Cliff's Notes

Where Does Your Revenue Come From? & How Do You GURU?

Cliff’s Notes for January 16, 2011

 

 

….. 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

 

 

“No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.”

Andrew Carnegie

 

 

In This Week’s Issue

·         Where Does Your Revenue Come From?

·         Product Review – GURU Patient Education!

 

 

 

Where Does Your Revenue Come From?…………….

The biggest revenue generator in your dental practice is you! When you are in the operatory you are producing. When you are not in the operatory, you are consuming. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a lot to do outside of the op when you are running a business, but you need to minimize those hours so that you can maximize your chair time.

As I go through my day I see office after office so afraid to employ talented management because of salary requirements. They are walking over dollars to pick up dimes.

Ask yourself these questions:

1.      Do you insist on knowing what your staff is doing every minute of the day? If you need to worry about what they are doing, look to change personnel.

2.      Do you instruct them to shop for deals? If you do, will the time be better spent putting patients in the chair?

3.      Does your staff understand what a “business partner” is? The bigger question is, do you understand?

4.      Do you get upset when your manager makes a mistake? No one bats 1000! Even a clutch player will slip.

5.      What issues keeps you away from the chair? You need to delegate those issues to a competent manager so that you have more productive time.

Today’s office automation will generate detailed reports allowing you to see the true production of your business. The cost of automation and the faults involved will be out-weighed by your increased production. It’s all about procedure and protocol.

I have been involved with enough high quality and highly profitable dental offices, as well as my own business, and I can fully respect the value of competent management.

Delegating work, responsibility, and authority is difficult in a company because it means letting others make decisions which involve spending the owner-manager’s money. At a minimum, you should delegate enough authority to get the work done, to allow assistants to take initiative, and to keep the operation moving in your absence.

“Let others take care of the details.” That, in a few words, is the meaning of delegating work and responsibility.

In theory, the same principles for getting work done through other people apply whether you have 5 employees and one top assistant or 150 to 200 employees and several managers. Yet, putting the principles into practice is often difficult.

Delegation is perhaps the hardest job owner-managers have to learn. Some never do. They insist on handling many details and work themselves into early graves. Others pay lip service to the idea but actually run a one-man shop. They give their assistants many responsibilities but little or no authority.

How Much Authority? Authority is the fuel that makes the machine go when you delegate work and responsibility. It poses a question: To what extent do you allow another person to make decisions which involve spending your company’s money?

Yet, if an owner-manager is to run a successful company, you must delegate authority properly. How much authority is proper depends on your situation.

At a minimum, you should delegate enough authority

1.      To get the work done,

2.      To allow key employees to take initiative, and

3.      To keep things going in your absence.

To Whom Do You Delegate? Delegation of responsibility does not mean that you say to your assistants, “Here, you run the shop.” The people to whom you delegate responsibility and authority must be competent in the technical areas for which you hold them accountable. However, technical competence is not enough.

In addition, the person who fills a key management spot in the organization must either be a manager or be capable of becoming one. A manager’s chief job is to plan, direct, and coordinate the work of others.

A manager should possess the three “I’s” – initiative, interest, and imagination. The manager of a department must have enough self-drive to start and keep things moving. A manager should not have to be told, for example, to make sure that employees start work on time.

Personality traits must be considered. A key manager should be strong- willed enough to overcome opposition when necessary and should also have enough ego to want to “look good” but not so much that it antagonizes other employees.

Spell Out the Delegation: Competent people want to know for what they are being held responsible.

One of my responsibilities is to provide practice management and business plan guidance to my clients. Oh, that’s right; you don’t have a business plan. Perhaps it is time to admit that you don’t know everything about running your business. There is no shame in that as long as you listen to your trusted advisors and then make your own informed decisions.

With a dental practice, it all starts with a DPAT report and a conversation with your business advisors. Your dreams & goals, both professional and personal, will be the guide to shape a long term business plan. However, please keep referring to this week’s quote at the beginning of this report.

For more information, please feel free to contact me at any time. www.cliff.marsh@henryschein.com.

 

Product Review – GURU Patient Education System…

How Do You Guru?

Fully integrated with Dentrix, Guru transforms patient education by opening new connections between you and your patients. Guru Libraries feature smart integration with Dentrix Presenter to help you quickly create sleek, compelling case presentations, so that you connect patients with their best possible treatment right in the chair. Guru TV 2010 focuses patient ‘down time’ on their office visits, with animations in Spanish and English on any TV screen. Showcase your expertise to new and existing patients 24/7 when you add your personal Guru narratives, drawings and playlists to your practice web site with Guru Web. Finally, Guru Email connects you to patients in their homes with email-ready playlists, so your patients can research your recommendations, share treatment decisions and trust you to provide the best care, which means more profits for you.

5:04

 

http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=Cmbv_9erzRY&feature=related

 

http://www.howdoyouguru.com

 

 

Cliff Marsh

Henry Schein Dental

P.O. Box 663 / 45 Rt. 46 East, Suite 605

Pine Brook, NJ 07058

Cell: 201-321-7494

Fax: 201-262-2210

cliff.marsh@henryschein.com

http://http://www.cliffsnotesblog.wordpress.com

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January 16, 2011 - Posted by Cliff's Notes Blog | Uncategorized