[This is a segment from the hour-long video training: The New Era of Private Practice Dentistry – available for free, on-demand here…]
I have spent my entire career in helping people do the opposite of what everyone else does – because we don’t want to be average, mediocre, or stuck in the bottom 80%. We want to be the top 20%.
And really, I take it to another level because we want to be the top 1% of private practices in America where they are building a thriving practice on their own terms.
So, I want to give you four things to do right now to eliminate average from your practice and join the top tier of dentistry’s elite.
First, Do a Full-Blown Assessment of Everything
This is where it starts. From your website to your front door. From your phone calls to your reception area. From your operatories to your treatment plans. We’ve got to get rid of any old, antiquated messaging. Any place where we are training people to be the opposite of the type of patient we want them to be.
Because here’s what happens… a lot of doctors decide on a vision, implement something, but only do it halfway. They don’t see it through and never get to the results.
Why? Fear. Insecurity. Self-doubt. We’re all human.
But if you don’t go all-in on this opportunity, you are going to sabotage yourself. You’re going to take great patients and make them just “okay.”
Now, here’s the good news. It’s a simple switch. Instead of saying:
“We’re a practice for all ages and we serve all patients, come one, come all.”
We say:
“We’re in the business of helping families get healthy together.”
We can still see all ages. But we’re not interested in any one age. We’re interested in the whole family.
We’re going to do it by setting our own rules of engagement. By laying out our own clear expectations.
And maybe you’re a specialist doing one specific thing. That’s fine. Same concept. You shout out to the A’s. You clearly define the A’s. You build a business for them.
Because the way people come to you is the paradigm they’ll live in.
Now you’re attracting patients who line up:
- Educated consumer
- Relationship-based care
- Premium, concierge, and luxury buyer
And someone ready to invest in optimal, future-based health.
If you attract a relationship-driven, educated, premium-quality-seeking patient, don’t throw them into a disconnected, outdated, “drill-and-fill” operation. That’s malpractice of your potential.
They came in expecting concierge. Expecting trust. Expecting purpose. If what they experience feels transactional or generic, they’re gone. Or worse, they stay and lower your standard from the inside.
Because this next evolution of private practice? It’s being driven by patients who want more. Who are investing in longevity, performance, wellness, prevention. Who are looking for partners in health, not providers of procedures.
You are specifically for people who want to achieve optimal health. That’s it. And when you operate from that belief, everything simplifies and you stop fighting uphill.
- You stop letting insurance companies define your treatment plans.
- You stop compromising with the wrong patients.
- You stop playing small just to keep everyone “happy” while you’re exhausted and underpaid.
Second, Dump Ordinary
Stop being bashful. Stop being so judgmental over yourself. Stop wearing a coat of guilt.
Be proud of who you are.
Why do you have to soften the blow for everybody?
Be proud of your mission and be bold in your purpose. You’ve got to stop being ordinary because you’re afraid of who you might offend.
I want you to take this moment right here. I give you permission to choose to be extraordinary. It’s one of our themes. It’s one of our taglines. Now I want you to do it.
What does extraordinary look like for you?
- Better phone calls.
- A more intentional greeting.
- Slowing down the pace.
- Connecting with people.
- Build trusting relationships.
- Maximizing your opportunity to make an impact
That’s what this is about.
So I ask you: Are you acting like you’re ordinary? Are you practicing like everyone else? Are you afraid to offend? Worried you will rub people the wrong way?
I want you to define your extraordinary, then I want you to shout it from the mountaintops. Wear your heart on your sleeve. Wrap everything around it. Be impeccable with it. Embody it.
This is not a “someday” shift. This is a right now transformation. Because the world has changed. The marketplace has changed. Your patients have changed.
And you cannot seize the moment and the opportunity it provides by playing an ordinary game and letting your message blur into the background noise of dentistry.
Now is the time to stand up, define your value, build your brand around your clinical identity, and go all-in on attracting and serving the right people.
Third, We’re Not Selling Dentistry
It’s very important that we remove the idea that we’re selling dentistry. We are not in the dental business. We’re in the relationship business. We’re in the health business and what we’re really selling is outcomes.
Because people buy outcomes.
I’ll say it again so it sinks in… a lot of patients don’t even know the outcome they want… but they do know they want the best outcome for them. We’ve got to be in alignment with that.
So in every single engagement – every team member, every patient interaction – we focus on the outcome. From phone to appointment. From discovery visit to decision visit. From treatment initiation to completion of optimal health.
Move past procedure, past sequencing, past treatment plans. Instead, become obsessed with clear, bold, exciting, confident, transparent pathway to health outcomes.
When you do that, it becomes glue to the concierge patient.
And remember: the hole you give through is the hole you receive through. If you give them a small opportunity, they give you a small outcome. Smaller yes. Smaller investment.
You’ve got to go WIDE OPEN with opportunity so they can go wide open with value and investment.
Fourth, The Lifetime Patient Value Multiplier
Which leads me to your LPVM, your lifetime patient value multiplier, which is based on and specific to my four leverage points of Diagnosis, Case Acceptance, Cash Flow, and Schedule Control.
There are a few simple refinements that will allow you to dramatically increase your lifetime patient value. And when you multiply this, you get patients who replicate themselves, because this kind of patient knows other patients who are just like them.
And it’s actually this societal secret – it’s not even a secret, it’s right in front of you. They call them influencers and you see them on social media every day.
So, what do we do?
You turn your patient into an influencer for your practice – an ambassador for your practice and an advocate for health. You can and must definitely do this.
And what happens when you do?
This whole concept we just walked through becomes a cycle, one after the other after the other. Next, next, next.
Watch the Entire Video Training “The New Era of Private Practice Dentistry” On-Demand
