I do understand the desire and lust for some quick, easy fix. A cookie cutter or one size fits all solution to all of your practice problems. I get it. I wasted the first few years of my life – in my business – searching for the same thing.
The magic bullet. The secret key. The easy button.
Some one thing or system or answer or whatever you want to call it sold by someone else claiming to have been there and done that. Preaching that if they can do it or if 100’s or 1000’s of practices have done it then so can you.
It’s all BS.
Often times people even create a new problem that you may not even have just to sell you their made-up solution for it.
There is nothing that ever guarantees anyone anything based on what someone else has done. It can help with predictable outcomes, it can help with improvements but it will not necessarily work just because it worked for someone else.
You know this because clinically you have something so scientific, so formulaic, so specific in protocol; yet 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 different dentists do it 10 different ways. To each their own.
And the only thing that is guaranteed to work for you is something that you believe in, have experienced, committed to and matches your strengths, syncs you’re your preferences and fits your personality.
For you as dentist this should be easy to understand.
You don’t take crowns off a shelf and place them in at random. Every tooth and every patient is different.
You don’t take one-size-fits-all invisalign and shove them into people’s mouth and expect results. Well, you would in fact get results; they just wouldn’t be the results you or the patient wanted.
They would be someone else’s results.
Everything is Dentistry follows protocols but they are customized for the individual. And so it shall be for the business – it has to be.
The reason things don’t work as advertised or promised is because there are just so many variables in every practice. Teams, Patients, Cities, Philosophies and the list goes on. So unless each of these things have been factored into something – a plan and strategy – then you could very well end up worse off than you started.
I tell every doctor: never buy a solution where someone doesn’t first ask you questions, then listens carefully to you, and finally, base whatever it is you are investing in on what you actually want.
Of course, I’m biased because I’m the only one who does exactly that.
The facts are most people are in the business of selling you their stuff; not in the business of helping you sell your patients.
This requires very serious deliberation and assessment over yourself and above all else great discipline to avoid constantly looking for bright shiny objects, products, services, ideas and technology.
And instead, be anchored by your own compass and follow your own directions so that you always have a way to evaluate your options.
Remember this: the direction that will always lead you to the best results is the one you commit to; not someone else’s. Not one where you are going to constantly second guess yourself or never give yourself a chance to make progress before changing.
This is the problem with doctors who habitually achieve only mediocre results…
They are too busy looking for other ways to do things instead of just perfecting their own way by maximizing potential and creating leverage for growth. It’s easy when it’s all based on your vision and desires; not someone else’s.
