by
Why You Need to Discover Your Story with Joshua Scott

What’s your story? Every dental practice has a story and sharing your story with patients can do remarkable things for the growth of your practice. But, how can you tell your story in the most authentic way possible?

Joshua Scott, the CEO of Studio 8E8, believes that creating authentic stories and bringing your story to life is key if you want to ‘captivate and connect’ with people. Studio 8E8 is dentistry’s story-driven marketing agency.

I’ve always believed that stories are the heart of a great dental practice, which is why I’m a huge fan of Studio 8E8 and how they can help dentists create incredible campaigns and strategies. I’m thrilled to have Joshua Scott join me on this episode of the Delivering WOW Podcast to learn more about his business and how they can help propel growth.

(On a side note, we recorded this episode just before the last Delivering WOW Summit in New Orleans. Joshua had some great insights, so I wanted to share this episode with you and who knows, maybe you’ll catch Josh at the next Delivering WOW Summit!)

 

Why You Need to Discover Your Story with Joshua Scott

 

In this episode, we discussed:

  • How Studio 8E8 helps dental practices tell their stories
  • Discovering your story and learning how to tell it the right way to the right people
  • The importance of using authentic story-driven marketing and how this type of marketing can help grow your practice
  • Using video to tell your story, gain credibility, and engage with patients
  • Why you need a stand-out website to catch patient’s attention

 

Why You Need to Discover Your Story with Joshua Scott

 

Want to learn more about Studio 8E8?

Head over to the Studio 8E8 website to find out how they can help you bring your story to life!

Post-Covid-19: How to Get Cash Flow Back as Fast as Possible

by

If there’s one thing that’s sure in a post-covid-19 world, it’s that the future of dental practice cash flow will be different. That doesn’t mean it has to be worse, just different.

So how do we position ourselves to ensure the future of our practices will be strong? One way is to be very intentional about how we open back up. We must take social distancing and PPE requirements into account when we open up.

If we plan our opening to minimize the impact of social distancing and PPE requirements on our patients and our practices, everyone benefits. Patients benefits by ensuring they get the best care as safely as possible. Our practice benefits by opening up with stronger cash flow to support our team members and operations. And we benefit by being in more control of the future of our practice.

Here are three ways to get cash flow back in your practice as fast as possible while continuing to provide incredible care for your patients.

1. Use block scheduling to maximize production.

 

 

Post-Covid-19: How to Get Cash Flow Back as Fast as Possible

 

When we operate at full capacity, it is easier for the patient and the practice to break treatment plans across multiple appointments. With limited capacity, this could cause issues to go untreated for months. It was also easier to mix less urgent care with more urgent care with so many available appointments.

With lower capacity and additional time required between patients, we will have fewer available appointments for patients. Thus, we must look through our patient population and prioritize.

That might mean prioritizing patients who need scaling and planing. These patients have infections or inflammation and have already delayed treatment. They need to be a high priority. It might also mean prioritizing perio patients. In my practice, we are also focusing on patients with more extensive treatment plans, such as crown and bridge patients.

In addition to prioritizing, we want to have conversations with patients about doing more care in one appointment because of our limited capacity. If they need to spread out the care to spread out the costs, we should be prepared to help them spread out the costs through financing even if they do all the care in one appointment.

Having your patients come in and do more per visit is going to allow them to be able to get their treatment done without gaps in time. And it’s also going to allow you to be able to have fewer patients in the practice. That will also increase cash flow because you’re going to be doing higher production and higher profitability types of procedures.

2. Minimize patients per day.

 

Post-Covid-19: How to Get Cash Flow Back as Fast as Possible

 

I’ve long been a proponent of block scheduling for your dental practice. It helps us maximize productivity by prioritizing high-value procedures. But with new PPE requirements, block scheduling also saves us money.

The more patients we see, the more PPE we need to buy. And with it being hard to get and more expensive than ever, those costs add up. Some practices are passing through the charges. We chose not to in my practice. Instead, we are minimizing the number of patients we serve as well as the number of appointments for each patient so we can minimize our PPE use.

We’re talking with our patients about how they can help us care for more people and minimize the PPE we need to serve people by maximizing their procedures per visit. With financing options available if they need to spread out costs, they understand. We’ve built amazing relationships with our patients over the years.

So we are asking our patients to help us minimize PPE use. We’ve gone from seeing twelve patients per day to six. That alone can cut your PPE expense down quite a bit. And your patients can get the care they need without having to take multiple days off of work.

Many doctors are uncomfortable having conversations about what’s going on in our practices with patients. But if you have always been there for your patients to take care of them, they’ll understand and support you.

But you can’t minimize your need for PPE without block scheduling for productivity and minimizing the both the patients per day you see and visits per patient for each patient to complete their treatment plans.

3. Set specific goals for your practice.

 

Post-Covid-19: How to Get Cash Flow Back as Fast as Possible

 

There’s an old saying in business: “What gets measured gets done.” If you open your doors without specific goals, you will never maximize cash flow and production, even with more efficient scheduling.

Setting goals and actually monitoring and tracking them gets you results as fast as possible. Some of you have been through our past marketing and practice growth challenges, where we help you implement a whiteboard system and set goals for your dental practice and get your team on board. Others are just getting started.

No matter what your history is with setting goals, setting new goals for your practice can help you get all of your team members focused on the same outcomes. Once you set your production goals, bring your team together each morning, and take a look at your progress.

If you’re falling behind on some goals, ask team members what can be done to get back on track. What can the scheduling coordinator do? What can your doctors do? Do you need to jump onto Facebook and do a Facebook Live discussing a procedure you want to promote? Do you need to bump up your marketing?

Setting goals and monitoring production is the best way to get your entire team focused. With a focused team comes production. And with production comes cash flow.

What are you doing to maximize cash flow as you reopen from the Covid-19 pandemic?

Are you block scheduling, minimizing PPE needed, and getting all of your team members working together to achieve common goals? If not, now is the time to get started.

If you don’t want to go at it alone, we are helping hundreds of practices during this time in our Platinum Mastermind Gold Program, and are offering special value for you and your teams!

 

 

 

How Dental Videos Can Grow Your Practice with Channel D

by
How Dental Videos Can Grow Your Practice

Waiting rooms are far from being the most exciting places in the world. However, there is a way that you can make your practice’s waiting room entertaining, educational and even (dare we say it) fun for patients.

On this exciting episode of the Delivering WOW Podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Michael Sernik, the CEO of Channel D, a company that creates fun, engaging, and customizable videos to play in your dental office reception area. Their bite-sized videos are high-quality and designed to stimulate interest in the treatments your practice provides. You can even customize videos to incorporate things like your team’s photos, names, logo, and a call to action that drives engagement and practice growth.

Channel D is so creative and unique. By showing short, fun, and informative videos to patients as they wait in your reception area, you can keep them entertained while showcasing a consistent message that educates patients on your latest treatment options. This is an incredible service that I highly recommend, especially if you want to make sure your patients come back to your practice for their next dentist appointment.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • How Channel D was founded and what they are known for
  • How dental videos can create interest in your treatments
  • How to drive patients to accept treatment by focusing on the damaging result of the existing condition
  • The importance of using videos that contain emotional triggers and humanize the dentist
  • A brief overview of the process of working with Channel D
  • Tips to get patients to pay attention to your videos
  • How dental videos for your waiting room can help improve your team’s clinical knowledge

You can sign-up for a two-month FREE trial with Channel D by heading over to their website and subscribing (no upfront fees and no commitment – you can cancel your subscription at any time).

How To Find Gaps and Growth Opportunities in Real-Time

by

When running a dental practice, simpler is usually better. It’s true with systems and processes. It’s true with messaging. And it’s true with growth.

And these days, with so much going on, the simpler the better. We have more than ever on our plates. So, simple strategies to improve our practices are even more valuable.

There are few simpler growth strategies for your practice than to use a budget and profit sheet organized by procedure. If you don’t track revenue by procedure in one place, now’s a great time to start. Without it, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities to learn what’s working best and what might be falling through the cracks, all in one place.

Once you have that set up, all you need to do is follow a few simple steps to identify gaps and growth opportunities for your practice.

Identify top performances.

 

 

Take a look at the past twelve months and identify your most productive months. Start with your best overall month. What procedures contributed to that? What procedures stuck out as low? You might be surprised at the answer to both of those questions. Many practice leaders are.

Did any procedures spike in on or two months? When you identify outlier performances for procedures, think back to those months and see if you can identify what was going on with those procedures that month.

When I did this in my practice, I noticed my best months had spikes in sealants, perio, and even dentures. That’s important because many practice leaders don’t think of dentures as a top contributor. We think high revenue will come from crown and bridge or clear aligners. But we did more than $10,000 in denture production during our best month.

Set goals and take action based on what you learn.

There’s a saying in business that people “vote with their wallets.” In other words, while it’s helpful to listen to what patients say, it’s even more helpful to watch what they do.

So, if you see production it tells you your patient pool is interested in those procedures. Take that information and use it to grow your practice and serve your patients better. 

First, set big goals for those procedures. Several years ago, I hired a coach who challenged me to set bigger goals. It started with me setting goals. I was so proud of my goals. She was happy with them, too. But then she told me to double them. I was thinking too small, she explained. If you think too small, you act too small.

So I’d encourage you to set goals for those procedures that start at your best performing months. Set out to make your best month over the past year your lowest month over the next year. When you think bigger, it forces you to take bigger actions.

Once your goals are in place, identify the actions you need to take to make them happen. Identify patients who need those procedures. Get them scheduled. Talk with them about those procedures. 

Turn on some marketing relating to those procedures. Do Facebook Lives about the procedures. Email existing patients about the procedures. 

Talk with your team members about your goals, so they can be on the lookout for patients who might need those procedures. 

Update your sheet weekly and review results at least monthly.

Once you set goals and devise a plan to achieve your goal, have a team member take five minutes per week to input real-time results. It takes just a few minutes for a member of the team to take the production by procedure code report and input the numbers for each service once a week. Update your numbers each week so you have the most up-to-date numbers and can adjust as needed.

At the end of each month, review the results from the past month and adjust goals for the following month as needed. As you hit your goals, you might need to set even bigger goals for the following months.

Are you looking for gaps and identifying opportunities?

If you don’t maintain a sheet of revenue by procedure, you’re missing a big opportunity to find gaps and discover hidden growth opportunities. These simple steps can help you turn that simple information to high growth for your practice in any environment.

If you don't want to go at it alone, we are helping hundreds of practices during this time in our Platinum Mastermind Gold Program, and are offering special value for you and your teams!

 

 

 

How to Increase Hygiene Profitability with Jennifer Turner

by
How to Increase Hygiene Profitability with Jennifer Turner

On this episode of the podcast, I’m thrilled to be joined by Jennifer Turner, our very own Dental Hygiene Profitability Coach at Delivering WOW.

Jennifer helps dental practices drive growth with key metrics, KPI's, scorecards, and business process improvement systems. Essentially, she gives you what you need to run a successful dental practice. Jennifer has had many incredible accomplishments throughout her career, including her former role as the Editor in Chief of Preventive Dentistry Canada, developing numerous webinars and authoring articles within the dental hygiene industry.

Nowadays, Jennifer’s primary focus is helping dentists get ‘the lightbulb moment’ where they learn to believe in themselves, grow their careers and scale their dental practices.

 

How to Increase Hygiene Profitability with Jennifer Turner

 

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Who Jennifer is and what she’s accomplished throughout her career
  • Why Jennifer enjoys making dental professionals see that they are capable of achieving more
  • How Jennifer can help the hygiene department increase revenue
  • The importance of focusing on education to help scale your hygiene department

 

How to Increase Hygiene Profitability with Jennifer Turner

 

If you’d like to learn more from Jennifer and find out how you can grow, scale, and market your dental practice, consider joining the Delivering WOW Platinum Mastermind group, where Jennifer is an active coach and you’ll learn about practice growth, marketing, and so much more!

How to Save on Dental Supplies with Crazy Dental Prices

by
How to Save on Dental Supplies with Crazy Dental Prices

I’m super excited to be joined by Jay Glazer and Howie Friedman from the Crazy Dental Price Club on this episode of the Delivering WOW Podcast to talk about how you can save a lot of money on dental supplies.

Crazy Dental Prices is a dental company and manufacturer authorized dealer. They specialize in finding and offering guaranteed cheapest pricing and the very best in class logistics.

Founded in 1985, Crazy Dentist Prices has decades of experience helping dentists save money on essential supplies. The company operates as a member only service, granting dentists access to crazy low prices on all of their favorite brand name products.

 

How to Save on Dental Supplies with Crazy Dental Prices

 

In this episode, we discuss:

  • What Crazy Dental Prices is known for and how they help dentists save money on supplies
  • How Crazy Dental Prices can help you plan for profits
  • How to make purchasing supplies less stressful and less time-consuming
  • How to know if you need help from an account manager
  • Why you should seriously consider shopping for dental supplies with Crazy Dental Prices

 

How to Save on Dental Supplies with Crazy Dental Prices

 

To find out more about Crazy Dental Prices, check out their website and sign up today to start benefiting from their incredible service.

If you want to save 10% off your order with Crazy Dental Prices, use code WOW10 at checkout.

When you checkout with your first order that’s over $1000, use the code WOWLIGHT and Crazy Dental Prices will send you a FREE curing light!

 

Watch a short video from the episode below:

Three Keys to a Strong Dental Practice Reopening

by

Dental practices around the world are navigating unprecedented times. Some practices have been forced to close completely. Others are open only for emergency care.

Now, practices are beginning to reopen. But reopening doesn’t mean going back to the way things were before. We have new knowledge. We have new concerns. And we have new challenges and opportunities.

If we navigate those well, we can come back stronger than ever. Here are three keys to coming back strong.

Invest in the physical safety measures for your team and patients.

 

Three Keys to a Strong Dental Practice Reopening

 

Physical health and safety is the top concern of patients and team members, and reasonably so. As practice owners, we must address the physical health and safety of everyone who comes in contact with our practices as we reopen.

Our options are limitless, too. We can make physical adjustments to our practice to promote physical distancing, such as plexiglass barriers at the front desk. We can change policies and procedures. For example, you could only allow patients in our office and doing all intake and paperwork in the operatories. You could also check the temperatures of all team members and patients. Finally, we can invest in additional safety protocols.

In my practice, I invested in three USA NanoCoat air purification systems, which utilize NASA-developed photocatalytic oxidation technology to actively purify the air and sanitize surfaces throughout indoor environments. They also destroy viruses and bacteria both in the air and on surfaces by more than 99.6%. If you’re interested in investing in the same air purification systems, use the code WOW10 to get a 10% discount. I recently interviewed their executive director, Jason Field about how their systems work in the free Delivering WOW Facebook community if you want to learn more.

Together, these adjustments help us create a safe environment for everyone who comes into contact with my practice.

Maintain consistent communication with your team members and patients.

 

Three Keys to a Strong Dental Practice Reopening

 

While we know what we’re doing to ensure our practice is a safe place, our patients and team members might not know everything we’re doing, and why.

This is important because other doctors, team members, and patients are rightfully concerned about their physical safety these days. Thus, not only is it important for us to invest in safety measures, we should also communicate what we are doing to our team members and patients.

Use every channel you have to communicate with them. Do a Facebook Live walking through the safety measures. Then, boost your video to patients and your community to spread the word.

Put a new page on your website that shares everything you’re doing to keep your practice safe. Send your patients an email or text message directing them to that page.

And make sure your team members know what you’re doing, too, so they feel safe and comfortable coming to work.

Don’t let it be a one-and-done communication, either. Communicate regularly about what you’re doing so everyone knows you take their safety seriously.

Be a leader in your community.

 

Three Keys to a Strong Dental Practice Reopening

 

I’m consistently asking myself how I can be a better leader in my community, not just in my practice. I challenge my Delivering WOW Platinum Mastermind members to do the same, too.

So, how do we be leaders in the community? We start by creating a safe environment and staying in communication with our patients and team members. In addition, we do things such as investing in the best and latest technology and top systems and processes to keep everyone safe. We research PPE. We research air quality. And we research tools and technologies to help create safe spaces.

We then share that information readily in the community. We connect with other business owners in the community and share what we found out and are doing for our businesses. This helps them make better decisions for their businesses, too.

Are you preparing for a strong dental practice reopening?

As you prepare to reopen your practice, invest in safety, communicate with your team and patients, and continue your role as a leader in your community. That will help you come back strong as you reopen your dental practice.

If you want to learn more about the purification systems I got for my practice, visit USA NanoCoat’s website and check them out. Be sure to use the code WOW10 at checkout to save 10%.

And, if you want more help improving your business, join me and thousands of other practice leaders in my free Delivering WOW Facebook community!

 

 

Protect your Practice in Difficult Times with Dental Safety Net

by
Protect your Practice in Difficult Times with Dental Safety Net

Have you ever worried about what would happen to your dental practice if you were unable to work?

Jordan and Bryan Brenner wanted to create a safety net for dentists so that they would be protected in their time of need. So, they co-founded Dental Safety Net, a company that connects dentists to help support each other during difficult times.

Dental Safety Net is a network of dentists and practitioners who are willing to go above and beyond for their fellow doctors. Their mission is to provide peace of mind for dentists and their families in times of need. If you have to unexpectedly stop working for whatever reason, Dental Safety Net has your back. They make sure that your business is protected as well as you and your family’s financial well-being.

In this episode of Delivering WOW, I talk to Jordan and Bryan Brenner about their company and how they can help dentists when life takes an unexpected turn.

 

Protect your Practice in Difficult Times with Dental Safety Net

 

In this episode, we discuss:

  • How Bryan and Jordan launched Dental Safety Net
  • What Dental Safety Net is and how they can help give dentists peace of mind
  • The power of forming groups of dentists to support each other
  • What it’s like to be a member of Dental Safety Net
  • How Dental Safety Net has helped real dentists in difficult times
  • How to become a member of Dental Safety Net

 

Protect your Practice in Difficult Times with Dental Safety Net

 

To learn more about Dental Safety Net, you can visit their website or give them a call (206) 880-0513.

 

Watch a short video from the episode below:

3 Ways to Create Recurring Revenue for Your Practice

by

With all that's going on with the pandemic, many practices have been forced to close or stay open only for emergency care. Times are tough. There's no doubt about that. But we will recover. As we do, there's plenty of work we can do behind-the-scenes to prepare our practices for the future.

That means putting the right preparations in place to make your practice stronger than ever once things start coming back. Your practice can grow again. And it will grow again if you build growth into your recovery plan. One of the best ways to build growth into the day-to-day operations of your practice is to offer services that generate repeat visits and recurring revenue. Here are three ways you can promote recurring revenue in your practice.

Offer and regularly promote teeth whitening.

 

3 Ways to Create Recurring Revenue for Your Practice

 

People aren’t always coming to our dental practice to receive treatment. They're not always coming in to improve their dental health. Often, they’re coming to make their smile shine brighter. And while many practices offer teeth whitening, many still do not. Of those that do, many leave a lot of opportunity on the table by not promoting it consistently. If you fall into either one of those categories, now might be the time to start offering or promoting your teeth whitening.

Teeth whitening is easy to do.  It's nice and quick and can create a great source of recurring revenue for your practice. It might be a low-ticket offer, but it can bring in a high volume of patients. And it can add additional revenue opportunities from existing patients who might have no idea how easy it can be to leave your office with a bright white smile.

Teeth whitening services can be very helpful in growing many parts of your practice, too. You could offer a deal for a first-whitening. Or you could offer it as a free add-on service for high-value procedures.

But teeth whitening is also just a great add-on service you and your team can offer all patients who come through the door. They will leave feeling better about themselves while you enjoy being able to grow your practice and earn recurring revenue from future whitening sessions.

Conduct oral cancer screenings.

 

3 Ways to Create Recurring Revenue for Your Practice

 

Preventative care in dentistry takes many forms. Hygienists can find periodontal disease before it progresses. They can offer treatment methods to preserve a patient's gum health and subsequently preserve their heart health. Dentists can extract teeth in order to avoid crowding as well as the pain and dental issues that will result from the crowding. 

All of those things can lead to health problems down the line, which helps patients in many ways. But we can also help patients while growing our practices and adding recurring revenue to our practices by conducting regular oral cancer screenings. 

Offering oral cancer screenings won’t only help save lives, but it’ll help you create recurring revenue for your practice. Patients often readily agree to screenings and both you and your patients sleep easier knowing you're helping them catch issues early.

Create a dental membership program.

 

3 Ways to Create Recurring Revenue for Your Practice

 

Offering membership plans for your dental practice is a great way to better serve your patients while simultaneously generate recurring revenue for your practice.

Dental membership programs give patients an alternative to insurance, which often gets in the way of dental care instead of helping patients get better dental care. Frequently, the complications of dental insurance causes many patients to pay more out-of-pocket than they should. Many times, patients choose to forego treatment they need for financial reasons.

With dental membership programs, you can offer patients more choice and freedom with their care while simultaneously generating regular monthly income for your practice. This will be especially important for patients who lose their insurance and need an alternative way to get the care they need.

What options have you implemented in your practice to unlock recurring revenue?

There are many ways to strengthen a dental practice. You can invest in leading your dental team well. You can invest in Facebook marketing for your dental practice. And you can build dental marketing funnels. The list goes on. But some of my favorite ways to strengthen a dental practice are the ones that simultaneously help patients improve their health while generating recurring revenue from your practice. These three strategies can help you do both of those things in your practice. What are you doing to unlock recurring revenue?

And, if you want more help improving your business, join me and thousands of other practice leaders in my free Delivering WOW Facebook community!

 

Why You Need to Invest in Team Training with Laura Hatch

by
Why You Need to Invest in Team Training with Laura Hatch

As dental professionals, we all want to provide the best care possible for our patients. But, it’s not just about your capability and skill as a dentist. Delivering ‘WOW’ to patients starts with the front office team and making sure patients have a great experience from the moment they schedule an appointment to the moment they leave the practice.

So, how can you make sure you’re delivering a WOW experience to each of your patients?

Joining me on this episode of the Delivering WOW Podcast is Laura Hatch, the Chief Vision Officer at Front Office Rocks. Laura is committed to learning how to manage and empower team members. She is a Fellow of the American Association of Dental Office Managers, a national and international speaker for dental authorities like AADOM, Patterson, and Mid-Atlantic Dental Society, and has been recognized as one of DPR’s Top 25 Women in Dentistry for 2016.

She and her team at Front Office Rocks help dental practices train their teams in a way that makes sense for them. They focus on patient retention and carry out training online through videos and webinars, which means you can train your entire team whenever and wherever your staff learns best, desktop, phone, or tablet.

 

Why You Need to Invest in Team Training with Laura Hatch

 

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Tips to improve training processes in your practice
  • Why you should always schedule a time for training
  • The importance of investing in training
  • Why investing in your team is the best investment you’ll ever make
  • The connection between the front and back office of your practice

 

Why You Need to Invest in Team Training with Laura Hatch

 

Want to learn more about Front Office Rocks and their training? Visit their website and discover how they can help change the way you train your team!

Don’t forget to grab a copy of Laura’s book, ‘Step Away from the Drill: Your Dental Front Office Handbook to Accelerate Training and Elevate Customer Service.’

To watch a video trailer of the episode, hit play below:

 

How to Create a Dental Membership Program with Jordon Comstock

by
How to Create a Dental Membership Program with Jordon Comstock

Are you thinking about creating a dental membership program for your patients?

Dental membership programs can help dentists better-serve their patients. But, this type of dental membership can also help generate predictable recurring revenue for your practice and in this episode of Delivering WOW, you’ll find out how.

I’m joined by the founder and CEO of BoomCloud, Jordon Comstock. BoomCloud is a dental membership software company that enables dentists to reduce dependence on dental insurance by creating an in-house membership program for their practice. They make it easy for dental practices to administer membership programs that generate recurring revenue, attract uninsured patients, retain patients and help increase case acceptance.

 

How to Create a Dental Membership Program with Jordon Comstock

 

In this episode, we discuss:

  • How BoomCloud helps dental practices build dental membership programs
  • How a dental membership program can help you to create and maintain an additional income stream for your practice
  • The benefits of building a dental membership program
  • Why patients want to sign-up for dental memberships
  • The problem with traditional dental insurance companies
  • How a dental membership can reduce your dependence on third-party insurance companies
  • How dental memberships help to increase patient loyalty and retention
  • A brief overview of monthly and yearly pricing plans

 

How to Create a Dental Membership Program with Jordon Comstock

 

To find out more about creating Dental Membership Programs with help from BoomCloud, visit their website or email Jordon directly – jordon@boomcloudapps.com

You can also download Jordon’s eBook – How to Create & Grow a Dental Membership Program.

 

Check out this short video trailer of the episode below:

4 Words to Avoid When Presenting Treatment Plans

by

Accepting treatment is a big decision for any patient, especially when high-value procedures are involved. It can cost a lot, and it can be scary for some patients when you tell them the best plan of action is to do something uncomfortable like get a tooth extracted.

No matter how scary the procedure is to patients, there’s a lot you can do to get patients to accept your treatment plan. For example, acting personable and caring and having the right systems in place can help. But one thing a lot of dentists overlook is word choice. In fact, you can immediately improve case acceptance by avoiding these four simple words.

“Maybe”

 

4 Words to Avoid When Presenting Treatment Plans

 

If something is “a maybe,” it’ll likely be a “no.” Maybe conveys a lack of confidence. It conveys a lack of urgency. So, if a patient asks whether they need to address an issue, answer confidently. And when you suggest something to a patient, be clear. Never say, “Maybe we should fix this issue.” Instead, say “We should fix this issue” or “Yes, fixing this issue will improve your health.”

Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you’re at a dermatologist, and after examining your skin they tell you they’re worried about a mole and want to remove it. Most people would be less likely to pay for them to cut it off if they said, “Maybe we should remove this mole.” They’d be more likely to ask about alternative treatments or whether the mole can be tested before spending the money on removing a mole that turns out to be not problematic.

Most people would be more willing to accept treatment if the dermatologist says, “We need to remove this mole. It poses a threat to your health.” That decisiveness makes removing the mole an urgent matter that is putting the patient’s well-being in jeopardy.

“Cheap”

When you tell people something is cheap, there are usually two thoughts that will go through their head. The first is that if it’s cheap, then it’s low-cost. The second is that if it’s cheap, then it’s low-quality.

“Cheap” is a harsh word. Always be replaced with “affordable” or in terms of “value.” When someone tells you something is affordable or a good value, it comes across as being low-cost but without the negative connotation of it being low-quality. Thus, when talking with patients, talk about procedures being affordable or a good value instead of cheap.

“Cost”

 

4 Words to Avoid When Presenting Treatment Plans

 

Speaking of low-cost, avoid saying the word “cost” to a patient when discussing treatment. For example, if you tell a patient that getting an implant is going to cost them $5,000, they will immediately think of how much money they have in the bank. If they don’t have $5,000 in the bank (or a credit card with a high available credit that they’re willing to tap into), they are less likely to move forward. When discussing financial terms, focus on monthly payment plans instead of the total price and let them know you have several ways to help them fit their treatment needs into their budgets. Most patients think in those terms.

Instead of discussing “costs,” focus most of your discussions on the “value” of the procedure. That makes patients think about your treatment plan as an investment in achieving an outcome they desire. For example, you might say “The real value is having a fully-functioning smile again. You’ll be able to eat what you want. You won’t have to remove your dentures anymore. And you’ll be able to avoid large expenses that come from your teeth shifting or bone loss.”

Reminding patients of the value of your treatment plan and the outcomes they will receive, helps them better appreciate the benefits of moving forward with your plan.

“Problem”

While it might seem logical for people to try to “solve” problems, the reality is most people try to avoid them. Thus, when you describe something as a “problem” to a patient, many patients will instinctively push back or procrastinate. “Problems” feel big to patients. And big feels expensive to patients. Thus, of the patients who are of the mindset to find a solution—rather than to procrastinate—many will seek second opinions, giving another practice an opportunity to woo your patients.

Instead of the word “problem,” reframe your presentation using the word “issue.” It’s a gentler way of saying there’s a situation with their teeth that can be resolved through the treatment plan you’re presenting to them. Thus, instead of “the problem with your tooth is,” you might say, “there’s an issue with a tooth in the bottom right of your mouth that requires” and then present your treatment plan to the patient. Your patient is much less likely to push back when you present the issue rather than a problem.

Have you been using these four words when presenting your treatment plans to patients?

 

4 Words to Avoid When Presenting Treatment Plans

 

Consistent case acceptance can make or break your practice. Word choice might seem like a nuance that doesn’t amount to much but patients are much more likely to move forward with treatment plans when you avoid these four words.

If you want more strategies to help you increase case acceptance, plus coaching for you and your team, and more, join our Delivering WOW Platinum Coaching Program today.

 

Summit Shoutout with Elijah Desmond

by
Summit Shoutout with Elijah Desmond

 

I’m so excited about this year’s Delivering WOW Live Summit, which takes place in New Orleans, LA on March 13th – 14th 2020! This is the ultimate event for dental practices, where you’ll receive 12 hours of incredible continued education and come away from the event with everything you need to take your dental practice to the next level of success.

I’m happy to announce that my good friend, Elijah Desmond, is one of the incredible speakers at this year’s Summit.

Elijah is the Founder of Smiles at Sea and one of the best speakers, entrepreneurs, and people I know, which is just a few of the reasons why I’m so excited to have him join us at the Delivering WOW Live Summit in March. He’s also a fantastic motivator, author, and innovator!

Elijah’s work on bringing emotional intelligence into dentistry is ground-breaking and will change our industry for the better. He believes that our patients’ experiences aren’t just about providing dental treatment as a service and ‘getting the job done,’ they’re about connection and understanding.

He’s going to be delivering the most amazing deep dive on compassion and connection at the Summit and joins me in this special episode to dazzle us with a sneak preview of his talk.

If you’ve ever wondered how you can build better relationships with your patients, what your patients really want from their experience, and how to make it all happen authentically – you need to hear this!

 

Summit Shoutout with Elijah Desmond

 

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Why emotional intelligence is so important in dentistry
  • Why patients want more than a service
  • When it’s the perfect time to start connecting with your patients
  • What the one thing is that patients want to feel when they contact your practice
  • More details of Elijah’s plans for the Delivering WOW Summit
  • How the Summit will be about experience and community as much as education
  • The fact Elijah will be officially debuting his alter-ego – DJ Smile – after months of training

 

Summit Shoutout with Elijah Desmond

 

To find out more about Elijah and his work, you can visit his website or find him on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube.

Want to attend the Delivering WOW Live Summit 2020 and hear Elijah’s incredible speech for yourself? I don’t blame you! Get your tickets today! But hurry, seats to this year’s Delivering WOW Live Summit are going fast!

Check out this short video trailer of the episode where Elijah talks about building a connection with your dental patients:

How to Always Get the Best Work From Your Team

by

 

You can deliver the best dental care in the world, have the latest technology, and serve the most gourmet coffee to your patients, but you can’t run a WOW practice without an amazing team.

One of the best ways to make your team do great work is to make them feel a part of the process. When they feel like they’re a part of a practice family and are contributing to achieving your practice story, they’ll be more motivated and happier to wake up in the morning and come to work. They’ll feel their role is meaningful.

So how do you achieve that? One of the best ways to do that is to create a culture in which both you and your team are open to receiving feedback from one another. This creates a safe environment for growth and support and ensures you and your team are constantly improving. With many leaders, this can be a struggle because many of us feel like we need to have all the answers. But when we hire the best team members, their talents and experiences will complement ours and make their feedback extremely valuable to elevating our practices to a whole different level.

Here are three keys to creating a culture in which giving and receiving feedback leads to consistent growth and high performance.

Always ask for feedback.

 

How to Always Get the Best Work From Your Team

 

Many times, team members are uncomfortable giving feedback to the doctors. It’s a natural concern for people to be concerned giving feedback to their leaders—especially when it’s constructive criticism.

To make your team members more comfortable with giving you feedback, ask for it. Also, ask for it in a very specific area, and request suggestions for improvement. The more focused and specific you are, the easier it will be for someone to respond. For example, you could ask, “Do you have any suggestions for how we can adjust how we schedule to improve production?”

Also, try to get a more rounded perspective when asking for feedback. Ask a number of team members for input when it makes sense to do so. Get everyone involved.

Be grateful for feedback even if you don’t like it.

 

How to Always Get the Best Work From Your Team

 

Receiving feedback helps build vulnerability-based trust and a safe environment where people help each other improve. You don’t have to agree or disagree with what they have to say. Just thank them for having the confidence to try to help you improve. By encouraging it, you also won’t seem hypocritical when you give someone feedback.

For example, it’s hard to not get upset when someone says you were tone-deaf with a patient. But if you want to get the best work from yourself, you have to take a step back and be objective about their feedback.

Everyone has room for improvement. If everyone is able to look at constructive criticism pragmatically, you can start to create a culture of consistent improvement.

Encourage everyone to seek feedback from patients.

 

How to Always Get the Best Work From Your Team

 

Make sure everyone on your team looks for feedback from patients. In your office or online, what do they say? What can you read into how they act when they are in your chair? And what is their body language like when they are in your chair?

Team members aren’t the only ones who can give you feedback, but they can be a very helpful resource for gathering patient feedback. Make sure they pay attention to all forms of feedback from them, and not just from the online reviews.

When you receive feedback from patients, react the same way you would with a team member delivering feedback. Be grateful for it, and look for the practical takeaways you and your team can use to improve.

Are you getting amazing work from your team consistently?

Nobody is perfect, and nobody is going to do everything right all the time. We all have development areas. The best way to improve everyone's performance is to ask for feedback, be grateful when we receive it, and encourage everyone to seek feedback from patients. Then, you will create a culture of constant growth and improvement with a free flow of feedback in all directions. It will set the standard that all team members are expected to do their best work and constantly improve—leaders included.

If you want to learn more about building a practice culture in which everyone thrives, join our Delivering WOW Platinum Coaching program, and start learning from the best experts in the dental industry today!

Join The DentAl Boss MovemenT Facebook Group...

Join today!

Join over
0

Dental Professionals Just Like You in the Dental Boss Movement FREE Facebook Group

Follow Us

Facebook-f
Instagram
Youtube
Twitter

Join our Free Community

Join The Dental Boss MOVEment Facebook Group

Privacy Policy

Terms and Conditions

Copyright © 2020 All Rights Reserved