Having trouble watching this video? Click here.

A Minute (Or Two) With Colin Receveur, Episode 7

If your schedule is jammed with low-value patients, you won’t see enough of the higher-value patients who enable you to grow your practice. There’s a simple way to correct that problem.

- One of our elite implant doctors that's wanting to expand his practice and treat more large elective cases, more of the deep disability reconstructive implant type cases, came to me a couple of weeks ago and was asking me, "Colin, how do I do more of these cases when I'm already busy? I already have a full schedule. My associates have full schedules. If I have these cases come in, where am I going to work them in at?"

- And this is what I said to him.

- "I want you to imagine right now in your practice, you've got a hundred patients standing in your parking lot, and each of these patients is holding a check in their hand, and it's already signed. It's already got an amount written on it.

- Now, of those hundred patients in your parking lot, you're going to have some that are waving around $79 checks because they need a tooth extracted.

- You're going to have some that are waving around $200 checks because they need a root canal, or $1,000 checks because they need a crown, or $5,000 checks because they want a really nice set of dentures, or $25,000 checks because they're looking for implants.

- You only have room for 10 patients today in your schedule. Who were you going to choose?

- And you've got to understand that constructing your schedule with the highest value patients, the patients you want to treat the most, is paramount.

- So if you're busy doing the lower value cases or patients that you don't want to really treat, you're not really interested in just doing extractions, block your schedule out.

- Start to implement blocking techniques to leave consult time, to leave operatory time open for these large cases.

- And the other thing you got to understand also with these types of patients is what types of big cases are you looking for?

- I mean, we've all gotten the call that is the little old grandma that has had five sets of dentures, and she calls you because she saw your advertisement and she wants you to make her a sixth set of dentures.

- Now what's the chances Granny is going to be happy with her sixth set of dentures and she wasn't happy with the last five?

- So understanding and taking these things into account as you're creating your schedule is going to allow you to maximize the production that you have within your constraints of your time and your associate's time."

Having trouble watching this video? Click here.

A Minute (Or Two) With Colin Receveur, Episode 6

Do the analysis, and you’ll likely find that you’re spending too much time serving low-value patients who don’t add much to your bottom line. Think that’s inevitable? It’s not.

- I was talking to a doctor last week that wanted to eliminate insurance from his practice and get more fee for service.

- And what he was telling me is he didn't know how to do it, or he was fearful that when he dropped certain insurances that his practice, his revenue was going to go down as well.

- So we started working through this and it really comes down to the Pareto principle, the 80/20 rule.

- We all spend 20% of our time serving the highest volume, those that produce 80% of our income.

-And conversely, what we need to do is, we need to spend 80% of our time serving the top 20% of our clients, and figuring out what that is.

- And in this doctor's case, when we sat down and really looked at the different PPOs and reimbursement rates and what it was doing to his practice, we can eliminate a whole swatch of insurances and the patients in his practice, and actually produce more money, even taking into account a certain amount of attrition of those patients leaving his practice.

- So he's in effect, he's gonna work less and earn more.

- But if you fill the open slots with better patients, now you're working the same and earning a whole lot more.

- And that's the goal for any dental practice.

Having trouble watching this video? Click here.

A Minute (Or Two) With Colin Receveur, Episode 5

Labeling yourself as a dentist with a specialty practice isn’t going to make the cash register ring. Make the patient the hero in everything you do, and you’ll thrive.

- As a specialist you've got to understand and you have to change the paradigm of which you're thinking.

- If you think and you want the referral network paradigm to continue and you're happy with that arrangement and you're getting the results you want, then don't change it and continue doing what you're doing.

- How do you grow your practice as a specialist?

- Well, the first thing you have to either choose to do or if you choose not to do anything you are making a choice.

-It’s do I want to continue this referral buddy system network thing here or do I want to go direct to market and attract patients to my practice and go around the referral.

- If you're a specialist that is a choice you have to make and when you make that choice, if you go direct to market, you have to lead off with how your different in the market, how you're going to take better care of patients.

- And what I see a lot of specialists advertise with, and it's why that a lot of the general practice dentists that I work with are more successful than specialists, is because they're better at marketing and positioning.

- Most specialists I talked to that are running a specialty practice think that by way of just being a specialist, they will attract patients and that patients appreciate the specialty and that they understand how they're better or how they're different or simply explaining how their better and different will lead patients to choose them.

- And all of those statements I just made there are false.

- Patients are going to choose who is best for them, who's going to take care of their needs.

- “Now, how is you being a specialist going to help me more?”

- This is a very selfish proposition. This is not about the doctor at all. It's all about the patients and you've got to make the patient the hero in your story.

- And if you're a specialist and you go direct to market and you make the patient the hero in everything you're doing, you'll be successful at it.

- And you'll attract patients directly to your practice. You'll get rid of the referral network, your dependence upon that, and you'll grow your base of thriving patients that know you and are coming to you directly.

- But ultimately, the first decision you've got to make is, me, I talk to so many specialists day in and day out, and I say, "What percentage of your patients are coming to you by referral?"

- "Well, a 100% or 80%."

- “Okay, great. What are you wanting to do with that? Do you want to keep doing that?"

- "Well, yeah, of course."

- I said, "Well, do you want to go direct to market?"

- They go, "Yeah, I do, but I think it's going to make my referring source mad. The referring dentists don't want me to go direct to market."

- "Well, of course they don't. But how else are you going to grow?"

Having trouble watching this video? Click here. 

A Minute (Or Two) With Colin Receveur, Episode 4

As a dentist, you can take what walks in the door; or, you can attract the patients you want, the ones that are a good fit for what your practice offers. Do the second thing, and you’ll grow your practice.

- I mean, attracting better patients, it's one of our mottos. It's our slogan. It's what we do here at SmartBox, and it all started with my dad, Dr Ron. 

- But how do you do it? How do you truly attract better patients? 

- I think it starts with the psychology of the kinds of patients that are coming in and just wanting whatever their insurance covers or "Hey, can you extract this tooth?" 

- Or "Hey, I've had four sets of dentures made and I've been unhappy with every one of them. Can you make me a fifth set?" 

- You first got to understand and start quantifying who are the patients that are not a right fit for your practice. 

- Are patients that come in once every three years for a cleaning and they have 8mm pockets on half their mouth, and they refuse to do anything and then they come back in three years down the road. 

- Are those really the patients that you want to be spending your time presenting, and diagnosing and presenting treatment to that are never going to accept it?

- So, attracting better patients isn't just about only attracting the cosmetic and implant cases, while we have a lot of those practices that we're doing just that for. 

- It also comes down to understanding who really are the best patients that you serve and who are the best patients that are the best fit for the type of practice and the type of dentistry that you want to do? 

- And when you can get crystal clear on that, and when you and your staff can get crystal clear and aligned on who it is that you serve, your practice will begin to grow and attract those better patients. 

- It's the old expression about you can be everything to no one or you can be, you can specialize in a niche and go deep and attract more people.

- You can be the Jack of all trades and the expert of none, and that's exactly what this is about here, by getting specific on what kind of dentistry you want to do, even if it's in the GP arena, even if it's doing a few implants or going full into full reconstructive surgery, whatever your practice looks like. 

- Getting clear on who is the right fit and the wrong fit will help you grow your practice and attract those better patients.

Having trouble watching this video? Click here. 

A Minute (Or Two) With Colin Receveur, Episode 3

Dentists need marketing to grow their practices, but marketing is only a part of the question of how to get more new patients. There are five crucial metrics – the 5 A’s – that dentists must focus on for growth.

- I mean, yeah, doctors need more new patients to grow their practice. 

- I mean, every practice needs more new patients to grow their practice, right? 

- I think how we get more new patients is the question. Not do we, but how do we get more new patients? 

- And how we get more new patients is through several ways. 

- First off, we can spend more on marketing, right? Hey, we can just up our marketing budget, and if we spend more, we'll get more. 

- But I don't think that's necessarily the smartest way to do it, especially that shouldn't be the first way that we try to do it. 

- It's okay if that's an option, but before we just go gladiator spending on trying to get more results, let me suggest a couple of other options. 

- I think we need to look at what we call first the Five A's: Answer, Appoint, Attend, Accept, and Average. 

- And on the Five A's, this is a doctor's money funnel. This is how your practice grows.

- This isn't a punchline. This is how your practice actually converts the marketing you spend into dollars in your bank account. 

- When your practice answers the phone, when they Appoint the patients, when the patients Attend the appointments, when they Accept treatment and whatever the Average visit value is, these five things are the five steps that your patients go through after they've responded to your marketing. 

- So what we often see in practices is you can take and you can send 50 new patient opportunities into a practice, and they only get two to four actual accepted treatments out the back end. 

- And the reason for that is they're answering 70% of the calls, they're appointing 40%, 80% are attending appointments, their case acceptance rate is 40%, and then their average visit value is $300 or $400.

- And then all of a sudden, they spent five grand on marketing to get 50 new patient opportunities, and yet it only produced six or eight grand out the back end. 

- And what's said by that doctor, who I know plenty of them, is it's a marketing problem. - And yet, if you look at your high performing practices, your top 5%, your top 2%, your top 1% of practices, they're answering 90% of their calls. 

- They're appointing 80% of the patients. Their attending rate is 96% to 97%. 

- They're getting acceptance on 55% to 60% of what they present, and their average visit value is $400 to $600.

- So you take the exact same practice that spent five grand on marketing to generate 50 new patient opportunities and that practice generates almost $45,000 out of their money funnel whereas the average practice generated $8000 out of the same exact number of new patient opportunities with the same exact marketing spend. 

- And that's really the difference that you've got to focus on when you're growing a practice is, not just the marketing you're doing and what the marketing's producing, but what am I doing for my team to maximize the results that I'm experiencing from the marketing?

Having trouble watching this video? Click here. 

A Minute (Or Two) With Colin Receveur, Episode 2

Without the desire to grow, and a well thought-out, outcomes-focused plan to achieve that growth, dentists will stay exactly where they are – working too hard for too long for too little.

- I think the biggest elements of practice growth are number one, the doctor's got to want to grow. 

- And I think the best quote I've ever heard about wanting to grow a practice actually comes from a source that's a little unconventional, comes from Bobby Knight, who if you have ever been through Indiana is a legend. 

- The former Indiana basketball coach for many years, many decades, Olympic gold medal champion, NCAA, the list goes on and on.

- Coach Knight, who I used to go to his basketball camps, by the way, when I was little, Coach Knight said, "Everybody wants to win, but very few have the will to prepare to win."

- And I think said another way, everybody wants to win the lottery, but very few people actually go and buy the tickets.

- So when I talk to a dentist, the first thing I've got to figure out is does he really want to grow, or is it just kind of like a nice to have if he did grow. 

- Because practice growth doesn't just happen. You don't just wish it and dream it up and then all of a sudden it occurs.

- The second thing that has to happen is you have to have a plan. 

- If I want to go and I want to go from New York to Miami, that route, that plan is a hell of a lot different than if I'm starting in Topeka, Kansas. 

- And you've got to understand that every practice is different and unique and where everybody wants to get to is different. 

- It may be more time, it may be more money, it may be better patients, it may be less time, whatever it is…

- ... and your GPS to get you from where you are to where you want to be, you've got to have calibrated and you've got to understand the different parts of the plan that are going to drive the outcomes. 

- Because if you're not focused on the outcomes you want to achieve, you're not going to get to Miami. You're going to end up in Louisiana.

Having trouble watching this video? Click here. 

A Minute (Or Two) With Colin Receveur, Episode 1

The traditional solution to growing a dental practice is to throw more and more money into marketing. There’s a much better way, and it’s called the dentist money funnel.

- The dentist money funnel is really the concept that you don't need more marketing and more new patients to grow your practice exponentially. 

- So the money funnel breaks down into five very simple concepts. 

- Calls Answered, patients Appointed, appointments Attended, treatment Accepted, and then your Average case value.

- And if you can crush those five things, you're not only going to have a thriving and growing practice…

- ...but you're not going to have to double down or triple down in some cases we see, on continuing to spend more, and more, and more, and more, and more money on marketing, thinking that's really the problem.

- So many practices are losing so many patients across the five A's, and they think the solution is just to do more marketing…

- ...not even realizing that the money they're spending is not producing the maximum potential that it could in their practice.

Having trouble watching this video? Click here. 

Patient Attraction Episode 1254

– I’m Colin Receveur, CEO of SmartBox.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– The longest contractual relationship that most dentists will ever have is a home mortgage.

– That’s generally a very tolerable relationship because you know that with every payment, you’re getting a greater and greater ownership stake.

– And paying off that mortgage is a very freeing experience.

– A long-term contract with a dental marketing firm that doesn’t deliver results is not a tolerable relationship.

– Not delivering isn’t the same as not getting hits, clicks, likes, and follows.

– Any minimally competent marketing company can get you those.

– But the only metric that matters is new patient butts in your chairs.

– New patients pay the bills and add to your retirement savings, not all that other stuff.

– Don’t get me wrong – hits and clicks are good and necessary, but they’re not enough.

– If you’re not getting enough actual return on your investment, you feel like you’re throwing away your hard-earned marketing dollars.

– Even worse, you feel like you’re not getting anywhere with your practice.

– Some dentists will bite the bullet and pay the outrageous cancellation fee to end the contract.

– Others suffer in comparative silence, waiting for the contract to expire.

– I think that dentists don’t have to suffer from bad marketing or  lock-in contracts.

– That’s why SmartBox has introduced 6-, 12-, and 18-month marketing contracts for our dentists.

– We understand that every dentist’s situation is different and that 1 contract length isn’t right for everyone.

– But what is right for every dentist who wants to earn more, work less, and enjoy life again is getting more patients who represent higher value to the practice.

– That’s what SmartBox delivers for hundreds of dentists on 3 continents – a steady stream of better dental patients.

– Better patients are usually fee-for-service patients who don’t much care about price or insurance acceptance.

– They care about finding a trustworthy, relatable dental expert to solve their problems, and they’ll pay what it takes.

– When your new patient stream includes a lot of better patients, you don’t have to work so hard or so long.

– In fact, you can even have the time and energy to enjoy life again.

– After all, what are you really working for – to exhaust yourself making money, or to have the time and money to enjoy life away from the practice?

– If it’s to enjoy yourself, then you’ll need to work less and earn more.

– Better dental patients will allow you to do both.

– Dr. Jeffrey Tocci of Wellesley, Massachusetts, has this to say about his relationship with SmartBox. 

– “I’m in a comfortable place with a very good, comfortable company helping us achieve those goals.

– “It’s been great. So excited, I just happened to call up my team and upgraded our services to the next level. 

– “That’s how impressed I’ve been.” 

– What SmartBox is doing for Dr. Tocci, we can do for your dental practice.

– Get started by visiting smartboxdentalmarketing.com and reserving your no-cost, no-obligation Practice Discovery Session.

– After the session, you’ll receive your free Patient Attraction Roadmap as well. 

– It’s yours to use however you wish – there’s no obligation.

– And along those no-obligation lines, you can choose the contract length that fits your needs.

– Join me for our next podcast.

– Until then, keep moving forward.

Having trouble watching this video? Click here. 

Patient Attraction Episode 1253

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– I’m Colin Receveur, CEO of SmartBox.

– If you’re like most dentists these days, your practice is slammed with patients.

– You might be working longer hours or even staying open more days to meet the demand for services.

– If you were in practice during the aftermath of the Great Recession, your patient numbers are probably pretty reassuring.

– They shouldn’t be reassured, because as the last economic downturn proved, that flood of patients can dry up to a trickle almost overnight.

– Every economic boom is followed by a contraction.

– There’s no telling when the next contraction will happen or what will trigger it.

– There’s also no way to know whether that contraction will be mild or major.

– In the event of a major downturn in the economy, what will happen to your dental practice?

– As we saw back then, when there’s a severe contraction, companies lay off or terminate employees in large numbers.

– No more paycheck, no more dental insurance, no more dental work.

– When a breadwinner becomes unemployed, the available funds are used for basic needs.

– Health care, including dental care, can become something of a luxury.

– There goes your patient base, and if you’ve staffed up to meet the current demand, you may be faced with letting some people go … or taking a pay cut yourself.

– The current “ground” under your practice is composed largely of low case value patients.

– But it’s not the only ground in your market.

– There’s firmer ground that won’t be affected by an economic downturn.

– The higher ground is composed of better dental patients with considerable discretionary income and savings.

– They’re not driven by low price or insurance.

– Better dental patients have the ability and the willingness to pay more for the right dentist.

– That means you can work less and earn more.

– You won’t be stuck on the dental treadmill of routine, boring, low-value cases.

– Here’s a pro tip – the right dentist for better patients isn’t the discount dentist.

– Dr. Ryan Shepherd of Albuquerque, New Mexico, didn’t have time to figure out how to attract dental patients, but he found a solution.

– He said, “After I did one of the SmartBox webinars, I really felt confident that you guys knew what you were doing …

– “… and that you could take me from point A to point B with virtually no pain on my part and relatively little involvement on my part.

– “And that’s important to me because I don’t have time to become an expert; I’ve gotta be a dentist, I’ve gotta be a business owner.” 

– Dr. Shepherd’s dental practice is on much firmer ground now.

– Your practice can be, too.

– Visit smartboxdentalmarketing.com and reserve your no-cost, no-obligation Practice Discovery Session.

– Invest 25 minutes of your time in a phone call that will allow your practice to thrive in good times and bad.

– After the session, you’ll receive your free Patient Attraction Roadmap as well. 

– It’s yours to use however you wish – there’s no obligation.

– Don’t leave your dental practice on quicksand when you can take and hold the high ground in your market.

– Join me for our next podcast.

– Until then, keep moving forward.

Having trouble watching this video? Click here.

Patient Attraction Episode 1252

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast.

– I’m Colin Receveur, CEO of SmartBox.

– I talk with dentists nearly every day, and I consistently hear the same thing from them.

– Their practices have become pressure cookers.

– Those dentists are sprinting between operatories because their schedules are slammed.

– They’re working more hours and even staying open more days in some cases trying to keep up.

– And yet, they’re not really making all that much money in exchange for countless hours spent hunched over the chair.

– There are several factors driving dentistry’s high-pressure environment, and they’re all related.

– The first is the rise of corporate dentistry.

– The chain practices and large dental groups have efficiencies of scale that very few dentists can hope to match.

– Their overheads are far lower than yours, so they can afford to be the low-price leaders in your market.

– The second factor is the move by dental insurance companies to shift costs to patients.

– Wages haven’t come close to keeping pace with the increased cost of providing dental care.

– Patients without much discretionary income but with dental insurance are looking for the lowest price.

– That’s exactly why corporate dentistry is siphoning off new patients.

– The third factor is record numbers of new dental school graduates who owe an average of $260 thousand in student loans.

– Those cash-strapped dentists are fuel for the corporate machine, which is offering huge sign-on bonuses and tuition repayment programs.

– But some new dentists are able to obtain venture capital to start up their own practices, increasing competition even further.

– And like other dentists in your market, they offer low prices, specials, discounts, and insurance acceptance.

– So, to sum up – there are a lot more people looking for dental care, but only at the lowest price and with insurance acceptance.

– And you run, and run, and run during your workdays while you make not enough money on each patient.

– If this sounds like a self-defeating trap, that’s because it is.

– But there is a way out, and Dr. Raleigh Pioch of Salem, Oregon, found it.

– He said, “I thank my lucky stars I discovered the way to break free.

– “For me, my practice is the path to true freedom.

– “I want to be free to live a full life and have the money to do it!

– “And it’s hard to be ‘free’ if you’re stuck behind a chair 24/7.”

– Dr. Pioch became a SmartBox dentist and escaped the self-defeating trap.

– In fact, he increased his collections from $800 thousand to $3.2 million in just 6 years.

– SmartBox works with hundreds of dentists on 3 continents to help them escape the dental pressure cooker.

– We provide a steady stream of better patients so our doctors can focus on doing less dentistry for more money.

– SmartBox dentists work less, earn more, and enjoy life again.

– Discover what SmartBox can do for your practice.

– Visit smartboxdentalmarketing.com and reserve your free, no-obligation Practice Discovery Session.

– After the session, you’ll receive your free Patient Attraction Roadmap as well.

– There’s no obligation – it’s yours to use however you wish.

– Dentistry doesn’t have to be a high-pressure job, but until and unless you market for the patients you want, it will be.

– Join me for our next podcast.

– Until then, keep moving forward.