Ultimately, everything we do here together and inside of your office comes down to one aspect that matters most.\u00a0 Why you wake up, go into the office, sacrifice, grow, learn, develop, practice \u2013 it\u2019s about the Patients.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve yet to meet a Doctor who didn\u2019t want to help more patients.\u00a0 That\u2019s the name of the game.\u00a0 And it is also one of the most pivotal components of your Lifestyle Practice Manifesto.<\/p>\n
You might think that to be strange.\u00a0 How do patients fit into YOUR lifestyle?\u00a0 That\u2019s just it, they are the critical piece of this entire puzzle and they have more to do with your lifestyle than you could possibly realize.<\/p>\n
Imagine going into the office, leaving your family behind, spending your days with patients and then departing only to think back on the day and feel like it just wasn\u2019t enjoyable.<\/p>\n
This can have a lot to do with the dentistry (which we talked about last week), but it really comes down to the patients.<\/p>\n
If you want to feel invigorated and as though it was worth it \u2013 money helps, but would never be enough \u2013 it will be because of the patients.<\/p>\n
Just like we put patients first and money follows (which is how we\u2019ll culminate your Lifestyle Practice structure over the next couple weeks), from a business perspective we have to do the same thing.<\/p>\n
This is why I am calling the next component of your Lifestyle Practice structure\u2026<\/p>\n
APPROPRIATE and APPRECIATIVE PATIENTS<\/p>\n
The fact is the appropriate patients for you would be appreciative patients.\u00a0 But just because someone appreciates something doesn\u2019t make them the appropriate patient for you.\u00a0 It requires both to be a perfect match.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t happen by accident, which is the way most practices are set up.\u00a0 They simply deal with the patients they get, instead of attracting and creating the patients they want.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a bad idea to take what you get with no discernment or accountability placed on your practice, your team, yourself.\u00a0 You picked the patients you have.\u00a0 You let them in and you either accepted them as they are or took responsibility to grow them into appropriate patients for you.<\/p>\n
When I talk about \u201cA\u201d Patients, it really means \u201cappropriate\u201d patients for your practice culture, philosophy, vision and objectives.<\/p>\n
This is why you had to define your clinical philosophy and your overall vision of what meaningful dentistry is to you.\u00a0 Because if we are going to ensure you are growing your practice into the lifestyle structure that you want, then we are going to have to have the appropriate patients.<\/p>\n
The best part of this is once you have this component of your manifesto dialed in, you will be able to take specific actions to ensure your best patients replicate themselves and that your processes are designed to support your vision of what an appropriate patient looks like for you.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not going to give you a cookie-cutter definition of what appropriate patients are for your practice.\u00a0 Trust me, it\u2019s not the same for everyone and it shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n
Every Dentist has a different perspective and opinion on the value of hygiene in an office, the view of insurance or lack there of, the approach to full mouth, what comprehensive dentistry means, what procedures are in or out of the office, and the list goes on and on.<\/p>\n
Only when you sit down and really ask yourself what is your vision of the ideal patient and then what are we doing to help every possible patient become that ideal.\u00a0 Furthermore, how can we create a practice that is more appealing to the most appropriate patients for us?<\/p>\n
As for the appreciating part, not all people are.\u00a0 There are some who have a sense of entitlement or worse than that buy into the commoditization of dentistry.\u00a0 These patients think that all dentists are the same or that insurance should pay for everything or that nothing in their mouths are their responsibility.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the secret that I want you to let sink in this week\u2026 people (MOST people), respond as reflective mirror to how they are treated, to the culture they are in and to the service they get.<\/p>\n
The old Golden Rule never goes out of style.\u00a0 Treating others the way you want them to treat you simply because you believe it\u2019s the right way to treat them in the first place.<\/p>\n
Building a practice that has more appreciating patients in it has more to do with your culture, teamwork, communication and consistency than anything else.<\/p>\n
Next week, we\u2019ll go there.<\/p>\n
To finish this part of your manifesto, I will leave you with this\u2026<\/p>\n
YOUR patients will only be as appropriate for and appreciating of you as you are appropriate for and appreciating of them.<\/p>\n
So, if you want the relationships to work between you and the people in your life that make everything BETTER OR WORSE, then it all comes down to how clearly defined and committed you are to your own Lifestyle Practice Manifesto.<\/p>\n
Know that and get to work on this, the most significant lifestyle manifesto component and the nucleus to your practice success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"