Today culminates our discussion around how to recession-proof your practice and prepare for the year ahead. One of my friends says he is not a pessimist just an optimist with experience. And that might be truer now than ever before.
All signs suggest it is going to get worse. In terms of wages, unemployment, housing, debt balances, cashflow, interest rates, and many other things. People, your patients and your team, will be impacted.
And yet and still, I say, your practice doesn’t have to be at the mercy of it. You can still succeed, you can still prosper, you can still help patients on their pathway to health.
In fact, when you embrace, study, implement, and choose to master what we have covered in the past few Weekly Reports you should end up in a better position than any other time in your career.
If you haven’t followed my detailed playbook and created your priority action list demonstrated in my Recession Proof Practice Plan Video Series (that I’m gifting to you to finish out your year and start prosperous in 2023)…
Watch The 4 Lesson Video Course Now…
However, it is vital that you are proactive with your business plan and practice growth strategies heading into 2023. You must become a category of one. You must remove dependency on any one thing (source of patients, insurance, procedures, etc.) and set yourself up for success by understanding that while there are many different models and approaches to practicing there is only one way to build a better practice foundation and come out ahead in the years to come.
If you wait to see what happens or if you succumb to pressures from external forces, then you will find your profits eroding faster than you can make any adjustments to offset.
In order to recession-proof your practice completely, you must learn the lessons of 2020 and become ‘essential’ to your patient base and to the community as a whole. You must celebrate and champion proactive, optimal, long-term, preventable health and oral care as a standard.
Giving you money and investing in oneself must become a statement of pride, a necessary, a responsibility, and prudent decision to make no matter what the economic circumstances are.
When you can create this culture, design this type of experience, educate and elevate your patients in this way, you will find yourself insulated from everything outside your four walls. You will have more demand at higher fees than ever before and you will have patients vying to be in your schedule.
All while every other practice around you has raced to the bottom by pandering, discounting, commoditizing their dentistry, and depending more on insurance. Wait until they realize that they can’t keep up with rising prices and overhead that comes with volume dentistry.
They will have greater cancellations and empty schedules, the exact scenario they are trying to avoid.
You, on the other hand, will be in a position of power and prestige. You will have established a place where people want to be, a culture of positivity, an expectation of health as a priority, a practice where relationships are nurtured, and the care you provide held sacred by those who depend on you.
As a practice protected from recessionary trends, you’ll be able to focus on your lifestyle, your health, your balance, and your peace of mind because you’ll be in position to enjoy your best days in 2023.
There are four key elements to a Recession Proof Practice Plan that I have covered in my free video series in much greater detail. You can watch the each lesson at your own pace, take notes as you go, and walk away with your customized priorities to ensure your practice thrives…
Get Free Instant Access To The All-New Video Training…
Here are a few tactical steps to keep you on higher ground, more profitable, and in control of your future (not at the mercy of anything else)…
First, you must commit to a clearly defined and specific vision of success for next year. What is it, how will you track it, can you monitor progress to course correct, and how will you go about achieving it?
Next, you want to be proactive, not reactive, by predicting the challenges that will arise. What are the threats to successfully accomplishing your vision? How will you combat these obstacles and ensure you don’t fall too far behind? Focus narrowly on the aspects that matter most and have the greatest impact on your practice.
Next, get your team onboard. Meet with your team, pre-set individual goals, provide clarity on what success looks like for them, involve them in the process, and have a way to give each ownership (and thus accountability) over results.
Be ready to employ all of the ways you can be on offense. Morning Huddle preparation for the day, treatment plans on schedule, pre-collecting payments, keep collections consistent to offset other variables, end the day with a debrief, and celebrate victories.
Of course, my favorite of them all, maximization of each and every patient visit. Missed chances will count double next year so nothing can be taken for granted or treated haphazardly. That means sticking to our founding principles of treating every patient like a new patient and seeing everything (and everyone) with fresh eyes.
Next, find ways to create opportunities by adding services and procedures, raising fees, better education, and improved patient experiences within your practice. It always comes from being clear minded and committed to your pillars of health and clinical philosophy. Be proud of what you do and who you are for – and never apologize for it.
Lastly, focus on referrals which will come easier because you are differentiating your practice. However, don’t forget, referrals doesn’t mean you don’t need marketing. Being on offense all day long is important because you also have the opportunity to capture market share and attract more patients who are ready to buy because your competition (if you can even call them tat) will stop marketing, will cut back, will do less while you will be going in the exact opposite direction.
Once again, you can find my exact formula in the video series I created for you to end your year strong and start 2023 with a Recession Proof Practice Plan that will have you dialed in more than ever before.
By doing all of this not only will your patients benefit, you will have the ability to invest in your future at a time when your money will multiply than any other time in the past decade; if not a few decades.
Additionally, the real advantage you have is you can take even better care of your people. You can support and provide them with life changing opportunities to grow their income when they need it the most and when they are feeling the greatest pain.
All this to say, you will have more fun helping patients in a meaningful way and you’ll establish a more profitable, resilient, and consistent practice for the future.
There’s so much more to say here… you can get free access to my videos for extra lessons about recession-proofing your practice…
Watch The Recession Proof Practice Plan Video Course Now
In the meantime, it’s time to reflect on your year, gather up your list of all the wonderful things you’ve experienced, take inventory of what went amazingly well, identify what you’d like to commit to seeing go even better next year, establish your big picture goals for 2023, set specific measurable targets, and most of all prioritize what matters most to you and your practice.
You have the ability to choose your own levels of success. It’s time to set your sights on the future and get to work preparing, protecting, and prospering in the New Year.