Episode 591: Doctors, Here’s How to Optimize Your Practice

We continue the 12 system themes with theme 2 out of 12: Doctor Optimization! Our doctors are often overlooked when it comes to the systems established in a practice, so this episode dives into how their role can help the team function as well as possible. Kiera and Tiff discuss how doctors can …

• Get team members excited to perform procedures, and

• Onboard, train, and calibrate associates

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera and Tiff

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

Transcript:

[music]

0:00:05.7 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. 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.

[music]

0:00:51.1 KD: Hey, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and you guys, I am beyond giddy about the fact that we are having a way for you guys to kick off your 2023 in the most epic way. That's right. I want you guys to go into 2023 with direction, with a plan and to actually get something done, done and done. 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. 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 thedentalateam.com/ops manual and I will see you January 5th for our kick-off.

[music]

0:01:44.8 KD: Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera, and guess who's back? Because we're going through these 12 systems. Tiffanie, welcome back to the show. How are you today?

0:01:54.0 Tiffanie Trader: I'm good, thanks. How are you?

0:01:56.6 KD: Good. I sometimes wish you could see me. I literally feel like I'm like the greatest showman introducing the world famous Tiffanie Trader, my hand goes out as if you were coming in. [laughter] I wish you guys could all see it.

0:02:06.4 TT: I love it.

0:02:08.7 KD: 'Cause Tiff you are a rockstar, you've been on this for so long and I'm still thinking back to the podcast we recorded a while ago where you're like, we're freaking brilliant and we came up with something to make your life easy. And I'm like, yeah, we really are, you guys are welcome [laughter] and I love that you just owned the fact of our magic. So guys, welcome back to... If you haven't been a part of it, be sure to go check back. Tiff and I are walking you guys through our labor of love for the Q4.

0:02:34.9 KD: We're taking you guys through every department of your practice, every... The 12 systems that we have seen in a practice, they've got themes. So the first one was management mastery and leadership, and the second one is going to be doctor optimization. So the doctor portion of your practice. We are gonna do this with you guys every single week for the next 12 weeks. I guess now we're like 10 weeks 'cause this is week two. I don't even know, guys, don't make me do that math right now, I'm usually pretty good at that. But we're gonna take you through the end of the year and every single week we're gonna go through a different department, a theme of your practice, kinda help you guys figure out how you drill down this area. And if you follow along with us every single week, by the end you're going to actually know a whole overview of your entire practice and what areas you should work on moving into 2023.

0:03:22.3 KD: So we're literally helping you guys do the work. If you wanna join us on it, I think this is one of our best podcast portions of the Dental A Team Podcast, be sure to share this. Guys, this is fun, if you do it with a buddy, like I live to rally against other companies and be like, "Alright, this is where I'm weak, where are you strong? Teach me how you became strong in the areas I'm weak". So if I was you, I'd be sharing this podcast with a colleague, with a friend, with my team and doing this together because I think oftentimes we just sit in our own world and we don't ask for help outside of it. So bring people in, share this podcast. Tiff, let's dive into the doctor portion of a practice. 'Cause I think the doctor portion oftentimes gets overlooked when we're assessing all the departments. It's almost like the doctors are assessing all departments and forget they themselves, of what they do is a department that radically impacts the entire practice.

0:04:10.7 TT: Yeah, I totally agree, totally agree. I think doctors and dental assistants get overlooked every time.

0:04:16.0 KD: All the time. [laughter] Sorry, dental assistants, don't worry, your world's coming, we promise. [laughter]

0:04:22.7 TT: Yep. So I think part of the pieces that we looked at for doctor optimization and really to see what can our doctors of the practice be doing to help us. Part of that was really looking at the procedures that we're performing in the practice. And when I'm working with my doctors, one of the things that I often try to pull out of my practitioners, whether it's an associate or the owner doctor or a specialist or a surgeon, anyone under the sun that I'm working with, I'm really looking at, what is it that you love to do? Because that's what we need to do more of. So if you are not doing something, if you're not doing a procedure that inspires you, you're not gonna be easily pushed to do "more." You're not gonna want to... You're not gonna wanna expand what you're doing or push your goals because you're not doing something you love. You're just kind of bread and buttering it and moving on with life.

0:05:18.8 TT: So if you love crowns, bridges, fillings by all means, I have a lot of doctors who do. And I have a lot of associate doctors that come in and are like, give me all of the general treatment and my doctors who are doing All-on-4s and oral surgery and oral perio stuff out of their practice, they're fantastic, take all of this GP stuff from me. So look at that first and foremost, what is it that inspires you? When you're scrolling Instagram and you're seeing all of these different pictures from all of those weird dental sites that you guys follow, what makes you excited? Are you seeing implants and you're like, "Heck yeah, I wanna learn how to do that." Are you seeing All-on-4 pieces or is it Botox? Is it fillers? Is it root canals? Maybe you're not doing root canals or molar root canals yet. There's classes and courses you can take. That's something that we looked at for doctor optimization and really looking at what can we do to expand your reach for your patient base. So what is it that you can provide your patient base and your community with that maybe you're not providing now. Getting things standardized and really looking at how you...

0:06:23.9 TT: Your presentation, your entrance to a room, how a team member introduces you, and how the flow of your exam and your communication with your patient goes, how it truly affects your case acceptance. So all of those pieces, and really looking at what can you as the provider of your practice do to level up your reach of your current patient base and the new patients that are about to come into your practice. What do they need from you that you want to provide? What can you do to really fulfill that piece for yourself while providing this need to your patient base in your community?

0:06:57.5 KD: Absolutely. And I really feel like, Tiff, as you said, that doctors... One I love, Tiff, that you said, "Are you doctors doing what you actually love doing, or are you kind of in the muck in the mud?" and like "I hate doing this." Because if you don't enjoy doing that, there are other doctors you can hire to come do that portion, so you can do more of what you really love. You will be a happier doctor, and there's so many things for you to expand. So I also feel like within the doctor world, as we assess it, docs, are you going to CE that inspires you and ramps you up?

0:07:28.4 KD: That could be business CE, that could be a clinical CE that you're taking on. Are you doing PRF, platelet-rich fibrin? I love that with implants. Are you doing... So many people are into slip right now; in fact, that's a hot, hot thing right now that you guys are into. There's implants, there's All-on-4 cases. Are you going to something... Even if you're already doing it, but going to learn more. I've got some doctors who are into implants and they realized, "Well, if I wanna market it, I should take a photography CE course. That way I can make beautiful pictures of these before and afters to put on our social media to start building my portfolio."

0:08:05.8 KD: That CE that inspires, that makes it more fun because, doctors, you've really gotta keep yourself energized and excited. That's honest to goodness why I joined Tony Robbins this year. I love him. I'm obsessed. You guys know seriously, Tony has changed my life, and I wanted it so that way I got ramped up as a consultant from an amazing consultant and to take our consultants through it, and we have all these different ones that we go through, and it really, really does help out.

0:08:31.1 KD: So, making sure that you are also excited, but then on the flip side of it, what about your standardized exams? How are the exams? Ask your team. [laughter] The teams might not be as willing to share with you, but if you ask them, you could actually find out a lot of team members say our doctors actually sometimes are condescending to the patients, or they talk so much and try to explain so much that the patients actually get more confused, which is why they don't accept treatment. Do you want... Going back to our management mastery and leadership... Have a team member who is willing to share with you that information?

0:09:05.9 KD: And second, are you going through all of these different pieces to ensure that your exams are awesome, that your patient experience is great, that your case acceptance is there, because this is what we're talking about with the doctor portion of your company?

[music]

0:09:22.5 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. 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 seemed like the perfect fit.

0:09:53.5 KD: So, you guys, right now, we have a few spaces open in our platinum consulting. That is in the consulting where we actually come to your practice. We help you get systems implemented. We don't just tell you what system to implement, we actually implement them with you and for you. You guys, it is one of the best investments I have 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.

0:10:21.7 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.

[music]

0:10:42.1 KD: So I think it's really important, guys, for you to really dive into this, not overlook it. The doctor portion is so important in your practice, and if you guys really dive into it, you're going to be able to figure out some small areas to grow and advance. We've already gone over adjunct procedures. What's lighting you up? Tiff talked about that at the beginning. We went through making sure you guys really have those standardized exams. What is causing it? Are we looking for this? And then really making sure, I think, the next piece of the doctor portion is associates and onboarding associates, training the associates, calibrating with the associates. That's kind of where my mind's going, Tiff, unless you've got another spot within the doctor world, but I really feel like doctors are also associates and that calibration and training is absolutely paramount for them.

0:11:27.1 TT: I 100% agree. I think there's just a lot of vulnerability and honesty and integrity wrapped up into this month and into being the leader of the practice as a doctor, and I think that that also, like you just said, flows into being an associate, because even though you're not, maybe the owner doctor of the practice, it's not your practice or your business per se, you're still a leader in that practice, and being able to present as that and being able to have those hard conversations with the team and with the owner doctor, the office manager, all of those people is kind of hand-in hand, and if we're not meeting consistently, we're not doing a good enough onboarding, or we're not doing those calibration meetings, we're not really integrating our associates into the team in that kind of mindset, I think that you're failing your team, yourself, and your associate, 'cause it could be so much better if it's done correctly.

0:12:19.4 KD: Absolutely. And I feel like doctors so often say, one... [chuckle] My favorite line is, "We're so busy, Kiera, how are we ever supposed to get together?" and I think doctors really getting together and calibrating, I feel like doctors like to work with other doctors, so you don't feel as alone. And I know you guys will share x-rays and ask what people would do, but do you as a doctor pod and a doctor group in your practice, or even as a solo practitioner.

0:12:45.5 KD: Do you actually calibrate and look at x-rays, calibrate with even your hygiene team with FMX's and make sure all of you are diagnosing, and I say at least 75% to 80%-ish correctly? We don't want you guys to be exact robots and replicas, 'cause every dentist of course will be different, but are you guys actually working through different types of diagnosing to make sure we're all looking for the same things with our patients? If a patient sees Dr. A, and then comes in to see Dr. B, are those diagnoses the same? Is the treatment very similar, or are they getting a completely different experience?

0:13:21.3 KD: And these doctor calibrations, these working with the hygiene department, working with the associates, doing it consistently, and I say like once a month. You can even do it over Zoom at 5:00 o'clock, 6:00 o'clock You can do it remotely. You don't have to actually physically be in a practice. But are those things that your practice is currently doing, are you and your doctors doing it? And if not, maybe you might wanna consider adding that as a portion of things that you could enhance moving into next year, for sure.

0:13:48.0 TT: Totally agree. I think it's important, and I think oftentimes we overlook what we will gain by just taking an hour or so. Even if it's away from patient time, if it's production, taking that hour away and really calibrating that you guys are on the same or similar pages will exponentially change your diagnosis, how much you're diagnosing, your treatment case acceptance, your co-diagnosis from your hygienist. So much is elevated and changed by taking the time to calibrate together that it's far more worth the value of that time than if you were to do two [0:14:23.4] ____ fillings because what else [laughter] are you gonna do in an hour, right? Like [0:14:27.7] ____ putting in a couple of fillings, maybe an implant if you're really, really good and really special, but take that time and just get it together. Make sure that you guys are on the same page. It's worth it.

0:14:37.4 KD: So that's really... As you're looking at your doctor portion of your practice, I would do a checklist. Even if you don't have an associate, do you have an onboarding for an associate so that way you could be prepared to hire an onboarding associate? Usually you guys don't think about that, you don't plan for it, and then all of a sudden it's like, "We need an associate. We're bringing someone in," and then we get the call, "Kiera, Tiff, how do I onboard this associate? They're supposed to show up on Monday." Maybe we could be a little proactive. Think about that. What would we wanna do? So that way, we're not having to do re-do dentistry or things like that, just because we weren't training them and ensuring their work was up to our same standard before letting them run on [chuckle] their own and not really giving that guidance.

0:15:18.4 KD: So, really, guys dive into it. That's what these whole weeks are set up for you guys. This is mine and Tiff's labor of love for you is to look at your doctor department. What areas could you enhance? What areas are going really, really well? This for us, if we were doing it like we did on our last one, how is Dental A Team's consultant world? Tiff, what would you give our consultant world based on like helping them have CE and calibrating our consultants and having our consultants who are doing similar services amongst the clients? If we were to pull this into real life, Tiff and I are going to rate our company consultants will equivalate two doctors. It's a similar thing within our company. Tiff, on a one to 10, 10 being the best department, one being the worst, like we totally just said, how would you rank our consultants right now?

0:16:04.6 TT: I honestly think that we have pushed really hard in the last year to get to a solid... I feel good at 8.5. I think we're somewhere between the 7.5 to 8.5, and I wanna give us an 8.5 because we are doing the calibration. We're having... Two times a month, we're meeting just as a consultant team to review training and guidelines. We're working on our IP. We've got so much of that done and we're training it and we're making sure that our clients are getting consistent results, which tells us that our consulting is pretty... Getting better to be more calibrated. So I think the effort that we've put in, 8.5 might be high to say that's where we're at, but I think the effort level is surely that high. We're working really hard to get it calibrated and get those things put in place so that we are calibrated.

0:16:54.5 KD: For sure, and I agree with you, I was between the 7 and 8 zone, and the only reason I think I'm leaning more on the 7 side is simply because I feel training, all of that's there. The piece I feel we could add is making sure our consultants are getting... Like we have CE. There is actual CE for our consultants, but making sure the consultants are in their vein of what they really love to do and it lights them up rather than having to do all of it, which I actually think we're kind of pulling... Like Britt's on one side, Tiff's on another side, Kiera's there, Dana's there, and that's the area I think that we're gonna be growing next year.

0:17:26.5 KD: So agreed with you, I think we're right in a line, but that's how you guys can really use your team. Look at your doctor department, assess it. Write it down today, guys. Remember we're going through each of these different topic systems for you. So last month or last week was the management mastery and leadership. Today is doctor optimization. Give yourself a number. This way we can keep going through and then be sure to join us again next week. We're going to be doing billing with ease, and kind of diving into your billing department, So, Tiff, as always, thanks for being on this one with me. Thanks for doing this labor of love for all of our listeners and just podcasting with me on the doctor optimization today.

0:18:03.4 TT: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me and I love doing this with you, you know that, and this was fantastic. It was super fun.

0:18:07.3 KD: Of course. Alright guys, check out that doctor department. Be sure to join us next week for billing with ease, and as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

[music]

0:18:20.8 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.