Who knew we would live to see a time like this! Covid 19 has now become a pandemic all over the world. This blog is all about how you can manage your dental business and your sanity.  The most important thing that you need to understand is that ignoring the pandemic and what difficulties it brings along, is not going to help you at all. You can’t put your head in the sane hide in the sand and hope for things to return to normal. The aftershocks of COVID 19, according to experts, are going to be felt possibly for the next 18 months. This means that all businesses, along with your dental practise are going to suffer to some extent. How much you are able to manage the damage depends completely on you.  Here are some things to keep in mind.

1. Don’t Let Stress Overtake Your Decisiveness

There is nothing more important than keeping all your logical faculties in control. Yes it is true that times like these are very trying and even the most level headed people are thrown into bouts of panic and anxiety. Yet these are the times when you need to remind yourself that the situation is not entirely out of your control. There are still many things you can do to insulate the impact on your business, your patient flow and your team. Hence the reason why retaining your decisiveness becomes integral. Keep calm and as organised as possible.  This is the time to let the inner leader shine, by not simply helping your family remain sane, but by also making sure that people in your professional life, as well as your patients know that they can rely on you for your leadership. 

2. Keep Fomites in Mind  

Since the rapid spread of the virus, you all must have become mindful of washing your hands multiple times a day, sneezing or coughing in the crook of your arm, using hand sanitizers or keeping distance from people, not just in person but in the sense of social distancing. What most people don’t pay attention to though, is the lurking viruses on fomites. 

Fomites are basically inanimate objects where the virus can survive for certain periods of time. These include everything from doorknobs to mobile screens, keypads to ATM machines and more.

All of these things are highly susceptible to contamination, which is why you have to pay special attention to what you touch and what you do afterwards. For example, it would be best to wash hands immediately once you have come from outside. If that is not going to happen for a while, then ensure that you sanitize your hands, wipe your phones with alcohol wipes and use gloves. 

3. Stay in Business through Precaution

Risk mitigation strategies are what will save your medical practice and other business ventures. You will have to make sure that your patients feel 100% safe when they come to visit you. This can be done by ensuring that the number of patients in the waiting area is small. You can provide the patients with a mask and keep a sanitiser bottle on the reception desk. You can spread chairs so they are distanced well apart from each other in the waiting room and also suggest that patients wait in their cars and only come inside when you text them, when the clinician is ready to take them through to the surgery.  Remember, the more secure your patients feel in your premises, the better.   This is also the time to get some free customer recommendation as more and more patients will refer you when they see your safety measures against the COVID 19 outbreak. 

4. Preserving Your Cash Flow

In these times, there is absolutely nothing more important than reducing unnecessary expenditure. Preserving cash flow refers to a variety of ways through which you can keep a lid on your expenses and managing all the aspects of life that require payments. From the Australian Tax Office to mortgage on your house, rent and any payments of bank loans. You should talk to the responsible personnel and ask them for access to the schemes allowing a cease in payments as being promoted in the media, or creating a reduced payment arrangement that does not leave you empty handed at the end of the month.  When it comes to making purchases, buy things that are essential. Only opt for items that you simply cannot survive without. Otherwise defer from buying anything fancy. Cut costs where it can be done without creating any anxiety or problems. Remember you still have compliance issues to manage and that costs whatever it costs, so make sure you are trimming the right expenses and not the necessary tools to make running your business safe.

5. Take Care of Your Team

Keep in mind that this virus is not simply taking a toll on you and your practise. It is also going to impact your team. They too will suffer if things come to shutting down. Have a talk with your team immediately. Ask them for ideas and discuss with them about what the best course of action can be. If necessary, reduce work hours but keep everyone on, so that no one person has to lose their job. Take care not just of yourself, but all the people associated with you. 

6. Take Care of Your Patients

Assure your patients that you are already run a practice with very strict infection control protocols and that when they come to the practice they will see additional layers of protection have been instigated to protect them and the team. Encourage patients to contact you and communicate with you whenever necessary. Try to work out a system where everyone can remain safe, yet resume business as usual. Tell them about the safety measures you are taking so they know you are concerned for their safety and share their heightened anxiety.  Make sure your messaging to any cancelling patients is compassionate and reassuring. Let them know you are there to support them if they need to suddenly rebook an appointment. Remember, once this situation is over, people will remember how you made them feel, that you and your team were proactive, compassionate, caring and diligent. This will pass, as all crises do. The calm, sensible leadership you exhibit now will impact on your team and your patients way past the COVID19 pandemic.  

P.S. Whenever you’re ready …. here are 4 ways I can help you grow your dental practice:

1. Grab a free chapter from my book “Retention – How to Plug the #1 Profit Leak in Your Dental Practice”

The book is the definitive guide to patient retention and how to use internal marketing to grow your practice – Click Here

2. Join the Savvy Dentist community and connect with dentists who are scaling their practice too

It’s our Facebook group where clever dentists learn to become commercially smart so that they have more patients, more profit and less stress. – Click Here

3. Attend a Practice Max Intensive live event

Our 2 day immersive events provide access to the latest entrepreneurial thinking and actionable strategies to drive your practice forward. You’ll leave with a game plan to take your results to the next level. If you’d like to join us, just send me a message with the word “Event and I’ll get you all the details!  – Click here

4. Work with me and my team privately

If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take your profit from 6 figures to 7 figures …. just send me a message with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your practice and what you would like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here

Any business needs a viable and appropriate fees structure to operate commercially successfully. But what factors go into setting up a fees structure that will help the bottom line? What is a suitable structure that will keep the patients walking in the door, meet the costs of running the practice and help everyone on the team earn a fair living? Setting up the right charges for your services is an important matter, one that many practice owners aren’t informed enough to justifiably do.  We need a fair fee structure in order to be able to optimize patient care, make sure we are using the finest materials, the best equipment and to ensure that we have highly trained and competent team members on our team.  Following is all the information you require to set up a fair fees structure for your practice:

The Buffer Factor

Having a buffer in place within the fees structure allows us to rectify any mistakes that we make, without it costing the patient more money or costing you the patient itself! There will be days when things wouldn’t go as planned or a treatment wouldn’t work as it was expected to. In times like that, it is extremely important to have a fees structure that would help support the additional costs of those patients in order to retain the patient. The buffer will help preserve the good will of the patient and absorb the additional cost without majorly affecting the bottom line.  Buffer also gives us the opportunity to provide some fees relief to patients who are genuinely in need of some help.  

Fees for Branding

Your fees should reflect the image of your business. It needs to assist in creating the brand you have envisioned for your practice. For instance, if you plan on opening up a boutique practice, catering to patients looking for a 5-star experience, your fees structure needs to reflect the same. You cannot be offering 30% discounts on referrals or teeth whitening for free with a lengthier procedure. You need to know your target customers, your patient base, the brand you wish to create and then structure  a fees that reflects all those ideologies.  A family-oriented brand needs to have a family-oriented price structure whereas a premium brand needs to have a premium price structure. 

Factors Affecting the Fees Structure

A lot of factors affect the fees structure. For instance, if you are offering a premium service, then you will need to provide an environment and incentives that will be costlier than compared to a family-oriented structure. From interiors to furnishings to equipment, everything will need to be of premium quality, hence, affecting your operational costs. There are other variables too that affect the price structure. It includes your rates of charge or charges put to you from suppliers. These include the consumables, like rent and other input costs including interest rates, consumer price index, inflation and staff costs.  You need to calculate all these costs and then create a profit margin on top in order to maintain a successful practice. You need to focus on your profit margins in order to successfully operate.  Practice owners usually make the mistake of not reviewing their fees often enough, or worse, not even knowing the costs of operating their business. In such scenarios, they aren’t even sure of the bottom line, they don’t even know where the problems lie and how to fix the fees structure in order to make a profit. As a practice owner, you need to be aware of the operational costs, review them periodically and then revise the fees structure accordingly in order to maintain the profit margin.

Preferred Provider Status

Another common problem that occurs is single point sensitivity where you may need to follow the predetermined fees structure. This is usually the case with being part of a preferred provider program. There is nothing wrong with being a part of the program, it is just that it could limit your opportunities for reviewing your fees structure from time to time.  The best way to tackle this problem is to not completely rely on preferred provider status to generate sales per say. Don’t just rely on health insurance companies to send patients to you. It is never good business to rely on a single source for generating business, in this case relying on preferred providers to send in patients. By solely relying on preferred provider, you run the risk of them ratcheting down the rebates. It might or might not happen, but it is never a good idea to put yourself on the risk for the same. Also, practice owners who are part of the preferred provider status sometimes get lazy regarding marketing. Of course not all do, but some just get too comfortable with a steady stream of income to truly invest in their business. It is important to continue to attract and build a patient flow outside of those preferred provider relationships. 

Tips and Tricks for Increasing Fees and Discounts

So when do you increase your fees without risking losing your patients? And how often do you offer discounts? Answer to both of these is subjective depending on various factors including your own ideologies, preferences and even economic conditions. However, experts are of the opinion that you should increase your fees in small increments. And there is a fair chance, based on vast experience, that the patients would even notice! Once you have reviewed the costs of business, which you should do every six months at least, increase the fees in order to maintain the profit margin. And in the highly unlikely case that a patient does directly ask you about the increase in fees, let them know that you strive to provide the best possible care using the highest quality of materials and expertise; and it was no longer possible with the previous fees structure.  As for discounts, again, this is a very personal preference. You could, or could not offer discounts based on your brand and structure. I, personally, am not a big fan of discounts and I hardly ever openly offer them. I may offer discounts, though I prefer calling them courtesy adjustments, to a patient during a one on one interaction where I’d feel they could really use some. But never would I use it as a tactic to attract more patients. Again, this is a personal choice based on the type of business and brand you are trying to build for yourself. But if you would like to build a credible family-oriented business or a premium practice, then having the term ‘discount dentist’ associated with it wouldn’t help with branding your business as such.  There you go! Everything you needed to know about creating a viable fees structure for your practice. Do make it a habit of reviewing your fees regularly, at least annually, but preferably every six months and focus on making small changes incrementally. Doing so would help maintain a successfully operating practice in the long run!  

P.S. Whenever you’re ready …. here are 4 ways I can help you grow your dental practice:

1. Grab a free chapter from my book “Retention – How to Plug the #1 Profit Leak in Your Dental Practice”

The book is the definitive guide to patient retention and how to use internal marketing to grow your practice – Click Here

2. Join the Savvy Dentist community and connect with dentists who are scaling their practice too

It’s our Facebook group where clever dentists learn to become commercially smart so that they have more patients, more profit and less stress. – Click Here

3. Attend a Practice Max Intensive live event

Our 2 day immersive events provide access to the latest entrepreneurial thinking and actionable strategies to drive your practice forward. You’ll leave with a game plan to take your results to the next level. If you’d like to join us, just send me a message with the word “Event and I’ll get you all the details!  – Click here

4. Work with me and my team privately

If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take your profit from 6 figures to 7 figures …. just send me a message with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your practice and what you would like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here

Have you been working more than 50 hours a week over 5 or 6 days without taking a meaningful break? Do you know that you could be putting yourself in real danger with the excessive workload in trying to run your dentistry practice? Are you unsure about what you need to do to break this toxic cycle of nonstop work?  In this blog we talk about setting priorities, managing and assigning time in your life so that you can be a happier and more successful practice owner.  The one thing that most health professionals are unable to deal with is time management. This perhaps is the reason why their families and friends are always complaining about how they never see them. As a dentist you too are probably going through the same thing. But it is time to re-evaluate your time and your work.

Set Your Priorities 

The first most important thing that you need to do is create a list of what is important to you and what changes you want to see in your life. There is absolutely nothing more important than your good health, a sound and relaxed mind, as well as time to care for your loved ones. If you are always busy with work, then you will not be able to focus on the things that truly matter. How can you create priorities? Sit down and make a list. Note down all the things that matter and how you can pay them more of your attention. Then ensure that you also note down the time that you plan on investing on all the things that matter to your own wellbeing. Make a diary if you can of what needs to be done and how you will get it done in the given time only, without overburdening yourself. 

Allow Time for Admin or Team Emergencies

This is the second most important thing that you will need to do so that you can restore order in your life. Don’t schedule all of your day. Make sure you have gaps and time to deal with any admin, equipment or team emergencies that may arise. Maybe block an hour from your work day to manage any difficult issues that crop up. It could be a complaint from a patient, a team members issue or seeing a sales rep. Or just having some quiet thinking time. This way, when something crops up unexpectedly you will know you have time to deal with it the same day. This means you will be able to deal with your patients better, giving them your whole undivided attention and not be thinking about the issue and how you are going to find time to deal with it.

Putting the Ego Aside 

There is no denying the fact that people who work in medical field are there because they want to help other people, change lives and make better use of their talents for the greater good of humanity. But, these same people also have this pride in what they do, an ego they want to satisfy by working harder and longer than all others around them. They feel they have to prove their benefit to not just others but to themselves as well.  What happens is that by working too much, they destroy their own health, be it physical, mental or emotional. They get so engrossed in their profession that all other areas of their lives suffer significantly. This is the reason why you need to taper the ego down. 

Dividing Tasks

Yes you may be good, but you can’t possibly be the best at everything and love every aspect of your dentistry practice. This is something that you should realise quickly because it will help you in defining the tasks that you can do best and delegating the rest to others. For example, you may be an excellent dentist, but that does not mean you enjoy handling the bookkeeping too, but you have been doing it because you feel you should handle your own finances.  Instead of overburdening yourself with the extra responsibility, you can hire someone to handle the book keeping for you. This way, you can spend the time better in taking in some more patients, while your finances are expertly dealt with without the added stress. Learn to avoid doing things that don’t benefit you and let professionals who are better at it to do them for you. 

Becoming Exclusive with Lesser Clients but Better Rates

Right now you may think that dropping some clients and increasing charges may be the most absurd way to go about it, but trust me, it will work better for you. How? Try and understand the psyche of the people who come to you for their dental services. Say you have three dentists on the same block. Who would a patient want to go to? The ones whose clinics are overcrowded or the ones that are more comfortable, slightly more expensive, yet more personal too?  Of course, the latter. 

People automatically assume that more expensive almost always means better treatment or higher quality services. And this is what you too can cash in on. You don’t have to go up by thousands of dollars, but a simple 10% increase will do wonders for you.  These few tips will not only free up your time, reduce your work load, and lower your stress, they will also allow your patients to see that you give them your full attention and quality time.   

P.S. Whenever you’re ready …. here are 4 ways I can help you grow your dental practice:

1. Grab a free chapter from my book “Retention – How to Plug the #1 Profit Leak in Your Dental Practice”

The book is the definitive guide to patient retention and how to use internal marketing to grow your practice – Click Here

2. Join the Savvy Dentist community and connect with dentists who are scaling their practice too

It’s our Facebook group where clever dentists learn to become commercially smart so that they have more patients, more profit and less stress. – Click Here

3. Attend a Practice Max Intensive live event

Our 2 day immersive events provide access to the latest entrepreneurial thinking and actionable strategies to drive your practice forward. You’ll leave with a game plan to take your results to the next level. If you’d like to join us, just send me a message with the word “Event and I’ll get you all the details!  – Click here

4. Work with me and my team privately

If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take your profit from 6 figures to 7 figures …. just send me a message with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your practice and what you would like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here

Most dentists forget that dentistry isn’t simply about being excellent at clinical care, it is also about taking care of the business and the legal aspects that can impact on their practice. Even if you, as the dentist aren’t very savvy where business and law is concerned, it most certainly does not mean that you cannot successfully protect your practice with a few choice tips and tricks. 

Not sure how to insulate your business against a lawsuit? Here are some things you must always keep in mind when dealing with patients and the business of dentistry. 

The Importance of Consent

This is something that most people are either not very clear about or simply don’t apply enough attention.  As a dentist you need to be very clear about what consent actually is. It isn’t simply letting the patient know that they need a particular treatment and how much it would cost, it means that you have to follow all the steps that come before the suggestion of that treatment, all the things that might go wrong with the procedure, what the actual process will be, how long it could take to heal, what amount of money they would have to spend and what aftercare would be needed. 

If the patient does not understand all of this, then you are not really receiving their consent. Once they are absolutely clear about everything to do with the procedure, only then should you go ahead with the task. Otherwise, if anything goes wrong, you are at risk of litigation.  Consent is not simply getting a long form signed, that the patient doesn’t even fully understand, it is about communicating everything to them so that they can make an intelligent decision that helps improve their quality of life. 

Dispute Resolution Process

This is something that most dentists either avoid entirely or try to evade as much as possible. There is nothing worse than a disgruntled patient who is not catered to in their time of need. Hence the reason why, when a patient is calling to talk to you, it is important to take the time to listen. Don’t ignore them or try to delegate the task of talking to them to someone else in the practice.  Instead, address their concerns and handle them as positively as possible. 

This is the reason why postoperative phone calls should be made a regular part of the practice processes. It would reduce any chance of an angry patient feeling forced into filing a complaint against you or notifying a regulator of the state. The best way to avoid a complaint is to listen to the patient and try to appease them. Some dentists are best to offer to refund a patient’s money if the dentist knows some of it is their fault. This will potentially resolve the dispute in most cases.  If on the other hand, an associate dentist has had a complaint against them, then you as the practice owner will need to decide how much the associate will pay and how much you the owner will pay. This is the kind of situation where it would be best to have policies set in advance about what needs to be done if a patient comes back for a refund. 

Common Pitfalls to Avoid when Buying or Selling a Dental Practice 

These are some of the common things that dentists, who are either vendors or buyers, don’t take into consideration too seriously when buying a dental practice. Here are the top 5 common pitfalls that can be avoided. 

Lease

The first thing that has to be taken into view is the lease. A registered lease, one that is fresh is the best. If not, then it is best to consult with a lawyer or commercial solicitor who have dealt with such cases. Ask to see references and cases they have solved so you know that they are well versed in registration of leases, licensures, exchange of title, bank accounts and more. 

Valuation Proposition

It is important to ask yourself. Is the practice legit or is it simply a paper-based practice? This can only be analysed by someone who knows what they are looking for. A novice, who has never bought a practice before, will not know what to look for. A knowledgeable veteran would look at occasions of service, run through the database, check out critical item numbers etc. to find out about the legitimacy of the practice. 

Existing Employees

You are not duty bound to hire the same employees that were previously working with the practice you purchase. It is completely your choice about whether or not you want to keep them. If you think they are going to be of value to you, then you can restart their period of service, so that you can check them out for 6 to 12 months before keeping them on full time.  Get in touch with a good lawyer and ask them about employment laws, transition of the employees of the practice so you know you are on solid legal footing. 

Liability 

You most definitely do not want to end up with a dental practice that has previous liabilities left over from the previous owner. They may not be your fault, but the patients coming to you would think they are your responsibility and they will look bad on your profile. Making you unreliable and non-trustworthy.  So long as you keep all these points in mind there is no reason why you would have to deal with the ugly face of law. Remember its always best to get the appropriate legal advice.

P.S. Whenever you’re ready …. here are 4 ways I can help you grow your dental practice:

1. Grab a free chapter from my book “Retention – How to Plug the #1 Profit Leak in Your Dental Practice”

The book is the definitive guide to patient retention and how to use internal marketing to grow your practice – Click Here

2. Join the Savvy Dentist community and connect with dentists who are scaling their practice too

It’s our Facebook group where clever dentists learn to become commercially smart so that they have more patients, more profit and less stress. – Click Here

3. Attend a Practice Max Intensive live event

Our 2 day immersive events provide access to the latest entrepreneurial thinking and actionable strategies to drive your practice forward. You’ll leave with a game plan to take your results to the next level. If you’d like to join us, just send me a message with the word “Event and I’ll get you all the details!  – Click here

4. Work with me and my team privately

If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take your profit from 6 figures to 7 figures …. just send me a message with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your practice and what you would like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here