Dr. Tom "The Gems Guy" Orent's PPO EXIT Podcast

Search any dental Facebook group and you'll find it: an associate, posting anonymously, afraid their own boss might see it, asking if it's normal to wait weeks or months to get paid for work they already finished.

Their concern is justified. Here's exactly why the common way of paying associates favors the owner, and the fair alternative I used to pay my own 5 general dentists and 3 specialists.

Your recall patients have already ignored your texts and your emails. So when your voicemail gives them the same information in a different format, they ignore that too.

One of my coaches, Lisa, came up with a six-word message that flips this completely and gets a 95% callback rate.

Here's the math on what six more recall patients a week is actually worth, and the exact words to use.

Most job postings for dental team members include one line without a second thought. "One year dental experience required."

That single line might be cutting your candidate pool by 80% or more.

When I sold my two practices, I had 35 team members on staff, and outside the roles that legally require a license, I'd hired 95% of them with zero dental experience.

Here's what I looked for instead, and why it worked.

Managed care insurance and doc-in-the-box DSOs are rapidly turning our dental profession into a commodity business. Low fee DSOs and the infestation of network reduced-fee insurance plans are making it tougher for us (private practice GP dentists) to earn a fair profit. Tougher but not impossible.

How can a solo practitioner GP dentist grow and prosper today? Build relationships and referrals by creating an experience your patients will never forget. Deliver service they'll rave about to their friends and co-workers. Nobody on the planet does service and experience better than Disney.

Vance Morris is a Walt Disney World Resort Management Alumni, having spent 10 years as a leader in the Resorts. It was at the Contemporary that Vance got his crowning achievement, Designing, Opening and Operating Chef Mickey's, Disney's flagship Character Dining Experience.

After leaving Disney he utilized his skills to rescue or improve many of America's companies and government agencies. His clients included Legal Seafood, Tyson, NASA, Rain Forest Café, Compass Group, The Executive Office of the President of the United States, The Smithsonian and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

He runs the only Disney Service & Direct Response Marketing business on the planet. Here he coaches companies to create Disney Style Service Systems and then monetizes them through direct response marketing. He is also the GKIC Reigning Marketer of the Year.

During this podcast interview Vance reveals exactly how you can incorporate Disney-style "magic" to bring your service and patient experience to the next level and beyond. Don't miss this interview!

Links in this Episode:

www.GemsAreEasy.com/podcast

Forget about just trying to "survive…" If you want to thrive in the face of insurance PPO bullying, attract more new patients, hire and keep the best team members then Gems Insiders' Circle is for you. If you want to work less while making (much) more money, enjoy all the benefits of Gems family membership with NO LONG-TERM commitment (Platinum membership is month-to-month).

www.FreeGiftFromTom.com/podcast

Get your FREE copy of my Amazon best-seller book, "Transform Your Dental Practice from CoalMine to GoldMine" (currently $16.97 on Amazon, but yours free as a Gems Podcast listener).

FREE BONUS that could add $50,000 per year to your income. FREE 30-minute LIVE one-on-one TEAM TRAINING on my Adult Fluoride Verbal Skills. Learn to achieve 80% acceptance PAID OUT OF POCKET with just SEVEN SIMPLE SENTENCES!

www.7SimpleSentences.com/podcast

If there was a single EASY GEM you could deploy which requires only 30 seconds of your time, costs little or nothing, and GUARANTEES a measurable reduction in new patient no-shows and an increase in case acceptance... wouldn't you want to do this for every new patient? How can you ensure that every new patient entering your practice enjoys a case of the "warm fuzzies?!"

If building your practice and your income is a priority (as well it should be) then understanding the MATH behind each "Gem" you deploy is an important piece of the puzzle. In this Gems Podcast, I'm going to reveal a 30-second verbal skill to reduce your new patient 1st visit failed appointments and increase acceptance of recommended care.

Links in this Episode:

www.SlyDial.com

This App allows you to use your cell phone to call your new patients' cell and go directly to voicemail. Very handy when you want to leave them a warm fuzzy "New Patient Welcome" message without actually speaking with them.

www.GemsAreEasy.com/podcast

Forget about just trying to "survive…" If you want to thrive in the face of insurance PPO bullying, attract more new patients, hire and keep the best team members then Gems Insiders' Circle is for you. If you want to work less while making (much) more money, enjoy all the benefits of Gems family membership with NO LONG-TERM commitment (Platinum membership is month-to-month).

www.FreeGiftFromTom.com/podcast

Get your FREE copy of my book, "Transform Your Dental Practice from CoalMine to GoldMine" (currently $16.97 on Amazon, but yours free as a Gems Podcast listener).

PLUS, your FREE book order includes a FREE BONUS that could add $50,000 per year to your income. FREE 30-minute LIVE one-on-one TEAM TRAINING on my Adult Fluoride Verbal Skills. Learn to achieve 80% acceptance PAID OUT OF POCKET with just SEVEN SIMPLE SENTENCES!

This is a story about a Nun. Her name was Sister Denesita.

What if you could unearth a seldom-tapped deep (nearly endless) source of potential new team members... a source filled with people EAGER to WORK... willing and ABLE to learn just about anything you require of them. And just what if these folks were HAPPY to work for wages the likes of which you've not seen in dentistry since light cured composites were invented?

Well, there IS such a source and very likely nearby your practice. Once I discovered this unpolished "Gem" I continued to draw time and again from this abundant well. I found them to be excited to work with us, passionate about and adept at learning. These were some of the best and brightest team members with whom I had the pleasure of working in my practices. Not only will you enjoy having these folks with you but your existing team members are guaranteed to WELCOME them with OPEN ARMS!

www.InsidersCircle.com

Gems Family members… for complete details on the "How to Double Hygiene Recall" strategy, go to the members' website, www.InsidersCircle.com then click on the SITE Map top left, then GoldMine UnderGround Team Training Toolkit, 009.

www.GemsAreEasy.com/podcast

Forget about just trying to "survive…" If you want to thrive in the face of insurance PPO bullying, attract more new patients, hire and keep the best team members then Gems Insiders' Circle is for you. If you want to work less while making (much) more money, enjoy all the benefits of Gems family membership with NO LONG-TERM commitment (Platinum membership is month-to-month).

www.FreeGiftFromTom.com/podcast

Get your FREE copy of my book, "Transform Your Dental Practice from CoalMine to GoldMine" (currently $16.97 on Amazon, but yours free as a Gems Podcast listener).

PLUS your FREE book order includes a FREE BONUS that could add $50,000 per year to your income. FREE 30-minute LIVE one-on-one TEAM TRAINING on my Adult Fluoride Verbal Skills. Learn to achieve 80% acceptance PAID OUT OF POCKET with just SEVEN SIMPLE SENTENCES!

For some people, it's a pie in the sky number they wish they could achieve… but likely can only dream of. But for many dentists, a 1-million-dollar retirement nest egg would leave you WOEFULLY SHORT of being able to enjoy a comfortable retirement.

I'll never forget what Hugh told me nearly two decades ago. Hugh Doherty is one of the very few dentists who also hold the title CFP... Certified Financial Planner. Hugh told me that 95% of dentists will NEVER RETIRE to the same level of financial comfort they enjoyed while they had an active income from dental practice.

How could that be? We invest our hearts and souls into helping patients. Why is it that only 5% of us have achieved a level of financial security affording us a "comfortable" retirement... one in which we are able to maintain the same (or better) standard of living as we enjoyed during our working years?

When I turned 38 years-old I had over a million dollars... in debt... was in the middle of a divorce, and nearly lost my practice and my home. At age 46 I sold my two practices and was fortunate to be in the 5% who never had to work again, unless I chose to. Is $1,000,000 enough for a comfortable retirement? How can you ensure you and your family will be in the fortunate 5% when the day comes?

How Much Is Enough?

Of course, this number will vary greatly. This episode is meant to get you thinking about what you'll need… and get you MOTIVATED to take ACTION to MAP OUT and get on the path to your own comfortable retirement.

Links in this Episode:

www.GemsAreEasy.com/podcast

Forget about just trying to "survive…" If you want to thrive in the face of insurance PPO bullying, attract more new patients, hire and keep the best team members then Gems Insiders' Circle is for you. If you want to work less while making (much) more money, enjoy all the benefits of Gems family membership with NO LONG-TERM commitment (Platinum membership is month-to-month).

www.FreeGiftFromTom.com/podcast

Get your FREE copy of my book, "Transform Your Dental Practice from CoalMine to GoldMine" (currently $16.97 on Amazon, but yours free as a Gems Podcast listener).

PLUS, your FREE book order includes a FREE BONUS that could add $50,000 per year to your income. FREE 30-minute LIVE one-on-one TEAM TRAINING on my Adult Fluoride Verbal Skills. Learn to achieve 80% acceptance PAID OUT OF POCKET with just SEVEN SIMPLE SENTENCES!

Unfortunately, one of the questions I get from Gem's Family members more and more often is how to respond to a terrible review left by an irate patient.

The internet presents awesome opportunity.

It can help us in so many ways. But it also has the power to cause massive rapid damage if you let it. In the old days if a patient was ripping mad at a dentist the old adage was, "A happy patient will tell a friend and an unhappy patient will tell 10 friends."

Even 10 people hearing how terribly you treated for Mrs. Jones was cause for concern. Today an unhappy patient can tell hundreds if not thousands through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and beyond. And then there's Yelp and Google!

Should you respond to the review at all?

Although there may be instances in which you are better off not responding, in most cases it's in your best interest to respond if it's done correctly. Of course, if you respond in such a manner that gives readers the feeling that you lack empathy and understanding for your patient's situation and concerns, it will be worse than not responding at all.

Prior to posting your response you should run it by your attorney. Be sure your attorney is aware that time is of the essence. The sooner you can craft and post an appropriate response to a bad review the better off you will be.

The PRIMARY REASON you are posting your response is for DAMAGE CONTROL. Your response is written for the benefit of:

1. Your EXISTING patients who may happen upon the bad review and wonder about YOUR side of the story, and

2. PROSPECTIVE new patients who don't know you from Adam... and are considering coming to your practice.

There are 4 Critical Elements of an Effective Response

In this episode you'll discover all 4...

Links in this Episode

Gems Family members, go to the Gems members' website, www.InsidersCircle.com and search "082 COUNTERMEASURES TO NEUTRALIZE BAD ONLINE REVIEWS". You'll find my video team training plus the actual responses I wrote... a response from which you can "SWIPE" the next time you are faced with a terrible online review.

www.GemsAreEasy.com/podcast

Forget about just trying to "survive…" If you want to thrive in the face of insurance PPO bullying, attract more new patients, hire and keep the best team members then Gems Insiders' Circle is for you. If you want to work less while making (much) more money, enjoy all the benefits of Gems family membership with NO LONG-TERM commitment (Platinum membership is month-to-month).

www.FreeGiftFromTom.com/podcast

Get your FREE copy of my book, "Transform Your Dental Practice from CoalMine to GoldMine" (currently $16.97 on Amazon, but yours free as a Gems Podcast listener).

PLUS, your FREE book order includes a FREE BONUS that could add $50,000 per year to your income. FREE 30-minute LIVE one-on-one TEAM TRAINING on my Adult Fluoride Verbal Skills. Learn to achieve 80% acceptance PAID OUT OF POCKET with just SEVEN SIMPLE SENTENCES!

Whether you have just a few openings left in doctor's schedule for January or you're "wide open" right now, here is a PROVEN EFFECTIVE way to FILL your chair and come out of the gate smokin' this January... it won't cost you a penny and will take almost no time at all... Listen to the podcast and then design your flyer (or Gems Family members may just swipe the already "Done-For-You" flyer I wrote).

Once you've written and designed your flyer, then using some of the same text from the flyer, craft a couple of emails you can email blast to all of your patients and prospects. Here's the timing of the 3-STEP campaign…

STEP 1. Blast the first email mid to late December, each year.

STEP 2. Mail the full-color flyer about the same time you blast the 1st email. Mail one flyer to every household with a patient who has visited your practice in the last 18 to 24 months.

STEP 3. Blast the 2nd (slightly different but same idea) email about 7 to 10 days after email #1

ANYTIME you create a multi-media internal marketing blitz to promote a specific treatment or service, in addition to the printed flyers you mail, be sure to print up enough flyers to HAND to all of your patients who visit the office during at least the next 3 months.

And, of course, your team should wear the buttons which match the flyer and are designed to start conversations with the right patients who truly do have an interest in the topic you're highlighting.

I have created 36 different GoldRush Patient Motivator Modules. Sedation, Invisalign, Implants, Use-It-Or-Lose-It, end of the year remaining insurance benefits reminder, Worn Enamel, Root Sensitivity and dozens more. All come with pre-written emails, flyers, and buttons. The module that alerts patients to there newly found WINDFALL of insurance money available each January is GoldRush Patient Motivator Module 34.

Links in this Episode

Gems Family members, to access either of this GoldRush… or any of the 36 modules, go to the Gems Members' site… www.InsidersCircle.com and click on the SITE MAP at the top left. You'll find GOLDRUSH PATIENT MOTIVATOR SYSTEM not quite ½ way down the left-hand column of the SITE MAP. Download the emails and flyers then let your Personal Gems Concierge know which module you're about to deploy and how many team member buttons you'd like to go along with the emails and flyers.

www.GemsAreEasy.com/podcast

Forget about just trying to "survive…" If you want to thrive in the face of insurance PPO bullying, attract more new patients, hire and keep the best team members then Gems Insiders' Circle is for you. If you want to work less while making (much) more money, enjoy all the benefits of Gems family membership with NO LONG-TERM commitment (Platinum membership is month-to-month).

www.FreeGiftFromTom.com/podcast

Get your FREE copy of my book, "Transform Your Dental Practice from CoalMine to GoldMine" (currently $16.97 on Amazon, but yours free as a Gems Podcast listener).

PLUS, your FREE book order includes a FREE BONUS that could add $50,000 per year to your income. FREE 30-minute LIVE one-on-one TEAM TRAINING on my Adult Fluoride Verbal Skills. Learn to achieve 80% acceptance PAID OUT OF POCKET with just SEVEN SIMPLE SENTENCES!

It's (beyond) time to fight back. Ask your business staff how much of their VALUABLE TIME IS WASTED by dental insurance carriers deploying DELIBERATE BULLYING TACTICS.

It's beyond time to fight back.

Being put on hold and left there for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, even more... only to be disconnected requiring calling back in and starting all over again. Told they never received claims for which you have PROOF of receipt. Forced to resubmit supporting documents which were already submitted with the original claim. Denied benefits or drastically reduced even though the pre-determination (which you shouldn't have wasted your time sending in the first place) indicated they were going to pay or pay much more.

Calling again and again, asking for supervisors or resubmitting what you've already sent in are INEFFECTIVE means to battle the bullying. But there IS a proven-effective way to get them to listen AND to measurably REDUCE their TACTICS of TORTURE.

When Ben used tip #4, which I reveal in this podcast… when he deployed this Gem with Aetna and United Healthcare while he was managing a large 10 doctor group practice in Arizona, he got a PERSONAL REPLY from the CEO's of Aetna and United Healthcare APOLOGIZING... plus a list of names and contact info for provider relations managers who could and would help him if ever experiencing such terrible bullying tactics again.

Links in this Episode

Gems Family members you can view or download Ben's entire strategy at www.InsidersCircle.com enter "Insurance Bullying" into the search bar.

www.GemsAreEasy.com/podcast

Forget about just trying to "survive…" If you want to thrive in the face of insurance PPO bullying, attract more new patients, hire and keep the best team members then Gems Insiders' Circle is for you. If you want to work less while making (much) more money, enjoy all the benefits of Gems family membership with NO LONG-TERM commitment (Platinum membership is month-to-month).

www.FreeGiftFromTom.com/podcast

Get your FREE copy of my book, "Transform Your Dental Practice from CoalMine to GoldMine" (currently $16.97 on Amazon, but yours free as a Gems Podcast listener).

PLUS, your FREE book order includes a FREE BONUS that could add $50,000 per year to your income. FREE 30-minute LIVE one-on-one TEAM TRAINING on my Adult Fluoride Verbal Skills. Learn to achieve 80% acceptance PAID OUT OF POCKET with just SEVEN SIMPLE SENTENCES!