Today, we begin a deep dive into the most powerful leverage points in the business of dentistry that make the two most important numbers (that we talked about last week) possible.
We’ll take them one at a time. And for good reason because they happen one at a time and each one can only be as strong and as valuable as the one before it.
These quite literally turn addition into multiplication as they set you and your practice up for sustainable, balanced growth.
In dentistry, as least for the doctors here, bigger is not better. What appears “better” on face value often results in less of the things that you actually value. That is why we must not simply focus on ‘growth’ of your practice because it’s the wrong objective.
Instead, we anchor every decision to the goals and ideals we outlined last week. We focus on growing profit, value, people, and lifestyle. This is drastically different than what you read anywhere and everywhere else.
Most are obsessed with chasing new patients, chasing busy, chasing production, chasing any number of targets that make you feel good but doesn’t necessarily result in achieving your primary goals.
Here, we are focused on work smarter not harder by increasing the value of your time so that you can work less and earn more.
Let’s begin with the origin of your success and the number that makes everything else possible. This is the place where all dentistry is found. For already successful practices, which you are, this is the place to go to work on first…
To grow anything else in your practice, you must grow: diagnosis; for it is the origin of all opportunity.
While this might sound obvious, I want to make one shift in your mindset that will unlock your diagnostic potential in greater ways than ever before.
Most doctors are hesitant to fully diagnose a patient and reveal the complete truth. Among other mental barriers, they believe the harsh reality will hurt the patient’s self-worth or the patient will think the doctors is exaggerating their problems for their own gain.
In reality – and this is the mindset shift you must make – limiting the diagnosis is only limiting the patient’s potential to realize optimal health. The only chance you have to truly help the patient is to share the entire truth about the current state of their health.
While you might spare some feelings initially by under-diagnosing, you cost them a great deal more in long-term benefits of the dentistry you can provide.
I promise you, when you make the shift to believing that diagnosis is positive instead of negative because health is the result – you will be amazed at the opportunities that will open for you to deliver life-changing dentistry.
Once you realize that in order to give patients health you must first diagnose, you will immediately see two things happen…
First, nearly unlimited amounts of dentistry will become available as you easily discover more ways you can help patients.
Second, your patients will receive your diagnosis and treatment recommendations in a more welcoming and excited way.
All because you changed your mindset first.
This will change your practice, your culture, your team, yourself, and most of all your patients.
Lastly, it will change your own financial results because you put yourself into a position of leverage.
Most practices are working against themselves because they are focusing on minimalism by thinking a victory is getting 100% acceptance on whatever they diagnosis. That’s not what helps the practice and it certainly is not what helps the patient get healthy.
You want to stack the deck in your favor by having far greater amounts of opportunity and diagnosis than you need to actually achieve your goal in the first place.
How do you do all of that tactically…
That too is simple – it is first a decision to become a diagnostically centered practice that is focused on education and discovery with every patient. This is how hold yourself (and the patient) to a new standard of excellence that ensures every patient receives the same approach to optimal health customized to their current state of reality. Then you develop and commit to your diagnosis system.
If you studied the Practice Profit Accelerator Podcast that Kevin and I did early in the year then you have already executed my disciplined approach to reverse engineer diagnosis in your practice with every patient.
The core principles of this are:
You must be on point with your Clinical Philosophy. That means it must be defined and become more than just a mission statement but a way of life, a way of communication, and a way of operating for every team member and every aspect of your patient experience.
Next, you establish Pillars of Health that embody and bring to life your Clinical Philosophy. These usually go something like; gums, teeth, bite, smile, airway… or hard tissue, soft tissue, occlusion, aesthetics… I always simplify it as health, function, beauty. Everything in your practice must fit into one of these Pillars of Health.
Next, the key is to compare every patient from where they are to where they deserve to be; moving beyond problem-based dentistry through prevention all the way to possibility-based dentistry with focus on optimal health.
Lastly, you do all of that by adhering to your own Diagnostic Protocols every time with every patient for every visit – that means every hygiene or recare or maintenance visit as well as every clinical procedure or follow-up appointment.
Protocols for everything that are not optional, they are every time without exception.
When you have these dialed in, you no longer have to worry about missing anything. Your Diagnostic Protocols ensure you are following your Pillars of Health which achieve your Clinical Philosophy in the lives of your patients.
And then you do the most important part… become proud of this, take ownership over your standards, and elevate patients so they can take ownership over their own health. The patient is now able to take responsibility for making the best decisions by giving them an experience, an opportunity, a pathway to health.
The interesting dynamic of all of this is you don’t go looking for treatment – you go looking to give every patient the best you’ve got, you inform and educate based on what you see, and you are principally based in every way.
Now, there are finer details for you to figure out… when do you update records, take new x-rays, repeat photographs? How do you make old treatment plans new treatment plans? The list goes on from there.
It’s your turn to imagine every way possible to give more to your patients at the very origin of opportunity through more comprehensive, thorough, and state of ideal diagnosis.
When you get your mindset right on what you are providing to your patients (first, in the form of diagnosis), you will openly and generously give as much as possible to them. You will see that the same practice, same patients, same team, and same everything else will all of the sudden be running over with endless possibilities.
Of course, we know diagnosis only makes a difference if the treatment is accepted. Which is predicated on what the patient believes and values, wants and desires.
That’s where we’ll go next week… getting more meaningful yeses by building more A patients through the experience you provide and relationships you create.
More to come…
