Money. Could there be a more important one?
Well, of course there could, there is human potential, personal relationships, professional talent, and lots of things that people waste.
In fact, each of the past 3 wasteful things we have discussed are probably more important than money, none the less, money is a result of everything you do, but so many dentists disrespect it without even knowing it.
Yes, I know it is not on purpose, yet it is waste. I don’t have to tell you how this all works out … every dollar of waste plus the amount of compounding interest you would earn in your wealth account for your retirement or children or future or charity or whatever you want.
It adds up fast and the bigger the amount of waste, the bigger the amount of time you need to hit your money goals.
From the business side of dentistry, there are three big areas of major waste when it comes to money and cash flowing through your practice.
1st – Is the obvious one, not managing the payments of patients and making sure that money is received prior to delivery. You are not a bank and you should not be paying for your patients to have treatment completed on your dime.
You rob your team and practice of profits. You steal your own peace of mind away because you are working but not getting paid for it.
Patients, like children, need to be taught and conditioned to be well-behaved and they should be guided into making great decisions by taking responsibility for their own health.
It pains me to see Practices who have account receivables that are not from insurance companies (though that pains me even more because I hate insurance companies), but how can you have accounts receivable with patients on work that has already been done.
You can’t go to a hardware store and borrow the hammer and nails to build your house and then come back and pay them for it. You are in the money business; try staying open without being. So, collect the money.
2nd – The one that stumps teams every time: the money being wasted by not being scheduled.
Patients commit to one treatment at a time and you have to start all over every time they come back, you end up leaving money on the table. When there are three or four things to do, do not schedule multiple visits unless it is clinically necessary or the patient insists on it.
As you know, cash-flow in dentistry is production dollars, turn over the production and keep earning money.
You waste money when you do not maximize the treatment scheduling and case acceptance. The way to do this is by asking for investment in full for the treatment plan thereby committing the patient to finishing the treatment plan in full.
Just playing with this 2nd part of wasted money in your practice will remind and train you that treatment is money, stop separating the two or being bashful about it. It’s a fact, therefore it must be managed and held accountable no different than any person or other task in your business.
3rd – There is the good old fashion (or should I say bad old fashion) frivolous spending, just like the government.
Wasting supplies, re-ordering, making labs again, and the list goes on and on.
These things do add up, you know that, and you focus on it as expenses when we want to be focused on it as efficiency, systems, being organized so there is no wasted money.
You don’t and shouldn’t try to “invest less” in your business, you should always try to “earn more” but that only happens when you have money available to continue investing.
It is getting wasted on extra rolls of toilet paper or on messing up on things that you have to pay extra for expedited shipping or having dysfunctional equipment instead of paying for things that work.
I would ask you to really consider this and also pay attention to who all is overseeing this part of your practice. As a team, make a concerted effort to be more diligent and less wasteful.
Money: The final score for your business success. Respect it and remember that the last form that money takes shape is in cold hard cash or deposits in your back account.
When you take care of the streams of money before they turn into actual money, then you will become a successful business person.
And whether you like it or not, you own a dental business, you are not just a dentist in a business. That should be very empowering and great news.
If you choose to master your business and want all the rewards you deserve and are capable of achieving – then I will promise you this – it is a lot easier to accomplish your goals much faster when you take care of the 4 major areas of waste.
Go back and review each of the past 3 weeks with these 4 areas and get to work. In the process, you will be amazed at how much faster your wealth piles up and how much easier your practice success becomes, all with much less stress in your daily life.
