Alphabetical Practice Wisdom – January: A, B & C

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Below is the text-only version of the January 2013 edition of eSSENTIALs from Linda Drevenstedt. The full version, complete with images, is attached.

January A New Year is fresh and exciting.  Welcome to 2013. ☺ My newsletter theme for the year is Alphabetical Practice Wisdom.  The theme comes from a session I presented for the Academy of Pediatric Dentistry-ABC’s of Practice Success.  Here’s to your best year! Linda A = ATTENTION Full ATTENTION is rare these days which are full of constant attention demanders like cell phones, texts, emails, interruptions and requests. Yet, because it is rare, it becomes all the more precious. Work each day to keep your attention on the patient, the person, the task at hand. Use discipline to “TUNE out” distractions that keep you from being ATTENTIVE. A =  ACKNOWLEDGE Acknowledge your staff member’s job well done. Be specific in your acknowledgement. Psychologists tell us that people grow more with acknowledgement than with critique. B = BUSINESS CARDS Marketing is key in 2013. The marketing tip this month is to have business cards made for every staff member with their name and position. Encourage them to personally write “$25 off your first visit” on the back and hand them out to hairdressers, soccer coaches, waitresses, teachers, and any one they do business with. B = BOOKS One of my favorite dental office managers is dedicated to personal growth. She finds a short inspirational book each quarter. The practice buys the book for each team member. The team reads the book and, in a variety of ways, they use the book as a theme for a quarterly staff meeting, including some fun skits. P.S. Send me an email and I’ll send you a list of good books. linda@drevenstedt.com. C = CHANGE AND COURAGE – a part of the Future of your dental practice. C = CHANGE Insurance changes: 1)Reduced insurance reimbursement; 2) Fewer indemnity (your fee) policies and more PPO’s; 3) Patients being penalized for going “Out of Network.” C = COURAGE It will take great courage to stay out of PPO’s in the future. Over 80 percent of patients nationwide are making dental decisions with their dental policy in hand. Courage can be your ability to rethink your personal paradigm about PPO’s. Just remember to take your emotion out of the equation and make a business decision. C = CHANGE Reduced patient flow stemming from changes in consumer behavior.   C = COURAGE Marketing will be the hallmark of successful practices in the future. If you are still shy, stuck or turned off by this-time to CHANGE PARADIGMS and get a plan to increase your new patient flow, PARTICULARLY if you are losing patients because you are not on the PPO. The main ingredient in your plan should be Internet presence AND VITALITY (this means constant updates and changes to meet the changing criteria of search engines).   C = CHANGE Increased competition from Corporate dentistry is here to stay and to fight with you for your patients. They are modern, efficient, up-to-date and able to market themselves to get patients.  C = COURAGE It takes courage to stay out of a mental attitude about corporates. They are competing with you in a Free Enterprise economy. Too many dentists are spending far too much time complaining about the competition rather than meeting it head on.

HERE ARE TEN THINGS TO HELP YOU COMPETE IN THIS NEW YEAR OF 2013: 1. Get telephone skill training for anyone who answers your telephone.  Gone are the days of leaving this to chance.  If you are unsure, have a mystery shopper call and record your front office team.  It is scary what you will hear. 2.  Find a less expensive lab and material for PFM’s.  Don’t wait-do it now. 3.  Get DIGITAL as far as you can go. 4.  Get a fabulous perio and customer service oriented hygiene protocol, including a great recall system.  Most practices think they have a great recall system-few really do.  Request the “Recall TEST Staff Meeting” from  linda@drevenstedt.com. 5.  Get your website updated if you have not done so in the last 90 days.  Find a vendor to prod you to make changes to improve your analytics. 6.  Get time efficient.  The best customer service you can deliver is to get the patient in AND out in the shortest time possible.  If you are taking more than 60 minutes of chair time for a single crown prep, you are not efficient.  And, if you have to reduce reimbursement, YOU MUST MAKE EVERY CHAIR MINUTE COUNT! If you need help, look to Gordon Christensen and the Productive Dentist Academy. 7.  Hire or train someone to be your Treatment Coordinator.  This person is vital in the corporate practice, (I know an insider) and you need one too.  The TC will have private financial discussion with options for payment, follow up with the “put offs” and keep your schedule full to your goal. 8.  Update your staff attire, your reception area and all operatories.  Make it sparkle and gleam like new with new colors and new paint.  Get business attire for the business team and matching uniforms for the clinical team.  Take anything off of the walls that is not in a frame! Toss out anything you have not used in a year.  If you need to keep it, store it off site. 9.  Develop a marketing plan and budget.  Use five percent of your last year’s revenue as a starting budget if you need more new patients. 10.  Get every staff member to CE this year to improve their specific skills for their job.   Here are some CE suggestions for 2013. ·        Business Team:  Insurance code change course, telephone skills, or your software’s training course ·        Dental Assistants:  Clinical Efficiency, REAL four handed dentistry, making temps, better impressions ·        Hygienists:  Using ultrasonics, perio program communication, recall retention Be sure to forward our newsletter to your colleagues. MAKE 2013 A GREAT YEAR!

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

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Sincerely,

        

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