Dental A Team podcast

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In late 1972, U.S. Marine Captain Ron Forrester disappeared on a bombing run into North Vietnam. Back home in Texas, his family could only wait and hope. Audio subscribers to Texas Monthly can get early access to episodes of the series, plus exclusive interviews and audio. Visit texasmonthly.com/audio to join. Go to HelloFresh.com/FLIGHT10FM to get 10 Free Meals with a Free Item For Life.…

Dental A Team Podcast

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This podcast is here to give dentists and all dental office team members, in EVERY position, TACTICAL and PRACTICAL TIPS to: - Be more efficient - Have more fun - Improve doctor and team communications - Eliminate frustration - And make your life easier! Jump in! We are thrilled you have decided to LEVEL UP and be part of the DENTAL A TEAM! New episodes every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

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Dental A Team Podcast

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#MBA #Business #Kiera Dent #Dental #Dentalateam #Medical #Millionaire #Entrepreneur #Self-Improvement #Podcasting Education #Dentists #Succession #Careers

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Dental A Team Podcast

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#994: Positively Impact Your Numbers By Doing This One Thing 23:58

9 hours тому23:58

23:58

Kiera and Kristy discuss ways your practice can completely “drain the lemon” of juice (aka, financial opportunity) without becoming completely overwhelmed. This happens by identifying a goal and reverse engineering it. Kiera and Kristy give numerous examples of how this works, as well as other opportunities for hidden value in your practice. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is such a special day. I hope you guys are having the best day because I'm having a great day because today I'm podcasting with our one and only Kristy Treasure, one of our incredible consultants. And I am so excited to have Kristy with us. Kristy, how are you doing today? Kristy (00:17) Gosh, it's fantastic. The first day is spring and we're gonna bring some new life to clients here. Add potential clients, right? Kiera Dent (00:24) I agree. I completely agree with you, Kristy And honestly, if you guys have not met Kristy, Kristy is incredible. She's been on our team. Kristy, feel is just like the queen of wanting to have these amazing practices, just hit great numbers. Kristy loves numbers. She loves to dig in. And Kristy has this like very delicate leadership style. Like I watch you and I see you just transform practices. You gain their trust, you build their trust, you help team members. I mean, offices who've said, Kiera I only want to work with you, are working with Kristy and loving her. And so it's just really fun, Kristy, to have someone who just is so passionate about dentistry. And I'm just so happy to have you on the podcast with me today. So that's a little intro to Kristy. If you haven't met her, haven't heard from her, you definitely need to. So Kristy, love having you on our team. It's always a treasure. Kristy (01:11) Thank you. I love being here. It's a great culture and you know what? We just have fun serving clients and that's what it's about. Kiera Dent (01:19) We totally do. And so Kristy, I want to join the podcast today because I feel I've been watching you consult some clients and I've been seeing it's fun in our morning huddle. Don't worry guys, in Dental Team we have a morning huddle. You can tell I used to be a dental assistant, team member, that's what I do. And so Kristy, we always share client wins and it's really fun because then we can share from consultants like, hey, what are you doing really well? What things are we doing well? And Kristy, I've been watching, she's been posting up some really fun changes that she's been able to do with practices, so much so that offices who have never been able to hit certain dollar amounts in their production, things that they never believed were possible, getting overheads like, Kristy is burning and churning and doing it, it's like, Kristy, you come in with this like delicate wave of authority and it's just beautiful. And so I kind of wanted to talk, not necessarily specific to these practices. But I mean, offices who have never had 100 grand, Kristy's been able to help them. Offices who have never been profitable, she's been able to help them. Offices who feel like they can't get their leadership team on board, Kristy's getting them. People who say like, we'll never be able to make an operations manual. I'm watching and Kristy you're just like getting these offices to navigate along. And so I thought today would be really fun for us to talk about maybe what are some of the tips or tricks. Again, not necessarily specific to these practices, but things you see overarching that really work to add. production to a practice or get a team bought into it. So let's start first. mean, everybody always wants to geek out on numbers. So Kristy, what are some of the things that you've found are just really successful? I mean, you're an office manager of a very, very, very successful practice. You've consulted lots and lots and lots of practices even before coming to Dental A Team. You've got some history with you. So Kristy, let's kind of share some Kristy magic of what are some of the things you've seen that really help impact numbers in a practice quickly and easily with a whole team bought into that. Kristy (03:06) Yeah, would say first off and foremost, like obviously picking maybe the top five metrics to start working on and every doctor in office talks about production and collection. And so starting with some of the basics that they already understand, but also like. Figuring out that point, what are we working for? Not just in a five year or 10 year range. I mean, you talk about that all the time, but also what are we looking for this year? And then reverse engineering it. Because if we don't have a point to guide to, It's just numbers and even when we're talking percentages, we can have 100 % of collections, but is it enough to pay the bills? Is it enough to do the goals that we're reaching for as a team? So definitely it's about starting where they're at and then letting them see something bigger, if you will. Kiera Dent (04:07) And Kristy, I think it's such a good thing because like when teams just feel like they're only about today, right? Like it's like, here's my daily bread today, but we don't understand the bigger picture. This is oftentimes when offices get fresher and they're like, my team isn't even looking down the line. They're not taking the ownership. They're not doing any of these things. So Kristy, how do you get a team to look further down the line and not feel the overwhelm, not feel like, cause you know, you come in and start to change. How do you have some tips to navigate with team members who maybe aren't as pro? Getting into it. Kristy (04:38) Yeah, I would say number one, I mean, we're starting out the year, we're ending first quarter. And so to think, ⁓ I want to hit a million dollars by the end of the year. That's such a big overwhelming number that we literally break it down. We can project out where are they currently, you know, Where are their numbers currently projected to hit at the end of the year? And then reverse engineer that. Guys, my gosh, we're only $1,000 short a week. How could we go find $1,000? right? And do what we do. It's all in the name of getting our patients healthy. you know, let breaking it down to that simple step and letting them achieve something daily, if not weekly, and showing them it's easy. And it all relates back to our why. Why did we get into dentistry? You know, it's to serve and get our patients healthy. So when we do that, and we know where we're headed, it's really easy to achieve. and then just start building in the goals from there. Kiera Dent (05:46) Mm-hmm, I agree with you because I think in dentistry is so fun I mean a million seems so hard, but let's break it down like if we really want to do I mean Let's just do some fun math here. So we're gonna do a million. All right, so some offices. They're like, I've never hit a million Let's figure out a million. I think these are fun. Kristi and I do love numbers So I hope you do and if you don't I hope you take on our mantra of like I love numbers and numbers Love me. I want the numbers to love me. So let's enjoy that. So if we have a million we divide it by 12, okay And this is just really rough math. There's more sophisticated ways to project this. That's 83,000 per month. Let's bump it up to 84 because it's 83,333. So let's just do 84,000. So if we're at 84,000 and then we know, let's say you're a practice that is only working four days a week, that's fine. You do not need to work five days. You don't need to work six days. Let's just do a four day work week. Cause I like to prove to people and Kristy, I know you do too. We don't have to work harder. Let's just work a little smarter. So with that, let's say it's 16 days a month. Does that make sense? You got four days a week. Most months are four weeks. I get that there's a few more, which is why this is very loose. Don't worry if you do this, you'll slush in the right direction. So what that brings it down to is 52.50 per day. Now let's say in this practice that they have two hygienists. Usually a hygienist is producing about a thousand-ish rough numbers. That's 32.50 per day for an office. And so I think Kristy agreed with you. When we look at that and we're like, all right, if we're only scheduled to 2,700 today, where can we go find that extra $600 or $500? And it's not saying we're over diagnosing patients. What we're doing is we're looking to see, could we add in some fluoride? Could we add in that FMX? How can we do better patient care? Oh my gosh, that patient only wanted to do one filling, but they're about to get numb. And that quad of filling seems a lot more enticing because they're about to get numb. It's crazy how like, you know, when I talk to patients and they say, oh, I think I just want to this one filling. And then when they're about to get numb, it's like, Hey, we can actually do the whole quad. And they're like, yeah, we should actually do that. It's wild. That injection, you guys never, ever, ever, ever underestimate the power of an injection. ⁓ but the reality is this is how you can look for it. This is how it becomes fun. And I think helping teams and Kristy, do an amazing job with this, helping teams have fun with this. That's the whole point of a morning huddle. We go to morning huddle to huddle. How do we win the game? Just like a huddle in basketball or huddle in football. How do we actually win the game? Where are we at? What's that extra five? I mean, I have been shocked when offices will implement pro, ⁓ fluoride, or they'll look for FMXs. We're like doing our x-rays on normal cadences, or we're even doing our comp exams. That will add up so fast for you. Adding a sealant, adding in quad dentistry rather than single tooth dentistry. You can find these things so easily. And so, Kristy, I think you do a beautiful job of that with your practices. And I'm just curious, like, But what happens when you have that one team member in the back who's just like not having it? What do we do with them and how do you get those team members on board? Kristy (08:46) Yeah, number one, most team members want something more for themselves, right? Whether it's a yearly raise or I don't know, maybe the office doesn't offer insurance and they want to offer insurance. And I'm like, well, let's find a way to offer it. You know, let's figure out how much it is. What does it cost? What do we have to do to show the doctor we can earn our way to doing it? So showing them that they can also achieve what they want. mean, honestly, today I had a a team that was talking about taking time off between Christmas and New Year and possibly paying the team for that time off and surprising them. And I'm like, well, let's reverse engineer it, find out what do we have to do to pay for that. And then we can surprise that gift ahead of time because we can measure if we're on target for it. And... give them that, gift them that time off if you will, but just again showing team what's in it for them and relating it again back to their why they got into dentistry which was to take great care of people. And when you do it, we all reap the rewards. And I love that you said morning huddle because nine times out of 10, we have that treatment in our schedules already. And it's just having conversations with patients in a relationship fashion. Many people think you have to have more new patients, right? We don't need more new patients. They're in our schedule and we have the opportunity to just do more on the patients we have. And if you don't believe me, have them run their unscheduled treatment report. Kiera Dent (10:31) Amen to you, Kristy. And I agree with you tenfold. And that's why we consult so well together. And I really love that you said like, let's show them, let's gift them, let's figure out what our team wants. And that's what's actually so fun. Like this is why I love numbers. I hated numbers because I didn't understand them. But when you realize that numbers can just be the way to get whatever you want in life. Like it's just truly this really, really fun, dreamy, like you said, if they want to take time off between Christmas and New Year's, Fantastic, let's figure out what that production would be. Let's figure out the cost of paying all the team members. It's very simple, it's not a hard equation to do. Then let's add that amount, divide it amongst the rest of the months of the year. You can literally pay for it. So offices who wanna go on trips, offices who wanna add in bonuses, offices who wanna pay for scrubs, like you name it, all these things can be paid for. And for people listening, this isn't too overdiagnosed on the patients. It's not like we're going hunting because we're like, we wanna go on that trip. it's we are looking for the best patient care like Kristy said. We are looking for the little opportunities that we're not doing. And every practice is like, no, we're doing all this already. Yeah, right. I promise you, I've yet to see one office who has done every single thing perfectly 110%. And so I think like, let's drop that ego as well and look to see where it can be. And Kristy, I love that you bring it. As you were talking, I'm like, Kristy to me feels like the analogy of like squeezing the juice out of the lemon or squeezing the tube of toothpaste. And Kristy is the gal who looks at your practice and you're like, my tube of toothpaste is empty. And she's like, yeah, let me show you. got like three more months where the toothpaste in this tube, like we are squeezing it rather than just going and looking to buy a brand new tube of toothpaste. And within your practice, there's so much more opportunity to like squeeze the juice, squeeze the opportunities rather than having to look outside. Yes, we still need to work on the outside pieces too, but then when we look inside, and I think that this is where you do such a great job, Kristy like. Kristy (12:04) Yeah. Kiera Dent (12:25) I tell you, Kristy can turn to practice so quickly. It's been magic to watch you, Kristy I'm like, this girl comes in and she just like hangs out. She's working with the team. She's tracking the numbers and la la la la la. The doctor's like, oh my gosh, we hit this and I didn't even know that was possible. But Kristy's squeezing juice. You're looking for the juice constantly. And so I'm just curious, other squeeze the juice, squeeze the tube of toothpaste? You said like new patients, you're looking for unscheduled treatment plans. Kristy (12:30) you Kiera Dent (12:53) We don't need the new patients. We're looking for just little, what are some of those other opportunities, Kristy, that like I spy with my little consultant eye, what do you see in there? Kristy (13:02) Yeah. Obviously there's a few areas, but one of the things too when we have limited coming in how many of those do we work to convert? I mean how many times do we schedule them for a half hour appointment when really if we just schedule them for an hour and trained up our assistants to have a conversation on the front end my gosh, if we could avoid future emergencies like this while you're here We could take a look at everything come up with a plan and still treat that tooth that's bothering you right so and if they're swollen or in pain, at least scheduling them back to make sure, hey, you know, we could avoid future emergencies like this. Let's get you back and take a look at everything, but get you out of pain today. that's one area. And again, it's just taking and using what's already there and doing what's best for the patient, right? I mean, people only lose their teeth for a few reasons. Trauma. Kiera Dent (13:53) Mm-hmm. Kristy (13:59) Extensive decay, you know, so if we can avoid that just like you said the power of the shot if we could avoid Future damage and more cost wouldn't you agree we should take care of it today? Kiera Dent (14:06) Hahaha! Mm-hmm. Also, did you hear what Kristy said? Wouldn't you agree? And that's a very like amazing line to take into your practice if you're not using that right now. I love the LOEs being converted into a comp exam. It is one of the most incredible things that if a practice will take this on. And so we were like, but Kiera, Kristy, they're just coming in for pain. Like they're not gonna like it. Yeah, right. A, you have to remember no one wants to come to see you. And I'm sorry, dentist, but this is the reality. And there's like 1 % of the population who's a little bit odd and they actually love to come. But that's like truth. And so they don't wanna come anyway. They're already in pain. So let's do them a service. Let's do them a favor. Let's take pictures of their entire mouth, AKA x-rays. Let's do a full comp exam. Yes, we're gonna take care of that problem tooth. Absolutely, 100 % we're gonna do that. But odds are, and every doctor and every team member knows this, if I've got one tooth that's looking pretty wild, odds are there's probably a few other places in that mouth that are going to have the same problem come upon them pretty soon. But I think it's also, training the front office to say this, training the clinical team on how we present this and how we can do this, but also realizing this is a huge service and benefit to a patient. No patient wants to come back. They really do not. As much as they love you and as fun as you are and as great as your coffee bar is and as fun as your movies are, being at the dentist, even for me, I had to go to the dentist and I was like, gosh, really? Like this place. And I work with dentists. Like I've been a dental assistant. People just don't enjoy having their someone awkwardly put their hands in your mouth. It's weird. It's a weird thing that we do and yet we love it. So Kristy, I love that. What are some other ideas that you have around? Because yes, convert the limited to comps. Any other things that you have around? And again, I don't want you to give all away your Kristy Sparkle. So like what's one or two more that you have of like being able to squeeze that juice, squeeze that tube of toothpaste? Kristy (15:59) Well, I would say many times, especially for the dentist coming in or newly starting out having firm financial arrangements, know, and it's not firm doesn't mean strict necessarily, but it's it's comprehensive finances. You know, it's it's finding a plan to get all their treatment done. Even if you're phasing it out over time, but I would say really there's usually that low hanging fruit in AR or insurance that we can just put in simple systems that go after that and stop it bleeding into, you know, aging out, if you will. So many times that's an area to start and just look at what our processes are. How are we collecting? Are we getting the good estimates to get the correct amount collected over the counter? Kiera Dent (16:52) Okay, so in that, agree with you, Kristy, because a lot of times people are like, we need to make more. And I'm like, you don't even need to make more. It's just hanging out in your AR. Like you've already done the work. We just need to collect the money for it. So you mentioned making sure that when we do this, we have good treatment plan estimates, which comes from good insurance verification, which comes from good entering of that. That's gonna help a lot. What are some of the other financial policies that you've found that tend to work really, really well for practices? Kristy (17:17) Yeah, well, let me be clear that treatment plans are different than financial arrangements. Treatment plans are what we're going to do. Financial arrangements are how are we going to take care of it? And many times people are missing the how we're going to take care of it. They're like, yeah, they know the cost. We gave them the printout. But are we really solidifying how we're going to take care of it? You know, are you the type of patient that needs to pay over time? Are we capturing exactly what they're doing, if you will? Kiera Dent (17:50) Yeah, which is really smart because otherwise it's a lingering, it's are we paying with cash? Are we paying with credit card? Are we paying with financing options? What are we doing with that? That's going to firm this up and I agree as soon as that gets dialed in and people panic. Like I don't wanna put this out there. And I'm like, where do we feel like we went back to the 1800s to where it's like, just put it on my tab. Like I still do not understand why dental practices get so nervous to ask patients to pay for something that they just received. 99 % of the time in today's world, we're having to prepay for these treatments before services are done. And I feel like dentistry, let's, let's come to the playing field. Let's get a little more current. Let's get a little bit more on the same page of the rest of the world. It's not weird. It's weird. The fact that we think it's weird. That's what's weird. Like it's okay to ask patients to pay for it. It's okay to expect them to have financials before they come in for treatment. That's normal. And then what we do is for all the patients that we've been like, lollygagging on in the past, it's okay, it's all right, there's no judgment here. Those patients we start to collect when they come in. So we start to collect on that side, we can send statements to them, we can run our AR and we get better for future and we have them sign on those financial arrangements so that way there's no confusion. The only reason patients get frustrated with you is because expectations were missed. So I love what Kristy said with these financial arrangements. It's a beautiful way to not have expectations being missed and a really good way to squeeze some juice in your practice. to find those little missing opportunities. Kristy, you've been a freaking dream. Are there any other little like secret nuggets that you feel like you wanna leave with our audience before we say goodbye today? Because honestly, I just have loved this and I enjoy the imagery. I'm gonna like have you, every time I see you now, I'm gonna think of you like squeezing the juice. Like I'll just think of you like, Kristy's over there taking lemons into lemonade. So any other last thoughts you have as we wrap up today? Kristy (19:32) Yeah. Yeah, actually you mentioned the financial arrangements and I just want to challenge people. literally, I almost love the practices where they say, see you later, send me a statement and flipping them to actually getting down payments or reservation fees for appointments. Like I've watched a practice go from literally that. Kiera Dent (19:54) Yeah. Kristy (20:04) to, my gosh, they're so excited because they are using Pre-Collect. But I also want to flip people's thinking. Just like you said earlier about patients not wanting to stay, don't put our own bias in it. Because I hear people say, well, we'll do a reservation for large appointments. I just want to challenge you that allow that same opportunity even for the smaller payments. If I had $500 in my savings and you offered me to pay $250 today to reserve it and $250 when I come in, I very well may appreciate having that so it doesn't drain my savings or my checking or wherever I'm pulling that money from versus, hey, you could pay $50 today and now I have $450 to pay when I come back in. So I just challenge you to, you know, try. gamify it a little bit and have fun with it and I promise your patients will appreciate it. Kiera Dent (21:02) Kristy, I love that you said gamify it. I think I heard once at a conference I attended and they said, business is just a game. Like it's truly a game. And when you look at it, it takes the stress out of it. think running a successful practice can be a game, not our dentistry being a game for the patients, but a game of how we think about things. I mean, I look at like chess or my brother used to play strategic or. There was another game like Clue. loved playing Clue. That was like my favorite game. mean, I was the Clue master. I won that game all the time. I would love somebody to like challenge me on it. But the reason those games are fun is because we challenge our thinking. We think outside the box. We make it fun. And so I love, Kristy, these ideas you brought to the table today are how can we think outside the box? How can we make it fun? And I agree with you, Kristy. It's crazy how when you just change your thinking, Just a smidge, we're not asking you to like completely and obliterate who you've been all this time, but just a smidge, you will see magic happen in your practice. You will see more patients saying yes to you. You'll see more patients scheduling. You'll see your AR being chipped down. Doctors, you'll see more money coming into your bank account. So many wonderful things this way just to change it. And I love that you said like offer it to even the smaller ones. Why not? Cause you're right. That is a benefit to these other patients. They might say no, but they also might say yes. And then collections become so much easier. So Kristy. It was so fun to have you on the podcast. I love you on our team. I love practices who get to work with you. I always feel like practices who get to Kristy truly get just such a treat to work with you because you really do find these little simple ways to help them hit goals and possibilities that they honestly never believed was possible. So thanks for being on the podcast with me today and being on our team. Of course, and for all of you listening, thank you for listening and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast. Kristy (22:42) Thank you.…

Dental A Team Podcast

1
#993: Dialing In Dentistry: A Recap of the 2025 DAT Summit 29:08

1 day тому29:08

29:08

Kiera and Tiff share highlights from the Dental A-Team Summit — the best one yet! They touch on communication, the life cycle of a business, keeping teams energized, and more. Mark your calendars for the Dental A-Team Summit 2026! Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and ⁓ gosh, today's a great day. I have the one and only Spiffy Tiffy on the podcast. I feel like we're going back to like OG status here, Tiff. Like it's been a while. Welcome to the podcast. How are you? Tiffanie (00:14) I'm good. Thank you. Luckily, Shelbi snuck a time in here for us. I mean, gosh, we've got a birthday podcast. We've got this coming up. Like we've got all kinds of stuff in the works, but I'll see you in a gear in a year. Right? That's all we get. Kiera Dent (00:26) I know, right? See ya! See you next May. I'll see ya. No, I love it because honestly, you and I host, we podcast, you take a lot with the consultants and so ⁓ I selfishly put you in on my day of podcasting because I miss, I miss our OG days. I miss ⁓ us hanging out. I mean, I did take us on a hike and podcast. Like that was really going back in style. Supposedly the video works. If you guys saw it, give us a thumbs up. ⁓ We were both very awkwardly uncomfortable sitting up there, but it was awesome. And the things like this, got sunburned. So that was funny when we were up there, all the pieces, but it was a good time. And I felt like this back to our original roots, Tiff. Sometimes I think we need to remember where we came from and how we got here. So, I mean, I was just talking to Shelbi and Kristy and told them about our Venmo days and how you stayed with me through all these years. If you don't know the Venmo story, Tiffanie (00:57) There were so many courts. I agree. Here I am. Kiera Dent (01:22) When Tip first started, I paid her via Venmo and Venmo has maxes if you didn't know that. Tip was a 10.99, so I paid her via Venmo. I would not recommend this. And why Tiffanie stayed with me, I don't know because the Venmo would max and I'd have to text her and be like, hey, so it's maxed out. Give me like two days. It wasn't that I didn't have money. It's just that Venmo would max. So Tip, I don't know. Like how did you feel like that wasn't a shady business? That's question number one and then we'll get into our real topic today. Tiffanie (01:31) Thank you. have no idea. Honestly, I don't have an answer for that. I truly just don't. I just trusted and I mean, by early on, it was like the first two months of working together and you didn't have employees yet. So I guess in the back of my mind, I was like, we're just creating the systems, like we're figuring it out. And worst case scenario, like I always, I always have a backup plan and I was still in my office. So it was like, that's fine. We're figuring this out. We're going to see how it works. And here we are almost eight years later. Kiera Dent (01:51) Ha you You are. It's incredible. Nope. Definitely not Venmo. And it was funny because I was thinking back to like startup businesses and I did a podcast with someone else and we were talking about like, I think you forget when you like go to open your second location or your third of like, ⁓ yeah. Like we had to scrap it that hard when we first started. So Tiff, thanks for, thanks for being an OG, which stands for original gangster, not oldie, but goodie, but it's okay. If you want to do Kiera's style, I had to ask Tiff. Tiffanie (02:18) Not Venmo-ing. Kiera Dent (02:44) a things in my life. had to educate me on a few and that was one of them. was like, Tiff, does OG stand for? And here we are. So, Tiff, I figured with you and I on the podcast today, I thought it'd be really fun. You and I just in person did our fifth summit. Can you believe five summits? Like Tiff. Tiffanie (02:49) Luckily I'm all filtered. No, when we had, actually saw it on social media, on our social media. It said like, our fifth summit is coming. And I was like, oh my gosh, is that true? Like, you sent the postage on our Instagram and that's how I knew. So no, I can't believe that it was our fifth summit. It blew my mind when I saw that. Kiera Dent (03:09) you Yeah, it was well and there was a point in time where I debated if I wanted to keep doing summits. And the only reason that I actually went through is because we started the summits. Our first one was in 2021. And I knew I would be able to remember how many we had done because 2021 is one, two is two, and I was like, we got to keep this up. Otherwise, I'm going to really get off count. So that's why I know it's the fifth because it's 2025. ⁓ But I think honestly, Tiff, you and I, I wanted to give some highlights. If you missed it, you missed out and you should definitely mark your calendars for next year. I will say with wild confidence and Tiff, I think you would agree of all the summits that we have put on, ⁓ this was by far, think our best production that we've ever done. I think it was our best content. I think it was our best flow. And like the feedback that we got from this summit was off the charts, like shocking how good it was. That's my opinion. Next year, it's April 24th. So if you missed us, Tiffanie (03:45) piece. Kiera Dent (04:14) this year, mark your calendars right now, block it out. It is a Friday. We do it for a half a day. It is CE. So you're definitely going to want to block April 24th, 2026. That's coming to you guys. But Tiff, I felt it was our best and I've got some ideas and we want to give some recaps, but what were kind of your takes on the summit this year? Tiffanie (04:30) Yeah, I think we just got it dialed in. We take feedback every time we do anything. Every time we consult a practice one-on-one, every time we group consult practices, webinars, like anything we do. So Summit, there's always been feedback requests. And I think we've done really well narrowing it down and figuring out what the biggest requests were. I think one of the major things that played to our advantage was really getting a ton of information in a short amount of time. I think, crammed as much in, what do we do? Like four and a half hours as we have done in a day and a half. And we did really, really well. The presentation was clean. It was crisp. had a ton of engagement and honestly, we're still getting people scheduling the calls right now. ⁓ Today you've even done some during your podcasting day. I know just to make sure that everybody's gotten the resources that we had available. And I just think it was jam packed with a ton of information and Kiera Dent (05:02) Yeah, four and a half. Yeah. ⁓ Tiffanie (05:28) It stacks really, really well with the consulting that we do for our one-on-one clients and for our group consulting. It just honestly played right into how all of the consultants operate with all of our clients. So it was fantastic. I agree. Kiera Dent (05:42) Yeah, I thought it and I agree with you. think it was, ⁓ I think we really dug into this extraordinary and something Tiff, you and I, this was Tiff's vision. So Kiera's vision was summit, Tiff's vision were these in-person like doctor, leadership, masterminds. And you have been pushing me for probably what? Like four five years to do this. Like it has been, we're at five years then. It's been a solid push. I remember the day this came about, I think you do too. were, ⁓ Tiffanie (05:59) Bye as long as we've been doing summit. Kiera Dent (06:08) definitely team was on a budget back in the day. And I still think to this day, even not on a budget tip and I would still do this. We're sharing a hotel room and we were sitting there chatting late at night. And I remember Tiff, you're like, Kiera, I have this vision of these in-person events where we get all our doctors together and we do like life and we do business. And I was like, I see it. And then you're like, and I also think we should have a coffee shop. Like it was like both mixed into one. I think the coffee shop also threw me cause I'm like, how are we going to do all that? Tiffanie (06:29) I'm you Kiera Dent (06:37) But we literally came to it, by the way, just highlighting, you're in the blue shirt, I'm in the pink shirt today. How perfect is that? If you guys don't know, this is another vision. Tiff and I aren't going to be 90, 90 plus year old grannies. We have the same birthday. I'm gonna be cotton candy pink, Tiff's gonna be cotton candy blue. So whenever we show up this way, it always makes me giggle just how in sync we always are. But back to our vision of these in-person that Tiff had, I think it played into our summit of we're really getting intentional of like, Tiffanie (06:56) You can have steak. Kiera Dent (07:06) life on purpose and business on purpose. And so this year's theme was ⁓ unlocking, gosh, was unlocking extraordinary leadership and profitability. And what we wanted to do is I get really annoyed as a CEO when I do CE and it just is coming to me as the owner to then take it back and rally TIF. And honestly, when I've tried to come back and rally the whole team, I just noticed there was this disconnect. And I think as a company, we've always had this vision of like, it's dental, it's doctors and team. Like, look at our name. Dental A Team doctors and team, like it really flies together. And so being able to bring teams together and doctors together in your office, in your space, but teach you life skills and dental skills. And Tiff, know like when you go to offices, people tell you all the time, like how grateful they are. You teach them life through dentistry. Like walk me through why you do that, how you do it. I know it's just like who you are as your DNA, but I think that's why you have so much passion for what we do. Tiffanie (08:00) Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. I truly believe that ⁓ if I can create passion in someone for what they do for a living, that they'll stay lifelong. think that, I don't know. I don't know, Kara. I think, like you said, it's just naturally ingrained in me. It's just who I am. I take a lot of... what I learn personally, and I duplicate that and I kind of like copy and paste it onto who I am as a as a team member and as an employee because I don't believe I hate the term work life balance. ⁓ I have like a Jars and crazy because I live one life I have one life and I have different spaces of life for sure. But if I 100 % show up differently in every space of life, I'm going to feel like I'm running ragged. So if I can look at Kiera Dent (08:31) Ha ha! Mm-hmm. Tiffanie (08:48) relationships as just relationships. And then there's the stack of like, intimate versus friendship, like for sure, there's that deviation. But if I can treat every relationship with the same basics, and communication with the same basics, then I'm not confusing myself. I'm not trying to be something I'm not, and I'm not working harder. You know, I love easy, you know, I love nothing more than defined efficiencies. And like, that's a major efficiency in my life is really being able to stack a belief that I have and then copy and paste it into work. So the way that I communicate with you is the same way that I communicate with my boyfriend, Aaron, or my son Brody. It just, I'm using different words ⁓ to get a different, to get a point across. So when I go into practices and I work with teams and I work with doctors, that's the kind of stuff that I leave them. So when I'm speaking about how we can communicate, I'm also mixing in how those communication tools not only have helped our company and UNI's communication tenfold, but also how it helps me and my personal relationships at home. So I constantly, I think if you polled all of my offices, I don't think there's anyone out there who doesn't know who Brody is. He secretly probably hates that. He gets hellos, gets birthday cards, all these things. But I utilize him as such an example for how we can show up for our families and for our kids using the same tools. And so when I walk away and teams are saying that, they're saying, my gosh, Tiff, like. Kiera Dent (10:00) Mm. Mm-hmm. Tiffanie (10:17) I went home and I talked to my husband last night and I had the first real conversation that I've been able to have with him in forever because I listened, because I used the tools that you told me to use on patients. So the way that you're listening to a patient, the way that you're putting your ego aside and allowing your patient to be the most important. person in the room, sometimes we have to put that aside and allow our spouse to be the most important person in the room for the time being and have a conversation instead of having a telling where we kind of just sit and we just talk at each other. We're not actually listening. We're not actively engaged and jumping to the assumptions, all those pieces. So I think that's how I do it. And then I want like mass scale of that because I can only hit so many, so many people one-on-one. And I think that's something that you and I have envisioned for the company for a really long time. We know that there's a limit of how many teams and how many doctors each consultant can affect. So being able to take these pieces and these skills and these developments that do smash life and work together on a mass scale like summit or these in-person events that we're doing now for our doctors and our leaders was really something that I think spoke to both of us to be able to just get the message out, get things changed on a mass scale. Kiera Dent (11:32) Totally. And I think that that just ties right into our vision of Dental A Team is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. And we do that through expert consulting for dentists and teams. And you're right. Like it's funny, we always run into these zones of like, we've hit the ceiling, we've hit the ceiling of where we are. So how do we like turn and pivot and give more? Because as you were saying that I might actually think that that's the secret sauce to Dental A Team. I think we focus on life and business. We focus on you as a human and we do it through dentistry and like dentistry is our vehicle. What did I say the other day? said, ⁓ life is my passion, dentistry is my avenue. And so really, or our platform. So we're able to come and like help you have this amazing life. And that's, think what all the summit was about. Like it was literally, how do we do this? And so we walked the participants through like, what does extraordinary mean to you? And so if you attended the summit, hopefully this is a good like analysis and like, how did you do and how are you doing? And kudos to all those who joined our Dental A Team family. By far, this was our best year of welcoming new offices in. And I think it just spoke to like, the flow that we were in and the mission that we're about. And we really brought in our Dental A Team Success model and we call it the Yes Model. So you can say yes to more things in your life, to whatever you want. And the Y stands for you as a person and the E stands for earnings and profitability. The S stands for systems and team development. And when you add those three components together, you get success with E's. And Tiff, I think the U part was probably my favorite and funniest part of the entire thing we went through. There are these little. human beings that we draw and we like break up all the parts of our life and Tiff did one of the funniest things she's ever done in front of me. And we were we were looking at her like current life and how her time was split up. And she'd never done this exercise. I was so excited to do it with her in real life. And then Tiff tell about your ideal life and what ⁓ what we uncovered. So like, okay, let me just give the vigil. Basically, what the idea was, and you can try this is you take like a little image of you as a human and you break it apart and you you look to see like in your day in and day out life, just like Tiff said, it's not, we're breaking apart, like you, your life and your work balance, but it was like, how are you spending your time, cut up on a human body? kind of like, like if you think about those cows and they have like the meat chunks, like drawn out of them, like here's the filet, here's the ribeye, like kind of like that, but on you of like, where's my work? Where's my family? Where's my friends? Where's my hobbies? Where's my working out? Like whatever's important to you and like how much of your physical body, like in a visual of your full life, How much of that are we spending in different areas and what does it look like? Like it's a really awesome, if you didn't get to participate in it, it was real fun. And then what we do, and we had like two little, little images next to each other. And then on the other side, we said, okay, this is what you're doing currently and this is what real life looks like. What would your ideal life look like? Like, what would you want to spend? Like, where would you put this? And it's so fascinating because where people put things, it actually says a lot about them. Like what you put on the legs and what you put on the feet and what you put on the arms and what you put across your heart, what you put on your head. Like it really helps to identify things. But tip. Go ahead, take this away as long as you're not embarrassed by it, because it was so freaking funny of how this shook out in real time. Tiffanie (14:30) I mean, I've got hundreds of people already, so why not just ramp it up? Now we've got thousands, I guess. That's fine. No, I never, nothing's, no, maybe some things are too far, I guess, but I'm an open book. So it was actually, it was really, really cool. And I had not done it yet. I've done other things similar to it. Even we have done similar things to it, but just really looking at Kiera Dent (14:37) Why not? Here we go. Tiffanie (14:56) I took it as like my vision of where I wanted my life to be. And then like, what is going to propel me there? Like what aspects of life and relationships, et cetera, will propel me to that vision? So kind of what we did in person in March. Yeah. Kiera Dent (15:08) And kudos to you, Tiff, because that's what it's supposed to be. Like it's literally helping you see like, okay, where am I spending it? And then where do I want to become? And the idea is to help you visualize your future, but also take it in as an identity of you to help you actually see how you yourself is that identity of the future vision. So huge kudos. Tiffanie got it. That was the idea behind it. That's why we put it in a human form for you. It kind of looks weird. Like they like these weird little doll. I don't know. Like they look weird. We still are trying to work on it. Tiffanie (15:34) She likes to call them voodoo dolls. They're funny. Kiera Dent (15:36) Shush, don't say that. That's really going dark, Tiff. Go on, go on. She's sharing all my secrets. Tiffanie (15:41) you call them them. So maybe don't tell me those things because I'm an open book apparently. So we did the first one and I was like, well, it was really good. It was enlightening. It was actually really cool. And afterwards, I keep thinking about like where things were in order with my chakras and all of that stuff that, you know, I'm obsessed with. So it really made a huge difference there. But I did my first one. And then what I did is I folded the paper. They're both on the same piece of paper. And I was like, I don't want my Kiera Dent (15:48) Bye! Mm-hmm. Tiffanie (16:11) current layout to impact what I want my what I'm desiring. Right. So I folded in half so I couldn't see my current layout. Well, what that did was took away from my brain the pieces that I had on there. And I had everything on my future one on my what I want my ideal. I had everything duplicated on there just like different spaces except I forgot to put work on there. So work got removed from my life. I don't know when this is happening, ⁓ but apparently, I don't know. I said, you know what, it's just because I don't have a work-life balance. I just have life and work is just integrated into every piece of my life because I enjoy it so much. So yeah, it was a really humorous event ⁓ during summit. know somebody said in one of the chats, what was it? Best resignation letter ever. Kiera Dent (16:44) you you Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Tiffanie (17:07) I was like, my gosh, that's hilarious. That's amazing. So it was, it was funny. think that, I think that I have this innate ability to think of my life as what I want it to be and work supports it. And whatever it is that I'm doing, I make sure that I'm passionate about the avenues that I'm taking. I think that's why I do include so much life because life like coaching and those pieces have just helped me so much in my personal life. And so as I looked at it and as I thought back about it, I'm like, gosh, it's just that those are the pieces that are insanely important to me and work is insanely important to me. But work is what propels those pieces in a lot of ways for me. And so thinking about like the amount of time separated out, I think just didn't feel right. You know what I mean? On that one, but it was hilarious. It was a great moment. If you were there. Kiera Dent (17:58) Mm hmm. It was really funny. It was really entertaining. Tiffanie (18:03) Yeah, it was super interesting. Kiera Dent (18:03) It was super entertaining. And it was it. But I think as you just said it, Tiff, and I didn't think about this at the time, I actually think it's awesome that your identity is not work. And I think that you as a human, like work is a part of it, life is a part of it. But work is not an identity piece of who you are. And I think that's been the case for so long. And I think for me, like work was such a huge identity piece for me that like we shifted it to where it's not work and actually changed what I view about the company and now the company is my passion project. And so it gets lumped into my passions more so than it gets lumped into work. And it's even interesting the language. And so we really went through these pieces and it was awesome to go through and tip. Thanks for sharing that. And I just think like such a good visual. ⁓ it was funny because I was like, so tip, is this your resignation letter? Like on live screen and she's like, it's not, I promise. Like things are good. ⁓ But it was, it was quite interesting. And then we also went through like the life cycle of a business. And I think that actually was so telling. We pulled that from Tony Robbins and like, where are you on the life cycle of a business as you as a human? And it's been interesting is when we've talked to people post summit, they've said that that helps them just so much to see like, my gosh, like me as a human, I may be further along, but my business is at like this toddler stage. And so I need to hire people that are more in this younger energetic space because I'm over here on the other side, or I need to like, kick it up and have this, or maybe my team is on this further side where they're maybe closer to retirement, but me as a new owner, I'm actually not there. And I thought it was just such an interesting spot for them to see where they were. And then of course we dug into the earnings, the money. So we walked through them through like profitability and overhead calculator and your monthly cost expenses. And then how do you figure this out? And how do you become profitable? And ⁓ really helping them see how like your supplies and your costs and your overhead directly impact your profit. And then a couple quick ways for you to actually watch this, and that's through a KPI scorecard, and then also giving you then the systems, and we purposely hit two systems within, like we had you assess 12 systems on a 12 monthly basis, so that way you can keep them as a cadence, but then really diving into a couple that will boost your profitability and help your patients, and that was through block scheduling and case acceptance. So just a really fun way, and then after that, we hit. Some of my favorite parts and some parts that people really loved, like I thought it was interesting when we went through like enemies of efficiency and the delegation ladder and like, where are you at and how much are you delegating? So many people said like, my name was in all these tiers of the delegation ladder. And then we actually went through case studies, like what are, like looking at hundreds and thousands of practices, I loved this part so much Tiff and we brought to the table like, what are the characteristics of these extraordinary leaders? for teams and for owners. And then what are the ones of the not so good? Like it is not hard when we walk into a practice, when we look at these leaders, we can usually see, are they going to be successful or are they not within very short amount of time and even talking to them on the phone. ⁓ And so being able to go through that. I think just like the way it all stacked of like looking at you as a person, looking at your business, looking how they combine together and not be separated. And then like, shoot enemies of efficiency delegation, like just so many nuggets. And if you missed it, reach out. There might be some things that we could share with you guys, but I hope you put it your calendar because I think one people left there inspired and excited. I've had people like I saw an office right after and they said, Kiera, like what you guys put together was so helpful and so impactful. And like I was able to take things and have tactical and like people had their teams there and they're like you teaching my team to think about our practice as a business, but also as a patient centered focus and also as us as humans, like Where do you get that in CE anywhere else? And Tiff, really truly think that that's the secret sauce of what we've tried to create and what we have created for all these practices. So that's kind of like my nutshell of like, love the case studies. I love sharing what people do. Like I loved going through leadership and like the good and the not so good. And we actually had people like put in there, like, what do think good leaders are? And what do you think bad leaders are? And like the not so influential ones. And to see, because there are truly patterns and to like figure out the pattern and DNA of these great practices so you can go model and mirror it. I just think was like freaking magic to share with people because we see it. They don't necessarily get to see it day in and day out. Tiffanie (22:12) Yeah, I totally agree. ⁓ I always tell my practices, my and my doctors, that my biggest goal is that the business works for them, not them working for the business. And I think the tools that we shared with them and the things that they could take home, the communication tools, the efficiency tools, all of those like, yes, models, everything that we sent them away with are easily, easily implemented, and will propel towards that goal where the business literally is supporting your life and maybe, you know, right now today on your current little man, your little person, your, you know, work, your business might be a large portion of that human being. And it was for us for a long time because it had to be, it was a space that We had to create that and we had to show up every day for the business so that eventually the business could show up for us. And I think we've gotten to the point now, both of us where this company and this business and the people that we have here with us on our side are supporting that vision and really things have started to shift. So on the life cycle of a business, like you might be in that stage where you are hungry to get your business running off the ground and you might be putting more in there than your future self wants. But guess what? If you know that vision, it's super clear, you can make your business work for you so that you're not constantly working for your business and eventually it will turn Kiera Dent (23:34) And I think it's just a to me that's like what gets us excited like I love giving people their life back I love like tiff as much as I give you a hard time about having work off of there That was not the case a year ago Like you were stressed out of your mind about work And I think it would have taken a huge chunk and I was stressed a year ago about work too like I think it was a huge portion of our time our mental energy and I think like you and I have both helped each other get our lives back. I think that we are happier humans now And so we're living proof of it, but then also to give practices their lives back, to give teams their lives back to, like there's an office that I'm super excited we're working with. And they said like, I'm sober out. feel like, and like the whole leadership team, they're like, we're the ones who are here after hours. We're the ones that are here before. We're the ones who are like, just they're like exhausted. They're like ringing a rag out and then you squeeze it even more trying to get like the last two drops of life out of them. And I said, What would it be like if I told you that if you got out of here every day at five o'clock, you're not allowed to stay later, you're not allowed to come in earlier. And at the end of that week, you'd be able to go on a trip to Cabo or wherever you want to go, pick your dream location, Hawaii, the Caribbean. I don't care. You choose your place. Or if you want like, I don't know, say 50,000 bucks or whatever it is, could you get out on time? And they were all like, yes. And I said, so A, we know it's possible and B, that's getting your life back. So first homework assignment working with us is everyone's out the door by five, at least one day this week. And it's crazy because just small little changes that don't seem huge help people get their life back. And Tiff, it was just so magical to be with you and to be in person with you and to present and to give this. And I think that that's probably why we were both so excited from it. Like we, felt like we were in Taylor Swift. Let me just give a little Swiftie, like the lavender haze. I felt like we were in the Dental A Team haze after the summit of just the Tiffanie (25:19) Thank Kiera Dent (25:23) euphoria of knowing we were able to give people their life back, their teams getting energized, giving them hope and excitement. Again, not just about a practice, but about a life. So those are kind of my takeaways to have any last thoughts you have, because I loved it. I'm so grateful you were a part of it. ⁓ Ride or die, cotton candy pink and blue for life, like truly just being able to deliver our magic and to change lives and to bless them through dentistry, I think is something that we both... ⁓ I think I took for granted for a hot minute and realized like what a beautiful blessing it is in the way we're doing it now versus stringing ourselves up to dry, doing it so hard, now doing it through passion and ease and flow rather than through force and pull like we did in the past. Tiffanie (26:04) I agree. Yeah, I totally agree. I did all of that. And I think having the team that we have behind us, the consultants who are here and they are so excited to help so many new clients this week, we have just seen such an influx of people ready to change their lives, ready to change what their business model looks like. And like you said, get their lives back. It's been just really incredible and watching our consulting team just rise to the occasion rally. I mean, we've got clients that just signed up this week that I've got Trish and Kristy and Dana has already implemented tools. Dana has already within weeks found significant money issues and things going on that it's just really cool to be able to watch so many people outside of you and I be able to truly transform lives. And that's what that's what we're all about is really just creating the best for everyone that's involved. Kiera Dent (26:57) Yeah, Div, I love it and I agree. Our consultants are second to none. And so if you missed out, you did miss out. And put it on your calendar for next year. I do believe that Dental A Team Summit is next to none. We just have so much fun. We bring fun to CE and we make it enjoyable and easy. But I hope you choose to join us next year for sure. But if you're thinking like what we just talked about, you want to know more about, or you want some tips for it, or you want some of the resources that we share, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We'll happily like assess it with you and your practice. Like we have given so many tools out and so much help to all these practices, but I think truly giving you your life back, helping you help more patients and having more fun is what we're about. So Tip, thanks for being on the podcast. Thanks for doing Summit with me. ⁓ I enjoyed it and I just appreciate and adore you so much as a human and as a colleague, as a coworker, as a mentor, and just being in my life. for who you are. So thanks for being here today. I super appreciate you. Tiffanie (27:48) Thank you. Thank you for having me and supporting me through my journey. Kiera Dent (27:52) And for all of you listening, thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.…

Dental A Team Podcast

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#992: Pediatric Dentistry Is an Art. Here’s How to Master It 24:45

2 дні тому24:45

24:45

Tiff and Dana discuss the numerous innovations happening in the field of pediatric dentistry, specifically minimally invasive care and maximizing shortened attention spans. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Tiffanie (00:02.2) Hello Dental A Team listeners. We are so excited to be back here with you. If you listened to an earlier podcast, I alluded to the fact that Dana and I were going to have some fun with a really cool podcast. I'm excited for this one. I think it took a little bit for us to prep for this one, but I think that's the world of dentistry for us. Dana, thank you for spending so much time with me this afternoon busting out a few podcasts here for the... For the listeners, how are you this lovely afternoon? Dana (00:33.698) Doing good, doing good. I'm excited to be here. I've had to reframe my podcast time to Tiff time because it helps really get me pumped up and excited for it. Tiffanie (00:39.768) I'll make it. Tiffanie (00:44.986) I appreciate that. I love that so much. It is our time together. Kristy started saying the same thing too. And, I love getting you guys on here and I can't wait to get some with Trish and all the other consultants that, that we have. think it's just so valuable for us to get the time together, share ideas. Cause you know, we have, we have our consultant co-labs, but this seems to be where the most ideas just like randomly spur out. Cause it's almost like we're coaching. when we talk about these things. So you're welcome to the world. Thank you to the world for joining us for our consultant time. It's my Dana time, my Britt time, my Kristy time. So thank you, Dana. I appreciate it. Today, I thought it would be fun. And I want to caveat this before I truly talk about what we're talking about. This is for everyone. We want to focus today on pediatric dentistry innovations. But I really think that there's some valuable tips and tricks in here for everyone and not just pediatric practices. I know a lot of GP practices see many children. I know a lot of pediatric practices that refuse GP referrals, which I think is really funny. And I totally understand because when I was in my GP practice, it was like we would take kids, but the worst kids we did not. And so I totally get it. It just makes me chuckle every time. Regardless, my oral surgery practices, you guys are seeing kiddos and by kiddos, mean like realistically 16 and under is what we're talking about here today. I know my my periopractices, sometimes you guys are seeing them too. My son plays lacrosse and gosh dang those teeth. just cringe every time something happens, mouth guard or not. I have seen, I don't know how many mouth guards fly across the field and they have stopped play because it's thank God. I thank God for this for these. rules and regulations, but it's part of the uniform. And so if they're missing, if they if if the ref see it fly out of their mouth, they'll call the bell stop the game so they can go get it. But I'm like, you got hit so hard your mouth guard blew out. Anyway, it's periodontist. I know you're seeing kiddos too. So everyone's seeing kiddos. And today it's just pediatric dentistry innovations and Tiffanie (02:57.342) I think, Dana, you said it well just before we got on here. There's not a lot of exciting new things for pediatric dentistry or realistically right now for dentistry in general. We've kind of hit the space of, we're gonna try this stuff out for a little while. So I agree with you there, but I think we've come up with some really good things and tested and seen some amazing things that are working for the generations of kids that we have right now. we were talking attention spans. So I know that that will come into play with some of the stuff we're speaking on today, but really, really honing in on, I think it's, again, it's going to come back to like that trust and that value and making sure that emotionally we're, we're emotionally evoking things for our patients, whether they're adults or children, so that they're comfortable, they're confident, they trust us and they want to return. For the kiddos, I get really emotional and I just love on the pediatric practices. I myself could never work in a pediatric practice full time. There's no way. I don't have the patience for it, but man, do I value and appreciate the work that all of you guys are doing and Dana, that you were able, that you've done and are continuing to do in your efforts as well. Because to me, I've done mostly GP and oral surgery. And I really had so many patients. I've met so many people that are so afraid of the dentist because they had a horrible experience as a child or because they had a parent who had a bad experience as a child that passed it on to them. Those were the worst for me, but I just value and appreciate the amazing pediatric practices who are out there doing amazing work and creating lasting. impressions for people because you've really set them up for success in so many different places. So whether you're a GP, a specialty, a pediatric specialty, no matter what a lot of these pieces we're going to talk about today are really going to help you set the stage and the tone for these people's lives. And Dana, you've done pediatric dentistry. Thank you. Praise to you. I just, you know, I love kids, but this Tiffanie (05:13.536) I just don't have it in me and I know that about me. I can consult them and I can spend a day and a half in office with them and love on those kids while I'm there and then I'm exhausted and need to go home. So I love it. Thank you, Dana for being there. Dana, I actually I really loved some of the things you were talking about, like the continuation of products and services and stuff that we're already utilizing. think GP and pediatric offices are using a lot of those. Tell me here with everyone listening a little bit about some of those pieces that you used and that you're seeing still lot of your pediatric practices are using and what have you seen just continue to innovate in the world of that. Dana (05:53.472) Yeah, I think one of the biggest things that pediatric practices are always looking at ways to innovate is minimally invasive care. So how can I get this kiddo treatment that they need improve what they came here with in a way that is as minimally as invasive as possible because of exactly what you said. think pediatric practices beyond yes, all practices have to work on experience pediatric practices are unique and they've got a parent experience and a patient experience and oftentimes the patient experience impacts the parents. experience, as I can tell you my mom heart, just for my mom heart too. So I feel like they have worked really, really hard in trying to find ways to treat kiddos as minimally as they can, right? And but yet still getting some really great results. So they have found a lot of things, you know, we're even starting to see a little bit of like, you know, non injection. Tiffanie (06:26.552) Yeah. Dana (06:49.088) anesthetizing and things like that that really really, know, SDF has made huge leaps and bounds. There's Cura.now for... What's the word I'm looking for, Tiff? Tiffanie (07:01.784) Keep going. Dana (07:02.7) Yeah, and so there's just all sorts of ways that we treat kiddos now that like didn't exist before and that is truly because we're looking at ways to treat them that helps create that positive experience and doesn't put them fearful in the dental chair. Tiffanie (07:16.492) Yeah, well, even Dana, I'm thinking too, even fluoride has come world so that they're not swallowing it or it's not as toxic, I guess is the best word to use there, or difficult because remember it used to, gosh, I remember the trays, right? I remember trying to shove those trays in kids' mouths in my office and I'm like, this does not fit. The doctor's like, no, it's supposed to be too big and it's just like fluoride foam is everywhere. So thank heavens those are. hopefully a thing of the past. But even in the world of fluoride for kiddos, like what have you seen in that world, Dana, that has transpired over the course of last few years? Dana (07:57.036) Yeah, I think, you know, obviously the big switch to the varnish, think to like, I mean, I've even seen some pediatric offices, like I had a pediatric dentist and she basically like reached out to all the pediatricians in the area and was like, fluoride these kiddos as early as possible. I'll teach you how I'll so it's just expanding like the reach on that too has been incredible. And I think just the education to the parent because kiddos, you know, they expose themselves to a lot of acidic things now. Diets have changed a lot over recent years and things in our food have changed a ton. And so as much as they can also just educate the parent on those choices and like, hey, we can kind of counteract some of those choices with Laura. really want to... do a ton of nutritional counseling happens in pediatric practices too, but it just kind of reinforces the need for as we see these things change, we've got to make sure that kiddos get access to that too. Tiffanie (09:05.462) Yeah, and I think that's space of innovation as well that you just mentioned, the nutritional counseling. That's not something that's always been there. It's been there to a level, right? We know like soda, and I remember telling kids or being told to swish with water after I ate my lunch at school because I wasn't going to carry my toothbrush, you're supposed to brush. Like I remember all of those pieces. But I think in the recent years, nutrition, I think nutritional counseling in general, in the health industry has become bigger. situation. It's become a bigger conversation and I know even standing in office with my pediatric practices, consulting them, watching them work with patients. I've been just amazed at the level of nutritional counseling that they're giving the kids and the parents. And like you said, we're working with the parents. It's two experiences there, but really honing in on what are you eating and how it's affecting. And I think one of the biggest spaces that I love the most, is really being able to see like... acid reflux, right, for one thing, but even just like the tongue thrusting, the different habits that they're able to see because of what the mouth looks like, and then they're able to correct it so early on and really build lasting changes. They can tell just by different visual things within the mouth, right? If there's gut issues, does your kid have an allergy? Like, maybe you should go check this out. And they're referring them back to their there are pediatricians to get nutritional counseling or to get these tests and things done, or there's a lot of them that can be done in dental practices now as well, but really honing in and looking further than we've ever looked before to ensure that these patients are as healthy as possible. And I think that's massive. That's a huge innovation within the pediatric world. And I think it's a really easy space for dentists and... Tiffanie (10:58.924) for pediatric dentists specifically to really get extra training in. It's offered, you know, everywhere. I've got, you know, we've got gym. trainers doing stuff like that, taking courses like that. So to be able to have your degree that you've got, your doctorate that you've got, and then add that aspect to it is just really, really freaking cool, in my opinion, and saves so much time and trouble and probably saves the parents a lot of time and trouble in figuring things out or finding out too late. So that was a huge one that you mentioned there. I think one space One, I love that you highlighted again that it's two experiences. It's the parent's experience and it's the patient's experience. And when I work with pediatric practices, like we're building out avatars to attract the parents that we want because they're gonna have the kids that we want. So we're not talking to the kids, they're not making the decision, we're speaking to the parents. One thing that I hone in on is the avatar, but then the second step to that is how do we ensure that the parent wants to come back? How are we making them comfortable in the practice? How do we make them comfortable with the diagnosis, the conversations? How are we integrating them into all of this as well? And making sure, like you said, my mom at heart, that the patients are well cared for. one space we're hitting with the generations, you know, the generations are getting further and further from us. But those generations that we're hitting now, there's a huge attention span differential between even our you know, teens right now already have like pretty low attention span compared though to like our Tiffanie (12:40.408) are four to eight to 10, like that 16, 13 to 16 is like, gosh dang it, this is kind of kind of annoying, you know, but then you get under 13. And it's like, holy cow, I've got about five seconds to grab your attention. And then you're gonna we were saying like, our kids keep saying, I'm bored. I'm bored. I'm like, oh my gosh, did I hear you say I'm bored before we get to the industry one more time, I'm gonna freak out. But their attention spans are so low. They're so small, because there's so much stimulation, constantly going around, that we have to take that into consideration, I think, within the dental practice, because we've got to keep their attention, we've got to keep them excited and interested and build an experience that they don't walk away frustrated by, because the parents are taking into consideration their experience. Like, did you have coffee on hand? That's a huge one for the moms out there. And then did the kid have a good experience? So I think those aspects are massive. And Dana, what did you, we talked earlier and you actually wrote this newsletter. So if you're getting this newsletter, good job, Dana wrote this one. If you're not getting our newsletters, you should go subscribe because they're pretty freaking awesome. and they're written by the consultants if you didn't catch that there. So Dana, what are you suggesting the practices are seeing practices? I think this works for all practices, by the way, these ideas here, but specifically pediatric dentistry is going to thrive with it. What are you suggesting right now to a lot of your clients that they integrate and innovate within their practice to help keep those attention spans? like here, that they're excited and interested? Dana (14:14.38) Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's like a twofold. How do I keep them engaged and interested and excited and make dentistry fun? But then also, how do I kind of distract them so that I can do what I need to do in that short amount of time so that they stay comfortable and calm? And so I feel like we're looking kind of at a bunch of different tools. see, you know, I know there's lots of TVs on the ceilings and and I'm even seeing some virtual reality. You know, kids are always like loving those oculus as I have a nephew that he's constantly like banging into the wall and you hear him on phone calls and I'm like, what's he doing? My sister was like, that's his oculus, his virtual reality game. And so it does allow you to kind of transport kiddos into the next world. So I think that it's, it's just coming up with how can we make dentistry fun? How can we make it engaging and make the patient feel like they're a part of the process? So these Tiffanie (14:42.808) Yeah. Dana (15:08.494) things that we use in general too but taking photos and showing them and talking about the icky bugs and like making it fun and in their terms and then also having tools on hand to be able to distract the kiddos that you can really do what you need to do very quickly very easily without minimal hands and minimal squirming so that again it creates that experience that you want them to have quick seamless easy in and out for them. Tiffanie (15:33.344) Yeah, yeah, the headphones are massive, right? I think the Oculus for the waiting room is brilliant. I know I've got to practice. beautiful practice and she has a theater room and so they she's got like comfy chairs in there and that's dark and the movies going it's the same movie that's playing in the back and so the kids can go into the theater room but that oculus idea or the VR headsets whichever one you you choose is a great idea to have a little room where it's obviously the kids by themselves for exactly what Dana said about her nephew, right? Kids are by themselves, but they're playing with that. used to do, I mean, gosh, this is so long ago, but I remember we used to have like a PlayStation one, you know, and it honestly drove me crazy. told you kids are not, I love kids, but. Dana (16:06.446) you Tiffanie (16:20.728) kids are not my jam for dentistry, but I would go crazy because it was the PlayStation one. So we had to flip the discs out, right? And so we had like 10 different games, but I had to keep them behind the counter and the kids would come up. But this is a little bit different where one, the kids know how to use this stuff. When we had the PlayStation, the kids did not know how to use a PlayStation. Kids were not like, they didn't understand it and they didn't get it. But now they're teaching us how to use this stuff. Like a six and eight year old could tell you how to use a VR headset. My kid, he looks at something and he just knows. And I'm like, how did you figure that out? He's like, it's obvious. It's not obvious. I didn't get it. Right? Like, that was not obvious, but it's fine. So all these these spaces of really making sure that they are super entertained. Like are we making them sit out there on their own phones or do we have things that they can do? Even as simple as like a coloring table. I know I had my boyfriend's kids the other day were walking through. It was old Navy and they were doing some sort of safety something. They had a table set up over the side with crayons and coloring sheets, those kids flipped. They were so excited, screaming. It lasted about 10 seconds, right? Because it's going to be over quickly. But even just having something like that or having iPads with the color by number app, kids are obsessed with that right now. But making sure there's some sort of, like you said, that distraction, but also in the waiting area, like where are they sitting? And what are you making the parents do? You know, the parents are sitting in their school on their Instagram. So how are you keeping the kids entertained so that both parents or both sides right are enjoying their time. So I love the VR headset. I love the the movies are still a pretty decent hit as long as you get bluey on there or something. I know it's got to be super relative. Apparently, the Disney movies are not super relative anymore. It's got to be bluey or bust. Tiffanie (18:10.552) But making sure we have those, think headsets in the back are really fantastic if they're going to be back there for a while. Or if you're going to be using the drill or anything like that, mean noise, have those noise canceling headphones so that they don't understand what's going on. And then one space too, Dana, that I think all practices are starting to implement. And I think it's brilliant for pediatric care because it makes it seamless and easy as the AI tools. So making sure you've got those AI tools, Pearl or whatever it is that you decide to utilize, download it and working because I mean, Dana, how often did you see, I know just in our practice we'd be like, shoot, like that was hard to see or we just couldn't get to it that something could have been missed, but also like you said, super non-invasive attempts. Dana (18:58.966) Yeah, yeah, I think AI tools are great clinical AI tools are fantastic as far as helping us diagnose again with like minimal contact within the teeth or in the mouth for the patients. And then even AI for like having a chat for parents because parents right typically work when the office is working. That's why those middle hours are so hard to fill and ding ding pediatric practices, right? So if I've got an AI bot that can chat with my parents after work can get them scheduled can do those things. That makes it so much easier because again, like Tiff said, we've got two experiences here but our target experience is that parent and so the more that we can make those things easy and again pediatric practices rely on volume right so bones are constantly Last time I was in a pediatric practice for a visit I was just like the phone does not separate in there are hundreds of phone calls every single day and so having an AI tool that can get the ones that we miss or that can chat with the parent via text or can be available for after hours those types are crucial for pediatric practices because that is when the parent has free time Tiffanie (20:00.504) So. Yeah, that's brilliant. That's brilliant. I think that's a wonderful tool. So AI in a lot of different areas. We've got the virtual reality headset, the Oculus or whichever you choose, AI pearl or whatever chair side to get as much value out of that appointment and that chair time as you can. And then also the AI communication tools. think that's brilliant. Virtual assistance is also a great way to handle that because they can work any hours. And so we've got a lot of practices Pediatric or not that are utilizing virtual assistance to catch those after hours and also I know a lot of practices especially pediatric practices are closed on Fridays or they're closed on Mondays open on Friday So you've got that you've got that four-day work week three or four days and so The AI tools, the communication tools or the virtual assistant can grab a lot of those missed opportunity phone calls. And I know from the marketing standpoint, working closely with the marketing company for a few of my clients, that is massive. being able to bring either of those tools in to grab those calls has drastically changed the marketing efforts and increased their results tenfold just because the opportunities were getting missed while we were closed. So I love those and that's brilliant. I think there's a ton of tools here. think kids are digital natives. Kids know what's out there. They know when you're not a digital native. So watch out for that. They will tell you they will call you on it. And if your VR headset is Tiffanie (21:33.07) is like, I don't know, an Amazon $20 ordered one, they'll tell you. tell you. I'm not saying go spend a ton of money on it. I'm just saying make sure whatever you get is going to keep the attention span of the child and that the games that are on there are quality. I think movies, things like that are fantastic. So my suggestion, my action items for you, really look at the patient experience. Take your dentist cap off. and say if I had to come here, what would I expect if my kid were coming here? What would I expect? And really look at what your systems and all the pieces that are keeping people's attention, what are those things doing to create that experience for your patient and your parent? and really take inventory of those spaces. Is there something that we can innovate on that we can just make it better, make it new? You always want to have that seamless experience and make it high end. And if we stay where we are, never innovate or change, we will eventually just die. So don't let that happen. Dana, thank you so much for your nuggets. Thank you for being our pediatric brain here in The Dental A Team and for sharing those tips and tricks. I appreciate you being here today. Dana (22:49.28) Yep, I always have fun. Thanks for having me, Tiff. Tiffanie (22:52.062) Of of course. All right, guys, go take inventory, go figure out what it is that you need to innovate on, if anything, and leave us some comments in the section below. Five star reviews are always appreciated. If you've got tips and tricks that you can share with people, people really do go through and read those reviews. So if you've got some, drop them in those reviews. We want to hear them too. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com is how you can reach us. And if you are a practice who's ready to freaking innovate, let us know. We are here to help you along your journey. Dana, thanks again and everyone we will catch you next time.…

Dental A Team Podcast

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#991: Business Evolution: Where Are You At With Yours? 31:26

7 днів тому31:26

31:26

Kiera and Tiff are tuning in from a hike to talk about their shared birthday (today, May 8!) and how their personal and business evolutions have morphed. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript The Dental A Team (00:00.977) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and... Spiffy Tiffy. Oh my gosh. We are on a hike and we're in the middle of the wilderness. We're a hot mess right now. So Tiff flew in and we decided since we're actually together, we should do our birthday podcast together because little known fact, if you don't know, Tiff and I actually shared the best birthday in the entire world. Yeah, May 8th. I think they knew that though. I think they did too and if you didn't well welcome and so I convinced if we were gonna go on a hike today and when we used to be like old school old school dental a team we used to go on hikes and podcast on a hike so we decided to We've got cords all over us. Like this is in our ear. We haven't done this in so long I feel like rookie move here So if the video turns out amazing and if it doesn't well Just imagine Tiff and I are sitting up on a hill on this bench It was a beautiful hike up. We're in Reno, Nevada right now, but we get to celebrate our birthday and I wanted to riff this because May 8th is an incredible day. Tiff and I are both like so random. Tiff, we met. I feel like Tiff and I in the work world, we met on a blind date basically. Like we were set up by a mutual friend for Tiff to come and join and she is still on my phone Tiffany Trader DPP. Yep. DPP is the company that Kara previously owned that brought us together. it was DPP. Dental placement pros. Tiff was a recruiter and then Recruiter turned consultant turned lead consultant. She's kind of done it all but if I feel like happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you. Gosh, it's like just right around the corner It is and so this is releasing on our actual birthday And so I thought a fun rift would be to if we are both about to enter a new decade of our lives And I thought about thinking about like decades decades in practice ownership decades in our life I don't know how you're feeling but going into our birthday this year I've really been like on this mole of like, do I want to be in the next decade of my life? And what do want that to embody? And I know you and I are both kind of on that same path. It's really fun. It's been fun with you. think over the course of time, shoot girl, it's been almost eight years. Five, eight, eight years. That's actually cute. But just thinking about like, we've gone through so much together. And I think if we were to look back at when we first started the company. The Dental A Team (02:14.635) I feel like Tiff started it with me. Like seriously, you've been through 99.999 % of all of it. just thinking back of like, I think of who we were when we met versus who we are today and really like huge kudos to us of like both progressing and growing. But I'm like, Tiff, what does this next decade look for you? Like I thought, let's think about it. And like, maybe what was the decade before? What was that focused on? And then what are we going into for this next one? From your perspective, from my perspective and helping owners and like offices think about like. when you first started your business, might look different and like, what are the different decades or even five years of your life? How do we kind of like capture that and maximize? To me, this I feel like is living life on purpose rather than just unconsciously going through the motions. Yeah, yeah, I agree. I think it's actually it's a really fun conversation, not only because it's a fun conversation, but it's actually. I think I can make it super applicable for life and for business in general. So whether you're a dental practice owner or you're an entrepreneur of your own or just whatever kind of business you're owning or working in or managing, I think I can make it pretty applicable because when you ask me that question, like, what am I going into? What did I come out of? Like, what does that look like? And I think we both are very intentional human beings. So we're always very intentional with our time and we're very intentional with like what's coming and how can we make the best or the most of what's coming. And I can say this one's fun too and easy for me because I'm going into a whole new world of age. Going from 39 to 40, that whole new like 10 years, everybody looks at their lives in like 10 year segments. And going into 30, that life was how can I show up the most for my kid? Because Brody, you know, was at an age where he needed me. He needed the best parent that he could have. He needed the happiest mom that he could have. And I was very intentional with who I was being and what kind of a life I was creating for us so that Brody could have the best experience as possible. So going into 30 was like, okay, how do I show up the best for my kid? Because he's at these formative years and ages that he just, needs me to continue showing up and how do I show up the best for him? So it was very much about my identity as a mom, I guess, and like reforming that. The Dental A Team (04:27.144) And allowing my work to be a part of that and a part of Brody's life and a part of showing him how to be a good employee and good team member and a good human when it comes to work as well. And it's fun actually going into this next decade because Brody and I hit milestones together, which is incredible. I didn't plan it that way, but it works out really nicely. And so as he is graduating high school and going on to college, I will be a year into 40. And so I'm going into my 40s with this whole new mindset of how do I support my adult child the best, which frees up honestly like so much for space for me because he is going to be so independent. And when I think about that, it's crazy because now I have all this time for me and this space for me. So really like reforming what that looks like for work, for pleasure, other relationships in my life. making sure that I'm super intentional still, but thinking about it in like a business mindset, it's kind of like the, last 10 years was like my teenage years. Um, those Brody's, you know, out of like middle adolescent to into his teen years and really being intentional with that time in the teen years of like grit and the hard and the, um, emotions and the puberty and all of the changes and business does that too. It does. Right. So you get to like five years in business and you're like, okay, I still have like a screaming toddler. And then you get to 10 and you're like, okay, this is kind of cool. We're sustaining. And then you, that next 10 years, right? Like if we're getting to those markers is like, okay, now we're like in our adolescence or however you might want to look at it. But then you get to the space where it's like, wow, this has opened up and I have leads and I have people on my team that are sustaining my business. So it's like having an adult child, right? Who's like in college. So I still have to like be there and hold accountability lines and like do so much of it and financially still have to be there. But then in the next, you know, one to six years from now, that's going to shift and change again, where it's like, now I'm like, maybe not finance, so financially tied and so emotionally invested. And when you look at your business, I think it's kind of the same trajectory. So The Dental A Team (06:49.486) That's my long-winded answer. I liked it. No, I love it a ton because like, so when we did Summit together and we talk about the life cycle of a business, which came from Tony Robbins, and it really does talk about like from toddler to like from birth to top like infant, then toddler, then you go into like your middle school years. I do remember Brody in his middle school. were going to like, Tiff was like on coaching calls. We were running to like after school pickups. We weren't like the longest line. And then they go into like high school then they move into college and then it's kind of this prime and it's interesting because I think as you and I shift into these decades That are different like I agree with you. I think our 30s were so much of building us building a business building who we wanted to be I feel like so much of my identity and who I am Not that it's tied to the business. I think at the beginning it was and I think we both watched We watched a lot of that and then we realized like this was crushing us and crippling us and we had some really strong breaking points like you said I think it's like that refining and redefining who we are and like what we actually want it to be because we're no longer in survival mode like thank heavens like cheers to that like we should cheers our microphones here we go but like cheers to that that we got out of survival mode because every business and I think every person goes into survival mode that it's almost like tiff I'm I'm a little scared but like beyond optimally optimistically hopeful that we can like sit and take a breath and actually enjoy what we created and enjoy the life we created rather than trying to keep building. And I think like that's like the crusting it feels like we're headed into in business and life. Like, so to like what's on horizon for 40. I mean, for me, I know I've been looking at, and it's funny, you and I are actually gonna probably switch roles. You're about to be childless, like less dependent. And if everything goes the way that my life is shaking up, we will become very child dependent. Like babies were hoping like that becoming a portion of our life, which. Honestly, it feels funny that you and I are constantly shifting lives, like literally shifting all the time. But also so beautiful that the different seasons of life, we can show it for each other in different ways. But like what's on the horizon for 40? Like what does 40 feel? Because I've been thinking like, what's the energy of that? What do want it to be? We think of this in business every year. There's an energy, there's a creation, there's a like a word that we have. But it is interesting to not feel so survival-ish, but more sustained. And like to me, it feels like we're headed into true prime. The Dental A Team (09:08.765) in business and true prime in life. So what's on Tiff's prime? Like Tiff's not, Brody's like full-time parent all the time anymore. Like he's weird. That's gotta part. You also feel weird. what's the vibes you're feeling for moving into that decade of your life? Yeah, I'm really excited. I think the human and the man that Brody has already become, he impresses me every single day. Like literally every day I'm He's an amazing human. I feel so lucky that I've been a part. mean how he was so little I think it was eight when we met and so to watch Brody I feel like I didn't see the child like I I don't know Tiff is like brand-new newborn mom I have no clue and that feels like hard hard years of your life And I met you when he was eight but to watch you and him just this incredible bond and he's such an amazing human like kudos to you has got to feel really good of like moving into 40 you grew you raise this human that's really going to go impact the world in such a special way. is. He is going to do something incredible. And I remember when he was an infant and when he was like a baby and a toddler, I remember reminiscing with his grandma, his dad's mom, that he was going to do something really incredible. And every year of his life, the two of us have just been like, he's going to do something incredible. So we have known since that baby came into this world that he was here to impact the world in really great ways. Brody does a lot of it on his own, if I'm honest with you, like I love taking credit for it because I know that I do impact him and I know that the way I communicate and the person that I am definitely helps mold him. but we've had a village of people around him, you and Jason included, like that have just impacted who he is, but Brody just intuitively and innately knows how to be a good human and he trusts himself. He trusts his intuition and he just goes through life. So. I'm really proud of him and it's fun to watch that. so I'm really excited. I'm so sad. Like, gosh, it's just like heart wrenching to think of how massive that changes and like how different life will look in a year. But I'm so excited to see him as an adult and like see him create his own life and all of his own adventures. So I'm really excited about that. And what the next decade looks like is, I don't know, it feels like, The Dental A Team (11:24.478) I feel like things are slowing down but still speedy at the same time, if that makes sense. Like there's a lot coming, a lot of trips and a lot of fun and Aaron and I's relationship is just incredible and there's a ton on the horizon there, I can tell, and with his two younger kids. But being able to be in a space and in a relationship that I can continue to soar and continue to. find freedoms and share those and spread those with him and explore the world with him while still being a part of the kids' lives but not being dependent on for that. don't know how to say that. You're be the auntie. Yeah, I'm not raising the kids. I'm there to positively impact and to support Aaron in whatever ways that he needs, but he doesn't need me to raise the kids, which is freaking incredible. It's the best relationship I could have ever drummed up. So like that's on the horizon fostering that relationship those relationships all three of them and their mom fostering a relationship with her. She's incredible and really I don't know intentionally devoting into that new space and area and allowing me and Brody to find a new Just a new adventure like for both of us. It's gonna be The next ten years is gonna be really shifty. I mean just think he's gonna go from 18 theoretically to 28 in a decade Jason I were talking of like how crazy is it that when you look at the decades of your life So like from 1 to 10 you go through a lot of school But from your 10 to 20 like you're finishing up high school So basically like almost 20 years those first two decades are so much school But then I feel that third decade the 20 to 30 is so much freaking growth. It's finishing college. It's figuring out who you are It's getting your first job. It's figuring out how life works and then I feel like your 30s to 40s for us at least we're like building. Like it was the big build of who we are as people. It's building your, it was building the business together. It was building our identities. It was building, like you were building with your children, um, like just so many pieces. And then it feels like the forties, it's almost like you've crested the mountain, which that was cute. We're at the top of the mountain right now with podcasting, uh, and knowing that there's so much more ahead, it's not the, it's not the final peak. There's so many more peaks, but, uh, it doesn't feel as hard as it was to grind to this area. And I think for, The Dental A Team (13:46.043) For me, I'm not quite to 40. I'm very close to one year behind Tiff. So that's kind of fun to talk about. But I've been looking and I think for me, the 40s feel very much like we said, mean, moving into motherhood feels very thrilling and daunting all at the same time. Like me morphing into that. I've wanted this for so long. You know that you've gone through the journey with me for so much of it. But like, how does that shift me as a CEO, as a friend? Like I've watched you put Brody ahead always and to to have that fierce love come into my life is something that I'm so excited to, like more find in Jason's relationship even more. But also it's very much I'm looking at my 40s, there's so much health and I think you and I are both hitting health harder than we ever have. Just to make sure that the body I have that I've been gifted with really can help me have the life that I wanna have till I'm 90, till 100. We have this great vision of us, we're both in pink and blue. Tiff and I have this vision of I'm in pink, she's in blue. Tiff's gonna be the cotton candy blue granny. I'm gonna be the cotton candy pink granny. We have like, I'm gonna totally have pink hair. Tiff's gonna have blue hair. We're like cruising. Tiff, I don't know if I've told you, like it's gotten a bigger vision. We're gonna be on the beach somewhere. I've already thought through this, because it was originally like jazzy with this, but we're gonna have this like freaking villa of like all the awesome people that we wanna be around that are in this amazing villa. We're going to have a tour if we have to be in Jazzy's. It's only because they're fun. have NOS on them. Well, they have the like sand tires. Yes, 100 % sand tires. And then we're going to have our own like private like boat and yachts that like we can have this trail go to. We're going to have people that live there. Like it's going to be the most amazing place. I'm so excited about it. Like living just our best lives. This will be your tree space, Tiff. Yeah, thank you, Will. You found it. just like making sure that I take care of my body now and really putting an emphasis on that. to be able to sustain. But also I think, like you said, no longer so much focus on me personally, but being able to give more. It's a weird shift, but who knows? Shoot, having kids, I probably will be like, Tiff, I lied. I lied about all this. I had these grandiose ideas on that mountain and like, screw it. It's like just pure survival. But really I think that there's like impact, health, and a continuing morphing. But I think that this is evolution of souls. Like this is evolution of business. This is evolution of owners. The Dental A Team (16:04.989) And I think if you're a new owner, just realize it does get better. True or false, Tiff? my gosh, true. I actually, it's funny that you say that because I have an email ready to go for a client call today and my client's been a practice owner for like, gosh, just over six months now. And one of the action items is like, help me feel less crazy, right? Like he's like turmoiling all the time. And I thought to myself, as I was reading it this morning, I was like, bro, it's not happening yet. Like you just got to sit tight and know that like that's where you're going to be for a hot minute. So, I feel like you said like the tens to the twenties to the thirties, right? And I felt like the twenties for me was like infancy again. Like the twenties was like, even infancies. I think twenties for me was like that two years to two years old to five years old age where you're just like, not sure how to be or how to act or how to communicate yet. but you're trying everything and you're running as fast as you can and climbing things before somebody catches you. Yeah. And like asking for forgiveness, not remitting. I feel like that was my 20s. It's just like, what can I do? What can I get into? Like, how can I just be my most wild self? Yeah. have to like live wild and Well, it was like, how do I test the waters of being an adult? And how do I navigate this adult world and figure out what's okay and what's not? I kind of felt like that was my 20s and my 30s was like, okay. Now I'm going to dial in who I am, but like the reality is, it was still just like testing the waters and like 40 is like, I'm my most confident self today than I have ever been. And I feel more true and aligned with who I am today, even than I did a year ago. And so something like, I feel like it's like, we say we're in a cocoon all the time and I feel like that's, I honestly haven't even. I feel so guilty. There's so many like friend events and things that I just have pieced out on in the last year and maybe even two years, but specifically the last year I have super recluse just like gone inwards and really dedicated and devoted to really figuring out what the important pieces of my life are. Not that these friend events aren't important pieces. It was just like noise. And I had to, I had to reduce some of the noise. The Dental A Team (18:17.468) And I can see and I can feel that in the next six months to be here, like that will start opening back up again. But I had to recluse in order to be able to like see more clearly. Yeah. And I actually think it was it was I don't know if it was duly induced or if we were separately on the same track. But I think both you and I. hit a breaking spot last year where we both broke, which is odd because we were so confident, but I think we broke on the noise and really, I know you took an inward step, I took an inward step, and we both were like, all right, independently and connected too, which is really interesting to look back on, Tim. I didn't realize how almost like same track we were on, just independently. It just looked a little differently. It did, but I agreed with you. was like... cut out the noise, figure out what's really important, what really makes me happy rather than what I've always thought made me happy. And I think like to relate this back to offices, I think that there becomes noise in business too. I think that there was noise in dental lighting. I think that we were growing, we were really like after a shining star. And I remember, it was an interesting moment where you told me, were like, here we like kind of lost our vision and not kind of like we straight up lost it. It was like almost thrown in the trash on accident. We were just chasing something, but we forgot why we forgot what we were doing. We forgot the everything that like it's something funny. I remember I was on a walk and I called you and I said, tip. Why does it have to this hard? And you said, I don't know, but it feels freaking hard right now. And I think right after that is when we both like hunkered in, we went inside and I mean, people said like, why haven't you guys been on the road? Well, this is why this is why we had to figure it out. But it's so beautiful on the other side of it. I think as practice owners realizing like there is time to be quiet, there is time to internally reflect. Like just because you're at the prime right now doesn't mean you're gonna stay in prime. We know that we're headed towards this prime area, but it's also gonna be something done with intentionality. We're very intentional with all the hires we make. We're very intentional with the moves we make in the business. And I think this is so parallel to business and life. Like business to me is such a spiritual personal gain that I think teaches us so much about who we are as people if we want to. The Dental A Team (20:24.689) But I've learned so much through it. It's kind of fun to but I also think like celebrate the next decades that we're going to celebrate the awesome things are headed to but I would say in the last probably like one if not two years I think as people we figured out who we were And as the business we figured out who the business was and maybe as I'm saying this Maybe the business is also reflect you as a person. my gosh. It totally does. It's just absolutely reflects both of us We try not to be in turmoil at the same time. Yeah, but it does. It absolutely reflects this. I think as you were saying all this, Karen, I think it's so precious and valuable. There's a space there that I was thinking, gosh, actually like us both were like, gosh, we had to clear out the noise. I think every chapter. All the pause was the timing. Hold that one. Okay, I think what happens we go inwards right we had to clear out the noise we did we went inwards personally, but I'm thinking like Okay, how does this really exist you believe business is going through your businesses are going through the same things just like our business Whatever the life cycle so I'm thinking gosh I wouldn't I went internal and I had to like clear out some of the noise and to decide intentionally where I was spending the energy and my time I think that's like you are a new patient, narrowing down what procedures you want to do. Because I think when you start out, when you're an infancy and toddler and adolescence of being a dentist, you are doing everything. You're like, what can I grab at that's going to bring in the revenue and get me profitable? And you're just go, go, go, go, go, do, do, do, do. And you have to do that. You have to. That's like starting a business. the waters. So too, it's like, what do I want to do? You can't figure out what you like or want to do if you haven't tried it. We can't decide what sport we're going to play when we're a kid if our parents didn't allow us to try them all. So that's a parenting tip. True. I'm listening. I'm taking notes. Don't push them into one. Let them try and let them decide on their own. That's my parenting plug. But I'm thinking, gosh, you're like. The Dental A Team (22:30.095) noise is I don't want to do root canals anymore. Like I don't want to do this thing anymore. I don't want to have a doctor that's like, I don't want freaking do any more fillings. I'm like, stop doing filling. Yeah. Like it's fine. But you're at, he's at the point now that he can't do that. And I think that's the clear out the noise when it comes to a dental practice is what is noise? when I, a year ago, but however long it's been now. When I was like, I can't do this anymore. I literally felt like I couldn't think like it was so noisy. Nothing was making me happy. Everything was just like a sword being poked at me. Everything that happened was something and I was like, this is not my natural state of being. So in my mind, when I feel out of my natural state of being, when I feel like things are hard, when I feel like things are chasing me and I'm chasing a golden carrot. I know something has to give and that's that's when I when I either slow down enough to like clear out the noise or a break and last year I broke um but I I had to break in order to the change but that's where it is at your practice too so if you're in your practice and you're like this sucks Kara like I'm This sucks and I can't do this anymore. ready to sell it. Can I just sell this? like, you can, let's prep it. Always be prepared to sell. So then by time we get through with that, they're like, actually, I kind of like this. We just had to out the noise. So you just have to clear out the noise and dial it in. Normally, what I find and what we found, right, is that we had lost our vision. So we were chasing everything instead of looking to accomplish our mission and our mission and bringing in things that supported that. We were chasing all of the things. So was like every client. That's what Tony. The Dental A Team (24:20.818) So it was like every client is the client. Like every client is the one that we want. Instead of being like, what is the client? What does the client look like that supports our mission? Who's here to help us support our mission? And who's here to like, just go through an operations manual, just buy the operations manual. That's being freaking fast. If you're here to support our mission, we want to support you. That's what we had to do. That's what we had to come back to. So it's just like that. clarifying moment as we were talking, I'm like, actually, as we went inside, and as I morphed and changed and figured out what I needed to clear out this year, that's exactly what it is. Totally. And Jeff, I love that you brought that up because there is so much noise. And I think there was so much fear that held us there. There's no way I can stop doing this. Like I remember we thought like, if we don't say yes to every single client that comes through and dental team isn't like providing for all of them, we're failing the mission rather than like A, we're never gonna be able to serve everyone we want to and we're building things to be able to serve. That's why we do the podcast. That's the way we're able to serve every person that wants to be a part of this. But I think like before you get to that breaking spot, which I think you and I both, we learned a good lesson. realize that you can actually say no to those fillings. You can say no to the root canals. You can say no to these things. Tiff and I were like, we don't want to travel. And Tiff, like, let's do in-person events. And I was like, I don't want to do those. And I'm so grateful we did it because they've been some of the most incredible things in hearing the clients. You had a vision that I couldn't see. And I also would say to owner doctors, don't be afraid to let your team help you find that vision while you're going through it. Tiff had the vision. She saw where we needed to go. I couldn't see it. And so trusting that Tiff. whether it's for like, was like, shoot, Tiff, if this is what you want to do, take it and run with it. But truly, I'm so proud of you and so grateful for you because you saw the vision when I was blind and I couldn't see it. And I think having trusted people in your life, but realizing your life, like I think we get to do this one time. And that's why I'm super excited for us to be going to this decade. That's why I wanted to do this podcast with you. I was like, sure, can I rift about our birthday on my own? Yes. The Dental A Team (26:20.617) But I'd love to talk about it I think we bring different perspectives of your business is just like your life. So when you look at and I think one of the bigger things that I started looking at was when I'm 90, 100, 110, 120, when I look back, what am I going to want to be at that point in my life? How am going to want to act? What are the things I'm going to be proud of? What are the things that I'm going to be like? That was my legacy. I realized I wanted to leave a legacy and I wanted to have impact. And Tiff, I know that's right aligned with what you are and what you want. And I know there's spaces in your own world that you want to do. We talked about it. There's other things. And so really becoming those people we want to be that we're proud of. And your business is the same. Like, you go to sell your business, what do you want them to look like? What's the legacy? How do you want this to play out? And I think that helps you make decisions more clearly. So I think, like, as we wrap this all up, like, hey, Tiff, happy birthday. Like, I'm excited. I'm excited for the 40s together to see, like, what we become and how we do. Also in business, clear out the noise tip. think that was one of most beautiful things, clear that noise out, really hunker down. Like if you're in the beginning, you're gonna be hustling. Like realize it's the hustle, the grind. But if you're later on, realize that you can make changes to make life happier and that's also okay. I believe we get one life and we get to make it the best or the worst. And it's kind of like a schedule, like our schedule's terrible. We're like, you made it that way. Like you have the choice to change that. I think it's the same with your life. Like this is your life. Yes, we're all dealt cards. but we're the ones who ultimately get to paint the canvas of what we want it to be. And Tiff, just, love you in my life. I love sharing the business with you. I love creating with you because you push me and inspire me in ways other people don't and you get it. And it's beautiful to create canvases together simultaneously and independently and just be huge raving fans of each other. And just so grateful for, for the life that we've been able to go on this journey with. Yeah, I don't know. Like I can't even say it better. And I think that we've created something really incredible. The ability to share it with other people has been so much fun. Bring more people onto the team that can get behind what two girls trying to figure it out created. And it's just been really fun. Everything is done with intentionality. I think something you said made me think like just ownership of your life, ownership of your business. And at the end of the day, what do you want people to say about you? The Dental A Team (28:33.342) when you saw your practice, what kind of a business owner were you? Because I think we've all walked into or you've purchased the practices where the teams aren't talking so great about the previous owner or the patients are like, thank goodness or whatever. Be that guy that people are like, wait, where did he go? I always had so much fun and I wanted to talk with him or whatever. What do want people to say when you're done with whatever this piece of your life is? What will it look like when you're gone and take ownership of that? and take ownership of the power and control that you have over it. Totally. And I'll say, Tiff, like just the silver lining for everybody listening, if you're going through the suck that Tiff and I went through, it does not matter where you are on the business life cycle, this will always hit you. So just know it's going to be there. So I think one, be very intentional with where it is. And Tiff, when you and I got more intentional, there you go. You're welcome. We got more intentional. Hiring became easier. Yeah. We stopped trying to be everything for everyone. Like me as a CEO, I was like, fine, people are going to talk about me. That's fine. This is who I'm going to be. And this is Kira. This is the version I want to be. And I feel like I stepped into a role that I had never owned. We started hiring people with a lot more ease. We started attracting clients with a lot more ease and things really got better. So I think if you're in that space of just like, don't know, close down the noise, get really intentional. Where do you want to go? Who do you want to be? What are the things you want to be known for? What are the things you want to do? Get that vision boxed in. We brought our leadership team together. got four of us like dialed in of exactly what we want to be together. And it's wild that in six short months from that first meeting to shoot, we're six months from that meeting. The ease and the flow that has come has been something that I can't even explain. It's magic. So go in, if we can help you out, if you're like, my gosh, guys, I'm living your life, call us. We don't just say that we need, we're here to consult you. are truly, we've been there, we've done successfully and we want to help you. So reach out, hello at thedentalateam.com. Thanks for Rifton, happy birthday to us, happy birthday to all the maids, people out there. It's a national holiday, so I hope you go turn on some pink and blue lights on your house, wherever you are, celebrate Tiff and I, and Tiff, thanks for just being in my life. I just truly love and adore you, and it was really fun and special to do this. I agree, thank you for setting it up, and thank you for making it my life. Yeah. I'm proud of you. And for all of you listening, thank you for listening, and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.…

Dental A Team Podcast

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#990: This Is How Much Money You Lose When a Patient Cancels 27:52

8 днів тому27:52

27:52

Tiff and Dana talk about a large trend happening in dental practices this year: last-minute cancellations, and why it’s such a stressor for the doctors. They share how to notice the signs of no-shows further in advance, plus ways to troubleshoot the problem. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript Tiffanie (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are so excited to be here with you today. I have the one and only Dana here with me. Dana, we're still working on that dynamite. Dana is my favorite nickname, but we'll see what Kara decides sticks. So. Thank you, Dana, for being here with me today. If you guys are watching this podcast, which I think is still a weird concept in my brain, Dana has the most incredible hair today. Dana, I'm always impressed with your lovely loc. So thanks for coming ready to go today. How are you? Dana (00:34) doing good. Thank you. If you only knew how little time it took me and that's why it's consistent because it takes me no time to get it to do this. I'm excited to be here anytime I get with you on this podcast tip is special time. So Tiffanie (00:42) I love it. Thank you. Thank you. And I do enjoy our time together. I'm trying to make sure we get that one on one time a couple more times per month than just podcasting. So thanks for being patient with me on that. Dana, I get to pick your brain all the time. We have a really fun one coming up here in a second that I know everyone's going to be really excited for. But right now, I really want to pick your brain a lot on cancellations and the cost of cancellations to a general practice. I know in My client base, what I have seen and tell me Dana what you're seeing as well. I have seen this year just like a wild bag of like, patients coming? Are they not coming? Are they canceling? What are the reasons? Like it just feels like a mixed bag of information. Since realistically, I would say it probably, I think it started trickling around November, but January, February was wild. Weather was wild. And then now that we're getting into, you know, summery months, we're getting out of spring and into summer months here in May, it just still seems to be like trends are just kind of cycling around that same space. are you seeing that with your clients you're working with and friends in the industry that you're chatting with as well? Dana (02:03) Yeah, I feel like it is a weekly basis where it's like, okay, how are things going? Well, the schedule was full, right? It was looking great and it just seems to be falling apart. So a lot, a lot of last minute cancellations where it is really hard for the team to pivot and pivot quickly in those instances. Tiffanie (02:09) Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. I totally agree. And so on one hand, I want you guys out there, doctors, team members, office managers, those of you who are listening today, on one hand, if this is something that you guys are coming up against this year, I want you to know that right now in 2025, this has been a trend that we've noticed within the dental community as a whole. today we really want to talk about the cost of those cancellations. I think it's great for doctors to know that information. A lot of doctors do, lot of owners already have that information, but I think it's great for team members and office managers to really know the cost of that as well so that we can see why are the doctors harping on us, not just because they don't have patients, but why is it so stressful to them? And doctors, why am I feeling this internal stress? And then I've also got some tips in here, Dana and I have gone through that are ways for you to know that there's a problem, start noticing it more in advance. and then ways to troubleshoot those problems as well. So first and foremost, I think, Dana, the most important thing to remember is that we've got to make sure that we've got a solid plan and a solid action, actionable pieces as far as our goals. If we don't know our goals, if we don't know where we're heading, then... Like, what are we even doing? Right? So as long as we, as long as we can keep a good heading on our goals. And I mean, by that, like, what is our monthly goal? What is our daily goal? And then always looking at what have we done? Where are we going? And what's that gap in between? If we're not watching that gap in between, we can fall into a really scary space. And then it's that last week of the month that we've all lived where the office manager is like, okay, guys, we just need $30,000 in addition this week. Who needs ortho? right? And we're like, scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to get that money in. But it's because we haven't watched all month where those numbers are at. making sure that we're always looking at that, and we're always paying attention to those things is going to be massively important. Now, Dana, I know you have a lot of practices that are tracking this, that are they're watching these trends. As far as like dollar per hour kind of cost to the practice and what this actually looks like in conjunction to the goals. What are you seeing with your practices right now and what do you suggest they really start to watch? Dana (04:39) Yeah, I think that it is one just like you said, tracking and making sure that they know how much is open schedule time impacting their production and their ability to get to their goals. How much you know, if their hygiene team isn't getting to their 30 % or hitting their daily goal, is it because they just didn't have a full schedule of patients because that is pretty crucial for them to get to that point. Daily goals are set up with full schedules in mind, especially if we use block scheduling to get to daily goal. If our blocks aren't full, we're not gonna get there. So I think it is tracking to be able to look and say, how much is it impacting our production and what are we losing when we have a hole in our schedule? Because sometimes when we can attach a monetary value to that actual appointment, it becomes a little bit more important. When we see, if we know that every time a restorative appointment is open, that that costs us $1,000 right or $900, right? Well, then we know how much that's going to impact our goal if we know that every time a Recare patient doesn't show up that equals $230 well, then we can sure be strategic about how we make that gap up Tiffanie (05:40) Yeah. Dana (05:56) later in the month or later in the week and sometimes too for team members it's like oh we only have one cancellation well one cancellation for every 17 days that you're open when you know what that value of that appointment is it really really You can see how it's impacting. And so I would say take a look at your doll, you know, your production per hour on both sides so that you know, when I've got an hour open, it's costing the practice this much. When I've got an hour and a half open, it's costing the practice that much. And that's just the missed dentistry. That's not the costs of the practice just to be open for that hour, right? Like there's all of those fixed costs that extend into that too. And so getting a real picture of what each hour in our practice leads to Tiffanie (06:25) Good job. Dana (06:41) production and expenses can just be so eye-opening on its impact. Tiffanie (06:48) I totally agree. I think the actual cost, like if you look at it and we're looking at our goals, that actual cost is what is your dollar per hour? So like Dana said, it could be anywhere between $500 to $1,500 an hour on a doctor's schedule. And then again, that $100 to $300 on a hygiene schedule just really depends on what your practice's goals are and what you guys are set out to achieve. So if you've got $1,200 between doctor and hygiene, we've got a goal of $1,200 per hour and you've got those openings on the schedule, that's what the cost is. that data that we've done really really well and we've done differently this year with our current clients is really having them go through and track the number of open hours on each provider's schedule. So the reason that we do that is last year I had a couple of doctors that were really, really close to, one of them was really close, he was about $30,000 away from hitting the goal that he wanted. Another one was like $20,000 away from exceeding where he thought he would be this year. And I was like, gosh, wow, how did we get so close, but we missed it by that much. So what I did was I sat down and I looked through the whole year and I tallied. doctor, open hours, hygiene, open hours. So whether that was cancellations, the schedule fell apart, who knows, but it was just open hours that were on the schedule that could have been scheduled, meaning that was an open block, nothing was there. And both of those doctors would have far exceeded what they anticipated had those been filled. Now, We like to say a variation rate of about 5%. If you're more than 5 to 8 % on the long end, like 8 % is high. If you're more than that in cancellations, you're in hot water. So even if we deducted that five to 8 % from that math that I did, we still would have hit those goals. And so it really brought a lot of reality into the situation. Like you were saying, Dana, to really be able to see what that gap is and why it happened. And I had a practice just the other day, she did fantastic. This office manager, she had the information before we even went into the call. one of the doctors, one of the owner doctors was really, really intrigued on why are we just why are we short in collections and by that he was looking at QuickBooks, right? So why is the bank short? So because when we look at their data, when we look at their collections and their production, just looking at those straight from Dentrix, they were above 100 % on collections. So the team is like, bro, like we're at 102%. Like, what do you mean? And he's like, yeah, but there's no money. Like there's not the overhead, right? So the overhead is hitting well, The office manager knew that we were going into this conversation. She knew that he was going to ask these questions and that I wasn't going to have that immediate information. So prior to the call, she went through the whole first quarter of the year. And what she did was not only she took cancellations on one side, because that was an aspect of it, but another piece that she took was we've had a lot of call outs from hygiene and ⁓ vacation. And surgery, was a surgery that, you know, quote unquote, she's on her vacation. So we had a lot of time that there wasn't a hygienist available to see patients. And when she tallied that it was literally that missing piece and his mind was just blown and he was like, my gosh, thank you. He just needed the satisfaction of knowing what it was, right. But the cost of not only cancellations, but that missed opportunity of hygiene because there had been hygienists ill, there had been hygienists on PTF. as a hygienist that had to have shoulder surgery, these things come up and they happen, but we're not always anticipating them and our goals get missed. So these cancellation spots where patients are calling and they're like, gosh, I just can't come in are even more important. because there are times where we can't, we can do something about that. We can fill an open spot on the schedule. I can't do hygiene if I don't have a hygienist, a licensed hygienist there to take that spot. So those different spaces really took a toll. the cost on the practice, right? The cost of the cancellations is the dollar per hour, but then on a grander scale, it's like, what did we miss out that month and that quarter? And how did it impact our overhead? Because this example, all three examples, the doctors were like, why is my overhead so high? Where's my profitability? Why is this sucking? Especially when you feel like we're rolling along pretty well. It's like, where's the profitability? Where is it missing? That's the big toll. And then also I think, Dana, the stress, like, gosh, being a team member and then like inefficiencies that it creates, the stress of having to save a patient or Dana (11:22) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Tiffanie (11:40) having to talk somebody into coming last minutes, the stress of knowing that there's a cancellation there and Doc's gonna, know, Doc and manager or owner or whomever is gonna come ask me questions. Like Dana, you've been in that position too. And even maybe even from a hygienist standpoint, the stress of having openings, like that's a cost as well. What was that for you and your perception as a provider and a team member, but then also as a consultant, what are you seeing there as far as the cost on a practice with those cancellations from an emotional standpoint? Dana (12:09) Yeah, I I think is I do this definitely something that weighs heavily on you because I mean, I'm very goal oriented. And so if you put a goal in front of me, I'm going to want to tackle it. And so it is a little bit defeating in that way. And then it's like, okay, well, I would have to book patients out, right. And sometimes even further than when they were due, right, just to have my schedule fall apart. And it's like, man, like I could have seen those people that I had to look out a little bit farther. So it is a stressful on a patient care level is stressful on a goals level it's stressful on like hey I'm here and like I want to do things that are of value to the practice so yeah it plays a burden on everyone and so it's just something that's so important to look at and to set a game plan for and to tackle as a team. Tiffanie (12:58) Yeah, I totally agree. totally agree. Now areas that we'll tackle some areas where you can tell there's an issue, like not only you see like, my gosh, I feel like there's a lot of cancellations happening, but really just being able to see what that what that entails. So I think one space is open schedule, obviously, right? Open schedule. I think frustrated team members, Dana, do you agree? Yeah. Dana (13:23) Yeah, yeah, because it's so much more work on the back end to save something that's fallen off or to fill something than it is to just be really good at reappointing from the beginning and being really good at creating value from the beginning. Those things are much easier than this stress and the crunch time of after the fact. Tiffanie (13:45) Yeah, totally agree. So upset team members, like stressed out front office team members, upset doctors, empty schedule, seeing repeat offenders. So patients that are repeatedly coming off of the schedule seem to cancellations. And you guys, I want to tackle a little bit too on why. why this happens. There's a few things and I mean, you guys are going to tell me and your team is going to tell me patients are sick and patients can't come in because of work. Like I totally hear you. I get that. I understand. But what it boils down to the root cause in my opinion is a lack of a lack of systems or a lack of systems follow through. So lack of consistency. So ⁓ handoffs and patient buy-in might not be there. Team buy-in might not be there. Scheduling rules. So how do we form and build the right schedule. If we're consistently behind on patients appointments, or they're taking longer than we said they would, they're not getting sat on time, like if we're showing that we don't value our schedule because our scheduling template isn't working for us and it's running us behind, I don't like we're telling the patients our schedules don't matter. I'm not sure why we expect a different result. On the other side, we expect our patients to, you know, really, really take into consideration the schedule and to make that a top priority, but we're not even doing that. So hard truth, I think there. ⁓ If you're having these issues, if you're running behind, you're seeing high cancellations and you feel frantic, it's typically a reflection of the schedule that you're running. Right, Dana, do you agree? Am I just in mean? Dana (15:23) 100 % I hands down took the words that I say all the time and I'm like honestly it comes down to a lack of value and that's really hard for offices to hear but it is a lack of value on the appointment itself right we've not created enough value for the patient to feel like this is something I cannot miss and we also haven't valued it enough to ensure that we've done that. Tiffanie (15:42) Yeah. Dana (15:47) to ensure that we followed our systems that we've worked really hard to put into place. And so maybe we don't value those systems or we don't see their value. And so it truly comes down to just a lack of value on both ends. Tiffanie (15:58) I absolutely agree. Yeah, yeah. And the patient's buy in comes from value, you guys, and it takes multiple times. So some of the systems I think, Dana, that we can we can pop through a couple of systems that really, I think, stand out and helping that. And I think one space to remember is that we want to attract and we want to keep the patients that we want. Not every practice is built for every patient, every person. So some patients are not going to respond well, they're not going to care, they're always going to cancel or they're going to hop. You know, I used to work in a dental practice that it was a heavy retirement community and we had a lot of, them in Arizona snowbirds. And so we had a lot of winter visitors and they were just special hoppers. We would see somebody on, you know, one new patient special that we were running at the time and we'd never see them again or we'd see them three years later trying to use another special. always going to happen. So work really hard and aim to create systems that work for the patients that you want to keep. Who's your patient avatar that you're trying to attract to your practice? What will they appreciate about your communication about your systems? And don't be afraid to lose some patience to make room for the patients that will appreciate the systems you're putting into place. So that's my caveat. And to create that value. really Dana, that word that you use there is spot on because that's really what it's all about. We're creating value, which creates retention and we're, we're selling not only a product, a dental product, we're selling a filling, right, but we're also selling an emotional product of how are they feeling when they're in our practice and our systems boil down to create to being there to create feelings, to evoke emotions in patients so that they do see the value in that product that you're selling. So handoffs, you guys might hear this constantly. If you've ever listened to any podcast, NDTR, if you ever want to hear Dana and I talk about it, there's probably about 50. So go type in NDTR, Next Visit Date, Time, Recare. It's literally the perfect handoff situation. It's something we've used for years. It was something that and I trialed many years ago. And it's worked so well in so many practices to turn around case acceptance, to turn around scheduling, and to really just turn around communication between front and back office that we continue to harp on it. So go type in NDTR on our website, TheDentalATeam.com. When you go to podcasts, you can search NDTR. ⁓ And I think treatment planning in general. So making sure those handoffs are right, treatment planning. And I think Dana too, like I stress to practices to treat re-care appointments very similarly. Like it's so easy to get into that routine of like, okay, let's just, let's schedule your next six months real quick. We'll pop it on the schedule. You can let me know as it gets in or, don't worry, they're scheduled. And it's like, we haven't built any value. In my, we built the value of the appointment hygienist, like the value that you have built during that appointment 100%, but that patient has to remember to evoke that feeling in six months from now to keep that appointment on the schedule. So how are we building and creating that value for those appointments even thereafter? So Dana, like NDTR. treatment planning, and then how do you suggest and how did you maybe even as a hygienist build that value for those re-care appointments when they're coming three, four, six months later? Dana (19:25) Yeah, I see it all the time. And I do think NDTR builds in some value in that and I've been getting a lot of doctors question like, hey, why do I have to ask about their re care? Right? Well, that is that is your chance to build value as the doctor that not only do I need to see you for that treatment, but it's super important to me as the doctor to see you in six months or whatever your regimented cleaning time is. So there is that but then I would use this as a hygienist myself every single patient before I scheduled. Tiffanie (19:47) Yep. Dana (19:55) They were given a reason why I needed to see them back. Right? So even my regular six months, and I learned this from an amazing coach, right? So I'm not even going to take credit for it, but it's something that like I did routinely that I instill in all of my hygiene teams that I work with. And that is every patient has to leave with a reason to return. Even if that is, my gosh, Mr. Smith, seeing you every six months has kept you looking so good. We need to make sure we keep that up. Tiffanie (20:01) ⁓ I that. Thank Dana (20:25) Let's get your next six month appointment scheduled. Even if Mr. Smith has zero issues, concerns, anything, right? Then my people with concerns, that's even more so. All right, so I need you to work on that flossing technique. We did have a fair amount of bleeding this time. My goal for you the next time you come in six months is you've been able to really target that in and we've got that bleeding reduced. I can't wait to see you in six months to check on it. Tiffanie (20:27) Beautiful. Dana (20:49) Right, so when giving them it's not just like let's get your routine appointment scheduled No, there is a reason why every single patient needs to be back in my chair at the recommended interval and Sometimes too we would put little notes and it helped the front office, right? Hey, I know Dana really wanted to keep you on that six months She said you were looking so good last time. Is there any way we can make today work, right? So it was in my auto note I always put it in there and help the front office then they gave them the reason right? Hey, don't forget Dana wanted to check those bleeding points. How's that flossing going? Let's get you in today Let's make sure you're here so she can double check on that so it's something that I have used religiously and that I feel like truly does because we do see that hygiene appointments, right? That's where a lot of the cancellations happen and that's because it's just the routine cleaning, right? Or the routine preventive. And so building that value in hygiene and you can do it with something so simple as just something you need to check on the next time that they're there. Tiffanie (21:48) Yeah, my gosh, Dana, was stop the podcast. That was all they needed. It's brilliant. Thank you. I love that. So I think that in itself is huge because that that went into the confirmations that went into saving the appointments and the pre scheduling. So I think that was huge, Dana, that little nugget was more than we could have ever asked for. Thank you. Thank you. So, systems, guys, NDTR, go look it up, treatment planning. I love this idea of making sure every patient, whether they're coming in on doctor's schedule, whether they're coming in on hygiene schedule, they have a reason to come back. And remember, I mean, gosh, it makes perfect sense because... your patients are coming back on your your dental schedule and your doctor's schedule because they have a reason because they have decay, broken tooth, missing tooth, whatever the case may be. So find that reason for their re care as well. And I love that you pointed out even the healthy patients you were like, let's keep this up. Let's keep that going. I can say I had my eye exam the other day and he was fantastic. And he was like, gosh, yeah, it hasn't changed a lot from last like he was just bringing up so much information from the last time and like can't wait to see it again next time. I was like, wow, this guy actually in a very short amount of time, I think I spent five minutes with the man, ⁓ massive amounts of trust build and value. I truly will not go to another eye doctor as long as I can go to him. So just building that value, doesn't have to take a long time. It just has to be massive amounts of value. So make sure you're under TR treatment planning, make sure there's a reason for them coming back. They're always scheduled to come back. Confirmations are in place and make sure that you're tracking your cancellation rates, you guys, and really seeing what the impact on the business is and sharing that with your team so that everyone's super aware. This awareness is meant to bring light to trends. It is not meant to be a you guys suck, this is where we're at. It's a hey, this result sucks. Why is this happening? Let's look at our systems. I tell my teams all the time and I think Dana, you do too. I don't want you doing something that's not working. That is such a waste of time and I... would gouge my own eyes out, I could not. There's no way I could live life like that. I did not expect other people to as well. So when we track these metrics, when we're looking at these trends, my goal is to ensure that we're only doing things that are getting the right results. And when we're not getting the results we want, we change the system because it's clearly not working. And when a team knows that that's what we're looking for. I'm not looking at you that you suck unless you literally refuse to use the system. I'm not looking at you. I'm looking at the system. The system and the results are what we're tackling. We're not tackling people. We're never tackling each other. So Dana (24:24) Thank Tiffanie (24:34) Go into it that way. Track those cancellations. Look at the real cost to the business and then look at the systems that you have in place. Are you adding enough value to those appointments through your handoffs, through your treatment planning, through your discussions on why they need to come back and then through your confirmations. Are your confirmations working? we lax it easy asking and are we keeping a good schedule? Huge, huge. You will get back. what you give. So make sure that what you're giving is freaking excellent. And Dana, thank you so much. That was a wonderful podcast. That was so many amazing nuggets. You guys go back, listen again, take notes. I'm telling you, Dana's brain, I always get something new out of it. Years and years later, consulting side by side, you still just always drop something on me that I'm like, dang, all my practices need to hear that. So Dana, thank you for being here with me today. Dana (25:29) Yeah, thanks for having me as always. Tiffanie (25:31) Of course, you know, I'll steal you anytime I can get you. So awesome, everyone. Go listen, take notes, go do the things, start tracking your cancellations, look at those systems and really start seeing the cost and the value that you're perceiving. Okay. Any questions? Reach out to us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com, if you need checkers, if you need more information on any of the things that we talked about, if you're interested in learning how to have someone like Dana give you amazing tips like that all the time, just off the cuff, please reach out. We are here for you guys. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. You can reach us. on our website www.TheDentalATeam.com. We make it really, really easy for you guys. So reach out to us and drop us a five star review. We want to hear how amazing you thought Dana's nuggets were today. Thank you all. We'll catch you next time.…

Dental A Team Podcast

1
#989: 3 Strategies to Get Team Members to Actually Stick Around 11:44

9 днів тому11:44

11:44

A lot of practices are concerned about keeping their team members on board right now. In this episode, Kiera lays out 3 effective ways to create a workplace that employees want to show up to, leading to a happier office crew and happier patients. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and I hope that you're just having the best day of your life. I hope that you are just truly, truly, truly remembering why you're even doing this. I hope you have a strong why. I hope you have a strong commitment. I hope you have just the best honest day-to-day. Dental A Team's purpose is to truly make your life better, to make running a dental practice easier, because I don't believe that being successful and profitable has to be hard. I don't believe that having like great patients and great teams has to be a hard journey. So our job is to give you tactical tips that are able to implement immediately and make your life and your job even easier. Today, I wanted to pump you guys up because I believe that stronger teams, happier practice, this is where we're at. How do you actually boost team morale and job satisfaction? This is something that I feel is super common right now. People are like, Kiera, how do I get more team members to stay? And we just had an in-person. event where doctors, we had doctors and leadership, so office managers there, and the doctor like, please just tell us like, what do you want? We will try our best to do this for you. And so the reality is a happy team leads to truly a thriving practice. And I don't believe that happy means you have to give everything to them. And so really how do we create a work environment where your team loves to show up every single day? This truly impacts patient care. It impacts efficiency. It impacts the practice success. And so really I'm going to give you guys three of the most effective strategies that I've seen with hundreds of practices to truly boost job satisfaction today. You guys, we are the dental team. We are the experts and dentists and team training. We love to do this. We love to help you in your practice. And the reality is we have been able to help within our consulting, boost team morale, boost doctor morale, which ultimately leads to greater patient satisfaction and happiness. So today, number one, it was interesting. were like, literally at this event, we were listing off all these things and asking the team members and the doctors were like, my gosh, like, just tell us. And one of the office managers raised her hand and she said, you know, a lot of these things are important. But the number one thing that's important to me is when my doctor says, hey, you did a great job. And I like, there it is again. Like it shows up constantly of creating a culture of recognition and appreciation and when team members feel valued, I remember like the best thing my doctor could have told me was, Keri, like you did it, you like crushed it today. Like, I'm so grateful for you as my assistant. And I think like, we think that that doesn't matter, but when it's genuine and sincere, this is what our team members are craving. And so figure out a way where you can like recognize your team members, figure out a way where you have peer to peer, so it's not just leaning on you doctors. So office managers looking for this. And then having personalized appreciation. And this is something where I really emphasize this heavy in our company, in our team, in our culture. So for example, you guys have heard me probably talk a million times about our morning huddle structure, where every Wednesday is core value shout out and every team member, it's kind of like popcorn. So if I'm going to start today, I'm going to shout out a team member for one of our core values. And then I choose that team member and then they'll shout someone else out. And even if like it's someone else, then great, no problem. We're just going to make sure that every person shout someone out and it doesn't matter who got shout outs. But what the goal is, is that peer to peer recognition where we're looking for each other's strengths, we're looking for each other's greatness, We're looking to elevate and celebrate one another. We have every Friday 5 where we highlight different team members of great things that they've done, things that have gone really well. And I will tell you, this is one of the greatest ways to foster a great culture. And then other things that you can do is on you can personally Shout out team members of what they're doing well and highlight them But really being genuine and I know some doctors like really struggle with this I even had a doctor who had like 17 members and they had seven little rocks in one pocket and Every time they would compliment a team member. They'd move one rock to one pocket So by the end of the day all seven rocks had to move for giving them appreciation I had another doctor who put an alarm on their phone to just say thank you to their team members. And I know this feels so silly, but literally we had a team of doctors and a team of office managers all in a room and consistently they all said that feeling valued and appreciated was the number 1 thing. it didn't matter about the money. Of course these things need to be there. But truly, if you just create a simple recognition plan and start acknowledging your team members this week, I know that this will be a great way to boost that team morale and keep team retention. So number two is going to be investing in growth and development. So different things, think team members love to know what is like my progression within my workplace. How can I grow? How can I get to the next level? How can I be like, what's this? And so we love to have tier programs for every single position within the practice. We share this with our clients where it's like, what does a dental assistant from here to here to here? What's that expectation of the skillset? Also, what's the growth potential financially? And so this way it's like, how can I grow? Also within Dental A Team, offer, I have an X amount of dollars for continuing education for all of my team members that they can use every single year to learn other things. And it can even be things like if they want to learn about investing or they want to learn about budgeting and they want to take a Dave Ramsey course, that's totally fine because I want to invest in them as people and in professionals. And so how can we actually help them know like within their career, how they can grow in advance, but also then within their life, how can they grow in advance? You know, Dental A Tetam, have done this and Britt and I have gone back and forth of, we want to like share dollar amounts? We not like there's pros and cons around it. But what I do like is the growth trajectory of what do these positions need to be? And it's something where I felt we were clear and I found out from our team, weren't as clear. so find ways for you to help your team know how to grow and advance within the practice. and then guess what? They'll tap out. There will be a tap out phase of every position and that's okay. At least they know that. the expectations are not missed. And then that's when we start to provide CE for life, CE for these other things. And what I've seen is when offices invest in growth and development within their teams, it reenergizes them. think consulting is a great way for you to reenergize your team. And what we see is we usually see a 10 to 30 % increase in production just with coming into a practice, just with helping them, because the whole team now is super excited. They're all on board and we've literally been able to grow them. And so I think this is a great thing within your one-on-ones. Find out what things are interested in, find out, roll out these tiers for every position so it's super crystal clear with each team member. And then within their one-on-ones monthly, within their evaluations, you're able to help them just see their growth and development. And I know teams really do care about that. Then there of course is going to be the piece of step three will be two things. So it's gonna like, there's one of communication and team bonding, honestly having it be a fun place to work. So things that they get excited about, and I usually break this up by quarters, because there's four departments in a practice. We've got our doctors, front office, dental assistants, and hygienists. And if I put all those together, there's one group per quarter. Give them a budget, and we just build up this incredible space where we actually have fun as a team together. We go hang out. We do paint and wine nights. We go to sports games together. We go on a cruise. We go to the movies together. We go to a movie launch. I don't care what it is. And when all the different departments have to plan it, then guess what? We all show up for each other. But having something that's just really fun. also think like potluck lunches can be an easy thing. can have, there's just like so many things you can do as a team. You can have a date night. can have, there's just finding ways to connect beyond work is going to be a really great way of just fun. Like I know so many team members watch other offices on social media and they're that office just looks like they're having a ton of fun all the time. And a lot of them really are. And so it's like, how can we actually have so much fun together as a team? We want to make sure that we are teammates and my husband was talking to me, he works in the hospital and he works with a pretty large team and they said that our teams are becoming a lot of what communities used to be. Communities used to be like where you lived would be about like your politics and your religion and all these other things in your support system and your friends and work is now becoming that. And so finding ways to connect. even as human beings, I think is a really, really great way to just have it be a fun place. And that doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of money. It could just be getting creative where we remember we're people in addition to being coworkers. And then of course, I will just say like a fourth bonus tip is going to be making sure that we are compensating our team appropriately and that our benefits are where they need to be. Even if you don't offer healthcare, you can offer a health stipend for like gym memberships or wellness. You can offer like a half day on certain days of the month, but Getting feedback in a positive way, I think there's been some ways to have it negative, but figuring out what really is super important to your team is going to be great ways for you to just truly boost this team morale, boost this connection. And so really what we wanted to highlight is number one, the number one thing, like literally, I just did this like a couple of weeks ago. It is the recognition and appreciation. Number two is growth and development. Three is strength and communication and team bonding. And four is going to be making sure that you are compensating your team. where you are adequate to where they're not stressed and you're able to have that. But I really think in that growth section, showing them the tiers, you've actually helped foster that as well. So this is where you can actually get like positive team culture. takes time. Culture is not something that's built overnight. Culture is not something that you just show up. It usually is quite a long turn, but it is undue dividends. And the reality is you've got to be able to create this thriving team culture. Otherwise you're going to be dealing with constant turnover. constant chaos and that is not a fun space to be. So if you want some help, if you want to create that thriving team culture, DM us or visit our website and we will truly help you out. We've got some tips for you. I'm happy to share shout out jar pieces for you. I'm happy to share Friday five examples for you. I'm happy to share one-on-ones, tiers, whatever we can do to support you, DM us and ask for that or email us Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Truly subscribe to our podcast or our newsletter for more leadership strategies and tips and honestly share this with another office that you know could help, another team member that this could help because this is truly what the Dental A Team does. You're obsessed with this and if you are ready to boost your morale, build a higher performing team, reach out. Now is your time. This is not something that's hard. It can definitely be easy. It's something that we're obsessed with. Three simple tips and we would love to help you in any way we can. As always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.…

Dental A Team Podcast

1
#988: How to Prevent 90% of Treatment Plan Objections 18:32

14 днів тому18:32

18:32

Today’s case acceptance focus is all about presenting the treatment plan and sequencing. Kiera shares language to use and the kind of confidence to adopt when discussing game plans with patients, and why it will stop objections in their tracks nine times out of ten. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team Listeners, this is Kiera and I am so excited to welcome you back to part two of Treatment Planning Masters, increasing that case acceptance, getting you guys into the tactical, but you better believe if you have not listened to part one, get your booties back to part one and go listen, because if you don't fix your mindset, if you don't work on those items, everything I teach you today is going to be a little bit better for you. I promise you it will be a little bit better for you, but the real secret sauce to treatment planning is the words that you speak. Words create worlds, you guys, and the words you're saying and how you're saying it how you're presenting it and the sequence you're doing is ultimately impacting your yeses, your nos, your full schedules or your not full schedules, helping you realize full case acceptance versus partial case acceptance. It's all within mindset. And I have literally a hundred percent done this for so many offices. So I can sit here confidently telling you, guys, you've got to do that. So if you're new to the podcast, welcome. I promise I don't usually start podcasts out this way. I usually tell you, I hope you're freaking loving your day today. I hope you're having the best day and I hope you remember we are truly so blessed to work in dentistry. Dental A Team's mission is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible and we do that through expert consulting for dentists and teams. Honest to goodness, I can say very confidently that Dental A Team consulting is second to none. We are truly experts. We drive production. We drive overhead down. We drive teams to be incredible leaders and we do it in such a freaking fun, positive, easy way. We help doctors get the lives of their dreams. Yes, you have to show up. I can't just do it for you, but I can promise you that Dental A Team Consultants are truly people that have passion, that have grit, that have solutions. And it is so fun to hear client success story after client success story after client success story, increasing their production to numbers they never thought that they could do, decreasing their overhead, having dream their vacation homes being built when they didn't even know how to take home a paycheck. Just the life, the business, the teams, team members telling us that we have literally changed their lives, that we've helped them financially, that we've helped them personally, that we've helped them help more patients. This is why Dental A Team exists. This is what our mission is. And I hope that we can help you in your practice. If it ever resonates with you, I hope it does. DM us. We're on Instagram, Dental A Team. Also pop onto our website, TheDentalATeam.com. Click on a call. I'm happy to do a... a complimentary practice assessment where we actually look at your whole practice and I'll kind of help you see the gaps and our team will help you see where are kind of the areas within your practice that you can exponentially improve. We have six proven areas that we know if you will tackle those six areas, you will truly find success with ease. And it's something where it's not hard. The secret to success is not hard. It's simple little changes, but being consistent and staying accountable. And I think our team does it. in such a fun way. add the confetti, we add the sprinkles, we make you giggle. I have a client and we are always giggling and we have expanded him to multiple, multiple, multiple growth beyond anything this client could ever could imagine. And we do it with giggles and ease because honestly, business is a fun, it's a fun game if you allow it. So reach out if any of that resonates with you. I'd love to have you be a part of our Dental A Team family. I'd love to help you. Live the life you deserve and to live the life of your dreams and get there even easier So with that here's part two of case acceptance treatment planning. Like I said, here's a tactical so I've got you're in the right mindset We're not planting weeds in our flower garden. If you have no clue what I'm talking about go listen to part one And if you are ready, you're like, okay care. I've got the mindset. I was practicing it all day yesterday and Like crazy it just happened patients are saying yes to me like Wow What do you say? next up is going to be, all right, so now a patient has come. I am in the right mindset. This is going to be, doctors, I need you to be freaking comprehensive. Do not use little league words for major league problems. Tell them what's really going on and have confidence and let's use the terms of the great news is we're going to be able to get you healthy. I strongly encourage you doctors to use our NDTR, proven handoff. Tell them the next visit, the date to return, ND. So next visit, date to return, T is how much time, and R stands for recall being scheduled. If you will follow that, I promise you, you are going to cut down half of the objections that your patients will have, and you're going to actually get them into the right frame of mind. So if you will do that, now treatment coordinators, we pick this up. So first steps first, I'm in the right mindset. Now I'm going to say, my gosh, Sarah, it's so great to see you. Dr. Taylor is absolutely incredible. You are in such good hands with Dr. Taylor. I know Dr. Taylor gave you a treatment plan. we're going to get that taken care of. Let's get you scheduled. Dr. Taylor is super busy, so let's make sure we get that done. I've got Monday or Wednesday, one o'clock or two o'clock, which works best for you. Now you might be like, Kiera, what the heck? You didn't even present the treatment plan. You are right. Gold star. You figured it out. This is a subtle shift that will help you exponentially. And it's crazy. I just did this with the team and the team was like, are not going to like that. And there was one team member who piped up and was like, I actually do this and it works so well now. Fun fact that team member is the one who's closing the 30 40 $50,000 cases So, you know just brush my shoulders off this works and this works for very large cases So all your poo pooing. Oh my gosh care. This isn't gonna work. Please I just encourage you you're listening to this and doctors give this to your teams and doctors listen to this as well because Doctors this I think is a little like seat The secret to your success, one, you gotta be diagnosing as much as we need you to. So if you wanna be producing 100 grand a month, you've got to be diagnosing at least $300,000 a month. So I need you to diagnose, because if you're not diagnosing enough, no matter how great your treatment coordinator is, no matter how much we teach them, we don't have enough to fill your schedule to the schedule you want it to be. So doctors, we need you to diagnose and please do not ever over-diagnose. I know you're ethical. I know you're not looking for treatment that's not necessary. but I do know that sometimes you might be so busy or sometimes you might be like, I don't really want to talk here. like, gosh, like I told her like the last seven times. Well, guess what? Maybe the eighth time she needs to hear it. Maybe she's ready to hear it. And also doctors work with your hygiene team. So they're teeing it up. You are the second person to tell this, not the first person to tell that doctors that will help you a ton. We have other podcasts on helping hygiene teams, T up treatment. So doctors, if you need that also utilizing AI software can really help you out if you're struggling to diagnose. I think that these are some great investments that you could make if you're struggling to diagnose. So next thing is treatment coordinators, high five, it's your turn. Doctors done an incredible job. They teed it up. You go to schedule first. I've got Monday or Wednesday and you're like, but Kiera, they're going to be like, well, what does it cost? Well, A, stop thinking that and B, we're going to say amazing, Sarah. I am definitely going to go over that with you. I want to make sure we get you scheduled. That way we get this into Dr. Taylor's schedule because he's so busy. Monday or Wednesday, which works best for you? And then we'll definitely talk about all that. I want you to be rock solid confident, which works best for you Monday or Wednesday? I've answered their questions. I've told them we're gonna talk about it. But what happens here that I really wanna highlight is you are putting the emphasis on we are doing treatment and the question is not, we doing treatment or are we not doing treatment? AKA when I present a treatment plan to you and I'm focused on that as number one, what I'm telling the patient is treatment is optional if you can afford it. When I schedule them, what I'm saying is we're doing treatment and the question is, how are we going to pay for this? Those are the things that we have options for, not are we doing treatment or not? Because like I told you on the last podcast, I'm like, I will tell you forever, if a doctor diagnoses it and I believe that they are incredible dentists, my job is to schedule it as a treatment coordinator. No ifs, ands, or buts, I don't care. There are solutions. Remember, Cure is mantra. Everyone says yes, and there is always a solution and we will find it. So, Edify the Doctor. Schedule first. I promise you if you will just do this one shift in the tactical, this is the 20 % now we're not in the 80 % psychology. We are now in the 20 % tactical. You will start to have more cases to close. 100 % this is going to be for you. So after we do that, then I'm gonna present the treatment plan and there is a sequence to presenting a treatment plan. If you even think about talking about insurance first, it's because you're afraid of numbers. It's because you're afraid that patients are going to say no to you. It's because you think insurance is the most important thing and it's not. Insurance is just a coupon. Do not crutch on insurance. Stop it, because insurance does not matter unless you make it matter. So I present a treatment plan. I'm like, awesome. So Dr. Taylor, we presented this treatment. This is what we're going to be doing. Here's the total out of pocket for the treatment. This is what our insurance estimated payment is. This will be your total when I see you on Wednesday. Or if your practice does a deposit, it would be like, this is your total. And today we're going to collect our 10%. So that'll be 421. I can do cash or card, which do you prefer? Do you feel my confidence? Do you feel this is what we're doing? This patient's like, my gosh, this is what I'm doing. I'm not talking this patient into it. The doctor diagnosed it. You're the one who got yourself into this opportunity. And now my job is to help you. If the patient has an objection, remember I said, do not freaking plant weeds in your flower garden. If the patient has an objection of like, hey, like, do have any payment options? They will ask you. Now I will give you like if you want to have a little bit of a say, you can say, what questions do you have for me? I want you to be rock solid confident moving forward. You can also say, this is the total. Do you have savings or would you like to talk about third party financing? I would strongly encourage you not to use those last two until you try this one for about four weeks until you get like out of your awkwardness because all it is is just uncomfortable and you're so scared these people are gonna break up with you and they're not. They're not, they're just thinking about it. But Notice I'm like, I've got Monday or Wednesday, which do you prefer? I can do cash or card, which do you prefer? I'm putting my focus on the right question. I'm not saying, do you want to do dentistry today? Yes or no? I'm not saying like, do you have money for this? Because if you don't like, okay, I'm scheduling you. I'm assuming the yes. I'm assuming this patient's going to take on. I am assuming that they are going to do treatment. Why would I assume otherwise? My thoughts create my reality. So why am I even going to think a thought of like, they might say no. Great, if they say no, it's an opportunity for me. High five. And then I'm going to be silent. And so now objections to me, when I have objections and I promise you I'd give you objection know how today, the objections, because you're like, Kiera, tell us the objections. Like, this is where it's so hard. And I'll tell you, no, no, no. Everything above that will cut most of your objections. I hope you heard that. Everything above that from your psychology to the words you say, to the way you present treatment plans, to the way you schedule. all of that will actually prevent 90 % of your objections. And then you just got to get good on those 10%. And for me, it's not an objection, it's an opportunity. So again, notice, I'm like, it's not an objection, it's just an opportunity for me. And when I look at an objection, I know that I just need to educate this patient more. They're just unsure. Now there are 10 % of patients, maybe 5%, that truly do need to talk to their spouses. And I'm not here to minimize that, but 95%, that's just to like, push back. They aren't confident on something and your job is to figure that out. So whatever it is, I've got solutions for spouse, for work, for money, for time, for pain, for overwhelming, for deposit, you name it. I have literally not gotten an objection that someone has given me that I'm like, great, you've stumped me. I don't know what to do. No, there's always a solution and we will find it together. So what we'll do is for this, every objection, we validate them first. So let's say it's like, hey, Kara, I need to talk to my spouse before I can make this decision. What I'm gonna say is, my gosh, Sarah, absolutely. I 100 % want you to talk to your spouse. I want you to be so confident moving forward. What questions do think your spouse is gonna have? That way I can prep you with those answers before you talk with them. What this does is Sarah is now going to tell me what her real problem is hidden behind the barrier of their spouse. Truth, she's going to. It happens every time. They'll be like, they're gonna be wondering about money or they're gonna be wondering how long will this work or they're gonna be wondering about how much time this will take. Well, if I've done a really great handoff, it should never be time. It should be, they know when they need to come back and they know what they need to come back for. So then she's just gonna let me know and be like, my gosh, yeah, we can talk about payment options. Like, what were you kind of thinking? What's a ballpark? Do you have savings for this? And then I'm gonna present two options for financing. So care credit, CHERI, Proceed, Sunbit, like you name it. There's a ton of them out there. Whatever works best for your practice. 401k for bigger treatment plans. You can take out lots of different things. There's so many things you can get a loan from the bank. That's now like, let's just get creative and work together and figure out what solution is gonna work for this patient. But for spouse, that's what I'm gonna say. When it comes to work, I'm gonna be like, my gosh, and notice you have to pay attention to the words I say, because the way I say it will influence it and you'll either get a yes or a no. So if they're like, Kiera, I gotta check my work schedule. I'm like, Sarah, my gosh, of course. Let's pop you in the schedule. I've got you on this date. That way I, Kiera, did see Kiera over here. Truth be told, I will freaking forget about you, because I've got so many patients. I say, I would hate to forget about you and let you slip through the cracks. So this is just a reminder for me not to let you slip through the cracks. When you get to work, let me know if we need to move it, not a problem. Just give me a quick call. Sarah's like, absolutely. I don't want you to freaking forget about me. I'm so important. That's what Sarah's thinking. But if you say, Sarah, I would hate for you to forget, Sarah's like, I'm not gonna forget. So you've got to be careful of how you do that. So that's how we're gonna get around work. If it's money, we'd hide back to what they value. It will never be cheaper or more predictable than it is today. Money, there's always a solution. This is how we're gonna get cosmetic function, cost, longevity, all those. can tie it back to any of those things. All of those things are going to help out. And so we just need to make sure that we're tying it back to their motivator. We tie it back to their worth it. We figure out like, all right, let's talk about what are some solutions that you have? What are some things? Again, I don't have to solve all their problems. What solutions do you have? What things can we figure out? Let's find a solution together. So tying it back. Time. This should be coming through with the handoffs. There should not be an issue with time. It should be two hours. Hey, let's get you scheduled. They know the time if we've got great handoffs. It's very easy and or in scheduling, we've already handled that. So that shouldn't even be an objection for you anymore. Pain, the recovery time. We're honest with them. Like our goal is to not have you in hardly any pain. So most patients experience X, Y, Z. I promise you Dr. Taylor is incredible. I'm going to edify my doctor again. You are in incredible hands. If I was in your shoes, I would feel very confident moving forward. You might be in a little bit of pain. Great news is our mouths are very fast healers. And so you should be in and out of pain pretty quickly. Being confident. Overwhelming, we've given them too much information. If you present it simply and you are not giving solutions to problems they didn't even think they had, you will not overwhelm your patient. I promise you. Because we keep it simple. We speak in simple terms. We don't have hard jargon for them. We're not speaking in like, my gosh, and then there's a bone and then doctors, this is for you too. Stop overwhelming your patients with like, okay, and then we can do your bite and then we could do this and like, and then we can do a sinus lift on you. Stop. Make that treatment plan so simple for them so that way they feel confident moving forward. The enemy to execution is overwhelm and confusion. So make it simple so that way they don't feel that way. And same thing for treatment coordinators. And then deposit. This is what it is. I can do cash or card. What do you prefer? And like, I love my credit card at home. Okay, alligator arms, we can either like you could do Zell, Venmo, like check with your account to see if there's ways that we could fix that. But also on that, be like, no problem. What time do think you'll be home? I'll give you a call and you can just give me that card over the phone. And then mark it down and call them. Every single objection has an answer. It has an answer. You just need to be willing to be scrappy and to find the solution. So today I've walked you through the tactical of how we present the treatment plan, how we do the sequencing. There's a lot of other layers to this, but hopefully I gave you enough to go get started. And the reality is you might think you're doing this, but I promise you, you're missing something or it's one word you're not saying, or it's one little change. And that's why I love treatment planning because it's so, once you find that one little thing and you track your progress and you look back and you're like, all right, why didn't this one close? What did I say? Review it back, listen to it back. you will then unlock being able to close every single patient who comes through and it becomes amazing and you'll feel so confident in yourself. So I encourage you to do this. And if you are like, huh, Kiera, I need help. Great. Dental A Team Consulting was built for you. It is a no judgment zone. It's a space where we truly will help you grow. And this is something we are so passionate about helping you become expert treatment planners, treatment presenters, increasing that case acceptance from doctor to team to treatment coordinators to where we truly are able. to get these patients on our schedule. I'd love to help you and your team out. I'd love our team to be able to help you go to the heights you have and be able to help as many patients as we possibly can because they need your dentistry. They need your help. And I really would love to work with you. So DM us on Instagram, email us Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Go to our website, TheDentalATeam.com. Click on a call. I'd love to chat with you. I'd love to help you, give you some free resources, some free value. We are here to serve you and to make sure that you're able to live the best absolute life you possibly can. And as always, thanks for listening. and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.…

Dental A Team Podcast

1
#987: Add Multiple Millions To Your Practice By Increasing This One Thing 21:13

15 днів тому21:13

21:13

Case acceptance is 80% psychology and 20% skill. Kiera gives tangible tips on how treatment coordinators and doctors can get in the right frame of mind for that successful case acceptance, including no more assuming someone’s financial capabilities, understanding people’s motivators, and learning the art of silence. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera, and I hope you are just having an incredible day today. I hope you are so jazzed and you are so excited about dentistry, because I'm excited about dentistry. You don't call us the Dental A Team for nothing. Our job is to help you in your practice become the A Team of dental offices. Honestly, I love this. I love what we do. I love talking to you. I love helping you and your team just become everything and more that you've ever hoped to be. So today, I hope you are ready. I just did a really incredible team training with an office about case acceptance. And I realized, hey, maybe that's something where I can help you in your practice. I love doing this with teams. I have a couple of practices where I help their treatment coordinators. And we've actually been able to add multiple millions. And that's not an exaggeration, multiple millions to their practice. And the thing that I just love is when we increase our case acceptance from doctors and team members, we're able to help more patients. And that's what I tell everyone. are. so blessed and so lucky to be able to be treatment coordinator masters and to be able to help more patients and to give patients this incredible life, to be able to give them the confidence, to be able to give them the smile, to be able to help their longevity. And I always enjoy hearing the objections. So it's a fun time. So we'll do a part one, part two of this podcast where I'll kind of break down case acceptance for you of kind of how I get team members into this mindset. And then what I'll do part two of all the objections and how you can overcome objections and treatment planning. I think one of our greatest wins was when I had an office who literally was able to sell an electronic, like an electric toothbrush, which we all know is better than just a standard one to an Amish family. I was blown away. And it was because this treatment coordinator was able to provide so much value of what this patient actually needed and to help them have the best dental health. And I just... I love treatment planning and case acceptance so much because to me it's helping more patients have healthier smiles, healthier mouths. And I just think it's one of the greatest gifts that we could ever, ever, ever, ever give our patients and our team. So I hope you're excited. I'll break it down for you in a couple of simple steps. These are some of the things that I do to get treatment coordinators and doctors in the right frame of mind. Because what I found is case acceptance is truly 80 % your psychology and what you're thinking and 20 % skill. So I'll give you both. But really just wanting to break it down for you that so much of case acceptance is about Literally what you're thinking about. if you're new to the dental a team podcast, welcome. I'm Kiera Dent I'm your host I love all things dental and so much so that my last name is actually dent I created the dental a team consulting years ago when I left Midwestern University's dental college and working with so many of those dental students shout out to all of them and Realizing those students that I loved so much. We're going to go out into this big bright world of dentistry and they were gonna need an advocate, someone who could vet companies for them, someone who could help guide them, someone who could help them understand what a P &L was, understanding what cashflow was, understanding the business aspect and the team aspect of dentistry, and that's how Dental A Team was born. So my first practice we took from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months and opened our second location. Dental A Team is a miracle grow for practices. We're able to increase. your production, decrease your overhead and honestly decrease your stress and get a full doctor team experience. So that way doctors, don't just have to do this on your own. So that's a little bit about what Dental A Team is about. If you are part of our actual consulting dental family, welcome. I love you. I'm so grateful for you. It is truly one of the highlights of my entire life is watching offices succeed. Like we shout out office wins every single day in our team huddle. And when I hear offices who have broken a million or hit a hundred thousand for the first time or took home a paycheck for the first time or got their team on board for the first time, literally, I light up, our team lights up because that's what we do. Our consultants are truly experts at what we do and we truly do love seeing your wins. Our tagline is your success and our passion. So our passion is seeing you successful. Our love of dentistry is being able to make sure you and your team are truly flourishing to help those patients get the best dentistry they can. So with that, setting up case acceptance is what I promise you are gonna come in part one of part two. And like I said, we do this with teams. It's something really, really, really, I would say fulfilling for me to actually teach your teams how to present cases, how to help them. Like I said, I literally have a practice. We've got five offices and we have added multiple millions of dollars to their practices over the years of just working with their treatment coordinators and doctors. And it's funny, they have another person who watches their business and they said, what's happened? how you guys grown so much and they said it all started when we hired The Dental A Team and just shout out to that practice and that owner and those owners at that, those locations because honestly, they don't just listen but they actually execute and they implement and we work on it and we listen to their treatment plans and we review and what I will tell you, one of my biggest secrets for it is it's usually one or two words that's making or breaking your case acceptance. And I hope you heard that. It's one or two words. that's actually making or breaking patients saying yes or no to you. So that's where it's so fun. So, okay, Step 1 that I always like to tell people is, like I said, 80% psychology, 20% skill. So what you've got to do is You've got to literally be in the right mindset before you go in. So doctors, before you go in and present an exam, team members, before we go and talk about it, before we hand things off, treatment coordinators, before you even think about presenting a treatment plan, I want you to have the right frame of mind. Kiera Dent's frame of mind is everyone says yes to me and there's always a solution. That's my mantra. That's what I say. That's what I think about. And this is when I used to not even be able to close $500 cases. I went from closing $500 cases all the way up to closing $50, $60, $70, $80,000 cases same day. I literally had no idea a credit card could go up to $80,000. I was like, whoa, we're buying a boat today. Like I didn't even know this was reality. But what I learned was it was my psychology. It was me realizing that this was not a big treatment plan. It's just a treatment plan. So that's the second step to this. We actually cut out the emotion of it's not a big treatment plan. And what I love to do is I love to ask you right now to tell me and you can say this out loud. I know I'm not actually listening, but hopefully you're playing along with me today. It actually will make this really real for you. But What is the number for you that's your actual high dollar treatment plan? If I were to say, what's a big treatment plan for you? What's your number? Some people's $1000 some people's $5000, $10,000. What is your number? I need you to tell me your number and do not sugarcoat to me. Don't go higher, don't go lower. If you're listening to this as a team, which, hey, that's a great idea. This is a great team training. You're getting it with me for free. But what is the number? And the reason I want to know this number is because no matter what, no matter what you're doing, guess what? That number actually is influencing you. And what I say is there's no judgment on treatment planning. I just need to know and you need to know. what your number is so then we actually figure out where your ceiling is and how to go around it. When I start working with treatment coordinators, I usually say that I can typically tell when I look at a treatment tracker on a treatment coordinator what they're closing and it's usually close to us in their bank account. Dun dun dun dun dun, mic drop right there. The reason why is because we have this familiarity association where we think people are just like us and so I hear all the time of like, but Kiera, couldn't afford that or Kiera, could afford that or Kiera like, That's like, it would be so hard for me as a parent to do this. And what we do is we try to put ourselves in other people's shoes, AKA empathy. But what we do on that is we actually close down a lot of cases that could be yeses because people are not just like us. Like I said, I didn't even know credit cards at the time could go up to $80,000. I had no idea. And had I assumed or projected or tried to be familiar with these patients, I would never have been able to close those cases. So what we wanna look at in these situations is, We've got to cut the emotion. We've got to realize this is my ceiling and I'm going to get beyond that ceiling. Doctors, you have the same thing. You might walk into a room and you might think, my gosh, this patient is gonna think I'm buying my boat or they're paying for this. Whatever you're thinking about, patients actually pick up that energy vibe from you. And I know this sounds like woo woo. but I will tell you I have taught so many people how to close cases and I'm freaking good at closing cases. Like I literally can walk into offices. I still test my skills when I walk into a practice because I really wanna make sure that what I'm teaching you is actually still working and it is. I have done it so many times successfully. So pick this up. We've got to cut the emotion and it's just a treatment plan. So I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever want to hear you ever again say, my gosh, it's a big treatment plan. Because what you do is you amp yourself up and you get all this energy behind it. unnecessarily, and then you actually get like skittish and nervous and the patient feels that. I want to remind you, patients are not buying treatment plans, they're buying your confidence and a dream of their future life. So what I like to do is then next, figure out what kind of motivator this patient has. Is it cosmetic, function, cost, or longevity? I also found with treatment planning, sequence matters. So notice I said, is it cosmetic, function, cost, or longevity? I did not start with cost and when I've done this in rooms and I've asked people and you can ask yourself right now, what is the number one motivator for you and your mouth? You're probably not gonna tell me it's cost. Believe it or not, you listen to those four. If you could only choose one, cost could be a portion of it, that's fine. But guess what, I could say, what is most important about your mouth and your smile? Is it cosmetic, function, cost or longevity? What would you tell me? and I just sampled a room of probably 50 plus people and of those 50 plus people, three people it was cost. And the reason I like to highlight this is because we assume and we project because we wanna be familiar and close to these people that they're just like us and we think, my gosh, it's cost. If I were to sample an entire room of treatment coordinators across the nation, I promise you the number one thing people would tell me as to why they can't close cases is due to you got it cost. But when I actually sample people and find out what's truly the most important for people, it's usually like 3 % of the room actually cares about cost. So I really, really, really want you to note that. And I want you to see that. With that, the next thing we're going to look at is, OK, now I know. One, it's my psychology. Everyone says yes to me. There's always a solution and you can have whatever you want. You don't have to say that. But the reason I do that is because guess what? I walk in with pretty strong confidence. This patient is buying my confidence and I'm going forward knowing I'm going to figure out what motivates this person and I'm going to be able to help them say yes to this incredible life that they get to have with these teeth. Our teeth are literally the way we eat, talk, communicate, express our emotions. Like all of it. It's such an incredible thing for us to do. We've cut the emotion, it's just a treatment plan. And then after that, what we're gonna do is we are going to make sure that we're not accidentally closing cases down before they even begin. And I say, don't create a solution to a problem they don't have. So a lot of times treatment coordinators, what they'll do is they'll start to like want to associate with this person and anticipate what objection they're gonna say so they don't quote unquote get broken up with. You're not about to get broken up with if a patient's silent. They're just thinking through it. So what starts to happen is treatment coordinators and or doctors and team members start to ramble. We start to talk, we start to be like, my gosh, and what you end up doing is talking them out of treatment. So we need to also learn the art of silence. So once we present a treatment plan, once we do it, we want to ask them, what questions do you have? I want you to be rock solid, confident moving forward. Notice I'm teaching you sequence matters, putting things in order. What am I focusing on? Same thing when I do a treatment plan. What am I focusing on? Am I focusing on insurance first? Am I focusing on how I want them to feel? Am I telling them, hey, what questions do you have for me? I want you rock solid confident. I'm telling them moving forward, this is how I want you to feel. What patients will do is they will actually follow through with you. It's going to be something wild for you. And so making sure that we're using language that's going to get our patients going where we want them to go. We're also making sure we're not planting, I call it weeds in our flower garden. So not. accidentally creating solutions to problems they didn't say they had. So it's, hey, like, so we have financing options. Well, if they didn't say they have a financing issue, why are we offering financing options? Like, I know, like, it might be a lot of time. Why are you saying that? If they didn't say it, don't bring it up. Because what you do is you plant seeds. And I've talked about this on the podcast, and I think it's just a really good example. I went to PT one time and I had a really bad knee and hip pain. And the PT was like, I noticed you didn't have insurance. I was like, yeah, I don't. And she's like, this might be really expensive for you. Thank you. I'm in pain. How many times do I need to come? And she's like, well, I don't know. How many times do you think you could afford it or come in? Girl, you just planted weeds in your flower garden. You just gave me all these objections that I was not even thinking about because you didn't stop talking to listen to me of what I actually said. What I said is I'm in a lot of pain and I want to get out of pain. You then pick up, Kiera's number one motive is to get out of pain. So, hey, Kiera, the way we're going to be able to get you out of pain is we're going to see you three times a month. I'm going to see you for an hour. You're going to do exercises at home and we're going to get you out of pain in the next four months. Fan-freaking-tastic. Now, if I have an objection, I'm like, well, how much is that going to cost? Do you guys do payment plans? Let me bring that up, but pay attention to what your patients want. So, These are just going to be a few little things for you. There's so many more things when I teach offices, like we need to edify our doctor. We need to tell this patient, my gosh, you are so lucky that Dr. Taylor is your doctor. Dr. Taylor is incredible. They're going to take great care of you. They do incredible dentistry. I am so excited for you to get treatment done with them. I have now put this patient on the winning team. They are buying my confidence. They are so excited about it and treatment coordinators. will give you a tip when doctors diagnose our job is to close. Did you hear that? Doctors, when you diagnose, you should be able to expect and count on your team to close. I feel like when my doctor like diagnosis treatment, my job as a treatment coordinator is to get that patient on the schedule to figure out what their needs are and to be able to close that patient. So I need to figure out one, it's my mindset. Two, I need to make sure that I am not bringing emotion into this treatment plan. Three, I need to make sure that I'm presenting things in a right sequence based on what I'm focusing on to make sure that patient is focusing on the things that I need them to focus on. Four, I need to make sure that I'm not planting any weeds in my flower garden and presenting solutions to problems they don't even have. And five, I need to make sure that I get this patient on the winning team. Doctors, you can say the same thing. You can present the treatment plan and say, my gosh, Kiera is an incredible treatment coordinator. She's gonna take great care of you. I know you're gonna really love her. I want you to be super confident moving forward. We have told them, we want them confident moving forward. We have told them that they're going to move forward. Why on earth would we diagnose treatment and why on earth this patient come to the dentist if they don't want to move forward? Riddle me that. Think about that for a second where I was like, oh my gosh, they're gonna be so stressful. Insurance and money and teeth and pain. Well, yes, you're gonna create that. What you think about is what you create. And I will tell you this over and over and over again. So if you're like, oh, the patient can't afford it. Like the patients are saying no to me. You keep creating that. Care is as everyone says yes to me and there's always a solution and we will find it. We will find it. Not I will find it, but we, me and the patient, we will figure this out. We will find a solution because I will close cases because if I believe in my doctor and I believe in the dentistry that they do, my job is to help this patient get the dentistry that they need done. We can then go in to so many different pieces of how we present this, how we talk about this, how we go into objections. Like I said, there will be a part two to this podcast. but really the reality is you've got to get this podcast. This one's about, you've got to be in the right freaking mindset. before you even think about presenting a treatment plan. And usually we're like, Kara, tell me how to present the treatment plan. And I'm gonna say pause. And I want you to think about the treatment plan you're presenting, but I want you to think about the mindset, the sequence, what you are putting emphasis on because that's what your patients are responding to. You're like, patients aren't saying yes to me. Well, my question is, what is your sequence? What are you focusing on? What are you thinking about that might be influencing and not might that is influencing what your patients are responding to? So it's wild when I start to get people in this mindset, when I start to help them realize like, okay, when I walk into the room, doctors, patients love you, they say yes to you when you are diagnosing comprehensive care. Whatever you feel is what this patient's going to respond to. Treatment coordinators, when they come up, it's an easy, it's an A plus B equals C. Fantastic, I'm gonna schedule you, present the treatment plan, bada bing, bada boom, we're gonna figure out the solutions. Notice I've cut the emotion. This patient's here, I didn't get them here. I did not brush their teeth, I did not floss for them. They got themselves here. But the great news is my job is to help you get the great dentistry that's going to really truly make sure that you are taken care of. And that's what my job is to do. My job is to not like woe is you, like make you feel bad about this. My job is to have confidence. My job is to know that no matter what objection this patient gives me, I have a solution for it. And we are going to have a solution together. My job is also to help this patient figure out what their driver is by listening to them, paying attention. Like I said, it's 80 % psychology. What is this patient's motivator? What is it that's driving them? Doctors, you can pay attention to this too when you go into the room. Look to see how do they talk? What do they tell you? What are the things when you emotionally connect with them? When you ask them about their life, what are they telling you? Link your treatment plans back to that. They tell you you've got kids and it's a mom. Reminder, she's worth it. She truly is worth it. If it's an elderly patient, remind them that your body deserves this nutrition. Like it's so great for you and it does so many things for you and it deserves that nutrition. to truly make sure that you have the best quality of life you can. We can remind our patients of these things. It is an emotional purchase. They are not buying a filling. They're not buying a crown. They are buying the ability to eat. They are buying the ability to smile. They're buying the ability to make memories. They're buying the ability to communicate with confidence. That's what they're buying. And so when you walk into a treatment plan, this is how you become a treatment planning master, a case acceptance like guru. This is how you do it is it's. start out with the right mindset. And this is what I get obsessed with because a lot of times we think we're doing all these pieces and we're not. And so what I want you to realize is the next podcast will be the tactical and you're like, okay, I'm going to like hurry up and listen to that high five. Thank you for being an avid listener. But number one, get this podcast dialed in first before you listen to the tactical, because if you don't fix your mindset, no matter what tactical piece I give you, you will always continue to get the same results where your focus goes, your energy flows. where your energy flows, your focus goes, and it just goes around and around. So if I'm thinking patients will say no to me, that's going to become my reality. You create your reality. So if you've got patients saying no to you, you are creating it. So what paintbrush strokes do we need to remove? What thoughts do we need to remove? What new thoughts do we need to bring into it? What do I need to drop? I know what my number is of a high treatment plan. I need to drop that because there are no high treatment plans. There are just treatment plans. There is just dentistry. These are just people that deserve to have healthy mouths, healthy bodies. healthy lives. That's what treatment planning's about. So I'm so jazzed. I hope you took a bunch from this. If you want, we do this with teams. And like I said, you want to believe that I can add a pay for our consulting in a couple sessions? Here we go. It's really such a beautiful thing. And to help teams become so confident to do this is truly a huge passion of Dental A Team. So if you're like, my gosh, I don't even know how to do this. I need you to listen to what I'm saying that I don't even realize I'm saying. That's what we're experts in and I love to do this for teams. love to help you doctors out with this. So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and be sure to catch part two of this because I'm going to go into tactical on the next one, but promise me you will get your mindset right to help more patients. It is your moral and ethical obligation. And I hope you take that on seriously. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.…

Dental A Team Podcast

1
#986: Stop Letting Patients Slip Through the Cracks 23:22

16 днів тому23:22

23:22

Tiff and Kristy look into re-care and re-activation in practices, including adopting a healthy mindset about patient outreach, encouraging medical readiness out of those patients, and steps your team can take today to ensure scheduling happens every time. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:02) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are back at you today. I have Ms. Kristy back with me today in the, we'll call it the studio. We're each in our own studio. We are here just so excited to bring you guys more value and more information and doctors who. Kristy (00:02) you The Dental A Team (00:19) Listen to us who come every week, who diligently are here supporting us. love you and appreciate you and Teams exactly the same. love you and appreciate you. Doctors, if you find value in this one today, I am super excited for you to have information today that you can share directly with your team. We are talking re-care and reactivation today. And Kristy, how are you doing today? Let's start there. How's Kristy's world? Kristy (00:45) my gosh, wonderful. It's been a good day. The weather's nice, had lots of client calls, being able to help people. And then ending up in the studio with you today. So it's a good day. The Dental A Team (00:57) Awesome. It's a beautiful Wednesday. I appreciate that. And I think it's a little, I think it's just cloudy. I can't say gloomy because you know, I'm in Phoenix, so I'm quite positive there's no actual rain coming. I think it's just a little cloudy, which is making me think I need to be outside later because it, you know, 96 might feel a little bit better with some cloud coverage. We'll see. We'll see. So I'm excited for you, Kristy. And I'm really excited for the clients that you've been able to help already so much. You've had, you got Kristy (01:16) . The Dental A Team (01:27) a handful, two handfuls even, clients under your belt and they're just seeing some incredible progress and I want to give you some massive shout outs and some massive kudos. You have built really strong relationships really quickly and made some massive impacts on personal and professional lives all the way across the country. I know you've even got right now a client as far as New Jersey. and we are West Coast, you guys. So Kristy, thank you for everything that you pour into our company and into our clients and to the people here listening that you pour into our non-clients as well. So Kristy, kudos to you. Thank you for being here today. Yeah, I am really excited, you guys, to chat re-care and reactivation with you all. Really, the thought process here is like patients slipping through the cracks and... Kristy (02:04) Thank you. The Dental A Team (02:17) and patients that are maybe forgotten about. And they're forgotten about, but we still love them. So patients that listen, that just every now and again pop into dental podcasts, we love you. But really just talking about this from a standpoint of team and doctor perspective, and What can we do to ensure that these patients don't slip through the cracks or when they do, that we catch them again. And I have to say, been in the dental field for quite a while. And I was really young when I started in the dental industry. And for a long time, I worked for a really amazing, amazing man. He was, he's just one of my favorite human beings in the world. And this doctor was just incredible, but he is a bundle of energy. guys may have heard me talk about him before. He has so much energy and he's go, go, go all the time. And he is literally your true entrepreneur, right? Your true in... just like visionary, right? Not integrator. He's your visionary. I was his integrator and constant idea factory and constant like fix this, let's do that, let's do this, let's implement. And I remember he harped on re-care constantly. He's like, we're not fucked out six months, then we're not doing our jobs right. And I used to, when I was young, be like, give it up. Like for the love, just let me live my life. Like stop telling me to make more re-care calls. And I really just didn't understand. And I don't think he knew how to articulate, you know, the reasons behind it. And I think this comes up in a lot of practices for a lot of doctors and a lot of teams of making sure that we are making recare calls and docs. I have to tell you a little secret. it's a kept secret front office teams and back office teams alike. We like to keep it to ourselves, but we hate making calls. Nobody likes. to make phone calls, okay? It's not fun. And we will do it for the right reasons and we will do it because we want you to have a thriving practice. But it's not like, gosh, guess what I can do right now? I have a couple minutes, I'm gonna pick up the phone, I'm gonna call some people. It's really the last thought. So I know it's shocking, I know it's hard to hear, but I think we have some tips and tricks today that will take some of that discomfort. out and make it easy for team members. And also I think we can teach you how to articulate the reasons behind making sure that we have a really good re-care and reactivation program in place. And I want to speak to that first because I think it's the most important piece and the most important aspect of really getting anything done. is the why behind it. And when you're asking someone else to do something for you, whether it's at home or it's at work or whatever, going into it with the attitude of because I told you to, like my mom used to when we were little, doesn't really work. People, especially adults, we've been hearing it our whole lives because I told you to, right? We didn't like it when we were little, we don't like it now. having that why behind it really stands out and makes it stand strong. And knowing why you want to Kristy (05:09) Thank The Dental A Team (05:25) pursue dentistry further, why you want to own a dental practice and why you are here impacting the community can really help motivate and drive a team. For me, and Kristy, I want your opinion on this as well, for me, when I think about re-care and reactivation, I think where are these patients going if they're not coming to us? And are they going anywhere else? So on the first hand, where are they going? I believe in the dentists that I work for. I believe in him still today. And all the dentists that I have worked for all the dentists I have worked with, I believe in them and in you guys. And I believe that you are the best place that our patients can receive dental treatment. And I believe that because I don't know what they might get somewhere else. And I want to make sure that they are healthy. That's why I'm here healthy and happy and well taken care of. in order to ensure that I have to make sure that they are coming back to our So for me, re-care, re-activation, I want to make sure that they're coming. Now, if they're not coming at all, they're not going anywhere. That's an even bigger scare for me because I want to ensure that if something were to happen, if something were to go wrong in their oral care, we can catch it very quickly. And so for me, when I come at it with a mindset of positively impacting our community, making sure people know and are going to the safest best dentist in town, I'm making these phone calls from a much different state of mind because I'm not making them to help our practice. It is going to help. I'm making these phone calls to help the patients, to help the prospective patients because when you go at it from a help me, like, hey, I'm asking you for something, which is the unknown mindset is really come to our practice because it will help us. That's the unknown subconscious mindset. But when we switch that and we say, hey, come to our practice because I want to make sure you're healthy, I'm doing this for you now. So when you can express that why, when you can have your team come at it from a different space of thinking, it feels better. And while still making 10, 20, 50 calls, whatever it might be, is not, you know, I'm not jumping out of bed in the morning to make those calls. It is much easier to get through more calls and I'm gonna burn out slower than the other aspect of me asking for something. on the why, express that to your team. Why do you have all of these things and how can we shift their mindset to be coming from a space of helping the patients, like being an advocate for the patient rather than. Kristy (07:57) you The Dental A Team (08:08) really looking to fill the holes on the schedule is the only reason I'm calling you. As long as I'm calling you, it's also going to help that. It's a dual purpose. So, Kristy, that was my long-winded statement on it. How do you feel you come at those calls? I know you've made a million of these calls in your day as well. What was your mindset and how do you help train teams on that? Kristy (08:30) Yeah, I appreciate your sentiments on it. And I almost wonder if we work for the same doctor at some point. But with that being said, I'm with you. In the beginning, I think my doctor was more like he saw the holes in the schedule and then all of a sudden he came swooping up and kind of nagging almost, right? And it almost really dug our heels in for all of us that were up there. Literally later when we sat down as a team and just like you were speaking at as a healthcare advocate we sat down and came up with our goal for our patients and You know, I hope you guys are doing this as a team too But one of our goals was to make sure all of our patients could be at medical readiness at any given time Right, and obviously we have to do that again within our patients lifestyle and budget but with that being said if that's our goal for all of our patients and we understand why they're coming to the dentist, it just puts a different spin on it, right? And so even with that, when I'm looking at re-care and reactivation, I hope you guys will look at it a little bit differently too and see those patients that have outstanding treatment along with an unscheduled hygiene appointment, that they're not at that medical readiness and make it a goal to get them there. you know, help them achieve optimal health, if you will. The Dental A Team (09:57) Yeah, that's a perfect add on to the why is the patient goals. Like what is our, what are the goals that we have for our patients? And we talk goals all the time. So that should be a very easy concept to consider of those goals. That kind of makes me think of like our personal goals that we set every year, right? Like what are our, what are our goals for our patients? It's not monetary necessarily. It's really like, how are they feeling? What's our, our patient experience? So I think that was beautiful. Thank you for that addition. So you guys, Mind frame is everything mindset is everything you guys hear me say all the time your words matter And I believe that with my whole heart so make sure that you guys are on the same page that your team is on the same page and that Team members that you are looking at it from the best view possible. You've got to make the calls regardless So how do you make it the most fun for you figure that out? either way, how are you gonna do it? How you gonna make it the most fun? I think a couple of pieces that are super actionable, #1 make sure you know your why, make sure you know this mindset thing, but #2 making sure every patient leaves with an appointment is massive. And I know that sounds so kindergarten level, everybody leaves with an appointment, I hear you, but it's still happening in the world that patients are leaving without an appointment. So let's make sure that our patients never leave without an appointment. And then contrary to that or flip side of that, if a patient calls, #1 we don't use the word cancel, delete that, cancel that from your, you know, verbiage. We don't use the word cancel because patients don't cancel. Patients move appointments. They reschedule and they barely even do that. We barely let them do that. We advocate for them and we make sure that they're seen in a timely manner and we go through all the steps. That's a different podcast. Today's podcast is make sure no one leaves without an appointment. And if they do call to reschedule or move the appointment, make sure that that's what you're doing. I was in a practice the other day and I had so many phone calls. I'm like, where are all these patients? Why are they falling off the schedule? And then I hear, okay, got it. You want to cancel that? Okay, we'll call you. We'll call and follow up with you in a couple of weeks or we'll wait for you to call. And I was like, couch my eyes out. That's so much work you just created for yourself later. Golly, that might. My jam, you guys, is efficiency and a life of ease. And I am telling you right now, I would rather spend the time advocating for the patient and fighting to keep them on the schedule right now than having to make that phone call to them later because I have to do re-care calls. If I can make sure I don't have a re-care list, like, hallelujah, I don't want to make those calls. So I... would advocate for making sure that you keep them on the schedule. So, oh, totally understand that that time won't work. I've done my due diligence to try to save them on that time. Totally understand that time won't work. Let's work to find you an appointment time that will work. Is there a day or a time Monday through Thursday that typically works better for you? Or is this, you know, one off occasion? So now I'm building the relationship with the patient, asking them why they can't come in, what's going on, how do we work around that? Now, where can we put the appointment that we know they can come in? Because that recare list gets longer, longer, longer, the more patients you allow to cancel off the schedule. So if we're asking our back office team, our hygienist and our dental assistants to schedule next visits, our front office team taking those phone calls needs to be really diligent about making sure that they stick on the schedule. So recare and reactivation starts starts with making the appointment, it starts with keeping the appointment, and then next step is going to be really truly making those phone calls, making sure that you've got the automation set up. know most everyone is set up on some sort of a system that does confirmation calls or confirmation texts. All of those systems also do automated emails and text messages for re-care. So that's massive and making sure that those patient, you know, the timeframes are chosen correctly, so it's going to those actual patients and that they're getting multiple reminders. And Kristy, how do you suggest those re-care, you know, that re-care touch point once they do follow the schedule or they weren't scheduled when they were, you know, supposed to be when they were in the office, et cetera, how do you suggest that re-care program really gets put into place? Kristy (14:13) Yeah, just like you, I mean, I didn't enjoy making those calls and I know our teams don't, because we hear it every time we're there. Yet, it's a necessary thing. So because we all agree it is necessary and if those patients aren't on our schedule, are they truly healthy? We already talked about that. So I truly like to make daily efforts. Print your reach your list. Look at not just who was past due, but look at be proactive and look at who's becoming due. If we're really working those lists and we can simultaneous, you take one, I take one, depending on who's making those calls in your office, but print that past due list and look at it. If there's a hundred names, because you know those lists can get pretty long and you just look at it like it's so daunting, but if there's a hundred people on that list, Look at how many days this month we have, divide it by the days you're working and chunk it out and just make a goal. If that equates to two calls a day or five calls a day, make that your goal. When I think of it that way in a daily effort of phone calls, two or five calls a day is a lot easier than looking at a listing going 100 people. So that's how I tend to chunk it down with Teams and it seems like it goes over a lot better that way. The Dental A Team (15:28) Yeah. I agree. I think that's brilliant. And as you're talking, I was thinking of a different podcast that we've done on the billing and adding it to the morning huddle. And as you're talking, I'm like, my gosh, yes, as you're pulling those lists, and as you're looking at your day, I know this is something, Kristy, that you've added within Ralph slips and morning huddles is looking to see is the patient coming in. So doctor side treatment, maybe that patient coming in, limited exam or a crown that was previously diagnosed, or they were here yesterday for their cleaning and they didn't get rescheduled for their next cleaning. So making sure you've been as simple as looking at the patients that are coming in, do they have an upcoming visit and then family members. I would love knowing every time I walked into any establishment, they were here to take care of me and Brody. I want you to advocate for both of us. that's brilliant. I love printing that and splitting it, splitting it amongst the teams, splitting it amongst the days, and then making sure that someone is responsible for making sure we have that addressed on our route slips and that morning huddle because... Again, I'll say this time and time again, podcast and podcast again, it's easier to get the results from the patient standing in front of you than it is to get the results you're after over a phone call. You're basically trying to reconvince them of whatever it is. So if it's on scheduled treatment, re-care, anything you can think of, we're reconvincing them when we have to call them. I think that's brilliant and it really sparked my thought there. making sure we know why, making sure we have the right verbiage on re-care and the right mindset. I think that mindset also plays, Kristy, into everyone leaving with an appointment because I know some hygienists that have stated to me that they feel like it's invasive and it's pushy and it's salesy. And as long as we have the right mindset, you guys, as long as we're advocating for the patient's health, that's what we're here for. So mindset, verbiage. pull your re-care lists, make sure that you've got everybody who's coming, who's due and coming up due, can do past due, make sure you've got your automated services in place and that those are going out as well, you guys. They, their studies, I put air quotes around, they say that it takes, I think this year they said 13. I've, you know, been working with seven times. I think it's 13 times now, but they say it takes anywhere between seven to 13 times hearing something before you're ready to purchase. And so you guys were working in a world of sales are everywhere. They're on our phones, they're on, you know, our social media apps, they're on billboards, it's on commercials, it's on our music streaming services, everywhere we turn somebody's trying to sell us something and we're in a constant state of no. And so in order to get people in the state of yes, we have to make sure that we're advocating for it and that we're doing a really great job to continue to remind them. It takes so many times for my eye doctor texting me and calling me and emailing me. It literally takes me being almost out of context when you're like, okay, fine, I'm ready to schedule, but they do it and I love it. And as aggravated as I might get because I'm like, stop. I know that I need it because I'm your worst patient, you guys. I am the patient that requires 20 reminders to schedule the appointment because I'm busy. I'm on the road. I'm on calls. I'm in meetings. And I'm not the only one. I'm not alone in that. So always look to treat Tiffanie and know that it's going to take a lot of times you guys are reminding. So making sure you've got your wire, your verbiage, your tool set, your automations up, and you've got a clear plan and directive for route slips and warning huddle slips for who's due, and then a clear directive on how are we going to make those calls. Reactivation real quick. We'll slide this one in there too. Reactivation is really easy and it's huge. huge. I actually utilize reactivation in the marketing world because I think that there's nothing easier than bringing a patient you've already paid for back into your office. You paid for them once, there was marketing dollars spent somewhere that they came into your office and then they inactivated, which you guys means they haven't been seen in 18 months or longer. Kristy (19:36) We hope you a great summer. Happy New Year. The Dental A Team (19:52) So you've already spent the money on them. We're spending dollars on new patients. Why not reach out to these patients who just were forgotten about. They slipped through the cracks and get them back in the practice and add them back into your active patient count. So I think it's huge. I think it's a marketing effort. I think it's easy to add into your Recare program. It's just a reactivation program. We have a really easy one. If you want to reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We'll be happy to share it with you. And we've got verbiage tips and tools on there. And then as well as different dates to set for making sure that those go out. And Kristy, re-care reactivation, it's just a massive, massive part of active patient count success in a practice. Is there anything you feel like, gosh Tiff, if we don't mention this one last thing, they're just without a loss. Is there anything else you can think of that we need to make sure we slide into today's podcast? Kristy (20:45) No, think just I challenge you to look at it differently. I mean, you made mention earlier about monetary things and, know, from a patient perspective, if we're really looking at the patient, we know if they stay away, the cost gets greater. So if we're really being a steward to them monetarily, even fighting their fear, right, getting them in is the best thing to do. So. I just challenge you to look at it a little bit differently, have fun and be in service to your patients. The Dental A Team (21:19) Beautiful and we're gonna wrap with that you guys that was wonderful Kristy. Thank you so much Thank you for doing this podcast with me and going on this journey listeners Thank you for being here whether you're a current client a prospective client or someone who is just here to support the podcast We value you we appreciate you and we want to pour so much love and support into you There's anything that you guys heard today that you need more information on or you just want to comment on? You want us to know what your thoughts were? Please. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com is our email and we will be happy to hear from you and we'll catch you next time.…

Dental A Team Podcast

1
#985: What It Means to Live Life On Purpose 19:40

21 день тому19:40

19:40

Kiera guides listeners in an activity that will help each person be more purposeful in how they’re going about their lives, and build a path toward ultimate fulfillment at life’s end. Episode resources: Sign up for Dental A-Team’s Virtual Summit 2025! Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.844) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I hope you are just having an incredible day. I hope things are going so well for you. I hope that you just, I don't know. I hope that as you look at your day, as you look at your life, you just remember, man, you are so lucky to be alive. You are so lucky to be here now during this time. I know things can be hard. It was really interesting. We always have a team huddle every single morning. You can tell Dental A Team was created by someone who worked in a dental practice. and one of our team members said that she was really grateful for trials and challenges. And I just thought how, what a great mindset, that person has to just think of like, no matter what's going on in life, it's a great day. It's a great possibility. And I think that really ties into what I wanted to podcast about today is, living life on purpose rather than on autopilot. And it's something that has been, on my mind. It's something that we just did with our in-person. event when we met with clients in person, which was super fun. If you weren't a part of it and you want to be a part of something like that, be sure to reach out. Hello at the dentalateam.com. If you are new to this podcast, welcome. I'm so happy you're here. I'm Kiera Dent. I love dentistry so much and I love helping dentists and teams align to have the best team experience, to have the best overall practice experience, to really help you just flourish and thrive and be living life on purpose. And so today, I'm just really excited. This is something that I've been working on. It's been like a little labor of love because when we're bringing clients in person, I wanted it to be something where it was different. I wanted it to be something where it's not something that they've been privy to a lot. I wanted it to be something where it was getting them out of their norm and working on their life and also working on their business. So the theme of our in-person event was life on purpose and business on purpose. What I kind of wanted to walk you guys through is just like a little snapshot of what we did in purpose in person and kind of like mapping your life on purpose. And I recently have gotten into Joe Dispenza in meditation. If you haven't gotten into that, rock on. Welcome. Joe Dispenza has been awesome. I feel like I understand meditation on a level that I never have understood. I went to a two day in person retreat and I feel like I started to learn. Kiera Dent (02:24.736) a lot about meditation and about how to get rid of depression and anxiety. And he talked about how we have depression when we're focused on the past and we have anxiety when we're focused on the future. And a lot of times our mind tends to live in the known, which is the unconscious mind rather than living in the conscious, which is the unknown. So known means that we predict what our patient schedule is going to be, what the patients will say, what our day is going to be. We get in our car, we drive home, we're on autopilot, we don't even remember driving home. We wake up, we do the same routine and to kind of shake ourselves out of that and start to live life on purpose. And so through meditation and also through some life mapping that I kind of wanted to share with you today, to start to live life and to have fulfillment in business and to figure out how can you just be living your life on purpose. what we found out was like language really, really matters when you build this. And when I started looking at my life, I started realizing like, When I look at my week, a lot of times my week is just filled with things that I have to do. And I feel like that's again, living my life on autopilot. So all these things get put upon me. I put them in my schedule. You've got patients, you've got work, you've got kids, you've got soccer, you've got dance, you've got making dinner. And how can we see and add the fulfillment or the sprinkle or the sparkles to our world? And so what we did with our clients is we actually took our lives and we put kind of the the categories of our life. And so what are the categories? What are the things that we're working on? What are the pieces that we would be like in a day and day out? what I want you to do, I just grabbed a notebook. What I want you to do is I want you to start to look to see how am I going to actually build this out? How am I going to, what are the categories of my life? What, like when I look at my to do and my week to do, what is that going to be? And you kind of just like dump it all out. Like what are those categories? So you've got your health, you've got your work, you've got all these different pieces. And to really just kind of look to see like I've got health, I've got business, I've got Kiera Dent (04:30.882) growth, I've got relationship, maybe there's some fun sprinkled in there, maybe there's kids, home to do's, what's all on your list? And then looking at that, and then I want you to think about, so you've got your list, so if you wanna do this in real time with me, that'd be great, pause it, build your categories of your life, and then I want you to think about where are you going to be when you're at the end of your life? So I just want you to like, let's go forward. I think of myself in a rocking chair. I plan to have a really, really, really incredible, like I'm terrified of being in a, I don't know, like a rest home. Like it creeps me out, right? Cause we don't have kids and I'm like, gosh, like who's gonna take care of me? It creeps me out. Okay. So I have planned that I'm gonna have the most incredible rest home life. I'm gonna build this like villa on the beach. I'm gonna have awesome people that are there. I'm gonna have like friends that are there. I plan to have like a jazzy or a drone. going to be on the water and I can like just jazzy out to my boat, get on the boat, go cruising around. Like I plan to have a jazzy with NOS. I really have like it's gonna be fun. And I'm like thinking like, okay, I'm sitting in my in like, a white rocking chair on my front porch, looking out and reflecting on my life. So whatever your place is, look back and I want you to just kind of think about what do want that life to feel like? What are some of the feelings like? When you look back, what is the most successful, fulfilled, happy life that you could ever imagine? What does that look like for you? And to really, really think about that end of life. Again, I'm not going to give you an age because I think that's weird. Like, what if you live to like 180? What if you live to 200? What if you like, why are we putting an age on this? But to really think about what you want. And when we did this with our clients, one of the crazy things was that end of life actually didn't have a lot of work. There wasn't a lot of are to do. So like you just listed those categories. And so then when we look at that, now what I want you to do is once you've kind of gone through that end of life, looking to see like what I want this to be, I've already told you like, I want to be healthy, I want to be strong, I want to have friends, I want to this like sick villa on the beach, like, I want to have like family around with me. That's what I see in like just having this life where I've traveled the world and I've made a huge impact in this world for good like Kiera Dent (06:42.196) That's the life where I see Kiera Dent with cotton candy, pink hair hanging out, but really feeling like I made this huge impact in this world. So then what you do is you go back and you actually look at the categories that you have and like what maybe needs to be added in. For me, I realized philanthropy, like something of impact needed to be added into my world. Also for me to have this sick villa, wealth had probably better be on my categories of things that aren't, they're on, these things I feel are not put upon you. And this is where I feel like this is living life on purpose. It's not living life anymore on autopilot, but it's living life on purpose. And I was talking to the girl who I was going to like, hair girl, basically, we'll just explain it that way. And we were talking and she's like, I can't wait for my kids. Like they're about to be out of daycare and then I'm going to have all this money. And I was like, yeah, and with that money, you can like put it into Ally and you can get a higher yield savings. And then you could be looking at investments and building up your wealth. And I think I was even. thinking in those terms, we don't do that on the day in day out unless we train ourselves to do that. And that's what I mean by living life on purpose and getting sighted for life on purpose. And who do you need to be today to have that life when we're looking back on it? So what categories do you maybe need to add into your world? And then this is where it actually became really fun is to take those categories. Cause like when I look at health and business and growth, like great. And that's kind of like my wheel of life. So, but those things don't inspire me. And so taking those categories and actually adding some juice and some excitement to them. So for example, for me health, when I look at like working out, hard pass, no, I never wanna show up to that category and I'm not excited about it. So what I actually did is I renamed my health category. My health category is actually called honoring my body. And that to me feels so good. I love to work out now because I'm honoring this incredible vessel that I get to be a part of. Like it's me and her for my entire life. Like when I wake up in the morning, I'm like, Hey gorgeous, like, Hey girl, like you're so strong. Like I'm here to support you. Like if she's not feeling well, I take care of her. don't push her. Like this is my incredible vessel that I get to have. And for me working out was not the thing that inspired me, but honoring my body. So it's the same category, but it's honoring my body. Kiera Dent (08:59.534) business, like at the time when I was making my categories, you better believe that business was really freaking hard for me. And I was just tired of it. And I didn't, I never got excited to wake up when I saw business on my schedule. So instead I named it my passion project. And now that is something that is so fun to show up for. Dental A Team is my passion project. And anytime I'm like, all right, we're going to go plan my week. Like what goes in the passion project and home, like home to do. So my gosh, I've got to fix this and I've got that. And I've got to like do the groceries and I've got to do the laundry. None of that sounds fun, but instead I renamed my house category to creating our love nest for my relationship. Some people just want to put their spouse's name. For me, it's my forever love with Jason. That to me feels so much more exciting to show up to that category of my life. So the way I view my categories are kind of like, I have this like wheel or this box if you want. And like, these are almost like doors or like segments that make up Kiera. and I don't just call it wealth. I call it wealth genius. Like I want to be a wealth genius. And, we have our philanthropy in there that just like, and that's my making an impact bucket. So for that, what the goal is, is with these categories, you actually start to live life on purpose of things that just get you excited. So when I show up to my life to do board, if you will, it's no longer this just life to do board, but it's actually a life on purpose that gets me excited. Every week then when you go to plan, I look at my categories and I'm like, all right, what am I doing this week to honor my body? What am I doing this week for my forever love story with Jason? What am I doing this week for a Dental A Team passion project? What am I doing this week to build my love nest? What am I doing this week to build my wealth genius? And not every single week will there be things in there. I have a freaking fun bucket. It's called Add the Sprinkles. That one goes in there all the time. I have a mental health bucket of honoring my mind. So you can just start to have these different categories. And what you do is when you look at your week and you look at things, one, we chunk those things together. So what can I do together to make more space and more time in my world? But also secondly, let me make sure that I'm well-rounded because if you were to think of all these categories, once you get them built and once you name them, if you were to have like, let's say a circle and you divided it. So let's say you have eight categories, you divide this circle into basically like eight pizza slices, okay? So that way it's like spokes on a wheel. Kiera Dent (11:18.542) And if I were to ask you of like, how, how are you feeling in your honoring your body bucket? Like that portion. you've colored in and like a full pizza triangle would be like a hundred percent. Like I am crushing like bodybuilders and like my personal trainer. probably killing it on the honoring her body for me. I feel like I'm like at a seven out of 10. So I'd colored into the seven out of 10. How do feel like I'm doing on Dental A Team passion project? I feel like I'm like at an eight right now on that. How do I feel about my relationship with Jason? So my forever love story with Jason, I'd put that to probably like a seven. Right now, how do I feel like I'm doing on my fun and fulfillment? That one for me right now, fun has not been as much in my life. We've been doing a lot more like work things. So my fun right now is probably sitting at like a five. So great, still there. What about my wealth genius? Wealth genius, I'd probably put that right now at like six. So for you, filling in these categories and some of them when I first started, my wealth genius was like at a one, my philanthropy is like at a one. And if you were to imagine again, think of that circle with the pizza slices. Once you've filled it in, pretend that's a wheel that would now spin for you. And how bumpy of a ride is that for you? This is where people feel they're out of balance. And this is where people feel they're not living life on purpose because our categories of work and kids are usually so high. But again, kids don't feel so fun. So what if it was like, I think one of our clients, they wrote, dad of the year. And I thought that was like just so stinking cute. someone for their money section. I loved this. said it was like F you money. And I love that because the intensity behind that, like this, this person wanted it to be where no matter what happened in life, they were financially secure. And I love that. And that like, I was like, how do you feel showing up for that category in your life versus how it used to be? And he was like, I'm freaking pumped. And like dad of the year, like how much more exciting is it to go to the soccer games to be the dad of the year or the mom of the year or I know Tiffany, she put in there Brody's magical life. And so showing up for things to help create Brody's magical life. And so the goal is that we look to see where is our will maybe a little off kilter, where is it maybe a little bumpy, and then where do we want to show up to our week? So when I start, I go on Sundays and I look at my week and I add in, yes, I've got a bunch of things, but they are now put for colors and I actually have added colors. So like Dental A Team is blue and. Kiera Dent (13:32.878) My fun is pink and my forever love story with Jason's like a pinkish red and our love nest is yellow So then when I look at my week, I actually start to paint in colors that make me excited and I don't need to have Five hours of Jason five hours of work to feel fulfilled for me. There's different amounts So for me just having one date night with Jason was no matter what we're doing We do that on Thursdays. That is me having this like really intentional connection with Jason for wealth even if I were to spend like maybe 15 minutes or an hour, maybe listening to a wealth podcast or maybe like bigger pockets or learning about real estate or learning about, gosh, like rep status or learning about 401k versus Roth IRAs. There's a lot of things on Instagram that you can follow and then read deeper on it. There's a lot of wealth books. I've read so many wealth books over like the course of my time. really... get obsessive about this because it's fun for me to figure out how to create generational wealth, how to help clients with generational wealth. Like I obsess about this. So adding in maybe 15 minutes or an hour where you look at that for me, even just adding in like 30 minutes of philanthropy, like what do I want that to look like? What are the things that I could get involved in? And what's crazy is when we do this, so I look at, we have 24 hours a day and we have seven days a week, which gives us 168 hours total. Now, this is what's really fun. When I looked at this, I was like, all right, this is freaking wild. Okay? So our work week is 24 hours. We have 24 hours, seven days a week, which is 168 hours. Now, if I give you, and I'm gonna be pretty generous, eight hours of work times five days a week is 40 hours. And then if I have you sleeping eight hours a day, seven days a week, that's 56 hours. Now I know a lot of you aren't even doing that. So I feel like I'm being extra generous. That's 96 hours. So of our 168 hours that we have in any given week, we take those work and that sleep out, that's 96 hours, you have 72 hours per week available. And my question is, are you living with those 72 hours on purpose? Are you living your work on purpose? You can also do this fun will at work so you can look at like my CEO time, my marketing time, my treatment planning time, my associate doctor time, my dental assistant time, like we can create categories of our business too. Kiera Dent (15:51.094) and look to see where do we maybe need to sprinkle those in within our eight hours so that way our business is on purpose as well. And what's really amazing is when you actually get into this, where you start to live life on purpose, when you start to prioritize living life on purpose and having business on purpose and thinking about where we need to go to have that incredible looking back on our life and just feeling so dreamy and so fulfilled. And I know when we have kids and we have work and we have stresses of finances and we have all these different things, like my team members said, challenges are opportunities for us. When we're looking at that, are we truly living our life on purpose? Are you living your life on purpose? Do you maybe want to change to live your life on purpose? And that's what I get excited about within consulting. And we just hired a new team member and we've had a couple of clients join us recently, which love them. And I hope you're our next one to join us. But they said, Keira, I really love that this company is not about just work. It's about life and it's about being. respectful and it's about having a purpose beyond just work. and that was one of the greatest compliments that I have heard from clients and team members, because I feel like if we're not living life on purpose, we're just on autopilot. don't want to get to my cure being whatever age she is and looking back and saying, gosh, I lived so much of my life on autopilot. I was managing my life. wasn't creating my life. And so today I'm imploring you and inviting you. to start creating your life on purpose. And if this is something that you're like, gosh, I need a lot of help. need some help. don't even know where to start. Reach out. Hello at thedumbolyteam.com. But really, I hope that you just commit to living life on purpose. I hope that you commit to having your business on purpose, that you get out of the unconscious known and get into the conscious unknown where it's creative, it's playful, it's not stressful, it's magnetizing, it's euphoria. because you're actually living the life of your dreams, not the life that you feel like you are just living day in and day out. And it takes time, it takes daily effort, it takes planning and it takes prepping it, right? But I believe anything worth doing is worth doing well. And so I just encourage you to do this. And if we can help in any way, reach out, hello at thedeadlineteam.com. If this inspires you, feel free to reach out. You can email us. I'm happy to share some of these tips with you, but really... Kiera Dent (18:14.434) Let's commit to living life on purpose and business on purpose. We get one life to live and let's make sure it's one that we are dang proud of when we're looking back, reminiscing and knowing that we truly created our life. We didn't just manage it. And with that, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.…

Dental A Team Podcast

1
#984: Collections Behind? Here’s How to Collect NOW 28:03

22 дні тому28:03

28:03

Tiff and Kristy give tips on how to catch up on those collections fast, including a day-ahead assessment and treatment plan presentation. The advice given in this episode isn’t only effective for offices concerned about collections, but any office, regardless of what their bank account looks like. Episode resources: Sign up for Dental A-Team’s Virtual Summit 2025! Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.738) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera, and I hope you are just having an incredible day today. I hope you are so jazzed and you are so excited about dentistry, because I'm excited about dentistry. You don't call us the Dental A Team for nothing. Our job is to help you in your practice become the A Team of dental offices. Honestly, I love this. I love what we do. I love talking to you. I love helping you and your team just become everything and more that you've ever hoped to be. So today, I hope you are ready. I just did a really incredible team training with an office about case acceptance. And I realized, hey, maybe that's something where I can help you in your practice. I love doing this with teams. I have a couple of practices where I help their treatment coordinators. And we've actually been able to add multiple millions. And that's not an exaggeration, multiple millions to their practice. And the thing that I just love is when we increase our case acceptance from doctors and team members, we're able to help more patients. And that's what I tell everyone. are. so blessed and so lucky to be able to be treatment coordinator masters and to be able to help more patients and to give patients this incredible life, to be able to give them the confidence, to be able to give them the smile, to be able to help their longevity. And I always enjoy hearing the objections. So it's a fun time. So we'll do a part one, part two of this podcast where I'll kind of break down case acceptance for you of kind of how I get team members into this mindset. And then what I'll do part two of all the objections and how you can overcome objections and treatment planning. I think one of our greatest wins was when I had an office who literally was able to sell an electronic, like an electric toothbrush, which we all know is better than just a standard one to an Amish family. I was blown away. And it was because this treatment coordinator was able to provide so much value of what this patient actually needed and to help them have the best dental health. And I just... I love treatment planning and case acceptance so much because to me it's helping more patients have healthier smiles, healthier mouths. And I just think it's one of the greatest gifts that we could ever, ever, ever, ever give our patients and our team. So I hope you're excited. I'll break it down for you in a couple of simple steps. These are some of the things that I do to get treatment coordinators and doctors in the right frame of mind. Because what I found is case acceptance is truly 80 % your psychology and what you're thinking and 20 % skill. So I'll give you both. Kiera Dent (02:19.79) But really just wanting to break it down for you that so much of case acceptance is about Literally what you're thinking about. if you're new to the Dental A Team podcast, welcome. I'm Kiera Dent I'm your host I love all things dental and so much so that my last name is actually dent I created the Dental A Team consulting years ago when I left Midwestern University's dental college and working with so many of those dental students shout out to all of them and Realizing those students that I loved so much. We're going to go out into this big bright world of dentistry and they were gonna need an advocate, someone who could vet companies for them, someone who could help guide them, someone who could help them understand what a P &L was, understanding what cashflow was, understanding the business aspect and the team aspect of dentistry, and that's how Dental A Team was born. So my first practice we took from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months and opened our second location. Dental A Team is a miracle grow for practices. We're able to increase. your production, decrease your overhead and honestly decrease your stress and get a full doctor team experience. So that way doctors, don't just have to do this on your own. So that's a little bit about what Dental A Team is about. If you are part of our actual consulting dental family, welcome. I love you. I'm so grateful for you. It is truly one of the highlights of my entire life is watching offices succeed. Like we shout out office wins every single day in our team huddle. And when I hear offices who have broken a million or hit a hundred thousand for the first time or took home a paycheck for the first time or got their team on board for the first time, literally, I light up, our team lights up because that's what we do. Our consultants are truly experts at what we do and we truly do love seeing your wins. Our tagline is your success and our passion. So our passion is seeing you successful. Our love of dentistry is being able to make sure you and your team are truly flourishing to help those patients get the best dentistry they can. So with that, setting up case acceptance is what I promise you are gonna come in part one of part two. And like I said, we do this with teams. It's something really, really, really, I would say fulfilling for me to actually teach your teams how to present cases, how to help them. Like I said, I literally have a practice. We've got five offices and we have added multiple millions of dollars to their practices over the years of just working with their treatment coordinators and doctors. And it's funny, they have another person who watches their business and they said, what's happened? Kiera Dent (04:39.342) how you guys grown so much and they said it all started when we hired the Dental A Team and just shout out to that practice and that owner and those owners at that, those locations because honestly, they don't just listen but they actually execute and they implement and we work on it and we listen to their treatment plans and we review and what I will tell you, one of my biggest secrets for it is it's usually one or two words that's making or breaking your case acceptance. And I hope you heard that. It's one or two words. that's actually making or breaking patients saying yes or no to you. So that's where it's so fun. So, okay, step one that I always like to tell people is, like I said, 80 % psychology, 20 % skill. So what you've got to do is you've got to literally be in the right mindset before you go in. So doctors, before you go in and present an exam, team members, before we go and talk about it, before we hand things off, treatment coordinators, before you even think about presenting a treatment plan, I want you to have the right frame of mind. Kiera Dent's frame of mind is... Everyone says yes to me and there's always a solution. That's my mantra. That's what I say. That's what I think about. And this is when I used to not even be able to close $500 cases. I went from closing $500 cases all the way up to closing 50, 60, 70, $80,000 cases same day. I literally had no idea a credit card could go up to $80,000. I was like, whoa, we're buying a boat today. Like I didn't even know this was reality. But what I learned was it was my psychology. It was me realizing that this was not a big treatment plan. It's just a treatment plan. So that's the second step to this. We actually cut out the emotion of it's not a big treatment plan. And what I love to do is I love to ask you right now to tell me, and you can say this out loud. I know I'm not actually listening, but hopefully you're playing along with me today. It actually will make this really real for you. But what is the number for you that's your actual high dollar treatment plan? If I were to say, what's a big treatment plan for you? What's your number? Some people's a thousand, some people's 5,000, $10,400. What is your number? I need you to tell me your number and do not sugarcoat to me. Don't go higher, don't go lower. If you're listening to this as a team, which, hey, that's a great idea. This is a great team training. You're getting it with me for free. But what is the number? And the reason I want to know this number is because no matter what, no matter what you're doing, guess what? That number actually is influencing you. And what I say is there's no judgment on treatment planning. I just need to know and you need to know. Kiera Dent (06:56.126) what your number is so then we actually figure out where your ceiling is and how to go around it. When I start working with treatment coordinators, I usually say that I can typically tell when I look at a treatment tracker on a treatment coordinator what they're closing and it's usually close to us in their bank account. Dun dun dun dun dun, mic drop right there. The reason why is because we have this familiarity association where we think people are just like us and so I hear all the time of like, but Kiera, couldn't afford that or Kirea, could afford that or Kiera like, That's like, it would be so hard for me as a parent to do this. And what we do is we try to put ourselves in other people's shoes, AKA empathy. But what we do on that is we actually close down a lot of cases that could be yeses because people are not just like us. Like I said, I didn't even know credit cards at the time could go up to $80,000. I had no idea. And had I assumed or projected or tried to be familiar with these patients, I would never have been able to close those cases. So what we wanna look at in these situations is, We've got to cut the emotion. We've got to realize this is my ceiling and I'm going to get beyond that ceiling. Doctors, you have the same thing. You might walk into a room and you might think, my gosh, this patient is gonna think I'm buying my boat or they're paying for this. Whatever you're thinking about, patients actually pick up that energy vibe from you. And I know this sounds like woo woo. but I will tell you I have taught so many people how to close cases and I'm freaking good at closing cases. Like I literally can walk into offices. I still test my skills when I walk into a practice because I really wanna make sure that what I'm teaching you is actually still working and it is. I have done it so many times successfully. So pick this up. We've got to cut the emotion and it's just a treatment plan. So I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever want to hear you ever again say, my gosh, it's a big treatment plan. Because what you do is you amp yourself up and you get all this energy behind it. unnecessarily, and then you actually get like skittish and nervous and the patient feels that. I want to remind you, patients are not buying treatment plans, they're buying your confidence and a dream of their future life. So what I like to do is then next, figure out what kind of motivator this patient has. Is it cosmetic, function, cost, or longevity? I also found with treatment planning, sequence matters. So notice I said, is it cosmetic, function, cost, or longevity? Kiera Dent (09:08.546) I did not start with cost and when I've done this in rooms and I've asked people and you can ask yourself right now, what is the number one motivator for you and your mouth? You're probably not gonna tell me it's cost. Believe it or not, you listen to those four. If you could only choose one, cost could be a portion of it, that's fine. But guess what, I could say, what is most important about your mouth and your smile? Is it cosmetic, function, cost or longevity? What would you tell me? and I just sampled a room of probably 50 plus people and of those 50 plus people, three people it was cost. And the reason I like to highlight this is because we assume and we project because we wanna be familiar and close to these people that they're just like us and we think, my gosh, it's cost. If I were to sample an entire room of treatment coordinators across the nation, I promise you the number one thing people would tell me as to why they can't close cases is due to you got it cost. But when I actually sample people and find out what's truly the most important for people, it's usually like 3 % of the room actually cares about cost. So I really, really, really want you to note that. And I want you to see that. With that, the next thing we're going to look at is, OK, now I know. One, it's my psychology. Everyone says yes to me. There's always a solution and you can have whatever you want. You don't have to say that. But the reason I do that is because guess what? I walk in with pretty strong confidence. This patient is buying my confidence and I'm going forward knowing I'm going to figure out what motivates this person and I'm going to be able to help them say yes to this incredible life that they get to have with these teeth. Our teeth are literally the way we eat, talk, communicate, express our emotions. Like all of it. It's such an incredible thing for us to do. We've cut the emotion, it's just a treatment plan. And then after that, what we're gonna do is we are going to make sure that we're not accidentally closing cases down before they even begin. And I say, don't create a solution to a problem they don't have. So a lot of times treatment coordinators, what they'll do is they'll start to like want to associate with this person and anticipate what objection they're gonna say so they don't quote unquote get broken up with. You're not about to get broken up with if a patient's silent. Kiera Dent (11:23.17) They're just thinking through it. So what starts to happen is treatment coordinators and or doctors and team members start to ramble. We start to talk, we start to be like, my gosh, and what you end up doing is talking them out of treatment. So we need to also learn the art of silence. So once we present a treatment plan, once we do it, we want to ask them, what questions do you have? I want you to be rock solid, confident moving forward. Notice I'm teaching you sequence matters, putting things in order. What am I focusing on? Same thing when I do a treatment plan. What am I focusing on? Am I focusing on insurance first? Am I focusing on how I want them to feel? Am I telling them, hey, what questions do you have for me? I want you rock solid confident. I'm telling them moving forward, this is how I want you to feel. What patients will do is they will actually follow through with you. It's going to be something wild for you. And so making sure that we're using language that's going to get our patients going where we want them to go. We're also making sure we're not planting, I call it weeds in our flower garden. So not. accidentally creating solutions to problems they didn't say they had. So it's, hey, like, so we have financing options. Well, if they didn't say they have a financing issue, why are we offering financing options? Like, I know, like, it might be a lot of time. Why are you saying that? If they didn't say it, don't bring it up. Because what you do is you plant seeds. And I've talked about this on the podcast, and I think it's just a really good example. I went to PT one time and I had a really bad knee and hip pain. And the PT was like, I noticed you didn't have insurance. I was like, yeah, I don't. And she's like, this might be really expensive for you. Thank you. I'm in pain. How many times do I need to come? And she's like, well, I don't know. How many times do you think you could afford it or come in? Girl, you just planted weeds in your flower garden. You just gave me all these objections that I was not even thinking about because you didn't stop talking to listen to me of what I actually said. What I said is I'm in a lot of pain and I want to get out of pain. You then pick up, Kiera's number one motive is to get out of pain. So, hey, Kiera, the way we're going to be able to get you out of pain is we're going to see you three times a month. I'm going to see you for an hour. You're going to do exercises at home and we're going to get you out of pain in the next four months. Fan-freaking-tastic. Now, if I have an objection, I'm like, well, how much is that going to cost? Do you guys do payment plans? Let me bring that up, but pay attention to what your patients want. So, Kiera Dent (13:42.978) These are just going to be a few little things for you. There's so many more things when I teach offices, like we need to edify our doctor. We need to tell this patient, my gosh, you are so lucky that Dr. Taylor is your doctor. Dr. Taylor is incredible. They're going to take great care of you. They do incredible dentistry. I am so excited for you to get treatment done with them. I have now put this patient on the winning team. They are buying my confidence. They are so excited about it and treatment coordinators. will give you a tip when doctors diagnose our job is to close. Did you hear that? Doctors, when you diagnose, you should be able to expect and count on your team to close. I feel like when my doctor like diagnosis treatment, my job as a treatment coordinator is to get that patient on the schedule to figure out what their needs are and to be able to close that patient. So I need to figure out one, it's my mindset. Two, I need to make sure that I am not bringing emotion into this treatment plan. Three, I need to make sure that I'm presenting things in a right sequence based on what I'm focusing on to make sure that patient is focusing on the things that I need them to focus on. Four, I need to make sure that I'm not planting any weeds in my flower garden and presenting solutions to problems they don't even have. And five, I need to make sure that I get this patient on the winning team. Doctors, you can say the same thing. You can present the treatment plan and say, my gosh, Kiera is an incredible treatment coordinator. She's gonna take great care of you. I know you're gonna really love her. I want you to be super confident moving forward. We have told them, we want them confident moving forward. We have told them that they're going to move forward. Why on earth would we diagnose treatment and why on earth this patient come to the dentist if they don't want to move forward? Riddle me that. Think about that for a second where I was like, oh my gosh, they're gonna be so stressful. Insurance and money and teeth and pain. Well, yes, you're gonna create that. What you think about is what you create. And I will tell you this over and over and over again. So if you're like, oh, the patient can't afford it. Like the patients are saying no to me. You keep creating that. Care is as everyone says yes to me and there's always a solution and we will find it. We will find it. Not I will find it, but we, me and the patient, we will figure this out. We will find a solution because I will close cases because if I believe in my doctor and I believe in the dentistry that they do, my job is to help this patient get the dentistry that they need done. We can then go in to so many different pieces of how we present this, how we talk about this, how we go into objections. Like I said, there will be a part two to this podcast. but really the reality is you've got to get this podcast. This one's about, you've got to be in the right freaking mindset. Kiera Dent (16:03.438) before you even think about presenting a treatment plan. And usually we're like, Kara, tell me how to present the treatment plan. And I'm gonna say pause. And I want you to think about the treatment plan you're presenting, but I want you to think about the mindset, the sequence, what you are putting emphasis on because that's what your patients are responding to. You're like, patients aren't saying yes to me. Well, my question is, what is your sequence? What are you focusing on? What are you thinking about that might be influencing and not might that is influencing what your patients are responding to? So it's wild when I start to get people in this mindset, when I start to help them realize like, okay, when I walk into the room, doctors, patients love you, they say yes to you when you are diagnosing comprehensive care. Whatever you feel is what this patient's going to respond to. Treatment coordinators, when they come up, it's an easy, it's an A plus B equals C. Fantastic, I'm gonna schedule you, present the treatment plan, bada bing, bada boom, we're gonna figure out the solutions. Notice I've cut the emotion. This patient's here, I didn't get them here. I did not brush their teeth, I did not floss for them. They got themselves here. But the great news is my job is to help you get the great dentistry that's going to really truly make sure that you are taken care of. And that's what my job is to do. My job is to not like woe is you, like make you feel bad about this. My job is to have confidence. My job is to know that no matter what objection this patient gives me, I have a solution for it. And we are going to have a solution together. My job is also to help this patient figure out what their driver is by listening to them, paying attention. Like I said, it's 80 % psychology. What is this patient's motivator? What is it that's driving them? Doctors, you can pay attention to this too when you go into the room. Look to see how do they talk? What do they tell you? What are the things when you emotionally connect with them? When you ask them about their life, what are they telling you? Link your treatment plans back to that. They tell you you've got kids and it's a mom. Reminder, she's worth it. She truly is worth it. If it's an elderly patient, remind them that your body deserves this nutrition. Like it's so great for you and it does so many things for you and it deserves that nutrition. to truly make sure that you have the best quality of life you can. We can remind our patients of these things. It is an emotional purchase. They are not buying a filling. They're not buying a crown. They are buying the ability to eat. They are buying the ability to smile. They're buying the ability to make memories. They're buying the ability to communicate with confidence. That's what they're buying. And so when you walk into a treatment plan, this is how you become a treatment planning master, a case acceptance like guru. This is how you do it is it's. Kiera Dent (18:26.196) start out with the right mindset. And this is what I get obsessed with because a lot of times we think we're doing all these pieces and we're not. And so what I want you to realize is the next podcast will be the tactical and you're like, okay, I'm going to like hurry up and listen to that high five. Thank you for being an avid listener. But number one, get this podcast dialed in first before you listen to the tactical, because if you don't fix your mindset, no matter what tactical piece I give you, you will always continue to get the same results where your focus goes, your energy flows. where your energy flows, your focus goes, and it just goes around and around. So if I'm thinking patients will say no to me, that's going to become my reality. You create your reality. So if you've got patients saying no to you, you are creating it. So what paintbrush strokes do we need to remove? What thoughts do we need to remove? What new thoughts do we need to bring into it? What do I need to drop? I know what my number is of a high treatment plan. I need to drop that because there are no high treatment plans. There are just treatment plans. There is just dentistry. These are just people that deserve to have healthy mouths, healthy bodies. healthy lives. That's what treatment planning's about. So I'm so jazzed. I hope you took a bunch from this. If you want, we do this with teams. And like I said, you want to believe that I can add a pay for our consulting in a couple sessions? Here we go. It's really such a beautiful thing. And to help teams become so confident to do this is truly a huge passion of Dental A Team. So if you're like, my gosh, I don't even know how to do this. I need you to listen to what I'm saying that I don't even realize I'm saying. That's what we're experts in and I love to do this for teams. love to help you doctors out with this. So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and be sure to catch part two of this because I'm going to go into tactical on the next one, but promise me you will get your mindset right to help more patients. It is your moral and ethical obligation. And I hope you take that on seriously. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.…

Dental A Team Podcast

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#983: Outside-the-Box Summertime Marketing Ideas 13:48

23 дні тому13:48

13:48

Kiera shares a ton of fun ideas on ways to attract and engage with potential patients in your community. These range from a killer referral program, to considering the locations of where you’re advertising, and more. Episode resources: Sign up for Dental A-Team’s Virtual Summit 2025! Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:01.752) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I am just so excited to be chatting with you. I hope that your day is just going incredible. My day has been incredible. I have the opportunity to work with clients and just a fun coaching call day. And I always enjoy it. I enjoy helping clients. I enjoy helping you. I love to get on a podcast and I love to share. And with summer approaching, I thought it might be kind of fun to give you a quick tactical podcast where I talk about maybe some summer marketing ideas that maybe you haven't thought of. know For a lot of practices, summertime can get a little bit slower or different things can happen for you. And so just maybe a quick tactical for you about maybe some ideas that you hadn't considered to grow your new patients during the summer. If you're planning and preparing now, that way you can have a more filled summer for you. As always, the Dental A Team, we are here to give you tactical practical tips, helping dentists and teams. have an easier life, helping you have a better patient experience, helping you just have more fun in dentistry. That's what we're about. And that's what I hope you're about. And I hope you remember that you are truly in the best, most incredible profession you could ever be in, and that's in dentistry. If you love our podcast, I hope that you rate it, you review it, you share it, and you are able to just help us positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. So in today's episode, it will be short. It'll be technical. I'm gonna break it down for you of just like I said, some summer marketing ideas that I think are a little outside the box thinking. So one thing to think of whenever we're going into marketing is we always wanna make sure that we're looking to see who is our patient and where are they located. So if you're trying to attract for pediatric practices, they're trying to attract moms, that's their ideal patient. I know you might think it's kiddos, but guess what? It's actually the mom. In some of my other practices, their patient base is more of a geriatric patient base. For others, it's a transient. So you've got more new families moving into your area. And so when you're looking at that, paying attention to what is your patient base and where are they going to be hanging out, that's gonna impact some of these summer marketing ideas. So I think one of the easiest things is having a really, really great referral. I see this in the waiting rooms, I see this in practices, but making sure it's targeted to your patient base. I have a practice and I think this is just a huge shout out to this practice. They picked a KitchenAid. Kiera Dent (02:19.562) That was what they're giving away to their patient base. And the reason why this is so impressive is because they know their patient base and their ideal patient so well that one of their patients was actually at their child's birthday party telling every person who came to please become a patient because she wanted to win this KitchenAid so bad. This patient A is a raving fan, B took it to their child's birthday party and C this practice picked up a ton of patients because what gift they were giving away actually resonated with their patient base. So I have a practice in there in like upstate Washington and it's like more of a outdoorsy area. So like a Traeger or a Blackstone works really well in their area. A practice in Texas, concerts were really big. So they gave away these very limited concert tickets. It was like one of the top best ones. A pediatric practice gave away some like Lulu or Aloe gift cards. So that was something that was super, super powerful for another practice. but really just knowing your patient and what's going to resonate with them. But I think like something to really know is making sure that your practice is focused on internal and external marketing efforts. So when we do referrals and raffles within our practice, that's more internal. Yes, we're attracting external patients, but what we're doing is we're only able to connect with the patients that are coming to our practice. So we really wanna make sure that we're not just like... only focusing on the internal and then looking for some of the external opportunities. So I thought like that would be something fun, a referral program, bring a friend, share a friend, having cards made so that way people can get really excited. And with some of the practices we work with, a lot of them are like, gosh, I wish I just had a card as the dentist or as team members, because when I'm out and about, people always ask like, where can I get it? And like, I wish I just had a card where I could just give it to them. I could put my phone number on it. So if they had any questions, they could contact me. So just really looking to see what are some of these internal ways that are so simple that maybe we're just overlooking that could really help us, especially with summer on the horizon. Some other things like, depending upon where you are, if there's a school around you, looking for possibly around fall time where you might do something with clear aligners or whitening. Think about those seniors who might be needing to get senior photos and proms and end of year. Those could be some really good promos that you could possibly run in your area. Again, depending upon your patient base and what's around you. Kiera Dent (04:39.178) And now for some external ideas that I think are just kind of fun of look to see again, where is your patient base? So for like geriatric, they might be hanging out in some retirement homes, in retirement communities, maybe the YMCA club, like that's where these people are going to really congregate. And so could we put flyers there? Could we go to the retirement communities? Could we put on a wine and cheese evening for them? Could we put on some lectures, some lunch and learns for them? Could we offer our membership program that's special for their residents in their area so that way if they don't have insurance, they're able to access our membership program, you're able to bring in a huge patient base, and you're also able to help and support these communities as well. And I really think some of those areas, like if you can actually access them and get in touch with them, think about if you're the preferred dentist for that retirement community, especially if you place implants, you do all on fours, that might be a really incredible area for you to go. to access, to incorporate, to be with them. I also am really big on community. If you wanna be a community dentist, if your community is tight knit, which a lot of them are, where can you access? Can you get into county fairs? Could you be at some of the sports games? Could you be in any of those other areas where maybe your community's at? And that is more for branding, not necessarily for ROI of patients. So branding is something super important for you to have as well, where it's not necessarily just. like, okay, great. Like I spent $5. Now we got a patient in a lot of times it's just awareness. It's just being there. And I use the example of the chiropractor in my hometown. They're Ellison chiropractic. And honestly, this chiropractor was everywhere. They were all of our high school games. They sponsored a lot of the football games. It was Ellison chiropractic, which makes sense. You know, these, these football teams, they were there. Our community was very tight knit. had our high school colors were orange and black. Their colors of the chiropractor place was orange and black. So they had it everywhere. They were representing our school. They were representing our community. They were on the city council. Like they literally were everywhere. They're the chamber of commerce and everybody knew and everybody went to this chiropractor in our community. And so I've thought about dental practices of how can you be the town's dentist? Kiera Dent (06:54.744) How can you be the one that everybody knows, that everybody sees, that no matter where you are, people are like, hell, that's the dentist. Like that's our community dentist. So looking to see, is there a festival that you can attend? Can you get your name out there? Can you be a part of it? Can you have swag? I know there was a practice that we worked with that made mouth guards for all the football players on the high school teams. So that way, and it had their school colors, but it also had that office's logo on it. And I just think that's so clever because this is branding. These are opportunities, but you've got to make sure that you're doing this based on what your patient base is. So if your patient base is elderly, you don't want to be supporting the high school. They find out a lot of people there. You might want to do TV commercials. I have a practice and they do TV commercials and my in-laws actually saw one of our practices. Like I saw them on TV and I was like, yeah, because my elderly in-laws are watching TV. They're listening to the radio. That's where that patient base is. So those marketing dollars are actually making an impact. So looking to see maybe mailers, maybe mailers work in your area. Maybe there's a new housing development that you could go get in and you could again offer a membership program to them. So if they don't have insurance, you could be there, throw some testimonials in there. Maybe talk about your in-house plan and how great it is for patients within your practice. These are all little ways where if you get ahead of the summer slump, or the September or slam dunk September that we're going to be able to have it. We're really truly just going to impact your community and maybe just get you out there. You could do a block party. So your community is out there. They're having a good time. Have like hot dogs. I know there was a practice and every Friday they'd hand out donuts on the corner. So everybody knew this dental practice. Like literally they were the practice of all practices and people would drive by, they'd get their donuts. They had their practice name on a napkin, and that's what they were known for within their community. So I think knowing your practice, knowing what you can do internal, so having like a great referral or giveaway during the summer to really get people excited, making cards just so your practice and your team can actually give those away consistently, and then looking to see what can we do externally. I also think back like when you were starting your practice, how often did you go see specialists? And if you're a specialist, how often did you go see general practices? Kiera Dent (09:09.646) Are you dropping off goodie baskets? Are you going to say hello? Are you, I mean, for March Madness, I remember I used to love all the ortho offices because they'd bring us cookies all the time as a dental practice. But how often are we going and actually connecting with the specialist in our area or vice versa, the general practices? And I know that seems like, Kiera, I did that back in the day. I don't want to do that now. I want to remind you that grassroots marketing and face-to-face and referral marketing is one of the best things you can do. So I have a practice and they're incorporating sleep. So they went and met the sleep doctor. They started getting a ton of referrals and vice versa. And now this doctor is actually taking on this dentist patients and kind of moved that doctor, the dentist, moved them to the top of the line at the sleep doctor's clinic. And I just think the power of relationships and the power of being known in your community and the power of really making an impact. Dental A team's big. Big mission is to create an impact in the greatest way possible. And so we do it with dentists all across the nation. So we don't really get a community opportunity, but you and your practice can. You can make fun things in your area. And I think being cautious of our dollar spends, making sure we're tracking what we're doing. There's two sides of marketing. There's the actual like getting patients in and then there's the branding and awareness of your practice. And I think it's really important to not just do internal marketing, but also external marketing in some fun ways like this. where you really get to make an impact because this is a community where you live. This is a community where maybe your kids grow up or your kids go to school or if you don't have a family, it's where your employees, kids and families are going. I think really as dental practices, we have such an incredible opportunity to impact, to flourish, to grow these communities by looking out. So just wanted to pop in with some quick tactical things for you for summer marketing, really easy of one, having our internal, two, having our external. knowing who our patient base is, knowing the actual appropriate prizes and giveaways and fun things that we can do for that. And then last but not least, it's always making sure that you are just an incredible practice, that you are really giving top-notch dentistry, that you are creating an incredible VIP customer and patient experience where your team truly, 100%, is giving these patients something to rave about, something to be excited about. Kiera Dent (11:27.244) And this is something I love to do with offices. love to do with teams. love to do it in our consulting where we help offices figure out what is their niche, what makes you special, what makes you the best practice for somebody to come to, and then really highlighting that and making it such a full team experience. So that's something that we're passionate about in consulting. Our job is to help you grow, to flourish, to have your best life, but to get that from a doctor and a team where you guys are working in tandem together. I really do believe that dentistry and running a successful practice does not need to be hard. so Dental A Team, the question is, what if this could be easy? Because with Dental A Team, can. And so if we can reach out, we can help you if this resonates with you. Email us, ask us for more ideas. I'm happy to have a call with your practice and give you some free resources and advice for your practice just to truly help youth flourish. And if you're like, gosh, I just need some help, reach out. This is the time. I know it takes a lot of humility to do that. But why, why struggle when we have done this successfully for hundreds and thousands of offices? Why not yours? So reach out, I'd love to help you. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Let's make this summer an incredible one. As always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team Podcast.…

Dental A Team Podcast

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#982: The Future of Dentistry and How You Can Keep Up 18:36

28 днів тому18:36

18:36

Kiera talks about the numerous shifts on the horizon in dentistry, what your practice can do to embrace the changes, and how Dental A-Team can help. Episode resources: Sign up for Dental A-Team’s Virtual Summit 2025! Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am so excited to have you on the podcast today. I hope today is just an incredible day for you. And I hope you remember you are in the greatest industry possible. And today I'm really excited because I feel like there's some opportunities to discuss and challenges that I think offices are gonna be facing in the next five to 10 years. I wanted to pop on and just say like, hey, dentistry is changing fast. And my question is, are you and your practice gonna be ready to seize the opportunity or? Honestly, are you going to be struggling and hanging out in the back? I think that there will be a lot of shifts. I think we've seen a lot of shifts in dentistry. And so really just popping on to help you look for different things for technology, patient experience, different things within the practice, and really be able to help you guys prepare and get your practice there. Do you guys know Dental A Team? We are here to serve. We are here to help you and your practice have the best experience. I truly do believe that running a dental practice that's profitable and successful does not need to be hard. It does not have to be crazy. and it can actually be fun and we can get doctors and team members aligned to be able to work in tandem together. And so that's why we're here today. I'm super excited because honestly, staying ahead of these trends is going to help you have long-term practice success. I've really been watching in the offices that we consult, the ones that are adapting and early adapters to technology, I think are going to be in the forefront. And so really just looking at where you are in the life cycle of your practice, looking to see where you want to be in the next five to 10 years. and not making decisions to sell or to go to a DSO or to stay in a legacy practice out of necessity, but actually out of choice. So number one, I think that AI is coming in. AI is coming in pretty popular. There's a lot of different things. So we're having it in diagnostics. So like Pearl and Overjet, they're able to help co-diagnose with you. There's 3D printing that's coming in. I know offices are using AI and creating bots. We have an office. where they've created an actual 24 hour a day bot for their practice. And I really think right now is a time for you to be learning. So whether it's 3D printing within your practice, automating our patient communication, looking into AI like this practice where they have a bot, using chat GPT for other things, utilizing AI, think helping practices with case acceptance. We've talked with Pearl, I've had Pearl on the podcast before, but what's crazy cool about that is offices are utilizing it. actually you're seeing like a 30 to 50 % increase in case acceptance just by using this AI assisted technology. And I prefer Pearl over Overjet. Honestly, I think that there's no wrong choice on it. But the reality is like, I think you've got to get these things in motion. You've got to start looking for them. Otherwise, I really am concerned for you as a practice that you will accidentally become outdated. So really making sure that you are, you're working through this, that you are adding these things in because I think AI is going to rapidly take off. And if you're not prepared, I think you will be outdated. So that's opportunity number one. So I'd say get involved in some sort of AI, whatever it is, even if you just start dabbling in chat GPT every single day, whatever it is, but really starting to utilize that. Opportunity number two. Now these are the opportunities that I see in the next five to 10 years. I think they're hitting this now. But number two is going to be like looking at membership plans, fee-per-service. looking at some of those things. Now I'm not here to say drop insurance plans. I've actually been, think a consultant who's been pretty adamant about hanging onto insurance plans for as long as you can, pending upon what you want to do for marketing. If you're an incredible marketer, rock on, you might not need it. But insurance is just going to be something where I feel over time, it's going to get a little bit funkier. I don't think you're going to see a huge increase in insurance funds. I could be totally off on this. I'm not stamping my like everything that I am, but I think like, let's pay attention to it and let's see. costs are rising in dentistry, but insurance plans are not paying a lot. And so could we start to shift our patient base? Could we start to retain our patients and actually build this fee for service model in? Now you've got to be super careful and I'm going to put like huge asterisks and exclamation points and pieces around it because if you do not transition out of insurances correctly and have a plan and a process and a patient experience in place, you will get like, I've seen it be so bad for practices. So really I think like, One, if you don't have an in-house membership plan, let's get that started. I'm very pro these. It allows you to have options in the future. It allows you to have different marketing strategies. I think a lot of people are just looking at benefits at a different way now. And I think it just helps you to not be as dependent upon insurance in the future. Then number two is assess your insurance plans. And let's see, are there maybe any insurance plans that we could drop that aren't really going to hurt your production? You really got to do this strategically. Otherwise it will burn you in the booty. and I do not want you to be at that practice. I've had too many of those offices, so let's make sure you're not there. And then make sure that we're like really getting people sticky to our practice. I think this will be a really, really, really big change for people. And then also it's something where even as fee for service patients, if you can get them on membership plans, I can speak for myself. Being on a membership plan, I actually came in for my two cleanings as opposed to a fee for service patient who often will only come in one time. So I think it's just another way for you to have more patient flow, more opportunities to diagnose by having that membership plan. I have a practice where they were, this is me as a patient, I was going to them and they had a membership program. The doctor left, branched off, opened up their own practice and they don't have a membership program. And I was like, well, sweet, maybe I'll just go to you once a year. This is as a consultant. I know I need to go in twice a year. I know I have amazing teeth, but I don't need to go twice a year. Like honestly, if I only go once a year, my teeth are probably fine. but if they had put me on a membership plan, there are other opportunities. For example, you could offer me a night guard, you could do whitening on me, you could do fluoride treatments on me, but because they're not putting into place a membership plan, odds are I probably won't be going back. So look to see how can we actually get our patients to be retained in our practice, not dependent upon insurance. So when we start to trickle that down, we start to convert more and more of our patient base. And what I will say is a lot of practices have transitioned say, 30 % of their patient base over to a membership plan. They start practicing on this, they start getting used to it. So when they want to drop insurance plans, they have a solution that's been really ingrained into their practice. The team's really good. I'm obsessed with companies like Dental Menu. I think that they do a great job for membership programs. I think that they've got a great one built. BoomCloud Clear. So you can just take a look to see who you like the most for it. And then I'm really obsessed with Moola. Moola, I think is a great credit card processor for you. that actually helps you with your membership programs in-house so you can actually save on your credit card fees. I'm really pro them. Any of these companies that I'm recommending today, be sure to tell them, Denali team, you heard it on the podcast because they actually have a referral pricing for you. So that's what I negotiate. We don't do hardly any affiliates within our company. I just negotiate the lowest fees for you. but really I think looking to see, I think it's an opportunity for you with insurance plans and the economy to start adding in a membership. Opportunity number three for you is looking into, tell the dentistry I don't think like hot, hot, but I do think virtual consult and online payments. So how can we make things easier for people? So can we get a virtual consultation? Can we start to have, I know there's like, we've had other people on our podcast before where they do virtual, like your smile, what is it? Your virtual smile consult. And what you can do is you can actually do treatment planning. You can have new patients meet you. You can have videos on your website where it's like, hey, I'm the doctor. They can actually ask questions to the doctor. I have seen a lot of this with bigger cases come into pretty strong effect. Also, if you're wanting to do say consultations where maybe we're doing bigger treatment plans or even like full mouth cosmetic, there's a lot of those that I think are out there to help virtually. I have a doctor and they do a lot of what's called hybrid. So all on X cases and there's a software they can literally use and show the patient their new smile sitting in the chair. So I think whether you're having patients virtually meet you or if you're using that technology within the chair to help present your cases better, having online options, so online scheduling, online payments, those types of things I really think we need to get more into the virtual world. I think dentistry is a smidgey dated. So I would strongly recommend for you on this to see how can you actually add these pieces into your practice because I do think these are going to like enhance you and just be something patients are expecting. Right now patients are expecting online. patient scheduling, they're looking for online payments. They're looking for, mean, think about it. If I want to have a consult, my husband and I, we've done IVF. I've talked about it a couple of times on the podcast. I did a virtual consultation with my IVF doctor in another state and we went and we went, now, if you know IVF, IVF's around a 20 to $25,000 process per cycle. And so thinking about that in comparison to dentistry, they literally did virtual consults with me so I could be out of state, I could fly in. I didn't have to actually be there. And so looking to see, that's what modern medicine is doing. What things could we actually do in dentistry that might be able to help us out as well? So I really think looking for that, that's where I mentioned Moolah, they're great for online, your smile, your virtual, gosh, I'm like botching it. I think it's your smile virtual consult, virtual smile consult. Look it up, that one I'm not as strong on. But just see how can we incorporate some of these items within our practice. And I would really say that when you do this, you're able to get those high case acceptance. You're able to have more patient acceptance. Think about it. We're paying bills online at night. We are also scheduling appointments. I am constantly on my phone in the middle of the day, at night, on the weekends, moving appointments around, looking to see. And I think if we're not offering that for our patients, we're actually gonna get left behind because patients might accidentally leave you to go to a practice that's actually more up to date. So definitely. Let's get into how can we become more virtual online. I think it's a huge, huge, huge opportunity for practices. Like I said, I think those are the top three opportunities right now. So we've got AI, membership programs, and then getting more virtual. So virtual consults, virtual like having more available online options. And then I think two of the big challenges in the next five to 10 years, which I think we're seeing it, which I think tie into the opportunities are, We know it's expensive to run a dental practice. And I think dentistry has had this like nice run for quite a few years, decades where they've been able to stay in a very profitable margin. Hence why DSOs have entered the playing field. And so I think with inflation, higher payroll, supply costs, I think that there's some things in there to pay attention. And number one is you've got to know your number. So I'm really pro overhead calculators, looking at it, having your team involved with you, making sure that all of you are on the same page. Those are gonna be some really good ways for you guys to stay on top of it, not falling out behind the scenes and figuring it out. Then utilizing buying group things. So for example, Synergy is a great buying group. You buy from your own preferred vendor, but you just get a discount on your supplies. Why not do things like that? How can we actually look to see, can we hire hygienists in and then have a base plus commission? and I were on the podcast. a couple of weeks ago talking about how we can incentivize hygienists and not have to have as high of payroll, but really looking to see what are the ways that we can do this, looking to see how we can increase our fees, doing a 5 % fee increase, negotiating with insurances or possibly dropping some of those lower paying ones. What are some of these pieces? And what I will say is When you watch your numbers and you analyze your overhead, I promise you, you will be more profitable. So right now we're like, gosh, it's so expensive, which I'm not here to say it's not. But there's offices out there that are running at a 35% overhead. So that means there's 65% profit margin for them. So looking at that and knowing that there's practices that are able to do that, that means once we know it's possible, then we can look for how you can do it in your practice as well. Now I understand that there's different areas. California is expensive. Hawaii is expensive. Like I hear you, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible. And I think being a wise steward over your numbers is actually something that I really would implore you to do. to make sure that as costs rise, you know what you're actually spending money on. So you can actually make better decisions. look to see, can we hire this person? Are we paying within the realm? What do we need to do? Could we add on other services within our practice? all on X cases, ortho cases, things like that. But I really think like it's a huge challenge that I think you've got to stay on top of. Otherwise, before you know it, you're gonna just be like inundated and not be able to hire team members because we weren't watching it. We didn't know our numbers. We didn't know what we needed to be producing. We didn't build block schedules to make sure that our practice could actually run lean and efficiently. And then challenge two, which I think has been hitting hard, which we'll just kind of address, is like staffing shortages and team retention. But I will say that this is like an if. Like there's so many offices out there that I know have incredible cultures. And so what I really feel like needs to happen in this realm is you've got to be an office that in a place that people want to work for. I started noticing that the new currency is time. Time is the new currency, I think, in where we're at right now. Time and compensation and being happy. But I don't think it's as high on compensation as people think it is. Yes, it's a piece, but I see team members that are getting paid less, but for great cultures are saying because they want this work-life balance. They want more time. They want to be able to be with their kids. They want to be able to feel appreciated with their boss. They want to feel like they're doing a great job. And that is more the currency of today. And so how can you build this culture where We attract a bunch of people to our practice. We have team members that want to stay with us and that we actually know that, like, we're looking to see how can we maximize this. I am seeing a trend, I'm not saying this is how you have to be, but I am seeing a trend where there is a four-day work week of employees actually tends to lead to less burnout and less team turnover. I don't know what it is. My five-day practices tend to have a bit more of that, but the four-day, and again, they, so they're not, just open four days or open five days, but they have these rotating shifts and rotating days where they're off. I have seen that that's helping. And so I really feel that when you can build this amazing culture, build it to be a place where you're excited about, add fun things in, watch your overhead, watch those costs. But I really think it's something that's possible. think back to why you started to practice. You wanted to change, you wanted to do things differently. You want to have a team where you were so excited. I know that's what I get excited about. love, I love having a team. love. loving on them. I love giving them opportunities. I love seeing them flourish in their lives. I love being excited for the growth they're having and so really trying hard to build this incredible team culture to cut the team turnover, to keep it to where you're this like raved about practice where everybody wants to work for you. I think would really, really be an incredible thing for you to just take on. And I know we've heard about it, but I think like, look at your culture, look at the things. I had to do a deep dive of this last year. Britt and I, sat there and we're like, all right, what is the team saying? What are the issues that we know we're seeing consistently? And what do we want to do to change to make this a better environment and a better space? And I feel that only teams in incredible culture, but there were things that we were struggling with. were things of that we needed to change. There were things that had shifted since I started the company. And I think you've got to stay on top of that. Otherwise, I think you can easily get outdated. So that's a quick wrap. I think the biggest opportunities are definitely AI membership programs and then also getting virtual, like getting everything up to date and online. And then challenges of course are going to be higher costs and then staff shortages and team retention. But I honestly believe that those who adapt, those who innovate, those who listen to this and they don't just passively listen but actively implement are going to flourish. They say a lot of times the biggest millionaires and billionaires are born during times of hardship and harder times. And so I think Instead of looking at this like, my gosh, the world is falling apart. Look at this. I'm like, this is the greatest time in dentistry. This is where you get to rise to the top. This is where adding customer service or doing unreasonable hospitality or being a different work culture will actually set you apart. Like you have a chance, like it's not all just set anymore. You have a chance to shuffle and ruffle and make your way to the top. And I honestly believe that you can future-proof your practice. You can get ahead of these trends. You can look ahead and You can be the practice who is proactive and looked and saw where to get the worm and how to navigate your practice rather than being the one who wished that they would have innovated sooner. And so really just to call the action and truly if you want to future proof your practice, you want to get ahead of these, us. We're on Instagram, DentalATeam or email us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com I'm happy to pop on a strategy session with you, give you a free practice assessment for your practice to look at maybe where the gaps are, maybe where your blind spots are, maybe we can help you out. And honestly check out our newsletter. We have a newsletter that goes out so you can always subscribe go to our website TheDentalATeam.com We try to keep you guys on top of this of just insights and knowledge to where we can really help you and your practice thrive And so really this is truly what the Denali team does. This is who we are This is what we love to do and if you're ready to take on opportunities and overcome your challenges reach out Now's the time I do not believe that having a practice should be hard. I do not believe that these things are just Let me talk about it. It's time to implement. time to take action. And it's time for you to be the elite practice that you were destined to be. And as always, thanks so much for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.…

Dental A Team Podcast

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#981: Knowing These 5 KPIs Will Keep Your Practice Successful 1:07:55

29 днів тому1:07:55

1:07:55

Kiera is a guest on the Dentalligenstia Podcast, hosted by Nick Zagar and Remy Isdaner. She talks about the connection between success and knowing your practice’s numbers for the following: Production Overhead Collection New patients Case acceptance Kiera also gives tips on streamlining workflow, working through scratch starts, startup versus seasoned practice needs, and more. Episode resources: Sign up for Dental A-Team’s Virtual Summit 2025! Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00.16) Hello Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and today I am so excited. I did an incredible podcast and I just thought it'd be fun for you guys to hear it, to listen to it. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast. Welcome to the Dentalligentsia podcast. I'm Nick Zager and we have Remy Isdaner, my partner, and we are Mirlo Real Estate Partners. Today we have a special guest, Kiera Dent from the Dental A Team. Welcome Kiera. Thanks guys. I'm super excited to be here. I love what you guys are doing. I'm just jazz. And I'm glad that I didn't have to say the name of your podcast because I would have totally botched that. So thank you for taking that on for me. I love what you guys are doing. And I'm just super, super excited to be here. I love geeking about dentistry and business and all things. So thank you guys. I'm really honored to be here. We appreciate that. you know, our favorite clients are typically early to mid-career dentists. And we love what you do to support. our mutual clients and really want to know a little bit more about you and why you do what you do. How did you get into this? Yeah, for sure. Well, luckily for both of us, we love the same type of clients. So it's really fun. I actually started my career in dentistry in high school. I was offered an opportunity to either go into nursing or dentistry. And I thought, hmm, I want to wear scrubs. Like that was my end goal. And I thought, learn the whole body or learn the mouth. I'm surely going dental route. So that was honest to goodness. The reason why I got into dentistry. I was a dental assistant for years and then became office manager, treatment coordinator, scheduler, biller, you name it. I have not been a hygienist and I'm not a dentist, but my husband, he went to pharmacy school at Midwestern Arizona. And during that time, I'm a little hustler. I found out if I could work at the college, I'd get a discount on his tuition. And so I knew there was a dental college and so I found out, got a job at the dental college. And I was super blessed, super fortunate. And I worked there for three years with dental students. And one of the students asked me while we were in school, she said, hey, Kiera, do you want to come help me open my practice in Colorado? And I was like, heck yeah. Dental assistant to practice owner. Like, this is a great plan. I never knew how I'd be able to do this. I'm not a dentist. And I'm like, I see what you guys do in dental school. Yes, I want to say yes to this. So I went and helped her open the practice in Colorado. And we took our office from 500,000 to 2.4 million. The Dental A Team (02:25.773) in nine months and opened our second location. And what I found from that was I learned a lot. We built a pretty big group of practices and I learned so much from that of what not to do. My marriage was about in shambles. Her marriage was about in shambles. My health was deteriorating. I was working from 2 a.m. till 10 p.m. trying to make these practices grow and I thought, well, shoot, one, if I could help her grow a practice, I wonder all my other students that I love. Could I help them grow their practices and give them the confidence as well? And two, there's got to be a better way to do this than what I've been doing and what she's been doing. Like, yes, we have success on paper, but behind the scenes, we're deteriorating as human beings. And so that's really what spurred my passion. I never worked with a consulting company. Everything that Dental A Team's consulting is are things that I wish I would have had when I was a practice owner, things that I wish I would have known. things to help all of my dental students. It's fun because it's becoming full circle. A lot of those students are now buying practices and coming and working with me, which is super fun. But really the passion comes from how can I help these dentists live their best lives, get the profitability they want, but also get their team bought in because most consulting companies work with just the dentist or just the team. And I thought, but if I can get the team on board, these dentists lives become a lot easier. And so it's really fun to talk about both sides of the coin. And shoot my last name is Dent. So I think I was destined for this career path. It's not a stage name It's just the third fiance finally like I didn't get married I just took three fiancees to get a better last name So that's kind of my story and how I got into it and truly just love love this industry and love helping dentists Flourish and succeed and help more people But nursing never had a chance Yeah, I mean the scrubs if it would if they would have cuter scrubs than maybe but The fact that I had the short path didn't just the mouth, but it's funny. I don't even get to wear scrubs anymore. like, man, that was a short lived moment. yeah, nursing. don't think I could do rectal trumpets. That's just like, I mean, I'll take the mouth all day long versus that. I don't think I could. I have such a gag reflex. I don't think I could honestly do it. Well, talk to us about some of your favorite client stories. gosh. The Dental A Team (04:39.725) So knowing that like the startup to the mid range are kind of the ideal clients, I was thinking of a couple and one comes to mind. He attended one of our summits. We have one in April every year for doctors and teams. And so he attended it. And I remember he had like a really funny name on his screen because I see all the participants. I really try to make our summits really engaging and active. And I remember it was iPhone. And so I just kept calling this person out. was like, hey, iPhone, how you doing over there? just kept kind of like razz and I had no clue there's no camera on it just says iPhone and lo and behold iPhone decides to sign up with us and he had just bought his practice and paid in full for consulting which I was always like man that's a pretty like gutsy move you just bought a practice but I also like people that are gutsy and this committed to it and what was interesting is we'll call him iPhone if you listen to this you'll know exactly who I'm talking about but over the course it's been about two years now iPhone has gone from Being a practice owner who literally knew nothing about ownership had a pretty seasoned team when they bought their practice And went through all these hard transitions like I'm telling you this was a labor of love on both sides the consulting side and his side from needing to transition out his office manager who was really really causing a lot of like Shakes within the practice and and driving the team in a direction. He didn't want to go So learning how to hire, learning how to lead, learning how to present treatment plans, learning how to put KPIs into the practice. Like you want to talk about a jumpstart to business ownership. And I remember he's like, Kiera, I'm not even taking home a paycheck. And those moments always rock me because this is real life for a lot of dentists. And my goal is to help them get to taking home their paychecks quickly. And so about six months, he was taking a little bit, but we started like at six months, he was able to take his full paycheck and then fast forward to I just saw him actually last weekend and he was sharing that now he's producing over 250,000 a month in his practice, collecting home a paycheck, has a new office manager that was sitting next to him. They've shifted the culture. This office manager said that this doctor like makes for Phil Seen, Heard and appreciated. He understands his KPIs. He's got a profitability margin of 60%, which makes me so proud. The Dental A Team (06:59.629) excuse me, his overhead 60 % profit margin of 40%. He knows his numbers. He knows how to look at it, getting ready to possibly expand his practice. But he said, we were just meeting last week and he said, Kiera, I want to give back because Dental A Team's given me so much. so having him help coach other practices now of things that he's learned really just inspires me. But I think about this man of... like the rocky road he went on to get there. And I think that his journey is not unique. I think this is so common for so many owners who buy practices two, three, four years in, but to be able to have him be an example of what can happen and for him to be going from about 150,000 when he first bought the practice to now doing 250,000 a month, just to give him the confidence, I think as a leader, as a dentist, to get a team bought in and on board. the fact that he knew his numbers and it's been, it'll be two years in April since he bought his practice and joined. And I think that is one of my most favorite stories because to see him excited about life, to see him excited about his practice when there were some dark days, I remember like his name, we'll just say iPhone was on our schedule a lot of times to give more support and to review resumes and to teach him how to hire for culture and to build a culture. That is a magical experience. And there's, like I said, so many things from KPIs to numbers to culture to hiring to diagnosing and getting patients to accept you when the other dentist was still a part of the practice and moving on. He's honestly one of my favorite clients because I think his story is so relatable to how so many other people feel. And to see him now on the other side of it, truly beaming, I think is honestly one of my favorite stories. I have so many favorite stories. But I think he's a really recent telling one that is just a fun success story to share with people. That's super cool. And he's got a great name. I know, right? iPhone. I'm like, it's easy because I was like, who is this? Who shows up? Like, I hate it on meetings. Like, get your name of who you really are because I want to call you. There's another, she's now a client. And I was speaking in person and, you know, front row, was like, hey, what's your name? And she's like, I'm going to be anonymous. The Dental A Team (09:13.803) So we have a running joke now that she's just anonymous, even though she's a client now. And she's like, I'm so glad. But now she's like, secretly optimistic anonymous. So, you know, we've kind of changed that around, but yeah, it's fun to have clients show their personalities. But yeah, if you're on an event, put your dang name on there. Otherwise, maybe you'll be iPhone forever. Fair enough. I'd rather be iPhone than anonymous, but point taken. I've got a serious question. for you based on that great story, but first I'm gonna joke. So it's on record in our company, there's a iPhone, Samsung battle and I'm on the iPhone side and Nick's on the other side. And we have it on record here on this podcast that Nick said something to the effect of, that sounds awesome being iPhone or iPhones are awesome. So just just want to make sure that that we're all in the same page there, you know, Remy I'm happy in our company. It's the same. It's like Apple versus HP I'm diehard Apple everything connects in so seamlessly. So Remy we're on the same. Yep. I phone over here It's definitely definitely for the Samsung. I'm sick of the green bubbles, but they are getting better now I can see that you're writing I can see that it's been read. So I mean, hey, they are making some progress, but that's been like, you know decades in the making speaking the same language Okay, as promised, I'd start with jokes and then, you know, that was a great success story and your passion is clear. Let's talk about those KPIs. So what are some of the KPIs that young dentists, newer dentists should be looking for? And I asked that question and then also add a preface. We talk to doctors all the time who have no, it's clear they have no... connection to what the business side of dentistry is doing in their own practice. And I get it, we get it, that they didn't set out to run a business necessarily. They set out to provide the best oral health to their community. But it is a business after all. And so what are some of the things that those young dentists should be looking for? Remy, I'm so grateful you asked this question. It was not pre-planned. The Dental A Team (11:36.073) My passion came actually from teaching people how to run successful businesses because as a business owner myself, profits seemed elusive. I remember like, what the heck is a freaking KPI? I didn't even know what that meant. And I really love in dental hygiene, there's no judgment. And I just want people to feel safe and confident to ask those questions. And I think dentists really feel this need to know everything because you are a doctor. And I just want to highlight that, guess what? None of them know it. Like 99 % of dentists that we work with don't understand the business, but yet understanding the business and the numbers, I feel is like your treasure map to success. It helps you see where are broken systems in your practice to fix. So rather than just trying to pump a bunch of systems, let's look at the numbers to see which system we really can impact. Also, when you know your numbers, you can make smarter decisions of who to hire, when to hire, things like that. And so for people who don't understand KPIs, like I said, someone told me that I was a Dr. Seuss of systems. So I take that. as a huge compliment to try and make it so simple for people. I believe KPIs are like the vitals of your practice. It's like when you go to the doctor, they always check your like height, weight, your blood pressure, your temperature. They're gonna check those things because if any of those things are out of whack, we're gonna have like an immediate plan. And I feel like that's similar to KPIs within a practice and KPIs can get a little extensive. So if we're talking about a brand new practice, things I start small and then we get bigger. And so like main things that are really going to give you a nice suck on your business, if you're not careful are going to be your cashflow. So that's going to be your overhead. I'm watching your production and your collections because oftentimes the practice is producing enough, but your team's not collecting that money. So we want to make sure we have a 98 % collections ratio. I'm also going to watch your AR. So AR is your accounts receivable, checking from patient portion and insurance portion, because a lot of times practices actually have the money in their practice. but they're not collecting, it's just kind of sitting there in overdue payments that are due to you, whether that's from patient or insurance. If we can look at those, we can figure out where's our collection problem. it we don't have clean claims sending to insurance or we're not collecting from patients and we're sending statements or we're not even calling. So I'm really gonna watch those super, super tight. And then if you want to go, excuse me, further down the line and things that I'll watch are gonna be like your lab costs, your supply costs, marketing can come into place. The Dental A Team (14:00.685) scheduling, we can look at your scheduling and see like number of new patients coming in. That's a big one that I really like to watch because if we're not getting enough new patients or on the flip side, we're attritioning, AKA we're not keeping them in for re-care and reappointment percentages. We can get a leaky bucket and just keep filling with new patients but not retaining the ones that we have. So I like to watch your attrition rate. I also like to look at your case acceptance. So what are you diagnosing and what's being accepted to see is it a diagnosis problem? or is it an acceptance problem? Whatever doctors wanna make, there is a study and a standard of three times what you wanna produce is what you need to be diagnosing. So if you're not watching this diagnosis amount, you might not be diagnosing enough to be able to get what you want on your schedule for your production. So I like to watch that. And I like to watch your case acceptance of dollar for dollar. So if you're presenting a thousand dollar treatment plan, how much of that thousand is actually being accepted? Are we accepting 100 % of that? Are we accepting 50 % of that? and then asking questions of why, because case acceptance is usually one or two words from our exam to our treatment coordinator. And then I like to watch your hygiene percentages. So what's your hygienist producing per hour? I like three times pay for PPO practices, and I like four times pay for fee for service practices, and that's on adjusted production. So let's not go off of gross, let's go off of adjusted. Gross feeds the ego, net feeds the family. So let's not be feeding our egos. I know it feels really good to say you're producing 260, but if you can only collect 150 of that, let's live in real life world. So those would be some zones. And then like, again, if you want to go like next level, you're already doing that. Some things we found over the last year of tracking hundreds of offices were open time in a schedule and your dollar per hour production, because a lot of times just open time in schedules, we found you could actually hit your goal. if we could fill those spaces and then figuring out protocols for your team just to keep that schedule full. So I said a lot of KPIs for you, but really your main ones, you've got to be watching our production, collection, overhead, new patients and case acceptance. If I could only pick five, those would be my top five that I would start with. And I'm going to give six, like your reappointment percentages. Cause if we're not reappointing, that's really going to kick you down later on. And it's going to make a lot more work for you. And I think those are some pretty easy ones to watch pretty quickly. The Dental A Team (16:18.733) but then also hopefully giving a lot of other ones for you to be able to watch in addition to that, that depending upon where you are in the journey of your practice, things to be looking at and doctors, you don't have to track all this. You get your team to track this for you. And then you get this lovely report that comes to your desk every week or every month. You review it, you assess it, and then you make the changes accordingly. How do you help the practices that you're working with refine their systems to streamline their workflows to ultimately maximize their productivity? So Nick, on that, I'm just going to sound like a broken record. I literally look at their numbers, because whatever their numbers are looking at, these KPIs, that's going to tell us where the system's broken in addition to what your team is saying is a problem. So usually it's like communication or it's low case acceptance or overhead or cashflow issues. And so what we're gonna do from there is we're gonna look to see what is the system in place. So if we're having an overhead issue and cashflow issue, well, I'm gonna look at the billing system. Like, let's look there, because that's where the money's at. So let's figure out what is our process, who's doing what, and where is the breakdown, and then we're gonna refine the system. I don't believe teams like to do hard things, and I don't like to do hard things, and so. everything we implement should be easy because teams will gravitate towards ease and also not making someone remember things. So that's a true system. So we'll put in things like we can put automated notes or we can change our note templates if we're consistently missing something on our claims, we're gonna fix and adjust that system. We're also gonna look to see running certain reports that we put on an automated system for them. It's on a sheet for them. That way they don't have to remember to do this. We create handoffs where it's on their route slip. So no one has to remember, like just with your memory, it's already built as a true system. And I think a lot about like McDonald's or Chick-fil-A or some of these companies that are able to mass produce and give you the same experience wherever you go. Well, let's build that and let's make a very simple system that everybody can follow rather than hoping and praying our team members remember and they don't drop the ball. So I'm going to look at those numbers. I'm going to look to see where the gap is and then dig deeper to find The Dental A Team (18:33.461) root problem and then add an automatic system as much as we can to fix that problem forever. Are you dealing, how much of your business are startups, scratch startups versus acquisitions, also new practice owners through acquisition versus, you know, I guess that's the question, those two paths. I tend, and I think it's just due to who I am and the things I did, I tend to attract more acquisitions in our company. So we're probably 75 % acquisitions, 25 % scratch start. We've worked with a lot of scratch starts. We've done a lot of pieces with scratch starts. But for me, I'm of the opinion, it's already there. My job is just to come and be the miracle girl on a practice that's already there. I know that I can successfully add hundreds of thousands to a practice very quickly. adjust their overhead and make them profitable within just a couple of months. Scratch starts, we can do the same thing, but there is more of building that base to get more people in to build it. However, you don't buy someone else's problems when you do a scratch start. So in Dental A team, again, I think it's due to my experience, the things I've done. Like I said, I took a practice from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months. I know which systems to quickly shift and adjust. I like to say that we're... We're a miracle girl for practices. You just sprinkle us on and we watch it bloom. Scratch starts, like I said, usually I'm about six months to a year before we're gonna start to see that churn and burn. And it's just due to building that patient base, which doesn't exist in the scratch start typically. But again, we've had several scratch starts. We've had several be a very successful, but that would be the reason I think why. But again, I don't shy away from scratch starts. I've done plenty of scratch starts and I do love that you get to build everything that you want and it's brand new. You get to set the systems up from day one. I just think I like to. It's already in place and now my job's just to optimize and magnify it and make it even stronger for them very quickly. But I'm a fast results person. I like to see results quickly. Scratch starts long term have amazing results. Short term they're a little bit harder to get that churn on. Sure. Are people, are dentists typically onboarding you during the acquisition process so you're already known to them and their, you know, their, The Dental A Team (20:55.281) They're acquiring with you on board versus an acquisition where things are just not, things don't feel right and they're not turning out the way the doctor planned or not as fast as they had hoped and then they're onboarding. So I think the doctors who do the best are the ones who bring us on usually month one or two before they open a practice. And I always say when you open a practice, it's like having a baby. people nest the two months before they have the baby and then baby comes in, it's like screaming mayhem for about six months until you figure this out. And I really do believe that that's how practice ownership is. So the offices who I found do really, really, really well are the ones who bring us in one to two months before they actually add us into their loan of their additional cashflow that they need. So it's part of their purchase. That makes sense. Versus the ones that are like, Hey, I don't have cash, but I need help. because every office does this, literally every single one of them they're in and I call it the six months shakeout. As soon as you buy a practice, it is bananas for six months. Like you have high costs, you have high expenses, nothing shaking out. You're trying to win over all these patients or bring in new patients. Like it's mayhem. And that's actually when you need consulting the most. Like you need someone to pull your head out of the sand, tell you do step one, step two, step three. This is where you actually need to focus rather than just being psycho and trying to like do all the things, but never getting anything done. So I really love when they come. Otherwise, and I'll say, I'm really pro, of course, being a consultant, I'm pro this, I'm really pro hiring a consultant that can actually like put money on your books. So a lot of things people buy when they're buying a startup, they actually don't add revenue for them. So it's just a lot of cost without a lot of adding to it. And so there's lots of great consultants out there, but I'm really pro find someone who's done what you need to do successfully multiple times. and bring them in because a consultant for us, our fee is guaranteed covered every single month. Like I'm never worried about that, but we tend to do two, three, four, five times our fee, adding that in in production and reduction of overhead for a practice very quickly. So I never worry about, I understand the owners do worry about fees because it can feel scary with everything you're adding on, but be intentional with what you're purchasing, what can add money to your books rather than just taking money off of your books. The Dental A Team (23:19.462) Go ahead, Nick. Well, I was going to switch gears into talking about building and developing a strong team, since you just mentioned that. And I wanted to start by actually saying that when we're working with a client and they're looking for, you know, to a relocation option or they're looking to buy a building or just a general lease, mean, these are all super negotiable things inside, you know, inside of their you know their business world but you know the the You know the highest expense that they likely have is payroll and so they can't really That's not something you're not gonna retain high-level talent by you know negotiating like a like like a madman like you would with a landlord for example, and so I wanted to talk to you about what are key qualities that a you know a dental practice owner should look for when hiring key team members. For sure. I'm so glad that you said that rented landlords are negotiable because I think people feel like it's fixed. And I'm like, no, listen, listen, this is why you need Nick and Remy. Talk to them. They'll help me negotiate this down. Agreed teams are a bit trickier to negotiate down here. You're not going to probably get the best people. No one wants to feel like they're being bought on sale to come onto your practice. but as a landlord, yeah, I want the best deal. My labs and my supplies, I want the best deal. But for teams, so I'm gonna kind of give two different answers because I think startup practices versus maybe a little bit more seasoned in their career actually have two different needs typically. As a startup, I'm really pro them hiring basically an office manager that knows how to do a lot of the things that they don't know how to do. So we need someone who's strong with case acceptance, strong with billing, strong with leadership, strong with hiring, and it's going to be an expensive hire. But what that... that expensive hire is going to do is going to exponentially grow your practice for you. While dentists are in the back doing dentistry, you have someone who's really your yin to yang in the front office for you. So I'm really pro and I'm really pro not hiring just one person, but two people in the front office. I've seen a lot of embezzlement in my time. I've seen a lot of just funny things going on in the front office. And also if you only have one person up front, you're literally like SOL, which stands for so out of luck. The Dental A Team (25:38.758) Um, in my opinion, like you really will be S O L if that one person leaves because you know nothing in the front office. So I'm super pro hiring those people and hiring really good talent when you're a startup. Now, if you're a little more seasoned, figure out what's going to be your yin and yang. If you've got a good biller or you can outsource your billing, um, maybe you don't need as high quality of, or as expensive of an hire that way. But what I have found is typically I like to see payroll around 30 % of your collection. So we're collecting a hundred thousand. about is going to be spent for payroll costs, not including doctors. And so for that, that's also your fringe benefits, your 401k. And what I've seen with a lot of doctors is team members are only listening to their dollar per hour, but doctors, you're paying a lot more than just a dollar per hour. So we've actually created a really beautiful form for our offices that's kind of like their total compensation package that we recommend giving like once or twice a year to your team so they actually see what they're producing. Now, hygienists are coming in as a really hot topic, depending upon the area you're in. And a lot of those are like, they're kicking that overhead, the payroll amount really high, but you need a hygienist because they're a producer. And so what's happening, we have a couple of hygienists on our team as consultants. And what they're recommending is let's have a really good base, base plus commission. And then looking back at your hygiene schedule to show this hygienist based on what we've already done. I don't like to live in like theories. because no one wants to live in theories. They want to feel confident. So if I can hire hygienists for X amount that is fair within the market rate, but give them a commission, so anything they produce over that, showing on historical trends of what my practice has been doing, that's gonna help me keep my payroll costs lower, but I'm gonna be able to pay this hygienist more and be able to actually offset my payroll costs because they're producing more, but I can keep my payroll lower. So that's where I do think you can quote unquote negotiate. But I really feel strongly, you've got to show them with confidence that they can do this and you've got to have an incredible culture. Culture and time tend to be the currency of hiring great team members right now. And so if you don't have a great culture, if you're not a great boss, you're not gonna hire great talent. I've seen offices paying their employees less than other people in the market, but they have such a great culture that team members want to stay. And then also looking at this time off, PTO is becoming a really hot topic and I feel like since 2020, The Dental A Team (27:57.872) We're seeing more of this lifestyle that people want to be living more so than like the 401k traditional benefits, depending upon the age of the person you're hiring. Cause I do think there's two different age groups that want two different things. And so being aware of that and cognitive, think you can get creative with what you're doing. So I think that's a lot of great ways to bring it on, but you've also got to be clear on what your culture is and what your tip is. And you've got to be careful not to hold onto those sour apples that are truly destroying your practice. One of the best quotes I heard is, the worst thing you can do to your best employees is tolerate the poor performance of your worst employee. And so really being cognitive, and I know that's hard, but trusting and believing that you can bring these great people in. So we put awesome ads out. I tell people to write to their ideal person, figure out who they want of their ideal person, and then posting those ads consistently and following up can be really good ways to get it. And then like, Great culture does not mean you give everything to your team. It also means that we hold them accountable, that we have structure, that we have systems in place, but giving them the autonomy within that to create what they want to. I think are some hopefully simple pieces based on where you are, of who to hire, how to keep those costs lower. Also, what a good framework of what your payroll should be. And then also realizing the amount of payroll you've got, that should be producing. So make sure that you're. payroll dollars are actually giving you the production that you should be getting from it. And if not, maybe it's time to make a couple of changes that way too. Yeah, one, one always is, is trying to kind of create a culture that promotes accountability and collaboration and continuous improvement. And you can probably, you know, inside the mission statement of the, of the, of the practice kind of address some of those things so that you have some ground rules. But ultimately at the end of the day, it's about the leadership and also needs to live those values as well. Yeah. And on that Nick, am really pro core values. When I first started, I heard a explanation of core values and they said, usually when you start a practice, you have three core things that really were the core of why you started this practice. So think back to what those three, those are like your true core. And when I thought back, I was like, yeah, for me it was do the right thing. The Dental A Team (30:16.272) have a ton of fun and make it easy for clients. So like those are my three. it's do the right thing, fun and ease. And then we have aspirational ones in addition to that, but really truly like our core values go on our job board. So like when we're hiring people, we say these are our core values, this is our company. Every Wednesday we're highlighting out team members that have been exhibiting core values within our company. So each team member shouts someone out about the core values. And I really have found that That's how you build culture. Culture is a slow burn, but it's a consistent burn. And so if you have that and you really live, breathe and bring that in, your culture, it will take a little bit of time. say it's kind of like moving the Titanic, but the consistency piece will start to shift it to where you have that incredible culture. And then if you have someone who's not, have the one-on-one conversations rather than the full team conversation. Get really, really good at having uncomfortable conversations. I love the quote. I've added my own little. sprinkles to it. I say your success and happiness that's care is added is directly proportional to the number of uncomfortable conversations you're willing to have. And I like adding happiness to it because I think like my success is one thing, but my success and my happiness, I want to be happy when I go to work. I want to have a great time. And so just getting really good with those uncomfortable conversations. And I say, it's a conversation. It's not a confrontation. And like, let's get to the root cause. Let's solve the problem rather than the person. and let's move that forward. I think those are some hopeful quick tips for people to start to change that culture because it can be done and it's paramount for bringing in great team members as well. Well, that's a really important piece of the puzzle is communication, especially since everybody has a different communication style. you know, I wonder what your guidance is about how somebody who owns a practice can, you know, can become a better communicator or overcome some of those challenges to be able to kind of understand how to communicate to different members of their staff or what have you. For sure. I'll give a couple of books. I believe there's so much wisdom found in the minds of men and authors. And so The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lanzione I think is a great one to figure out how to build that trust and healthy debate between you and your team members. so encouraging that. The Dental A Team (32:43.974) and digging down deep into that. Also, there's a lot of personality traits, tests that are out there. I really am pro disc. There's also a company called Culture Index, and I think they teach you a lot of how to communicate. And something I learned early in my career that I try to pass on to our clients is hire people who are complimentary to you, not necessarily the same as you. Your biller is going to have a very different personality than your scheduler. I want a bubbly outgoing scheduler who just makes my patients feel incredible. And my biller, do not want them being the party scene. I want them to be the person who's so detailed on every single number. Well, those two personalities are also going to be different communication styles. My biller, can probably be a bit more direct with. My scheduler, might need to have a little more finesse with. The five love languages at work is another great way to see how do people prefer to be communicated with. And then also just asking. I think asking people of, hey, like some people really wanna be direct and just told directly, other people need like the sandwich, the compliment, here's what we need to work on, the compliment, because otherwise they're gonna feel like they're an utter failure. And so I think as leaders learning, I used to always communicate the way I like to be communicated too. And I feel like that was so naive on my part, because that's how I prefer, does not mean that's how other people prefer. we have, when we hire new hires and we recommend this for our offices, We actually have them take a quiz within our practice and it tells me their favorite things for appreciation. What is it? If I was to get them a gift, what would be something very meaningful to them? How do they prefer to be communicated with? Is it direct? Is it collaborative? And then we have them read the same book so that way we can speak in the same communication language with each other. And then coming in to when it's an uncomfortable conversation, owning that and saying, hey, like this is uncomfortable for me to say. We address the root problem and then we ask for feedback of, Remy, how did that land? I want to make sure that what I was trying to convey is actually how you heard it. Then Remy can come back and say, Kiera, I felt like you thought I was a jerk and that I'm not working. And I'm like, my gosh, thank you for saying that. That's not at all how I was saying it. What did you hear? That way I can change this to make sure we're on the same page. That communication takes finesse, takes time, but I will say I would rather invest in that skill than having the constant turnover. The Dental A Team (35:06.96) train that's going on. And if you're in maybe a bad culture right now and you don't know how to fix it, anonymous surveys, we send them out for a lot of our clients when they're in this particular spot and start to ask honest feedback of what does this doctor or team need to do to change? What's causing the turnover? What's causing the breaks in the practice from the team members perspective? And then adjusting our communication styles accordingly to really try and help that communication. But I really love asking for feedback of how that landed. I think that's one of the easiest ways to get that feedback very quickly on communication. So we've talked a bit about communication, I guess, with your own staff, but paramount to any successful dental practice, they need to have strong communication with their patients because enhancing a patient experience, I think, really kind of goes hand in hand with growth and all the other types of things you need to consider to raise the, do better, I guess, for lack of better word. So. I think patient communication, you're right, it's paramount. And learning, I think that's handoffs. I think that's having everybody speaking the same thing, doctors giving good exams on that. But then also finding out what your patient drivers are similar to a team driver. What is ultimately their number one objective? Is it cosmetic? Is it function, is it cost, or is it longevity? I said those in a very important order. believe order matters. Because if I put cost first, I'm highlighting cost. But if I put these in a very strategic way, I've done this with hundreds of offices, and we've asked thousands of patients, I will tell you 99 % the time it's not cost. It's usually function, it's longevity, cosmetic, how it looks. And then of course, figuring out within cost. But if you can figure that out from your patients and learn to communicate with them in their style, utilizing disc profiles as well. You're exactly right, Nick. You'll get higher case acceptance, you'll have a better patient exam. If you have handoffs where everybody's speaking the same language and we're passing the baton off from person to person so that way nothing gets dropped, you will be shocked. We've increased case acceptance. I had a practice, they were getting about 25 to 30 % case acceptance and we literally got 100 % case acceptance that day just by changing a little bit of how we communicate in our handoffs. The Dental A Team (37:27.462) The patients would walk up to the front and say, doctor wants to see me back in two weeks for a crown for an hour, I need to get that scheduled. And if your patient is that clear and your communication is that clear, you can only imagine what that does for your practice and your production and your reviews, because that patient's not confused anymore, they literally know what to do. The Dental A Team (37:50.822) Can you share any practical tips on how dental teams can educate their patients more effectively about their oral health and treatment plans? Yeah. So I'm really pro hygiene. The hygienists have hopefully an hour with them. And so I'm really big on visuals. And so we work with our practices to build kind of like explaining it helping these patients see like on x-rays where you can use, there's a lot of AI softwares out there. I love Pearl. I love Overjet. They can help educate the patients of what's going on in their mouth. And what I found for patients is there's a lot of mistrust. And I know dentists hate this analogy, but it is kind of like a mechanic. And so we're looking under the hood and the patient's like, I see nothing but black and white up on there, but you're telling me to like squint my eyes and there's a little cavity right here. So I think also helping train your patients of like, this is a good tooth. And this is a tooth where there is decay, showing intraoral photos for them, helping them so that way when they're going through their teeth, it's like, okay, tell me what you see on this tooth. the more the patient can actually grasp it and understand it, the more they're going to actually accept that treatment. But in addition to that, one of my hygienists that's a consultant on our team, she gave me some really good advice and she said, never ever, ever use little league words for major league problems. I think oftentimes we don't want to offend the patient or want to make it feel better. And so we're like, well, there's this like little cavity. The tooth is bombed out. Like, why are we saying it's a little cavity rather than telling them like, this is what's going on now. Yes, they're still finessed, so we don't wanna make them feel bad about it, but we also need to help them see the severity. And what I found is when you're confident in your diagnosis, when you're confident in how you're presenting treatment, your patients are actually buying your confidence, they're not buying the treatment. And so you being confident, and I've helped hundreds of them practice, I literally have an office and we've added multiple millions to their five locations by simply helping them present treatment better and stronger and more confidently, because truly the patient is buying your confidence. And so now, never over diagnosing. but getting that patient to see it and truly telling them what's going on. And then I always love to say like, here's a comprehensive exam and the good news is, this is how we're going to get you like great back to great oral health and using the good news is, or the great news is that way the patient feels like there's hope and optimism and then giving them a really clear plan of where you want them to start. That way it doesn't feel overwhelming or daunting. Cause you can teach a patient all these things. The Dental A Team (40:14.448) They just need to know where to start and how you're gonna be able to help them get the success that they're looking for and to get back to oral health. Not all patients have it. And I say that not like these problems did not happen overnight. So it's not gonna get fixed overnight. Our bodies are always decaying. Like we're always like aging is as fun and thrilling as that is. Same thing with our teeth. And the great news is this is how we're gonna get you healthy. We've talked a bit about, you know, communication and creating a strong relationship, I guess, with your patients. Talk to us a little bit about how dental practices can develop a strong presence inside their local community to build trust and attract more patients. Yeah, there's an office that I really love. We were just chatting with them and something that I think this office did so well is they have the goal to be the hometown dentist in their city. That's the vision of their practice. They want all of their patients to feel that way. So it's a very large practice. They have 15 operatories and they've still been able to maintain that hometown feel and they're very connected to their community. Another practice they said that our goal is to change the way people feel about going to the dentist within our community. And so I think the way that you can get this like stamp in your community is one, having that be part of your vision where you want to be that local dentist to your patients where it's that hometown dentist feel in your practice, then your practice, your patient experience will feel that way. But then these offices, the two that I explained, they're very involved in the Chamber of Commerce. They're very involved in the little league sports. They're very involved in giving back and providing for these communities. I have another dentist and she created what's called the Thrive Home, where it's literally being able to give back to the community with all the different specialties like OT. PT, dentistry, to give back within the community. And I really think if that is something that is your MO, treating your patients that way, asking for their referrals and their reviews, and then also being able to have that presence. I know growing up, for me, our chiropractor was so well known, that chiropractor was everywhere. They were at all the football games, they were all the high school events, they were at the town hall, the chamber of commerce, like. The Dental A Team (42:30.106) Everybody knows that Ellison Chiropractic is the number one chiropractor in the area. And I will say it's because this family was so involved in the community. We saw them everywhere. And so I think how can you also do that and giving back to it? But I think my biggest recommendation, if you want to grow patients based on your community, I think it comes from genuine care and genuine authenticity that you actually love this community that you want to give back. If it's just to pull new patients in, there's other ways to do it. But I think really, truly, you want to give back to that community you want to serve. I think patients will feel that when it's true and genuine and authentic. We understand how important marketing is to a practice and how it gets teeth through the door. And it's expensive, and it's money we're spending. But I think you hit the nail on the head. In addition to traditional marketing, there's so much more you can be doing in involvement really is the key. The more involved you can be in your community, the better. Whether you want that hometown feel or you're focusing on productivity and efficiency and I think getting yourself out there and being a part of something is invaluable. That's great advice. When our clients hire us, it's normally because they They feel totally lost. They're beginning the journey of practice ownership or real estate ownership. They have a lot of student debt. They are about to borrow a lot more money. And it's really scary. we try to really hold their hand through that process to kind of give them those tools so that they can ultimately make the right decisions. for their practices real estate. And so it's really cool to hear you and how infectious your energy is and you have really good support systems for your clients to really ensure that they're not missing anything and are really maximizing their potential. And so that's really cool to... The Dental A Team (44:54.078) to hear from you. Switching gears a little bit, I want to talk about the future and industry trends to see if there's anything that you're seeing or anything that you think your clients are going to face in the next five to 10 years that they should be preparing for. Yeah. And Nick, thank you. I just wanted to highlight what you said because you're right, it's terrifying. It's terrifying to go into that much debt. I remember I used to call my dentist 2.5 because we were 2.5 million debt. And I was like, that back straight because you need to keep these hands and that back good. And I would just always say like 2.5, 2.5 because we were 2.5 million debt. And I think that that's where my passion comes from profitability overhead systems because I know how daunting it can be to be an incredible clinician, to be an incredible business, to be an amazing practice, but not to have the cashflow to support what you just went into debt for. And so that's really where I'm pro like know your numbers, use the systems, utilize your team because, and I will say this again and again and again, a dentist who is financially successful and secure is the best boss to have. And health health teams, want your dentist to be successful and profitable because they're more solid, they're more stable and they're not stressed out, which is going to make a better boss for you. And so agreed. It's very daunting. It feels very scary, but I will promise you if you know your numbers, It can feel awful at the beginning, but it can actually make it so much better for you. So thank you for highlighting that Nick, because I think I've just seen so many students so stressed about cash and staying up at night. I've had it myself. And so speaking from real life experience, giving you the tools out of that dark hole, I think is one of the greatest gifts we can give to these dentists who are already giving the gift of smiles and confidence to all their patients. Being able to do that same for dentists is such an amazing thing. And now, Speaking of like what's in the future, shoot, DSOs are on the horizon. I think an AI, like these are two hot conversations. My doctors tell me that they are probably getting a DSO offer at least three to four times a day. And that is ratcheting up. They're getting so many offers constantly from DSOs. They're finding them. And I don't blame them. I think Wall Street is smart. They've realized that dentistry is a great business to invest in. mean, we're hearing 50 % overhead. So we've got exponential profit within. The Dental A Team (47:19.474) Dental practices are profitable, typically speaking. And so I think that these are some things for doctors to be aware of. And I think educating yourself on making sure that you're selling or you're living your life the way you want to, rather than like just getting an offer on a bad day. So I think the DSO offers are dangerous because when you have a bad day in dentistry, it's very easy to look at that EBITDA number and say, I just want to sell. I want to get rid of all my problems, but I want to also caution and advise. to know exactly what you're getting into because I've had some dentists sell. I think DSOs can be great for a lot of practices. I think MSOs can be great. I can see legacy practice and partnerships being great. There's so many amazing things and I don't think there's really a wrong route to go in dentistry. The wrong route I think is when you make an emotional decision that's not going to impact your life the way you want to. And so being very cautious, I think of when do I wanna sell and also what really is a good deal because I had a doctor and their epita, They talked to some DSOs and he's like, cure it. It's going to be great. I'm going to get five mil for this. And I said, we'll call this one hometown. Like he's not the hometown, but like, we'll just call him. I got iPhone anonymous hometown now. So I was like hometown. I just want to point out that next year you're going to produce 5 million based on our block scheduling and also on the expansion of your practice that we just did. You are going to produce 5 million and they did. So I said, you're going to actually get short changed on this DSO deal. If you're like. But if you're done with dentistry, it's a great deal. But also you're going to have to work for this person as an associate when you're going to make five mil next year, just in producing on your own and you don't even need to sell. This hometown does not want to be done with dentistry for about 10 years. So I said, you are shortchanging yourself where you can build this. You can exponentially expand into this, but you've got to make the decision of where you want to go and what you want to do. But the five million sounded so attractive to this doctor. when they didn't realize that their practice was already producing that and would produce that with ease the next year. So I think like being really cautious of that, that you're not making, I feel like I'm so passionate because I feel like your business not only is providing for your life right now, but it's a long-term asset. And like what you guys do with the real estate, these are long-term assets that are building their wealth portfolios. Let's not, let's not do botchy investments, kind of like stocks, right? The stocks we all know just like dropped like, shoot, if you're watching that, you're going to freak out and you're going to want to sell everything. The Dental A Team (49:40.68) but they know be stable through your investments, stay steady and not make those irrational decisions I think is so paramount because the DSO offer seem very appealing right now, especially on those like hard dental days. So that's one that I think dentists really need to be cognitive and aware of and knowing what your end goal is, what your retirement goal is, what you ultimately wanna sell out for. So that way when these offers come through, you can be educated and educating yourself more because I promise you. I do not believe DSOs are going away. think in the next decade to two decades, we will see dentistry become more similar to healthcare. I know I'm like very hated about this. I've had this opinion for several years. My husband works in standard medicine. He works for hospitals and I'm like, gosh, like what was going on in the hospital scene is now what we're starting to see in dentistry. It's not gonna be too long before they're all bought up, but I'm also watching standardized healthcare now trying to shift into private practices and get out of the DSO. like with air quotes around it. So I think just being cognitive of what you want to do and what you want your legacy to be. But also I don't fault you. I mean, a lot of these dentists are going to be able to get incredible retirements that they may never have been able to get similar to people buying homes in COVID. Like they're getting insane value, insane interest rates. it can be a very wise financial investment deal for you, but just do your homework. Cause I've seen some DSOs go under and people have lost pretty much their entire retirement. So that would be something I definitely highlight on. And then also watching AI. The doctors are not into AI, they've got to get into AI. That's where I mentioned Pearl and Overjet, they're helping with diagnosis. I can already see they're riding on the wall that insurance companies, guarantee you, are probably already using AI. And so making sure that you are staying at least up to par with insurance companies, if not further ahead. Utilizing virtual assistance, think staffing costs are going to continue to be skyrocketing. And so for that, what other things can we do? like... Opportunities force innovation. And I think we're in an opportunity zone to force some innovation and to be on the cutting edge of that. I do think right now, doctors who are not online, depending upon where you are in your career, if you're not online, having a presence on social media, if you're not getting involved in AI, I am going to caution that I think those practices very easily could get left behind unintentionally to where it might be hard for them to come back. So just even dabbling in it, getting some team members that could help you with that, I think is super important. And I would say this year, The Dental A Team (52:04.51) I would add some sort of AI to your practice. Whatever you choose to do, just so you start to experience it, use it. There's so many things and I think honest in the next five years, I think AI is going to radically disrupt how practices are operating that I think it's important to like at least be dabbling so you're not completely left behind on accident. You think the AI is, I mean, it's mind blowing and the applications just seem endless and hard to keep up with. you, so are you, if I hear you correctly, you're talking about AI integrations on like the practice management side of things versus patient care, right? Like patient care, so yeah. Yeah. I think patient care is going to be tricky. I think until they get robots who are amazing, do think like the clinical side of dentistry probably will maintain pretty accurate. But I do think your front office and a lot of your systems will get changed. And I'll just highlight, there's a practice that we work with and she has, it's a pediatric practice. She's got incredible- call them? Sorry, what? What are we gonna call them? this one, we're gonna call this one, we'll just say jammin'. so this one's jammin. I do like that we're naming all my offices. right. So jammin jammin has a pediatric practice. She's got an entire amazing team, but she has like eight support virtual assistants behind the scene for this practice. In addition, she has made her own AI bot called Amy and Amy. That's actual name of the AI bots. That one's real. didn't change it. mean, I should have called it like Joker, but like that's not really going to work jammin and Joker. This was actually called Amy. but Amy. responds to to Jammin's practices day in and day out to make sure patients are happy. Now they live in a very affluent area, so it's very fast paced. But what I love about this doctor is she realized in order for me to keep my patients happy and to meet their demands, there's AI and I can create an AI bot that responds exactly how our practice would, but I'm actually not having to pay a team member, an actual human being to do this. And they're able to get all the needs met. That's what I mean by. The Dental A Team (54:13.37) looking to see where can AI integrate. And I think it's going to hit your front office faster. But I think like software is meh, like that one's tricky. Software's are tricky to me, but I'm like billing. I guarantee you AI is going to take that over for sure. Hands down. It's going to take it over. I think answering phones and scheduling phones, I think are, the way we send out claims for sure. Like that's all within your billing realm. there's some softwares that are trying to act as office managers. think reading X-rays are going to definitely be taken over by AI. hands down and I am curious and I don't have an answer for it, but I'm super curious. How is that going to impact diagnosis? I work with some practices in Canada and Australia and they're more streamlined. There's not really a lot of change. Like it is what it is. It's standardized healthcare over there. And I'm curious with AI coming in and I know I'm going to be like, I might get ripped on this. I'm welcoming the reviews because I think it's worthwhile to talk about. I'm curious how AI is going to impact diagnosis. And what can be diagnosed and what can be actually built out which leads me to believe similar to medicine That's why there's bill like they bill out every single possible code that they can't I mean for the gauze for the cotton and I'm super curious that I don't know I think it's worthwhile to look into is that gonna impact our diagnosis and how we're billing should I maybe be looking and knowing those codes more thoroughly? Depending upon how it's gonna be. I don't know. I think that that's huge speculation on my part, but I I can't help but think that AI is going to impact our diagnosis in a big way. We're insurance companies, which then leads me to think companies might be leaving insurance. right, like we might be going more fee for service. So then you got to ramp up your marketing. But I think that's going to be a big spin that's probably going to be hitting us in the next couple of years. The Dental A Team (56:02.27) It's scary and exciting. don't know what else to Scary and exciting. It feels wild, right? But I'm like, don't think dentistry itself is going to change much. I still think we're going to have our craft. It's a very, very humanistic, very crafting. But I'm super intrigued. And I think for me, I'd rather take it on as like, let's be excited about it. Let's get into it. Let's see. How can we dabble? How can we influence it rather than being told like, is what's going to happen now? I would prefer to be a pioneer through it and I think first office is to innovate. I I prefer to be like second, third, like I'm not gonna be like right on the first in case everything botches, but like second, third, get in there because these things, I don't think it's going to go away. I think it will adapt and morph, but I think it's here for a while. I hate that I didn't ask you this way earlier, but are you also, are you working with all different specialties or are you strictly general? That's a great question. We actually work with all. So we have pediatric, GP, oral surgery. The only one we don't dabble in is ortho. I think there are some incredible consultants out there that do ortho. Ortho has its own software. It's its own beast. It's its own animal. I do work with ortho and GP, so we're very familiar with it. But ortho, I just think there's consultants that rock the ortho world, but all other specialties. We have clients within all of those and really love them in all their areas. We tend to specialize GP and pediatric, but we have clients of all. all specialties minus ortho. Yeah, I The reason I asked is that I was speaking to, you know, an endo group who was actually starting to transition to fee for service. And I don't know, maybe that'd be a good introduction. Yeah. The fee for service world is weird. I really, offices want to cut. They want to just cut the insurance right now. And I'm like, hold please, before you do that, realize it's a retention piece for your patients. And if you don't have a great experience and you also don't have great systems in place, and you also don't know how to maintain these patients, I had a practice to do this and they almost lost 50 % of their entire practice. So I'm really pro, like you can drop insurance and I'm not here to say not to, but I want you to be very thorough and educated on it and know worst case scenario, best case scenario. I think fee-for-service is gonna dip in a lot more, but if you're not careful, fee-for-service patients are free agents and never forget that. So they can go anywhere at any time. They're not tethered to you like they are with insurance. So making sure. The Dental A Team (58:25.202) before you start cutting and get all excited about fee-for-service, I'm here to say do it, but do it correctly. Because I think there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. And I've seen it hit practices really hard if they don't do it correctly. Good to know. The time we spend with people like you is meant to help dentists and really end support staff all around. And they all offer different types of great information and feedback. But I have to say, I think you've provided a ton of detailed, thoughtful benchmarks and takeaways that I think will provide great benefit and value and hopefully interest people to reach out and get in touch with you. Because I think this is a lot of great content that people can use immediately. So at least to start to think about. Thank you, Remy. I hope it bleeds through the passion that I have. And at the end of the day, I want the best practices to win. want you to serve patients at the highest level. so that's why I love to just share. I love to give. I love to educate. And if we're a good fit for you, amazing. I'd love to chat with you about that. But truly, thank you. That was a huge compliment, Remy, and I really appreciate that. It's our pleasure having you. Yeah, on that note, if you have time, we have a few more questions that aren't maybe as practice related, but maybe a little bit more personal. We want to know what is the best advice you've ever received? gosh. This is, I do have time, so thank you. And the best advice I've ever received, gosh, I've had a lot of good advice. had a lot of really good mentors. The one that's popping into my mind right now, I think I'll just tie it all in. Like, don't lose money. I think there's, I know that sounds so cliche, but I'm really pro on, I remember I was talking to a girl who wanted to start something and she's like, it's okay if I just break even. And I'm so glad I have this like tucked back in my brain of, no, businesses should produce profit. You should be making more than you're making as an associate. I understand it could take a year or two. The Dental A Team (01:00:41.474) But don't lose money. Like figure out ways to be profitable. Figure out ways to make sure that your business is serving you. Otherwise go be an associate. And I think like that one just has stuck with me for years and years and years tethered to always provide more value than you ever received back. Give and serve that comes from the go giver. I'm obsessed with that book. That one's what I started my company on. But always, always, always give more value than you, than you get in return. And I think those two things married together will probably produce and ensure profitability and success for you long term too. That is a great book. Describe your perfect day. Are we talking work? Are we talking life? Just in general. Life. In general? I am a travel junkie. I love to travel. So a perfect day would be hanging out with my husband. We have a great time. I'd be traveling somewhere. So I prefer to be at a destination. I love beach. know I have very fair skin, so the beach does not love me. So between the hours of 10 and two, I would definitely be taking a nap. So I avoid the lobster burns. But it would be, it'd be beaching. be with family. It would be just hanging out, having a good time. Or it would be like, I live to be on the water. So my husband and I, call it wake weenie Wednesday. People always giggle cause we do a weenie roast on the back of the boat. Like it's tons of fun. And I just think it's a funny like little. play on words on that, but I love to wake surf. Like any day on the lake is my best freaking day of my life. And especially when we have friends, it's like summertime, you've got that like, it's like dusk and we are like roasting hot dogs on the back of the boat, having a good time with friends. That to me is heaven and pure happiness in life. And yes, you can come for Wake Weenie Wednesday if you're out here. It's a great time and I think everybody should adopt it. It's a good time. The Dental A Team (01:02:32.023) Remy has a favorite question that he seems to Yeah, I hoping. try to give it to Nick periodically, but I appreciate that, OK, so some responses are pretty straightforward and others are quite wacky. So if we asked your parents what you do for a living, what might they say? Oh, my parents would tell you I do dental consulting. They'd tell you I ran a business for dental consulting. And that's not half as hard as I thought it was gonna be. I thought you were gonna say, what would your parents describe you as a child? And I'm like, please don't ask that, because I was a heathen. That one is full blown. But what I do for work, they would tell you I own a dental consulting business. That's pretty good. We've actually never had anybody that we've talked to that parents actually really knew. Like my mom, for example, she might just call me right now and... And then I can't answer and she'll be like, why can't you answer? Like, I don't understand. Like, what do you really do? what do you do that's so important that you can't so, you know, I mean, we get all kinds of things. What if you could I do lean on my parents a lot though. My parents know the days in and out. I'm the second of seven kids and I'm very close with both my parents. They live close to me too. So I've been like, dad, I need you to watch the house. My dad though, he does think he should be my marketer for our company. he's like, here, I'll just fly around. I'll get all these clients and go golfing with him. And I'm like, dad, you will not be like doing any business. You'll just be shooting the breeze with them on the golf course. Like that's all you want. You want me to pay you to go golf in awesome places. that's what he, that's what he'd tell you. He's like, and she should hire me is what he would tell you. My mom on the other hand would, she would know where, I mean, I talked to my mom almost every day. So they would definitely know. If you could go back in time and talk to your 20 year old self, what would you tell her? The Dental A Team (01:04:27.703) I would tell her that she's freaking killer and not to need the, that's what makes me emotional. Not to need the like approval of everybody. I think for a lot of my career, I was doing it to prove to my siblings. I mean, I was the second of seven kids. So very, a very successful family. My siblings are all really smart and I'm the only, I think I'm the only one in my family that doesn't have a master's degree. I'm the only one who owns a business as well. But I think for so much of my life, I was trying to prove my worth to my parents, to my siblings, to my husband, to, I remember, we'll call this Dr. Jerk. That's that person's name. They told me that I would never be anything more than a dental assistant in my life. And so I think for so much of my life, I tried to prove, and I think trying to prove caused so much burnout for me too. Last summer was actually a really hard summer for me and I felt like I just, The whole weight of the business crushed on me. I loved what I did. I love the passion that I have, but I think trying to make everybody happy, I forgot what made Kiera happy. And so it was good. I took a nice two month reset. was wake weaning Wednesday, every single day. So that was a positive. But I realized like, I like who I am and I'm incredible of who I am as a person and I don't need everyone's opinions. And I just saw a thing of like those who talk. about you behind your back should stay behind you. And I've thought about that a lot of just knowing your worth intrinsically rather than needing the external validation, I think I would tell my 20 year old self, because I think it would save her a lot of heartache, a lot of undue stress and pressure and probably add a lot more sprinkles and happiness in life to listen to that advice. Kiera, thank you so much for opening up and sharing and giving all this great guidance and advice for our mutual clients. This was a lot of fun. I'm super excited to put it out into the world and thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate you. Of course. Thank you for having me. And if there's any way I can serve or support, have a podcast, the dental a team, and if we can help anyone agreed mutual clients, just reach out. We do a free, like a complimentary practice assessments, like I'll happily go through your practice with you, give you tips, resources. If we're a good fit for you, amazing. if not, it's just amazing free value for you to just help you. The Dental A Team (01:06:49.088) truly be so successful. anyway, I can help you guys. This was truly so fun. Thank you for having me here. I truly, truly enjoyed it and just love what we're both doing for dentistry. pleasure, Kiera. Thank you. Bye.…

Dental A Team Podcast

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#980: How To Know If Your Practice Is Thriving (Or Just Surviving) 24:09

4 weeks тому24:09