Cliff's Notes

Leadership, Facebook Boomerang, Impression Scanning Systems

Cliff’s Notes for December 6, 2009
…..E-Blast…..

Cliff Marsh, Henry Schein ……Cell: 201-321-7494……Fax: 201-262-2210…..E-mail cliff.marsh@henryschein.com
http://www.cliffsnotesblog.wordpress.com

“Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.”
John Adams

In This Week’s Issue
* Leadership & Direction are a Requirement for Success!
* The Facebook Boomerang, “Big Brother is Watching”!
* Technology Up-Date: Chairside Impression Scanning!

Leadership & Direction are Required for Success……………………..
What exactly is success? I have clients that see 5 to eight patients a day and are very happy and others that are pushing through 15-20. They are all successful because success is measured on what you feel is necessary to provide for yourself and your family and how well you sleep at night.

I have written many times about team management and how to focus your staff in your chosen direction, after all, it is your business. You need to be a stern parent, loyal friend and therapist all at the same time, it’s anything but easy. But, remember the old saying “if it were easy, everyone would do it”.

Your staff looks to you for direction. Even those team members that are “outstanding” may not be thinking outside the box because they are not directed to. Let me explain that statement. It’s not that they don’t want to nor can’t, it’s that you haven’t given them permission and you don’t do it by just telling them. Permission is given by communicating with them. Engage in conversations about office procedure and what they feel would make their job easier. If they have suggestions, you need to respond, professionally, to those suggestions. That is leadership.

Leadership starts with organized staff meetings. Do not discuss office policy or procedure at the morning huddle. The huddle is a completely separate issue and we all have morning huddles don’t we? The staff meeting is usually a lunch time meeting. Do it once or twice a month, depending on the size of your staff and their work schedule and buy lunch. These are not a lunch & learn session. Lunch & learns are for continuing education and product reviews. The staff meeting must have an agenda and you need to lead it. Different staff members can be given the responsibility for the agenda, but you need to lead it and keep it focused. It’s at these staff meeting that you listen from a position of authority and I stress the word listen.

I can’t tell you how many times a staff member comes up with an idea, the doc asks me what it would cost, and the issue is just dropped. That staff member will never offer another suggestion. How do I know that? Well, the staff member tells me. I hear it all the time. However, if the cost of the project is brought to the staff’s attention and the ROI (return on investment) is discussed, it may prove to be very insightful and at worst, the staff would agree that the ROI is not good enough and continue to be creative and motivated. One Sunday morning I was watching a news talk show and the president of one of Rupert Murdock’s companies was being interviewed. He was asked what it was like working for Rupert. His reply was “Rupert Murdock walks around his office and comes up with 100 new idea’s every day. 99 would completely be off the wall, but 1 would be brilliant! That brilliant idea may be worth $1B dollars”. However, remember it is your business. Discuss all changes with all of your appropriate advisors because all actions have a re-action. Gather information, make an informed decision.

If you should need assistance or ideas on how to have productive staff meetings, please contact me. By sitting in the back of the room and observing, I may be able to offer some content for discussion and direction. But, remember, you are the one that needs to provide the leadership and make all final, informed decisions.

The following YouTube Video relates to several forms of leadership. It’s not always easy to “make the call” but it has to be made. Hesitation unusually comes with a cost. The clip is 4 minutes long. Hope you enjoy. It is a great movie!

The Facebook Boomerang………………………………………………..
The internet has introduced us to a whole new world of sales, marketing and social networking. Unfortunately, everything has its down side. Many of us have Facebook pages, and they can be a lot of fun as long as you respect the power of cyberspace and manage it professionally.

Let’s talk about the social networks, Facebook, MySpace, Tagged, etc. What ever you put on the site, the whole world will see and it stays forever. As an example, if you and your significant other are on vacation at some remote tropical resort. Don’t post pictures of yourself relaxing on the beach in a revealing swim suite. Your patients don’t need to see that. Several of my clients utilize the network to promote their office. A good example of that is Dr. P. (can’t tell you his name). He is in the social network and post picture of his kids at a ball game or a family trip to the Statue of Liberty. Patients love this. It makes him human and portrays his image of a caring family man. His personality matches the pics and now cyberspace will be kind.

You can also use the social network to help manage and protect your “on-line” identity & reputation. This is a little tricky and you may need some software or professional help. To get started in this new world, Google your name and see what comes up; you may see something you don’t like and if you do, call me. You may want to do this weekly because a reputation can be damaged very quickly in cyberspace.

Below is a copy of the short article I read that spurred me to write this segment. Remember George Orwell’s book 1984? Well, maybe he was only 25 years off.

Facebook boomerang
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY NOVEMBER 24, 2009, 7:57 AM
BY AMY LUFT
THE RECORD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTREAL — A Canadian woman on sick leave for depression said Monday that she would fight an insurance company’s decision to cut her benefits after her agent found photos on Facebook of her vacationing, at a bar and at a party.
Nathalie Blanchard said Monday that she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits until payments dried up this fall.
When Blanchard called her insurance provider, Manulife, to find out why, she says she was told the Facebook photos showed she was able to work.
“If you have insurance, be careful. This is a major battle, and it’s not going to be easy,” Blanchard, 29, said.
She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on Facebook, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a holiday.
Blanchard said Manulife told her it was evidence she is no longer depressed.
Her lawyer, Tom Lavin, said Blanchard was wrongfully dismissed from her benefits, and she had the right to go on a sunny vacation.
“The issue for me is that they stopped her disability benefits without the proper medical recommendations. Her doctor recommended she go on vacation,” he said.
Blanchard said she took three four-day trips when she was feeling especially low, on her psychiatrist’s advice.

Impression Scanning Systems…………………………………………….
I guess you can say that the “goop & goo” impression material market has peaked just like the dental x-ray film market peaked several years ago. Now we are rapidly heading for the all digital, paperless environment. Imagine, scanning the prep and having a perfect digital image transmitted to your lab for fabrication with the material of your choice. A single impression takes 10 minutes to load the tray, seat the material, wait for set and clean up. Oh, we can’t read the margins so we do it again or the lab can’t read the margins and now you have issues when it comes time for insertion.

A digital scanned impression is stored for ever and never has to be retaken. The cost of these systems is about $25k. Take from that sec. 179 ($7500.00 aprox.) and the cost of impression material and accessories ($5k as example) and your at a cost of about $13k. Now remember, we did not factor in the reduced production time. If your practice does over $1M gross/year, you should investigate the ROI on a scanner.

The biggest down side to CadCam Dentistry today is that you can only mill (chairside) all porcelain crowns, inlays & onlays. Impression scanning systems such as Cadent’s Itero System or 3M’s Lava COS provide the ability to scan perfectly and get a PFM. The down side is that you will have to wait 7-10 days like always and have the patient return for insertion. However, digital scanning is the future and you need to start looking at it now.

These links will introduce you to the next phase of high tech dentistry. Please don’t hesitate contacting me if you have any questions or concerns.

Cadent I-Tero System – http://www.cadentinc.com/ 3M Lava COS – http://www.lavacos.com

Sunday, December 6, 2009…………………………………………..
For those of you who did not attend the greater New York Dental Meeting, most convention specials are in affect. All Henry Schein 3+1 promotions are in affect until December 24th.

Cliff’s Notes are archived and available at http://www.cliffsnotesblog.wordpress.com. The blog also hosts direct internet links to featured items.

Please have a safe a fulfilling day. Once the day is gone you can never get it back.

Cliff Marsh
Henry Schein Dental
P.O. Box 663, 45 Rt. 46 East, Suite 605
Pine Brook, NJ 07058
tel. 201-321-7494
fax.201-262-2210
e-mail. cliff.marsh@henryschein.com
http://www.cliffsnotesblog.wordpress.com

December 6, 2009 - Posted by Cliff's Notes Blog | Dental Cadcam