And we are back – are you ready? Talk about crazy dental practice, thought provoking, paradigm shifting breakthroughs… I gotta tell you the feedback I get every single week is amazing and I’m very grateful for the open dialogue and interaction of my loyal, ambitious minded, smart Dentists (just like you) but last week – that one took the cake.
I already know this because this is why I do this, this is why I exist in your life and why I show up here and write, produce, and create more truth-telling information and resources for the independent Dentists … everyone is tired of being lied to and misled by the jaded industry of cookie cutter dentistry and printing out every dentist with the same bullshit about volume based dentistry without any concern for profitability of the practice, lifestyle of both the doctor and the team, and above all else healthy outcomes for patients.
That’s why last week when I shed light and refocused the clarity of our purpose on 4 fundamental growth pillars of your practice so many Dentists stood up and applauded. They expressed their revelation and gratitude for my opening their minds to OTHER WAYS to GROW and achieve their goals without feeling the burden, weight and stress of ‘number of patients’ being the answer to all things in dentistry.
Now, today, we are moving to the other half of the Ways to Grow Your Practice, the opening up of advanced strategies that will really challenge your perspective of your Dental Practice as a Business. While some are somewhat obvious others will allow you to evolve your thinking and paradigm about making money in dentistry as an OWNER versus only a DENTIST, doer of dentistry.
There are six components to these 4 Advanced Growth Strategies…
Money, Time, Space, Capacity, People, and Patients, with the key being learning how to optimize each and every one of these things.
To begin let’s talk about the almighty cashflow…the ultimate and only thing that matters in any business. Simply stated, my MBA about money in one sentence: In business your OVERHEAD repeats itself each and every single month…unless you learn to master the art and strategy of accelerating cashflow you will spread money out over time instead of consolidating it into less than a 30-day period.
In Dentistry, Acceleration of Cashflow comes in 4 different ways:
1st – faster acceptance of treatment plans
2nd – more bundled treatment in shorter numbers of visits
3rd – accelerated payments and cash upfront or in full for treatment plans
4th – turning procedures and completing cases faster, whether that’s braces, or referred out surgery, or finishing a cosmetic case.
You must monitor not only how much money was made today but how much was created for tomorrow and what the tail is on that money. The simplest things such as STARTING cases the same day they are consulted with, or asking for PAYMENT or at least DEPOSITS to start, and controlling the scheduling of treatment plans and visits instead of letting patients dictate; these are the most important ways for you to accelerate your cashflow and get more money in faster.
The most astute are operating with a significant NEGATIVE accounts receivable meaning they have been paid far in advance for the dentistry they are doing. That’s not just production in the schedule, that’s money in the bank.
You see the difference. There are of course obvious and significant benefits to this: the increase of commitment and follow-through for your patients, and reduction of cancellations and changing of minds.
The next strategy for growth is about actually expanding your Services and Procedures that are available in-house. This could be bringing specialists in-house for anything that you currently refer out. It could be expanding your repertoire of ways to make patients healthy: ortho, sleep apnea, TMJ, implants, and many other options that allow you to give patients a more complete experience.
One of the most powerful things you can learn to do is have Team Members who become passionate experts at supporting various types of specialty or niche procedures in your Practice who can run them as a “practice inside a practice”.
Additionally you can bring in Associates to do things you do not want to do. There are simply limitless options that are possible in dentistry. There are ways to grow your skills or grow the skills of others, for you to do more or for you to bring in others to do more. There are endless ways to grow and often times this is the best way for you to transition out or move to a more boutique or lifestyle based practice WHILE actually increasing your Practice Value and Income.
The next advance strategy to grow is very similar to this but I’m going to call it the non-dental method of creating other income streams. There are, as you know, so many other ways to expand your non-dental services to patients.
This is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood aspects of BUSINESS that all Dentists miss out on because of such narrow minded focus. And I will tell you this, I am not here to suggest all of these for each of you – of course – it depends on your goals and objectives and what you really want your practice to look like.
Your age, stage of life, health, financial objectives and many other things determine this. My goal today is to simply share and allow us to explore all the ways you can grow your practice WITHOUT doing any more work.
For this we can look at botox, nutrition, weight loss, massage, other consultative healthcare services or even created an integrated healthcare facility.
Here’s the concept I want you to understand: the most difficult thing in all the world is to GET AND KEEP A PATIENT. The most valuable part of your Dental Practice is NOT the Dentistry, it’s not the Equipment… it is and will always be YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR PATIENTS.
That’s you personally, your team, and your practice entity in general. Once you have the Patient, why not find other ways you can help them, serve them, get them healthy, and things you can offer to them. Someone else will take their money and probably abuse and misuse both them and the money…better you serve them than anyone else, I always say.
This strategy is NOT for every Dentist and probably very few, still there are many alliances that can be formed that accomplish this same concept without taking you off point on your mission and vision.
Finally…the most important way to grow your practice is to increase profit by optimizing your capacity and efficiency.
I would venture to say this is the most messed up and complicated part of any and every Practice. There are so many reasons why this is true that it’s impossible for me to talk about it in a short weekly Profit Report like this.
Let me give you quick run down of what I mean and then next week I’ll elaborate to show you how this Advanced Strategy #8 to grow your Practice is the RISING TIDE THAT WILL LIFT ALL BOATS and impacts every single thing you do.
This ONE item has the power to impact and multiply your profit all by itself.
The most obvious thing about capacity and efficiency is to expand your hours of operation by moving to an Associate Based Dentistry model. The problem of course is this also increases the most expensive part of your overhead, employees, and you keep a lot less of the money – BUT you did not have to see the patients or do the dentistry.
And, after all, the space, rent, overhead of the building is already there and not being used.
All that said, I strongly encourage you to DO THIS LAST – not first – AFTER YOU FOLLOW my Practice Optimization Formula and have it mastered. Then if you so choose (and this is what lies ahead in your mind’s eye and vision of your practice), then expand hours.
Here’s the short list, optimizing capacity and efficiency in:
Your Schedule, Time, and Effort; hourly and daily profit
Your Team’s Schedule, Time, and Effort; hourly and daily per person Profit
Hygiene Visits; and Profit and Production out of Hygiene
Patient conversion and acceleration of Treatment Acceptance
And finally your Space and People within your Practice; each and every operatory, column in the schedule, and member on the Team all fully utilized and optimized
I guess you could say, to be continued…
It’s going to be a provocative discussion when we pick up right here next week on the most sophisticated strategies for optimizing your practice capacity and efficiency to become a HIGH Profit Producing (not just a HIGH Dentistry Producing) Practice that you deserve and desire to have to make the most of your Dental Practice Business Investment, not just as a Dentist, as an Owner.
