There is that saying in life…if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. And that’s just a terrible philosophy, I think. If everything you do in life you decide that you are going to give up if you don’t get your way, if you don’t figure it out, if you don’t win with the first attempt – then you are setting yourself up for failure.
I can tell you story after story and introduce you to so many doctors who have failed by falling into this trap. Usually listening to the advice of someone who has a hidden agenda (or maybe not so hidden).
One big bully comes to mind that tells every doctor the same thing: you need a bigger building, you need a Ritz Carlton style physical practice, you need 100’s of patients, you need more team members to serve those patients and you need to spend $100,000’s on marketing to fill your practice up with a whole bunch of random patients that you don’t know whether they are good or bad or right or wrong for you.
All of this is about “joining” the model of volume based dentistry, discounting (bribing) people to come into your office and otherwise commoditize and water down what you do.
Guess what… it doesn’t work. The only parts that are guaranteed to go up in all of this model are: increases in overhead, headaches, stress, payroll and hours.
Nothing (and no one) is going to guarantee your profitability and growing in a healthy way, except – more dentistry.
What happens next is these doctors blame insurance for the reason why they aren’t getting better case acceptance or why more of these stranger danger marketing tactics aren’t bringing highly qualified A Patients. So, in response, they bite the bullet (better said ‘swallow the bullet’) and they sign up for many insurance plans.
And now the cycle repeats with even more volume, more overhead, more work but no more profit.
Oh sure, there are people who do it effectively. It is possible, BUT only if you also practice the art of customized care and you have foundational structured systems in place that ensure you are running effective new patient experiences and you are not basing your treatment plans on insurance or emergency care.
I have a lot of practices getting 50, 80, 100, 120+ new patients and everyone of them is doing it without being in network with all the insurances. They also have something else in common too. They all wish they could get FEWER patients. You heard me right. Real business people don’t ask for more customers they just ask for more money.
If you can get more with less, then you bring your overhead numbers down and your profit up. Here, everybody wins, including the patients that you now have time to give them a real experience with attentive comprehensive care.
Here’s the thing… no one has the right or should be telling you how you should practice, what your business should look like, there is no “right or wrong” way of doing things.
There is only ‘your way’ that is going to work when you align your preferences with the appropriate business model for you. It is all based on your goals, your team, your future, your personality, your desired mode of working, your preferred style of management and of course your philosophy of dentistry.
Ultimately, all that matters is that you figure this out. Then you go to work to differentiate yourself and ensure that every single point of contact and engagement with your community, your referral sources, your marketing, your patients is exemplifying this.
At the end of the day, you should judge your success by how much profit you made for the time you sacrificed and the investment you put in; by how much fulfilling dentistry you completed that makes a real impact on your patients; and whether you are able to take care of your team in a significant way.
All of these things are only going to come from more profitable dentistry; not necessarily more patients. And more profitable dentistry always comes from being true to yourself, knowing your identity and having a model of practice that you can differentiation from others.
I want this for you. And I’m going to do better than just wish it for you, I’m going to help you with it.
In case you missed it (and I’m not sure how you could have but if you did)… this is your last chance to get a complimentary copy of my brand new book The 7 Essential Elements of Dental Practice Differentiation.
This is my way of giving back and making sure you don’t have to give in. You can beat all those naysayers and stop our industry from turning into a walmart commodity.
You will find your path inside of this book as it covers differentiating your practice, conquering insurance, overcoming corporate dentistry and winning against competition; all in a way that keeps your integrity and fits your philosophy.
Yes you can still have it all in dentistry. You can have dental success today – every day of your career if you commit to it, if you want it bad enough and if you do what’s necessary to make it happen.
Your next move, your future, your profit and all that you deserve – starts right here…differentiate yourself and your practice now!
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Everyone deserves a chance to learn that there are other ways to win and be successful – to practice on your own terms.
There is dentistry available to you right now that isn’t what all the shovel salespeople are selling, what the industry is touting or what the insurance company is preaching. Independent Dentists are doing better than ever, as they are more secure and more profitable than ever. And you need to hear this.
I will not stand idly by and let other people, those with the biggest blow horns, sway you to go against what you believe and know is true.
Differentiation is the key, my book is your path to find and stick to your own plan to have everything just the way you want it inside your practice, so you can have all that you deserve outside of it too.
If I can help just one more dentist get revitalized, breakthrough plateaus, find a practice vision, achieve grand ambitions and make an impact doing what he/she loves – then I will have succeeded. I hope that one dentist is you.
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