DTUS1110

As a practicing dentist and a dental consultant, I know exactly where dentists are coming from when they describe their daily challenges to me. I hear routinely from dentists about all kinds of problems they are experiencing. Every dentist that I talk to wants to know how to get more new patients, how to properly market the practice, how to be faster and more efficient clinically, how to reduce overhead, how to moti- vate more patients to bigger and bigger treatment plans and a whole host of other issues that are constantly on a general dentist’s mind. Dentists will spend all kinds of money on books, tapes, consultants, marketing programs, newsletters and all sorts of other things that they think may improve a particular part of their prac- tice. Most dentists who are looking for these solu- tions are always, as I like to say, “looking for love in all the wrong places.” Dentists often overlook the most obvious and impactful part of their practice: the dental team that they work with every single day. The team Having a great dental team will significantly improve all aspects of your dental practice immediately and for the long term. Having a great dental team solves so many of the issues and the challenges that dentists face every single day. Do you want more patients? Your dental team should be out there asking everybody they know if they need a dentist as well as every single patient that comes through the door about referring their own families and friends as new patients to the practice. Do you want to market your practice better and more efficiently? Having great dental team mem- bers who will carry your message with them into every single treatment room will accomplish that. Do you want to motivate patients to more comprehensive dentistry and more elective den- tal procedures such as Aurum Ceramics Cristal Veneers? A great dental team will take the time to plant seeds in patients’ minds about what den- tistry can accomplish, and these staff members are the most effective communication team you could possibly have. It always amazes me that a dentist will spend thousands of dollars on a computerized education system that will describe dental procedures when a talented dental assistant can do the same thing with that human and personal touch. By the way, that doesn’t mean that digital education materials aren’t useful. If your dental team members are poor commu- nicators and you buy them an educational piece of equipment, then what you now have is a dental team with poor communication skills but with an expensive computer. Why not spend that money to first go ahead to motivate and improve the morale and com- munication skills in your office so that everybody can talk to patients more easily and with more leadership? Do you want to reduce your overhead? A great dental team will certainly help you accomplish this by streamlining so many of the inefficient processes that occur in daily dental practice and will help the dentist accomplish dental treatment much faster, easier and better. Do you want to improve your cash flow and account receivables? A great dental team is the road to success in every dental office in every single aspect you could possibly imagine. Valued partners in success I see dentists wasting their time and money buy- ing into all kinds of gadgets, toys, scams and sup- posed “systems for success” when they should be spending their time, energy and effort developing and motivating their valued staff members. Every week when I am giving a lecture, for the most part, I can see immediately who the more successful dentists are just by looking at the audi- ence in the first two minutes of the lecture. The most successful dentists I know and that I see at my lectures are the ones who have their den- tal team members sitting right next to them at the events they attend. If you, as a dentist, go to a lecture and want to learn about something new or want to institute a new system in your office and you attend the lecture alone and then return to the office, your staff mem- bers will not have the same enthusiasm that you devel- oped or the same initial level of interest. You must then force this new idea down their throats, to which they become resentful. Success in this scenario is going to be limited, but more likely will not happen. It frustrates me because I know the solution is really so simple. Look at your dental team members as the valued partners in success that they really are. Staff appreciation is one of the most overlooked, inexpensive and easiest ways to begin to develop a great dental team. It may surprise you to know that in many major studies in employee relations, money is not the most important factor to employees. No. 1 is staff appreciation and No. 2 is having a pleasant place to work in. If your dental team members also realize they are fulfilling a mission of improving peoples’ lives through excellent oral health that also gives them a great sense of purpose. You could pay a dental assistant $100 per hour, but if she is miserable in the work environment, your office will never be successful. You could pay your front desk team member $100 per hour, but if you have never invested in having him develop the necessary skills to talk to patients, your office will not be successful. If you pay your dental hygienist $100 per hour and she is just a housekeeper with no communi- cation skills, your office will never reach its full potential. Being in the ‘people’ business DENTAL TRIBUNE | April 2010 Practice Matters 7A AD By Louis Malcmacher, DDS, MAGD Which aspect of your practice has the most impact on your bottom line? Looking for ‘love’ in all the wrong places g DT page 8A Look at your dental team members as the valued partners in success that they really are.