Every dentist has the opportunity to build and maintain an outstanding practice if they apply the correct basic principles. Unfortunately (and I am a dentist as well, so I feel I can say this), simply doing great dentistry is not enough. It is the foundation and the ethic that we owe to every patient, but the quality of the dentistry does not necessarily result in business success for the practice. It is several other key factors that surround and support excellent dentistry that will allow any practice to move to the next level.
Here are three of the most important.
1. Have an Open Attitude
You’ve heard about attitude so much in popular motivational and business literature that you probably are already tuning out as you read that word. I do believe that a phenomenal attitude makes a difference, but in this case, I want to make it very scientific and practical. You want to develop what I call an “open attitude.”
This is not about positive or negative, although positivity certainly allows you to be more open to new ideas, insights, strategies, comparisons, updates, research, or just about anything that is new to you. An open attitude means that whatever you hear about, you approach it objectively from the start.
- Too many people already believe that they…
- Do not want a larger practice
- Do not want to work more hours
- Do not take insurance
- Take all insurance
- Resent their staff
- Resent what they pay
- Need an associate
- Never want an associate
- Should open 4 offices
- Should open 40 offices
None of the above are right or wrong. They are only right or wrong for each individual dentist. Each one of those statements could be the foundation of a strategic plan that leads to great things when properly applied for that dentist. The key is to have an open attitude. Open to listening, learning, and accessing new information. All too often we simply create a comfort zone for ourselves and when we learn something new, even if it worked for someone else, we don’t believe it can work for us.
2. Get the Correct Systems in Place
Another concept that has received plentiful coverage in dental literature is systems. Step-by-step systems will help any practice to perform better, reduce inefficiency, train the team, improve performance, lessen fatigue, and raise production. So why don’t most practices have excellent up-to-date documented systems? Because it takes work. Unfortunately, there is no effortless way around this. If you want to maximize performance and production, you need the systems.
What is the best way to run your schedule? What is the best way for you to improve your case presentation? (Which has a dramatic effect on case acceptance and a dramatic effect on increasing practice production.) What is the best way to increase hygiene productivity by 20% AND refer more dentistry back to the doctor?
These are simple questions that actually have simple answers all wrapped up in practice operational systems. Scheduling, case presentation, hygiene productivity, insurance management, customer service, etc. are all systems that allow the team to excel. When the team excels the practice excels. Simple concept, but it does take work.
3. Track a Few Key Things
You don’t need to measure 100 data points a week in order to understand your practice. There are great dashboards out there that have information that is very valuable, but a lot of it you can ignore. You can ignore it because if you don’t get the few correct key statistics tracked, the rest won’t matter. Although I like to track 12 or so different measurements, the most important ones are: total production, production per day, production per provider, production per hygienist, production per patient, and production as a ratio of overhead. If you simply start there, you’ve got the basics. Here is my analogy. You go to your physician, and you’re told that you need to lose weight, lower your body fat, reduce your blood pressure, decrease your glucose, and lower your cholesterol. You could measure all of those numbers, or you could simply measure weight loss. If you lose enough weight most (if not all) of the other numbers will also improve. Track the key statistics and focus on them intensely and other statistics that you’re not even looking at will automatically improve.
My suggestion is to stop playing at practice improvement and get really serious. What you need to do is not hard to understand. There are a few key things that will catapult your practice to the next level, raise your production and like the example above, and allow you to grow your practice.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the CEO and Founder of Levin Group, a leading practice management consulting firm that has worked with over 30,000 clients to increase production. A recognized expert on dental practice management and marketing, he has written more than 60 books and over 4,000 articles and regularly presents seminars in the U.S. and around the world.
To contact Dr. Levin or to join the 40,000 dental professionals who receive his Practice Production Tip of the Day, visit www.levingroup.com or email rlevin@levingroup.com.
FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Marcel Eberle on Unsplash.
