An interview with Dr. Sujit Pardeshi

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An interview with Dr. Sujit Pardeshi

• Are you dentist or entrepreneur?

No doubt that I’m a dentist to begin with and very proud to be in this profession. Whatever I am today is only because of this wonderful profession which has given everything to me. I still practice five days a week simply because I love dentistry.

At the same time, I firmly believe that every dental practitioner must be an entrepreneur as well. I always say during my seminars & workshops that every dentist should be an excellent professional while treating the patients at the same time when it comes to managing the practice as a whole he should take it as an entrepreneur. Understanding the business of Dental Practice is extremely important. I think I have balanced both nicely & therefore you can safely call me a dentist entrepreneur or I would love to be called as ‘Dentalpreneur’.

• You are active in so many forums. When do you practice?

That is the beauty of having very good set of management skills & that is what I teach our colleagues. When you work on many fronts, all you need is wonderful blend of leadership, management & delegation skills. I would preferred to call it Human engineering. That is how I handle so many things at a time with equal ease.

• How were you attracted to soft skills training and development?

One of my favorite quote is “Only 2% people in this world create history, rest 98% just read it” & therefore I always had in my mind that I wanted to do something different in order to be in the minority category of 2%.So even though I was very good academically, I ventured in this field. Soft skills can make or break anybody’s career depending upon how good or bad you are at it. It is because dentists do not get any professional training in the soft skills any where including the dental schools, I thought I should begin it for the benefits of calleagues.

• How did the idea of writing of the book come to your mind?

I conducted 75 seminars & 36 workshops on practice management within just 40 months & realized that instead of all the hard work, I could reach up to only few thousand dentists in this country & abroad. Those who attended my talks are immensely benefitted from it. Therefore I thought that in order to reach maximum calleagues book is the only medium. That is how I decided to write the book on this subject. I am very happy to share that my book ‘New Age Dentalpreneur- Develop a Competitive Edge &Build a Profitable Dental Practice’ is very well received by the readers & is a BESTSELLER now.

• Common mistakes done by dentists while speaking to patients?

Because we don’t get any formal training on soft skills, the common mistakes are related to the important soft skills like communication, presentation, management &etc.

I always say that every single world in every sentence & paragraph makes or breaks your patient consultation. Similarly the way you present yourself, staff, clinic treatment, charges & your success stories makes a big difference in the successful outcome of patient consultation.

The lack of confidence, casual approach & improper body language often gives wrong signals to the patients. Every practitioner should be extremely careful & well prepared for each patient consultation whether by means of appearance or mood.

Similarly the way you manage everything in your practice right from yourself to your staff & from inventories to appointments & lab work to payments ultimately decides your success rate.

• Common mistakes done by auxiliary staff while speaking to patients?

The commonest with the staff is lack of basic etiquette it might be because they are not trained by the employer or any one before joining the work. Our staff is the first person to interact with the patients either over the telephone or at the reception desk. It is their interaction which forms initial image about your practice in the patients mind, whether positive or otherwise. Therefore I think that the first thing every dentist must do is to train the staff with basic etiquette.

• Do you feel women are better communicators?

There is no doubt that women are better communicators simply because they are more flexible, considerate & compassionate. Even the gender intelligence says the same & it also has to do with the developmental difference between male & female brains.

• Do you feel patient delinquency is increasing with every passing day?

Yes.

• How much percentage of the professional receipts should be staff salaries, amount spent on consumables, lab charges etc?

It varies from practice to practice. As far as Indian scenario is concerned, I think it should be between 20 to 40%.

• For years now my professional receipts have remained stagnant. What should I do?

I always say, “Stagnation is the first phase of decline” so if your practice is stagnated beyond a couple of years, there is a cause to worry which needs immediate attention. The first step is to do SWOT analysis of your practice, an exercise which I think is extremely important. We give lot of importance to SWOT during our course as well. It clearly tells you the areas you need to work on in order to start growing again. Work on those areas wherever required and you can enjoy ever-growing practice, no matter at whatever pace.

• How should a dentist plan for retirement?

Retirement planning needs a very good knowledge about finances. Unfortunately, many dentists are very poor as far as financial literacy is concerned. So either you learn the principles of financial management and wealth creation or take help of a good financial planner and get it done from him. Remember, if you don’t generate sources of passive income over the years, you will have to work till the last breath of life.

• How to identify a potentially un-co-operative patient?

Right from the moment a patient enters your waiting room; his body language and tone of voice are the best indicators which can give clues about such uncooperative patient. Remember what Warren Buffet has said, ‘Bad sign visible is the best indicator of bad sign invisible’.

        

For one to one consultations on dental practice growth and practice management please contact : todaysmedicalmarketing@gmail.com

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• The future of Indian dentistry?

It is definitely very good provided we do few things right. What is required is dentistry should become ‘organized’ in the country. We must have a system in place where every practicing dentist is registered with Dental council. This will help in identifying the quacks and stopping them from practicing substandard dentistry.

Every practicing dentist must become member of professional organization i.e. Indian Dental Association. This would also help in professional body having better say in policy making related to this field.

We should have standard protocols for standardization of dental clinics as well as quality of every dental procedure carried by dentists. This would help in reducing malpractices and substandard dentistry which ultimately enhance our image as professionals.

The long pending issue of dental insurance should be in effect as soon as possible. This would facilitate addressing the above issues at a rapid pace.

• What kind of CE should a dentist take?

Every dentist should focus a lot on continuing education programs. One commonest mistake dentists make while doing this is they concentrate only on clinical subjects. One must remember that your clinical expertise would be useful ONLY if you have patients in your clinic and moreover if they accept your treatment plan. Therefore learning the art of practice management, effective marketing and financial management is a must in order to grow your practice at a faster pace. This simply can’t be ignored. So maintain the balance to get best results.

• Some tips to dentists who are depressed?

There’s no need to get depressed at all. This world is full of opportunity and dentistry is no exception. Just get your basics right and have patience. In my opinion, the best of dentistry is yet to come in India but only for those who are prepared for it. So prepare yourself well and yes – Never give up…no matter what!

• Do you feel that smart phones, laptops, tabs on the dentist’s desk distract the dentist & is a hindrance in effective dentist-patient communication?

Yes. Remember, technology is for us and it is not vice versa. Use it wisely.

• Do you feel discount coupons help in practice growth?

Not too much in our country. It is a standard practice in the western world.

• Your comments on the current Indian dental CE scenario?

It is doing very good. We have few of the finest mentors of the world in every fraternity of dentistry. We are also at par with the world in almost every clinical field of dentistry. Dentists in our country should grab this opportunity to learn from these stalwarts in order to grow at exceptional pace in their practices.

• Every dentist wants to conduct CE courses. Your comments?

Hahaha…this is true, unfortunately! I again want to quote Warren Buffet who says, “It is only after the tide gets over; everyone comes to know who was swimming naked”. In the longer run, only those who have quality will survive and this is it. So while enrolling for any CE program, always go for the best mentors and learn the best, irrespective of the cost you have to pay for that because you pay only once but the skill is useful for lifetime.

        

For one to one consultations on dental practice growth and practice management please contact : todaysmedicalmarketing@gmail.com

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Thank you Dr. Pardeshi for your time and efforts. Your answers are very ellightening. Your point that stagnation is the beginning of decline is pertinent.

Day in and day out I am being asked by dentists all over India regarding stagnating professional receipts. Here are my stary thoughts on the issue.

Do not curse yourself too hard if your professional receipts are stagnating. While stagnating professional receipts is a serious cause of concern, note that the increase in the number of dentists in a particular locality means that the professional receipts are going to stagnate.

So if your professional receipt are stagnating in spite of increase in number of dentists it means that you have defended yourself from competition.

That does not however mean that you just sit in your clinic twiddling your thumb waiting for the professional receipts to increase.

There has to be robust growth year after year, if not quarter after quarter.

 Every situation, every dentist and every locality is different. It requires perseverance, application of mind and the help of a practice mentor to sort out the problem of stagnating professional receipts.

Finally professional receipts must grow year after year at a rate commensurate with inflation. If they are not, dental surgeons must take professional help.

Reagrds,

Dr. Veerendra Darakh

        

For one to one consultations on dental practice growth and practice management please contact : todaysmedicalmarketing@gmail.com

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