Episode 585: Is Your Practice Systematized?

Tiff and Kiera are mapping out 2023 for you with Dental A-Team’s new 12 systems. This is a track system to put in place to allow your practice to maximize production. Each month, your practice will focus on perfecting a certain system. For example, in May, review your scheduling; in September, establish a marketing plan. DAT can provide guidance to help make sure all of your systems are as good as gold.

Beginning next week, tune into the podcast to learn the basics about each of these systems so you can be ready to roll in the details come the new year.

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Transcript:

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0:00:05.6 Kiera Dent: Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and 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.

0:00:18.9 KD: 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.

0:00:35.7 KD: 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.

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0:00:51.6 KD: Hey, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. You guys, I am beyond giddy about the fact that we are having a way for you guys to kick off year 2023 in the most epic way. That's right, I want you guys to go into 2023 with direction, with a plan, and to get something done, done and done.

0:01:08.4 KD: If you've been looking at that operations manual, it is time, guys. For three months, every single week, I'm going to be doing a workshop with you and your team in January to get that operations manual done in three months.

0:01:23.1 KD: Guys, this is a value of over $10,000 that I know you're gonna freaking love because you're actually going to get it done. So if you wanna get your ops manual done in three months and kick off your January ultra strong, head on over to the dentalateam.com/opsmanual and I will see you January 5th for our kick-off.

0:01:45.0 KD: Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and I've got the one and only Tiffanie Trader. I thought she'd be brilliant to bring on the podcast 'cause, one, I'm kind of sick of talking to myself, and, two, it's way more fun with Tiff. So, Tiff, welcome. How are you doing today?

0:01:58.4 Tiffanie Trader: Oh, I'm so good. You're really putting it out there. I've gotta really bring my fun today again.

[laughter]

0:02:04.3 KD: You do. I'm coming in hot on the podcast world today, because I woke up with a bee in my bonnet, and of course, who's my go-to girl of all my best ideas? The one and only Tiffanie.

0:02:13.4 TT: The one that says, "Yeah, let's do it. That sounds great."

0:02:18.3 KD: This is why Tiff and I were meant to be together because, honest to goodness, there have been... Tiff, I don't feel... People don't understand, I'm like, "This is idea probably number one millionth from the time I've met you."

0:02:28.5 TT: Oh, for sure.

0:02:29.4 KD: And you're like, "Oh, let's do it, Kiera. Yeah, it's a great idea. I'm on board." [laughter]

0:02:31.2 TT: I think I probably, between the two of us, Shelby probably goes pretty crazy 'cause I'm like, "Absolutely." Shelby's like, "I think we need to pin that." I'm like, "It's valid. It's valid."

0:02:42.8 KD: That's fair. So if you guys ever need somebody who will jump off a cliff with you, Tiff's your girl. She'll be like, "Yep, let's go. Let's do it." And that was where we came. So Tiff and I have been working in the company. I feel like the company almost feels like Santa's workshop and Tiff and I are like tinkering little elves in there, making you guys all your magical things to make your life easier.

0:03:02.7 KD: And so in the Dental A Team workshop, Tiff and I this year realized we wanted to really get sticky with our Dental A Team IP of our company, meaning, "What are the systems that make practices work? What are the things that we're noticing of all the themes?" We've got hundreds of offices.

0:03:19.6 KD: There's data out there for us to look for patterns, look for themes. And so Tiff and I, we went to work and we came up with our 12 systems, which if you guys haven't seen, we had 12 systems, but these are the new and improved 12 systems.

0:03:32.3 KD: So, Tiff, do you wanna take them through the January, February, like just as a quick high level of these 12 so you guys can hear the patterns, the themes, and then I'll tell you what we're gonna do on the podcast for the next 12 weeks?

0:03:43.5 TT: Yeah, for sure. So we are super brilliant and we were like, "We're going to make this... "

0:03:48.9 KD: We are. [laughter]

0:03:50.8 TT: We're going to make this so easy for our practices and honestly easy for ourselves to be able to really just put everything in a really tight-knit little bundle to just deliver training." So it's not skewed all over the place. It's just tight and concise and really, really freaking cool. So, January was...

0:04:07.9 KD: And to clarify that real quick, because there is a misnomer out there in consulting world that they run on tracks and that it's an A to Z cookbook and this is what we're gonna do. And so, just so you know, as a consulting company, like Tiff said, we have "themes" for every month, just so we as a company like don't forget the 12 systems.

0:04:27.1 KD: For you as an office, don't forget the 12 things because what happens? We learn a system, when we learn a new system, we forget the old system. So we wanted an easy way for you guys to have almost a checklist of the systems that should be in place in your practice while allowing us as a consulting team and as a practice to fix the problems that are the biggest problems for you right now.

0:04:48.9 KD: So it's never going to be an A to Z. We're never gonna come in and be like, "Okay, it is January, so we must work on this." That's not how this works. It just made it an easier, simplified way for you guys to have a checklist, to run on a track, just like we know we're gonna get really family-focused in November because, "hello, holidays." Thanksgiving falls in there.

0:05:08.1 KD: It's a track, and so think of it almost as like holidays to remind you of certain topics, just to check and see, "Are we on track or are we off track?" So hopefully that clarifies. It's not an A to Z cookbook, more of a track for you just to remember what should be in your practice already and a reminder of when to enhance those if need be, and if it fits into your practice during that time.

0:05:27.8 TT: Yep, 100%. I think it makes it easier too for our coaching that is more customized, is more tailored to like, "Okay, where are you at right now? What's going on in your practice?" But it keeps us on track to ensure that the basic systems are not only in place, but they continue to get refined.

0:05:49.7 TT: They stay in place while we work on the customized pieces at the same time, so it kind of helps us double dip and get even more information I think to our clients, and our best friends out there than we were before. So I think it's really, really cool, and 100% agree. The themes...

0:06:05.1 TT: The themes are tailored to kind of fit where we feel like a practice is every piece every month that comes from the year, like, "Where are you at? What are the most important pieces?" So of course, we thought January would be really great for management mastery and leadership and really bundling how to read KPIs. What KPIs should you be reading? What should an office manager be doing? What does a leader of a practice look like? And really getting some of that onboarding stuff and protocols, and getting the systems and the foundations for a practice complete. So we run on a full year.

0:06:37.1 TT: So then February, we thought, "Well, this is a really fantastic month to roll out of leadership and into doctor optimization." So what are things that our doctors and our surgeons and our specialists in our practices can be doing that goes above and beyond what we did last year? So what are some same day crowns, some all on four surgeries, getting scheduling tight knit so that our surgeries can be done all on one day, and consults in other areas, things like that.

0:07:05.2 TT: And then rolling into billing for March because we've got a full... Now we're in a quarter of the year, so we can look at, "Okay, what have we done? Where are we going? What needs to be updated and changed?" And really going through what billing should look like on a day-to-day, month-to-month year-by-year kind of basis.

0:07:24.0 TT: April, we thought, "Let's bring in... We're into quarter two, let's bring in that five-star patient experience". Everybody knows that first quarter in the year is super, super heavy with catching up from the treatment patients decided not to do last year, slamming it into that first quarter.

0:07:41.0 TT: So really refining what those processes are going into that second quarter, and obviously getting prepped for summer. Sometimes we do see a slow down in our general practices during the summer. My surgery practices, you guys are seeing a ramp up, so still same systems and the same timeframe to get those really ramped up.

0:08:00.9 TT: May, we thought, "Okay, we've got our patient's experience refined, we're really working hard at making sure that our patients feel beloved, they feel like family. Now we've gotta make sure that the scheduling is top notch, on point." So May, we've got smooth sailing scheduling. Kiera and I, FYI, love to name things, if you didn't know that. [laughter] So, we will always name...

0:08:21.9 KD: Because we want this to feel good. I was like, "I would totally go for smooth sailing scheduling. Please sign me up."

0:08:28.4 TT: Absolutely. Absolutely. And we just want it to be fun. We love naming things, we love acronym, team crazy, because we also like to change them, but right now we've got May, smooth sailing scheduling, and that is exactly what it sounds like.

0:08:44.4 TT: Going through all of the pieces of scheduling, getting patients on the schedule, getting them accepting treatment, getting them on the schedule using block scheduling, using the exes and slashes, color coding in Open Dental and Eaglesoft, unscheduled treatment calls, making sure morning huddles are tight-knit and productive to help fill the schedule. So anything that really could be related to the schedule, we tried to do in the month of May.

0:09:11.6 TT: For June, we're optimizing, maximizing case acceptance. So it's maximize case acceptance. Where should your case acceptance be, and really how much should you be diagnosing to get the case acceptance and reach the goals that you wanna reach?

0:09:26.3 TT: So there's still... Every month you'll notice there's a lot of tracking. There's a lot of things that we're gonna implement and give you tools that we're gonna give you that are gonna show you, "Is it working or is it not working?" So that you can track the success and really see, "Where is your practice going?"

0:09:42.2 TT: Now, here is the deal, guys. July, dynamite dental assistance. We are really, really adamant about never leaving our dental assistants out. There are so many training programs and training tools and trainers, and everything is so highly focused on front office or hygiene department.

0:10:03.4 TT: Our billing department, our treatment coordinators, and our hygiene department get so much attention that we wanted to make sure we brought in our dental assistants as well. So our July, dynamite dental assistance, is really focusing on how our dental assistants can be more efficient in their days to make their jobs easier on them.

0:10:24.7 TT: We know you guys are stressed. We know you're working really hard. You're cleaning in between patients and you're turning rooms over and you're building relationships and you're talking all day to your patients, you're communicating with your doctor. There's so much that you're doing in a day, we really wanted to recognize, acknowledge that, and look for areas where we could make your lives a little bit easier. So that's what July is geared towards.

0:10:47.3 TT: August. August, we wanna prep for what we like to call in the dental world, Suck-tember. So August...

[laughter]

0:10:54.7 KD: It's true, guys. That September, it does suck, dang it. [laughter]

0:11:00.9 TT: The hygiene schedule is just not always super fantastic in September, so what we like to do is we like to try to prep for that, and so in August, we've got our elevated hygiene. And so what can we be doing in hygiene to really be ramping up not only the production that we're outputting, but same as dental assistance, the efficiency, time management, making sure that your appointments are sailing smooth and that we're not wasting time and energy, I think is really one of the biggest pieces that Dental A Team focuses on is you might be doing a lot of things, but is there a different way that we could still do all those things, if not more, with different energy output so that it doesn't feel as hard?

0:11:42.0 TT: So how can we make it easier and how can we prep in advance to make your lives easier, making... What would doctor do? Calibration and NDTR and ICRP, all of those different systems you guys have probably heard on other podcasts are thrown into here to help cut down on your doctor's exam, giving you time back.

0:12:05.2 TT: Cut down on the amount of time you're chatting with your patient. You're still building that relationship and getting all of those pieces, it's just in a more efficient manner. So that's kind of what August is geared towards, ramping that up so that we can be super efficient and effective in the months coming, but especially September and getting that schedule filled in.

0:12:22.2 TT: September, we thought, "Let's work on confident marketing." Confident marketing is huge. I really, really like to get the marketing figured out in advance, because as we know, any external marketing typically takes 60 to 90 days to really show a result in the efforts that you're putting out, so your ROI is not immediate on really any kind of marketing that we do, but especially that external.

0:12:46.3 TT: So if you're focusing, if you're coming out of quarter three, kind of that last little bit of time in September, focusing on, "What am I gonna do for the last quarter of this year, so that my first quarter of next year is really fantastic and I've got some smooth sailing marketing going on?" That's what we're focusing in on September, so what can we do to get those marketing efforts solidified and really get those things going? End of year letters, making sure we're utilizing benefits, what can we do internally to really ramp up that last quarter of the year to hit those goals.

0:13:20.6 KD: Are you guys sick of trying to figure it out on your own? I know I am. When I'm trying to run a business sometimes I just think, "There's got to be a better way to do this." And so for me, my answer has been to find someone who's done it and does it really, really, really well, like I'm talking the best of the best of the best.

0:13:38.3 KD: I want someone who's been in my shoes, somebody who understands what I'm going through. When I was looking for the consulting business, I found a coach who literally has run a consulting business. Well, that seems like the perfect fit. So you guys, right now, we have a few spaces open in our Platinum consulting.

0:13:57.4 KD: That is in the consulting where we come to your practice. We help you get systems implemented, we don't just tell you what system to implement. We implement them with you and for you. You guys, it is one of the best investments I've ever made is to hire a coach who understands the business I'm in, who's lived it, who's done it, and that's what we in the dental A team do. We literally physically fly to you.

0:14:19.8 KD: So if you're sick of trying to figure it out on your own, if you just want somebody who understands you, join our Platinum. I'd love to have you, I'd love to have our consulting team come out and see you, be in your office, be with your team, and truly help you get on to the easy path of dentistry. It doesn't have to be hard. So join us in the Platinum, we'd love to have you.

0:14:40.7 KD: And also like Tiff said with September, you're going to have potentially more downtime in September, which oftentimes offices never have time for marketing, building content, creating that, making sure those letters are done, so it's utilizing that downtime that we typically have... Hopefully, we don't have as much of it, but that was another reason to throw that marketing right in September for you guys as a strategic placement as well.

0:15:03.5 TT: Yep, absolutely. October, we thought, "Let's look at our operations manual." So we'll be running some operations manuals and manual intensive programs next year as well, but this October piece here is really to make sure that we're ready for the following year.

0:15:22.3 TT: So where is our ops manual at? What do we need to do? How can we update it? How can we make sure we're ready? We've got the onboarding tools, we've got all of the pieces that make you feel like your business is running smoothly, so that we're going into another year super pumped and super excited.

0:15:36.2 KD: And on that note, with Tiffanie talking about the operations manual, you guys know... Hopefully, you've heard the podcast. We are running that three-month operations manual intensive in January. January through March. So like Tiff said, we will be in addition to running these 12 themes, running operations manual intensive because that's a huge thing that you guys don't get done.

0:15:57.0 KD: So if that's something on your list and you're like, "Oh my gosh, that's our worst system right now. That's where we need help," be sure to head on over, guys to the dentalateam.com/opsmanual. Make sure you sign up. It's three month intensive, you get the ops manual, but don't wait on that one, I just wanted to put a quick plug in there because I know it's running in January and it'd be really fun for you guys to just check that off. So quick plug on that. What's November, Tiff?

0:16:20.5 TT: November is practice profitability. So November, we're in our last quarter of the year, and we really need to look at our lead and lag measures, kind of, "What have we accomplished this year? What are we going to accomplish this year?"

0:16:35.1 TT: 'Cause you can pretty much project what you're gonna end up at for the year, and what are we going into next year as. So we're looking at annual goal setting, really getting ready for the next year, quarterly meetings, calibration meetings, really making sure that you've got a meeting structure in place, everything standardized, we're doing monthly one-on-ones, reviews, raises, bonuses, anything that we want to make sure that we're implementing for the next year, we really wanna solidify in the month of November.

0:17:03.6 TT: We chose November because it's not so close to the end of the year that it's like this mad rush trying to get it completed and get it prepped for your January team meeting or what have you, and you're still kind of focused. I feel like December, we're really just not super focused on the business pieces as much because we're trying so hard to get our patients taken care of to utilize all of those end of year benefits.

0:17:27.7 TT: So November came in hot and heavy on that practice profitability piece, and then December really rounding out the year with A team hiring and onboarding. We thought, "We did the operations manual in October reviewed it, kind of got those pieces ready to be worked on."

0:17:43.8 TT: And in December it's a really great time to really just make sure that we've got hiring and onboarding pieces put into place, that we've got quick buttons for charting how-tos, we've got all of the pieces together that we would need to use to onboard anyone. Finishes out that operations manual, but makes it easy for any pieces that you are bringing back onto the team, that you're bringing back on to the team, so that you're ready to go the next year.

0:18:12.7 KD: I love it. So Tiff thanks for going through all those, and I hope you guys heard. One, I would take this if I was all a listener and I would quickly write those down and check because two, that there's a bunch of different systems. So it's a theme almost with tons of systems underneath it.

0:18:28.8 KD: And that's where I feel like people, when they ask, "What is a systematized practice?" Well, it's making sure all these 12 categories have systems that ensure that that category is doing really well, so, "Do you have a solid system around your hiring and onboarding? Is it documented? Is it created... Do you have that in place so that way your team can successfully hire and onboard and create, or is that an area that we're kind of lower on?"

0:18:55.2 KD: Same thing with practice profitability. "Do you have quarterly meetings, calibration meetings, morning huddles?" Those types of things that really increase the profitability of your practice. So that was the idea behind it. And so for the next 12 weeks, guys, this is kick-off day, we wanted to let you guys know, so join us every single week. We're going to be going through to prep you guys for next year, so using these as checklists for you of each of these 12 themes.

0:19:22.4 KD: So next week, we're gonna kick it off of the January theme of management mastery and leadership. So that way, guys, as you're going... Because oftentimes we set goals based on reaction, we don't set them proactively. And instead of this year, we're trying to give you guys literally a step by step, so that way you can think of, "Alright, how is our management and mastery and leadership? Am I doing really well? Like of 10 items, am I a 10 out of 10, or am I a two out of 10? And then what about doctor optimization? Are we adding all these additional things within our practice? Am I a 10 out of 10? Am I maybe a three out of 10?"

0:20:00.9 KD: Because what that does is as you go through each of these themes, each of these topics, each of these categories, it then shows you where your biggest blinding spots are, so that way you can set goals accordingly.

0:20:10.5 KD: If you guys are rocking and rolling on practice profitability, but maybe our scheduling is a freaking banana town, well, that's probably an area we should work on. Is like, "Keep the practice profitability, keep it going, but we need to get our schedule fixed and have solid systems around that, so that way that is smooth sailing scheduling."

0:20:27.9 KD: So I'm super jazzed. Tiff and I created this and it was an idea of, "Tiff, let's do a weekly podcast episode of all these systems for you guys as we're finishing out 2022, so you can be totally set up and ready to go for 2023."

0:20:41.1 KD: So, Tiff and I, this is a labor of love. This is our... Just a way to give back to you guys of a quick easy checklist for you every single week, so be sure to tune in next week. Of each of those topics, we'll do kind of a high overview. We're not gonna go super in-depth on all of them, but kind of just giving you a checklist to check off, "How are we doing? What area of the practice do we really need to focus on?

0:21:05.5 KD: That way, you are more directed in your goal setting, more proactive. And guess what, guys? Whenever I hear these types of things, I'm like, "Oh shoot, my practice is falling apart." That's not our intent. Our intent is to give a lot of knowledge, to get a true baseline of where you are, so that way you know what the most impactful things will be for you to do next year. Any other thoughts you've got on that, Tiff?

0:21:27.6 TT: No, I love it. I think that was a perfect wrap-up. Really just taking everything and making sure that every year you're prepping for the next year. We're always looking ahead and saying, "Okay, what can I do really, really well this year that's gonna project even further next year?" And then we level up again.

0:21:42.9 KD: Absolutely. So guys, that's our labor of love. I hope you guys are super jazzed. Like I said, every week we'll dive into it for you, so join us next week, and hopefully it's me and Tiff the whole time. You might just get me sometimes, you might just get Tiff, but regardless, content will always be the same. So, join us next week. We're gonna talk about management mastery and leadership and, Tiff, thanks for doing a podcast labor of love. We've done our team side, we've done our practice side, and now let's do the podcast one.

0:22:10.8 TT: I love it all. I'm here for it.

0:22:12.6 KD: Awesome guys. Well, as always, we're super excited to have you guys a part of this, so if you need help on this, if you wanna kinda get that checklist, email us hello at the dentalateam.com, and we'll see you guys next week on these 12 systems mastery. Join us. Can't wait. And as always, thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

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0:22:34.3 KD: And that wraps it up for another episode of The Dental A Team podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.