Dental A Team Podcast

Dental A Team

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Management
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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.

23h ago

#1,167: The Life-Changing Magic of an In-Office Consultant Visit

Kiera and Trish are on the podcast together (yay!) to dive into the art of a Dental A-Team visit to your office (double yay!). They go into how an eagle-eyed consultant was able to take a specific office that couldn't quite reach its goals and tip them into success. They also touch on relationship dynamics, the power of "mom eyes," being a cheerleader and a coach, and a ton more. 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 am so excited for today's podcast. I have the one and only Trish. She's known as TADA in our company. She's all the confetti, the glitter, the sparkles, the spice, and Trish honestly just reminds me how great life is. So Trish, welcome to the podcast today. How are you? Tricia Lee Ackerman (00:17) I'm doing great, thank you Kiera. I always love getting this time in with you. Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:21) ⁓ likewise, I, Trish, you are just my little like light on the Hill. just, whenever I need to remind myself how good life is, I just need a little Trishism in my life. So Trish, thank you for being that. And Trish, you just got back off the road. You were in offices and that was what we're going to podcast today of like, you have had some pretty freaking outstanding results after being with offices, being in person with them. And so we kind of wanted to office autopsy that, but like Trish. Just walk us through like what is an office visit like and how does that magic happen? So kind of walk us through because you just Literally flew in I think last night and here we are. was like, hey, let's do a quick early morning podcast with you But yeah, let's let's talk about some of that magic Trish What what happens in an in-office visit and how does that magic happen? Tricia Lee Ackerman (00:57) Yeah, that's good. You know, it's like we do, we build strong relationships, you know, via the Google meetings and video meetings and such, but something truly does happen when you get to touch somebody, hug somebody, and then really just like look at them knee to knee, eye to eye. And I was, when I meet with teams, like it's typically, we kind of know each other already. You know, we've been working together a couple months, sometimes even up to like four or five, six months already. But when we get there and we see each other, And we get to have a lot of fun together as a collaborative team, because the Dental A Team style is like, we are fun. That we definitely are. And we try to make the lives of people easier. And this collaboration that takes place, also is kind of like it's cousins with a trust that also forms at the same time. So it's like we collaborate, yeah, that's great. But then the relationship, it steps it up a notch and a trust starts to come. Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (01:39) Yeah. Tricia Lee Ackerman (02:00) And when you can see that happen, can all, well, you feel it and then you know it's there. And then the magic really starts to like, it speeds up the momentum. It like you hit the, you hit the pedal to the metal and like, it's go. And I've seen it more than once. And so it is truly the onsite visits that, that bring this kind of full circle and put the big red bow on what we're trying to accomplish for ourselves as consultants and for the teams. Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (02:30) Yeah, I love that you say that because you're right. Like we do virtual and in-person consulting. We also have an in-person mastermind, which is so fun, but it's that I think it's the collaboration. It's the connection. It's the conversations that are had that you wouldn't normally have. ⁓ it's having, I almost got like the hallway whispers, teams open up a lot to you when we're in person. They, we find out things. And also when we go in person, you're able to see things. I remember, I think like one of the highlights of my career. was walking into a practice that I had been consulting for almost a year. We were growing them and I walked in and I did like a, it was a head turn. Everybody says I have some good mom eyes without being a mom. And I was like, you guys have paper charts? I didn't know that this was a thing. And how has this never come up on a single call because paper charts should not be happening. And the dentist was like, but Kiera, I'm just so comfortable with them. And I said, well, great, we're gonna get really uncomfortable and it's time to change. I just think it's a... Tricia Lee Ackerman (03:23) Yes Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (03:27) things that offices don't even know that they should be bringing up to you of issues on virtual calls. We can't see the practice. can't see how like there's a practice. You and I both know them very well. The thing we did for them was we put in a different flow and that's all we did. And that increased our case acceptance, it increased team morale, but it was just something simple like that. So Krish, you have a practice though. You got an office, it's a unique office. ⁓ And I think what's magical is, after the visit, it's crazy. People can always tell, I had somebody actually chart my visits and they were like, Kiera, without fail, every time you come in, we get a boost in production, a boost in revenue. And I'm like, well, yeah, cause the team's happier. You guys are all aligned. You're rowing in the same direction. But the goal is that that can also sustain. So I hope that it's a, and what I have seen is it's a boost and it's like, there's a spike, but then it's also the baseline goes up and it stays up. Typically speaking, because people are like, well, if you're not here all the time, how are we supposed to get these boosts? And it's like, no, it is a boost, it's a spike, but then is the baseline hires and we live in that, that becomes our new norm. Then we come back in and we spike again and the baseline norms up again. So Trish, let's talk about, you got a couple office autopsies out there. What did you do for some practices and what were the results afterwards? Tricia Lee Ackerman (04:42) Well, I have, I do have a client and there's two practices. We joined them together for the onsite visit and they were, because there's the two practices, they are real, they're very great with being collaborative, but we were all together. So everything was implemented at the same exact time. you know, Kiera, what are the other things I want to throw in about our approach is when we do implement and when we do go onsite, it isn't like the Dental A Team way. You know, doesn't have to be this way. You know, we asked the teams, well, here is a way that we could do something a little bit easier. How do you think we could do this? So there are really big part of, and these teams that we work with, I mean, they're like, geniuses. They really are. We actually learn so much from them. But this particular team that really kind of sticks out to me, they were really struggling hitting their goals. They kind of just didn't know how to do it. Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (05:26) Okay. Tricia Lee Ackerman (05:36) But we set in metrics that they could, we broke them really, we broke them down almost like to the hour. So they didn't have to look at a big thing. And yes, that we can do virtually. However, being together and me being able to watch them collaborate and give them those like, almost like the standing ovation, like, wow, did you guys see what you just designed? And Kiera, when I left that practice, they have hit their goals the last two months now. We put in some, which, Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (06:03) Yeah. Tricia Lee Ackerman (06:04) is so neat because they have such a skip in their step. But this, in February, they were $600 away from their collection goal. It was the last day of the month. They ended up going over by $4,000 because they are competitive with each other now in a super fun way. And they ended up getting a patient that was in for a consult to schedule and pay in advance because they wanted that goal. And Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (06:07) Ha ha ha! dang. That's incredible. Tricia Lee Ackerman (06:32) And it's those things that they would not have done before. again, you know, it's almost like it's an invisible magic that does take place because they now know that they have somebody that's not there to change them, that's there to help them. And they want to make us proud. They want to make themselves proud. And it just kind of like the progress that they want to make steps up quite a big level. Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (06:35) Mm-hmm. Tricia Lee Ackerman (07:02) It just does. It just does. Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (07:02) Yeah, it does. And George, what I love, and I think you highlighted it so well, you're exactly right. I think all of our team, not I think all of our team members, all of our consultants have been team members before. And that was something as a team member and also as a business owner, I wanted to make sure when Dental A Team is consulting, we don't go in and we don't say, have to follow this script. Because people push so hard on that. They're like, listen, I'm not your robot. Like I don't want to do that versus here's some tools and here's some resources. Like my job is to be your little fairy godmother, whatever I can do to help you. But at the end of the day, we're looking for outcomes and results. We're not looking for robots. And so if you guys are doing a great job and you're hitting the results, fantastic. And I think Trish, what you said is I think Denali team does a really great job of bringing teams together, helping them put together tangible, actionable plans that are like, this is what we're going to do in here is how we're going to set the goals, but we get the teams to do it. And yo

23 min
1d ago

#1,166: Tackling Overhead? Look at These 3 Areas First

Tiff and Dana address one of the most popular topics for Dental A-Team consultants: overhead! They talk about what it entails, where to start when looking to reduce it, critical questions to ask yourself about needs versus wants, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Tiff (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. Thank you for being here with us today. Thank you for listening. We say this every time, but we love what we do and we love bringing you so much valuable information. And the fact that Kiera can do all the podcasts she does blows my mind. ⁓ but she is a busy bee over there, and the fact that we get to do these as well is just really, really fun for us. It allows all of the consultants here on our team to really feel like we're giving back to you guys. So with that, I have Dana here with me today, and Dana, gosh, we have been podcasting together for a really long time. I can't even put a number to it. And I remember, I don't know if you remember, but I remember I remember where I was sitting. I remember the thought process. And I remember it was me, you and Britt on a call on a Zoom link. And it was the first time marketing had said we want to do video with the podcast. And I was like, what? And video like was not, it was just like up and coming. I didn't understand it. It was on Instagram. I was watching I was like, why am I watching you talk? Like the a podcast is to listen. Why am I watching you talk? And now I mean it's very normal and that's how I watch them. And I feel like I feel like it was like YouTube came back around, you know. But anyways, I remember that day vividly. ⁓ I don't remember what we were talking about, but I remember being like, I have to like do my hair. I'm gonna be seen. DAT-Dana (01:23) Yeah. Yeah. I know it was funny because we always could see each other, right, in those early days, but it was just like we weren't creating the video content for it. And I remember thinking exactly like who's gonna want to watch Tiff (01:33) Yes. DAT-Dana (01:35) us who's gonna want to watch us do this thing but then I see my kids literally like watching people play Minecraft and it's like their favorite thing and I'm like wouldn't it be more fun to actually go play? So I do feel like there is definitely this like niche of people like wanting to watch and like you know get a glimpse in of like the podcast world and just different worlds in general and so I agree with you. I remember the three of us just kind of being like who's gonna want to watch us talk to each other but hey we're so glad you're here. Tiff (01:37) Yeah. Yes. It's true. Yeah. DAT-Dana (02:05) Yeah. Tiff (02:06) Yes, I agree. And the three fur podcasts are hard. So hard when there's so many people virtually. And yeah, I r I remember the shock. I wish I could remember what the ⁓ podcast actually it was probably I bet you it was probably one that we did for Kiera. We probably it bosses day or something, yeah, 'cause if there are multiple of us. Anyways, that was that popped into my head this morning as I I always have to now have like prep for podcast time so I can like DAT-Dana (02:12) Yeah. Like Boss's Day or something like that. Yeah. Tiff (02:35) just tame my hair or get my ring light just right. And I'm like, gosh, I remember the days that we did not have to do this. And then we have c new to Dental A Team consultants come on and I'm like, we're gonna podcast. And they're like stressed and I'm like, I get it. I just I get it. I saw them go talk yourself in the mirror for a bit first. You'll get used to it. DAT-Dana (02:50) Yeah. Yeah. I know I remember in the early days I would always have to reframe my podcast because I'd see podcasting on my schedule and I'm like, ⁓ like I gotta get on. So then I just started reframing it. It was like time with Tiff, time with Britt, time with Kiera. And it's how I like kind of learn get over the like of the podcasting space. So I totally feel it when new consultants are like, I have my first podcast today. Tiff (03:12) I love that. Yeah, yeah, and they all come to you, right? 'Cause I'll all schedule it and then they're like, Dana, what do I do? That's so cute. Yeah. I love the reframe. That actually like goes I think hand in hand with what we're talking about today. ⁓ but I think you can do that with anything and I have to remind myself, even like gosh, when I get up in the morning, I got up this morning and I went from for my walk and I was like, ⁓ this sucks and I was like, No, you get to be in the morning sun. You get to move your body before anybody else in the house is awake. Like I think that's the part that's the hardest is like everybody else gets to sleep, you know? But you that reframe is so powerful. And we can look at a schedule and think I I look at my schedule and I'm like, shoot. This is so busy. Or gosh, I'm I'm like So long today, and I have to reframe it often and be like, gosh, no, actually I get to do something really cool. And I get to wake up and go for a walk and I get to do these things or I get to go to an office and I get to be boots on the ground with other people. So I love that you mentioned that reframe, Dana. That was really smart. So today's reframe, which I love, I think this is one of the most popular conversations that we have. We get a couple of things here at Dental A Team. ⁓ We love everything that we get, but the most common, most popular things are systems, which we will help you with systems, I promise you. And there are thousands of podcasts I think that just Dana and I have done on systems and operations manual. So go look them up. We're not doing that today. And the second, which I actually really have grown to truly love, ⁓ is overhead cost reduction and and overhead analysis. And so many practice owners and leaders come to us and they're like, gosh. what does overhead even mean? I know I had a conversation with a client last week that has been in the dental like consulting world for years and years and years. And w his question was what does that even what does it mean? Like overhead can mean so many different things to so many different people and so many different consulting companies. And for the sake of today's conversation and the sake of forever with Dental A Team know that when we say overhead, we are talking about top of the line Whatever I always say if someone were to purchase your practice, what are the expenses they'd be taking over? Anything outside of that, your pay, your taxes, your debt, your debt will follow you typically, right? You can lump it into the loan, ⁓ but it's not overhead top of the line expense. So your debt, meaning your scanners, ⁓ your school debt, anything like that is outside of quote unquote overhead. So when we talk about overhead, it's top of the line and that had to that that explanation, I think it can just vary. It can vary depending on who you're talking to. So today we wanted to reframe that, Dana Go. No, I love it. DAT-Dana (06:08) and I don't want to interrupt you, but I think too just just to be clear on overhead too, anything that you run through the business, right? Again, that's not something absolutely with your CPA, you structure it how you want. But understand that that's not an expense that somebody is going to take on when they take over the bracket. Tiff (06:25) Yes, I love that. Thank you. Good clarification. so with this kind of reframe, every everybody's like reduce overhead, reduce overhead. And I totally agree. And a lot of a lot of companies, a lot of people, ⁓ a lot of strategists will come in and they're like, okay, what can we cut? And we for sure, like, we'll come in and look at what if there's space to make cuts, but our biggest piece is always we're not gonna spend a lot of time on it today because we've got a million other podcasts about it. I think I just did one actually with Kristy not that long ago, but the first place we're gonna look is your collections. A lot of people will say, I need to over I need to produce. And I love the statement, you can't outproduce your problems. So if you're producing, producing, producing, producing, but you're still feeling like there's an issue. And if you're meeting the financial, like you're meeting your goal, your production goal, but you're still cash flow short, then there's an issue in your collections. And so look at your collections and Dana. I would love to hear quick snippet, what are the areas that you tackle when it comes to overhead and it comes to collections? And then I want to talk about the reframes and the other pieces. DAT-Dana (07:33) Yeah, so you're exactly right. The first thing I'm gonna look at is the collections number. I'll look at the total, like what is the total percentage and like what profit point do we need to get to when it comes to collections? And then the very next thing I'm gonna look at is your AR because honestly and truly I've been able to get practices out of cash flow crisis, out of really feeling that pinch simply by going after already produced ⁓ monies. And so I think that those are usually the things that I look at. Okay, what are we collecting? What does our profit point need to be for healthy AR? Right. And and obviously we're gonna talk about is that possible? How do we get your schedule to get you there? But then the very next thing I'm gonna look at is AR. Is there money that I can just quickly tackle that's already been produced that's gonna help the collections problem? So I'm looking at the total collections, collections percentage, and then what's sitting in AR, because if I can tackle that and make a really quick difference, ⁓ sure, we can budget things, we can line ite

29 min
6d ago

#1,165: The Perfect Quarterly Calibration

Re-releasing a Dental A-Team favorite… Ladies and gents, he's back. Dr. Dave Moghadam is again on the podcast, this time to talk with Kiera about quarterly team calibration. While there's no silver bullet A-to-Z cookbook for how to operate a practice, an outline certainly helps. Dr. Moghadam shares his outline for setting up the ideal quarterly calibration meeting: Start with the why (review practice's mission, vision, and values) Align over treatment, planning, and diagnosis Review what makes your practice stand out To keep things exciting each quarter, Kiera and Dr. Moghadam also chat about ways to shake up the meeting. 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, I am so jazzed to welcome back one of my favorite doctors, an office that we coach, and he just thinks outside the box. This man is brilliant. He's grown a ton. I'm so proud of him. We've worked with him for quite a while. So welcome back to the show, Dr. Dave Moghadam. How are you? speaker-1 (00:47) I'm doing wonderful Kiera. Thanks for having me. Super excited to be there. speaker-0 (00:50) my gosh, absolutely. Well, when we were doing our last podcast, you were somebody that I just admire. One, you're a doctor. So you give a different perspective than I do. Two, you're brilliant. And three, you've got lots of cool topics that I'm excited to share. So I am Jazz. When we were on our last podcast, you came up with a few more. Today you just came up with another one. Guys, I will tease that one out. It's not today's podcast, but we will do it again. It's gonna be I T F U. So I hope you guys are excited for that. I'm excited. speaker-1 (01:17) That's the the closest I think I can get you to swearing. speaker-0 (01:20) It is the closest. but today we're gonna kind of dive into team quarterly calibration, which Dave, I will say, is probably one of my top doctors that thinks in systems, but not just thinks, actually executes. And you see massive growth and evolvement of your team. You were one of the offices who literally called me during COVID and said, Kiera, I'm gonna train my hygienist. What do you have on hygiene training? And I was like, Who are you? Fantastic. We have our hygiene training course. Like, here you go. Try it out. We're beta testing right now anyway. But kind of let's take it away, Dave, on this team quarterly calibration because it's so needed. And I love that you've actually created a system around it that you've proven to be effective in your practices. speaker-1 (01:59) Yeah, for sure. So I actually I I got the idea from another office that you work with that's in up upstate New York. Wonderful, amazing doctor. Really, I mean, really, really just drives home that aspect of really just thinking outside the box, having a crazy drive and really just executing. Really has a wonderful team in place there. Let's be real. speaker-0 (02:20) He's far away. Dave, you know he's far away. And I'm gonna say this like out loud because I know exactly who you're talking about. And I actually mentioned this to another doctor I was talking to today, and I said, let's be real. He's far away, and I visit him four times a year. Like we're talking opposite coast from me. And I said, and I truthfully do it because this man I think is such a brilliant leader, and I selfishly go to coach them to learn from him. So agreed, like just massive kudos want to bring this on. And you were mentioning he had a word document. He's just brilliant and I'm so jazzed that you took some things that he did and spun it to your own. And I wanna point out, everybody listening, take what Dave's gonna share. He took it from somebody else. I don't think there's anything wrong in taking items, mimicking them, mirroring them, and recreating them for your practice. So please, please, please, like do exactly what Dave did. Take it and shout out to that office in New York. Thanks for paving the way for so many great ideas. speaker-1 (03:14) Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I think that's the best thing. I think when we all go ahead and, you know, take take ideas and expand on them and share them back and forth, you know, things really kind of get going. I'm always happy to, you know, help help out others in in the same way. But at the end of the day, I've tried to explain to people that I've shared, you know, a lot of my systems, my processes, my my things with is just because it's it good for me doesn't mean that it's gonna be good for you. You have to do the work, not because I want you to not, you know. reap the the rewards of this, but because it it has to fit for your office and it has there needs to be some some ownership, some authorship from from your team and how things work as well. So I mean taking the concepts and expanding on them and making your own is gonna be the key in, you know, anything that we're gonna talk about today or just in in general, really. speaker-0 (04:00) Totally agree. And Dave, you just drove home a really, really good point because I don't think that there actually is a plug and play. I don't think you go to the store, buy a system, come back to your practice and say, Okay, let's put it in, put the batteries in, read the instructions. I genuinely think, like you said, it's a concept, it's an idea that then needs to be transformed into your own practice. And I think so many offices get frustrated that they don't see momentum because they literally try to say, like, well, this is what Dave did. So take it, move it into my practice and hope that it goes on autopilot. But they don't realize the countless hours you put in to making this work for your practice. So I love, love, love. And I hope all you guys heard that because I'll give you guys systems all day long on this podcast. It's what we do. We come to your practices and do it. Bottom line is there's a reason we don't have an A to Z cookbook as a consulting company. I don't believe it works. I believe you have to customize it to your practice to get momentum. speaker-1 (04:49) You can have an you can have an outline because even even even with making this, I mean, spoiler alert, like I made this, but then you know, six months later, a year later, like, you know what? Like, we should probably do this like this. It's a never ending, it's a never ending thing. It's just the way that things go. And I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean it's it's one of those things as you you grow and you learn. And the other thing that we'll get to is as as your team becomes more comfortable and they start to go ahead and give their input about things, that's when it really kind of, you know, starts to hit its straw. speaker-0 (05:20) Right, right. I agree. So we've teased it up enough, guys. So we've got this awesome team quarterly calibration. So Dave, kinda take it away again, and like you said, this is this is as of today, but I promise you, give Dave six months to a year and it will look it will look different. It will be fine tuned again. so I'm excited. Take us away. speaker-1 (05:40) Yeah, so I I think the first thing is like ever every office, you know, in starting to create, you know, why you're there, what you're doing, all that stuff. In in one way or another, you sit down and you and you figure out your mission, your vision, your core values, like all these key concepts in, you know, any business. And that was something that we did really early on, as I was actually five, five years ago, probably right about now when this podcast is gonna air. first thing I did is I sat down and we kind of all talked together about what What are we going to do? Why are we going to do it? You know, why are we here? So kind of reviewing those key concepts. And we we kind of cycle through, you know, reviewing those things on a weekly basis, but it's a good time to kind of highlight that in the beginning. of like, well, why are we here? What are we actually trying to do? Why are we going to make the decisions that we make on a daily basis? So that's the first thing. The other thing is like, well, what are the practice philosophies? Like, how are we going to treat and plan? Why are we doing things in that way? You know, this kind of stems off of that. And then you know, we move towards, you know, in discussing things with patients, what's the way we're going to do that? You know, so the key concepts I always kind of bring out is, you know, what do we see? You know, what's going to happen if it's if it's not treated? What are the best options that, you know, you we can give somebody? And, you know, why is that better than other options? You know, so these are always the key points that I I want in the back of, you know, our team's mind when we we're talking about situations and things that we see. And then other than that, I mean, I think it's two other big, big topics here. You know, what conditions, you know, are we going to encounter? And you know, how are we going to discuss those things and what is treatment planning generally like? And then what makes our office special? You know, really highlighting those things, like talk

36 min
Jun 17

#1,164: This is Why Your Front Office is Struggling

Does your front office feel overwhelmed? Kiera shares what the problem is 99% of the time, as well as how to clear up the confusion, and three tactics that bring about clarity and control very quickly. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Trasnscript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today, I just wanted to talk about front office overwhelm. Like, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. That's a real thing, it's a real deal. This happens all the time. And I just want you guys to be able to fix that quickly and easily. So today, we're here to wrap. We're here to have a good time. We're here to talk about the front desk overwhelm and how you can fix that and do it with a ton of ease. So. If your front office feels overwhelmed, if you feel like they're overwhelmed, if you're ever scared to walk up there because you're like, my gosh, they're always stressed out. This is the episode for you and your front office team, because honestly, it's usually not that they have too much to do. It's that they're just, I call it front office soup. Then they're just all like, it's a bowl of spaghetti and we're all slurring and slopping and it's just a mess up there. But because we just have to figure out what matters and who does what. And it usually, in front office team members, I hope you hear me loud and clear, I'm not being a jerk, I'm Kiera Dent from the block and I've sat in your shoes and I understand it and I've been in your shoes and I know this overwhelmed feeling. It's not usually a workload problem. Usually what it is, is it's a role clarity problem. 99.9 % of the time, if we clean that up and we like untangle the ball of spaghetti, everybody's super happy, everybody's clear and things start rocking and rolling. So. Again, this is where we're at today. I wanted to just give a quick tactical podcast for you for that front desk overwhelm. And I want you to just know that like at Dental A Team , every single consultant on our team has been in your shoes. ⁓ I don't just say these words on the intro to the episode. We don't just understand you. We genuinely are you. We've been in your shoes. We've sat in your shoes. We've sat at the front office. We've taken the phone calls. We've had the schedule fall apart last minute. I've had the treatment plans not close. I've had doctor on my case saying, Kiera. get the schedule full and I'm like, I don't really know what to do, okay? I've had that phone running a million miles a minute. We get it. It's chaotic up there, but it doesn't need to be chaos. And so when we have all that, how can we take the urgency away and help you focus on the important thing? And so this is gonna help us kind of figure out like, why do people get overwhelmed? How do get the confusion cleared up? And then what are three things that bring clarity and control very quickly? That's not gonna take months and months to get that stabilized, but to actually do it really quickly. If you don't know us, hi, we're the Dental A Team. I'm Kiera Dent. Dent really is my last name. It took me three fiancees. You can ask me about that later. It's a real joke, but it's a real life. I love dentistry. I love helping people have their best lives. And I love the dentistry as the platform that brings us all together. I've been a dental assistant, a treatment coordinator, a scheduler, biller, an office manager, regional manager. have all my own practices. I took my first office from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months and opened a second location. To say I've been around the block is not a lie. I have bought practices, I've sold practices, I've been parts of DSOs, I've been part of boutique practices, I've merged offices, you name it. I don't think that there's a single thing that I haven't done yet in dentistry, so try me. I'd love to meet somebody that I'm like, yep, never heard of that before. ⁓ And our job is to make dentistry fun again. Our job is to make you love your life again. Our job is to bring simple clarity. But as a business owner myself, I hated where I'd go to conferences and people would just talk. to me and I have to go back and rally my team and I realized I'm gonna create a business that's gonna make your life easier. So we actually work with doctors and teams. We help doctors set the vision, where are we all going? And then we figure out your finances. Let's make sure you're profitable. And if you have tax aversion, like you're so scared of it. Not that you don't pay it, don't get me crazy on that, but that you're so scared because you feel like you're making money but you're always broke. We help offices actually like find the money, keep the money, make the money. Like let's have you be profitable. And then the other part is how do we do system and team development together? I call that the yes model. You first vision, making sure you're taking care of E stands for earnings and profitability. S is systems and team development. Doing that yes, success model. So you can say yes to more in your life. Truly, truly. And teams freaking love us because guess what? We get this. We understand it. Doctors love us because we're magic magicians that can fix it with your team, but also help you be profitable. It's like. Let's put a bow on all the beauty together. So let's talk about your front office because everything freaking feels like a priority. my gosh, I gotta answer the phone and check patients out. I gotta try and schedule all the doctors asking me questions. I gotta keep my doctor busy. I've got constant interruptions nonstop. As soon as feel like I get patients checked in, that hygiene team's bringing them right back out. It is nuts. And it's because we just don't have priorities hierarchied. And also we're not using time when we need to. So when front office is jumping between five tasks and finishing none of them well, that's chaos. And so how can we actually make it to where things aren't as chaotic? Because yes, you're always gonna have interruptions. And I think for us to never feel like, I can never have interruptions, like that's not my perfect date. That's not real life. We signed up for an amazing job that's very busy up front. And I feel like my job in front office, I say like, I'm here for air traffic control. Like that's my job. And I'm gonna make sure every plane lands easily, AKA every patient has an appointment. I get them scheduled. We're gonna have calm. Like I want to feel like JFK's airport. Like we're there. I just think about that airport and that air traffic control. I'm like, they have people flying in and out like mayhem or you can go to Atlanta or you can go to like any big city. Like think about that air traffic controller. And that's who like, I want to be at the front office. So front office team members, hopefully that's a good vision for you of, Hey, yes, we've got a million things going on, but we are laser focused on what's the most important thing. And so I love to give like, okay, number one, our scheduling person, what's their number one job? Their number one job is to make sure our schedule is filled to goal every single day. That's your job. So hygiene and doctor like bada bing, bada boom, that's your role. You keep them on there and you do not leave the day until your schedule is full. Like I'm not having you go home like, well, I did my best. ⁓ Outcomes over activities. I am big on this. We own our role. We don't just do a job. We own that. So if I'm a scheduling guru, you better believe I'm going to have my hygiene schedule full, full. That doesn't mean perfect. It means full and productive. And I'm going to have my doctor schedule the goal. treatment coordinators, your number one job is to have your doctor's hitting goal or exceeding goal every single day. Not a full schedule. I don't want all the white space filled in. But if my doctor needs to be hitting 5,500, you make it rain sister or gentlemen, you go figure out how to do it. You go look at your unscheduled treatment plans. I'm not gonna say you sit here and call 20 unscheduled treatment plans unless you're an office that's 7.5 million, then yes, maybe we'll put that as a job. But 99 % of the time, your job is to call as many as needed to get your schedule full, period. So scheduling coordinators, it's to make sure we're running on time, hygiene's full. Sometimes I have doctor over there. Treatment coordinators, you're always responsible for getting doctors scheduled to go. Billers, 98 % collections, non-negotiable. We gotta have money in the bank, otherwise we're broke and we can't feed our team. And we've done the work, we need to collect the money. So from there, and then office managers, your job is to make sure profitability is there, KPIs are being hit, and the whole team is flourishing. So that's just like a very simple like. Yeah, but Kiera who's first on phones first on phones is scheduler first person they're always on it unless you guys like no we want them to be concierge style we have a concierge then they're not first on phones but we have somebody who's first who's second who's third on phones so as that phone rings we've got it can you set up a phone tree so where if they've got billing questions it just goes to the billing line and the biller can help with that if you're like Kiera I only have two people in my front office fan freaking tastic we need to have dedicated power hour time so front office and scheduler usually does insurance verification too typically that's who's gonna do it but sometimes my treatment coordinators, like they want to make sure that they get all their insurance verification done and they have maybe a bit more time than our schedulers do. So again, it's who's got the most amount of time and who's the best with bandwidth on that. That's how I'm gonna set it up. I

20 min
Jun 16

#1,163: At Practice Capacity? Here's How You Can Still Grow

This episode is all about the capacity of your practice — what's on your mind for growth, as well as components in your practice that might surprise you in boosting your production. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Tiff (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are so excited to be here with you today. Like we say every single time, we truly, truly do love podcasting and we love what we do. I think getting into it, ⁓ Dana and I, we just spent some time figuring out what this podcast was going to mean and how we were gonna take it. So sometimes it can be like a little daunting, I feel like. But once we get started, ⁓ I think it just flows and and we love it. So, Dana, thank you for workshopping this title and this project with us today and how are you doing? It's like full blown summer in Arizona. ⁓ it's hot and it's beautiful. And I know we chatted last week and I said are sports done and I was like, yeah, that's right. Sports are never done. So Dana, how are you? How's life down there in the Tucson area? DAT-Dana (00:48) It's doing really good. Like you said, summer's in full swing, so sunshine's out, kids are, yep, back at sports. ⁓ I just feel like I don't know. I am a su I always say I'm like a lizard. I like to soak up the Arizona sunshine, but I do feel like as the older I get, sometimes these summers get a little bit more brutal every year. Tiff (01:07) I agree. I keep saying, is it actually is it getting hotter? Is it getting harder? Or am I getting older and less tolerant? Because I'm the same. I'm a lizard. My ⁓ my family calls me the the lizard because I we even went to the pool yesterday and I was like, no, I don't wanna actually be in the water. Like I just want to be in the sun, feeling it on my body. It makes me feel good. But I'm the same way that I'm like I'm just I'm getting so much less tolerant. I really do think that Yeah. Yeah. I know. DAT-Dana (01:25) And so. Yeah. Yeah. fun fine. Tiff (01:36) I know. Well, today's content I think ⁓ I'm excited about. Like I said, we workshopped it and I think we came up with some really solid solid pieces here because I think this is something, especially at this time of year, actually, that a lot of doctors and practice owners, one, you get that like itch mid year that you're like, Am I doing enough? Do I need to do something else? And then we see a lot of doctors kind of like sideswipe their team and really just undercut and be like, We're adding something different or we're changing everything up or Whatever. ⁓ and also at this time of the year, I know for us, at least with our clients, it's a time of year that we really start thinking about next year. I know that seems kind of wild, but that like June, July, August, September timeframe, we're really starting to project, okay, what's left of this year, how are we going to make those goals and exceed those goals? And then what is that gonna roll into for the following year? So this kind of subject that we have today, this this chat, I think falls right into that. And what we want to chat through is capacity. I love that word. I love the word capacity because it can mean so many different things. I think there's like capacity of our mind. And I talk with with practices in Dana, I know you do too of capacity for team members a lot. Like what is their capacity and not just their time capacity and what they're able to do, but also like their brains, right? How much, how much pivoting can they do in one day? How much how much different subjects can they take on in one day? And what's that capacity? But really today I want to chat capacity of your Practice and your numbers. And Dana, you spoke really eloquently about this a second ago. And I want to I want to bring that back around to the capacity of the practice because I think first and foremost, when a practice owner thinks about growth, they think, okay, I need more operatories. I need a second practice. And I need, I need, I need. And it's like, yeah, we sometimes we do have to invest to recoup. benefits, right? So we do have to invest and we have to we have to grow the physical space. ⁓ and I and I think for so long in dentistry it was like how many practices do you have like the first question people asked and how big is your practice? What's your revenue? How many patients do you have? And those questions still swim around and it can make a practice owner feel like they're reaching and grasping for something that they're not even really sure that they want yet. And I know Dana you've seen that too and something that I love watching our team work with their practices in is really growing within the capacity of the the physical capacity that they have within their practice without having to make that initial investment. But also Dana, I've watched you like grow into that. So projecting and saying, cool, then at this point or in one year, in two years, in three years, this is the capacity, the physical capacity that we want to get to. So I want to really dispel the fact that capacity means we have to actually grow the physical space because I think Dana there's so much to be grown within the space that we have. And I want to talk through those pieces so that a lot of our listeners here today might pick up something that they're like, gosh, I never thought about that or ⁓ I forgot to do that. There's a lot of those, I forgot to do that piece. So when a doctor comes to you, Dana, and they're like, Dana, I need to grow but I have no more hours. I have I'm tapped, I don't know what to do. What are some of the first places as a dental consultant that you look at with those practices? DAT-Dana (05:03) Yeah, I think a couple things. I think that I look at like how comprehensive are we treating the patients within your practice? So are there things that we're letting walk out the door that we are skilled and know how to do that we can keep within the practice, which helps us, I think, just more comprehensively treat patients, which naturally will grow production. ⁓ I love that you said yes, we're at maximum hours, but I do think that's always a place to look before you look at more space, before you look at expanding. Can you just add hours somewhere? and oftentimes those early morning, those evening hours, patients really, really like too. So we feel like those can stay full. I also will look at insurance participation. Can we change insurance participation and again be able to maybe even lessen our capacity but keep growing our practice with patients? who align a little bit more with what we're looking for as far as like patient avatar ideal patient. Tiff (06:00) Yeah, I love that I have a lot of practices that are doing that right now in this like June, July, August timeframe. So that in September, October, we can start at least sending those letters that say, Hey, will you increase our fee schedules? Because there are so many that are out of line. And I think that's a huge discussion ⁓ that's been going around really for the last like two to three years. But I think very, very soon it's not even gonna be a discussion anymore. It's just gonna be a thing of the past. So we are approaching that, I think. You're totally spot on the fee schedules, fee schedule analysis too for your practice. And I think, Dana, understanding I have a practice I understand that you can do this at any point. You can analyze your fees, you can request fee schedule increases. It doesn't depend on your contract with the insurance company. Just request those fee schedule increases because the worst that they can do is say no. And then you evaluate your contract obligations with them and what you want to do for your practice. We get so scared of like, well, When can we? It's like they're they don't actually tell you. You just do it. You just do it and then they tell you yes or no. I have a practice that actually increases their fees ⁓ during the summer. And so a lot of practices will wait and they're like, it needs to be January because that's like a fresh start. And I think for me, Dana, it makes me think of like I'll start my diet on Monday. ⁓ no, it's fine, I'll just I'll do it on Monday. And then we get to like December, January, and they're like, Well, wait, we didn't tell the patients yet. And then they hold back, they hold back, and then it's a whole nother year again. before we do fee schedule increases. And it just doesn't have to be that dramatic. And that can significantly increase the dollar amounts coming in, which is ultimately our end goal, right? And I think it's like in dentistry it's hard because we're healthcare professionals. So focusing in on those dollars and being like, gosh, you know, charging $1200 for an implant seems crazy because we came from a spot where we were charging six forty two not that long ago, right? It feels like not that long ago in dentistry dentistry is so progressive and it changes so constantly. We have to stay up on on our fees and we have to stay up on the times where dental insurance doesn't do that. It can hold us back from making sure that we're increasing those fees to where they should be and that we're you guys are making the the dollar amounts, the overhead structure that you want to and that you should. So making sure that you're looking at those is massive. And then Dana, you also said that the patient avatar, and I have I have some the clients that have, gosh, like thousands upon thousands upon thousands of patients and evaluating the actual patient base. So active patient base is, you know, whomever's been seen within the last 18 months. And then looking at are those patients even our ideal avatar. I've had clients that have had to basically dismiss patients because their p

27 min
Jun 11

#1,162: Stop Being the Ceiling In Your Own Practice

Part two of Kiera's conversation with Howard Farran on the Dentaltown podcast. As a business owner, the greatest gift you can give yourself is to get systems in place so you are not dependent on core people. This second part of Kiera's conversation with Howard is about determining your weaknesses as a practice, building systems to fix those weaknesses, and letting your practice hum regardless of who's sitting in the seats. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:02) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and quick heads up, today's episode is a special repost from a podcast I joined as a guest. It is a great conversation for practice owners who want to progress without carrying everything. I cannot wait for you to hear it. Let's dive right in. speaker-0 (00:16) And you know, I was doing a million dollars in the eighties, a million dollar practice, and I went to two and and I I thought I actually think I had a higher treatment plan acceptance rate than my buddies on just measuring the same day. My clothes is always like, you don't want to come back. I mean, we could you know, I'm when I'm doing the hygiene check, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna leave. The hygienist gonna Denise Missy, they'll numb me up. speaker-1 (00:21) They're like eight million now there, Howard. speaker-0 (00:44) And and then and then move her to room eight and we'll we'll we'll knock this out in 30 minutes because you don't want to drive all way from work and then kid and school. You just pulled your kid out of school, now you want to do it twice. It I just always s insisted on just the same day because if we do this because from my perspective, if we do this filling a day, it's two fifty. If you walk out that door, half of you never come back until it hurts, and then it's a twenty five hundred dollar root connected crown. speaker-1 (00:50) Amen. speaker-0 (01:12) It's only one tenth the price to do the filling. I got a room. The hygienist can numb you up. And then I always hit the hygienist on the show and said, You should have numbed her up before I got here and I could be doing it right now. And she laughed and she said, but that's illegal. I said, I'm not a lawyer. I'm a dentist. Let's get this done. But just by really leaning on same day. And I really think that was a huge part of our success. speaker-1 (01:37) Well, and Howard, I think what you said is like going back to the COVID crank, I think so many business businesses right now have lost that like customer service and let's make it easy. Like, as you said, one of our core values in Dental A Team is ease. And I'm always like, How can you make it easy for everybody? Because that's what people want. Like you said, like no one wants to take time off for the dentist. I'm switching dentists right now and they're like, So you're gonna come in for a hour appointment and then we'll bring you back in like three months for your hygienist. And I told my assistant, I was like, just call them back. I was like, tell them no, no, no, like Make it easy. I don't want to come back. And so I think when offices take on the mentality, I have grown practices 10, 20, $30,000 a month just by same day treatment. Like just get it done. Let's train our team. Like, let's be quick. Let's have that quick turnaround time. Now, of course, doctors, you've got to be like Howard can get that done and he can rock it out and he's great. If you're a dentist that is not quite that quick, like we do not want to scale back all your patients. So maybe you do like add, add on an extra filling that's already in the quad that you're getting numb. Like, where can we do it? Can we add that fluoride in today? Can we add in this thing? Can we take the scan today? Because you're right, no patient wants to take time off of work to come to the dentist. So like let's just rock it out, make them a raving fan because we went above and beyond to make them happy. speaker-0 (02:49) And and and it also is a good variance counterbalance to no shows and cancellations. You know, she said yes, and then your next patient didn't show up as opposed to reschedule this one a week from now and then then this doesn't show up. But hey, I want to ask you, I'm gonna hold your feet to the fire on this. True. Would you rather build a dental office on rock star employees or rock star systems? speaker-1 (03:16) ⁓ this one is I think the this it's ⁓ it's interesting because I think that there's space for both. However, Rockstar employees can walk out that door and then you are left. And I say that this to me is where as a business owner, you're shackled and you're always going to feel scared. You're gonna feel scared to hold accountability, you're gonna feel scared to ask people to do their job because you're so afraid of them leaving. Whereas if you have systems, I'm not here to say be a jerk, like that's not what we're here for, but it becomes so much easier to just plug and play. And then also for team members, they tend to stay longer because they understand they've got clear systems. And people get really weird on systems, Howard. And I think they feel like systems are so hard. And it's like, I'd rather just bring someone in who knows what they're doing. And I'm like, but make that repeatable. So if they're out and I make my rock stars go on vacation for a week. I'm like, absolutely. And people are like, no, no, no. I don't want them to leave. And I'm like, you need them to leave because you need to see where it breaks down and you need to build systems. But I will say as a business owner, the greatest gift you can give yourself is to get systems in place where you are not dependent on those core people. Like I want great team members that love my patience and do what they have, but I want it to be a repeatable process that every time, no matter if I've got Susie, Sarah, Jenny, Mike, John, anybody, we're giving the exact same experience. Like I look at Chick-fil-A and it's the same amazing experience. Every time I walk in there, they say the same thing and none of us are annoyed by that. And teams are super happy and thriving. I interviewed a guy who's a big wig in Chick-fil-A and I was Fascinated by the culture. I was like, tell me more about this. And he's like, we have systems. We have buddy systems. We have it built on systems. That is the core to great success. And it's the core to like less stress in your business. Like obsessively, I am so obsessed about simple systems. I've been called the Dr. Seuss of systems. Make it so simple that anyone can do it. And then hire amazing talent that treats your patients with the great culture that you want. speaker-0 (05:08) Yeah, and if the systems are so good, they don't even have to have dental experience. I mean, I the best receptionist I had was the the teller at Chase Bank next to me and I absolutely said her, I said, You are so dang good. You're always happy, always you remember my name. I said, What do I have to do to get you to work for me? And she she told me and she's been here for you know, over a decade. just the same things. speaker-1 (05:36) Howard, I want to highlight, I hope dentists listen to you. ⁓ there are not a lot of dentists that are scrap like you. And that's something I love about you. And this is just like a little, it's not intentional, like boost your ego, but like please take it. Like it's a good boost. You are so scrap, right? It's like, let's just get that done. Like again, like let's do same-day treatment. My best employee in the company was my next door neighbor. I knocked on her door. She like took care of my plants when I traveled. She's like, those things are gonna die. I was like, the fact that someone as a neighbor just watered my plants to be nice to me. She's been amazing. She's been with me five years, best incredible EA I've ever had. You ask the bank teller. We look for great talent. You build on systems. And I just hope the dentists realize like, just saying yes and GSDing, like, let's just get it done. That is something that I think so many people have like lost that art. And truly, that's what impresses me with your podcast, with who you are. And I just hope that people here, you don't have to go for perfect. You don't have to find this perfect person. You just gotta be scrappy and gritty. And your practice will grow and you'll have great team members with you. Like it's not actually hard. And I think we make it hard, but just hearing your examples, I hope people listen as a dentist, this is what makes successful dentists in dental offices and great team culture as well. That is the core vote values that he's got. And it is why he's so successful. And I hope dentists can learn from that. speaker-0 (06:53) Well, thank you. And I got did I ever tell you a story about the third hygienist they hired? I I already had my two full time hygienists, everything was great. And ⁓ this ⁓ young girl walked in, just graduated straight out of hygiene school, and I could hear someone giggling up front and they said I was busy, you know, she wanted to talk to me and then she just took it upon herself just to just to walk through the office and I I er and anyway, long story short, I finally got done. I broke, I met her. speaker-1 (06:57) Tell me, I'm ready. speaker-0 (07:20) And had no opening for hygiene, and she was so into the office, and she's asking all the right. I can just feel her energy, she's like sucking out my soul. And I and the first thought I said is she's from Alwatukee, she lives in Alwatuki. Do you want to compete against this girl for the next 40 years? Or you know you want her on your team, you don't have room for her on their team, but she ain't gonna end up across the street. I hired her and told everybody we'll just have t

35 min
Jun 10

#1,161: Doctors, Do You Struggle With This Very Common Blindspot?

Part one of Kiera's conversation with Howard Farran on the Dentaltown podcast. They discuss how many details a dentist should know about their business, what about the COVID-19 pandemic still haunts practices, the AI of dentistry and the human care of patients, hidden gaps draining profitability, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today we are sharing a guest interview I did on another podcast. And it was too valuable not to bring you guys here. this episode, you're gonna hear this host lead the conversation and then I'll wrap us up at the end. I cannot wait. It was truly one of my most episodes and I truly hope you enjoy. The Dental A Team (00:17) It's just a huge honor for me today to bring back Kiera Dent. How are you doing, Kiera? my gosh, Howard. It's so great to be back. I remember my very first podcast with you. I was actually at an office in Alabama and I went like hid in this room because I was starstruck podcasting with you. So to be able to be back on the show with you ⁓ several years later is just fun. I love what you guys are doing. I love Dentaltown. I love your posts. so it's really fun to be back. So thank you. ⁓ the honor is all mine. Just remember Kiera likes Shakira. And Dent is just her nickname. The full name is Dental Queen Goddess. So thank you. And ⁓ she is the founder and CEO of the Dental A Team, committed to elevating dentists and their teams to their highest level through customized in-office and virtual consulting and training. Her vast experience ranges from the front office to assistant, regional manager, and dental practice owner, giving her a perspective few consultants can claim. She and her team work with hundreds of dental practices nationwide and confidently say we don't just understand you, we are you. Among her many accomplishments, Ciara has grown a practice from 500,000 to 2.4 million in just nine months with a doctor straight out of dental school. She's coached hundreds of practices, authored numerous articles, and designed a customizable operations manual manual that serves as a roadmap for systems and team success. Her Dental A Team podcast has amassed nearly 2 million downloads, making it one of the most impactful resources in all of dentistry. Kiera lives every day by her core values. Do the right thing, ownership, passion for excellence, ease, grit, innovator, die, and fun. Her motto says it all. There is always a solution. And my gosh, I just want to tell you the truth. And the reason I was so excited to bring you on. It seems like dentistry has turned into two groups of dentists. There's all the old farts like me who, you know, we had, you know, we had great practices, great lives, great careers. And then you got these younger dentists that look at us and say, ⁓ man, you graduated in the good old days. You know, you didn't have five hundred thousand dollars of student loans, you didn't have DSOs, Delta hasn't given us a raise in four generations, and and and they're mad at the ADA. I think they're even mad at their mom. I I they're I think so and they're not happy. Do you have any good news? For these dental graduates with $500,000 of student loans, or did they make the wrong decision and should have become a plumber? I mean, you know, plumbing is always a backup plan if dentistry doesn't work. So I think you're like at least in that realm. Like, you know, there's always options. But I love dentistry and I actually, ⁓ I think we're actually in the best time of dentistry. And I know that yes, there's the good old days. Then Howard, those were great days for you. But I think like, how many options do people have now? We have AI, we have these innovations, and I mean. Your my example of a student straight out of dental school, we actually had one million. So I actually called her 2.5 because we had $2.5 million. So from student debt to practice loan debt to buying another location, all within a couple of months of us starting the practice. And so I called her 2.5 every time I walked past her. I was like, get that back straight, girl. Like we got 2.5 mil of debt on us. but to be able to grow our practice in nine months was Absolutely incredible. And I think that that's where dentistry is amazing. There is no cap, there is no ceiling, and you have a way to truly impact and change people's lives. And I'm like, you have DSOs as options. Like there were not the times where you were getting the multiples that you get today. You also have like there are so many avenues that dentistry can afford you. but I think it's a it's a matter of what you choose to focus on, is what you're going to find more of. If you want to sit here and say, ⁓ my gosh, it's awful. We have 500,000 of debt. And I'm like, Yeah, but guess what? My husband had Not quite the same, but we had several hundreds, thousands of dollars of debt. And he's a pharmacist. And so I understand what it's like to come out of school and have hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt on us. But guess what? He's making, you know, hundred, hundred and fifty. If we're lucky on a good day, we're capped out. It took us forever to pay back our student loans. But as dentistry, you have untapped and uncapped potential. And so for me, you get to change people's lives, you get to give them confidence, you get to help them have better health, and you're able to make people smile like. I can't think of a better opportunity to be a part of. And I'm not just Pollyanna over here. I coach hundreds and thousands of offices. I've seen the good, the bad, the ugly, and the in between. But I'll tell you, depending upon how you choose to view this, you can either find the good or the bad. And I'd recommend like, let's find the great because it's a gold line of opportunity if you want to see it. What what do you say to dentists who say, Mm-mm, you know, I I really don't want to complain really a bit. I mean, on paper my My practice looks perfect. I got two hygienists. I do a million dollars. I do all this, but just internally it just feels chaotic and stressful. So it looks like on paper he's doing everything right. But she says, I still feel like chaos and stress. What's what's that about? I think like welcome to being a business owner. I think that there's two sides of success. In the word success, there's literally the word suck. Like there are parts of success that are going to suck. Like that's just how it is, guys. And so that chaos and internal turmoil, I think I there I have lots of offices where you don't have to be that way. And I think going from like operator doing all the pieces, being stressed out into like a CEO of a business. ⁓ I think sometimes dentists are such gunners doers, they're so hands-on that they have this internal chaos. But there there are paths again that don't have to be that way. But I also think this is part of the game of business that we signed up for. And I think when you get to the level like Howard. You've seen, I've seen over our career, we've got the gunners and the doers and the like zero to two year business owners. Like it's freaking chaos. It's psycho. Like you're learning these things just like you're back in dental school. But as you mature, you start to realize that the chaos is just part of the game. And the more you're able to learn to weather it, to see it, and to not do all the pieces, elevate your team, get great people, do like hire it out. You can hire, I mean, a practice is doing a million and you got great profitability and overhead. You can hire a lot of great people to take away a lot of your problems. And so like, let's get some of those things done. And then you actually become happier and you make more money. So that you don't have to sit in that chaos. I think that there's a part of it that will always suck. but there's also a part that can really be the successful part too, that's fulfillment and enjoyment. But you got to make the steps and take the steps to do it rather than just sit and complain about it. Love it, love it, love it. ⁓ what do you what do you say about the ⁓ the dentist who got out of school, goes and works for a major DSO, say say he's working for Rick Workman, Heartland, and he works there two years, and you know, he you know, he's working for a guy that owns eighteen, nineteen hundred dental offices, but he can't tell you the code for a profit. Can't he'll say, like, you know, are they paying my pay right? Really? You can't check at you. I mean, it it's like It's like they'll listen to a forty hour lecture on the difference between two different composites, but they did I mean th they worked through two years, they don't know insurance codes, they can't check out a patient, they don't know the software. I mean, I had one guy tell me, ⁓ the only thing you could tell me about the practice manager software is the brand name. He couldn't tell me and then he's asking me, you know, it what which one you know, but anyway, do you think do you think a dentist doesn't need to know all the business details? Or do you think that's a blind spot and you can't delegate anything till you can do it and master it? I think that there's two types of owners. And I think that there's some that are really great at hiring people that they are great at hiring people, knowing it, listening to podcasts, hiring coaches, training the team, and like having somebody spot check for you. Then there's others that like they've got to know the ins and outs. But I think that like Howard, there's To me, there's also a middle ground where I think that you can go sit with your biller for one day and just like say, like, walk me through your process. So you have a general idea and an understanding of

38 min
Jun 9

#1,160: The Best Ways to Prep + Budget For CE

Continuing education on your mind? What about areas in your practice you want to grow, or strengths and skillsets you want your team to have? Tiff and Kristy discuss the power of continuing education, including why it changes lives (and offices), where to fit it in your schedule, how to add makeup days of production, and a ton more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Tiff (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are so excited to have you here today. I know there's an intro you guys listen to that says we're excited for you, and what you're listening to today is the consultants, and we're taking over. ⁓ and and we really are excited to be here today. I have the one and only Kristy Treasure with me this morning. And ⁓ Kristy, I had a client this morning. that they have a client that is a client of yours. And they were like, Who is it? It was, it's, it's treasure, right? Is that her last name? And I was like, that's truly her last name. She truly is a treasure. And they were looking at it. ⁓ your client had recommended you to them. ⁓ and they they were like, is Treasure really her last name? So I felt like I needed to say it tonight. How are you? I know it was it was cute. Yeah. Yeah. The Dental A Team (00:37) No. ⁓ that's so cool. Good. Yeah. Tiff (00:48) It's the middle of the week for us. This is a wild podcasting day for us. but here we are. Kristy, thank you for being here. And you've got a full week of calls this week too. It's first week of the month for us recording this and how's ⁓ how's everything going over there? How are you how are you doing? How are your clients looking? What have you what trends are you seeing on your end? The Dental A Team (01:09) Yeah. It's crazy because I'm seeing a lot of clients have things fall out of their schedule in May, yet we had great numbers. I'm like, is May gonna be the new September or like what's happening here? But I I don't know if it's weather related, graduations. I don't know. It's it's weird. Tiff (01:24) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree with you though. ⁓ here like rounding out end of May, like looking at Maine numbers. I've seen the same thing. I've seen a lot of practices that had some stellar production and some stellar collections. And I even have a few practices yesterday that were shocked when they looked at their numbers because they felt like they were so much worse because the schedule kept falling apart. ⁓ yeah, and I said the same thing. I know my o my Ohio office, I said it's cause it's finally not like The Dental A Team (01:51) Yeah. Tiff (01:57) like fifty degrees and ninety mile an hour winds, people are trying to get outside. So we're definitely hitting that season. And I think people are maybe prioritizing their personal lives a little bit more than maybe we're used to ⁓ in dentistry and we might be seeing that. I don't know. But I agree. I'm seeing that for sure. The Dental A Team (02:17) Yeah, and it seems like it's coast to coast. So and the weird thing is is I d even if I say graduations and stuff, that's not new for May, but we'll see. We'll see. Yeah. Tiff (02:26) I know, I know. Yeah, yeah, I do agree. I do agree. Well, I'm excited for the summer. I know here in Arizona it's getting warmer, but we've had a pretty tame summer so far and the rest of the country's catching up to us. So I thought today would be a good day to get us some podcasts under our belt and we chatted before this and decided we're gonna chat about CE, you guys, ⁓ continue continuing education and Honestly, Kristy, continuing education is something I think you really, really love personally, professionally, and for your practices. It's something I see you prioritize a ton. And so actually, this is a perfect podcast subject for us. And I thought let's chat through some of the CE opportunities, but also, Kristy, I know you and I both work with a lot of practices and a lot of dentists who do a ton of CE. And making sure we add that into their budget is something I think both of us prioritize. So I thought we could chat about that some as well. So first and foremost, Kristy, personally for you, I would love to hear like what does your CE and your life look like and how how have you successfully prioritized it? Cause I think others can see that in themselves as well. And you truly do. I watch you. You're you're constantly learning, you're constantly absorbing something. ⁓ and how do you how do you fit that into your life? The Dental A Team (03:52) Yeah. Well, I I am much like you in that we like to prioritize things and be efficient at it. And having gone through James Clear book for atomic habits, I think it's actually up there on my shelf, but we talk about this all the time and I like to combine, hey, every morning I have to get ready and so why not listen to a podcast or an audio book ⁓ while I'm getting ready? And so Tiff (04:00) No. The Dental A Team (04:20) A lot of times I will do that for sure. But then also, you know, you, me, all of the coaches, we look at lag measures within a practice and lead measures. And in the next few months, I we're talking about summer, but September is going to be here around the corner too. And we start looking forward to the new year. And as part of our process for looking into the new year, part of that planning can be planning for continuing to education. Tiff (04:38) It is. Okay. The Dental A Team (04:50) What are areas within our practice that we want to grow or grow for ourselves and or for practice needs and literally starting to map that out and what it looks like for next year. Tiff (05:05) Yeah, I completely agree. I completely agree. And I do think this is the time of the year to think about that because also if we haven't budgeted for it yet for this year, now we need to start looking at what would that budget look like for next year. And I know, Kristy, to your point, there are so many doctors that I've worked with that get to June and they're like, Tiff, there's this thing I want to do in October, but it's full, so I'm on a wait list. And I'm like, Well, when did the list start? Can we do that in twenty twenty seven or whatever the next year is? Can we do it in that year to also budget for that and be like top of top priority on that list instead of on that wait list? So I totally agree. This is the time of year to start that. Yeah. The Dental A Team (05:44) For sure. I was gonna say too Tiff with CE, listening to you talk. I think about it almost like we break marketing into internal and external. I think with CE, we can almost break it that way too. There can be some very low cost, no cost, just like the podcast or webinars, or take time out of the practice, even to work on some of your internal systems. And that is continuing education for your team too. Tiff (05:55) Yeah. For sure. The Dental A Team (06:14) So you could break it into two different buckets. And I know today we were talking about budgeting for the external CE, if you will, but I think teams need to think about that too. And there are the priority of mandatory CE, your HIPAA, your OSHA, making sure we're planning those and blocking them in our schedule too. Tiff (06:31) Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a really good point. And to your point, the like webinars and the ⁓ team and staff trainings and all of those like OSHA HIPAA ⁓ team training just in handoffs in general, what you guys do with Dental A Team when we come into your office, all of those pieces are continuing education. I totally agree. And sometimes you do have to shut down the office. I know Kiera and I talk about this a lot actually in our COVID shutdown is when Dental A Team like we we were we busted at the seams. We had so much ⁓ work to do. It was wild, but it was because it was that forced shutdown. There wasn't an option, right? And so rather than having the force shutdown and the practices that we knew really not doing anything, they decided, hey, Kiera, Tiff, we need you to train our teams virtually while they're while they're sitting here so that we can continue paying them and they can continue to grow. So when we come back, our systems are solid. So we were building out operations manuals. We were doing ⁓ we were doing CEs, we were doing how-to's, we were doing everything you can think of, training practices and ⁓ teams in that capacity to your point where it's like, yeah, we just shut down and we're just doing an overhaul of these pieces to get it to where we can run again as soon as we get back. And that is a a massive point because it is continuing education and the budgeting portion of that. still is okay, great, we're gonna shut down for three days. What does that look like? How do we add that three days worth of production into the rest of the month to make up that shutdown? The Dental A Team (08:09) Absolutely. And sometimes it may be cost effective or more cost effective to bring people into the practice versus going outward. But looking at what you have in budget and what it would cost to do it beforehand. Yeah. Huge. Tiff (08:18) Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree. I remember one of the first offices that I went in practice to a long time ago, right? We've been doing this for so long now. But one of the first practices I went to, they were like, Whoa, wait, you want me to shut down my afternoon? And I was like, Yes, I do. And they were like, We can't, we can't lose that production. I was I promise you, you're gonna make it up tenfold after the fact because you're all gonna be rowing in the same direction. So no matter what we do during this meeting, It's gonna be incredible. Your your meeting's gonna be incredible. You're go

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Thank you!!

06/04/2024

jaminhdds

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and wisdom of all things dental. It’s is a pleasure to listen to your tips and tricks! There is almost always something that I hear you say that makes my office a better place and me a better person!
Great for Dental Offices

05/08/2024

Shelbey A

This is a GREAT resource for dental offices and someone like myself that aspires to be a better dental consultant. Thanks for all your wisdom! ❤️
Genuine and Helpful

01/18/2024

Dr. Jointer

This is a non-filtered straight to the point podcast for Dentists and teams. I appreciate the openness and transparency into the gritty details that go behind the scenes of dental offices that nobody else can speak to.
Love new branding!!

01/04/2024

TN OM

Absolutely love the new branding and love this podcast so much more!! Very helpful advice from all aspects of the dental office! Thanks you all!!

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Dental A Team Podcast

#1,167: The Life-Changing Magic of an In-Office Consultant Visit

#1,166: Tackling Overhead? Look at These 3 Areas First

#1,165: The Perfect Quarterly Calibration

#1,164: This is Why Your Front Office is Struggling

#1,163: At Practice Capacity? Here's How You Can Still Grow

#1,162: Stop Being the Ceiling In Your Own Practice

#1,161: Doctors, Do You Struggle With This Very Common Blindspot?

#1,160: The Best Ways to Prep + Budget For CE

Thank you!!

Great for Dental Offices

Genuine and Helpful

Love new branding!!

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Dental A Team Podcast

Episodes

#1,167: The Life-Changing Magic of an In-Office Consultant Visit

#1,166: Tackling Overhead? Look at These 3 Areas First

#1,165: The Perfect Quarterly Calibration

#1,164: This is Why Your Front Office is Struggling

#1,163: At Practice Capacity? Here's How You Can Still Grow

#1,162: Stop Being the Ceiling In Your Own Practice

#1,161: Doctors, Do You Struggle With This Very Common Blindspot?

#1,160: The Best Ways to Prep + Budget For CE

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