The Internet offers people an unparalleled chance to be informed consumers. When the review, brand history, and values of a company can be found through a quick Google search on a smartphone, it’s easier than ever to be choosy about the brands we support.

Increasingly informed consumers are pushing a new wave of social responsibility onto brands. The concept of ‘cause marketing’ is now widespread across Australia. Consumers want to know that brands are making the world a better place – and want to participate too.

Cause marketing is when a brand aligns itself with a cause. Not only does this help unlock a brand’s social value, but it can improve revenue, increase outreach in the community, and create real social change.

Up until now, there has been a polarization. You can be involved in business or charity, but not both. There was a strict dichotomy between non- and for-profit companies. But cause marketing creates a wonderful synergy where a for-profit company can harness partnerships to do good.

Cause marketing is a win/win/win.

The consumer wins. The business wins. And of course, the cause wins. The key to cause marketing is to ensure that everyone wins in the end.

And the results were amazing. Not just in terms of sales, but also in terms of brand health. What I mean by that is, you can measure how people trust and relate to the brand.

Your business can prosper from this. It’s not just you donating money or donating time. It’s about creating a commercial outcome that provides benefits to a good cause, your consumer (by purchasing your product), and your bottom line.

The power of the right cause.

The sales of Pampers – a brand of nappies owned by the global brand Proctor & Gamble – were down during the holiday season in 2006. The Pampers brand centres itself around caring for the happy, healthy development of babies. The brand launched a cause marketing campaign in partnership with UNICEF called “One Pack = One Vaccine”.

Every four minutes, a newborn baby somewhere in the world was dying due to tetanus, due to factors like unhygienic birth conditions. UNICEF was running a programme to tackle neo-natal and maternal tetanus (MNT). For each pack of nappies sold the company would fund the production, distribution, and administration of a tetanus vaccine to a baby.  

In a time period where cash-strapped families were turning to off-brand nappies, Pampers went above and beyond to offer additional value to consumers for a cause they care about. This mission to eliminate neo-natal tetanus really resonated with families with children of their own. What started off as a one-off promotion grew into something much bigger. They have funded 500 million vaccines and eliminated MNT in 20 countries.

vaccines and eliminated MNT in 20 countries.

It’s not about making the brand a hero.

A lot of people come to the concept of cause marketing with a mindset of, “Okay, so I support a cause. How do I tell people about it?”

Truly powerful cause marketing flips this script on its head. It’s not about the brand adopting a cause and trumpeting it in their marketing materials so it appears charitable to consumers. It’s about giving your customers (or patients) the chance to be the hero.

Define a goal. Then invite your employees, customers, patients, and partners to collaborate with you to achieve it. You will reach so much further, resonate so much stronger, and increase engagement like wild.

It comes down to this: people want to feel good about themselves and what they’re doing.

Keep this in mind when developing a cause marketing campaign. It’s not just picking a charity. It’s really nailing down how you can leverage your resources as a brand to offer a chance for your customers to participate and do good.

The upsides are nearly endless.

Cause marketing can be a shining prism refracting light in every direction. From a business perspective, personal fulfilment perspective, customer engagement, employee engagement, brand differentiation, and social impact perspective, there are so many positives.

Just like consumers, your employees want to feel like they are making a difference in the world while they are at work. Brands with strong cause marketing campaigns have seen an increase in applicants, increased employee retention and engagement.

From the example above, the “One Pack = One Vaccine” campaign spawned an employee engagement programme, which has attracted some of the best world-class talent to the brand. It’s a powerful example of a cause marketing campaign offering a long-term strategy that unifies people around a larger vision.

Explore the possibilities and find a sweet spot that speaks to you and your patients.

Final Words…

I am very much of the view that business can be a force for good. In fact, I would love to see that become the norm. There are so many opportunities for dentists to give back to our communities and offer real, positive change.

Is cause marketing something you’ve tried? If not, are you inspired to find a cause now? Let’s continue this conversation over at our Facebook Group. If you haven’t already, please follow the group and join in with our community of like-minded dentists.

Our Savvy Dentist app is now live! It is free to download for both iOS and Android through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, respectively. Not only is it a central location to access all of our blog posts and podcast episode, but we have additional resources, tips, and tricks.

Please do take advantage of our additional resources. We’d love to see you in those forums and continuing the conversation about all this related to the business of dentistry.

    

In this episode, I’m joined by Carolyn Butler-Madden to share her insights on the benefits of cause-led marketing to the practice, the staff and to the world at large. Our dental practices have an impact on the world. And we can expand that impact by embracing cause-led marketing as part of our strategy.

CEO and founder of Sunday Lunch, Carolyn offers brand consultancy services to businesses that want to build purpose-led brands; brands that stand for something beyond profit. Sunday Lunch specifically takes a cause marketing approach to building purpose – aligning a client’s brand with a cause in a way that unlocks both brand and social value. It’s an approach that can be neatly summed up as “doing well by doing good”.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • 02:29: Why Carolyn moved from corporate agency style marketing to more social-cause driven.
  • 06:33: How Millennials are driving the change in culture and cause marketing
  • 13:35: How leveraging relationships and partnerships can increase sales and make a difference
  • 16:10: What personal benefits cause marketing has for business owners
  • 17:14: The impact cause marketing has on teams inside a business
  • 23:18: How to integrate cause marketing into your practice
  • And more

Find out more about Carolyn Butler-Madden

On Sunday Lunch

Or watch her video on finding your Social Purpose Sweet Spot

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Cultivating the skill set you need to be a good businessperson can feel like diving into deep water without a lifeguard. When dental schools only teach us clinical skills, we’re left to tread water on our own.

One of the things that makes me feel more professionally fulfilled is when I can help other dentists take their practice from a job to a business. I’m here to throw you a life vest.

We’re in the middle of a mini two-part series here on the blog discussing how you can take your practice and mold it into something that scales easily. Whether you want to grow the practice you have or you want to open a new location, the four keys we’re discussing today are essential components you need to put in place to ensure success.

But first – if you haven’t read the first part in this series, “The 4 Types of Dental Practices: Which One is Yours?” I suggest you to take a moment and read it. It’ll set the framework for this blog. You can read that blog post here.

The Four Keys to Creating a Scaling Framework

Each of us has a maximum capacity for how much work we can produce in a given day, week, or year. If your business is key-person dependent, your business is limited to the work of your key person. A scalable business, on the other hand, is not limited by a key person because it’s supported by a well-oiled team with the same goal.

In short, the only way to scale a business is to give up control. Not entirely. Not completely. But it is necessary to place our faith in others to carry some of the weight of our business.

To that end, there are four keys to creating a scalable business:
• Build out your assets
• Create a self-managing team
• Design a robust strategic business plan
• Consistent execution

Let’s talk about each of these in a little more detail.

Build out your intellectual property assets.

Let’s take McDonald’s as an example. They’re one of the most systemised businesses in the world, which creates consistently. You can order a McDonald’s hamburger in any country have the same experience and the same burger. This consistently between their processes from location to location has created an ultra-profitable business. So how do we do this on a smaller scale?

If you are still running a key-person practice, chances are, you already have developed standard responses to situations you encounter on the job and keep them stored in your mind. Creating intellectual property assets is really about putting it down on paper so even if you are not there, someone else can do it to your standards.

When we’re talking about creating intellectual property assets, there are really two options: Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) or frameworks.

SOPs are like a checklist. They’re a great way to standardize basic tasks. You might have an SOP for disinfecting your lab, for instance. You might also have an SOP for new patient intakes. This is a great way to simplify, create consistency, and reduce mistakes.

Frameworks, on the other hand, are more like road maps. They give you a structure so you can get from Point A to Point B, but each person can add their own flair. This is a great way to guide person-to-person interactions.

Create a Self-Managing Team

The key to building a successful team is to build a success office culture. Our job, as business owners, is to find A players and immerse them into a world-class culture.

We can think of culture as a telescope. It’s a series of lenses that magnify and sharpen our focus. The first lens of the telescope is your practice’s values. What makes us tick? When we have our values in place, it allows us to be authentic and creates a lens through which we can filter decisions.

The next lens is the vision of the practice. Where are we going? What do we stand for? Your team wants to be inspired, so inspire them!

The third lens is stories. What stories connect us? What stories bring us closer together? It’s about your team understanding and respecting each other.

The fourth lens is rituals. What rituals does your team perform that unites them? Is it celebrating birthdays? Is it a Monday morning inspiration meeting? Choose rituals that support the culture you want to create.

The final lens is behaviours. When every other lens is in place, it creates refracted light that shapes our actions and leads to happy, productive team members.

Design a business plan.

This section alone could be an entire blog series so I’m just going to touch on it briefly. I like to keep it simple and barebones. I want my business to be like a Formula One car – everything that’s necessary and nothing that’s extraneous. We’re looking for a strategic plan that offers clarity and focus.

What are your objectives? Where do you want the business to be in a year? Five years? What are the key results that will help us meet those goals? What are the activities around that?

Consistent execution.

Take five great businesses from five different industries and the one commonality that you’ll find between them is the ability to execute. It’s a massive strategic advantage. It’s huge.

It’s so important that you slowly add in new work and projects. Think about it like this: if I threw you a tennis ball, you’d catch it. If I threw you two tennis balls, you could probably catch them. If I threw 20 tennis balls at you at once, you might not catch any because you’re overwhelmed. It’s the same thing when we agree to too many obligations, projects, and work at once.

Don’t try to catch 20 tennis balls. Aim to catch the most important one or two.

Final Words…

It’s possible for anyone with a dental practice to create a true, scalable business that can not only create revenue for you but real value and legacy.

We’re so excited that the Savvy Dentist app is now available for both iPhone and Android through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, respectively. Not only is this a great central location to get all of our blog posts and podcast episodes, but it has additional resources. We’re adding more all the time.

If you haven’t already, please also considering following the Savvy Dentist Facebook Group. Our group is full of tips and tricks as well as a good group of like-minded dentists to support you.

    

In this two part series, I’m focusing on sharing with you how practice owners can transition from an operator style practice to true business ownership. So you can create more time and more freedom and become unshackled from your business. This episode focuses on tips to get your team to self-manage, attracting A-grade players and more.

In this episode, I discuss:

  • 01:55: Review of the 4 types of practices
  • 04:45: Transitioning to true business ownership and the leverage line
  • 06:47: How to make sure you don’t burn out and run your practice down
  • 08:34: Tips for getting your team to be a self managing team
  • 17:26: How to find A-grade players and attract them to your practice
  • 24:37: Process for managing people to retain A-grade players
  • 29:30: How to create your strategic plan
  • 34:09: How to execute on your plans consistently

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I want to share a story with you.

In the early 2000’s, I owned a dental practice and I was doing the traditional practice management thing. We made good money. But I found myself overwhelmed. The money only came when I was working so I felt like I needed to be always working. I was stretched to the max, stressed, and wanted a change.

In short, I was burn out. I threw up my hands. I thought, “I don’t want to do this for the next 30 years. Something’s gotta give.” So we sold the practice and moved back to my hometown, Brisbane.

I decided I wanted to be an associate for a while and get back to my roots. And my apologies to all of my bosses at the time – but it quickly became apparent I was not made to be an associate. I needed to be in business for myself.

I turned to the Internet. It was the Wild West. It was an exciting time where anything felt possible. I started building websites and building a digital agency for dentists.

That business taught me scaling and what a true business looks like. I learned I needed to look beyond dentistry to find the answers to running a business.

The 4 Types of Dental Practices

These practices fall along a hierarchy. It starts at the bottom and scales upwards.

  • The Ground-Level Practice

This first practice is typically a new practice or a startup. This is a business that may be generating enough revenue to cover costs, but it might be struggling to pay the owner/dentist a living wage. In any event, it feels like the business owner is running a charity – they’re working really, really hard, but not seeing a return on their time and effort. What a business craves most at this stage is cash flow. They need money.

  • The Lady Gaga Practice

Unlike the ground-level practice, this one generates revenue. It might fluctuate from business to business, but there is profit. The point to note in the Lady Gaga practice is that the profit is driven by a key person. You’re like Lady Gaga. If there is no Lady Gaga, there is no show.

The key person still needs to show up on a daily basis to rake in that cash. The business lives and breathes by the key person.

What this means is that the key person feels compelled to work. A lot. They worry if they take a holiday, revenues might dip. Things will be a mess. They worry that things won’t be done as well as they could do them. Their fingerprints are on every aspect of the business. This generally presents as lots of overseeing and micromanaging.

The uniting feature between these first two practices is that they are key person driven.

  • The Gearshift Practice

This is a practice where there is no key person. The business owner is not shackled to the day-to-day operations of the practice. There is a team supporting the business, with each team member working toward a shared goal.

In this practice, we see a shift in priorities for the business owner. Instead of being the person that provides great service to your patients, you become the person that can build and lead a great team. This is what I like to call the gearshift. And this is also where a lot of dentists get stuck.

I did. I didn’t know how to make that change from dentist to business owner. I didn’t know how to make that leap. How to run a business is not a skillset taught at university. For most dentists, it’s something we have to learn through trial and error, which means it can be really easy to get stuck in a Lady Gaga practice and burn out.

  • The End Goal Practice

This is the Holy Grail of dental practices. It’s a practice divorced from a Lady Gaga-like key person operation, but one that shows repeatable and sustainable earnings and a low degree of risk.

These practices have created value over and above a revenue stream by maximizing the multiple. An end goal practice is really about legacy. You have a strong team, a powerful culture, and streamlined operating systems.  It’s the kind of practice that is going to survive through disasters and downturns. It has the systems in place to do so. You can step away. You can leave it to your kids. You can sell it. You have created freedom for yourself in terms of both revenue and time.

 

Scaling is changing gears.

When you’re in a ground-level or Lady Gaga practice, trying to scale is like driving from Sydney to Melbourne in second gear. You can only goes so fast in second gear. What happens is you accelerate, the engine revs, and then it gets hot and begins to burn out.

To stop this from happening, you need to switch into third gear. It feels counter intuitive, but you take your foot off the gas, engage the clutch, put the car into third, and then you can finally accelerate without burning out.

A lot of people will take their foot off the accelerator and then panic as the speed drops. They feel like they’re in no-man’s land. Instead of committing to the gearshift, they stay in second gear. There’s a bit of faith you need to have in yourself and your business to really make that leap. You need to be brave enough to let go of control (just a little bit).

Scaling a business is really all about building teams and working toward that legacy practice that can sustain itself.

Final Words…

I’m really passionate about helping dentists make that gearshift into true business ownership. All of this coaching is really to help you unchain yourself from your practice and generate not only wealth but the most precious resource – time. Stay tuned for the next part in the series about scaling your practice.

A little bit of housekeeping – I’m excited to tell you that we have launched a Savvy Dentist App that’s available for both iPhones and Androids. You can download it (for free!) in the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store and access all of our past blogs, podcasts, and more.

Next, if you haven’t already, please join the Savvy Dentist Facebook Group. We’ve got tools and resources, as well as a community of dentists, to help support you.

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. Download The Savvy Dentist App
The Savvy Dentist iPhone and Android App is a great way to keep up to date with the latest Savvy Dentist Podcasts, Blogs, Events and so much more. – Download Now

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

 

 

    

In this two part series, I’m focusing on sharing with you how practice owners can transition from an operator style practice to true business ownership. So you can create more time and more freedom and become unshackled from your business.

In this episode, I discuss:

  • 06:13: Why scaling is like changing gear
  • 07:55: The 4 different types of practices
  • 13:01: Why you need to learn to relinquish some control to move from profitable to scaleable
  • 13:43: Scaling vs leverage – what’s the difference
  • 14:39: A scaling case study
  • 18:43: Why you need to uncover your own why before you start the transition process
  • 21:13: Choosing the right business model for you and your personal goals
  • 22:38: The scaling framework
  • 23:53: Why you need to focus on building assets in your business
  • 25:12: The power of operational systems
  • 27:34: When you need frameworks instead of operating systems
  • 30:44: Process of employing people
  • 32:11: How to work out what IP assets you need to build for your business

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Connection is more important than ever.

We live in this amazingly high-tech world where we can connect with someone across the world from the device we carry around in our pockets. However, this can be at the risk of disconnecting from the person sitting opposite us at the dinner table.

It’s so important for us, when we find ourselves in these situations, to disconnect from the Internet and find real connections in person with those around us.

In fact, a new study recently published from Harvard spanned 75 years and multiple generations of researchers. This study found that there was one commonality between everyone that had a fulfilling life. It wasn’t the jobs, the possessions, the education, or any of the rest of it. The researchers found that the one highest predictor of whether one had a fulfilling life was whether they had strong interpersonal relationships.

This is the challenge we have before us. We’re more connected globally than ever before, but we’re also more disconnected locally. Some of the most simplistic things are overlooked simply because they are close and easily accessible.

Now that we’re moving into 2019, it’s time to take note that there’s nothing new. There’s nothing that hasn’t been reinvented a thousand times out there. Instead, our challenge this year is to reconnect with people. It’s getting back in touch with what we already know and link our brilliance with others.

For me, I don’t think we should just pursue stronger relationships with our friends and family. Pursuing relationships and creating connections with our patients within our dental practices is the best way I know to create a fulfilling, stable business.

Dentistry is high touch. It should be high connection, too.

I say this again and again on this blog, but dentistry is very personal. It’s face to face. You literally have your hand inside in someone’s mouth. People come to your practice feeling anxious, nervous, afraid. They have a sense of trepidation. Is this going to hurt? Can I afford this?

I have found that people that build highly successful businesses, they have learned to move on from a transactional world where you get what you pay for and then we disappear. No, in really successful businesses there is a sense of connection that is the glue that holds everything together.

People that feel safe at a dentist’s office will go back again and again. Even if they move and it’s less convenient, if you’ve managed to create that connection, they will travel for you.

How do we build these connections with our patients? How do we do this in a way that doesn’t feel cheesy and fake?

Take time to build rapport.

It’s easy to connect with someone when you’re both very similar. When we value the same things, it’s easy to go into a relationship and see not only the benefits to ourselves, but what we can bring to it to make each other stronger.

You can always get along with like-minded people. If you put me in a room with 100 people, there are probably 10 or 20 just like me that I can connect with instantly.

The trick is to learn to connect with someone that is 180 degrees different from you. How do I connect with the 80 people in that room that aren’t like me?

Because truth be told – not every patient that walks through your office door is going to be like you. To be a truly successful dentist, you need to learn to connect with patients that are very different from you.

To do this, it’s time to shift your thinking. Instead of broadcasting your wants and needs, it’s time to tune into your patient’s frequency. You might want someone to get a crown now to prevent further damage along the line. But that is likely not your patient’s priority. They might be worried about the pain of the procedure or the cost.

Even just learning to change the tonality or pace of your voice can have a huge impact on the way your patients connect with your medical advice.

Energy is everything.

At the end of the day, patients don’t pick a dental practice based on scientifically, which is the best option for their needs. After all, it’s not like patients have the opportunity to audit a root canal before having their own. No, they are going to pick a practice based on the way it feels to them.

Does it feel safe? Do other patients seem satisfied? Has the dentist understood my needs and overcome my doubts? Do I feel good about this place?

Part of the way that patients connect with the energy of a business is through marketing. How do we talk about ourselves? What is our culture? Our values? You could be the best in the world at what you do, but if none of your patients know it, guess what? They won’t come.

Final Words…

Connection is going to be a big theme for 2019 and onwards. The way we think about interpersonal relationships with our friends and loved ones, other business leaders in our communities, and the patients that we serve should help us navigate the choppy waters of entrepreneurship.

If you haven’t already, please head to your favourite app store to download the Savvy Dentist app. We have versions available for both iPhone and Android. There are a lot of free resources there including tools, training, and more. You can also join the Savvy Dentist Facebook group and connect with like-minded individuals.

    

In this episode, I’m joined by peak performance coach and communication expert Rik Rushton to share with us his tips for improving your team, your mindset and your business through the power of communication.

Rik Rushton is a “time tested” Peak Performance Coach, Platform Speaker, Conference Emcee and Trusted Advisor to many of the leading brands, organisations and professional sports teams throughout Australasia.

From the boardroom to the training room, Rik’s success drivers in both business and personal pursuits have been shared with more than 50,000 people from more than 1,500 empowering presentations.

Since 1995, Rik has been a regular visitor to the USA leaving American audiences inspired, motivated and educated! Whether it’s an intimate gathering of 5 Key People or a major conference Audience of 5,000, Rik offers his very best ideas, tips and strategies for enhanced performance through the “High 5” Pillars of Success!

In this episode, we discuss:

  • 02:12: Why connection is so important
  • 04:21: How to build connection, especially with people different from ourselves
  • 07:55: The art of maintaining connections
  • 11:25: Tips for becoming a master communicator to yourself (and why that matters)
  • 20:52: Secrets for creating high performing teams
  • 26:04: Why the most important asset in your practice is P&L – People and Leverage
  • 27:42: How to have difficult conversations about team members not adhering to the business’ values
  • 29:18: Tips for creating a desirable team environment that attracts and retains the best staff
  • 33:41: How to rebuild after culture breakdown
  • 36:53: Why focusing on winning heart-share will lead to market share
  • 40:29: How energy and marketing are linked
  • And more

Find out more about Rik Rushton

On his website

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It’s time to get back to the basics.

There are a million different hacks, tips, and tricks that you can use to accelerate the growth of your business, your revenue, and your success. Many business owners can easily to fall into a trap of hunting down that magic silver bullet that will make success fall into your lap. There’s this feeling that if you can just uncover that one secret, your business will always be successful.

Unfortunately, that’s not reality.

There’s only true reality for everyone that owns a business: you must do the work. Everything else you hear might be good advice that’s worth a try. But if you get stuck in a loop over-thinking which direction to take to the point that you stop moving at all, your business suffers.

Do the work.

Apply new philosophies to your business. See if it works for you. One thing I’ve found to be true in business is that not every success is reproducible. If something worked for someone else, it might not work for you. Maybe you have different customers, serve different needs, or have a different culture. Whatever it is – the only way to know is to do it.

There’s an ancient Chinese proverb that says, “To know and not to do is to not yet know.”

Learning business philosophies is only the first step to making real change within your practice. It can be easy to take notes and feel like we’re making progress. In the end, that’s just over thinking. Once you understand a philosophy or a process, it’s time to apply it and measure the results.

 

Remember this simple formula: Value x Leverage = Wealth

If you want to generate wealth within your practice, it’s time to strip everything back to the most basic formula.

Value x Leverage = Wealth

It is so simple. You just need two things in your practice to create a strong revenue stream.

Let’s put this into practice. What do your patients value? Do you have a core service that you offer? Do you have something that draws in new patients to seek you out specifically?

Often times, we try to appeal to everyone and in the process, we appeal to no one. I find that many dentists become the most successful once they choose a niche. What kind of patient do you want to cater to? Do you offer a fear-free, stress-free experience for children and adults with phobias of the dentist? Do you offer a luxe, personalised experience? Do you specialise in reconstructive procedures?

Once you have nailed down a service or experience that people value, they will find you for it. Make it a no-brainer for people to say, “Yes, I want to see this dentist.”

So that’s value. Next comes leverage. You’ve got something that people want. Now you want to make sure people know about it. You can do this through marketing both traditional marketing and even guerrilla marketing. The key is to get the word out. One great way to do this is through partners. Find companies that are complimentary to what you are offering, but not in direct competition. Offer to promote their products and services in exchange for them promoting yours.

The formula comes down to this: create a compelling offer and get it in front of as many people as possible.

A business grows with its leader.

In so many ways, a business is an extension of its leader. It can never really outgrow you. If you can grow yourself, you can grow your business.

If your mindset is courageous and you’re willing to take the steps to reach your goals, you can create success within your business in such an incredible way.

I meet so many people that, unfortunately, are stressed, anxious, and overthinking their business. They become their own worst enemies. Second guessing every choice and back peddling then just creates more stress. The cycle repeats itself.

So create an identity that serves you.

The truth is that most people don’t enjoy going to the dentist. Even as a dentist, you might be one of those people yourself. For many people, dentist offices can be scary places where they have uncomfortable procedures done.

This doesn’t have to be the only story or identity of a dentist practice though. If you only have expectations of your practice to measure to a general dental practice that exists in your mind, you’re setting limitations on yourself. You can break the mold. You don’t have to follow the expectations of what a dentist practice should be.

How can you make your practice more welcoming, more accommodating, and more comfortable for your patients? How can you turn the discomfort that comes with some procedures into a positive that patients will be grateful for?

Once you drill down to determine the true value of your services, you can start to redefine the experience your patients have at your practice.

You can also do this with yourself. If you don’t like the identity that defines you, you can redefine it. Find ways to grow and you’ll see your business grow with you.

Final Words…

At its core, a successful business isn’t complicated. It’s actually very simple. You want to offer something so amazing, so outstanding that people can’t help but want to buy it. Even in dentistry, there is room to offer services to your patients that reduce the stress of a visit and create loyalty to you.

Getting back to the basics and stripping away everything else can be liberating. Refocus on what drives revenue within a business: value and leverage. Once you have those nailed down, you can start to take chances that put philosophies into practice to  see where it takes you.

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. Download The Savvy Dentist App
The Savvy Dentist iPhone and Android App is a great way to keep up to date with the latest Savvy Dentist Podcasts, Blogs, Events and so much more. – Download Now

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

 

    

 

80% of business success comes down to your mindset. That’s why I’m speaking with NLP master R!k Schnabel about how you can master your inner game.

About to be fired and at the bottom of the sales ladder, R!k Schnabel had an epiphany which took him to the top of the sales ladder in just 3 months as he broke all the company’s sales records! He untrained his brain.
R!k knows all too well what a mindset shift can do and since 2002 he’s been teaching people how to ‘UNTRAIN THEIR BRAIN.’

A multiple best-selling author, he is one of the most humble people you’ll ever meet with a pandora’s box knowledge.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • 01:38: Why the growth of your practice is tied to your personal growth
  • 02:53: What constitutes a healthy mindset and how to cultivate it
  • 03:20: Unlocking the power of leverage to live the life you want
  • 06:50: Why the real learning in business is to apply knowledge
  • 11:06: Finding ways to create leverage in your business
  • 13:54: How we get caught up in stories that don’t benefit us
  • 22:12: Practical things you can do to break the current cycle of story that’s holding you back
  • 31:06: Why 80% of success is mindset and how our early education sets us up for failure
  • 36:04: Why do people not do things that are good for them?
  • 40:57: The one simple method to winning more often

Find out more about R!k Schnabel

 

On his website

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