Dental A Team Podcast

Dental A Team
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This podcast is here to give dentists and all dental office team members, in EVERY position, TACTICAL and PRACTICAL TIPS to: - Be more efficient - Have more fun - Improve doctor and team communications - Eliminate frustration - And make your life easier! Jump in! We are thrilled you have decided to LEVEL UP and be part of the DENTAL A TEAM! New episodes every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

  1. 13h ago

    #1,183 Is Your Practice Struggling with Collections and AR?

    Re-releasing a Dental A-Team podcast favorite! Tiff is on the pod to chat with Kiera about an office she just visited which needed some attention on its collections and accounts receivable. To give an idea of where this practice sits at, its collections are at 80% and case acceptance is at 56%. Tiff shares three points she touched on with this office: Three tactics to put into place to raise collections Establish tracking methods Spun complaints in a positive direction Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today we are bringing you something so special. I am so excited because this is one of our most popular episodes from the archives. Whether you're hearing this for the first time or catching it again, I am so excited because it's jam packed with a ton of takeaways that you can start using right now in your practice. We have released thousands, literally thousands of episodes. And I wanted to start bringing a few of these amazing episodes back for you. So I hope you enjoy. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time.   on the Dental A Team podcast.   speaker-0 (00:32) and you guys don't worry. We say we travel in the Dental A Team, and this time you might actually hear proof of it because I have the one and only Tiffanie Trader back on the podcast. She is getting ready to fly home, just finish up with an office, and we definitely got her to podcast while she's at the airport. So Tiff, where are you at today? How is this podcasting going?   speaker-1 (00:54) podcasting is gonna be fantastic because it is because I put it out there into the universe and I am I'm actually in DC, which is funny because it's funny because I thought I I thought I booked a different airport and I thought I booked an airport I had been to and then on the way here I was like, Yeah, I've surely never actually even been to DC and anyways it's been fun. This is how my life is.   speaker-0 (01:18) So funny travel story about Tiffanie and airports. We always giggle about this. Tiff, do you want to tell about the one time like this is like real life consulting one one for you guys? Do you remember the time that you maybe missed your alarm? You set like twenty five of them, but that's fine. Like I've seen your phone and there are seriously like, Wake up, no, like really wake up. No, like you've got to get out of bed. Like that's all your alarms that you have. But like what happened that time? Because it was a really funny travel experience.   speaker-1 (01:42) Here's the thing, Kiera. I just want to point out that I am in Virginia right now. It's   speaker-0 (01:47) Yeah.   speaker-1 (01:48) the only state that I have ever, ever, ever had any travel mishaps of any sort have been either coming to or leaving Virginia. I have Virginia stuck   speaker-0 (01:59) Is your   speaker-1 (02:00) here. I've gotten stuck here on a layover. Like Virginia just doesn't want me to leave, I think. So I slept through my alarm leaving New York, coming to Virginia.   because my flight was at six thirty in the morning, which is if you know me at all is not   speaker-0 (02:16) It's okay. It's all right. We all make decisions that we shouldn't have done. And I'll be honest, sometimes when we're like booking the travel, we're like, yeah, that seems like a really good idea until we actually have to live the travel we booked for ourselves and we're like, That was a really bad idea. So   speaker-1 (02:30) It was a poor choice.   speaker-0 (02:32) You're   up late. I remember you were texting me late at night that night and I'm like, Tiff, your freaking flight leaves so early tomorrow and you're like, I'll be fine   speaker-1 (02:40) Yes, but I was fine because I actually figured out that it was quicker to drive to where I needed to be than to fly anyway. So   speaker-0 (02:49) Only after she missed her flight. So it was you know a win.   speaker-1 (02:52) Because   I had to pivot. I had to be at an office that afternoon and I was like, shoot, how do I do this? So pivot or die is like what we live and breathe by. so I mapped it and I went and I got a car and the car rental guy was like, my gosh, this is absurd. so I drove a car from New York to Virginia and it was by far my favorite road trip of working experience because it was beautiful. I got this in so many I went through   It was like fall time, but I got snow, I got fall leaves changing. I have like every possible season.   speaker-0 (03:27) It's   one of favorite stories that I definitely feel like needed to be recorded for all of our posterity to hear and all of you listeners. So this might be mine and Tiff's like journal time over here. But this is liter   speaker-1 (03:36) I think I've I think I've now flown out as of today. I will have flown in and out of every airport in Virginia.   speaker-0 (03:45) Well, I'm glad that you're able to get the last one knocked off your list today. but you guys, that's literally the day in life of a consultant. I think it's it's fun to point out the fact that like in offices when things don't go as planned, like literally pivot. I know Tip and I have many times, I mean the time that I almost got deported out of Canada, hashtag I was literally a one hour drive across the border, but no, I flew back down to New Jersey and then back trying to get across the border.   And it would have been way better had I just driven. So I think also it's like looking at it. I mean, had we mapped it, now when people are booking travel, we're always thinking like, Could you drive there faster than flying? 'Cause there's always alternatives. So I love it. Welcome to Virginia. I'm glad you're coming home. Glad your office was there. Let's kinda like   speaker-1 (04:29) office was in New Orleans. It's   fine.   speaker-0 (04:34) Everything's fine, guys. Everything's fine. We are totally competent in dental offices and we're about like seventy-five, eighty percent competent traveling. We have that like twenty percent lack that we definitely are not great at.   speaker-1 (04:44) It   just needed to hit Virginia as a state this year, so I got it in.   speaker-0 (04:48) Good job, Tiff. So actually let's like deep dive on your practice you just came from. this is not the topic we were going to go on, but I just realized like we're talking about you leaving an office. Kinda walk us through some of the things you just implemented in that practice that you were in, just so people can kind of get an experience of what it's like having a consultant in their practice.   speaker-1 (05:05) Yeah, I think that's fun. Yep. So this was and I love a bit or die.   speaker-0 (05:10) Don't worry, we had a totally different topic, but like why not why not just keep with this consulting travel theme?   speaker-1 (05:16) I like it. So yes. this is my second time in the practice. This was Ashley actually saw this practice probably like a year ago, I suppose. so she saw them first and Ashley's no longer with us, wildfires, crying, lots of tears.   speaker-0 (05:29) Decided   to get married and move away and become a practice manager. It's fine. That office got real lucky. I shout out to them.   speaker-1 (05:37) Yeah. So anyways, this is their third visit. So it's really cool to see the progression and the growth that they've experienced, but then also like the holdups that they've had. So it's like, yes, we've been consulting them for a little over a year now. but there's still so much to be done. So this week what we did yesterday and today was we focused really heavily on collections and AR because they're just   struggling a little bit in that area and they're having a hard time dialing it into where it's coming from. So it was really fun because we saw the issue and then what I did was I kind of worked my way backwards, right? Because I think in any practice you can find something that's wrong and then I can tackle that person. Right. So I can go straight for the billing representative and the office manager and be like, why aren't you collecting? Where's your money? But it's not just them.   that are the the only cause of that, right? So the only effect of the cause. So we backtracked, we looked at everything, we realized, hey, patients aren't always getting signed treatment plans. Like patients aren't even they're not always getting told what they're going to owe in the first place. So then when they're coming in, it's a little bit more difficult to collect because I noticed we have a crown you know, a crown was in last week and they paid a hundred dollars. And so if you know anything about   Crowns in dental insurance, typically a hundred dollars is not going to be the copay required. So I thought, okay, why is this patient only paid a hundred dollars? Well, probably because this patient was not prepared to pay the six hundred dollars that he had owed when he came in. So we kind of backtracked. So we figured out, okay, our collections percentage is low. It's about 86% for last month, and overall for the year they're hovering in the mid 80s.   I like to see ninety eight percent for my practices or higher. I usually tell my Medicaid practices, Medicaid slash PPO providers, ninety-three to ninety-five percent just because Medicaid takes so long. So ninety-eight percent is what we're looking for here in this practice. So eighty six percent was like, my gosh, how are how are we paying the bills? So we back chopped and we started implementing they did NDTR for us like a boss. We've done that twice to the guys don't know the N D T   speaker-0 (08:00) And you're new, that's a perfect handoff. So next visit, date, time, recare. And I will say it's magic sauce when people do it. So goo

  2. 1d ago

    #1,182: What Every Owner Needs to Know (But Most Realize Too Late)

    It's a common trajectory: Dental schools create great dentists, but they don't create good business owners. Kiera shares three critical (but attainable!) tips for creating a profitable, scalable, and enjoyable practice, so doctors can continue doing the work they love. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I'm excited to chat with practice owners, office managers, and to kind of just talk about like what every practice owner should know. But I think a lot of us learn that too late. Myself included, I feel like business owners, I feel like we are great at our craft, but at business we learn it a little too late. And so I think that like I looked at all of our students at Midwestern and they learned how to be great dentists, but they didn't.   learn how to become great business owners. And we hear this all the time. I'm not saying anything new. I just think that a lot of practices hit ceilings because it's not their clinical skills. It's the business outgrows their knowledge. It's like, hey, take me to the moon. You're like, I've never been to the moon. And so I think just being able to help practice owners today realize in office managers, like leadership systems and financial decisions really are like the core. That's why we call it the yes success model. So you, that's the leadership,   systems and earnings. Like that's really what makes up a successful practice. But I feel like that feels so easy. But I want to just walk through like what are three things that every business owner needs to know to have a profitable, scalable and enjoyable practice. You guys the Dental A Team like we work with hundreds of practices across the nation from startup practices to multi-million dollar offices. And what I realize is the challenges are all the same. Like it's fundamentally stays the same. It just gets bigger or smaller based on the size of practice that you're in. And so   I think so many people know how to work really hard. I think so many people outproduce their problems. I think so many people they just it I hear all the time when people are calling to work with us, like Kiera, I just don't know what I don't know. And so today I just want to go through like, let's just talk about three things that I feel like every single business owner needs to know and some tactical ways that you can implement this. So hopefully it takes you from being stuck to unstuck. If you've heard this in the past, maybe you're hearing it at a different time. I know for me these are three fundamentals that I go back to no matter what phase of the business I'm in.   No matter what size of practice I'm in, none of that. So number one is going to be your leadership is like completely the like growth of your business. And your business will never outgrow your leadership. And so your business is a reflection of you as the leader. I remember reading Jocko Willink's book about that extreme ownership. And it was like everything about your business is a reflection of you. And when so when I'm frustrated of the systems or the scalability or the lack of accountability, that's me. And so when we have that.   I hate this, but I love this. Is where can we get consistency? Where can we stop the firefighting? Where can we like make sure that we've got stronger accountability? And where can we make sure that the doctor's not carrying everything? Because I think so many doctors are like, I'll just do it. I got this. Like, I I'm a hard worker. I know how to GSD. I know how to get through this. But I'm like, okay, we've got to figure out how like being a leader is not just a title. How do we create more clarity and how do we create more consistency? And how do we develop leaders and owners within our organization?   And so for this, like when I look at our leadership and how for you not to get stuck in that, like being a great leader is being able to make hard decisions. Being a great leader is how do I create clarity and consistency for my team? Being a great leader is how do I make sure that my team understands the numbers and we use those numbers to guide our decisions. we were going through a whole list the other day of of topics of leadership. And I was like, gosh, I like leadership is   It's a journey. It's an evolution. It's not something that you just do overnight. and I think about Kiera as a leader when I first started and she was erratic. I was like, I was turbulent. I had so many pieces. but leadership is maturity. it's how do I get people to buy into a vision? How do I rally them and how do I get them to buy into a vision? How am I to be a CEO versus a manager and really understanding the difference of those two hats? How do I have time management where I   Truly focus on the most important things, not just because I'm capable of doing it, but because I'm the only one that can do it. How do I delegate and work through my team? How do I like learn people and work to their strengths and work to their superpowers? Working through my team, not just working with my team, using my team. How do I have the art of influence? How do I grow my team members into incredible people? How do I see that potential when I'm hiring? How do I hire better? How do I figure   like leading, managing, and holding people accountable. How do I have consistency? How am I an example, but not the one who has to do everything? how do I value my team? Do I see them as an asset or a liability? How do I help my team feel valued without being the one who does it all? Like there's a there's a there's a great quote over here today that says I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is try to please everybody. And that's by Herbert Swoop. And I thought about that as I was prepping for the podcast today of   That's I think in leadership where I'm not trying to please everybody. I'm going to make decisions that upset people, but I'm always going to make decisions that are in the best interest of the business. how do I own my mindset and make sure that I'm showing up with that clear, sharp mind? How do I have like mental health and grit and make sure I'm having that? What about creating culture, getting a team of ownership, having like my office manager, doctor, duo and having that relationship? What about performance management of my team?   So when I look at this and I think about this, like leadership, like you developing and growing as a leader. And I think that when I go back to this of like a lot of owners just think like I owned it, I got the title of a leader. But leadership is this evolution and this journey. It's becoming, it's evolving. It's all those pieces I listed off, and yet it's not a, it's not a checklist. Like, how do I learn to listen and not react? How do I learn to have my team come up with solutions rather than me?   So I rattled off a lot and all those can hit people at different phases of business. And I believe that I can check one of those off and then I can move. And then my team will double in size or our business will double in size. And I might have to go back to the beginning and the basics again of like, all right, I gotta figure out again how to work through my team. we went from having where me and our team was doing it to where now we're bringing on the C suites and the leader I need to become to manage a C suite versus the leader I needed to be.   Run when Tiff and I were just running the business together. The way I act and interact with my EA and personal assistant today versus when I first had one. It's an evolution. It's a leadership. It's an evolution of who you are. And so it's how do how do we become better at leadership? And I would say listen to podcasts, read books. some I I go back to fundamentals. I read the go giver constantly, I read traction a lot. It's so but boring. Like, sorry, Gino, it's very boring.   read the book, How to Be a Great Boss, Crucial Conversations, Discipline Without Punishment. Those are just some great books, but also look at great leaders and what do they do. For me, I'm a big mimic and mirror. So I talk to people, I talk to dentists that have really great cultures. This is why I love our mastermind group. I bring the best of the best of the best together. And I know because we work with all of them and I know our dentists personally, I have a lot of my great core leaders that I know are just dynamite leaders.   I have them share what do they do? How do they have it? How do they have performance reviews? How do they give cr like critical feedback? Some of the dentists early on in my career. I had them practice these conversations with me, like literally would have to send me voice memos. Practice your leadership skills. Use a consultant. Let's talk through how we're gonna have this conversation, how are we gonna talk to our team about this? But really I think like if I break it down to the nuts and bolts, it's how do I get a team to buy into a vision? How do I make sure that we hold accountability and ownership?   And how do I make sure that I maintain consistency and clarity? I think if I boiled it down and that's a rift on my own side, like not prepped, those would be the pieces I'd boil down. And so how do you become a stronger leader in those areas? And again, there's just indecision is worse than a wrong decision. And so just making those decisions, being more confident in yourself. someone once said like 2.0 is sitting here, and I think about Kiera 2.0, like she wasn't born, she was created.   Leaders are not born, they're created. You've got to like flex and strengthen that leadership skill because your practice can never outgrow your leadership. And if you want to get to the next level of growth, whether that's financially, w

  3. 2d ago

    #1,181: How to Bridge That Trust Gap Between Doctor and Team

    Do things feel a little disconnected between team members in your practice? Tiff and Dana discuss the common signs that usually mean your practice could use a communication refresher, and then give advice on what can be done about improvement. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Tiffanie (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are back at you on the podcast slash video cast, which is still really weird to me. I think I spend more time getting prepped and ready for the podcast than I do for coaching calls, which is wildly, wildly annoying. And here we are. I secretly do   wish that we could just be off camera still, but I I know I enjoy watching the podcast and Aaron watches podcasts every morning. So here we are. Dana, you are my favorite podcaster on a Friday. I love ending my week with you. I love beginning my week with you as well. You are an amazing podcaster and just an incredible person. How are you today, Dana?   DAT-Dana (00:44) Doing pretty good. Excited. I know this is a good way to like have a solid Friday. Get some tip time.   Tiffanie (00:50) It is.   DAT-Dana (00:51) Get to get to chat. it is a great way to end   Tiffanie (00:54) Yeah.   DAT-Dana (00:54) the week.   Tiffanie (00:55) I agree. I agree. And I I was excited because I forgot what the schedule I look at my schedule a million times. This week has been weird. and I look at it a million times, a million times. I even put podcasting in a different color on my calendar so that I know that it's like it's coming. And then this morning I was like, Happy surprise podcasting today. Like two hours ago, I was like, my gosh, this is wild tough. I just can't get it together this week. But alas, I think it's because Brody's birthday threw me off.   He turned eighteen and that has been spinning my world. So here we are, Dana. You have littles at home. It's summer right now and at the point of recording this, we all have we all have some sort of children at home on some level. And how are how's your summer over there going with the with the clan? You have a whole clan.   DAT-Dana (01:44) Yeah, it's going good. It's it's super busy.   Tiffanie (01:48) Yeah.   DAT-Dana (01:48) I feel like, you know, I get to summertime and I'm like, vacation and relaxation and it never happens.   Tiffanie (01:54) No.   DAT-Dana (01:56) but they're enjoying what downtime they get. They're enjoying, you know, being in sports and and the sunshine. So it's good   Tiffanie (02:03) Good.   DAT-Dana (02:03) overall.   Tiffanie (02:05) Good. And I feel like school comes like school starts back up so fast. Like you think you have time and then it's just summer's gone.   DAT-Dana (02:14) Yeah, I know. I'm like I can't believe it'll be here in like a week, really. Yeah.   Tiffanie (02:17) Literally. I know.   Up here, in Phoenix they started going back to school last week. My nieces already had a week and a half of school.   DAT-Dana (02:24) my gosh, that's   Tiffanie (02:26) I know.   I know. But modified year round, that's what we like to do around here. And I think East Coast, they really don't go back until most of them don't go back until after Labor Day. So then they're like wildly thrown off with the mid July start of school.   DAT-Dana (02:41) Mm. Yep.   Tiffanie (02:42) But here we are. today we are talking about leadership and that's one of our favorite topics. I think Dana, you and I definitely thrive in the leadership world and like communication is really, really massive. I think both of us   thrive on communication in our personal lives as well, and just really, really look for those opportunities to create clarity, create trust, to be vulnerable. and all of those pieces. And today's conversation kind of encompasses all of those, I feel. And it has been coming up for me a couple of times, Dana you and I spoke. You've had it come up a couple of times on coaching calls as well. And really talking about and looking at that transparency space.   between a doctor and a team? And I think you and I have some really phenomenal ideas on this. And first I wanna work through kind of workshop with you backwards. Like what is it that a doctor can maybe find in their lives that says maybe we need a little bit more communication or or this space isn't as evolved as it could be? Like what are some signs and symptoms that you've seen within teams that say, hey, we're not   connected a hundred percent and there's a gap here because I do think Dana a lot of times the team knows and notices, but oftentimes the doctor, like to their credit, they're doing dentistry. They're over there working, they're head down and they don't always realize that there's a gap, but the the team does. So what are some of those signs or symptoms that you've witnessed with your practices recently or previously?   DAT-Dana (04:21) Yeah, I think a couple big ones are when it's hard to delegate. I think to when like expectations aren't met, oftentimes there's a gap in communication there, as well as team members not feeling bought in, right? And   Tiffanie (04:37) Mm.   DAT-Dana (04:38) yet we feel like we're saying all the things, we're explaining all the things, and yet team members don't seem really bought in or really aligned.   with pieces, I think those are three that I notice pretty routinely in offices that there is just either a communication gap, a trust gap, or something, there's a disconnect somewhere.   Tiffanie (04:56) Yeah, I love those. I think that's spot on. And within that like delegation and expectation and maybe even follow through. So maybe you've asked for things and the team's not doing it. you've asked for systems to be put in place and they're just not getting completed, or you see you maybe implemented some systems to get a specific result and we're still not hitting that result. those are huge, Dana. That was that was phenomenal. And   Some of them that I've seen too are like an upset manager, like an easily upset manager or a frantic manager, a frantic front office team. I feel like they get hit with it the hardest when there's a a gap and a disconnect and the like frantic or overwhelmed. I actually was listening to a podcast yesterday that was talking about the idea of like actually listening, of being a good listener. And   one spot that it brought up was this sense of overwhelm where a lot of people will come to us and say, gosh, I'm overwhelmed. There's too much on my plate. And so then what a manager or or an owner will do is say, okay, well let's look at what you got. Let's figure it out. And and I remember I told Kira this actually probably July. So probably like six months ago, I told Kira this. I said, Kira, you can find you and I are phenomenal at finding space in a calendar. We can find   blank space and and time in a calendar for the duties and the things that I'm supposed to get done. Right. And I think managers will say that too. Like, yeah, I can see the time and we'll look at things, Dana, and be like, I think they should be able to do this. So if they can do the things, but they're saying there's an overwhelm, this podcast talked about it's not necessarily always, sometimes it is, an overwhelm of physical tasks, like things that need to get done.   Oftentimes it's an emotional overwhelm that's overriding the tasks that need to get done. And so the the emotional aspect of it and sometimes it's that gap in communication can create this whirlwind sense of not being able to accomplish the thing. So I've seen that a ton in front office team members and managers where they're like, gosh, I can't get to the I can't get to the unscheduled treatment calls.   Because I I don't have time. There's no space. And I'm like, it's it they're not gonna answer. Like, leave a voicemail, send a text. Like ninety-nine point nine percent of the time people aren't answering the phone. So it really doesn't take that much time, but that's not the actual issue. Like, there's a root cause underneath that we have to dig into, and all of those things that you said, Dina, those are the symptoms that something else is going on. And I think usually it's an emotional.   space and a and a communication gap or an emotional distance between two people that causes that.   DAT-Dana (07:53) Yeah, I completely agree with you.   Tiffanie (07:55) And I think even at home, right? Like sometimes we're like, he never takes all the trash, or he never does this. I have to do everything. And it's like maybe we just haven't connected on an emotional level to be able to see the contributions that each of us are making. Like we're so disconnected that everything is then something. And I think that happens I say really all the time. Relationships are relationships, they're just like formed a little bit differently, but your connection and your communication is relatively similar.   So if anyone can see themselves in any of that, a team member, a doctor who's here, or a doctor who might think like, wow, I thought everything was okay, but I do hear the word overwhelm a lot or stressed or tired or I don't have, I don't have, I don't have time, I don't have space, I don't have s a spot to do it in. If you're hearing those things over and over and over again, it might be more of a trust gap and a communication gap.   than an actual physical tasks gap. So I beg of you before jumping to hire a new team member, because Dana, how many times have we witnessed that we must need someone else? And I'm like, you've got 16 people for a   DAT-Dana (09:08) Right.   Tiffanie (09:08) four op practice. You're fine. Or how   DAT-Dana (09:11) Yeah.   Tiffanie (09:11) many virtual assistants do you need? Before we jump to hiring a new person, number one, take a look at the space

  4. Jul 23

    #1,180: The Surprising Cheat Code to Practice Success

    Kiera shares ways practices can make patients feel valued from that first visit to their final treatment, including tips for establishing consistency, intentionality, and the genuine connections between it all. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I wanted to just talk about how to help people feel valued. Like, I know that seems so cliche. I know you're like, great, but patience to team members, like, what are some of those secret sauces that just really make people feel that extra ump to feel that extra peace? Because honestly, patients don't leave because of bad dentistry. Patients leave because they don't feel seen, known, or valued. And I don't think it's about being overly nice.   I just think it's about being intentional. And so today I want to just kind of dive into something that's going to impact your patients, your team, your leaders. of just like little tips. What are some little ways? And I'll I'll do a patient side and I'll do a team side of how do you help people just feel valued, feel like humans? And the reason I want to bring this up is because I feel like this actually is a like, gosh, it's like the   Like the cheat code, if you will, to success right now. I feel like so many people are mean. I feel like so many people don't genuinely care right now. People are just not nice in the world anymore. And so to me, I'm like, this is the cheat code to success. This is one of the easiest ways for you to improve and to win in the patient experience, to improve and to win in the team retention experience. And it's one of those of like, how do we have a full journey and different little things to have? So   A lot of pieces that I'm gonna pull from are a book that I really enjoyed, Unreasonable Hospitality. If you haven't read it, read it. That one is one of my like go-tos that I think of often of how can I make magic moments for my patients and for my team. And that's really showing them and help them to feel valued. So a couple of things, and this ties to leadership and this ties to patient experiences. We've got to make sure that we're consistent, having consistency in how we lead, not having favorites, consistency in our patient experience. There was a book, gosh.   I can see the title of it. It's blue. You guys are gonna like write me an email and tell me what it is. But it was about this guy who went to the barber. And every time you go into the barber, it was a different experience. So, like the first time he got like a warm towel and a great shave. Then the second time he like got a shave, but not a warm towel, and then he got a drink. The third time, like towel, no shave, no drink. And he left. And I thought about it like.   Gosh, if you could just be consistent. I think about Starbucks. People say I go to Starbucks not because they have great coffee, but because I know it's always going to be consistent every time I go. And I think about this like people want that consistency. They want the experience to be consistent. They want their boss to be consistent. Like every single month we do one-on-one check-ins and I check in on you on your life and who you are. And we do morning huddles every day. Like things that can feel consistent with our patients. We have a warm handoff. Like it's   A handoff every single time where it just feels like we're a put together movie set, if you will. Like it's like we don't feel rushed. I remember I was in the ER for my appendix years ago. Yep. That was fun. That was a fun moment. And I remember the ER doctor just it felt like he was the nicest human in the entire world. I was not doped up on drugs. at the point, I was in a lot of pain still, but he was so nice to me. And my husband happened to like step out to go use the bathroom and   I remember he's like, Kiera, I saw that ER doctor and he was freaking running, like running. But as soon as he got to the door, he like put himself together, walked in, and was like calm as a cucumber. And I think for us in our patient experience, like we don't want to feel rushed. We don't want to feel like we are rushing through. You can be very efficient and consistent and help patients really feel very valued. So for example, we have a very consistent handoff from hygienist to doctor, where the patient's a part of it. We're not talking behind their head.   We're talking to them as a human, they're part of it. And like I call it the ICRP handoff. So introduction, compliment, recap the treatment already discussed, and do a personal note. This way the patient feels like you heard me, you listened to me. This hygienist has been actually taking care of me or dental assistants. Dental assistants are a little trickier, I get it. but if we say like, hey, Dr. Jones, this is Kiera, you met her last time. she's been doing an amazing job on her flossing. She's really, really ramped that up.   Just so you know, we already chatted. She knows she's got a couple of crowns probably on the upper right. She knows she needs to come back for that deep cleaning. and then she also knows that there's probably a couple of fillings on the lower left. And then just so you know, Dr. Jones, Kiera is headed off to Hawaii next month. and she's just we're so excited for that Hawaii trip. She's gonna absolutely love it. Well, now Dr. Jones can seem incredibly warm. Have a warm welcome, talk to me about Hawaii, compliment me on my flossing. Me as a patient, I instantly feel at ease and I feel like you love me.   You know me, you heard about me, you're going to take great care of me and you're genuinely interested in me. Then doctor does the exam. Doctor then wraps up with the next visit, the date, the time, the recare, making sure that's all done. Wishes me well on Hawaii because we've already made that easy connection. That could take five to seven minutes tops from start to finish. And that patient just felt like I had the most incredible experience with that doctor. I felt like the whole team is on board. Then that hygienist takes that front office team member up.   Or that patient up to the front office and they say, Hey, perfect, Dr. Jones on C Care back in two weeks. We're gonna start with the upper cro the upper right crowns. We're also gonna get her scheduled for that deep cleaning. Kiera, Sarah's amazing. She's gonna take incredible care of you. We've already got your cleaning scheduled for you. I can't wait to see you back in a couple of weeks. she's gonna take great care of you. Now Sarah picks it up and Sarah schedules me and perfect. Let's get you in with Dr. Jones. We'll make sure you're super taken care of. How was it today for you? All these different pieces for you.   Let's get you scheduled. We're gonna get you scheduled for that crown. Blah dah da. Gets me scheduled, sends me on my way. I have a great experience. That feels so consistent. And if that happens every single time where the doctor gets a handoff, the doctor handoffs to the hygienist, hygienist hands off to the front office or clinical team. We say it the same way. We have it. People feel like this experience was magical. They feel like, wow, they like really have their stuff put together. They feel very connected. They feel like they know me. I didn't feel rushed through the process.   You can be psychotic, rushed and behind, but that patient doesn't need to feel that because you are like that ER doctor where you are a duck on water and you're just paddling underneath, but you're taking care of all the pieces. And they're judging like patients and team judge the entire experience. So if we're talking about patients and helping them feel valued scene, practice these interactions. Practice how it is. We can practice how the new patient experience happens. Like, what do we say on the phone? How do we schedule them? What happens if it's ringing?   Also pay attention to when they walk in. Like, does someone greet them consistently every time? Do we have our coffee bar stocked all the time? Do we have like nice things all the time for them? Whatever our experience is, you don't have to go expensive. You don't have to have, but you just make it consistent for them where they can count on it and it feels welcoming. I will also do a hard, like no food at the front office. It drives me nuts. I can't tell you how many times I've walked in and they're eating, and I'm just like, stop it. I know you don't think it's that big of a deal, but it feels you're in a medical space. Stop that. Don't.   Front office, I used to be guilty of this. I had like my little snacks in the drawer. No, go to the break room, get your water in the back. Don't have clutter everywhere. Have it clean when they walk in. Make those patients feel like this is the best decision. It's clean. It's welcoming. Also, if you're on the phone, no problem. You can like wave to them. You can make eye contact with them. You can like point to the drinks. give them a little heart. Like you're so happy that they're there and so welcoming to them. When you answer the phone, smile.   Like every single time we smile, we're so happy to answer that phone. and to truly love them. And so if you do each of those little checkpoints, patients feel insanely valued. And then we pivot that to how do we make our team feel the same way? Let's have morning huddles where we do shout outs of core values. Let's have one-on-one check-ins with them every time. Let's every single day doctors like if you need to, I had a doctor set a compliment alarm where you genuinely compliment and say thank you. Not just a   Thanks for a great day. It's a, hey Kiera, thanks for rocking that root canal with me today. Like you crushed it. I couldn't do this without you. And I'm so grateful I can always count on you. Very intentional thank yous to your team m

  5. Jul 22

    #1,179: Yes, You Can Win Against DSOs, Even As a Private Practice

    Private practices — ever feel like you can't win against the DSOs? Kiera talks about what your practice can continue to produce that DSOs, with their multiple locations and bigger budgets, can't replicate. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and I am excited. Today's gonna be a fun rift of a podcast for you. It's gonna be like, can independent practices like private practice still beat DSOs if you want to? This isn't a rag on DSOs, it's not a rag on private practices. It's just can private practice, independent practices still win against the DSO? Because I think a lot of people are losing faith and confidence and feeling like if I'm not a part of a DSO, I can't win. So I wanna just tickle our brains today.   Think about it in a different way and let's have a fun rift because you remember this is the best place. Dental A Team is the place where we are obsessed about helping you have your best life. We call it the Yes Success Model, where we focus on you and your vision, earnings and profitability, and then systems scale and structure for you. So that way you've got the systems, the structure, and the scalability for long term. I'm obsessed with helping teams and doctors align. I'm obsessed with dentistry. My last name's Dent for crying out loud. I love this. So let's do a good rift. Let's talk about.   Can we really still win? It feels like DSOs, they got so much money over there and like they don't have to worry about margins. But I don't think that that's necessarily true. And I do believe last year, now I believe I know, DSOs had their first down year last year. So like I said, there is no I don't have a dog in the fight. My dog in the fight is which I don't even know where that phrase comes from. So if someone wants to pen pal me and tell me about this, I mean I could sure I could look it up. But like if you know, send me an email, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I'm Kiera. It's fun. It's fun to have a good pen pal over there.   But I I think my dog in the fight is what's gonna be the best for dentistry long term. That is my dog in the fight. I wanna make sure that we as a population, money talks. I don't blame you. Getting a good multiple for your practice, like, why not? You're in you're in the golden era of dental practices. Or so they make it put on paper. Make sure it really is the golden era for you if you choose to go that route. and a lot of people have been very happy. A lot of people have also had the shorts burned off them. Tell me why that's a thing too. Like,   How does someone get their shorts burned off them? I also want to know that phrase. I'm here for the phrases today, too, on the rift. And also, I'd love to know your opinion on this. So I'm gonna rift on my side and then shoot me an email. I'd love to hear. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com so okay, the rift today. DSOs are all like, okay, let me just go back, backing it up. Ultimately, I hope that we preserve the sanctity of great dentistry for patients forever.   That's my hope. I don't care if it's DSOs, I don't care if it's private practice, I don't care what it is. But I do not dental practices are businesses. I also work in dentistry as a clinician. And I'm not okay with us squeezing margins and compromising care to hit margins. To me, that's just unfair. It's unfair for patients. I look at a lot of things in our healthcare system and I don't love it. And so I think that dentistry has been kind of the wild, wild west, and we've stayed out of a lot of it. And so I just hope that while we make   Decisions financially and personally, I hope that we think about our long-term consequence. And that comes for a lot of new ones. I think that there's more senior doctors who have been in dentistry for a long time. Like they're not as worried about the multiples. I think a lot of our newer doctors who have a lot of debt on this, there's an easy cash payout. I would just say and a caution and an ask is let's just remember that we've had pioneers ahead of us who have paved the way.   Let's continue to be those pioneers that are able to preserve and sanctify dentistry, whether that's through DSOs or private practices. So that's Kiera's dog in the fight. And I hope that you agree. And maybe you have a different opinion. So like let's have a good conversation. This is what we talk about in our monthly masterminds. So come chat, hang out. I'd love to have you there. okay. So can we win? Here are some thoughts of how private practices can still win against DSOs. So like DSOs, they do have more locations. They got bigger budgets, they've got bigger teams.   But I do feel like there's still things in private practice that DSOs can't replicate. So I think the biggest threat is if you feel like you can't compete and you give up because there are ways and you can still win. you don't have to outspend a DSO. You don't need to out execute them. I do think that there's still competitive advantages. And so really leaning into whatever is going to be best for you. And again, remember, my my long term opinion is let's just make sure that we protect and sanctify dentistry for the health of our patients. And yes, I want you to be a profitable business owner.   I think you can have both. I don't think it has to be one or the other. DSO or non-DSO. Now, private equity. I do have my opinions about private equity and I don't believe that they're always there for ethical reasons. and so I just say like make sure that the decisions you're making with your practice and your patient is going to help long term, the greater good. So those are my two cents on it. So anyway, just we work with a lot of practices. So I think that there's still ways that you can still compete against large corps, corporations. So number one.   I think is independent practices, private practices, they have a connection that I think a lot of DSOs lack. DSOs tend to have a burn and churn model. So patients actually knowing their doctor, trusting their team, feeling remembered, feeling valued, and making sure that it's not a constant churn. Now I will have a call out. There are a lot of private practices that I know that are also on a burn and churn. They're churning associates left and right. They're turning team members. I get that it's hard right now, but I will say that if that's your practice, you are not competing against those corporate organizations that have.   run of the mill doctors. So I think that private practices can have a consistent provider relationship. I absolutely hate going to the dentist. I actually have transferred away. Like I can get multiple doctors across the road, guys. I don't know if you know what I do for a living, but I work with a lot of dentists. So if I want sporadic care, aka I go into one practice, but I see different providers all the time. And I know we have the whole phrase of they're provide their patients at the practice, which is not wrong.   But I'd say the more consistent you can have of team of providers that's going to help you win. I'm not saying to keep team members just because of longevity. I am here to say though, consistent provider relationships I do think will outshine. Just like I hate getting a new hair person, I hate getting a new nail person. People don't like to change that. So I think that that's going to be a zone for you. So personalized experience and long-term patient loyalty. Those are going to be   key places that I think private practices can win. Now, DSL is listening, guess what? This is your edge as well. Like this is how you can have an edge. And ultimately we're all here for it. But these things need to stay and maintain. so I do believe that patients who see the same doctor, the same team for years are much less likely to leave based on price or convenience. Like they're going to stick with you. Why why? They don't want to change that up. I don't want to go show someone else my mouth and have that awkward moment where I just   Don't like I don't have this, so just know that it's a space where like you gotta you gotta be connected, you've gotta help them feel seen and known. And I do believe that that's that is a zone. Daos are gonna scale systems, but like being able to scale genuine relationships, I do think is a harder thing. So in private practices, watch yourself. Look to see do you have those genuine connections? Are we scaling genuine relationships? Is that something that we're doing in those personalized pieces? You can stand out and still scale and still be profitable. So   I just think maybe like if you're looking at this, looking at your team, wanting to have a reflection, what's a way that we can connect and create more personalized patient experiences? How can we keep like, if we want to keep a patient for life, what's gonna make them want to choose us consistently? If there's a competitor of price, if there's a competitor of convenience, how do we make sure those patients stay loyal to us? another thing I think that private practice can win on is believe it or not, in private practice, you can typically move faster.   So I know a lot of people when they interview coming to Dental A Team coming from large organizations, like, I love that there's not as much red tape, Kiera. I love that you can move quicker, that we can make decisions faster, we're more nimble. And I think that that is a a huge selling point for private practices to be able to out outpace. You can have faster decision making, you can have faster implementation, you have less red tape, you've got greater flexibility. That can also create chaos. We gotta make sure that we don't we don't flex too much. But   If patients are wanting something, we can usually make those calls. We can have a more personalized experience. We can have lik

  6. Jul 21

    #1,178: Stop Going to Doctor With All the Questions

    Tiff and Kristy address why the doctor (or the practice lead or the OM) always end up getting sucked back in to answer questions they shouldn't have to. The pair also gives solutions on how to curb this automatic approach, including establishing clarity, providing the right resources, and being patient when things go wrong. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review   Transcript: Tiffanie (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. I am back here with you on the podcast. I love being here. I love what we get to do, and I love more than any of that podcasting with Kristy. And I hope that you guys have taken the time to get to know Kristy, that you've seen her on other podcasts, but also that you maybe have chosen to work with her. She's got some incredible clients. Kristy is full right now in the in the the   recording of this podcast, but she is really awesome at sneaking in some room there too. We do take advantage of that sometimes. So Kristy, thank you for being here. If they don't know you, I hope they go and figure out who you are. They go scope you if you get some more Instagram follow requests or wherever you're at, just know that's my fault. So good morning Kristy. How are you today?   DAT- Kristy (00:49) Good morning. It's a good morning. I love starting my day, actually starting my week and getting our time together because so many times we don't we don't get to work with each other. So yeah.   Tiffanie (00:54) Yeah.   I know. I agree.   I agree. We have like one half hour a month that we pre schedule to make sure that we can connect. but I love that I do get my podcasting time with you guys too. There's more consultants now, so it's spread out a little bit thinner. but when I when I can, I love getting my time with you ladies. So thank you. Thank you for making this easy on me. I'm actually really excited for this   Topic today. And just so you guys, you listeners, know the topics, they come from the marketing does a lot of research. Our marketing company, our marketing team within our company, does a lot of research on what some hot topics might be, what dentistry is going through right now, kind of just different areas and different facets of life. And so they do come up with some incredible, incredible topics that we love to spin off of.   And with that, if there's ever anything that you guys are experiencing in your world, I want you to know Hello@TheDentalATeam.com is the easiest place to reach out to us or on our website, TheDentalATeam.com. There's a little like chat with us. You can reach out to us and let us know what you're experiencing. We are more than happy to help dive into your cases and kind of figure out what it is. But also that leads to some great podcast topics as well. So if there are things that you want to hear more of.   or less of, by all means, please reach out to us, let us know what your thoughts are, because we'd be happy to add some things into the mix as well. So, Kristy, with that said, I'm really excited for today's topic. I think that this is something that no matter what time of year it is, is relevant. And I know that we work with a lot of leaders, a lot of CEO dentists, a lot of owners, a lot of leadership teams, office managers, regional managers.   DSOs, like we work with a slew of ranges within the dental industry. And something that I think consistently comes back for all of us. And I think Kristy, you and I actually experience this with the level and the size of practices that we get. We experience it quite a bit. And we've experienced it in our own company. Kiera, I love you. We've experienced this a lot in our own company of   DAT- Kristy (03:12) Ha ha ha.   Tiffanie (03:16) not knowing where to go for a decision, so you go to the person that you know can make the decision, I guess is the best way to say it. And we've got a lot of doctors that sit in a dental chair, right? They're in their chair and they've got a drill in a hand and a mirror in a hand and their loops on their head and they're drilling. And they've got somebody in the background asking them where they order their paper from, right? Or something, right? Like the the plumber. Well what plumber should I call? Because the   Toilets plugs. Like I there's a ridiculous amount of questions that are going on behind the doctor. and it and Kristy, the conversation today is is that the right person? Right? And why? Because I think we both get this question from our doctors, why are they asking them? Right? I my doctors are constantly like, Why me? Why me? Like, well, you're really special, right? Like they   I trust you so much. You're just so special. And a lot of it's self-created. We can dive into that. But when we're when we're really truly looking at the end all be all, and you've got your dentist and you've got your CEO, you've got your your different positions within the practice, what are the most common reasons or let's go off of one, Kristy, that you see most frequently? Why is the dentist the one that they go to?   DAT- Kristy (04:13) Yeah.   Yeah. I love this topic as well, Tiff. And I think just for clarity, this can even work for your your practice leads or OM, you know, a lot of times, I I I told you earlier in one of our podcasts that we create our own problems. And I believe that a lot of times this is our own creation too. Again, not not by choice, you know what I mean? But we have to paint clarity.   Tiffanie (04:47) Absolutely.   DAT- Kristy (05:08) We have to paint clarity for our team on what things they are free to handle and what things you want coming to you. You know, number one, paint that clarity. And then number two, give them the resources to do it. I'm gonna try to remember the saying, but it it goes something about, you know, our job as leaders is to know how few decisions we have to make truly in a day. And maybe that's scary, right? That's a scary thought, but   Tiffanie (05:16) Yeah.   DAT- Kristy (05:37) Truly, as the leader, I think you have to paint that vision for your teams and then just continue to reinforce that. Because a lot of times your team's gonna have better answers than you do, even. So clarity, yeah, one hundred percent. Clarity number one. Clarity number one for sure.   Tiffanie (05:51) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And resources.   Yeah.   And I think within that making sure that you have clarity on what w the directions that you're going for one thing, right? Like what how do I make this decision? Because I'm I'm making this decision based on on the end goal for the practice, but also clarity within every job that's within the practice. Like who who would make this decision if not the dentist? So when or if not for for us it would be if not Kiera, right? And I think that's   One, it's very easy to see. It's easy for us to see. So it's easy for us to speak to that within our own company. And then we get the luxury of seeing it within dental practices to speak to that. But just truly know, like you said, it it works for every leader in the practice office managers or whatever. But you guys, this is transferable to any business structure because, you know, unbeknownst to you, you own a business. And so your business structure is not dentistry.   Your business structure is business. And when we can realize that and take the dentistry out of the business and let the business be a business, I think that's where you guys really truly will thrive. You get so lost in trying to make dentistry the business, but dentistry is what you're doing. You're providing dentistry. The business has to stand outside of the dentistry. They can't   Dentistry can't be the business anymore. Maybe a long time ago it could. And you know, maybe you're in your grandfather's practice and your di your father was there and you've inherited some routines and some systems, but the world is different in 2026 and whatever future year you're listening to this in, the world is different, and you have to be able to separate those things. And Kristy, that's I think where that clarity comes in is the business.   Where is the business going? Because the dentistry is gonna be dentistry and the dentistry is gonna follow the trends of dental. we're gonna, you know, we're gonna get all the tech, we're gonna get all of those things, but where is the business going so that the dentistry can still happen is huge. And having the clarity around that and the clarity around who would make this decision if not the owner is huge. And to your point, that's where the leads come in, the office manager and like if you're   If you need a plumber, right? Dentists, owners, if you're the one who has to make that decision, go back to Kristy's first comment. Like, what dis what decisions do I need to make? Is it the most important decision of your day to figure out which plumber, which AC repair guy, which I don't know, carpet cleaner? Like, is that a decision that you want to make and need to make? And Kristy, I think that's where that space of like, no, actually, this would be my manager.   or this would be our clinical director, that that has to be stated and clear so that an office manager or a dental assistant knows who do I go to.   DAT- Kristy (09:01) One hundred percent and document those things. I mean, maybe you do have a doctor that's like, My brother's the plumber, so we always call my brother. Then have a list of those items with the numbers and who to contact, you know. But yeah, and to your point too, Tiff, I think so many times we don't create the space for our doctors or leaders to have these conversations. Like running down the hall in between patients is never.   the time to do it. I mean doctors say yes to so many things they would not have said yes to just because it's like you know right there and I have to handle it but truly block t

  7. Jul 16

    #1,177: In 2026, Choosing a Dentist Works Differently. Here's How to Keep Up.

    Marketing is different than it was five years ago, especially now that AI is firmly entrenched in so many communities. Kiera talks about how AI, online reviews, and local trust are more important than ever, and what you and your practice can do to keep patients coming your way. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and I hope you're having a great day. I am having a great day. I love being in office with offices. I love working with practices. I love being with our team. I love seeing my team elevate and grow. I love watching and seeing just wins. I love hearing how our clients are doing. I love to see the wins our clients are getting. Honestly, dentistry is so great and it's fun. It's fun to see the evolution of the Dental A Team. I remember when I started this, there is no way, shape, or form that I honestly thought.   That we would have this many clients that I get to celebrate and love on and just rally to see them hitting production goals that they never thought they'd do, having profitability, working through leadership team issues, ⁓ revamping what they believe is their why and their power. very invigorating to see offices wanting to possibly sell to a DSO and then finding other alternatives, having offices sell to DSOs, having offices bring on partners and associates. To me, that is one of the most like   rewarding parts of owning Dental A Team is to see so many people and to get to be friends with so many of you and to truly watch I would say like the good guys and girls win. And ⁓ my job and our company's mission is to truly like your success is our passion. So I'm excited. I hope that you're excited. I hope you remember the dentistry. We're so lucky to be a part of dentistry. We get the most incredible job and it's it's not just a job. I think it's a life changing experience we all get to be a part of. So today I just want to kind of like dive into like   AI reviews and ⁓ trust are genuinely kind of changing how patients choose their dentists. And I've been watching this and we've been talking about it within our private doctor communities and ⁓ just recognizing that the world's changing on how people are picking dentists now and how are they finding you? And this is a little ⁓ I feel local. So some areas are gonna have more AI influence versus other areas are possibly going to have less AI influence.   But I think for all of us to just kind of figure out like how are patients choosing to go to the dentist? How are patients coming and picking dentists? Cause I do believe that marketing and the AI, it's different than it was five years ago. So I'm also finding that patients truly have already figured out who they're probably gonna call before they even call you. So like they're gonna determine do they trust you or not before they even make that first phone call. And before I used to feel like we could win them over, and I still believe we absolutely can, but a lot of it's already coming. And so it's coming before they talk to you.   And it's more than just having a website. It's you gotta be able to build that trust online with your patients before they even walk through the door, before they even want to make a phone call with you. So I just want to talk about like how is AI changing behavior, why our reviews like genuinely matter, how things are changing over there, things are shifting. there's some new algorithms if you're not familiar with how Google is switching it up for us, and really just trying to give you guys some preps because I believe that there are maybe some possibly three areas for a practice to focus on to really like   be the choice of your community. So we're big on making sure that we work. We work across the globe. We work across the nation. So seeing practices and how patients are making decisions from small boutique country villages to very metropolitan cities to places where there's not even like more than like five team members to choose from, to little isolated islands out in the Caribbean, you name it, we've seen it all. And so just really trying to help offices ⁓   look at things differently and to be observant. And so I want you guys to to realize that there's still ways to stand out. I think there's still ways for us to make big influences. And right now, AI is so new that we don't know all the ways of how it's working. And so just giving some tips and ideas to kind of have that healthy conversation of what is the innovative way for practices as of today, knowing that it could shift and change. But I believe that when we're on the cutting edge and we're being attentive to this, we're trying to stay   as up to date as possible without like killing ourselves off, I think is very important and very astute as CEOs. they have the phrase innovate or die. And I believe the practices do need to innovate. We do need to be on top of this. Otherwise we will get ⁓ dated very quickly. So ⁓ I think what was happening is patients are they used to rely a lot on referrals and I still think that that is a piece of it. But I will say it's a referrals and then it's a verify.   So they're verifying referrals. They're looking to see, hey, my friend told me this dental office. I'm gonna go double check it. And the way I'm gonna double check it is I'm gonna go read the reviews. I'm gonna check their website. I'm gonna look at social media. I'm gonna search online. Do you how many people are looking? Like you guys, I just went on a trip. I asked Chat GPT. I said, build me out the best hotels, the best locations. So people are starting to use AI. It's not all algorithm from the reviews and different pieces. It's pulling from that, but it's also not there. So we're kind of all looking like AI tells me this and I'm gonna go check the reviews. So   We're starting to have a lot more pieces to that. And so I really do believe like your online presence is a lot of times the exact first impression. And we're looking at evaluating trust before they come in and they're going to like evaluate your treatment. So can I trust this? Do they have a good online presence? And I know that that's annoying because not all the best practices are the ones with the highest reviews. However, society and for years of training of five stars, we're starting to learn that that's what we trust.   So I believe that there can be two practices side by side, similar services. One has recent reviews and online engagement and like very clear online presence. The other one hasn't updated anything in years. Patients are gonna look at both of those side by side and they're most likely probably gonna choose the one with the great reviews. Even if they're identical practices, even if they do the great same dream, even if the one who doesn't have a strong online presence is better, people don't know that. And it like you have to be present, you have to be winning online in order for people to want to come and work with you. So   For me, it's you've got to make sure you're building that trust online. You've got places where people can see you. And we have to remember different types of buyers are going to look at this differently. So if your demographic and population is going to be a more senior patient base, you might still be newspaper flyers, ⁓ having webinars, CE, things like that, where you're in person with them more. If your demographic is anything of like 60 and younger, they're probably online. not all the 60, like from the 50 to 60 range, that's still variable.   But anyone pushing that 50, they are in that realm where they have been trained with reviews and looking online and things like that. So, and regardless if your patient base is older, you have to remember that next wave of patients coming that are probably going to be your patients long term. They are that younger generation. So people don't want just recommendations anymore. They want confirmation. Like I want to trust. I think that in the world of AI where people are really questioning what's real, what's not real.   We're asking for referrals. We're verifying online. We're trying to put all the pieces together because we're inundated with so much noise that people are really trying to sift through the noise to figure it out. So ⁓ I think if you one one call to action on that is like re review your online presence this week as if you're a brand new patient. What's our social media look like? What are our reviews saying? When was our most recent review? What's our worst review? It's okay to have a bad review. Like it truly is. How you respond to that bad review is actually going to weed out patients and it's also going to show people a lot about you.   It's okay to not have the best reviews. It's not okay to have a lot of bad reviews, but it is okay because guess what? Everybody goes on there and the first thing we do is we look for the newest and then we go for the worst. We want to see, we want to see what happened. That's what's also going to make you stand out is real. I don't want you having a lot of bad reviews, but it's okay if you do. It just depends on how you respond and also pay attention. Are there things that you can fix and change with those reviews? Sometimes even calling those patients can help with those reviews. But look at that, see, go ask people to like type into Chat GPT.   Go do it on your own. See if you pull up, see where things are at. Are you the most recommended dentist? Look at those items. If you're not pushing like five, six, seven, eight hundred reviews right now. A lot of people are going to gloss over because there are other dentists that are going to whoop you because they've got like they're going to beat you in the race because they have more reviews than you. So that leads into our second

  8. Jul 15

    #1,176: The Perfect Method to CEO Madness

    For the CEOs out there, how are you planning out your weeks to keep your business humming for the short and long terms? Kiera talks about what it means to plan and delegate as the leader of your company, as well as three tips that CEOs of multi-million-dollar practices live by when it comes to success. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and I hope you are having an awesome day today. I hope that you're loving your life. I hope that you remember that we just are so lucky to live this life, that we are so lucky to work in dentistry, that we get to have our life calling. I am just so excited to podcast with you. I am coming in off the road. You guys know that when I've been on the road, it's a great time. I love seeing offices in person. I love working with teams. I love seeing how very simple.   pieces can actually help out a practice. And it was really, really fun. So I'm just excited. I'm I'm lit up and I hope you are too. So today I wanted to go through just a fun ⁓ I realize a lot of people listening and a lot of our clients and even myself included, a lot of what we're trying to accomplish as business owners is how do we become the CEO of our business and how do we block that CEO time and how do we actually work on the business? Like everybody says like you got to work on the business and not in the business. And I just get annoyed with that. I'm like, okay, but great. Like   Tell me what that actually means. Tell me what I'm supposed to do. And so today I wanted to break it into very much a what exactly does that mean? How do I actually do it myself as a CEO? Giving you guys some tips of what do you do on Sundays or when you block your time? How do you set up your week for success? So I think a lot of time it's ⁓ there was I think it's like if you fail to plan, you set yourself up for failure, something like that. Like there's a quote, I'm sure I could have done a better job on that.   But it's so many times people come in and they feel like they're just very reactive instead of proactive. And early in my career, there was a great client of mine who was like, Kiera, do you know how I prep for coaching calls? And I was like, How? He's like, I go to a coffee shop, I spend 30 minutes preparing for a call, I sit there, I ponder, I make sure that I'm very intentional. He's Do you know how sometimes you feel like you come into calls? Mind you guys, this is like Kiera, like two weeks into owning her own business. And I was like, He's like, You feel like you just rush to the call and ⁓   At that time he wasn't wrong. And it was a really great thing for me to recognize and I think about that often of what are we doing with our weeks as CEOs? Are we running into them haphazardly, not even prepared? Or are we like the client was where we take the time to plan, to prepare, to see what we can actually delegate to our team, to other team members on it, or are we just in reactive mode? I think it's more the how proactive are we versus how roactive are we. So I want to just walk you guys through specifically what I personally do, things that have worked well for my success, things that have worked well for clients that we work with.   To hopefully give you just some good tips of how you can set yourself up as a CEO and maybe start doing things a little bit differently. Like they say, success leaves clues. So let's give everybody clues and tools and different things that we all can do together. So that's what I wanted to do. ⁓ and also just realizing like you genuinely don't find time to work on your business. You don't find time to be a great leader. You don't find time for this. You have to create and make that time. So ⁓ one thing that I noticed is like,   we're going to work on how to stop reacting and be a bit more proactive. So I think when I look at it, you're trying to be a doctor, a manager, HR, scheduler, problem solver, like just answering all the problems and you're trying to do it in real time rather than sitting there focusing. And I will say when I look down the line, I can tell when I've been proactive and I can also tell when I've been very reactive. So I just wanted to kind of give you like three tips how specifically I do it, what I do, and what I've seen other offices do and other doctors do that are very successful. And like I said,   The my elite practices who are the multi-millions, who have multi-offices, who have their lives where it feels like they just have it together, these are things that they all do too. Now, how you do it, when you do it, that's gonna be up to you. But all of us do a lot of the same things. So ⁓ number one for me, I block my time on Sundays. So you can do it whenever. I do not like having the Sunday scaries. I don't like walking into my week. I also don't like to plan on Fridays. So whatever it is, I'm usually downright tired on Friday. And so   that's not usually my best day. So for me, it's on Sunday. So it takes me about I usually plan 30 minutes to an hour, is how long it takes. ⁓ and I still have a physical planner. So, however, it's gonna work well for you. But I like to see physical space. I'm a very visual person, and so I like to see my physical space. So I actually walk through and I go through my entire week. I map out exactly what is there, what's on the calendar, and I I go out four weeks. So I'm looking ahead to see.   What things are on the books, what meetings do I have? You could be looking at your production. So you could be looking to see what do you have coming up? What projects are coming up? What pieces are coming up. ⁓ like right now, mid-year, I'm looking at my taxes. So I'm looking in the different buckets of from as a CEO in the business, like what's my profitability, what's my culture, where are we headed? It's about to be mid-year. So I'm looking to see what what pieces do I need to get done there. I'm also looking for me, I've got podcasting, I've got meetings, I've got   Bookkeepers. I've got different people that I'm meeting with. And so where is that at? And I always am looking four weeks out. Now, office managers should also be doing this as well. So this is for doctors and OMs. What do I have coming? Like what's coming up on the schedule? What are the team challenges? I'm looking to see what team things need to get done. What projects are we doing? What initiatives are we rolling for this week, for the next week, and the following? What I found is when I'm on a four week run, I'm able to catch things, I'm able to ha better utilize my time.   I'm able to see like, gosh, we've got vacations coming up. Do we need to do more production right now? So I really, I personally, Kiera Dent loves looking four weeks out. So looking to see where it is. ⁓ and then I look at this week. So by looking four weeks out, I'm able to say like, where am I maybe put in meetings that I don't need to be a part of? ⁓ where am I missing? What team members are going to be out? What things do I need to proactively plan for? So I'm really looking and like overseeing a lot of those scheduling pieces. Now managers should be doing this as well, looking to see.   Do we have our schedules covered? Do we have different pieces? For me, I'm looking to see who can I delegate, who on my leadership teams in and out, consultants being on the road for you when our associates out. And I think when we proactively can look at this, we can look at our production. We can look at where am I working on the business? What big projects and initiatives do I want to get done? So for me, I just noticed that where it's at. I really do think doctors who are looking at their production a week out, two weeks out, three weeks out, four weeks out, you're going to be a lot more proactive and   I know a lot of dentists get into the rut of just kind of being robotic. Like we go and we do our exams. When you're constantly looking at your week, what is my production? What's my dollar per hour? How am I looking? What were my cases? Reviewing my cases last week, which closed, which didn't close, looking at my PL, looking at my numbers, looking at my meeting with my office manager, what things are on my plate that I could delegate to my office manager. I'm always looking. I also have a list of things that I write down. you can have it as a a digital version or you can have it as a paper version. I technically do both.   ⁓ but really looking to see what is my game plan. So that way when I walk in on Monday, it's very much prepared. I also am planning my leadership meetings. What things does my leadership team need to have in place? What do my consultants need to have in place? ⁓ what do I need to be relaying to our COO and our CFO and what things do I need to have them working on as the CEO? Like at the end of the day, the CEO, we are orchestrating. Yes, we do have a lot of people that work for us and with us. ⁓ but I'm orchestrating of   Who do I need? What meetings do I need to have? Where do I need to make sure that I'm running these pieces? So maybe you're looking at what do I need to get my lead hygienist to be working on? What things if my dental assistants could take over would help me out? How are our supplies? What are our budgets? This isn't saying you're managing the practice. And I hope that you're hearing of you're looking at to me, I feel like I'm kind of doing an inventory. It's almost like I'm going to go grocery shopping. Like what's the inventory of my business? Where are things and what do I need to have the different departments do? Because if I can proactively just   get people working on one or two projects throughout the week that don't rely on me, we're able to make a lot of movement and momentum. And I've actually found my friend and I, r

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This podcast is here to give dentists and all dental office team members, in EVERY position, TACTICAL and PRACTICAL TIPS to: - Be more efficient - Have more fun - Improve doctor and team communications - Eliminate frustration - And make your life easier! Jump in! We are thrilled you have decided to LEVEL UP and be part of the DENTAL A TEAM! New episodes every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

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