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4 Rules of Hiring the Right Dental Practice Management Consultant

By: admin

April 29, 2013

The majority of dentists have not studied business management in college. Our economic climate is a cold one today which means your business skills must be at a high level to be a successful business owner. The same systems and services that made a dental office successful ten years ago no longer work for business profitability.

Many challenges such as dental hygiene department strategies/systems, treatment presentation, time management and getting your patients to pay for treatment are some of the solutions we can bring to a dental practice.

The four rules to success:

How to know if a dental practice management consultant is the best one for you:

1) Follow a path to success – When you hire a dental practice management consultant, you are going to have homework to do. It will not be a lot of time but there will be some initial work to close the gap between where you are today and where you should be tomorrow. This is something you will greatly benefit from in the long run. When your consultant has the correct information, in the beginning, it is much easier to create a plan for the office to run smoothly and create the increase in profits.

2) Superior clinical skills will not take your practice to the next level –Many dentists have gone through special training to advance their clinical skills and they are now have amazing clinical skills. These dentists are also expecting to increase their profits after completing this extensive training. Usually the result of these training courses is that production remains the same.

These are the dentists who call a dental practice management consultant because they cannot understand why their clinical skills have not taken their practice profits into the stratosphere.

What I recommend is a complimentary check of your practice’ vital signs. This allows me to take a closer look at your systems and where the gap is in your practice potential.

I am not saying that having this advanced clinical training is a poor choice but it is not going to increase your profit potential if specific systems are not in place.

3) Practice-management systems must be strategically created – Many dentists go through programs with dental practice management consultants and gain nothing other than a depletion of funds in their bank account. It is important that you choose a dental practice management consultant who can implement proven strategic systems for your dental practice and one that has a track record of success for many years.

4) Your Dental Hygiene Department – is a big profit potential for every general dental office. In order for your dental hygiene department to be profitable you need to have a philosophy of care for disease intervention at the earliest stage and a formula to prevent systemic disease for your patients.

Communication skills are going to be a very important piece for transitioning your patients of record into the various services you offer. Your comprehensive clinical refinements must be merged into your treatment plans for case acceptance to increase.

When hiring a consultant to increase profits in your dental hygiene department your consultant must be able to lead your team to refine and merge your philosophy of practice, the clinical skills with your practice and business systems. This is what will create a profitable and very successful dental practice.

The Success Formula – is a very simple formula. Not only does it require clinical excellence and your practice management systems to be in place but there are a few other factors that will take you to a higher level. Having the right people on your team will make it much easier to get there. This combination of choosing the right consultant, having excellent clinical skills, a profitable dental hygiene department, effective communication and the right people on your team will mean you are closer to creating success and a profitable dental practice.

A Plan to Change Patients’ Lives ‘One Smile at a Time!’

By: admin

April 18, 2013

“Dentistry is about changing lives!” I had no idea when I chose to become a dental hygienist that I would be able to help patients live a longer and healthier life! Besides providing optimal health we also create beautiful smiles!

How does a dental office plan to create beautiful smiles, optimal patient health, be profitable and with little to now stress? The answer lies in how you begin your day. You may rush into the office at the last minute but if you take time to breathe, meet as a team for 10-15 minutes and prepare for a dream day at the office, everything else can be like the icing on the cake!

Start your day at the office or the day before by reviewing the patient charts. Then discuss as a team, the days patients, challenges, difficult personalities, pre-medication, special needs, exams, x-rays, exams needed, emergency time available, etc. The morning team meeting is where you can create your plan for success and it is where the profitability is maximized for the practice. Make sure you have an effective plan not just recite who is coming into the office. Talk about bottlenecks, who has outstanding treatment and where ER appointments can be fit in, etc. This is not a good time to flip through charts but to come prepared with valuable information to share with each other.

Have your financial coordinator or the office manager report to your office production and collections. Are you on track and what will you do when there is a decrease production? Allow the team to experience bliss when there is an increase in production! What is your plan to celebrate success?

Communication

If you want success treating patients with aesthetic and periodontal disease communication is key. Annually have your patient complete a smile evaluation during the hygiene appointment.

Ask you patient to complete a small intake form about their smile when they check in for their appointment. When the patient is seated in the chair have the hygienist give the patient a mirror, show the patient a shade guide and have the patient pick what shade they believe they are according to the guide. You will soon find out you open doors to aesthetic treatment that patients never would have dreamed about completing.

Use the intraoral camera to document not only restorative concerns but bleeding, heavy calculus and plaque.

Ask yourself these questions: “Did I ask my patient the right kind of questions? “Did I ask questions that only allowed my patient to answer yes or no?” “Did I ask my patient to express their ideas and concerns?” Did you really understand emotions inside of your patient?” If you answered “No” to any of these questions, there is a good chance your patient will not be satisfied with the outcome, regardless of how clinically sound any treatment is presented. It is possible that your patient may not be in the right frame of mind to hear your answers to their questions.

Sit down at a team meeting and know what questions you need to be asking patients.

Treatment Planning

Treatment planning for aesthetic dentistry and all preventive treatment concerns should be a group effort. This includes doctor, the entire team, the lab and even referral dentists. Your patient expectations need to be met for the entire process of communication, case acceptance and future patient relationships to continue. It is very important that patients understand their end result and personal benefits for completing treatment recommendations.

Sit down as a team and discover what your patients really want. Have you taken a patients survey to understand what they really want from you as their dental healthcare provider? How do you measure the success of your communication and listening skills? What percentages of treatment plans are outstanding? How do you know that patient understand the benefits and why they really need the treatment completed?

When was the last time you assessed your outstanding treatment plans? What is your plan to get those treatment plans completed this year? When was the last time you discussed outstanding treatment and alternative options with those patients?

Get to “YES!”

Of course you want your patients to respond with “YES!” You just need to know what questions to ask them. Listen closely to their answers and what their body language as they are speaking. They are giving you their honesty with many non-verbal clues.

Creating the Plan

Each morning, come prepared to discuss options to hear more patients say “YES!” each day. Monitor your successes and keep track of the outstanding treatment plans. If you find many patients leave the office saying “I need to think about it” or “Let me talk to my husband” let me suggest it is time to look at your verbal skills and make some changes in your communication skills.

We are in the business of changing people’s lives. We really can change each patient’s life just one smile at a time. Imagine the great feeling and rewards you will experience if you can change a smile that your patient has never imagined possible!

Communication, planning, and execution can go a long way when you provide optimal health and excellent aesthetic dentistry. Now we’re talking success!

Forever White™ : How to Keep Patients Coming Back!

By: admin

January 4, 2013

I recently spoke at a dental conference and asked the audience “What is one thing that your patients want more than any other procedure?” 100% of the attendees answered in harmony “WHITER TEETH!”

You may be offering patients something they never knew they really wanted so here is how to open up the conversation.

Step One
While patients are seated in the treatment room and as you are reviewing the patient medical history, ask a few simple questions. One of the questions can be something such as: “Mrs. Jones, if there is one thing you could change about your smile, what would that be?” Wait for her to answer. This is not a yes or no answer but allow the patient to think of their own answer. It must be answer that doesn’t require a “yes” or “no” but their honest opinion about their teeth. Most of us have at least one thing we would like to change about our smile or how we can look better! We are our own best and worst critic!

Another question you may want to ask is “Mr. Holmes, If I could wave a magic wand and create any wish about your teeth or smile, what would you wish for?” Now that can be a powerful question, as well as get a smile from most people you ask this question!

Asking one of these two questions or developing your own simple questions about how a patient would like to change their smile, can open the door for more cosmetic procedures. Most will want teeth whitening, Invisalign®, Six-Month Smiles®, Veneers, Ortho or even implants. Give it a try for the next month and keep account of the additional services that can come out of your dental hygiene appointments and of course new patient appointments!

Ask a few simple questions to your patients about their smile and you will create a consistent profit stream to your dental practice.

Changing Lives One Smile at a Time
As a dental professional you and your team are changing lives. You are able to truly change the way people feel every day about themselves.

“White teeth is one of the first things people notice about a persons appearance. You have the valuable expertise to not only change how long and healthy your patients live but also how beautiful their smile is. A smile can affect their day to day life in a positive way!”

Men and women of all ages throughout the world are now opting for teeth whitening to improve their smile.

Many patients today are still clueless about the variety of various products and this is why it is very important to educate your patients on the variety of whitening products and procedures you have available to patients in your office.

Keep Them Coming Back for More
For several years, dental offices have seen a decline in New Patient numbers. I see advertisements through social living sites and Google Ads; dentists are spending thousands of dollars in advertising for new patients.

I would never say not to advertise to increase New Patient numbers, but I know there are two ways to get production numbers up as well as New Patient numbers.

If you advertise for New Patients, I suggest that you include teeth whitening in the New Patient fee. (YES! At no charge) You can easily and cost-effectively offer free whitening in your dental office and every six months when the patient returns offer them a free whitening syringe. There is a simple way to deliver this without losing money but gaining patient loyalty and also referrals from your patients. You will gain more attention with your ad if you include the whitening in the New Patient appointment.

The thought here is “give patients something they really want” and use whitening as an incentive for keeping their regularly scheduled hygiene appointments.

There are many patient loyalty programs available to dental practices but they have a hefty monthly fee to participate. Forever White™ is a Premium Patient Incentive Program that has no monthly enrollment fee for the dental practice. Forever White™ is a system for dentists to use and create other income streams.

Forever White™ is a premium patient incentive program dentists can market and brand as their own. View it as a private label program that the dentist can offer their patients, that they can’t get just anywhere. The office will be using the same quality premium whitening gel but at half the price. This means the dentist keeps their patients and more money stays in the dental practice.
It also can used to reactivate those overdue patients and helps to gain patient loyalty. A series of calls and letters are sent to the patients explaining the premium whitening program. The best part of this type of program is that whitening only costs the dentist a few dollars (Pounds, EURO) to use because of the special pricing offered to dentists worldwide.

Why Does This Concept Work Well?
One of the reasons this concept works so well is because patients feel like a VIP when they are given the special treatment. Patients will respond kindly when you give them what they want. People feel much better about themselves when they see a beautiful smile. This is what will give you a competitive edge over other dental offices down the street or even a few miles away.

This is also a fantastic tool to get a “YES!” from patients to continue with further restorative needs. The whitening is only the tip of the iceberg.
Not only do your patients have a reason to smile, they have a great reason to continue returning to your office and you will also smile when your bank account grows over your 2012 balance!

Need more information about how to order? Send us an email: support@dentalpracticesolutions.com or call us: 503-970-1122

Toll-free: 888-816-1511

Please note:

* There is no monthly membership charge. You are only charged the wholesale price for the whitening gel. We provide the materials at no additional cost to you so you can reactivate, retrain your patients why their hygiene appointment is so important and your will retain your patients for life! We coach and guide you to utilize whitening most successfully.

Our product has a 100% guarantee! If you are not satisfied send it back. We’ll return your money paid for the product. That is how confident we are you will love Forever White™!

What is the Location/Destination Listed on Your GPS?

By: admin

December 13, 2012

You will not reach your destination if you don’t have the final location listed on your GPS. Can you imagine jumping into your car with your family and driving for hours without knowing where you are going? Frustration, confusion and questions are certain to pop up.

While taking that family road trip, definitely, the kids will ask:

“How long ‘til we get there?”

“Do we have enough gas to get there?”

“Do we have enough money for this trip?”

“Are we on the right road?”

And also without a doubt, everyone else after a long drive will ask “Where the heck are we going?!”

When I talk to dentists, I hear them say “I fly by the seat of my pants,” and others just tell me “I don’t know what I am doing next week let alone six or nine months from now.”

Years will pass and many dentists (Business owners) have never taken time to discover their financial destination. In today’s world if this is you, it’s most likely your profits are down.

The uncertainty about what is achievable tends to prevent many of us, particularly new dentists, from determining what we want to achieve throughout our life as business people – entrepreneurs. (Did I really say entrepreneur?!)

Once you decide on a final destination, you can and need to plan appropriately to actually arrive. What is the goal of your destination? People will be most likely to reach the goals that are set. Remember about the “self fulfilling prophecy”? It is very true in this situation.

When you have failed to plan, you drive blind-folded. Once you decide where you want to go, your efforts, consciousness, and even subconsciously, you are now geared up for success.

When you take time to plan you can create the perfect budget, understand how many days, (i.e. How many hygiene days do you really need? Not just what you have scheduled every year but what needs to be scheduled for 2013) you really need to work in 2013 to accomplish the goals and you can work with the correct number of employees to accomplish your goals. One of my favorite authors Stephen Covey, wrote in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” that it is essential to “begin with the end in mind.” I have learned a lot about planning from this book and others he writes.

Planning is how success is found and your profits will increase.

Now I will ask you the 60 million dollar question:

“Do you know where you want to go?”

“Do you know what to do to reactivate those 200+ overdue hygiene patients?”

“What is your plan to increase profits over 100k in 2013?”

“How much more would you like to take home in 2013?”

“Do you wish to work 200 days or 150 days in 2013?”

“Have you take time to map our how you can do work 175 days in 2013, working smarter and not so hard?”

“What is your plan to do it?”

As a business owner and dentist, you have an incredible amount of freedom and flexibility to create a wide variety of future destinations, for yourself and your family. You are in a great profession and provide an important service to the people in your community. Patients come to you and you have the tools to create a healthier and happier patient.

Once you have created your plan and written down your destination, you’ll be amazed at how energized you will become. Your mph or kilometers per hour will ramp up! It is amazing how much time is freed up in your brain and now you have time to think about new strategies for success. Strategies that you never before had time to think about.

You will create a whole new world. And guess what?

This is YOUR World! Stop focusing on “what may be” but now, today, focus on what YOU want.

What is it that you want in 2013?

Important Points to Understand and Increase Your Net Production

By: admin

October 20, 2012

Most Dentists today tell me their primary concern is to increase New Patient numbers. Do you know how much it costs you to market and then capture a new patient? What is the cost to you if you can reactivate a current patient of record?

Many dental offices are eager to spend money on external marketing efforts to capture new patients when in fact they are cutting back on dollars spent on building patient loyalty and getting patients back to the office. What makes you think that a new patient will be better than a patient you have not seen in the past year?

If you have limited dollars in your practice today, the best way to spend any money to raise patient numbers is spend any money available on your existing patient base. How much does it cost you to lose an employee? This is the same when you lose a patient of record. A lot of time and money is lost!

Benefits of Retaining Patients

Increasing your patient retention numbers will boost your profits and minimize other costs such as marketing for new patients.

Not only does retaining your current patients boost your profits just by having then visit the hygienist on a regular basis but imagine the dollars the current patients will spend when you offer various services such as:

Oral Cancer Screening technology/tests
CAMBRA (Caries Management by Risk Assessment)
Non-surgical periodontal services, adjuncts, lasers, etc.
Same-day services (Such as Whitening, fluoride, night guards, etc.)
Home-care products
Cosmetic dentistry
Implants
Six-month Smiles, Invisalign
Etc.

Your long term patients most likely have a great rapport with you and the team. Their trust factor is high. They are most likely to accept your treatment recommendations.

Do you know the average money spent from your current patients per visit? The longer the history for the patient of record the more comfortable they will be spending money in your office.

Statistics tell us that in dentistry we have a 70% chance that our patients will accept treatment but only 20-25% of patients schedule an appointment to complete treatment and pay for this.

The average dental practice loses 10-15% of their patient base annually due to patients moving, dying or just because they changed insurance providers. This means that if you have an active patient base of 1500 patients you will lose 150-180 patients annually. During this current economic climate case acceptance in general is low and with many practices gaining less than 20 New Patients per month, your revenue is very low!

The company New Patients, Inc. did a study in 2003 and found that the lifetime value of a patient is $1,502.27. When you adjust the rate of inflation you have a lifetime value of at least $2,000.00, as of 2011.

You can estimate the loss of value with the inactive patients by multiplying the total number of inactive patients by $2,000.00 –the current lifetime value of your patient.

Imagine that if you lose just 150 patients in 2012, your lost revenues will equal $300,000.00. Now that can hurt!

But let’s get to the bottom of this challenge and create solutions.

1. Count the active patients in the practice
a. This is the # of patients who have been to the office in the past 12 months
b. Not a surprise when you see this # is different that the number of patients in your database
c. Review these numbers each month at the team meeting and
d. Create systems to grow your patient post

2. Survey your patients
a. Ask patients about their recent visit
b. Did you meet their expectations?
i. Did they enjoy their experience?
ii. Did they have to wait?
iii. Do they feel comfortable referring their friends and family?
iv. Do they have frustrations? Any challenges?
v. Are there services they wish to have but you did not offer?
c. You can use www.surveymonkey and email to those patients who informed you that it is ok to contact them by email.
d. Offer a gift, something of value from your office, in return for their response
e. Once you have 75-100 responses discuss these at your next team meeting
i. Any frustrated patients or needs you have not met, be sure to correct these and let the patients know you have addressed their frustration or need

3. Create a WOW experience. One like no other office in your area!
Many patients will come to your office because of your fees but there will be many who come to your office because of the team, their personal relationship and the specific culture of your dental office.

Each patient is different. Their needs vary and so do their personalities. Make sure that everyone on the team is able to effectively communicate with the various personality types. You can go here to update your skills and assessment of personality types: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Treat your patients with honesty. If you say you will call them back, call them back at the time promised. If the fees change explain why and show them where this was projected to change. Be sincere in everything you do, say and stand for.

This is how you will continue to keep their trust and remain credible.

When you know your patients expectations and over deliver you will have them at WOW and create raving fans!

Meet with you team and discuss one thing that you can do now to create more fans and WOW them even more.

4. Communicate
a. Your website is a great place to communicate with current and New Patients
b. Does your website have an area to submit questions?
c. Do you use social media to keep patients up-to-date with happenings in your office?
d. How will you communicate special offers to your patients?
i. And/or New Services?
e. Email patients and/or post on social media about courses you and the team are completing
f. Post and communicate about any changes in the office
i. New employees
ii. New equipment, chairs, services, etc
iii. Tell them interesting health facts
g. Find various communication methods to keep patients in the loop between their dental appointments
i. Social media
ii.Newsletters
iii. Email
iv. Educate, educate, educate
v. Etc.

5. Reactivation tips
a. Call patients who cancel an appointment and don’t reschedule within the next 48 hrs
i. Ask when they cancel and don’t reschedule if you can call them to reschedule at X date at Y time
ii.Make a point to call and reschedule at this scheduled time!
b. Plan to have a reactivation system in place and use this every 3 months to send post cards, various letters at specific times, etc.
i. Just like collections: the longer the person owes money, the less likely you will receive payment
* Same thing with reactivating patients – don’t delay the process!
ii. Run reports to reactivate overdue patients every month and send the various letters approximately every 90 days
iii. Add the date of last appointment
iv. Make the letter directly from the doctor showing concern
v. Follow up with a live phone call from the team when there is no response to the letter
* Goal of call is to schedule the patient

The key factor to the success of every dental practice is reactivating patients. If your patients can experience a sense of loyalty you will experience higher profits and practice growth. You need to implement a strong reactivation system to prevent the loss of 10% or higher in your patient base.

Reactivation of patients can be complex but in the long run this will cost you less money than finding a new patient to replace a lost patient. Imgaine if you can cut back to losing 50 patients this year vs. 150 patients. This is worth it’s weight in gold!

Your Comprehensive Treatment Plan Part II: “Get Them to Say YES!”

By: admin

October 13, 2012

In part I of Your Comprehensive Treatment Plan we discussed the necessary fact that you need to build trust in your patients and understand their needs. It is also very important to understand their personality style before presenting treatment.

Case presentation is complex and involves numerous steps to get patients to say “YES”. These steps are:

Coordination of the New Patient exam
Communication to their patient of their needs
Present the big picture
Offer flexible financing

Continue reading “Your Comprehensive Treatment Plan Part II: “Get Them to Say YES!”” »

Your Comprehensive Treatment Plan: Patient Case Acceptance

By: admin

October 6, 2012

Every dental practice wants their patients to accept comprehensive treatment. Research states that at most, 25% of patients in a dental practice accept their treatment plan, and schedule an appointment.

What are some of the factors that will affect their decision? How can you change your current treatment plan case acceptance to be at 70% or higher?

Many factors play into your patients decision to accept and schedule treatment in your office. One of the most important factors that will get your patients to say “Yes” to case acceptance and schedule the appointment(s) is trust.

When patients feel good about your office, when the know they can entrust the care of their health to your dental office, it is because they trust you and now they are more likely to schedule for necessary treatment. You will find these are the patients who return for their appointments year after year, they are the people who trust you and the entire team. Your patients want to know and feel, deep inside, that you really care about them! How can you show a new patient that you really care about them and not just their pocket book?

Once patients trust you, they feel a sense of commitment and they are the patients who return for their appointments, no matter what is happening in their economy. These are also the patients most likely to make payment in full.

“It’s Complicated”

Case acceptance is a complex issue and requires a team approach. All decision making involves the understanding of human behavior.

Let’s break down case acceptance into 4 steps:

1. Developing a foundation for trust to occur

2. Understand your patients’ needs and their personality type

3. Effective communication

• Be able to explain the why, what, how, etc.

4. Offer flexible financial arrangements

This month we will only discuss steps 1 and 2.

Step 1: Developing a Foundation for Trust to Occur

The first step to have patients accept your diagnosed/recommended treatment, and returning indefinitely for their appointments, is to gain trust. Trust is instinctive.

If patients have not established a trusting relationship they are not going to accept comprehensive treatment and they are less likely to become a long-term patient.

Building trust starts before patients even walk through the door of your office. As you are reading this right now, millions of people are on the internet and hundreds of thousands are on the internet now, searching for a dentist.

When a patient lands on your website their mind begins the trust building factor. It continues when they first call your office and then as a patient in your office, your words and the manner in with you say your words build their ultimate trust or distrust.

The Important Trust Building Factors

When someone visits your website for the first time, they will want to easily find the information they came looking for. This may be a list of the services you provide, special programs you offer, insurance accepted, how they can schedule an appointment. Can a patient request an appointment through your website? Do you have photos of your beautiful cosmetic dentistry? Do you have photos of your team and a bio that talks about employee interests and their areas of expertise?

When a potential patient calls your office, will the person who answers your phone be friendly? Will they say their name? Imagine the first phone call as a phone call with your future spouse. If you don’t like the first conversation what are the chances you will be calling back to schedule a date?

People instinctively look for a specific comfort level when they are interacting with someone on the phone. The first person to speak with a caller must be courteous and reassuring. Understand the exact language and tone of the caller and mirror this during the phone conversations. This will put the caller at ease. Be able to give an answer to their questions whether it be financial or insurance driven.

How complicated is it to make an appointment in your office? Are people calling immediately put on hold? Can people visting your website make a request to schedule an appointment?

Many issues are important to discuss before a patient comes to your office but try to make the first call simple, succinct and one that is helpful to the patient. Try to not ask too many questions over the phone so you don’t complicate the process

What occurs during the patient’s first treatment appointment?

The first appointment when the patient is in your treatment room is when they will assess your “chair side manner,” your concern for their comfort, and how gentle you are during treatment.

Trust requires that the dentist and team keep their word. If the patient was quoted a fee, this fee can not change unless there is a change in the treatment plan and at this point, you will need to stop the procedure and explain the change. (The what and why, etc.) If your new patients and/or patients of record, expect to see a particular dentist or auxiliary, (RDH, etc.) they must be appointed with this dentist or auxiliary. If you tell a patient you will call them back within the hour, or the next day, they must receive this phone call.

Each time a patient visits your office for a scheduled appointment, they gain further confidence in your dental practice.

Step 2: Patient Priorities and Personality

The second step is to understand your patients’ needs, their priorities and their financial situation. To understand this means that you perceive what goes on inside their thought process. It will be helpful if you can identify the various personality traits of each individual patient and communicate effectively using these tools to help you understand the who, what and how, (etc.) they “see life”, through their own pair of glasses.

Depending upon the level of care and expense of the patients treatment plan, you may want to bring the patient back for a separate appointment to privately discuss in a consultant room or a private area. Always discuss treatment plans with patients, in a confidential area and without anyone feeling rushed or being interrupted.

A persons behavior patterns affect how they make a decision. Learning to understand these various personality types can result in positive communication, which results in building trust with the patient, retaining patients long-term and increased profits in your practice.

There are many different personality tests to evaluate personalities, how to respond and interact with each type. For this blog we will refer to the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) personality inventory. (http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html) The MBTI uses factors such as introversion/extroversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, and judgment/perception to identify the various personality types. Every dental office needs a simple system that enables you to effectively communicate with your patients, as much as possible, to predict patient behaviors. The system that you choose to use must take into account not only patient behavior but also priorities and financial considerations.

The MBTI categorizes personalities into various types as mentioned above. You can take your own personality test and share with the entire team. It can make for a great team meeting and is a great resource to building a successful team. Here is where you can begin practicing how to get to know other people’s personality type and understand how they make decisions. Try it out within your team now! http://www.personalitypathways.com

When you can easily identify your patient’s personality type and learn how to communicate within their comfort level, you will turn objections into opportunities and create a huge TRUST factor with your patients! This is also a great way to build teamwork within your office! Try using this within the team.

At this point it is important to understand that having a specific methodology for case presentation is critical for your success and the best outcome of your patient(s).

When the entire team understands the process of getting your patients to “YES” for comprehensive treatment, you will begin building trust before a patient ever steps foot inside your office.

If your efforts are a desire to be helpful, reassuring, caring and understanding of your various patient personalities, and their mind-set. If you can eliminate their fears as well, your rate of success for comprehensive care will soar and your profits will take a LEAP– UP! Getting to “Yes” requires a commitment from the entire team which will benefit everyone!

Next week Part 2 will continue with this topic.

Do you want more of this? Be sure to check back in the next 30 days for the release of our 12 week program dedicated to CO-munnication to Increase Comprehensive Treatment.

Case Acceptance Life to Your Practice and Profits

By: admin

September 29, 2012

Through many years of surveying dental practices we have learned that 20-25% of your patients schedule their necessary treatment. We also know that if dental professionals are educated in effective communication and learn how to talk about value and benefits to patients, their case acceptance rate will jump to 70%.

One huge factor that will affect case acceptance is trust from your patients. Where does this trust begin? You guessed it! It begins before a patient even walks into your dental office. Right now, as you are reading this, millions of people are also on the internet. This is how most people will find a dentist in today’s world. That being said, people will find your office via your website.

Your Social Edge

Yes, you know that most people spend hours on the internet each day and most people find their dentist via their website. Now I need to ask you: “What does your website say about you?” I also want to ask “Do you show off photos of your beautiful dentistry and do you have photos of your employees with a bio of everyone who works in the office?” Do you offer Invisalign® or Six Month Smiles®? Show off your expertise on your website and begin the relationship here.

Yes! Get personal. Be real! Let people learn as much as possible before they even pick up the phone to make their first inquiry about your office. This is where you begin to build trust!

Mindset

Is your mindset” Insurance” or is it “Fee-for-service”? Is your practice philosophy all about what is best for your patient? Whether you answered yes or no, how can you educate your patients about insurance dictation and insurance provdership? The delivery mechanism in your office can’t be driven by what the insurance company will pay. 80% of all dental offices only offer patients “what their insurance will pay.”

What you say to your patient in approximately 4 minutes will build patients trust. This begins in the hygiene treatment room.

We are the experts. We know that without optimal oral health the overall body can’t be 100% healthy.

Try sitting your patient upright in the chair and communicate the true value of preventive care. Share the science and research when asked for this. Patients usually find a way to live a healthy and longer life. They will also pay for exactly what they want. Tell them they can have a beautiful smile, live longer and be healthier and the majority of people will find a way to pay for this! Who doesn’t want to look their best PLUS live a longer life when they are healthy!

Hygiene Tips

Hire a hygienist!
Many dentists today are trying to save their way to prosperity by doing the soft tissue management and preventive services themselves. Build your hygiene department so you can free up your time for restorative procedures and explain treatment plans with your patients to increase case acceptance.

When the dentist is free to spend valuable time providing cosmetic and restorative dentistry, the hygienist can focus on patient retention and continuing care. This helps to stop chasing after patients to schedule their hygiene appointments when you pre-schedule at least 98% of all hygiene appointments.
FMX every 5 yrs. (at least) This is one more profit Center for your practice and patients need it
1. Schedule more time either in the hygiene appointment of with your assistant
2. Schedule time for a comprehensive exam –allowing time to diagnose more dentistry
Repeat the findings before the patient leave the treatment room
1. Use the intraoral camera
2. Bring patients up to YOUR Level
     i. Don’t dumb it down
  
     ii. Educate your patients to be at your level
  
     iii. Show them the bleeding gums and tell them “This can cause irreversible damage to your gum and the bone that supports them.”
  
        1. “Gum recession and these areas of abfractions, in your mouth here (Show them on their intraoral photos) can decay so we recommend that each night you use a sodium fluoride and each hygiene appointment I will brush on a fluoride varnish.”
  
     iv. Open new doors, avenues for cosmetic and restorative dentistry to be provided
Conclusion
- It’s time to give patients what they really need not only what their insurance will pay for!
- Always educate your patients regarding your services, your hygiene preventive services and products available in your office to prevent disease
- Deepen your relationships with your current patients of record.
Every one of us has the ability to be a leader. Lead your patients in the right direction to complete the necessary treatment. They are worth knowing what is the very best for them!

“Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves. “

Stephen Covey, the 8th habit

Dental Marketing: Your Economic Game Changer

By: admin

September 14, 2012

Just last week I completed my first ever 2 Day Telesummit. We heard from 7 Dental Experts—Luminaires in our world of dentistry!

Linda Miles started off Day 2 of the telesummit by stating that, “Recession is a state of mind!” This is so true –in life—in general. Linda also went on to say “It’s a RECESSION if it’s around you….it’s a DEPRESSION if you choose to wallow in it!” Smart business owners think positive, talk positive and refuse to talk about how bad things are. I couldn’t agree with her more! How we think and the words that come out of our mouth-will ultimately create our future.

So, why dental marketing? Why can the way you market your dental practice be a game changer during these challenging economic times? Continue reading “Dental Marketing: Your Economic Game Changer” »

Going For the Gold! What is Your Half Time Plan for Success?

By: admin

August 3, 2012

There is a bigger game being played than the World Olympic Games. Yes, Olympic athletes train for years and many leave their families to accomplish these goals. As dental professionals we do this approximately 50 weeks out of a year and for usually, more than 30 years. Many of us spend thousands of dollars in college and then later another few hundred thousand dollars to buy an office. We have a huge legal and financial liability for many years. Profitability and sustainability are very important aspects of a dental professionals’ life and for many decades!

The year is more than half over and it’s time to get your game face on. What type of plays do you have planned for this second half of the year? How well did you and your team play in the first two quarters? Did you have a mid-year team meeting to evaluate the first half of 2012 and what are your plans to get the gold by December 31st?

If you have met with the team, what type of adjustments will you make? How do you plan to accomplish this year’s goals?

When you meet with the team, it will be beneficial to share what you discover when analyzing your mid-year numbers, systems, etc.

The Office of Dr. Doolittle

This dental practice started off with a bang! They not only met their goals by March but exceeded their production goals by March 1^st for the first quarter of 2012. During the second quarter of 2012, things dramatically changed and they are currently $55,000 behind their year-to-date production goal. We also noticed that the employee salaries paid are up from June 30, 2011. We’ll need to talk to doctor about this challenging situation and how this could have occurred.

First of all, Dr. Doolittle acknowledged to us what went well the first quarter of 2012. He reports a steady flow of new patients, creative and very effective marketing, the hygiene schedule has 9.3% unfilled patient hours, and collections

Dr. Doolittle realizes that unless these revenues and expenditures are resolved, his deficit, when annualized, will be $110,000.00, or worse, if this decline continues. Doctor has planned to cover the overhead with the 2012 production goals. If these facts do not change over the last half of 2012 his expenses will not be covered. This creates stress!

After reviewing the numbers with Dr. Doolittle we decided to begin on a positive note and the half yearly team meeting began by celebrating success! Doctor gave each team member a personally written card with a note of how much they are appreciated. Inside the card he wrote specifically what each team member did to make a difference for the practice. The second step was for everyone to sit down and discover what created this $55,000.00 deficit the first half of 2012. The challenge was doctor’s plan to cover expenses with the production goals. During the team meeting and through analysis, they discovered many patients had unscheduled treatment. The total amount of unscheduled treatment was in excess of $100,000.00. The next step was to review patient communication for the unaccepted treatment. Where was the breakdown? Why did patients choose not to accept and schedule treatment?

After brainstorming together, as a team, they discovered:

1. Patients had not been taken into the new consultation room for private conversations. This is the perfect atmosphere to answer patient questions, concerns and overcome their objections to treatment. As you can tell from the above story, patients are returning for their hygiene appointments but by the time they returned for the next hygiene appointment (Months later) their enthusiasm that may have been there, had now faded. Any value added and benefits communicated at the time of diagnosis, had now been lost. The challenge was that too many patients said “I’ll call to schedule later…” and too much time had since passed to remember what they were going to “schedule an appointment for”. No follow through nor follow up was the big breakdown in this scenario.

2. Although the Financial Coordinator has been with Dr. Doolittle for over 8 years, and she does not have effective communication skills. She is a great listener but not real confident overcoming patient objections. She is also not confident in offering third-party financing. The final result is too many patients who do not understand the value of moving forward with treatment sooner than later. She is also not able to assist patients with their financial needs when they think they don’t have money to spend. People usually buy what they want, not always what they need.

There are three solutions to get this team back on track and accomplish their 2012 goals!

1. Effective communication must now take place in the new consult room

2. The auxiliaries will always offer third-party payment plans when finances are an objection

3. A follow-up time with patients, who do not schedule treatment, will be made before the patient leaves the office without a next appointment. This follow up will usually occur one week after the treatment plan was presented. A new change will be made to contact patients to follow up with outstanding treatment sooner than later.

Dr. Well May Throw Money Down the Drain

The economic climate aside, this office had a chronic hemorrhage in their daily schedule; both doctor and the two hygienists! (too many holes in the schedule, cancellations were out of control!) As of June 30, 2012, the practice production was down 43% from their 2012 production goal. Doctor spent $3,000.00 on a new website last year (2011) and this did not help any with potential new patients finding the office through search engine optimization. (Google, etc., type searches) The new website was unfortunately, not set up correctly! Dr. Well could just continue to “throw money” down the drain by continuing on with her current marketing plan and she could wish upon a star that the cancellations will come to a halt. W I S H is not how Dr. Well spells success. After meeting with Dr. Well, she set up a “half-time” team meeting to look at what specifically is going wrong. (half-time = half year)

Here are some questions they will ask at the meeting:

What was working well last year (2011) and now has a deficit this year?
How many hygiene patients leave their appointment without a next appointment?
Do we check route slips prior to the patient appointments? Do we check if patients need a next hygiene appointment?
Do we check the route slips to see if other family members need a hygiene appointment?
When do we call to confirm appointments?
What do we say on the phone call when confirming a patient appointment?
Do we need to call to confirm appointments?
What are alternative methods to call patients and confirm appointments?
What is our patient reactivation system? (Continuing Care System)
Do we allow our patients to leave a message with the answering service (voicemail) to cancel an appointment?
Do our patients understand the value, benefits and risks to their health if they cancel an appointment?
Do we have a cancellation policy?
What can be done to create more unique visits to the new website?
What are other low cost marketing aspects to keep an ongoing conversation with patients between appointments and attract new patients?

The Team Meeting

A key to success during team meetings is to have a facilitator who can keep the team ideas flowing. It is important that the facilitator supports the ground rules for meetings and this means starting and ending the meeting on time, no negativity or finger pointing, etc. Always come prepared with an Action Plan Form which outlines/keeps record of what solutions need to be created. If team members are assigned a project write this down in the Action Plan Form, along with the due date for the project to be completed, and plan a time to follow up with the plans created.

Lessons Learned from Two Doctors

What I enjoy about and applaud both of these 2 doctors for is that they “inspect what they expect”. Notice how they both agreed to take a proactive approach to solving challenging situations? Both doctors have great leadership skills which makes it much easier to work with. This makes it easier to create a system for improvement and overall success. These doctors were open to sitting down to analyze their challenges and then discuss/problem-solve with their teams. Both doctors realize it takes an entire team to bring about effective, solution-based change.

Both doctors have a positive attitude and never once did they go into panic mode. As the leader of your team, the team members find it easy to follow you. Panic is caustic and creates stress. Solutions are not easily resolved when panic or negativity exists. If you are proactive in your approach to deal with a challenge, you will lower your stress and the creative juices are more likely to flow from everyone. One positive creates another positive much easier than if you begin with a negative.
Both doctors have been solution-focused. Challenges arise in every business; it’s the nature of the beast and finger pointing does not resolve challenges. A good leader will not point fingers but will be solution-focused.

The plan of action, which direction you choose to take on your road to 2012 success, has everything to do with how you will be celebrating at the end of the 2012 game! This is a choice you need to make and your chances for success are greater if you take action today.

Need more “halftime” plays?

Purchase Continuing Care for Dental Practice Success. This is an eBook that you can access immediately. It has all the necessary tools to reactivate patients and then keep them coming back! Your cost is only $47.
Contact us to discuss Your Dental COO which is our proprietary yearlong consulting program. This is designed to streamline your systems for a GO! Or we have a lower cost virtual comprehensive practice management program called RAISE™. Read more about these.