DTUS1110

Ultimately, dentistry is a people business. To be successful in this field, you have to love people and hire people who love people. If you hire people who love people, your office will become a different place. Stress in dentistry is caused by the people who work in your office who are stressing themselves, you and your patients. Once your patients are stressed, they will stress you even more. Hiring the right staff is the first step along the road to a happy office. The next steps include working with your team members and constantly training them and yourself in how to do better clinical dentistry, how to be better communicators, how to serve and how to achieve all of your goals together. This has so frustrated me as I lecture to thousands of dentists a year that I have some resources on my Web site, www.commonsense dentistry.com, about building the best dental team ever. You need to know how to hire, evaluate and give a bonus to great team members. You must lead and motivate team members with your vision of what you want your prac- tice to be. It really is this simple: if you have a great dental team, you will have a great office! The simple road to success Stop wasting your time and money on all the schemes and supposed shortcuts out there that you think may improve your office from the outside in. Hire, develop and motivate a great dental team by learning lead- ership skills and build your office from the inside out. It doesn’t help you at all to get 100 new patients per month if your team members do not have the capability or the interest to properly build rela- tionships with your patients. You, as a dentist, typically spend 30, 40 or 50 hours per week in your dental practice — it is equally as easy to be happy there as it is to be miserable. Life is too short to spend your time in a miserable situation. In addition, what does your office team look like? Do they have great smiles, are they well groomed, do they dress nicely and cleanly? This says a lot about your practice. If you are looking to build an esthetic practice, patients are more apt to accept treatment plans from team members (and dentists!) who have a great looking smile and great facial esthetics. Now that nearly 10 percent of dentists are providing Botox and dermal fillers, it is not just about the teeth anymore in the dental office and the same is to be said about facial esthetics. I often joke that Botox is the secret to staff retention — once you provide this to your team, they will never leave you because this is a repeat procedure. Yet the street here runs both ways — it helps build your practice when everyone looks their best — they feel better about themselves from a self-esteem perspective, they trans- mit a more positive image and treat- ment acceptance will go up. If your dental office is a place that loves to work with people, that attitude alone will solve so many of the issues that have frustrated you throughout your career. When we consult with dental offices and turn their team mem- bers around, and make them great and sincere communicators, the office becomes a stress-free, high- producing, low-overhead, fun place to work for everyone. It is amazing what a little appre- ciation and respect will do in moti- vating and building a great dental team. It is the quickest and straightest road to dental practice success. DT Practice Matters DENTAL TRIBUNE | April 20108A AD f DT page 7A Dr. Louis Malcmacher is a prac- ticing general dentist in Bay Vil- lage, Ohio, and an internationally known lecturer and author known for his comprehensive and enter- taining style. An evaluator for Clinicians Reports, Malcmacher has served as a spokesman for the AGD and is president of the American Acad- emy of Facial Esthetics. You may contact him at (440) 892-1810 or e-mail dryowza@mail. com. You can also see his lecture schedule at www.commonsense dentistry.com where you will find information about his Botox and dermal filler live patient hands-on training, practice-building audio CDs and free monthly e-newsletter. About the author A great dental team can … • help market your practice more efficiently. • help motivate patients to accept treatment recommendations and elective procedures. • help improve cash flow and account receivables. (Photo/Gelpi,Dreamstime.com)