Word Most Missing In Dentistry : Follow-Up

Every profession has their axe to grind, and dental consultants are absolutely no different. When we gather with our peers, the discussion always gets around to the biggest difficulty we have in performing our jobs – getting our clients to follow up.

E-mailing dentists is different from any other business. Some don’t believe email is ever going to catch on – others check their messages once a month – many fill up their entire ‘in box’ to the point messages get bounced back stating the box is full. We have been asked to print and fax emails, and documents sent by email get edited by fax and sent back. One spread sheet this morning had 30 separate items on it. Someone has redone the entire list twice in two days by hand, and then scanned the hen scratch and emailed it…

How much does it cost, Doc?

How often have you heard this question?  Does it still strike fear in your heart, or do you simply launch into your practiced, rehearsed strategy for dealing with it effectively?  I’m not going to get into how to do that – in his venue you have heard me preach systemization time and again. Without it any practice is doomed to repeat the same mistakes and cover the same lost ground crossing their fingers hoping for ‘better’ patients!

This day I’ll cover how often it is asked of me. Many dentists who consult with us have a set idea of what they want to accomplish. It usually boils down to ‘higher case values with less chair time’ or a rendition thereof. ‘I’ve got all of that other stuff covered – just show my front desk girl how to close more cases.’ Get…

Tour De Dentistry

As Lance Armstrong bombed on the Tour de France, he said the following:

“Sometimes you’re the hammer, sometimes the nail. Today I was the nail.”

In practice management – leadership, or the lack thereof, makes the difference between the dentist being the hammer or the nail. If team members tell you when and how they are working rather than the other way around you are the nail. If they make the decisions on dress codes, makeup, surfing the web during work hours, and personal phone calls and emails – you’re the nail.

We often say that a ‘wrong’ hire on the front end costs a practice 6 figures annually. Allowing a practice to run itself costs you much more than that. It sets the tone, ruins new employees in a matter of weeks, and establishes conduct that can frequently never be changed….