Dental A Team podcast

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A tartalmat a Kiera Dent biztosítja. Az összes podcast-tartalmat, beleértve az epizódokat, grafikákat és podcast-leírásokat, közvetlenül a Kiera Dent vagy a podcast platform partnere tölti fel és biztosítja. Ha úgy gondolja, hogy valaki az Ön engedélye nélkül használja fel a szerzői joggal védett művét, kövesse az itt leírt folyamatot https://hu.player.fm/legal.

We Have The Receipts

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Battle Camp S1: Reality Rivalries with Dana Moon & QT 1:00:36

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Do you have fond childhood memories of summer camp? For a chance at $250,000, campers must compete in a series of summer camp-themed challenges to prove that they are unbeatable, unhateable, and unbreakable. Host Chris Burns is joined by the multi-talented comedian Dana Moon to recap the first five episodes of season one of Battle Camp . Plus, Quori-Tyler (aka QT) joins the podcast to dish on the camp gossip, team dynamics, and the Watson to her Sherlock Holmes. Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/WeHaveTheReceipts Text us at (929) 487-3621 DM Chris @FatCarrieBradshaw on Instagram Follow We Have The Receipts wherever you listen, so you never miss an episode. Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts.…

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

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989 epizódok

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

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Dental A Team Podcast

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

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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

3 napja27:52

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

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

4 napja11:44

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

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

9 napja18:32

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

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

10 napja21:13

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

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

11 napja23:22

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

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

16 napja19:40

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

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

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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

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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

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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

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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.…

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

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Tiff and Kristy give listeners examples of different practices that have different definitions of ‘thriving.’ They then provide questions each practice owner (or even team member) can ask themselves to identify what success looks like for them. 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 (00:02) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are so excited to be here with you today. My name is Tiffany. If you've never heard me on this podcast and you haven't been listening for long enough, then go back through, sift through. We've got so many episodes with so much amazing content and information for doctors and teams alike. There are very doctor-specific ones and very team-centric ones, but I do tell you this. Doctors, listen to them all because I want you to always know what your teams are doing, what they should be doing, or what they could be doing. So there's a million different ideas in here. Please make sure you listen to all of them. We love you for that and we value you as a listener, client, prospective client, or just listener. Thank you guys so much. Kristy, I've got you back here today. I have stolen you today for quite a few episodes and I am so, so thankful for you carving out this time in your calendar, making sure that we could be here together. I know we both really love this time together and I'm just super appreciative of it. So Kristy welcome and thank you for being here. Yeah. So I'm excited for today's podcast. One, because there's not a lot of structure to it. So it makes it fun for me. Cause I, you know, I just like to ramble sometimes. So just be here with it. Kristy (01:05) Thank you. The Dental A Team (01:19) I'm just kidding, but I am excited for today's podcast because I really love telling stories and I really love to utilize experiences that we have had, and teachings that we have done with other clients or things we've learned along the way. love utilizing those things to just provide more valuable information to the world. And today I want to, Kristy, just have conversation about the difference between surviving. and thriving in the business owner world. And these two words, I love them because you know, they almost rhyme and that makes it fun. And I think our marketing department enjoys that. But I really love it because it's such a wide definition for anyone, right? Just surviving could be someone else's thriving. And someone else's thriving could be someone else's I'll never get their dreams. Right? I think it's really interesting to chat about a subject like this because it is so in like independent, right? It's so dependent on the individual's dreams and what it means to them specifically. And Kristy, I think you have a really wonderful ability to articulate yourself really well. and to see into spaces of life for people and with people. And I just think it's really cool that you can take a statement and really see further into it than maybe your average Joe might be able to see. And so I want to pick your brain a little bit on this and the idea of thriving or surviving. And it kind of makes me think of, you know, our onboarding call when we get a new client and we ask them, you know, what does success mean to you? and what are your goals? mean we take them through this goal build out and Kristy what is this thriving or surviving like where does it take your brain? What do you think of and how do you think it relates to just dentistry right now? Kristy (03:26) Yeah, I'm with you. It is a vast subject, if you will, and it can mean different things to different people. Surviving could be that they just worked really hard and they're kind of burning out. They don't see the spark anymore, right? Yet, it could also mean that they're fearful. They don't know or they're unknowing of the next step. They don't know what's next. for them. They feel like they want to do more, but they don't know how to do it. I think asking more questions when we get on these calls. And I love that you say that onboarding because they obviously come to us for a reason, but sometimes I think they are just surviving and they don't really even know what they're looking for yet. And same with thriving. mean, thriving, it almost sounds like it has a little more positive spin on it, but yet sometimes The Dental A Team (04:16) Yeah. Kristy (04:25) Our docs don't feel that way when they're thriving. They feel burnout as well. So it is a big topic on both sides. The Dental A Team (04:29) and Yeah, I agree. And I think the difference there, right, or the space to find is the definition. And so, Docs, I think... Figure out what thriving means to you. What is it that you're going for? What is it that you're here for? If we don't have a purpose driven behind us, right? We don't have anything driving us to our goals, then you could make that $300,000 this month that you wanted and it still might mean nothing or you might just be surviving because like Kristy said, you're burnt out. So what does thriving mean? And I have, you know, I told you that we do this on our onboarding call. We chat with our doctors. We do this with every doctor that we work with. It's what is your business doing for your personal life? How is your business projecting your personal life and what do you want your business to afford it? I work really hard with every client that I have and Kristy, I know that you do too because we believe, both of us believe so strongly in this. I want your business to work for you, not you to work for your business. And I want your business to be providing that life for you. And... I've worked with a lot of clients over the years and Kristy, you've worked with a lot of clients over the years as well. And I have a few that really just come to mind for me. And my... one of my all-time favorite practices that I have ever worked with and I will say that from the freaking rooftops, from the mountaintops, from everywhere. They're incredible human beings and I want to tell their story today because I think it's a really incredible space for everyone to find themselves a little bit in what this practice went through and where they are today. And when I met this practice, they were pretty new to ownership. I think they were about three years in, a doctor and his husband. And they had just decided that his husband was going to leave his job, which is not in dental whatsoever. He has no dental knowledge and become the office manager. And they decided this because it was the easy route and that it just kind of really made sense for them personally in a lot of different ways. So it made sense and it was all good. And they had a lot of ambition. They had a lot of change that needed to be made. And then they had a team that was just kind of upside down and at each other's throats. And they were three years into having taken over a practice and they really didn't lose a lot of team members in that takeover, which was impressive, but We had a lot of cattiness going on in that practice. And one of the first things that I had them work on, they had been working with somebody already who was working on their numbers and telling them, gosh, you need to expand and you need more room, you need more space, and you can do so many cool things. And I sat them down and I said, yeah, absolutely, you can do all those things. That's not a question in my mind. But do you want to do those things? Why are you doing those things? Why did you become an office manager? Why did you become a dentist? And how do we know when you've reached it? What does success look like to you guys? And I made them sit down and I made them figure it out together as a couple. And I made them figure it out individually within their own positions. And this process of really figuring out the impact that they needed and they wanted to make on the community. turned into this incredible space of this dentist wanting to serve a community who is unserved and unseen within their rural town community and it's just really impressive and so amazing and this community thrives with him like they just they know him for it and he's been able to make his name out of this this space because he really believes in it but really what it did was it allowed them to not only see the community aspect but to also see the team aspect and it we worked together, Osmander and I have worked side by side for many years now and he is this incredible human that just said he wanted something different. He wanted to go home feeling different every day. He wanted his team to feel different every day and we worked through a lot of personal development spaces, a lot of leadership spaces and he has come just, I mean he's achieved so much but in the early stages it really was about him being able to see what he wanted his team to say about the practice when they weren't at work. So when they're in the community, are they recommending my practice? When they're in the community, are they thinking about the office and are they representing the practice or are they just done working? And he wanted to build a community within their team. He wanted to build a place where his team felt loved and welcomed and all of these things. And that was to him what thriving as an office manager would be. he would feel less stressed obviously and feel more in tune with his position. But if he had a team that could stand behind him and he had a team that he could say they were thriving, they were reaching goals, that to him was success. And we worked through so much leadership. Gosh, tenfold with this team. got his entire team. They both did got their entire team invested in the leadership like space and in learning the leadership. Now doesn't mean they had leadership. They had a leadership team. They had a team that was invested in themselves and learning how to lead their own positions. And gosh, Kristy, they did it to do the add on. They did the add on within two years. They did the add on. They did a full remodel of that practice within three years of us working together. I believe is what that was. We got the owner doctor to, he's in a space now where he's mostly surgery. He's got a thriving associate that he has mentored the heck out of and really, really done well on leading him to be a successful dentist and refers to him for his GP dentistry. gosh, recently purchased, they, purchased a building that they also have suites in there that they're renting out to other people and that's this whole property management, but they've been able to because they wanted to make such a massive impact on their community. You guys, like they built this place for their community. They've built out a 16,000 square foot practice in their rural town. And it's beautiful. is gosh, it's so beautiful. But the entire process, I have to say, the entire process was built around what could help our community. There was even talks of like Kristy (11:04) And, you know, it was a thank you. The Dental A Team (11:18) a gardening area there so that it can be, they want things to be more green, Like green, like reduce, reuse, recycle green, right? And they thought, gosh, if we had an area where the community, the local community could have herbs or gosh, they're here for their appointment and they needed some oregano for dinner tonight and we've got herbs over here that they can just pick and take home with them, that would serve our community. they, and every space it became, their thriving became a space of how are we serving our team and our community in the best ways possible. I can't even tell you, think you can imagine 16,000 square feet, like what their revenue needs to be, what their profitability needs to be, like they have exponentially projected their personal lives and their business is working for them. And Kristy, it's just been so incredible to watch them come. from the space that they were in, but really learn and be able to express what success looks like for them. And I think success doesn't have to be a 16,000 square foot building. Like it's beautiful, right? It is gorgeous. And I have other practices that are like, gosh, Tiff, no, like I want to work three and a half days a week. I have four operatories. I want two hygienists a day. And I want to work out of the other two operatories. And I hope that dentist is thriving. And there are days he calls me and he's like, I'm only surviving. It definitely will come in waves and it has its ups and its downs, but he knows what success looks like for him as well. He knows what he wants to accomplish and he knows if he can do the amount of dentistry and impact the community in the ways that he wants to on three and a half days, that propels his personal life. He gets time with his kids, he gets time with his wife, he can take vacations, like all of these spaces. So two drastically different. practices, but the point there, are you surviving? Are you thriving or just surviving? Is that they know the difference between that. And it is financial, they do have financial goals because that's how we we gain the profit. But in order to get to those financial goals, Kristy, we had to invest in the leadership and we had to define those words, we had to know what does it mean to be thriving? What does success look like? And in the on the days when it's just surviving, what are we looking forward to? What are we looking towards? That gets us back in that thrive mindset. And it's just been so much fun, Kristy and I Kristy (13:47) Yeah. The Dental A Team (13:52) I just love it and I wanted to make sure you guys heard those stories today because it's so incredible. Kristy, you have so many clients too that you have worked through as well. And what do you feel like when we have clients define and when you've worked with clients previously, when they define that success marker, what do you feel like the commonalities are that you see when people are like, yeah, that would be success for me? Kristy (14:17) Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head and that it's different for everyone. And I think that you truly have to get down to your emotional why, if you will. Because even though, I mean, we don't really work with any nonprofit people. So we all know that we have for-profit businesses. That just is a given. If we're not making a profit, then our business isn't successful. in every one of our clients, it's so much more than that. It's what is it going to give them? And just like you said, I mean, we have the ones that work five days a week, and we have the ones that work two and a half, and they're not ever gonna work more than that. And that's okay. But it's, what is it giving them? And like you with these guys, it's about the community. And for other ones, it could be about them spending time with family, right? And so everybody's why is different, but I guess the common theme, and when I really see, because we're going to use the words, thriving, not just the dentist, but the team, they have articulate, the dentist has articulated their why down to that emotional aspect, so clear that everybody knows what we're going for. The Dental A Team (15:26) Yeah. Kristy (15:41) And I would also say it's also taking a step back and investing in your team to find out what their why is. Because they're coming to work for a reason as well. And when we're all thriving and going in that same direction and it's meeting those needs for everyone, that's when you get that synergy and it just shines through. I mean, when you have a bad day, you know the why that you're working for on the good day. The Dental A Team (16:10) Yeah. That's beautiful. I love the team aspect that you brought into that because it's so true. And I think I would just challenge everybody now to define those spaces. Like what is thriving? What is surviving and surviving you guys, especially when there's only the two words, right? It sounds like well, surviving is fantastic and surviving or dying. Like, that's not it at all. Surviving is sometimes I'm like, no, I'm happy to be surviving right now. Like I'm good. I am good. And surviving for me today is thriving. So Kristy (16:30) you The Dental A Team (16:41) find all of those spaces. What is thriving? Like what does success look like to you? What is surviving? What is that space? And what is the this is a panic button space. And I need I need to get out of here. I think Define all three of those and really like Kristy said, go through that emotional space. Tie it to something that's insanely important to you because when it's insanely important to you, you won't let go of it. You will dig your heels in on those days when you're like, this is panic mode. I need to get back to surviving. How do I get out of this? You're gonna do it. You're gonna push it and you're gonna get all the way. You're gonna surpass surviving and get straight to thriving. So action items, you guys. What is your mission and vision? What are they tied to? Because your mission and vision, especially in the dental world, can get a little clinically and it's like... Kristy (17:30) you The Dental A Team (17:31) I know, just chat GPT, give chat GPT your, I always tell it like a millennial flair, like give it your tone. What do you need this to say? Right? Just make them not so stuffy, you guys, number one, but do your mission vision. Why are you here? Why did you become a dentist? What is it that you're after? Why do you own a practice? What are you trying to accomplish? And then what's your why behind that? What is it pushing for you personally? What is it doing for you in your personal life? What is your business affording you? Why are you going to work every day. And then I would look at your core values. Do your core values align with your mission, vision, and why? And do they create a culture in your team that will project those into the? existence, right? So if our core values are like totally off base, and not creating the culture that you want, tackle your core values and do those simultaneously with your team. I would say work them up on your own, know what yours are, and invite your team share them with your team and invite your team to give feedback to Kristy (18:18) you The Dental A Team (18:35) answer more questions to provide different angles, different points of view, and maybe even for them, I've had many teams really work their own personal core values. So if I know my core values as a human being, like who I am as a person outside of work, what my core values are, makes it very easy for me to be able to see how I align with the practice that I'm working with. So Actionable items you guys to really be able to see this space doesn't have to and the reason I did not Have you office the reason I did not take today's podcast. Are you thriving or surviving? I could have talked financials with you guys. I could have said so many thriving practices who see millions of dollars a year and 20 to 40 % profit in some practices, I could have taken you down those roads and let that be today's podcast. But I believe with my entire heart that that is not the only reason that you could you could say you're thriving. I thriving is different for everyone. And that's the reason that we took today's podcast in this direction. Figure out what thriving means to you. If thriving means a $2.5 million practice per year, then fantastic. Let's get you there. But I still want that why I still want to know what 2.5 is going to do for you. I still want to know what that extra operatory is going to do for that practice and why we needed to remodel and why we needed a new building. I still want to know why because I want to make sure that whatever it is that you're doing that you're spending your money on makes a difference in your life. So we could have talked financials and I can give you all those if you want to know, but I'm not here to give you a space where you can compare yourself to someone else's success. I'm here to say you've got to figure out what that success looks like and I will always ask you why every single time like the annoying little four year old that only knows the word why. So, Kristy, thank you so much for taking this journey with us today. This was a really fun one for me. I know we both love the like leadership introspective personal emotional tie side of life so thank you for for taking that journey and will you will you wrap us leave the leave everyone with your take and and your perspective. I love when you do that for us and I'm here for it today. Kristy (20:58) Yeah, you know, I love that you didn't take the money route because I've had clients come in that are You know collecting six million dollars that aren't thriving, right? And so you're you're absolutely right But I think the last takeaway would be as you're defining those core values really get clear with your team I'll give you an example I had a doctor that one of his core values was lived by the golden rule and that can be I mean you would think it's pretty crystal clear, but always explain what that looks like to you as the doctor when you're setting those. And then I challenge you guys as teams to what are some daily things that you can do that help achieve that? You know, so we're all rowing in the same direction. So give it a little bit of clarity, not just to find it, but explain what it means to you and share that part. Really, that comes from the heart. Your teams appreciate it and then teams, you know, let your docs know what you will do to make that live, you know? So that would be my advice. The Dental A Team (22:03) That's beautiful. Thank you. Thank you, Kristy. I hope that you guys loved this podcast today. I hope that you really listen to it and that you share it with the world. And I want to thank you for listening to us, for trusting us, for being here, for supporting us. Dental A Team is nothing without all of you. So thank you for being here. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. If you need help with anything or if you need help working out those goals or those definitions, we're here for you. And as always, drop us a five star review below. We'd love to hear from you guys and we love to know that this content matters. The Dental A Team (22:39) So till next time, we'll catch you later.…

Dental A Team Podcast

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#979: Signs You (Or Your Practice) Are Experiencing Burnout 19:31

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Have you noticed signs of apathy in your practice? Does your job feel insurmountable? Kiera talks about telltale signs of burnout, how to help people bounce back from burnout, and ways to avoid burning out in the first place. 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 welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I am so happy you're here. I'm so happy that you're spending your time with us, that you are truly here committed to making your practice, your patient experience, your team experience that much better, which ultimately impacts your life. It ultimately impacts your profitability and it ultimately impacts the success that you have in this world. This is one of the greatest opportunities for you to truly live your dream life, to truly have everything and more. And that's what I love and I'm so passionate about. And so today, I just wanted to talk about some telltale signs of burnout and what to do if you are a practice experiencing burnout or what to look for to avoid burnout. know burnout is one of these hot topics and I was talking to an office today and I thought, you know what? I need to podcast about that because offices feel alone. Offices feel like I'm the only one who's experiencing this. I'm the only one who feels this way. Like, gosh, I don't even know what to do. And so I feel like it's just a really... important topic that I'm super passionate about that I am excited. So today, it's going to be a quick tactical one of what to do for burnout. What does that look like? What are some symptoms and then what to do to help with that? Because I think all of us can be in that space at one time or another. And so just noticing being able to have it, I've done some other ones. There's been some other doctors that have been guests on here. But I realized that today when I was talking to this office, I realized, my gosh, this doctor is just struggling from burnout. And I don't think that they even realized that. And so just giving you some quick, like, these are some things to be aware of. But then in addition to that, I always love like, but what's the solution? How do I get out of this? Because burnout, think is a little bit of a buzzword. What are truly the steps out? So I'm really excited that you're here. If you're a part of the Dental A Team family, I'm so glad you're a part of it. I love our clients. We are a consulting company that works across the nation. I'm really trying to bring. dentists and team members together because I think it's so tricky when doctors are consulted but the team's not or the team's consulted and the doctor's not but getting both parties on the same page to where we can really truly thrive we can gain a lot of traction and momentum within our practice having the best team and patient experience because I honestly believe that building a dental practice should be easy building a practical building a practical and profitable practice should be easy so with Dental A Team that's what we do that's what we're here for we're the masters at team and and practice success. And really we've been there, we've done it, we've done it successfully many times and I hope to be able to help you in your practice. So today talking about burnout, this doctor called in and they were saying, Kiera, I need some help. I was like, all right, great, let's talk. And this doctor, what I started noticing was there was a lot of apathy. As they were talking, they just said, I know I should be doing this and I just don't. I know that I... Like these are some issues that I'm struggling with and I've just said it a lot of times and I've just kind of given up asking for it. Like when I have patients there, like I know I should be diagnosing this and not that I'm not diagnosing, I'm diagnosing, but maybe I'm just not presenting all of it because I honestly don't want to tell the patient like you've got seven crowns. So you know what? This one, I could watch it. I started hearing and I know some of you were like, my gosh, I don't want you to judge this office. Because guess what? hear this from a lot of practices and I'm not sitting here judging. I never sit here and think, wow, that doctor's crazy. I think, wow, that doctor is burnt out and we need to figure out why. Doctors at the end of their careers, they get this way too. Doctors when they are at different areas in their life, they get these things. And I really hope that today we come to this with love and empathy and no judgment and no judgment of yourself. and no judgment of these offices. I'm mixing and mashing a bunch of offices together so that way you can't figure out who I'm talking about because I hear this from so many practices. But it's apathy. It's saying like, gosh, I just feel like I can't find the energy. I'm tired of just asking for this to be done. It's the insurmountable to-do list. It's the, I think like as I just took that breath, I think that's how they feel. It's like I have this never ending to-do list. I don't quite know what I need to do. I'm tired. I've got things going. I know I could be doing better. Do I really want to? And it's just kind of like this swirl. I also notice when officers are really at a good burnout space, they swirl. They swirl a lot because honestly, I think that their mind is swirling and they're just like, I know I need to do this and I know I need to do that, but I'm so tired. Or gosh, like I just like, no matter how many times I like tried to take a step forward, I've got 10 steps back. And what I look for when I'm when I'm seeing a practice, the first thing I'm gonna ask when I have a doctor who's in this space, those are some telltale signs. And then after that, we just get to a workspace where we actually stop caring, where you don't wanna come work, dentistry is not fun for you. And so what I get excited about is like, when I get to catch a doctor before they get to that where they've lost the interest, they're not excited about it, they still have a little bit of that spark and sparkle and they're like, hey, I know I need some help and they reach out. That's like the prime spot. I love to catch them even before that, but hey, we can catch you at that spot. Fantastic. Because otherwise, like I said, you go into complete and total like shutdown and it's things. It's almost like the world loses its color. Food loses its taste. Things that you used to love. They just don't inspire you anymore. You start to detach. start to, it's hard to find the energy. It's hard to find the motivation. It's hard to get excited for things. You really are just sitting in this space of I feel like it's almost complete overwhelming. So your system is just naturally shutting down and it's like, all right, we're just gonna like put a, we're gonna put a blanket on that. Like it's a fire and we need to put the fire blanket on it and just like put everything to baseline zero. So we're not having highs, we're not having lows. We're just gonna settle. And I think when I look at practices like this, that's the part I don't like because you got into dentistry because you love it. And so when I find doctors like this, one of the first questions I'm going to ask is, do you have a great office manager or right hand? And a lot of times I will hear, and office managers, this is nothing on you, office managers, I hope if you're listening to this, you are picking up, that's why I do this podcast. So doctors and office managers can have conversations. You can talk about this. You can say, my gosh, like, hey, these things are things we need to talk about. And so with that, what I found is usually the office manager has been there for maybe a while, but the office manager is not truly managing. And so, What I like to highlight on this to these offices is like this doctor, they'll something like, Kiera, just, I know I need to hire this person, but I can't get the ads. And I'm like, that's what your office manager should be doing. They should be placing the ads. They should be interviewing. You can help with the compensation, but they should be bringing that to you. Like literally owner doctors. That's what you should be relying on your office manager for. And office managers, this is what you are supposed to be doing as an office manager. And I know there's no rule book for office managers. So a lot of times it's just. You didn't even know that this is part of your job description. So things like payroll, things like website, things like marketing, things like tracking our cases, things like figuring out new softwares in the practice, things like listening to podcasts. So kudos to all those office managers out there. Doctors, if you're office manager listens to the podcast, or if they haven't started, have them join us. It would be great. We try to talk about these things so you don't have to have the awkward conversation. We have it for you. But so many things that when I look at doctors lists, I'm like, well, high five, all of these things that you're doing for the most part actually should be delegated out to your office manager or your leadership team. Now again, pending upon the size of your practice, but the reality is doctors, you're an owner. And so your job is to do dentistry and be an owner and a CEO of your practice. That's what your job is. It's not to be the manager. And so oftentimes I find that the burnout for a lot of doctors comes because they don't have a strong office manager next to them. And even if... because a lot of people are like, Kiera, can't find an office manager or I don't want the office manager title in my practice. And I'm like, that's fine. So we can hire a personal assistant. We can hire an office manager. We can hire a front office lead. We can build you a leadership team. The point is you need more people to help run this ship because you are the one who's producing dentistry. And without you doing dentistry, the rest of these things aren't getting done. And so that's where you just feel this insurmountable. It's like the laundry got piled on top of you and there's no way to get this laundry off of you. And so what you do instead is you just fall asleep under the pile. That's called burnout. And so when I look at this, I'm like, fantastic, let's look at your team. And I'm not here and in our consulting, it is very clear that we do not terminate team members. We give them an opportunity to rise up because like I said, a lot of office managers don't even know this is what they should be doing. They don't even know how to do it. They don't know how to have the conversations. They don't know how to run the meetings. Doctors get so tired of trying to implement a system and then it falls off. They get tired of trying to like be like, broken record and just keep telling this team member, hey, I need you to do this. need you to do this. Doctors, it's not your world. It's not what you're there to do. It's not your job. Even as an owner, that's not your job. That's your manager and your leadership's opportunity. That's what they should be rising up to do. And so what I found that I really love is when we meet these offices, that's where I love coming in and being able to help out. Because what we do is we now get to help coach your office manager for you. We get to help say, Great, tell me everything on your to-do list. This is who in your practice should be doing this project. This is who should be able to take care of these. This is how we start tracking your numbers. This is how we help you look at your numbers to make decisions on who you can hire, on what your overhead and profitability should be. Because a lot of times the burnout also comes from not knowing your numbers, not knowing what systems to put into place, not knowing what your office manager should even be doing, not knowing what you can hold your team accountable for. And I think the hardest thing is I watch so many offices and so many doctors is you feel like you come out of dental school expected to know how to run a business as well. And we hear it all the time. We don't know how to run a business. We know we don't know how to, but no matter what, you're doctors. And so you think like, gosh, like I've got this doctor degree. I'm supposed to know how to do this. And so I feel like instead of stop, like stop thinking like that's what you are supposed to do. Let's come into reality of what you really do. So for doctors, what I really need from you is I need your vision. I need to know what life you want to be living. And I need to know, we're gonna need to know your numbers as well. So we're gonna need to get that with your CPA. You don't even have to give it to us. We can work with your CPA. But those are the main things. And then I need you to be a great producer. I need you to be great at diagnosing and I need you to be great at taking feedback on your case acceptance. I'm not here to be a dentist at all. You get a diagnose, but I am here to teach you how to get more patients to say yes. So you being open to that, fantastic. And then be the eyes and ears. If things aren't going well, tell me. Tell us as your consultant. how we can help you. But really doctors, that's your main thing. Set the vision, get us the numbers. Yes, you need to be good at spending your money. So like, let's make sure we don't go wild on that and then be a great producer and like, let us know if things aren't going well. You also have to be willing to communicate those things and letting us know what your dream life is. Because once we have that information, amazing. Now we get to take it to the team and now we get to figure out KPIs, tracking, teams, systems that need to go into place to get these things into play. And so what I like point out is Doctors, you're kind of like Walt Disney. Your job is to set the vision of what you want your practice to be. And then your team's like Roy Disney, and they're gonna go put this into place. We just need that information from you. So I hope that that gives some reprieve to these poor offices that just feel like they're under this laundry pile of, gosh, we have so many, like, I don't even know where the socks go anymore. I know I put them away for years, but like, you're just so inundated with so many things, trying to be a great dentist, trying to be on all the time. Doctors, your job is hard. You're doing dentistry, you're working in a finite space, you're trying to win patients over, you're diagnosing, you've got to make sure your team loves you. You work in very small proximity. And then on top of it, you've also got to do all these other things that realistically your manager should be doing for you and your team should be doing for you. And so being able to have those conversations of like, amazing, this is what my office manager should be doing and this is how they can do it. But I think doctors get so nervous because like, well, I don't know how to do this. How am supposed to tell them to do it? That's why I love being a consultant and a coach too, to office managers. we get to coach that office manager on how they can have these conversations, on how to track these numbers, on how to look at the business. Because guess what? Office managers have also never been taught this. Even if they come from other practices, it's like trickled down through the grapevine. And so working with so many practices, we're able to see this is what elite managers do. This is what basic managers do. This is what leadership teams do. This is what a very junior leadership team can do. And then we grow them into more advanced. So wherever your practice is, no matter where you are, if you're already there, helping them take on more tasks and duties and utilizing the numbers and really looking at the business as a business to make decisions that help you and really truly help you grow. But I really just hope that we've inspired doctors of these are some of the signs I see consistently. This is what you need next to you. And if you don't have that person, there's a great doctor that we work with that didn't have their right hand when we started with them. And we worked with them and it was a good like six to eight months before we were able to find this right hand. And it was interesting. I saw this doctor and they told me, said, Kiera, I'm so grateful for your guys's guidance because I didn't even realize what could be possible. I didn't know what it would feel like to have an office manager who actually was a true manager, not just by title alone. Like I didn't even know how to tell them what to do. And you were able to be their coach just as much as you were able to be my coach. You're able to help me see the numbers to make decisions. but you're able to help the manager have the uncomfortable conversations with team members. You're able to help them know how to put meetings into place of how to track KPIs and track numbers and get the whole team on board of how to present treatment plans and schedules and block schedules and all those things you hear about. Like you guys were actually able to teach my manager and you were able to be that resource for my manager when they didn't even know. And so really being able to partner in, I think it's just important for you to realize this is real life. for so many practices. This is what hundreds of offices are dealing with. And my heart goes out to you because you don't have to live like this. There are other options. You can actually go home at the end of the day and be with your family. You can actually have a team that looks at the numbers and makes decisions that you don't have to make all the decisions. You can have a team where your office manager holds them all accountable and you don't have to. You can have a team where they literally rise up. And the great news is teams want to rise up. Teams want to make you so proud. Teams want you to go home. I was talking to someone the other day about my personal life and they're like, Kiera, this is the best news ever. Like, this is what you've been working for. Now you get to go enjoy this life that you've worked so hard for. And hearing that, I just thought that's what your teams want for you doctors. They want you to be living this dream life. They want you to be home with your babies. They want you to be flourishing. They love you so much. And so realizing that there's another option if you want it. And so I just wanted to pop on of the solution is helping your team take on the responsibilities of what they can do and what they should be doing, giving them the tools and the resources, hoping to highlight a lot of the tasks that doctors, this is what you should be doing and this is what your manager and your leadership team should be doing. All those other things, supplies, ordering, budgets, all of that, those go to team members. Doctors, yes, we teach you how to look at the numbers so you can make sure that your business is profitable and you can make decisions from there, but we do that in tandem with your office manager if you want. I understand some people don't want to share all their numbers, but I will tell you having someone to shoulder this weight with you really is just going to be able to give you so much freedom and so much happiness. And so I felt like, man, I hear this all the time and maybe you don't realize that this is normal. Maybe you don't realize that these are signs that you're, you're headed towards burnout. Maybe you don't realize that this is the solution out of maybe you're sitting there and you're listening to this podcast at seven o'clock at night because you were hanging out at the practice because You had to check the charts and you had to check this and you had to check that. like, you got to make sure it's all set up. The answer is no, you don't. There's other team members and other people who should be that want to, that want to rally with you. They may not just even know what it needs to be. And you don't know. So guess what? We've got the blind leading the blind. Neither of you know what you're supposed to do. Neither of you know where you're supposed to go. So it feels really hard to get out from underneath that tunnel, but I'm going to come in and shine the lantern for you. I'm going to come show you there is light at the end of that tunnel, that there are ways out. that these things are possible for your practice and really truly taking it on, giving yourself that gift because running a practice doesn't have to be hard. Going through burnout doesn't have to be your reality. Being able to go home on time, be with your kiddos, be with your family, be with your friends, go and live your life, work as many days or as little days as you want, those are reality. And so knowing what that is, then we just work backwards. We get your team on board. Things that you love to do, fantastic. You can keep doing them. Things you don't like to do, fantastic. We take those off and we give that to someone else. And we train your team of who should be doing what and how they can be doing it and really empowering your team to take this on as well. So that resonates with you. Take it on. This is the time. Live that life. It doesn't have to be hard. And if we can help you in that, please reach out. I'd love to help you with your practice. I'd love to take a look at it. I'd love to do whatever we can to make sure that you are living your best life because your life is important. You are worth it. You don't need to be sitting there and stressed out, apathetic, loss of life. The world doesn't seem to have as much color as it did. You don't need to live there. Burnout's real. These problems are real and the solutions are also real. And so I'd love to chat with you. If that resonates with you, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com DM us on Instagram, dentalateam. We're happy to help you. And even if you're like, gosh, I just don't know, maybe I'm different, reach out because I promise you you're not so different. And there's a solution for you. And if I can give you the solution right away, easy, I will. And if we can work with your practice and your team, we're happy to do that too. But really, I want you to commit to yourself that you deserve to live the best life and that you are going to live your best life and that you aren't going to deal with burnout any longer. And you're not going to even get yourself to that line if you're not there yet, but you're truly going to empower your team to be the incredible team that they are meant to be and that you are worthy of that and that your team is worthy of that. Guys, I just love you and I wish I could give you a giant hug and a high five and tell you you're doing an incredible job because you are. Reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com Give yourself a huge hug. Give yourself a high five. You're doing better than you think you are. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.…

Dental A Team Podcast

1
#978: Eco-Friendly Methods To Establish Today 21:39

4 weeks21:39

21:39

Tiff and Dana walk through different dental departments and share ideas many practices have used to keep things green, including reconsidering which items actually need to be disposable, reducing paper, reusing plastic, 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 (00:02) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. I'm so excited to be here with you again. You know that I am just always so happy to bring Dana on the set with us and be here with you. We love sharing our tips. We love sharing our tricks. We love sharing our, I don't know, workout gear with you and all of the pieces and just sharing our lives with you. So we are both so excited to be here today. Dana, thank you for always being on board, for hopping on, for jumping in on any conversation. I know I spin you. and throw you in some directions that you're not always expecting. So thank you for keeping up with me and knowing how to roll with the punches. How are you on this fine, fine afternoon? Dana (00:42) Doing good. I'm excited to be here. You know you're right. You keep me on my toes. I never really know what you're going to throw at me, but I leave with a smile on my face and having loved it. So I'm excited to be here too. The Dental A Team (00:48) That's true. Perfect. And now clients and non-clients and listeners here, you guys know that this is truly unscripted from our brains. We come up with topics, but we do riff here and we really pick each other's brains and really come up with solutions for things just the same as we do on your coaching calls. So when you guys bring stuff like this to us clients, this is how we roll. And for anyone who is wondering, We do have conversations like this outside of the podcast world as well, as consultants are constantly talking to one another about things that we're seeing in practices, things we're experiencing when I need something, maybe I don't have an answer for it. Cause you guys, I know this is going to sound crazy and wild, but we do not know everything. I know it's a shocker. It's a shocker, but combined between all of us, we've got it pretty well handled. So if there's something I don't know, or have questions on, I definitely, definitely throw it to my ladies and get those answers for you guys. So rest assured everyone, we're constantly collaborating just like we tell you to collaborate and we're constantly growing and learning ourselves. So Dana, thanks for being one of those beautiful ladies behind the scenes for me on so many occasions and I'm excited for today's topic. I... I just barely prepped you with it, but it sounds like you've recently had a conversation like this with a practice and I'm excited for it. So think it's really something that has been coming around the dental scene for probably the past 10 or more even years, but really strong recently. listeners, we're going to talk today on some eco-friendly dental practice methods. And that doesn't just mean dentistry, but really a lot of the products and just what are we doing? new out there right now to really go green and a lot of the practices and Dana with your conversation that you've just had with your practice recently I know you've got a lot of hot tips and tricks and there are other practices out there we both talked to as well but what do you have for us today on on that like what eco-friendly things did you guys chat about on that call? Dana (03:04) Yeah, and I think that it is just coming up with ways any ways that we can reuse, reduce and recycle things right When it comes to eco friendly offices And the biggest thing in dentistry is our disposables, right? So what are the things that we have that are disposables? Can we find a recyclable option? Or that we can reduce the number of disposable items that we're using or eliminate them altogether if it is, you know, The Dental A Team (03:10) Yeah. Dana (03:31) I'm all about sanitation, infection control, all of those things. But I think COVID put us in a little bit of like a redundancy mode in some of those areas. And so I feel like in the last 4 years, our disposables have gone up a ton. And our infection control, while those standards are great, I think even above and beyond what is really needed. And so I think it's just finding ways to navigate those things. And we tend to like put plastic over everything and just use things that aren't super eco-friendly to keep like sanitization standards. And so we don't want to give up on those things, but there are a lot of new products and new technologies and things that we can use that aren't necessarily disposable like we're so used to them being. The Dental A Team (04:19) Yeah. Yeah, I love all of that. I totally agree with you and I hope everyone got the 90s child reference, the late 80s 90s child reference there, reduced, recycle. If everyone could see the commercial and hear the song, I would be even happier right now. I think it needs to come back. I agree. I do love the fact that you mentioned the disposable pieces and like the plastics on everything. And it's funny because I've Dana (04:32) Did you love it? The Dental A Team (04:50) I've done it myself and I've watched people put the plastics on and then take the plastics off and then like we're scrubbing everything still and so it's like gosh that's that redundancy space that is it necessary and is it always necessary for every appointment too? know, because my implant placement appointment or extraction or perio surgery or SRP even is going to be a little messier, we'll say. It's going to look a little different than my limited exam with a PA where I'm not actually infiltrating any tooth structure whatsoever and everything's very clean. So are we taking that into consideration too, which I think leads into exactly where you said like, are we taking inventory of the disposables that we're using? Because do we need to to do we need to have disposable air water syringes? Number one, is that completely necessary? And do we need it on both air waters for the limited exam because they're both gonna be removed likely and tossed out after that appointment, especially if you've got. sterile tech or another dental assistant or anybody coming into the room because they don't know what you touched and so they're going to dispose of anything that's disposable. So I think just taking into consideration too what the next appointment is. what's actually necessary and only putting out the things that are necessary. for doctors listening, this definitely is an overhead situation. It's going to help supply cost immensely. But for everyone who's listening, this is a reduce, reuse, recycle situation of we've got to save the dang planet, you guys. We've got to do what we can to really make sure that we're not filling those landfills with unnecessary debris and that we're really doing the best that we can for the people that are. the people that are here. I think I still see Dana when I go in offices, I still see, you know, those dental assistants running around there. And I was this person, they just grabbed, you know, we've got a filling coming up and I just grab a stack of two by two by two. So just grab a stack or the hygienist, right? Just grab a stack instead of like, how many do I actually need? And my doctor, realistically, we only need two. If I'm cleaning off your instrument, you're passing it, you know, you, you pack the composite in there and I need to clean the instrument off before you pack more composite. it's not going to take this whole stack. I'm never using all of those. And if I do need more, then I can get more. It's available. And same with hygiene, right? When you're going through and scaling, like you don't need a massive stack in most cases. You probably need two to four, I would assume, to really keep your instruments clean. So even just as simple as that. Now, Dana, I... On the same subject, right, eco-friendly, what are you seeing practices do within the front office with paper? I know paper's always been a big thing. And then COVID happened. And like, I think we got paper crazy again, which was the exact opposite of what I thought would happen, but we got paper crazy again. And what are you seeing offices do now to try to combat that and switch things back around? Dana (07:58) Yeah, and I think it is. just going back to making sure that they're doing medical histories, like sending those to patients ahead of time and doing them electronically, doing their consents electronically when patients walk in, you know, using the iPads for new patient information, for treatment planning and presenting. So there's a lot of ways and not only, think that a lot of this is there's kind of like another benefit to it, right? We can switch everything to electronic, which is also going to save us a fair amount of time. I was just in a practice recently and they were like, Hey, we're clocking a lot of overtime. And I'm like, front office, like, what are we doing with our overtime? And I'm not kidding you. They looked at me and said, well, we spend about two hours at the end of the day shredding. And I was just like, wait, what? So not only right, are we being eco-friendly by eliminating paperwork, we're truly eliminating work from our team two hours every day spent on shredding. The Dental A Team (08:38) Yeah, I knew you were going to say that. I had an office last week that said the same thing. Dana (08:54) then we're paying a shredding company to come and take our shreddables too. So it's like you said, it helps with supply costs and it helps with costs and it truly also buys us back time while also serving the environment and being really, you know, as eco-friendly in those instances as possible. The Dental A Team (08:57) Yeah. Totally, totally agree. I literally had an office just, I think it was two weeks ago now, Trish and I went to an office and they had a massive shred pile and I was like, what are we shredding? Like, what do we have to shred if we're getting insurance verifications, like download it on the PC and then upload it into the document center, like all these different spaces. So being efficient and being innovative is gonna be huge. How can we reduce the amount of paper that we're using, the amount of ink that we're using, because those ink cartridges, they gotta be thrown. away somewhere and they have to be picked up like it's this whole process just for ink cartridges. One space I know I work with a lot of teams on is route slips because yes yes yes yes to route slips. I want route slips but it doesn't mean it has to be individually printed every time. I have plenty of practices that do that and prefer it. I'm totally fine with it. I don't care what you guys decide to do but I have a lot of practices actually that pre-print they'll print what they want a route slip to look like and then laminate it and they fill that out per patient. And so the night before or... day of whatever, they fill these route slips out just the same as they would have printed them and then they're setting them on the counter. Most of the time it's like patient name, type of appointment and any balance that they might have. And then the back office is then filling out that NDTR space, the next visit date, time, re-care. And so there's really not a whole lot of extra that you need on your route slip. They should be pretty simple. If you've got, I have a lot of practices that have a lot of checklists and check systems on their route slips. and I'm totally fine if you want them there. Again, I don't have a huge preference, but they're not necessary. I do think if you need an appointment check system, then maybe make a separate sheet that's laminated per appointment that the dental assistant or hygienist can keep and check off for that appointment, especially if you're gonna do the laminated version so the front office doesn't feel like they're filling a ton out as well. route slips, I agree, any kind of forms or documents that you can automate and make them put them online, make sure all of your stuff is on your website, make sure that the forms are being texted and emailed to your patients prior like this is 2025. remember, gosh, I remember way back in like, how to be like 2009 2010. My doctor that I worked for was like one of the first doctors to he was always he's very innovative. So he's one of the doctors that's always got the next best tech thing. And I remember way back in 2009, 2010, he came to me and he was like, we're doing a kiosk, Dent, a Dentrix has a kiosk, and everyone's going to check in on this little computer on this little desk in the corner. And it's going to automatically put the paperwork into our system. And it's going to be amazing. And I was like, no, it's not. And it was so clunky, and it was so hard, and so difficult. So to my men and women of 2025 in the dental industry. If you didn't get to experience the pains of getting to where we are today, and you think today's paperwork is difficult, I have stories to tell you. It was ugly. It was so hard. Everyone hated it. It never transferred. It never uploaded correctly. Patients hated it. It was embarrassing. Oh my gosh, the day and age we live in today of automation just blows my mind. So every time Dana (12:23) Thanks The Dental A Team (12:37) I walk into a practice and they're like, it's too hard. I'm like, let me tell you and we get it done. So just go get it done guys. Dana, do you remember that? Were you one of those offices? Dana (12:47) yeah. Yep. Yeah. And you know, I I'm all about like being on top of tech and being but sometimes I'm like, let's let it work its kinks out. Let's let it work its kinks out before we're like, maybe man number one on it. The Dental A Team (12:53) Yes. Yes. Literally, think yeah, I think that the the rep just got to him and we were like one of the first I swear and I was like, oh for the love doctor and I'm like 20, you know 20 maybe 23 I guess back 23 24 back then but I'm just like baby I felt like like I don't know how to do this. Like are you kidding me? barely I I was using dial-up in high school, okay? This kiosk, less than 10 years later, is blowing my mind. I can't, I can't with this kiosk, but today it's much different. So there's everyone, in case anyone wanted to know my age or how much of a... Grandma, I am when it comes to tech, there's your answers. Dial up and kiosks and it was a pain and today I finally feel confident today with Canva and I've been working on that for I feel like two years. So here we are, here we are. But and then. Dana (13:54) Yeah. The Dental A Team (13:57) On the space of eco-friendly, I think those are really, really fantastic ways. I've also heard, I don't have all the stats and the answers on it, but I do know that there's been a lot of research by a lot of doctors on different like vacuum systems for the suctions and different, I know there's a dry and a wet and one or the other, right? They both have their pros and their cons, but making sure those two, if you do find yourself in a situation where you need to replace your system, I know I've got a doctor that's working on that right now. actually making sure you do your due diligence and research on that because there is a way per the stats at least to save a ton of water with the dry system and so I know even down to those pieces or a lot of the new data you might even know a lot of the more stats or whatever but a lot of the new compressors and things are more energy efficient and lasting longer. It's kind of like the Energizer Bunny, like the batteries just keep getting better. So I know a lot of those spaces as well, and the hand pieces, electric, you know, motorized and all those different spaces. So there's a ton there. And Dana, what about for, I think hygiene department wise for you, what about the Like the giveaway bags, all of those pieces, like what are you seeing practices do there? Dana (15:17) Yeah, I've had a lot of offices either nix the bags all together and just kind of like bundle them or switch to like a paper bag versus a plastic bag. Also to there are a ton of eco friendly home care products coming out and I'm not advocating for them. I think do your research, make sure they meet your standards for your patient. But there's, know, bamboo toothbrushes, there are now recyclable toothpaste containers and you can be a recycling center for them. There are also toothpaste tablets that like you just refill you can just get a sachet. The Dental A Team (15:25) Yeah. That's cool. Dana (15:46) fancy words, Hachet, of the little tablets and you put them in your plastic container. So you just reuse that plastic container over and over again. So there's all kinds of eco-friendly home care products too that you can consider switching to. Just reduce waste, you know, from a patient perspective too. So I think all of those things are worth taking a look at. The Dental A Team (15:46) I do like that. Dana (16:08) Again, making sure as long as they meet the standards of your office and what you want your patient to utilize them for, if you can opt for an eco-friendly version and it's something that you're wanting to incorporate more of, I say go for it. The Dental A Team (16:20) Yeah, I love the toothpaste that you mentioned. know I've seen one of the hygienists that's been in my life. does a lot of, she just does a lot of this stuff and she does a lot of posting about it. And she posts the powder that comes in the little jar, right? Like, gosh, that's brilliant because you like the sachet, right? You're refilling that jar. And so it's a glass jar that you're refilling with the powder and you're just getting your toothbrush wet, dipping it in the powder and then brushing your teeth. And you just think about how many Dana (16:33) Mm-hmm. The Dental A Team (16:50) tubes of toothpaste run through your household, just your one household, how many tubes of toothpaste are thrown away on average, right? Probably somewhere between two to six a year, I can imagine, right? At least two to six a year for every household. If you can teach your patients and educate your patients about products like that, that do work, do your research, right? I don't know which product was, I did not do the research on it, right? I did not buy it, I will do more research, but like do your research like Dana said and advocate for something you believe in, but make sure you're educating your patients too. So maybe you've got those things on hand at the dental practice, maybe those companies have disposable ones that you can give out. Dana (17:18) you The Dental A Team (17:38) And I've had a lot of practices too that have done away with like the bags and really they each time just ask the patient like, hey, do you use the disposable toothbrush? A lot of our patients, you guys, we've sold them electric toothbrushes. So a lot of our patients aren't using disposable toothbrushes. And I can tell you, most of the time those disposable toothbrushes are used for the guest bathroom for when somebody comes and forgot their toothbrush, right? That's what I did with them. That's what I do with them. That's where they are. Dana (17:50) That's for sure. The Dental A Team (18:06) So making sure we're asking those questions and only giving those things out as necessary because eventually they do go into the landfills and all those spaces. So take a look, look at what you can do, how you can make things a little better. Like can we install, I know in the house I'm like use the fans guys, like don't turn the AC on yet. I know it's. 96 degrees today. I hear you. I'm in Phoenix. I get it. But I'm like, none of the fans in the household are on and we're cranking the AC. Come on, like how can we be how can we be more economic and eco friendly in every aspect. So I think there's a lot of space in it for the dental in the dental practice. And then there's a lot of space for us to really educate our patients on how they can carry that through into their own homes. Yeah, Dana. What do you think, I'm gonna do this to you again, what do you think are some good actionable items, especially because you just chatted with your own practice that you consult, what do you think are some good action items, some easy things that they can consider either watching or switching out or whatever that they can take away from today's chat? Dana (19:10) Yeah, I think first thing is just review your disposables, right? Is it necessary to use all of the things that you use? And is there there, you know, one that you can sterilize or you can reuse alternative? Make sure we're looking at just paper waste, right? How much have we shifted or can we shift electronically? It'll just help with efficiency too. So this is a win win on both sides. So take a look at paper use in the practice and then do some research on some eco-friendly products and see if your office is a good fit for them. The Dental A Team (19:39) I love it. I love it. Thank you, Dana. Thank you for taking this adventure with me today. I was so happy to hear that you had just had this conversation with a practice recently, so that makes it very simple. So thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you, everyone here for listening. As always, we appreciate, value you. We are here for all of the things and we're here to support you. So drop us a five-star review. Always let us know if there's any topic you wish that we would talk about. Dana and I will get right on it. I promise you that. We need the ideas, you guys. So thank you. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and we'll catch you next time.…

Dental A Team Podcast

1
#977: Passive Income Ideas to Scratch Your Outside-Dentistry Itch 22:36

5 weeks22:36

22:36

Kiera and Dana chat about ways dentists can go “beyond the chair” with passive income streams, including real estate, investments, speaking gigs, 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 (00:00.802) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today, man, it's been way too long. I have the one and only Dana from our team. If you've known her, if you're here as like an OG, you know Dana from Donuts with Dana. Gosh, Dana, that's like way back in the archives. But if you're newer, you may have heard her as Dainey. I don't know if she loves that one. And then Dana, what was the one that I heard? I think it was like Dynamite Dana was the last one that I heard come through for you. So those are kind of when you're like morphing over time, but Which one do you prefer, Dana? And welcome to the show. Dana (00:32.799) I I think the OG of donuts with Dana is probably the one that like will continue to stick. Kiera Dent (00:39.342) It's true. A lot of people like even at events and they see you, they're like, oh my gosh, it's donuts with Dana, which is so fun and so cute, but super happy to have you. Welcome to the show today. So grateful. You actually brought up a really interesting topic that I thought it'd be fun for us to dive into from a lot of your clients that you've been talking to of like, what are maybe some passive income ideas for dentists beyond the chair? Now let's just clarify. This does not mean that you have to actually like give up dentistry that you're not working, but I think we have a lot of entrepreneurial minded dentists that are just starting to like get creative, want some ideas. So today, Dana and I are here to like pick your interests, just how you start thinking in different ideas. But Dana, give some more background. know this came from a lot of your clients. What are some of the things you've been seeing and hearing? Dana (01:26.34) Yeah, I do think that you're right. I think that if you are a business owner, right, if you're a practice owner, that just naturally comes to you. And I think that people that own businesses and people that have gone and graduated dental school and become leaders are just always looking for opportunity too. I think it's just a mindset thing in that group of people. So it's come up just on calls, like, what can I do? What are some things that I can do outside of the chair? And some interesting things that some of even my clients do that I thought would be really fun to share, to help brainstorm and give some ideas. Kiera Dent (02:02.542) I love it. I love a good brainstorm session like this, Dana. So this is gonna be a little different podcast style for all of you coming on. Today it's more of a rift. It's more of a like, oh gosh, I think these are like a good think tank. My husband and I, we go hot tubbing and we call it our like tub talk. So it's not Ted talk, it's tub talk because that's where a lot of our best ideas come. today is a, it's donuts with Dana and Kiera. It's like dabbling in dentistry. Like, but I want it to be better than like, dabbling outside of dentistry, maybe that's what it will have this brainstorm such as, because I agree with you, Dana, and I also think sharing some ideas that some of our clients do, obviously we mash and mix, so you can't really figure out who we're talking about, because I like to keep that private and confidential for them. But I think like, again, let's spur some ideas. So Dana, I've got some ideas, I know you have some, but let's take it on of what are some of the things that dentists can do for this passive income? But wait, before we go there, I also feel like it's important to say why. Dana, you mentioned about like a lot of these offices, these dentists want something beyond just dentistry. I also think for me, it becomes an insurance policy. Like dentist, if these little hands right here, if they break, well, that's your livelihood. So I do think for some dentists having passive revenue, passive income, coming through generating different ideas means you're not as dependent upon your hands, but more able to do that out of like desire rather than necessity. So I think it's a good morphing and it doesn't have as much stress and pressure from what I've seen from doctors that do it. But again, those are maybe just a few ideas within our dabbling in outside of dentistry talk today. Dana (03:42.022) Yeah, I think it's an exciting one and I will usually always preface the conversation with like make sure you have a good financial advisor too because some of the things is Make sure that the money you're currently making can also potentially make you money. So just really connecting with a strong financial advisor so that you can maximize the money that's coming into you from your practice, whether it's in investments, whether It's in bonds, anything like that. Connect with a strong financial advisor and they can help walk you through any of these ideas we roll out today in our talk that just helps them make better decisions. Kiera Dent (04:19.886) Couldn't agree with you more because also it's fun when you start to make these extra passive income ones Don't forget depending upon how it's set up what it's structured what it is Well, this could also incur a higher tax bill for you. I'm never opposed to you made more money no, I've got more tax But if you don't plan and prepare for it then instantly that can become a cash flow crunch for you end of year So agreed and with all things we are not financial advisors. We are not here to give you legal counsel We're not here to give you financial counsel. We're just here to riff with you And then you need to make sure that you take this on and get the appropriate advice for your specific needs because truth be told, it varies from client to client, state to state, location to location, and scenario to scenario. So what I do and what works for me, what Dana does, they're not the same, but again, today's a fun riff. So Dana, let's kick it off with what are some of these ideas that are brewing that you've heard? Dana (05:06.222) Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think real estate is definitely something that a lot of dentists look at as like a more of a passive. I It depends on how passive you want it to be versus how active you want it to be as far as a supplementary income. So I think real estate is one. I think silent business partner in a business that is of interest. I mean, we have a mutual client who I think is in real estate and maybe even a farm. So there's those things. Kiera Dent (05:35.738) huh, true, it's true. Dana (05:39.352) and I've got another office where she is a spokesperson for a pretty big oral health company. So she does podcasts for them. She writes articles for them. She speaks at some of the conventions that they are at. I have heard of a dentist who created webinar series on a procedure that he felt like he was really strong in. And so I just feel like sometimes it just takes thinking outside the box, thinking about where your passions are, thinking about what you might enjoy spending your time if it's more of an active pursuit. So I think that there's endless ideas really. Kiera Dent (06:20.226) Mm-hmm agreed and I think like let's dig a little into real estate. Let's talk about this a little more I am no real estate professional on this there's different pieces, but we'll dabble a little bit venture out into that just so you can hear a few things because I am very passionate about real estate and I'm very intrigued by how to it started because I met some people at Tony Robbins like surprise surprise started chatting with them and I started meeting a doctor community surprise surprise because I wanted my husband to look for ways to not have to be always working at the hospital. I think hospitals are a little more grueling than dentistry, not as forgiving. And literally there was no way for my husband to get out of it. And I thought, well, shoot, we don't have kids. I wanna travel. But you're my travel buddy and you're always at work. So I started meeting these people and we started talking. And something I really was impressed by was they actually started talking about how... Like as doctors and dentists, we have it a little bit different. You don't have as captive an income as say a lot of medical professionals do. My husband, there was no way for him to make more money. Unlike in dentistry, you produce more, you're able to create more. And so what they do is there's actually a thing called rep status where you can actually, there's a couple different ways to do it. And again, I'm no guru on this. It's just giving you a couple of ideas to look at. But if you get rep status, so a lot of times people will have their spouse. become the rep status. So for example, in my situation, let's say I didn't work at dental team, let's say I had a lesser job right now, I would not be the right candidate for this relationship. But Jason, he's working at the hospital. I'm a spouse, I'm staying at home with the kids, or I'm working maybe only part time, I have more hours. What we can actually do is I can take on rep status, so real estate professional status. And what I can actually do is I can offset with deductions within our real estate portfolio, all of Jason's tax within his W-2. So it's a really good way for you to actually make more on a W-2 by offsetting. Now there's a secondary loophole on there for short-term real estate where you can be full-time working, but you can actually get short-term real estate in there and you can actually offset again through rep status. Now rep status are, there's like a lot of rules. So go read up on it, go talk to your financial advisor, go talk to your CPAs about how you get this rep status and see if it qualifies for you because like this is something my husband and I have looked into exponentially to figure out, hey, Kiera Dent (08:38.68) How could we offset this? Because if I can keep the taxes that I'm paying from our W-2, is there possibly a way that we could reinvest it? So now maybe you wanna do it, maybe you don't. There's also ways if you don't wanna be that involved and take that on, or you don't have a spouse or a partner that can help you with it, then other ways that you can do it are actually through syndications or being like Dana was mentioning of being a lesser buyer into it, where basically you just put money in. Those ones, they're a dime a dozen. There's a ton of them. And so usually the best deals are found through networking. So if you're interested, odds are your financial advisor probably knows someone. I know there's quite a few dental groups. I will put some asterisks around that bet. Some of the dental groups that I heard, I will not mention names. There are some dental groups that were doing investments that actually a lot of dentists lost a lot of money on. So just make sure with any investment, guess what? It's risk. We're like high five. And the best advice I was ever given on investments was same thing with like loaning money to people. Once that money is gone, I kiss it goodbye. Yes, I hope it comes back, but I have to be okay losing that money and it never coming back to me. So I think that there's other ways, but also let's not forget like investments, like putting money and maximize like for me, I utilize taxes and savings on the company. Those go into high yield savings accounts. I am still having true passive income off of those investments. They're not invested. They're just sitting there. I have to keep the money anyway. Why not have that? come back to me and some returns that way too. But I think those are some fun ways to look into real estate in some different zones, which again, I didn't even realize it realize and my brother didn't realize and several people I've talked to about this real estate professional status that you can achieve that will truly offset those W-2 taxes. So looking into that might be a fun way for you to see it. I am one who I know I'm not going to be getting the phone call in the middle of the night. I'm not going to be going doing the plumbing. Jason, he built custom homes. He still doesn't want to do it. We might do short-term rentals. And I was like, well, what are you going to do with the freaking snow, Jay? He was like, don't worry, Kiera, it will be an upfront cost, but we're putting heated driveways in. I'm never going to have to shovel them ever. No liability on us. just looking, and I know there's some really fun things, again, depending upon your area, but you can actually pick up some short-term rentals. Again, you've got to look at the areas. You've got to look at the zoning, but there's a lot of small houses that are like kit houses that are 20 grand, 30 grand, 40 grand. They literally come as a kit. You just need to... Kiera Dent (10:59.358) slab it and make sure that there's sewer and water to it. But those who can then rent out is like really cool Airbnbs too. Now Airbnb is hot topic right now. I don't know how much people are following it, but there are a lot of places that have been zoned for Airbnbs. Like we're even talking Dallas. I'm familiar with this because I live by Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe, a lot of those places were zoned for short-term rentals. And then after being purchased, so people have had these for years, they're actually being rezoned into residential, which I think is totally shady. There's opinions on both sides of this of like, yes, but we need housing. And I'm like, yes, but they bought it. But again, it is another investment. So it's not an always guarantee. But Dana, I just went on a real estate rant. Any thoughts that you've got on that? Because I agree. think real estate is usually where a lot of people do venture in. I mean, there's storage units, there's short term rentals. Well, excuse me. There's like farms. There's other things you can get into a lot of these pieces. But again, Be careful, do your homework and realize that money once it's gone, it's gone. Like hopefully it comes back to you, but maybe a few ideas in that realm too. Dana, thoughts, cause I really went on a rant on rep status. Dana (12:05.72) No, I love it. I think I learned something too during this podcast, which is awesome. And I agree with you. I think it just comes down to doing your research, knowing how much time you want to invest in something, knowing how much work you want to invest in something. And also too, how much money do you want wrapped up in things like that? And so I love that walkthrough of it. Kiera Dent (12:25.664) And Dana, as you said that, I also was thinking about Ryan Isaac with Dennis Advisors. He's my financial advisor and he reminds me that like really the biggest way to make wealth are independent businesses, real estate, and then like private equity and venture things where like you're going into venture capitalism. And so I also want to highlight while yes, we're talking about these getting outside of the chair, never forget that your business is your greatest asset in a lot of ways too. Now. For me as a business owner, I sometimes love all my eggs in my own basket. Other times I absolutely hate that my eggs are all in my own basket. So, but never forget that sometimes even investing like hiring an associate in your practice or expanding what you're able to do in your practice or expanding your hours or opening up more chairs, that's also a way where you can get, I mean, truly, I'm not trying to like sound like unreasonable. That's passive income. You have someone working for you. I get that you have to still own the business. You still have the liability on it. So it's not as passive as say a syndication, but you have somebody literally in your practice that's producing for you that they may be taking 30, 35%. Yes, you still have the additional overhead of your team, but that is passive in a lot of ways too. So I really want to highlight like, don't forget the greatest asset is your business, but you might want to have an insurance policy around that where you have other revenue streams, not just dependent upon the practice. Dana. thoughts on that because I think people forget that their businesses are an asset as well. Dana (13:52.536) Yeah, I agree with you. you know what, too, I think that sometimes I've seen like even just getting creative with your space, right? There's offices that are doing dental assisting schools within their practices. I've got a couple offices where they've got myofunctional therapists coming in and they're renting space and they're using operatories that they're not ready to build out yet. So even if you have space within your practice, what can you do with that that can generate some passive income? And I love, like you said, like it is your number one investment and probably the easiest, simplest way for you to continue to grow and expand your portfolio is growing and expanding your practice. Kiera Dent (14:28.238) And Dana, as you said that it reminded me, I have a friend who's a dermatologist up in New York. This woman was smart. There's a business that's doing it and I wish they were doing it a smidgey better. I've thought about doing it. But what they're actually doing is they're like renting out professional spaces to other professionals. So she's a dermatologist. She's only there three days a week and she literally rents her space out to like an optometrist or something. Like it's literally like someone within the healthcare field. She's like, here, I get paid to have my space. by someone else coming and using it. So also maybe can you moonlight your practice? Who could come in? Like I love these had myel functional. I've seen some offices where they have a spa within like eyebrows, microblading, facials, like literally you don't even have to that as a service within your practice. It's just like one little nook, one little space or when you're not there after hours, obviously check your liability insurance with your building space. But I have seen a lot of offices doing that as well. Like I think that that's so clever because I'm like, I already have this practice. I've already paid for it. And now I get to just have basically a renter within my space in a different zone. I love the dental assistant program. feel like it's a win-win. You're giving to the community. You're also able to cherry pick your best dental assistants. Like so many cool things for you to be able to do within your space. And some offices even have built like really cool lecture spaces and then they build a dental community and do study clubs within their area. they get paid to host it at their location as well. You don't even have to be there. You can just have the space that somebody rents out from you. And hey, perk is you get all these these benefits of listening to these great speakers come in. We've done that in like several areas. We've spoken at those groups. I think it's a I think you're right. Like what do you have? What can you do? Jason and I love like we literally love in our tub talks to sit there and think of ways to make money. I will tell you door dashing is not my number one best idea. We did try it. I was, I didn't realize like how hard it is to make money. Like it like humbled me a lot. But like there's so many little ways that you can actually do stuff outside. Like look at your home office, could you rent out spaces? Like there's just so many crazy cool things that we're able to do. I think you can create a lot of income in a lot of ways if you're creative with it. I also love the dental assistant one because you can have a dental assistant make more money by running the program for you. So you're getting the benefits, the assistant's able to grow and you're coming like Kiera Dent (16:51.508) wins all the way around, again, depending upon your state, because there are laws around it. But gosh, like I get nerdy on this type of stuff because it's fun to think outside the box for sure. So Dana, talk to me about speaking gigs, because I'm sure people are like, how do you get into that? How do these people get into this? Like writing webinars, becoming a keynote speaker, becoming an expert, writing blogs, because I think a lot of people have passion for that. But how do you actually do that and get into that? Dana (17:16.826) Yeah, and I think it comes down to the same thing that you said about real estate is networking, right? Going to conventions, starting by even writing things, right? And then and maybe speaking on a podcast, right? And then maybe writing a peer reviewed journal article, and then just growing those things, networking, reaching out and letting people know right? Companies that are a part of whatever you want to speak about letting them know that you know, you are experienced in that, that whatever it is topic. And that you are available to speak I've had it I had one doctor that like just video like did a video presentation and sent it out to conventions and to people in that industry and Other office or other dentists that just started out small started out with simple articles started out just with networking letting companies and and Areas know that they were available Kiera Dent (18:12.782) brilliant and Dana as you said that I do agree like get on people's podcasts I can tell you how many clients have had like hey Keira I have this great idea of like selling charts or have this great idea that I'm super passionate about how to make composite crowns you guys I don't do any of that that's not stuff that I do I am NOT a clinician so we are a great podcast for you to get it then you say I've been like I've been on this podcast I've spoken to this place I love like just being a little scrappy there's several people that do things like this I also think if you're really passionate about something Put it on your Instagram too. You can start to showcase your work. I know some people have become pretty popular on social media by doing cosmetic dentistry, by doing composite veneers in certain ways. like, I also think don't sell yourself short. There's probably some cool things that you do. And Dana, I'm just going to throw another idea because I forgot. I do have a client that does this. They are an expert witness. I want someone else to do it. Someone else go become an expert witness. Or if you are an expert witness, I want you to talk to me because I to put you on the podcast. Like you can get on with me. but an expert witness is one, like I literally have a client and they tell me like, all right, Kara, gotta go meet with this person. And they make a truckload of money by being an expert witness as a dentist in like crimes. And I told my husband, was like, go be an expert witness in pharmacy. And he's like, I'm not doing that. I don't wanna get close. Like that creeps me out. But I'm just gonna throw, that's another random idea out there that I think again. I'm hoping someone on the podcast is an expert witness. Please, I want to podcast with you. I want to hear your stories, your ventures. And for all of you listening, if you are someone who does real estate really, really well and you figured out the rep status or, I want someone who's not like dabbled in it, I want you to be a freaking expert on this. Like you've done at least a couple of things in it, or you're a speaker at locations where you're getting paid for that as a side gig, or you have a dental assistant program within your practice. I want you to reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com because I'd love to get you on the podcast. think sharing our knowledge, sharing with each other, I think it's freaking fun. And I think like, Hey, let's all rise each other up because guess what? You're probably not going to be a forensic witness at the exact same space everyone else is like, they need tons of those people. So anyway, Dana, this was a fun rift for me. Thanks for, thanks for rifting with me. Any last thoughts you've got as we wrap up. Dana (20:24.9) I think just get creative, right? Find, figure out if there's something that you're passionate about. Figure it out if you have space for something. Figure out what it is that you really want to spend maybe some extra time doing. And there's definitely ideas that fall around it. Kiera Dent (20:39.596) I love it. Dana, thanks for bringing this brilliant idea. Thanks for doing dabbling outside of dentistry with me today. Dabbling outside of dentistry with Dana today. Thank you for that. It was always a good time. And for all of you listening, this is what we love to do. We love to help dentists get the freedom to be able to have the creative space to think outside of just their day in day out. So giving them the ability to build their practice, build their leadership teams, be able to create. So that way you're able to think outside and also to help offices think in these ways and get them connected to people. that are resources. if this is your world, or you're like, Hey, I'd love to have a little more mind space out there. I'd love to have less stress on my practice and more creative space. Reach out. That's what we're experts at. We're helping to help you and your team. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. Catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.…

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