The Dental Gerbil on the Wheel
Do you ever feel like you are on a gerbil wheel? I was the gerbil running on the wheel in the early ears of running my dental practice . . . never catching up, always on the run, no time to stop and catch my breath. Going, going, going. I was active in the community with Kiwanis, the Chamber of Commerce, school levy committees, and pancake breakfasts. You name it, I got involved. I was taking in excess of 125 hours in dental continuing education every year. I pampered my team, lavished them with benefits, took them on junkets to the Bahamas, St. Thomas, and other high-powered practice motivation programs…all under the misguided hope they would perform better, stay with me longer, and help me grow my business. I wanted them to like me, too. Can you relate to this situation? There are solutions…if you really want them!
Dental Business Training?
In my book, Killing the Practice Before It Kills You–How Throwing Out My Business Model Saved My Life, I identified this idea early on. How does it resonate for you? ”While I’m not certain about your dental training, throughout my dental training, there was no direction or support for the big decisions ahead. No mentor programs existed for students. Sometime in my junior year of dental school, important questions started to swirl in my head, such as:
Should I join the service?
Should I work as an employee?
Should I become an associate or partner?
Should I consider a General Practice Residency or specialty training?
If I set up my own practice, how do I find the right location?
What kind of practice do I want?
Where am I going to get the money to begin?
Where do I go to get help and what questions do I need to be asking?
Equally overwhelming unknowns were related to the nuts-and-bolts of running the business itself, such as: How do I hire people? What’s the process, the pay, the position descriptions? How do I talk to a banker? What are the steps to negotiating a lease? The list went on and on. They never told us how to set up and operate a profitable practice. According to the late Walter Hailey, cofounder of an organization once known as Planned Marketing, the ability to establish solid business systems, caring patient interactions, and business savvy contributed to 85 percent of a dental practice’s success.”
Holistic Dental-Business Coaching
Dental coaching involves so much more than “in-the-mouth” stuff. What I want for my clients is to have a comprehensive coaching program that incorporates a multi-discipline plan. The expertise of my masterful financial planner, Dana Hastings, CFP, MBA, MS has been given as a gift to my Full Contact Coaching clients this year. With enthusiasm and wisdom she orchestrated a review of my clients economic, financial and retirement game plan today. Dana included my clients future-focused CPA and his dental coach (me) along with herself and my client on a three-hour conference call to implement a team approach to formulating a strategic plan to create his economic future of choice. At the end of our conference call we all recognized the power of four individuals coming together for one purpose…the benefit of the client. The end result was clarity, excitement, and possibilities. My client was “giddy” with joy as he saw his future develop before his eyes. This is coaching at its ultimate.
Business Training in Dental School?
When you think back about your training in dental school, how similar was your experience to the one that I write about in my book, Killing the Practice Before it Kills You: How Throwing Out My Business Model Saved My Life? “The startling truth about dental school: there was little or no training on practice management techniques, business training, how or where to set up a practice, how to hire, or how to market my new business. I didn’t know what a profit-and-loss statement looked like, let alone what to do with it. At graduation, I was awarded my Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree, a slap on the back, and the phrase, “Go get ’em, Tiger!” I was thinking, Now what?”
Seat-of-the-Pants Approach
Have you ever been assigned a task, taken a new position, or tackled a project with essentially no direction or instruction? Think about the outcome. Did you make lots of mistakes? Were you embarrassed about struggling? Did you wonder what others were thinking? Did you tackle the project aimlessly, using the seat-of-the-pants approach? I’ve been there, too. That’s exactly what happened when I began my dental practice. I found this approach didn’t work well and I describe it in my soon-to-be published book, Killing the Practice Before it Kills You: How Throwing Out My Business Model Saved My Life. I’d enjoy beginning a dialogue with others who had this similar experience.
Initial Praise for my soon-to-be-published book
“First of all, don’t let the title fool you. Even though a dentist writes it, the message is applicable for anyone that’s ever owned a business or been in a management position. Killing the Practice Before it Kills You: How Throwing Out My Business Model Saved My Life, is a poignant synopsis of how all the seemingly little things, and our reaction to them, are what truly shape our lives. If you feel like you’re life is out of control, and your business is running you rather than the other way around, this book is a must-read.”
Patrick A. Thompson, D.D.S.
Joplin Dental Care
Dental Coaching–A Dental Blog with a Coaching “Twist”
IDEA: How often do your patients voice their complaints…really? How vocal are you? Typically most of us don’t complain or even make a whisper. What we do do….we don’t go back to that business again. For many of us, rather than make a stink, we just stop being a customer or patient.
QUESTION: What can you be doing in your practice to discover if your patients have complaints? How responsive are you and your team to resolving patient miss-perceptions?
Dental Coaching–A Dental Blog with a Coaching “Twist”
IDEA: Patient perceptions are critical as it is through their perceptions that they draw conclusions. It happens in the blink of an eye; when you least expect it; and it may seem innocuous. Your patients perceptions will revolve around their perceptions.
QUESTIONS: what are you doing in your practice to create positive patient perceptions?
Dental Coaching–A Dental Blog with a Coaching “Twist”
IDEA: when a patient calls for a New Patient exam and they are told the next opening is in 4 weeks…that’s a broken window. When the doctor “snaps” at an assistant within ear-shot of a guest or worse yet, in the presence of a patient…that’s a broken window. A broken window is a metaphor for an actual broken window, an unorganized reception area, or an outdated office policy. I find them in most places…and much less so in the successful customer-centric dental practices.
QUESTION: what is the perception your patients have of your business? How do you know?
Dental Coaching–A Dental Blog with a Coaching “Twist”
IDEA: I’ve been writing about the Broken Window concept. These windows can be actual broken windows or metaphorical. When looking for these broken windows they don’t have to be big things. Typically they are small things that are noticed in a BIG way by your patients. They are those seemingly unseen or innocuous items that are easy to walk past. Like the pile of cigarettes that someone decided to dump in your parking lot right at the front of the entrance to your office; the loose handle to the front door; or being put on hold for what seems like an eternity. All giving ideas to the perceptions your patients are developing about you.
QUESTION: What are your patients perceptions? Are you guessing or do you really know? What is your attitude or the attitude of your team members when they see this pile of cigarette butts in the parking lot? “That’s not my job!” or “hey, I need to get out there with a shovel or broom and clean up this mess…it is a bad image for us?”