Beyond Bitewings

On this episode of Beyond Bitewings, we are joined by Kiera Dent, a dental practice consultant and host of The Dental A Team podcast. Kiera consults in over 100 dental offices nationwide, and tackles in-person dental office coaching. Her goal is to help clients achieve maximum success and efficiency.

Kiera and Ash talk about why it’s so important to create systems from processes, and why you should find one or two systems that will make the biggest impact on your practice. Plus, they discuss the best way to seek out experts in the industry. Kiera also offers advice about setting a clear vision for your team, and how to set up automation around tasks so the team can work more efficiently. 

Keira also talks about why it’s so crucial that dental practice owners know how to manage the business side of their practice by dedicating time to focusing on the business and checking KPIs. She also recommends finding successful people to emulate and filtering through the noise to focus on one or two resources at a time. 

Connect with Kiera here: https://www.thedentalateam.com/

Listen to the podcast here: https://www.thedentalateam.com/blog

If you have specific questions about any of these topics for your practice, or if you'd like to have another question answered on a future podcast, please reach out to the Edwards & Associates team. Please also contact us to find out more about Ash’s financial course.

Visit us at: https://EandAssociates.com

Do you know how your dental practice is performing compared to the national average?

In this episode of Beyond Bitewings, Robert and Ash talk numbers, but it’s the good numbers that are crucial to know in order to determine the health of your practice. They talk about the importance of basic financial knowledge and how it can help clients make better decisions.

They touch on the differences in collection percentages based on location, and where you should fall with collections versus take-home pay. They also cover marketing budgeting and how it should be based on target collections rather than current collections.

Ash and Robert also discuss why consultants can offer a big return on your investment by helping you see the blindspots in your practice. Plus, they discuss rent percentages and why you may not be able to stay within the national average based on where you live. Additionally, they discuss continuing education expenses and what you can write off when it comes to travel. Finally, they explore the financial differences between pediatric practices, orthodontists, and general one-dentist practices.

If you have specific questions about any of these topics for your practice, or if you'd like to have another question answered on a future podcast, please reach out to the Edwards & Associates team. Please also contact us to find out more about Ash’s financial course.

Visit us at: https://EandAssociates.com

On this episode of Beyond Bitewings, Robert and Ash discuss current trends in the dental industry. They discuss topics like knowing the benefits of really utilizing the technology you may already own in order to help customers during more convenient times, like after hours. They also talk about why they’re seeing a trend in more dentists shying away from wanting to own their own practice. Plus, they discuss some factors that they’ve seen their clients consider when trying to determine whether or not they should sell their current practice to a DSO. Additionally, they talk about the increase in corporate dentistry and the impact of student loan debt on ownership.

They talk about current issues that they’re seeing their current clients have to overcome, especially around hiring staff, and how you can find the right help for your office. They also discuss whether or not you should consider adding new services to your practice, like BOTOX injections and fillers.

They also discuss the question that seems to be on the mind of every dentist, should they drop insurance. Plus, what is the best way to accomplish this for your practice. Often practice owners are scared because they’re worried they’ll lose patients, but you may not be getting as many patients from it as you think.

If you have specific questions about any of these topics for your practice, or if you'd like to have another question answered on a future podcast, please reach out to the Edwards & Associates team.

Do you feel overwhelmed with all that you should be doing for your practice, especially consistently showing up on social media?

On this episode of Beyond Bitewings Robert and Ash welcome guest Erin Gregor, a content and social media marketing strategist, to talk about the risks and rewards of businesses being active on social media. They discuss why you should avoid discussing controversial topics during sensitive times and how to keep social media posts professional and focused on attracting clients. 

They also dive into the impact of utilizing current trends to create educational content in the dental industry and how to engage with your audience for increased algorithm ratings. They also cover the importance of authenticity, inclusivity, and standing out in a commodity business. Erin shares tips and tricks for developing a social media strategy, including cost considerations, the value of having a website, and the benefits of paid media. 

Join us as we explore the complex world of social media management and how to make it work for your business.

If you have specific questions about how to utilize social media for your practice, or if you'd like to have another question answered on a future podcast, please reach out to the Edwards & Associates team.

In this episode of Beyond Bitewings, Lynne Leggett, founder of Victory Dental Management, joins the team at Edwards and Associates. Lynne is a Dental Consultant who has a diverse experience with dentistry. She has over 26 years of business experience in several industries including:  dentistry, medical, pharmacy, sales, transportation, logistics, and project management.

Lynne talks about the significance of leadership, culture, and communication to achieving success within your dental practice and shares her experience of creating programs for teams. From defining roles and responsibilities to avoiding high turnover rates, Lynne offers actionable steps for dentists to view themselves as coaches, clarify expectations, and engage in effective teamwork. 

They also discuss the impact of COVID-19 on dental practices, and she discusses strategies for maintaining transparency, and promoting a work-life balance within your practice. She also talks about how to create a thriving dental practice with a strong team foundation.

To connect with Lynne, visit: https://victorydentalmanagement.com/

If you have specific questions about building a team for your practice, or if you'd like to have another question answered on a future podcast, please reach out to the Edwards & Associates team.

Is getting a bad review the end of your practice?

On this episode of Beyond Bitewings, the discussion centers around how dental offices can handle reviews from their patients, both positive and negative. Ash and Robert are joined by special guest, Dr. Sharon Tiger. 

They talk about the importance of great reviews, and how to ask for a review without sounding like it’s been rehearsed or read straight from a script. They also talk about what to do when you receive a bad review. (Hint: It’s not the end of the world. In fact, it can actually be a good thing.) They discuss why ignoring the review is one of the worst things you can do, but why you have to be extremely careful in what you say due to HIPAA Compliance. They offer suggested replies that will keep you compliant, but will also address the situation. 

They also talk about online review software that can be used to request and populate reviews, and the most important sites to publish your reviews. 

Unfortunately, bad reviews are going to happen as you can’t please everyone. However, as long as you handle the review correctly, and use it as constructive criticism, they just may end up being a positive thing for your practice.

If you have specific questions about handling reviews for your practice, or if you'd like to have another question answered on a future podcast, please reach out to the Edwards & Associates team.

In this episode of Beyond Bitewings, Robert and Ash discuss the changes you can make in your business to improve patient experience. Consequently creating a friendly environment where the patients look forward to coming back and actively refer others to your practice. Don’t forget it costs much less to retain an existing patient than to bring a new one in.

They also talk about training your staff to build relationships with patients. This is key because people do business with those they know, like and trust. The more they feel they know you, the more they’ll trust your recommendations, and keep those regular appointments on their schedule. 

The discussion covers, ‘why you should also focus on your staff experience’, as this can help your bottom line in several ways. If your staff is happy, your patients will resonate with that energy and will also be happy. Not to mention the reduction in costs as it will help increase your attrition rate, which will cut down on hiring and training costs. 

You mustn’t constantly focus on just the numbers. Although they are very important, other factors impact those numbers outside of just cost and revenue. 

If you have specific questions about improving your patient experience, or if you'd like to have another question answered on a future podcast, please reach out to the Edwards & Associates team.

In this episode of Beyond Bitewings, Ash, Robert and special guest Nathan Turner discuss investing in Real Estate Notes. Nathan has been a veteran in the industry for over fifteen years and explains that he primarily buys residential mortgages from hedge funds or banks and gets a better yield by getting them at a discounted rate. 

When a non-performing mortgage note is purchased, the purchaser buys the right to continue to collect the payments by becoming the new “bank” for the borrowers. Nathan has created a fund through his company, Earnest Investing, where he buys these notes and holds them into a fund, offering a guaranteed 8% rate. (Not up to 8%, but a guaranteed 8% rate). 

Nathan talks about why this can be a great investment opportunity for those looking to diversify their investments. Worried about the recession impacting your investments?  Well, this investment performs even when the economy slows down.

To find out more about Earnest Investing, visit: https://earnestinvesting.com/

If you have specific questions about real estate notes investments, or if you'd like to have another question answered on a future podcast, please reach out to the Edwards & Associates team.

As inflation and interest rates have been on the rise, business owners have found themselves with rising costs. Since we may not have an ending in sight quite yet, what can you do now to mitigate these changes in your practice?

In this episode of Beyond Bitewings, the Edwards and Associates team discusses different ways you can increase revenue and decrease costs in your dental practice. Raising your rates might be the first thing you consider, but you may be stuck if insurance companies don’t increase what they’re paying you back. 

They discuss why you may want to take inventory of the insurance programs you’re accepting, and why it may be in your best interest to look at renegotiating your fees or possibly even dropping some of them. It may feel scary, but when done the right way, you may actually see an increase in revenue and clients.

They also talk about marketing, and why, even though this may be an increased expense right away, the right campaign will end up paying off over time. You can also try simple things like asking for referrals or training your front staff to ask for reviews as they’re checking out from their appointment.

Although you may be feeling the squeeze, there are some changes that you can make to help offset the cost increase without having too large of an impact on your practice.

If you have specific questions about how to decrease expenses or grow your revenue, or if you'd like to have another question answered on a future podcast, please reach out to the Edwards & Associates team.

The SECURE Act 2.0 was signed into law in late 2022, and there are several ways it may affect you and your retirement accounts. The Edwards & Associates team covers everything you need to know for these upcoming changes.

In this episode, they discuss the new changes for age limits on the Required Minimum Distribution. Basically, this covers when the government wants you to start taking distributions from your accounts (so they can start getting their tax dollars). 

They also talk about new ways the government is helping people get more relief in times of need by allowing up to $1,000 annually to be taken from a retirement fund without penalties.

Also, have you heard about the auto-enrollment in your company’s 401K program? This is something that will be rolled out where if you start with a company, and they offer a 401K, you will automatically be enrolled at 3%. 

There are also new programs where if you’re making contributions towards your student loan debt, your employer can still pay into your 401K match based on the amount you’re paying on your student loans.

Plus they discuss what benefits employers who offer retirement plans to their employees may see from this new bill. This may be the perfect opportunity to start adding this program into your practice and allowing your employees to get one more perk, and you may see more tax benefits.

If you have specific questions about your retirement plan or the plans you offer your employees, or if you'd like to have another question answered on a future podcast, please reach out to the Edwards & Associates team.