Exploring Dental Membership Plans: A Smarter Alternative to Insurance

In this episode of Dental Drill Bits, Dana Salisbury and Sandy Pardue are joined by Meg Lohman from Plan Forward to unpack why in-house membership plans are becoming a go-to solution for dental practices looking to grow and better serve their patients. They discuss how these plans help identify patients who are overpaying for insurance, simplify preventive care, and strengthen patient loyalty. The trio also explores the power of proactive marketing and the importance of educating patients ahead of open enrollment season.

Whether you're new to membership plans or looking to refine your strategy, this episode offers a practical roadmap to create a win-win for both your patients and your practice.

🎯 Key Takeaways:

• Use your PMS to identify patients who may be overpaying for insurance.
• Target groups like retirees, young adults, and those with limited coverage.
• Membership plans foster loyalty by offering bundled, preventive care services.
• Promote your plan with short, clear messaging via email, text, and social media.
• Start outreach early to stay ahead of open enrollment.
• Implement systems that simplify plan management and reduce admin errors.

🛠️ Sponsored By:

• Plan Forward — Empowering dental practices with simple, automated membership plans. Start today at www.planforward.io

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Dental Drill Bits, Sandy Pardue and Dana Salisbury tackle one of the most underestimated tools in the hiring process—your job ad. They explain why hiring should be treated like a marketing campaign and how your job postings either attract or repel the very people you are trying to hire.

From crafting compelling headlines and utilizing creative job titles to understanding hiring psychology, Sandy and Dana share strategies to elevate your job ads and recruit with intention. They also explore the power of nontraditional hiring sources and the importance of keeping your energy positive throughout the hiring process. Whether you are actively hiring or just building your team, this conversation is packed with must-use tips to help you find and retain great talent.

Takeaways:

• If you are having trouble hiring, check your job ads first

• Always accept resumes even when you are not actively hiring

• Make sure job ads reflect your practice's values and culture

• Use creative job titles to capture attention and stand out

• Women apply when they meet 80 percent of requirements; men at 20 percent

• Treat hiring like a marketing campaign, not just an HR task

• Track where your applicants come from to measure effectiveness

• Consider nontraditional candidates from service-oriented industries

• Stay positive throughout the process—your mindset matters

• Great employees are often already employed—go find them

🔊 Episode Sponsors:

Mango Voice VoIP that works for dental practices. Elevate your phone systems and never miss a patient call again 👉 www.mangovoice.com

Identity Dental Marketing Looking to stand out in a crowded market? Identity Dental Marketing builds brands that convert 👉 www.identitydental.com

Plan Forward The number one membership plan platform for dental practices—simple, secure, and patient friendly 👉 www.planforward.io

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Dental Drill Bits, Sandy Pardue and Dana Salisbury explore the often-overlooked power of a well-crafted job description. They explain why generic or outdated descriptions can set your practice up for failure—creating confusion, legal risk, and missed hiring opportunities. You’ll learn what must be included, how to stay compliant, and why being transparent about your expectations (including physical demands and performance metrics) is key to attracting the right candidates. If you're serious about improving your hiring process and retaining top talent, this conversation is a must-listen.

Takeaways:

• Job descriptions should reflect the specific needs of your practice.

• Outdated job descriptions create misalignment and confusion.

• Every job description acts as a legal agreement between employer and employee.

• Transparency in compensation, expectations, and requirements is essential.

• Include physical job requirements and measurable performance goals.

• Store and organize job descriptions properly for easy access and compliance.

Mango Voice VoIP that works for dental practices. Elevate your phone systems and never miss a patient call again. 👉 www.mangovoice.com

Identity Dental Marketing Looking to stand out in a crowded market? Identity Dental Marketing builds brands that convert. 👉 www.identitydental.com

Plan Forward The #1 membership plan platform for dental practices—simple, secure, and patient-friendly. 👉 www.planforward.io

In this episode, Sandy Pardue kicks off a powerful conversation about the most overlooked step in fixing front desk chaos: assessing your team’s current morale, mindset, and motivation. Before you implement new systems or pile on training, you’ve got to address the emotional temperature of your practice. Is your team ready for change? Or are they quietly resisting it?

Sandy lays out practical ways to reframe, re-energize, and reset expectations—ensuring your next move is a lasting one. If you want real ROI from your front desk, start here.

What You'll Learn:

• Why morale must be addressed before systems

• What warning signs signal a disengaged front desk

• How to rally your team around performance without creating pressure

• The conversation you should be having in your next team meeting

• A mindset shift that changes everything about your approach to training

Thank You to Our Sponsors: 🦷 Mango Voice – Mango Voice is a cloud-based phone system built for dental offices. It’s packed with smart features that help your front desk perform at its best—from call recording and routing to texting and integrations. See it in action at mangovoice.com.

💰 Plan Forward – Plan Forward makes membership plans easy. Their revolutionary platform helps you grow your dental practice, improve patient loyalty, and create predictable recurring revenue. Learn more at planforward.io.

📈 Identity Dental Marketing – Your marketing firm should tell you who’s landing on your website and what they’re doing there. Identity Dental Marketing does that—and more. From website strategy to SEO and patient attraction systems, they help you grow smart and stay visible. Explore at identitydental.com.

In this eye-opening episode, Sandy digs into one of the most overlooked contributors to rising accounts receivable (AR) in dental practices—abandoning mailed statements too soon.

You may be emailing and texting patients about balances, but do you actually know how many patients you're reaching? Sandy breaks down the data and shares real stats from dental dashboards, showing that many practices have incomplete contact info for 20–40% of their patients—and it’s costing them tens of thousands.

Whether your AR is creeping past $100,000 or you’re trying to build a smarter collection system, this episode will help you understand the risks of relying too heavily on tech—and how to create a system that actually works.

You’ll learn how to:

✅ Evaluate how many patient emails and cell numbers are actually in your system ✅ Set up a multi-step system for statements that includes email, text, and physical mail ✅ Use dashboards like Practice by Numbers to track and improve your data ✅ Minimize collection delays by acting faster and smarter—not cheaper ✅ Understand the real cost of “saving 60 cents” on postage

📓 Listener Challenge: Pull your AR report. Look at your 30-, 60-, and 90-day buckets. Then audit your system—do you know how many patients are unreachable by email or text?

👉 Most practices don’t have complete contact data—and don’t realize it 👉 Text-to-pay consistently performs better than email-based statements 👉 Mailing a statement isn’t outdated—it's often necessary to get paid 👉 AR doesn’t shrink itself; assign ownership and follow a consistent process 👉 The longer you wait, the harder it is to collect—act at 30 days, not 90

📞 Mango Voice – Smart, reliable phone systems designed for dental practices. Learn more at mangovoice.com

📣 Identity Dental Marketing – Get strategic, ethical, and conversion-driven marketing from the pros who care. Visit identitydental.com

🦷 Plan Forward – Membership plans made simple for dental teams. Learn more at planforward.io

📲 Join the conversation! What’s working (or failing) in your AR process? Share your experiences inside our Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group—we’d love to hear from you, and you might be featured in a future episode!

What if your marketing isn’t the problem—but your expectations are? In this episode, Dana and Sandy welcome Grace Rizza, the powerhouse behind Identity Dental Marketing, to break down why most dental campaigns fall flat—and what actually works. From unethical agencies to underfunded ad budgets, Grace unpacks the truth most marketers won’t say out loud.

If you've ever felt burned by a marketing agency, overwhelmed as a startup, or scared to go fee-for-service—this one’s for you.

You’ll learn how to:

✅ Spot the difference between strategic marketing and expensive guesswork ✅ Avoid wasting thousands on low-quality leads and poor conversion ✅ Set realistic expectations for Google Ads and SEO ✅ Know when your marketing isn’t the problem—your front desk is ✅ Confidently budget and brand your way to sustainable growth

📓 Listener Challenge: Review your last 6 months of new patient numbers. Are you tracking the right data? Is your marketing converting—or just collecting clicks?

👉 You can’t market your way out of bad conversion. Start with honest analysis. 👉 Dabbling in ads (like $1,000/month on Google) is worse than doing nothing. 👉 Fee-for-service practices need stronger branding, not just lead generation. 👉 Your front desk is your filter—train them or waste your marketing dollars. 👉 Success starts with realistic expectations and total ownership of your results.

📣 Identity Dental Marketing – Strategic, ethical, brand-aligned marketing that works. Learn more at identitydental.com

🦷 Plan Forward – Build and grow a profitable dental membership plan with ease. Learn more at planforward.io

📲 Join the conversation! What marketing myths have you had to unlearn? Share your experience in the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group—we may feature your insight in a future episode!

Hiring is never just about plugging a hole. It’s a strategic leadership move—and when rushed or mismanaged, it can quietly sabotage your entire practice.

In Part 2 of the Hiring Series, Dana and Sandy dive deep into what happens between identifying a hiring need and getting the green light to bring someone on board. From pecking orders to prep work, leadership courage to legal compliance, they unpack everything you should have in place before you hit “post job ad.”

They also share formulas and benchmarks to help you bring data—not just emotion—into your hiring decisions. Because the right people in the right seats don’t just ease stress... they build your business.

You’ll learn how to:

✅ Calculate attrition rate and turnover cost ✅ Know when leadership is lagging—and how to step up ✅ Use team dynamics and KPIs to confirm true staffing needs ✅ Spot red flags in candidates and existing team members ✅ Make confident decisions about who to keep, who to lose, and when to act fast

📓 Listener challenge: Pull out your team’s job descriptions and update them. Is everyone clear on their seat, their duties, and how success is measured?

Key takeaways:

• Hiring starts with leadership. Don’t outsource what only you can model.

• Don’t ignore the front office. Patient flow is the clearest indicator you need more hands.

• Attrition above 25% is a red flag. Act on it, don’t ignore it.

• Turnover costs average 30% of annual salary. Every rushed hire costs more than you think.

• You must always accept resumes. Train your team and stay compliant.

🔊 Special thanks to our sponsors:

📣 Identity Dental Marketing – The industry’s go-to for branding, SEO, and growth. Discover how they can elevate your practice at identitydental.com

🦷 Plan Forward – Simplify and grow your dental membership plans with ease. Learn more at planforward.io

📲 Join the conversation! What formulas or hiring benchmarks have helped you lead with confidence? Post your insights in the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group. Your input might be featured in a future episode!

A growing team sounds like success, but adding the wrong hire too soon can wreck morale, raise overhead, and increase chaos.

In this kickoff to the Hiring Series, Dana and Sandy break down how to assess whether your practice truly needs to hire or if it’s time to get serious about systems, training, and communication first. They walk through real-world scenarios (yes, including a team walking out!) and offer tools to help you make strategic hiring decisions instead of emotional ones.

You’ll learn how to:

✅ Recognize signs of burnout and bottlenecks ✅ Use patient flow (not just production) to assess staffing needs ✅ Perform a job analysis to refine roles before hiring ✅ Outsource strategically while maintaining quality ✅ Avoid hiring when your culture or patient satisfaction is already suffering

📓 Listener challenge: Revisit your job descriptions and KPIs before you write that job ad. Is your team really at capacity, or just undertrained?

Key takeaways:

• Burnout often stems from broken systems, not just headcount

• Patient flow—not production, is the best indicator for front desk staffing

• Don’t hire to “fix” a bad culture—address team satisfaction first

• Smart outsourcing (like billing or insurance verification) can bridge the gap

• A great team member might be hiding in plain sight—they just need training

🔊 Special thanks to our sponsors: 🦷 Plan Forward – Simplify and grow your dental membership plans with ease. Learn more at planforward.io

📣 Identity Dental Marketing – The industry’s go-to for branding, SEO, and growth. Discover how they can elevate your practice at identitydental.com

📲 Join the conversation! What signs tell you it’s time to hire—or not? Post your thoughts in the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group, and we just might cover them in our next episode!

A dental team without effective meetings is like a GPS with no signal—lost, frustrated, and going in circles.

In this episode, Dana and Sandy dive into the often-overlooked power of consistent, structured team meetings. From setting agendas and reviewing stats to celebrating birthdays and avoiding gum-chewing drama, they lay out the exact formula for turning “just another meeting” into a high-impact tool for team alignment, accountability, and growth.

This episode is inspired by a post in the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group (thanks, Heather!), and it answers all your questions about frequency, timing, food, and how to keep the meeting professional without turning it into a complaint fest.

You’ll learn how to:

✅ Build consistency and trust through regular meetings ✅ Set a professional tone that encourages open communication ✅ Use stats to manage without micromanaging ✅ Create a clear agenda that respects everyone’s time ✅ Avoid common traps—like canceling because “one person’s out”

📓 Listener challenge: Pull out your calendar and mark team meetings for the rest of the year. Pro tip—choose the first Thursday (or another set day) of each month and make it a tradition!

Key takeaways:

• Your calendar is your culture—pre-schedule meetings 12 months in advance.

• A great meeting starts with a plan, ends with accountability, and includes a little cake.

• Never use meetings to discipline—address policy violations 1-on-1.

• A facilitator keeps meetings on time and on topic.

• Phones off the table. Literally.

• Celebrating wins builds trust; structure builds momentum.

🔊 Special thanks to our sponsors: 🦷 Plan Forward – Simplify and grow your dental membership plans with ease. Learn more at planforward.io 📣 Identity Dental Marketing – The industry’s go-to for branding, SEO, and growth. Discover how they can elevate your practice at identitydental.com

📲 Join the conversation! How do you run staff meetings at your office? Share your best tips or horror stories inside the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group—we might just feature it in an upcoming episode!

You can have the best marketing strategy in the world, but if your phone skills are lacking, patients will walk. In this episode, Dana and Sandy get real about what happens when dental teams unknowingly drive callers away with poor phone habits, disconnection, or defaulting to “no.”

They walk through mystery shopper call examples, red-flag language to avoid, and the mindset shift every front desk team member needs to convert, not repel, new patients.

This one’s packed with real talk, laugh-out-loud stories, and practical ways to be the cheerleader your practice needs.

You’ll learn how to:

✅ Build rapport in the first 7 seconds of a call ✅ Ask the right questions during discovery ✅ Avoid “no” language and still set boundaries ✅ Take control of the appointment conversation ✅ End calls in a way that reduces broken appointments

📓 Listener challenge: Call your own office or listen to a recorded call (if legal in your state). Would you schedule an appointment based on how it sounds?

Key takeaways:

• Your marketing dollars are wasted if your phone skills don’t back it up.

• “Unfortunately” and “Sorry” are red flags—replace them with warmth and guidance.

• Patients don’t want homework. Take the lead, get their name and number first.

• Schedule with confidence. Too many options = confusion.

• A cheerful, confident voice beats fancy scripts every time.

🔊 Special thanks to our sponsors: 🦷 Plan Forward – Simplify and grow your dental membership plans with ease. Learn more at planforward.io 📣 Identity Dental Marketing – The industry’s go-to for branding, SEO, and growth. Discover how they can elevate your practice at identitydental.com

📲 Join the conversation! Drop your favorite phone call tip or share a “worst call ever” moment in the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group—your post could inspire our next episode!

Let me know if you’d like a shortened version for social, or if this episode will also be linked to a specific event or download!