The first episode of 2020!

There is so much that I love about Evernote, it's hard for me to know where to start.

This episode is all about some of the ways that I use it to help keep myself organized and make my life a little easier.

Enjoy!

The No Call, No Show

Now, I can only speak for myself. I like to be prepared for my day.

This means that when someone has significant treatment planned, I also have a significant amount of preparation for that appointment.

If they have an appointment reserved, and I'm prepared, AND they do the "no call, no show" - I get concerned. My first thought is for their health and safety. Once I find out that everything is fine, then I think - well, then... what happened?

Some people can't seem to make a reservation in our schedule that they can keep. If you have one of these patients going through active treatment, it can be extremely frustrating.

This is our system for dealing with patients like these, that we haven't been able to coach in other ways.

Step 1

Make sure they are ok

• I would hate to have someone think that I only cared about why our time was being wasted when they were being life flighted to a hospital.
• Then check out Episode 4 for ideas about what to do with your new-found free time.

Step 2

Learn about their challenge in keeping a reservation.

• Unpredictable work schedule
• Caring for an ailing family member
• Kids schedules

Step 3

Help them by first trying to accommodate their individual needs. Flexibility needed, call them when there is an opening? Predictability - maybe find their best time and make sure to give them frequent reminders. Maybe double check that they are getting the reminders where they want them.

Whatever you can figure out together, try it.

Step 4

Evaluate the patient.

Do you like them?

Do they pay with gratitude?

Do they show up on time? [obviously, this group of patients have a challenge in this area.]

Do they need significant dentistry?

Step 5

If they are a patient that you really want to work with, then the next step is not to asses a fee but a reservation fee. Like a hotel.

The first time that you introduce it, make sure to waive it as a courtesy to the patient. Nobody likes a surprise.

It's my second interview!

I am so happy to welcome Dr. Nader Salib to Anything But Dentistry. You can find him at @surgical_gourmet on Instagram.

The approach for this interview was from the perspective of someone who is just graduating from dental school, or residency. The learning points that Dr. Salib brought home were golden!

Sign up for more updates and special offers!

Enjoy!

My first interview!

I'm so glad to be able to share some of the most simple, yet radical, ideas that have allowed me to change to the way I practice.

In this episode, I interview my senior partner, friend and mentor, Dr. Bill Gregg about the power of words.

Enjoy!

We almost always skip the first steps when we start setting our goals as dental professionals.

Why?

We should know better.

In this episode, I share the method that I learned from Dr. Bill Gregg. He has taught this exercise for years, now, and it has helped me immensely!

The download for this episode is taken directly from the handout I was given [with his permission, of course!] so don't forget to grab it. Just put your email, down below and hit subscribe!

If you are a dental professional - you're used to lining up your goals and knocking 'em down.

Have you had a couple that you just couldn't get to? I also talk about my method for making sure I stay on track all year long.

Make sure you sign up and get the download to this episode!

Lastly - Find the Course Information Here

Hi Everyone! So glad you could take the time to check out the latest episode! First things first - We are hosting Dr. Lee Ann Brady for a full day course on restorative materials. You know Dr. Brady from places like restorativenation.com and pankey.org Here's the link to sign up - it's only $250 per doctor and includes lunch! There's also a download for today's episode. I thought it might be easier to save and have it available in a pdf format. Enjoy!

Lines in the Sand Have you ever started treatment on a patient only to regret it later? We all have. When I think about the story I'm about to share - and think about some of the other patients where I feel like I lost control a bit - you can put the main problem into one of three categories.

1. Financial
2. 1. The Practice failed to adequately bill for the services. Either too much time is being spent in the treatment, or too much money on lab services.
   2. The Patient failed to adequately prepare or meet their financial obligations to the practice. When this happens mid-treatment a lot of conflict can result.
   1. The Practice planned and began treatment that was beyond the skill set of the doctor.
   2. The Patient is difficult to manage in the chair, or presents certain challenges that the doctor must overcome.
3. Techincal/Clinical
   1. The Practice didn't communicate expectations clearly.
   2. The Patient didn't communicate expectations clearly [or wasn't given the opportunity]
4. Behavioral

Here's the story: Samantha has been a patient of the practice for more than 20 years. Her oral hygiene is impeccable, the value she places on health and oral health is high - and she did not like how her lower teeth were crowding. I also knew that her value for esthetics was high, as were the demands created by her attention to detail. Together, we decided that she was a good candidate for Invisalign -- and we made the appointment to start. Now, we are still analog [for the most part]. She put up the usual fuss about the impressions. But, was re-assured that this only happens at the beginning and the end. Why did I say that?... Those words were my "kiss of death". Not only did the first set of impressions get rejected [probably because I removed them too soon to ease her discomfort] But, later she needed a mid-course correction If that was the only problem, I wouldn't be telling you the story. Sam also couldn't tolerate: the IPR - too sensitive - it hurt a lot the buttons / attachments - how was she supposed to eat the lingual ramps on 7-10 - these had to be removed Sam's discomfort, her willingness to express her discomfort, my desire to make her comfortable and my inability to do so... I felt like I was failing her. If it were just one area, or only at one appointment, I think it wouldn't be such a big deal. But Every. Single. Appointment. It got to a point where I just died on the inside when I saw her name on the schedule. If Sam sees this she will probably recognize herself, and I have to say that Sam is a patient that I love seeing. She is an absolute joy. Which is why I had to stop and figure out what went wrong with her case. Going back to those main three reasons, it is obvious to me now that our problem was behavioral. the trust that she has in our practice was miss-read by me as an understanding of the treatment that she was about to go through. It's that simple. Thanks to Sam - I now have two short phrases that I share with every patient. No Strangers. No Surprises. These phrases remind me of a sign that might be scribbled out in crayon and hung on the outside of a kids clubhouse. The best part? They open the conversation about how we do things in our office. How it's different. And Why they should care. I can think about several points during Sam's treatment that I don't think would have happened if she and I had had a more open conversation about what she should expect. Even at the beginning -- the very first complaint -- I know that if I had stopped what I was doing, sat knee to knee, and explained my fear about her going forward Sam would have either accepted what was coming or said that she wasn't ready for it. Either of those situations would have been better than what we both lived through. For the record, Sam is still in treatment [we are almost done!!!] and she's thrilled with the results [as am I] No Strangers. No Surprises. Those phrases have given me an ability to draw my lines in the sand when and where I need to. I can be rigid and dogmatic when appropriate, and I can flex when that's needed as well. I encourage you to reflect on the last time you had a feeling of regret after starting treatment. What area was your challenge in? What could have been better? Was your line in the sand too firm? Not firm enough? Please tell me about it - I'd love to hear.

Episode 3 11 Things Every Practice Needs and 1 Thing to Avoid

1. A Fully Optimized Google My Business [GMB] page. - Your business listing on google is becoming more and more like an actual landing page for your business. They are incorporating many of the features that, in the past, people would go to your website to find. The newest feature "offers" is a way to update your listing with time sensitive or more detailed informative posts. Most dental practices don't fully utilize their GMB page - don't be left out! The more you use it, the more effective it will be at converting leads into actual patients.
2. Consistent NAP Data -- NAP stands for Name, Address and Phone. It's important that this information about your practice be listed very consistently. Most businesses have some variation, and some businesses have a lot of variation. This has been one of the more challenging parts of taking over a practice that has been in business for 40+ years. There have been several phone numbers, several addresses, several everything... I had to break this down into a few different steps to improve ours. First, identify all of the inconsistencies. I did this by performing searches -- for any phone number that the practice has ever used, for any name the practice has ever used, for any providers that had worked in the practice [dentists or hygienists], and any addresses that the practice has been at. Then I searched for any combination of these bits of information. Once you find inconsistencies or errors, the next step is to fix what is listed, or have it removed. I recommend using graph paper when you work out exactly how you want your NAP data to look. Graph paper allows you to see every character, down to the punctuation. Some of our errors took months to finally resolve. After that, you should build out additional listings that are relevant.
3. An Email List [That's Used Correctly] - We all have email lists in our practice. Mostly, they are used only for appointment reminders. I think this is a missed opportunity. Instead of using them on such a limited basis, why not send out more informative emails? When dental products end up in the news, or when there's something exciting happening at the practice, shouldn't we take the time to update our patients?
4. Proper Analytics Code -- Both Google and Facebook have designed a way to give you feedback about how people are interacting with your ads and with your website. If you don't have this code installed on your website, you're completely missing the chance to evaluate how you are doing. It's not that hard to install on your own, but if you need help, your webmaster should be able to take care of this for you.
5. A Content Calendar -- Electronic or Paper, a Content Calendar will totally help you plan your marketing from week to week. This will help you create some of your posts in bulk, and save you tons of time!
6. A Marketing Assets Folder -- Have you ever tried to update a profile online only to struggle to remember exactly where you saved the photo you wanted to use? Keeping all of our marketing materials - photos, ad copy, graphic design, letterhead, business card mock-ups - in one place has been invaluable to me.
7. Adobe Spark -- If you use lightroom or photoshop you probably already have an upgraded adobe spark account. If you haven't used it, I really recommend trying it. To have the ability to keep the consistent color scheme and logo we are using on our website - and easily create social media posts and flyers for the office is amazing.
8. Online Feedback -- In this section of the podcast I share the script that I was taught by Mary Osborne. This is the number one reason we have over 100 reviews on google, it's easy and it works.
9. The Ability To Text Patients -- Everyone like the ability to communicate with our office using the same tools that they use to communicate with their family and friends. Though it isn't great for extended conversation about selecting complex appointment times - for simple communication and emergencies, it's been invaluable.
10. A Good URL -- This is something that is going to be a little controversial. Most dentists have a website that looks like drname.com or drnamedds.com. I would recommend that you change your URL if this resembles yours. Why? Because it's limiting. This type of an address, although reflects the practice at the moment, can't honestly accomodate another doctor very well. If dentistcityname.com or citynamedentist.com is taken, or too spammy for you, go with something that reflects your brand, or mission. A change in URL can cause your traffic to drop by 50% - for most dentists, this won't outweigh making your URL future-proof, but it should be taken into consideration.
11. A Mobile Friendly Website -- In today's world, this is so important. People are browsing and shopping on their phones more than ever - our mobile visitors account for 40% of our website traffic. I also recommend using googles site speed tool to evaluate how you're doing in this area. https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

1. Avoid Having a Guest WiFi - Call me a conspiracy theorist. I don't care. I think that the reason some of our patients google reviews haven't shown up on our GMB page is because Google is getting hyperlocal and has determined that they were in our business. I also think that Google is then assuming that their review was solicited in violation of their user agreement, and is therefore suppressing them. We dropped our guest network, and I think you should too.

Here are the people that have helped me the most with learning and executing this stuff! Mike Green - doctordemographics.com Sam Howat and everyone at avelient.com Mary Osborne - maryosborne.com As always, please like, comment, and subscribe!

We can choose to work in a near infinite number of ways. How do we know what style is right for us? In this episode we talk about 3 things that I have done to learn more about myself, and the positive impact these exercises have had on my life.

As always, show notes and details are available.

Our theme music has been generously provided by Jacob Szekely.

This is the Anything But Dentistry Podcast! I'm your host, Dan Balaze, and I am stoked to be doing this!

The purpose of this podcast is to help dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, dental students and dental sales people find purpose, fulfillment and success in our wonderful profession of dentistry.

I think that the actual dentistry is the easy part of our lives. What we need to work on the most are the other areas of our profession.

The podcast will be solo and interview based. We will be launching on 10/01/19 and I'll be publishing on the 1st and 3rd Monday every month.

Our music is provided by Jacob Szekely - find his awesome music here!