329: Playing Field Leveled: Are You Rising to the Top?

One of the many things COVID-19 did was put dental practices back on equal footing — everyone faced the same hurdles to overcome. In this episode, Kiera shares her recent experiences that caused her to switch loyalties from her beloved Southwest Airlines over to Delta (if you know Kiera, you know this is A HUGE DEAL). She talks about why Delta stood out to her, and then relates it to your practice.

How is your practice standing out compared to all your competitors in terms of safety and service? The Dental A-Team encourages its family members to not scrimp and leave their patients’ concerns by the wayside. Today is the day to care, and see your practice rise to the top.

Visit www.TheDentalATeam.com to discover other ways your practice can stand out!

Podcast Transcript:

Kiera Dent:

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent. I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental, and I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast.

            Hello Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and guys... All right, it's a great day. I thought about Ashley Dorn, one of our consultants imitating me on the podcast, so I had to change it up a little bit. As always, thank you guys for joining us today. I am really excited about today's topic as always. I hope to do a little brain teaser for you, make you guys think a little bit differently. I thought differently when I was getting ready for this podcast. I hope you guys are excited. As always, you guys take a minute right now, stop, go leave a review, subscribe, share this with a friend, help us grow the podcast. If the podcast has helped you in any way, please do us a favor. We love, love, love that. I really appreciate you guys doing that for us. It means the absolute world that you guys are willing to share this podcast with those around you to make this podcast well-known, to share with other people to grow teams to their highest level.

            All right, you guys, so today's topic is about Delta Airlines. I don't know a lot about this airline company, but I just recently flew with them. So you guys know in the Dental A Team, we travel to dental practices. So we coach virtually and we also coach in person. So offices love that you guys. If this is your year, 2021, call us up. We're traveling. The birds are flying. I call our consultants the birds. They get their wings when they get to fly. So the birds are out flying again. We are traveling to you. We love what we do. You guys don't let 2020 happen again. Get your offices in order. If you guys weren't leaving on time, if your businesses weren't as profitable, if you didn't feel like you were prepared, if your systems aren't in place, this is the time. This is where the Dental A Team can really help you out and you can be the A team. So call us up.

            I was flying... You guys, if you knew me pre COVID, you know I was... Ryan Isaac from Dennis Advisors, he would make fun of me because I loved Southwest. Mark Costes with DSI, he would ask me all the time why I always love to fly Southwest. You guys, Southwest was my airline of choice preCOVID. The consulting company spends over $500,000 a year just on airfare. We fly a lot. That's conservative. I won't tell you our real number. We fly a lot. I spend a lot of money at the end of the year on upcoming travel, something that we're able to do to go into the next year. So Southwest, yep. You better believe I have a companion pass every year, early, early on in the year because we spend so much money on airline tickets, so much money on travel, but we love it. We love coming to see you.

            So the practice... I used to love Southwest, and the reason I would fly with them is because they were so convenient. When I travel, oftentimes an office will pop up. I can get to that office when I'm already on the road. I often will move my travel around quite a bit while we're traveling. That's why I love Southwest. Southwest had a no-change fee for me. You know how Delta and United and American, it used to be a hundred bucks to change your ticket plus the cost of the airfare. Well, Southwest did something different and they did not charge us for that, plus we got to travel with bags. Well, since consulting, I learned you never, ever, ever travel with luggage because we never want that to get lost. Also, waiting for luggage. You guys, when you travel as much as I do the last thing you want to do, the absolute last thing you want to do is sit there and wait for your luggage. It is oh. I don't like to wait for my cars and I don't like to wait for my luggage because I'm on the road all the time.

            So that's just extra minutes you guys. No, thank you. It takes 20 to 30 minutes for luggage. I've timed it. Same thing with rental cars. So I'm very efficient. Two, I don't travel with luggage so that didn't appeal to me on Southwest, but changing the airfare was always something that definitely appealed to me. I really, really appreciate that. Well, thank you COVID. All airlines have adopted that and now you can change your travel for free. You just have to change the change in airfare, which I am so appreciative because they're changing their flights on me all the time. It's hairy, scary. So anyway, you guys guess what? I start rank... What is my now biggest concern? Yes, I care about changing my travel, which they all now do, so they're all equal.

            Hello Dental A Team. I hope you are as excited as I am, because guess what? May 14th and 15th this year, we are running Dental A Team's full team summit for the first time ever. It's May 14th and 15th, a Friday, Saturday, and it's CE training for you and your whole team in your practice. So in the past, you've had to fly your whole team to get full team CE, and instead, we're bringing the CE to you. You guys I've attended so many virtual events and I cannot wait because this is going to be epic of all epics. We're going to teach you guys with your whole team working together, how to build your dream practice, how to have accountable teams and run effective meetings.

            We're going to have breakout sessions with each department specifically. So billing, OM, TCs, schedulers, hygienists, assistants and doctors, and we're going to round-table style learning from the best. We're going to have lessons on leadership. We're having guest speakers come in. You guys, it is going to be epic and I want all of you there. So head on over to our website, the dentalateam.com/events and snag your ticket for you and your team to attend Dental A Team's full team summit this year.

            As 2020 has ended in 2021 is here, what are some of the things that passengers are fearing? Safety. We're looking for safety. I want to make sure if I'm in a tube, a metal tube with all these people, breathing their air, the last thing I want is for COVID to be on this plane. It terrifies me. I'm not going to lie to you guys. I'm not like you. I don't get the vaccine yet. I don't work in practices like you do. Traveling makes me really anxious, so I actually now choose my airline on two different things. One, because now I can change my flights. Remember, that's now equal amongst all airlines. So I'm choosing the airline that's the safest, the cleanest and the one that has the least amount of stops so I can get there the fastest. So those now have become my criteria.

            Well, guess what? Believe it or not, airlines took a huge hit. I was reading up and they are estimated to take three to five years for the airline to actually recoup back to where it was in 2020. That's a huge hit on the industry. I've been flying since September and I've been watching these airlines. Don't worry, guys, this is going to tie to dentistry and you're going to fricking below your minds when you hear how I'm connecting this for you. So just listen up. This is storytime. So I've been watching the airlines and I noticed when I first started flying in September, all the airlines for the most part were really great. They'd hand out Purell wipes. They would tell you that they were taking extra measures. I was hearing from every CEO of every airline company. They weren't filling the middle seats, all these things. Okay?

            As we are now approaching February of 2021, so that's about October, November, December, January, five months. Just had to check my math there. Thanks for participating. I've noticed that airlines are starting to change. They're starting to... American never really cared about having middle seats open. Southwest in December started saying that they're going to start filling their middle seats, but Delta did not. Delta actually is my preferred airline of choice now. You think about it, I'm a consulting company, who are the people that are still traveling. Just think about the airlines' avatar, business people, because we travel for work. A lot of families, I mean, how many of you out there have traveled for leisure? I travel for leisure because guess what? I travel all the time. So I'm not worried about it. But most of the people making the airlines their money are business people because they're still traveling.

            When I'm on planes, I don't see very many families. I see mostly business individuals. Not necessarily the perfect the case, but you got to think about who's going to be keeping you in business? Same thing with practices. Who's going to be keeping you in business and what is their greatest need and concern? So for me, it's time, so airlines that have the least amount of layovers. Also, I'm looking for safety and cleanliness. By far, hands down, Delta is my preferred airline of choice at this point in time. They are the cleanest. They still to this day have open seats. They are not filling all of them to this day. All the other airlines have stopped giving out Purell wipes, all the other airlines are jam packing them full. All the other airlines have dirty airport planes. It grosses me out. I look at these things and I'm real...

            You guys, COVID still scares me. I know some of you listening might think I'm crazy. That's fine. It stresses me out. You think about being clear on the other side of the country, contracting COVID, how are you going to get home? How am I going to see my family? How am I going to make sure I don't die in another state? Those things stress me out and I'm out on the road all by myself. What if something were to happen? I stress about traveling during certain times of the year, but COVID is a real thing. I know most people have flu-like symptoms, but even flu-like symptoms on the road you guys and you're six to eight hours worth of a flight away, that's not a fun place to be. So safety is number one. Most people, when they're looking at airplanes, I know are looking for safety, making sure that they're going to be safe as they travel.

            So guess what? I happened to do a little bit of research on Sunday. I was like, "Which airline company is the top airline company?" Guess what company it happens to be? It's Delta Air Lines. So the reason I brought them up is because when other companies are scrimping, when other companies are forgetting who their customer is, when other companies aren't thinking about who their ideal customer is, Delta Air Lines has it spot on. Delta Air Lines still hands things out when other people aren't. I thought about it. I'm like they probably have partnered with Purell because they give Purell out. They probably partnered with a lot of these people that are getting sponsored. I was noticing different things that they're doing and I'm like, "It probably doesn't cost them much more on their overhead because they're probably getting people to supply these to keep the airplane safe.

            Then they're able to promote them because you think of all these people flying." So I was making some notes and they have... I said, "They found what the passengers want. They have an irresistible offer of cleanliness knowing we will be safe there." I'm literally paying more to fly on Delta because it's safe. They Purell wipe. They have cleaning deeply. They keep the seat separated. They're leaving early. I was sitting at my gate and they're like, "Hey, we talked to the captain and we want to actually get out of here 10 minutes early, that way we get you guys to your destination early." That's VIP customer service. As a frequent flyer over here, that spoke to me. They're always on time. Delta is known for being on time, which is a big deal because I freaking hate missing it.

            I'm not saying they're perfect you guys. I've definitely had missed flights, misconnections. Delta's not always perfect. But I'm saying today, where all airlines baselined and they became equal, how are people rising to the top? Because now guess what? There is a number one leader spot available because everybody just equalized. So they said, "Service of your health," is what they said. They said, "We're in the service of your health, and we're asking you to help care for others too by keeping your mask on." Delta's tagline is to keep climbing. They're connected to humanity. They're connecting at the human level and they're the highest airline company. So I just told you a lot of facts about Delta. Now, I hope you've already had your mind spinning as you're thinking about your practice.

            COVID baselined a lot of dental practices. It did. What are your patients looking for right now? Are you like Southwest and American and United? Just looking at your bottom line, trying to make sure that you're cutting things, filling things in, or are you like Delta, who literally is the leader of the pack right now? You guys, I told you before I spent over $500,000. That's half a million, in case you wanted to do some different math, on airline tickets and travel a year. I don't know about you, but that's a lot of money in my opinion, just on airfare. I'm sure there are other companies that do way more than we do, but we do a lot of travel in the Dental A Team. Guess what? I've taken that business from Southwest over to Delta because Delta, they know their customer. They know what I'm looking for. I want to be safe. I want to be on time. They clean their planes.

            I purposely fly with them because I know they don't pack their flights. I know they're going to get me there on time. So I've switched my preferred airline, which for years it was Southwest. You guys, literally I was a diehard Southwest fan for the last, probably five, six years since I've been traveling and I switched to Delta. Hands down, love Delta, and guess what? Once COVID's over, once the safety regulations are over, who am I going to go with? I'm going to go with the person that won me over, that took care of me, that heard my needs. So I was thinking about dental offices and thinking, what are you doing right now and who's your ideal customer? What's your irresistible offer? Could you be partnering with other companies to make your practice better? What are your patients afraid of? Some practices are with elderly communities. Are you reaching out to them?

            Are you maybe doing a seniors' day? What about your employees? How you're keeping your employees safe? What are you doing that's different that's going to set you apart because the world just got shaken up to where everyone's equal again? So what are you doing to stand out? How are you attracting patients to your practice over another dental practice? Because people right now, there's fear, there's uncertainty. How do you rise to the top? Maybe you could run Google Ads. This is what we're doing for our patients. Literally guys, people have to go to the dentist. They don't have to, but they should go. So how are you going to rise to the top? How are you going to get those patients that are scared? How are you going to do things differently when your competitors are scrimping down?

            Are you at the office that's scrimping down or are you being above the line? I just want to put that out there and ask the probing questions and then have you take it to your teams and look at it. I asked myself the same thing about the consulting company. I looked at Dental A Team and thought, "Are we scrimping? Are we too concerned about cost? Are we remembering to do the right thing? Do we know what our irresistible offer is for our clients?" You guys guess what? I was terrified to fly. Terrified, and I realized our clients want us to fly. That's what people need. They need us in their offices to help set their teams on track. They need us to help them virtually. How can we help them virtually? We want to do workshops. We have virtual events that you can take your whole team to, to ramp and amp your team up.

            You guys, I will tell you one of the things people love about us consulting is that we come in and we say something different than your practice. I mean, even though we're saying possibly the same things you guys have said, we're an outside opinion, so teams buy-in. I just got done with an office. We just did a podcast, I hope you guys heard it, with Amy Ells from Jason Tanoory's practice her. Her and I literally just chatted about... She said, "Kiera, I couldn't have done this without you. You coming in and getting all my teams streamlined and organized, I could not have done that without you." That's awesome. That's what we do. So we figured what do our clients need? How do we deliver more? How do we deliver better? How do we make their needs of what they really need met? How do we meet those needs? I wanted to ask you guys to do the same thing. Think about Delta Air Lines. They're literally... All airlines in my opinion are equal.

            Every one of them had an opportunity to move to the top of the pack and I think there's still a shuffle going on. At any moment, Southwest could come back. At any moment, American Airlines could dominate at the top. So what are you doing to set yourself apart? What are you doing right now to help yourself get there? So just think through these ideas. Think through what does it look like for you? What are you doing to set yourself apart? Are you making sure that you and your practice are doing things different to really, truly meet the needs of your client? Do you know what your patient really needs? What their fears are? What their likes are? Have you fallen in love with your patients to literally know exactly what they need? Yes, Delta is making a killing on flights. I definitely pay more to go to Delta. Maybe that's not your model. Maybe it is to be the cheapest. Walmart, they are known for being the lowest prices. What are they doing differently so people come see them?

            Look at businesses outside of dentistry. What are they doing to get themselves to the top of the pack and what are you guys doing to get yourself to be the best dental practice in your area? Maybe it's you got to ramp up your Google reviews. Maybe it's getting your name out there more so more patients know you. All those different things can truly help you out. So just make you guys are working on this, looking to see because the world is shook up. Everybody has an opportunity right now. So what are you going to do and how are you going to take advantage? Not in a negative, yucky way of taking advantage. How are you going to maximize this opportunity to be the best practice, to do things differently? So take this back to your team, I want you guys to brainstorm and come up with one or two ideas that you guys can do that's different to set yourselves apart. With that, as always, thank you guys for listening. Go be the leader of the pack. This is your opportunity. I'm excited to hear... You guys can email us.

            Email me [email protected]. Email us what your ideas are of how you're going to become the leader of the pack, what you're going to do differently, how you're going to be more like Delta than the other airlines, so that way your practice really stands out and shines during this opportunity. I say opportunity because it's not very often that the playing field gets leveled and that you're able to make different moves to stand out. Not in a negative way, in a very positive way, the playing field was just leveled. Now you have a chance to have your patients fall in love with you even more and refer more people to you and grow your practices. All right, you guys. As always, thanks for listening. Thank you guys for leaving reviews. Go pop over there, if you have not done so. Subscribe, share it with a friend, and as always, thank you so much for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

            All right Dental A Team listeners, that's a wrap. Thank you so much for listening, and if you loved today's podcast, go leave us a review. It takes you five seconds and your review helps more offices, more practices, more team members just like you find out about the Dental A Team. Thank you guys so much for being part of my Dental A Team family.