Picking up from last week, I start with one of my favorite observations about true \u2018Masters of their crafts.\u2019 \u00a0That you can\u2019t tell whether it is work or play because it all looks like one in the same. \u00a0Ultimately, for the real Masters, it is.<\/p>\n
That said, doing anything for the sake of just doing it, is called a hobby not a business. \u00a0I don\u2019t judge, but I do know that if anything is done without having a purpose and outcome then you are just spinning your wheels.<\/p>\n
This is the entire premise behind \u201cbeginning with the end in mind\u201d that I discussed in detail last week. \u00a0Whether it is a phone call, a hygiene visit, an emergency patient or for the entire practice vision overall \u2013 you can\u2019t possibly make decisions, let alone take appropriate action towards an objective, if you do not first establish what a successful result should look like.<\/p>\n
The next step towards making success \u2018easy\u2019 and stacking the deck in your favor is to create and follow my concept of Reverse Engineering for every facet of your practice.<\/p>\n
A simple example is if you say you want to cultivate comprehensive treatment and you want to nurture bigger cases then we can\u2019t rush new patients through hygiene, do x-rays only if we can\u2019t get their records from a previous practice, take no photographs, clean their teeth and let the doctor in for 5 minutes doing nothing more than a general oral exam.<\/p>\n
You can do all of that but you can\u2019t expect any patients to want to say yes because you haven\u2019t allocated enough time to educate them as to what exactly they are even saying yes to.<\/p>\n
I see this all of the time in hygiene. \u00a0It is so beat down by insurance fees that we try to speed up visits and cram another one or two patients in a day. \u00a0All so we can \u201cmake up for the write-offs\u201d by adding $60-$80 or at best a $100 and get some extra money but at what expense. \u00a0With the hygienists being so rushed that they can\u2019t build relationships, update records, take pictures, talk about anything, or educate in the slightest. \u00a0And worse than that, we\u2019ve trained patients that what our practice does well is really fast and convenient cleanings\u2026 hmm.<\/p>\n
No wonder our patients are insurance minded and do a tooth at a time only when they have no other choice.<\/p>\n
Again, this is about defining what your goals are and then working backwards to make decisions about the steps, processes, and systems that must be in place in order to make those goals realities.<\/p>\n
You certainly know of people in our industry teaching all kinds of magic tricks on the phone to get the patients into the schedule with little info. \u00a0This relies on high volume and the hope that with so many appointments at least some will show up and with so many showing up at least you\u2019ll get what their insurance pays for. \u00a0But this only digs your own hole as you are always needing more and more.<\/p>\n
Instead, I want to reverse engineer your phone calls to effectively screen and pre-position patients so that we not only get the right ones in in the right way, but we actually start educating, building trust and creating a real experience to differentiate your practice from the first point of contact.<\/p>\n
That results in getting more from less and that\u2019s the business I\u2019d want to be in because it\u2019s a lot less stressful and a lot more profitable by breaking you free from the time-volume trap and plateau of capacity.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what I can tell you: whatever you say you want, all we have to do is work backwards from that to where you are today and fix the most obvious things that are not in alignment with your overall objective.<\/p>\n
It is absolutely critical that every team member learns and understands how to reverse engineer their own success inside of their own role and responsibility. \u00a0That goes for the doctor, as well.<\/p>\n
You begin an exam with the end in mind, you reverse engineer a treatment plan, why don\u2019t you reverse engineer the best diagnostic approach and conversation with the patients to arrive not only at the vision of the treatment plan in your mind but getting your patients to see and want the same.<\/p>\n
Once in a while someone will say, \u201cYeah but Scott it\u2019s not all about the money for me,\u201d or \u201cI don\u2019t want to have a diagnosis goal or have people pushing treatment.\u201d \u00a0I get it and I agree. \u00a0Money isn\u2019t everything; it just tells us how well we are doing in the context of patients accepting treatment. \u00a0You don\u2019t make up diagnosis or create it out of nothing or have your patients do more work than you believe is in their best interests. \u00a0What you do have to do is engineer a practice that can deliver to you enough daily opportunity that your goals are achievable.<\/p>\n
At the tail end of most of my Blueprint Days with my Doctors, I do an exercise in Reverse Engineering specific to treatment opportunity. \u00a0We take every stream of patient and production flow in the practice and we reverse engineer into seeing what is actually possible based on each doctor\u2019s clinical philosophy and practice objectives.<\/p>\n
And you know what I find nearly every time: they aren\u2019t lacking opportunity to help patients, instead they are lacking the systems and actions, the verbiage and communication, and the focus and responsibility of keeping the main thing the main thing.<\/p>\n
Most practices are not engineered to succeed. \u00a0They are caught up in running hard, cramming it all in and trying to see more instead of trying to do more. \u00a0That is why my reverse engineering concept has and always does transform practices from being at the mercy of their patients to being in control over their practice. \u00a0Then they are able to completely and deliberately design the practice that they want to have.<\/p>\n
It really does come down to whether you are working with an advantage or a hindrance. \u00a0This all changes and becomes intentional instead of accidental once you have engineered alignment with every team member, system, decision and action with your vision for each facet of your practice.<\/p>\n
There is a lot of assessment that you should be doing right now. \u00a0I challenge you to take a transparent look at where you might be experiencing self-sabotage and are in your own way; whether it\u2019s the schedule, processes, treatment planning, insurance, communication, education, or (and probably) all of the above.<\/p>\n
Next week, I will give you some simple breakthroughs to ensure you engineer your practice for success and take the actions necessary to win with consistency!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"