Whether you graduated from dental school recently or have been a practicing dentist for decades, one thing is for certain – you want your practice to succeed. You might be a great dentist, your patients may love coming to see you, and your employees might think your office is a fun place to work. But, if you aren’t doing these 10 things, your practice will tank. Find out what to do if you want your dental practice to succeed.
Design a System to Reach Your Vision
Establish a good system and define protocols that lay the foundation of your practice. Hopefully, you have a vision, but how are you going to get there? This often is the place where many practices fail. They simply don’t have a foundation in place to reach their goals. Your team is counting on you for direction. Your system may look different than everyone else’s. If you aren’t sure where to start or how to implement a system that works, contact Bryant Consultants or find out why you need to hire a small business coach.
Hire Right the First Time
A successful dental practice is only as good as its team. Your dental hygienists, assistants, office manager, and patient coordinators are the bread and butter of your practice. Hire right the first time by selecting candidates with a positive attitude, and that remains dedicated to your practice’s vision.
Morning Huddles
Keep your team informed. Morning huddles are the perfect time to “check the pulse” of your practice and address concerns that arise before they escalate. While some talking points may best be left for an official meeting, morning huddles maintain open lines of communication with your team.
Weekly Team Meetings
You should hold weekly team meetings that allow you to get into specifics about the practice. While morning huddles are good, they aren’t the best time for training or handling extensive business matters like analyzing the practice’s numbers, training, or continuing education. Some doctors are hesitant to talk about money with their team, but Bryant Consultants offers 10 steps to introducing practice numbers.
Analyze Practice Numbers
This should be regularly done if you want your practice to succeed. Don’t just assume that money is flowing in and out as it should be. Stay abreast of money coming into your office, overdue accounts, and expenditures. In doing this, focus on getting cash off the books and into the bank quickly. This allows you to provide the best care to your patients and keep your employees paid on time.
Role Play/Training
Training should always be apart of your practice. Team members should be well-trained to perform their job and meet your expectations. New procedures or technologies being used in your office should come with adequate training. Also, cross-train your team. Don’t just have one assistant that is responsible for digital scans, impressions, or working in the on-site lab. Make sure that all assistants are capable of doing everything that their job title entails. Training and educational seminars also apply to the doctor, too.
Utilize Excellent Customer Service
This goes for everyone in the practice – from the front to the back of the office. Anyone that comes in contact with patients should be trained and taught excellent customer service skills. Especially for team members that answer the phone. Remember, patients often speak with or see your staff members before they meet you. Your team is the face of your practice. What is it saying to your patients?
Inspect What You Expect
You could have the most fantastic team in the world, but you cannot slack. Although you may build a significant amount of trust in your office manager or individual team members, you still must inspect what you expect. This doesn’t mean you should hover over everyone’s shoulders throughout the day. But, remain in communication with all team members, and occasionally check up on them to see that everyone is doing their job. For instance, if team members are expected to ensure all patient rooms are fully stocked at the end of each day, check the rooms every so often. If the office manager is expected to collect accounts within a set time frame, ask to see the numbers to ensure money is being collected as it should be.
Laugh a Little (Or a Lot)
No matter which way you look at it, going into the office every day is still work, but that doesn’t mean work has to be boring or dreadful. Have fun, be fun, and laugh sometimes. Running a practice is serious work, but keep interactions with your team and patients lively and fun. Treat your staff to lunch one day or bring doughnuts and coffee to the team for breakfast one morning. Being fun doesn’t always have to cost money, though. Be respectful, maintain communication, and be genuine when interacting with your team, and they will look forward to coming into the office each morning (and so will you). Sometimes, however, breaking down those barriers is difficult, and you may not know where to start. Thankfully, we have a few tips to help you remove those lines of separation within your dental practice.
Find out how to build your dream team or see your practice soar to the next level by contacting Bryant Consultants or call (877) 768-4799. We provide consultation, training, and coaching to help improve the operations of your practice so that you can deliver exceptional results to your patients. No office is out of reach for us; we will even come to you!
