Cliff's Notes

What keeps you up at Night?

  It takes a special kind of person to be a business owner, especially a successful one. If you never had to make a payroll or cover a business loan payment then you can’t understand. It’s that low rumble deep inside that keeps you up at night. The rumble you get when not knowing if you will be able to cash your own pay check. It’s the rumble you keep to yourself and hide with a smile and a positive attitude.

Running a successful dental practice is no different than any other business. When you break it down to basics, you are buying and selling goods and services. You are an employer and employee, marketing director, compliance officer, human resources, purchasing agent, CEO, COO & CFO. You are sitting on top of a mountain taking dirt from one side and packing it on the other to keep the mountain standing. It can become an endless cycle that you can’t seem to get out of. Did you ever hear the saying “your too close to the forest to see the path through the trees”? Maybe its time to step back and look at your situation through another pair of eyes.

  When was the last time you had a discussion about the cost of operations? Who did you have that discussion with? If you have a progressive accountant, they may be able to help but they are money and contract people and can only advise you on standards. Every business is different and for any advisor to suggest sound and constructive changes they need to understand the intimacies of the work day. An owner/manager’s dreams, plans and personality as well as that of the entire team, deeply effect day by day operations.

I have a client that called me last week all excited that after 5 years of struggling they realized a 15% increase in production in 2015 and scheduled over 200 new patients. They spent $35k over a 12 month period on a personal dental management consultant, followed a “customized” plan that was unique to the office personality, and increased revenue by almost $100k. The investment and the educational experience were a huge success. There is an old saying “give a man a fish and you will feed him for one day, teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime”.

Business operations are more than crossing the I’s and dotting the T’s. Procedures and protocol are essential, but so is leadership. You have a large investment in your team and when they fail it is your fault. As a leader, you did not follow-up your investment with training and reward. I am a firm believer in the 80/20 rule and 80% of my client base have complaints about team members. The conversation is always the same “I wish they would” or “I wish they wouldn’t”. Well, here is a foolproof solution, train them and if they can’t provide a positive effect on the operation, replace them.

The Problem is that you don’t know how to train them, that is not what you do. As soon as you realize that you are on the road to a productive future. Interview consulting groups, different groups offer different programs. Talk to your financial advisors about a detailed evaluation of you dental practice and team. Find a Practice Management Group to work with your advisor to conduct the evaluation. Being a great leader requires surrounding yourself with quality people. Below are some groups that I have experience with and trust.

Straine Dental Consulting http://www.straine.com

Million Dollar PPO http://www.milliondollarppo.com

Jameson Dental Management http://www.jamesonmanagement.com

March 28, 2016 - Posted by Cliff's Notes Blog | Uncategorized