828: KPI Mastery: Driving Dental Practice Success with Data – Dr. Barrett Straub

You're told to improve your numbers. But what are you improving, and why? If you're feeling lost and overwhelmed, keep listening! Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Barrett Straub, ACT’s CEO, to reveal nine essential KPIs that will help you better understand your practice and achieve the results you want. Working more is not the solution! To learn how to step off the hamster wheel and into the life of your dreams, listen to Episode 828 of The Best Practices Show!

Learn More About Dr. Straub:

• Send Dr. Straub an email: [email protected] 
• Join Dr. Straub on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barrett.d.straub
• Email the ACT Team for their free resources: [email protected] 
• Register for ACT’s To The Top Study Club (January 17, 2025): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climb-with-us-register-for-january-17-2025-ttt-study-club-tickets-1012930712027
• Register for ACT’s To The Top Study Club (January 24, 2025): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climb-with-us-register-for-january-24-2025-ttt-study-club-tickets-1012960511157

More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:

• Subscribe to The Best Practices Show: https://the-best-practices-show.captivate.fm/listen
• Join The Best Practices Association: https://www.actdental.com/bpa
• Join ACT’s To The Top Study Club: https://www.actdental.com/ttt
• See the ACT Dental/BPA Live Event Schedule: https://www.actdental.com/event
• Get The Best Practices Magazine for free: https://www.actdental.com/magazine
• Please leave us a review on the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-practices-show-with-kirk-behrendt/id1223838218

Episode Resources:

• Watch the video version of Episode 828: https://www.youtube.com/@actdental/videos

Main Takeaways:

• Working more hours is not the way to improve your practice.
• Don't try to improve your numbers without first understanding why.
• Understand gross profit to get a clear picture of your financial health.
• Your most important KPI is the number of days you worked per month.
• Learn how to calculate true profit. Know what is or isn't reflected in your P&L.
• Measure your practice health score to gauge the overall health of your practice.
• Gross production is a useless KPI unless you know how much of that you collect.
• Figure out why your overhead is too high. It may or may not be due to overspending.
• Collections percentages under 100% is the silent killer of profit. Always collect 100%.
• Track and manage write-offs. Bill your full fee all the time, for everything, to everyone.

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

1:12 ACT’s TTT, BPA, and Pro Coaching.

4:16 The big picture.

9:07 Why having a defined direction and data is important.

11:37 Essential targets every practice should know: Days worked per month.

14:45 Essential targets every practice should know: Gross production.

17:39 Essential targets every practice should know: Write-off percentage.

19:35 Essential targets every practice should know: Net production.

25:55 Essential targets every practice should know: Collections percentage.

28:53 Essential targets every practice should know: Overhead.

33:32 Essential targets every practice should know: Gross profit.

36:23 Essential targets every practice should know: True profit.

42:45 Essential targets every practice should know: Practice health score.

46:17 How it works: Case example.

54:10 Final takeaways.

56:14 Q&A: Who should own these numbers and make sure they are on track?

1:00:12 Q&A: How do you view days worked versus hours worked?

1:04:58 Q&A: If I'm working less days, how am I going to compensate my team?

1:10:39 Q&A: Does the write-off percentage include all adjustments?

1:15:18 Q&A: How do you verbalize to patients that you don't work certain days?

1:20:40 Final thoughts.

Dr. Barrett Straub Bio:

Dr. Barrett Straub practices general and sedation dentistry in Port Washington, Wisconsin. He has worked hard to develop his practice into a top-performing, fee-for-service practice that focuses on improving the lives of patients through dentistry.

A graduate of Marquette Dental School, Dr. Straub’s advanced training and CE includes work at the Spear Institute, LVI, DOCS, and as a member of the Milwaukee Study Club. He is a past member of the Wisconsin Dental Association Board of Trustees and was awarded the Marquette Dental School 2017 Young Alumnus of the Year. As a former ACT coaching client that experienced first-hand the transformation that coaching can provide, he is passionate about helping other dentists create the practice they’ve always wanted.

Dr. Straub loves to hunt, golf, and spend winter on the ice, curling. He is married to Katie, with two daughters, Abby and Elizabeth.