The Best Practices Show with Kirk Behrendt

The Team’s Role in Transitioning Your Practice

Episode #400 with Paul Sletten

You've spent a lifetime building a great team. But one day, your time will come to leave them. And if you care about your team, you need to involve them in the transition process. To help you leave your practice in good hands, Kirk Behrendt brings back Paul Sletten from The Sletten Group with expert advice on how and why your team should be involved. Your greatest asset is your team — don't betray them with a sudden exit! To make your transition less difficult and challenging, listen to Episode 400 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Have a plan — no matter where you are in life.

Link your business plans with your life plans.

Involve your team in the transition process.

Choose an associate that your team loves.

Sell when you are financially healthy.

Be patient. The right buyer is out there.

Quotes:

“Most people focus on — and I've done this myself early in my career — financial things, on steps in a transition, and things like that, timetables. And what you also need to do is you need to coordinate and tie your practice transition plan with your life plan. I've seen people put business plans together, and then have their life plans sabotage the business plan because they were never connected, or never discussed, or never processed. So, the life planning is of huge importance in terms of success in transitions.” (2:26—3:09)

“We’re all in transition all the time, aren't we? I mean, personally, professionally, and everything else. And we need to build skills at becoming successful in transitions. And that absolutely has to involve putting your life plan together.” (3:09—3:27)

“If you're going to go find someone to join the practice, and with you staying, or if you're going to go find someone to take over the practice as you exit, you need to include the team.” (7:05—7:17)

“Which would you rather have, a team that finds out on the day of the closing what a monster event that is, and then have the new owner have to deal with their response? And you're much more likely to lose people doing it that way than you are if you bring them into your confidence and ask them to be confidential with patients, and with everything else, and involve them.” (7:37—8:12)

“You know the old deal, ‘If the doctor’s not there, the practice is worthless and will sell for nothing’? That’s absolutely true, in some cases. But in this case, it wasn't even close to true because the team was there. And the patients stayed. It took four-and-a-half months to sell that practice, which was agonizing because we wanted to do it in two weeks. But it took four-and-a-half months. And after that period of time, the attrition in terms of active patients was something like they lost 11 people, who left the practice. And everyone else stayed. And one of the huge reasons why the doctor who now owns it and is thriving in that practice was chosen is because the team loved him.” (13:19—14:14)

“It’s really almost impossible if the seller comes to the table in a needy financial position to have a win-win outcome, because they have to get every penny out of the sale. And they often drive off the buyer because that clearly is the number-one issue. If the person who’s done a good job with financial planning and been disciplined over their career comes to the table in a very different way, they're going to get the same amount of money at the closing, but they're looking to put it together in a real winning fashion for the successor as well, because that kind of practice is what you call a legacy practice. And that's a practice that can continue serving that community for many, many decades after the exit of the founder.” (15:09—16:07)

“If you have a hierarchical structure with your staff, that’s...

The 5 Bottlenecks for Dentists in Digital Smile Design

Episode #399 with Dr. Christian Coachman

Before you buy great equipment, you need to build great systems. And to help you achieve that, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Christian Coachman, founder and CEO of Digital Smile Design, to give you solutions to five bottlenecks in digital smile design that is holding you back. Just having a scanner won't make you a digital dentist! If you don't know how to use it, or don't have a system in place for it, your fancy equipment will gather dust in the corner. For the best advice on improving patient care through digital technology, listen to Episode 399 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Create and implement great systems.

Have a vision for you and your team.

Learn how to prioritize processes.

Understand the importance of human resources.

Be disciplined in sticking to your routine.

Overcome the “gray zone.”

Quotes:

“The future belongs to comprehensive clinics. It’s not dental offices anymore, but comprehensive clinics. It’s beautiful, it’s powerful, it’s life-changing, and it is a beautiful story that patients love to hear. When a patient understands what it means going to a real comprehensive clinic, there's no way back. They don't want to go back to a “normal” dental office. So, the future of high-end dentistry belongs to the ones embracing this new concept of comprehensive care that goes beyond just the teeth and really takes care of the human being, as a whole.” (11:14—11:52)

“The first huge thing, probably the major one we didn't learn in school is how to create systems. Building systems is the number-one bottleneck. We learned that the scanner does a great job, so we go and buy the scanner. And then, the scanner is in the corner, underutilized. Why? Because we didn't build a system to fit the scanner in to make the scanner the most powerful tool possible. So, we don't get the return on investment. Frustration, etc. And many times, when we have challenges in front of us, we end up going to the old way of doing things and we underutilize, or we let the new idea fade.” (15:16—16:06)

“The dental industry and the dental clinics all over the world, these people know how to build systems. They don't know how to treat patients; they don't know how to do dentistry — but they know how to build systems. So, dental office owners, we need to learn how to build systems before we buy fancy equipment.” (16:39—16:59)

“Everything that we do well, unconsciously, we created a system. But it can take years, because through the struggles and mistakes, we make decisions. And if we decide that we want to do this, and we do it over, and over, and over again, without even thinking, it becomes a smart system because that's the only way for us to do it well and repeat over and over and make money out of it. So, many things in our offices are already a decent system, just because we do it so much, and over and over again. Now, the trick is to find a shortcut to build a system faster, or to think about it and speed up the process of building a system.” (17:10—17:54)

“[Systems] need to be documented. It needs to be agreed on. It needs to be brainstormed with the team. Everybody needs to say, ‘This is what we need to do, exactly like that.’ It needs to be revisited from time to time to be repolished, refined, and improved.” (19:13—19:28)

“Only after you build a system do you ask yourself, ‘What kind of investments do I need? What do I need to buy? How am I going to fit these new ideas inside my system?’ And when you do investments after you have a system, you get much better return on your investment, on whatever you're buying to fit the system, and not the opposite like we usually do. We buy stuff, and then we try to figure out how to make something work with that. Every...

I Have Said It 700 Times! I Can't Say It Anymore!

Episode #398 with Jenni Poulos

Your team members’ success is your success. So, how do you ensure they succeed? One way is by communicating clearly, and Kirk Behrendt brings back Jenni Poulos to share expert advice on having clarity with your team. If you're tired of not having your expectations met, and you're tired of repeating yourself, remember one thing: before you point the finger, turn your thumb! To grow as a leader so you can help your team be successful, listen to 398 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Clarity is usually the issue, not the team member.

Overcommunicate your expectations.

Don't do drive-by communication and expect results.

Always ask the three clarifying questions.

Listen to understand. Don't listen with an agenda.

Quotes:

“The real issue here is clarity. I have had this thought process myself as a leader and a manager 700 times, and I talk about this every day with coaching clients, ‘Why aren’t they doing it? Why isn't it happening? I thought we agreed to this.’ There's usually one common denominator, and it’s rarely the team member.” (4:24—4:52)

“When I want something to be executed, when I need something to be done, when I need expectations and reality to be in alignment, I have to overcommunicate so clearly what my expectation is, what I want to be done, how I want it to be done, so that the team member can move forward confidently. We fail to ask people if they understand what our expectation is of them, and this is a big gap.” (6:19—6:55)

“When we are coming to an agreement, or when I am asking something of someone, I don't want drive-by communication. I run by someone at five million miles an hour and I tell them that I want something done, and I just expect it to be done, and they maybe heard five percent of what I've said. So, whose fault is that? It’s not their fault. So, I'm going to slow down, ‘Sally, I need you to do X, Y, and Z. Are you good with that? What did you hear? Do you have what you need? When is it going to be done?’” (6:56—7:38)

“I always am going to ask these clarifying questions when I'm communicating with someone. I want to know, ‘Did you hear clearly?’ I want to make sure that I was clear in my communication. So, ‘What did you hear? Do you have what you need to do this? Do you have what you need to be successful?’ You will learn so much from this question across all levels of communication with your team. And then, ‘When are you going to do it?’ Tie it to a time. That's how we get things done. That's how we build habits.” (7:52—8:35)

“I love to tell all of my team members, ‘Listen, your success is my success. So, it only serves both of us to have this open, honest communication and for you to tell me, hey, I'm not clear on this. I didn't understand.’ Because if they're not successful at their job, I'm not going to be successful at mine.” (10:32—10:54)

“Before you point the finger, turn the thumb.” (17:58—18:02)

“When you are communicating with team members, trying to figure out what's going on, when they are talking to you or telling you what's happening, please listen to them. Because if there is an actual instance in which they need more learning or they don't understand and you're not actually listening, you're not going to work through that.” (19:20—19:42)

“Listen to hear, not to respond. Listen for understanding. You will learn by listening to [your team members]. So, please; it is a very important piece of this. When you ask a question, you need to actually listen to the answer.” (19:46—20:04)

“We always want to look externally at what the issue is. It’s always the team members “not getting it.” It’s always something with someone else. Because the hard learning, the hard thing is looking at yourself and...

5-Star Customer Service for Your Dental Practice

Episode #397 with Dr. Ann Marie Gorczyca

Your boss is the customer, and the customer is always right — even when they're wrong! So, how do you ensure you provide excellent customer service at every step? To share secrets from her latest book, At Your Service: 5-Star Customer Care for a Successful Dental Practice, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Ann Marie Gorczyca to reveal how you can create a winning team and culture for your practice to thrive. To master 5-star customer service at every level of your business, listen to Episode 397 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Customer service is everything in dentistry.

Create a winning team culture for your practice.

Know the traits you will not tolerate on your winning team.

Master the ten powerful customer service phrases.

Learn about the four complainers and how to handle them.

Quotes:

“Customer service is everything — everything. I want the listeners to remember this: who is the boss? Who is the boss, even of the dentist? The boss is the customer. The customer pays your paycheck. So, the better service that you can give, the more you'll be rewarded. And customer service is everything. We are a service industry. Dentistry is a service industry. So, customer service is what we do. We are providing care for our patients.” (3:16—3:55)

“Think seriously about your culture, about your team culture, because culture is what the patient feels the second they walk into your dental office. And culture is not optional. Culture is the sum of the behaviors that you choose as a team to have on your team.” (4:33—5:01)

“Have a team meeting and ask them to write down what are the winning traits that we want on our team, what are the traits and behaviors that we are screening for and looking for on our team. And collect those responses and go over them as a team.” (5:52—6:16)

“If you have a winning culture and you want to sustain it, you must be intolerant of those behaviors which do not sustain your culture, or destroy your culture, or minimize your culture, weaken your culture.” (7:35—7:55)

“Have your team write what are the traits not tolerated on our winning team. Now, this is interesting. I have 21 traits. But if you go through these traits, all 21 really come down to one, in my opinion: bad attitude. The other 20 are a subcategory of that first major thing, which might be considered bad attitude.” (9:34—10:00)

“When a patient asks you something, stay away from using the term, ‘No problem,’ because it’s a negative term. And you don't even know what the patients are hearing a few feet away from where you're talking. You might say, ‘No problem,’ and all they hear is “problem,” and they're thinking, ‘There's a problem?’ So, stay away from that term. That is not a customer service term.” (15:29—16:08)

“[Customer service phrase number ten], ‘I apologize for our mistake. Let me make it right.’ The customer is always right. Even when they're wrong, they're right. So, apologize, ‘I'm sorry for our mistake. Let me make it right.’ You don't ever want to get in an argument with a customer. Even if they're wrong, don't make them wrong. Make them right.” (16:51—17:19)

“[Customer service phrase] number nine, ‘Thank you for your business. See you again soon.’ You cannot say thank you enough.” (17:21—17:27)

“[Customer service phrase] number eight, ‘I'm not sure, but I will find out.’ Now, you're going to be asked a lot of questions. A patient asks you about their insurance balance. Maybe you don't know the answer. ‘I'm not sure, but I will find out.’ And you will find out. If you see it, you own it. If you hear it, you own it. You don't pass the buck. You follow up until you get the patient their answer, whatever that might be. You might not...

Insider’s Secrets to the Hiring Nightmare

Episode #396 with Deena Meldgin & Courtney Dalton

There's nothing more important than having the right people around you. But the challenge is finding those right people. There are a few things you need to do before you even think about hiring, and Kirk Behrendt brings in two ACT coaches, Deena Meldgin and Courtney Dalton, to share their secrets to attracting and keeping the best team members. Hiring can be a nightmare — and it doesn't have to be! For the best tips on hiring and to feel better about the hiring process, listen to Episode 396 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Invest in your current team members.

Find alternatives before you think about hiring.

Core values are essential for successful hiring.

Your favorite people care about the same things as you.

Highlight core values in ads to attract the right people.

Lean into your team for the hiring process.

Quotes:

“It all leads back to core values and making sure that you have an established vision before you even start the hiring process.” (4:31—4:37)

“There was a big issue with a team member, and I kept saying, ‘The issue is that they're not a good core values fit.’ And I kept getting brushed off until it hit them in the face that, ‘Yeah, you're right. They're not a bad person; they're just not a great fit for the direction the practice is going, and for the belief that the practice has, and how it wants to move forward.’ So, all roads lead back to core values.” (5:24—5:48)

“Another way to really attract people that align with your values is to really call it out in your ad, ‘Here’s what we represent.’ I absolutely love that, because I think that your best team members, or the best team members in dentistry, they have a job. They have a position right now. Right? And they're looking for something else because of a cultural change or a leadership change. And so, if our ads stand out and share what we represent, we’re more likely to attract people who align with those values.” (11:50—12:21)

“[Get] creative with putting out — even in our social media — like, how can we continue to attract people who are excited about our values, excited about who we are? People aren't looking for an ad that talks about all of their responsibilities. They're looking for something that stands out. So, go into it as if you're on the other end. What's going to stand out? Even ask some of your team members. Maybe you're looking for a hygienist. As a hygienist, what would stand out to you? What are some things that you would like to see in order to click that button and apply?” (17:14—17:48)

“If at all possible, if we can avoid the hiring crisis right now, because everyone’s in it and everybody’s feeling it, is there an alternative within who we have to get everybody realigned? Do we really have to hire? Is the issue that someone wants to leave who is unhappy? Can we have more frequent check-ins with that team member and get back in alignment? Will that solve the problem? Is it on the clinical end or the admin end? It’s so easy to say, ‘Okay, we’ll terminate, and we’ll stop this working relationship.’ But is that the easiest thing right now? No. There's not a whole lot of bite. So, maybe, really, the answer is more internal than external.” (18:00—18:43)

“Sometimes, tapping into your own team who already does align with how you think and your core values, that's one of the best assets that you can tap into, is to network through them. If they are a good fit with you, they probably know people who are a good fit with them and inherently would be a likely good fit for you. And if you lean into your team when you do have those people come in, ask them their opinion. If your team is really strong and your team feels like this wouldn't be a good fit, they're probably...

How Many Patients Do I Need? Episode #395 with Angela Heathman

To be a profitable practice, you need to have the right number of patients. But how do you know how many are too much, and how many are too few? In today’s episode, Kirk Behrendt brings on Angela Heathman, Lead Practice Coach at ACT, to discuss how many patients a practice should have. Kirk and Heather talk about when to add a new doctor, the dangers of exhaustion, tips on how to get the most out of the patients you have, and much more. To answer the question “How many patients do I need?” listen to Episode 395 of the Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

More patients doesn’t mean better.

Determine what you want out of your practice—how much do you want to be working?

For one doctor working four days a week, 1200-1500 patients is the capacity. 

Capacity for hygienists is around 750 patients.

A doctor’s schedule should be full 95% of the time, and a hygienist’s 92% of the time.

You can expect to lose 15% of clients due to natural causes—figure out how many you need to add to offset that.

Quotes:

“If you are a single practice and had 3100 patients, I would expect that you would be exhausted. I would expect that you would be exhausted or that your patients weren’t really getting probably the standard of care that you really wanted them to, because you probably just don’t have the capacity in your office to take care of that many folks. The simple answer is usually about 1200-1500 for one doctor working four days a week.” (03:50—04:20)

“Typically, that office that has 1200-1500 patients has two full-time hygienists then, working four days a week. So, the number that we think about for hygienists is usually around 750. Again, longer story is that it could be anywhere between 750-1000, but typically the offices that we’re coaching are spending 60 minutes with their patients, they’re doing perio, which means they’re needing time for scaling and root planning, and also three and four-month re-care appointment, so that’s why that number is more around 750 instead of 1000.” (05:23—06:00)

“You can be anything that you want to be, but figuring out how to make that work for your own life is what’s most important, and a lot of times you don’t have to do that, and sometimes we get kind of caught up, like you said, in the ‘more, more, more,’ but you can have a very good life and not have to do that if you don’t want to, so figuring that out first is important.” (07:02—07:24)

“If you’re feeling like ‘Oh, we need to add more hygiene hours, we need to add another hygiene day,’ one of the things you’ll want to look at is your capacity; like how full is your schedule already? Because if you’re measuring that and every day you have two hours of open time, then I would argue that you don’t need another hygienist—at least not right now—first you need to fix that problem of having all the open time.” (08:18—08:48)

“I always want to look at [capacity] in terms of percentages. So, for a hygienist we want their schedule to be full about 92% of the time, and for a doctor, 95% of the time. And so, what that shakes out to in the matter of a week is only about two cancellations—so only having about two hours open to really hit that benchmark.” (10:21—10:50)

“One of the things we coach our teams to do is something called an RFR. I would like to give credit to whoever started that, but I don’t even know who it was, but RFR stands for Reason For Return. So, making sure it’s clearly documented in your clinical notes the importance of why that patient needs to come next time. So, if next time you’re going to be taking a PA to check a tooth, or a pano, or looking at an implant,...

Understanding & Optimizing Coverage Options

Episode #394 with Dave Monahan – CEO of Kleer.com

Patients want more dental care — they're just afraid of costs. So, how do you get patients to come in more often and accept more treatment? One secret is membership plans. And to explain how membership plans benefit both dentists and patients, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dave Monahan, CEO of Kleer, to share his data comparing behaviors of uninsured, insured, and membership plan patients. By switching to membership or subscription plans, patients can get the care they want and need without the hassle of insurance. If you're frustrated with third parties and want to liberate dental care, listen to Episode 394 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

On average, membership patients visit the dentist 50% more.

Membership patients accept two to three times more treatment.

Having membership plans will help generate twice your production.

Most practices are not collecting full fees from their fee-for-service patients.

Investors will pay five times more for a business that has recurring revenue.

Quotes:

“In our market research, we saw . . . it frustrated dentists and dental practices who were basically at the whim of third parties, and we saw patients who couldn't get access to the care they wanted. Because when you think about a patient, they really have two options: they can buy dental insurance, which when they look at that, very complicated 20-page agreements; very difficult to understand if they're going to get the value out of it; they're expensive. Then, on the other side, they can go without coverage. But being a patient without coverage is scary. They don't have any idea how much things are going to cost. So, they stay away from the dentist. So, we wanted to marry those two things under “liberate dental care”; give dentists control and give patients better access for the care they need.” (3:51—4:30)

“When [patients] buy a subscription, they come in two to three times more often. So, you're not just getting that subscription revenue, they're also coming in for their recare. And where does treatment come from outside of recare? It comes from sitting in the chair, talking to the hygienist, talking to the dentist. 75% of all non-preventative care treatment comes from coming in for recare. And that treatment revenue, just to explain that, that's from them sitting in the chair, talking to the hygienist, talking to the dentist and accepting fillings, crowns, so on and so forth. It’s the other things outside of the preventive care that they're accepting. So, you have to add those two things together. So, you have this recurring model, people paying subscriptions year in and year out, and they're coming in two to three times more often, and they're accepting twice the amount of treatment as they normally would. And that's what that treatment revenue is.” (11:26—12:19)

“There's a book out there called The Membership Economy. It’s now getting aged, but it studies companies in all kinds of industries and they compare companies that offer subscriptions or memberships versus companies that don't. And the average across all the industries is, if you are part of a membership or a subscription, you buy twice as much as somebody who is not. That's the key.” (13:06—13:31)

“The patient, in our example, wants more care. They're just afraid of costs. They're afraid of not having coverage. They're afraid of not getting a good deal. And so, they're timid about coming in. Or when they're in their chair and you're saying, ‘You should get this treatment,’ or that treatment, they're skeptical. They're not bought in. But the membership gives them access to the care they want and makes them more comfortable accepting treatment that they want. So, normally, if they don't have it,...

How to Find and Keep Great People

Episode #393 with Dr. Erin Elliott

It’s a challenge trying to find, train, and keep great people. Is all that even possible? And where do you start? To provide some answers, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Erin Elliott to share how she discovered out-of-the-box solutions for those challenges in her office. A great practice needs great people. And to find them, you first need to attract the right ones! And if what you're doing isn't working, you can always do something different. For more tips on finding great people for your great practice, listen to Episode 393 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Think outside the box to attract the right people.

Choose personality over experience. The dental part will come.

Firing “bad patients” is one way to reduce team turnover. 

Eliminating phone calls may keep your team happier.

Outsource the daunting and overwhelming tasks.

If you're unhappy or feeling stuck, do something different.

Quotes:

“The big thing that T-Bone taught me is that there's absolutely no way we should be doing the dentistry that we did in dental school only.” (6:56—7:04)

“I didn't think we would struggle with [finding and keeping the right people] where I live. But this whole employee thing, I still don't understand it. At the core of it, we still have the same team. We have a large team: six hygienists, five that work all at the same time, three doctors, I work with three assistants. It’s kind of a scheduling — it’s a lot of fun. Let's just say that. So, at the core of it, our assistants and hygienists have all stayed the same. But for some reason, front desk has been so difficult for us. And we have tons of people moving to our area. We are so booked with new patients, good quality patients, and I can't understand why there's not a workforce. But most of the people moving to our area are retired. So, we just don't have a workforce, even with all these people.” (10:52—11:44)

“We’re working two front desk people short right now. And just the thought of trying to find someone and train them, two new people, and then not having any dental experience, because we’re trying to think outside the box, it’s overwhelming, the thought of it. And when we did have someone no-show for an interview, it was like the sails were deflated. It’s like, ‘What do we do now?’” (12:01—12:28)

“I was answering phones, and I was like, ‘Man, I could've answered more than half of those by text.’ So, here’s when I was thinking outside the box. If the thought of training is overwhelming, let's outsource that. There's got to be like, ‘Here’s the basics of Eaglesoft. Here’s the basics of [dentistry]. You're going to sit down in our basement and watch some onboarding videos for two days before you even come upstairs,’ something to take the training out of the hands of the people that are there. Because telling someone to click there, and then click there, I don't have patience for it.” (12:54—13:32)

“The second [issue] was the phone calls. I'm not testing this till next week, so bear with me. But I found a service where if it rings three times and goes unanswered, it sends an automatic text from a phone number that I chose. And it just says, ‘Hey, sorry we missed your call. How can we help you?’ And we can text with our patient to answer questions and eliminate phone calls. When we’re working this short, the phone calls are the problem. It’s like they catch up on voicemails, and then call those patients back, and then they're full of voicemails again. So, that's where I'm at. I'm trying to think outside the box, just eliminate phone calls, eliminate busywork, and let them focus on the patients that are there.” (13:34—14:26)

“I think at the front, it’s a constant barrage of phone calls, problems, people not being nice. I don't know...

Is the Stoneage of Dentistry Dead?

Episode #392 with Dr. John Cranham & Lee Culp, CDT

Does a dental practice with robots and artificial intelligence sound far-fetched? It may seem like science fiction, but advances in digital dentistry make the impossible a reality. In today’s episode, Kirk Behrendt brings Dr. John Cranham and Lee Culp, CDT on the show to discuss how digital dentistry has evolved, the challenges it presents, their brand-new collaboration of Cranham Culp Digital Dentistry, and much more. To find out why the future of dental is digital, listen to Episode 392 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Digital dentistry is primarily about communication, and making things is secondary.

A scanner is the best place to start when first going digital.

Today’s software is easy and fun to use.

If there’s a focus on digital during dental school, it will become second nature to young dentists.

The future of dentistry is moving toward digital, even to the extent of robotics and artificial intelligence.

Quotes:

“When we look at digital dentistry—and this is where it’s so important—digital dentistry is more about communication than anything else. Making things actually becomes secondary to the communication we have as a dental team, whether it’s restorative dentists, periodontists, orthodontists, oral surgeons, laboratory, whatever. We build virtual patients, and diagnose and treatment plan and restore, if necessary, those patients that we’ve created digitally as a team, on a computer, at the same time, while we’re all looking at the same patient. That’s never been done in the history of dentistry, and that’s really what we can do today, so we can virtually do anything you can conceive.” (06:06—06:54)

“One of the things I think challenges doctors that look at it, is they tend to look at the technologies like a scanner, and they look at the CBCT, and they look at maybe T-scan or a variety of different things, but what they lack often is a way to bring all of these technologies together to be able to evaluate data and to be able to treatment plan and to then make things like wax-ups and provisionals and splints, and all these things. And so that’s where I think the next real evolution is—getting software in the practice that allows the team to, as Lee would say, either be doing things completely in-house or share with an orthodontist or surgeon, and communicate in a way that, if you pull something up and share a virtual instrument through Team Viewer, they can be a hundred thousand miles away and still be like you’re sitting right next to each other.” (09:16—10:19)

“I think the first thing is you get a scanner and you learn how to scan for simple crowns. My concern is a lot of doctors stop there; it’s like the scanner becomes only for simple things, where they can be doing diagnostics and interfacing with labs and utilizing at a much higher level. To me the message is…digital provides us the ability to visualize three-dimensionally for simple and complex things so much better and easier than ever before. And so what I’m most excited about is the ability for doctors to really embrace comprehensive care in maybe a way that they’ve avoided.” (17:18—18:09)

“The software available today is very easy, very intuitive, very fun to use, and it’s great for diagnostics—for just looking at models on an articulator, for just evaluating while the patient is in the chair. The world of digital doesn’t even really know this or comprehend that you can do these things. So, I think that’s our message today—the software or the systems are so much more powerful to do all kinds of things that you didn’t even know they were capable...

The Secret Ingredient to Great Meetings

Episode #391 with Christina Byrne

Do you dread scheduled meetings with your team? Are they boring, exhausting, and just not great? Maybe your team meetings are terrible — and they don't have to be! To show you how to have productive and structured meetings to save you time and energy, Kirk Behrendt brings back Christina Byrne, lead practice coach with ACT Dental, to share some of her coaching secrets. Meetings don't have to feel pointless and draining! To learn how to make them energizing and fun, listen to Episode 391 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

You, the dentist, need to value team meetings.

Be intentional with team meetings. Always have an agenda.

Understand the difference between action items and issue items.

Don't let your limiting beliefs get in the way of progress.

Lean on your coach and team. You don't have to do this alone.

Quotes:

“Meetings tend to rehash the same old stuff over and over again, and nothing ever gets finished. And I'm sure anybody who’s listening could relate to being in a meeting, twiddling your thumbs, hearing people talk about the same thing over and over again, knowing that we’re going to come back here and sit down in a month and talk about the same stuff, because we either don't keep people accountable to the things that we agreed to, or we’re just having a meeting for having a meeting’s sake.” (3:27—3:57)

“Meetings do increase communication, but that communication is really important, and the intentional piece of communication is really important. So, one of the things that we try to do here is to always have a plan in place before we have our meetings.” (3:59—4:15)

“Our time is so valuable. Time is the new rich. And if we can say what we need to say and accomplish what we need to accomplish in half the time, it makes everybody’s lives better.” (6:11—6:24)

“When we’re starting with a new client, we present the idea that they need to have weekly team meetings. And immediately, they're like, ‘Oh my gosh, there's no way we’re going to do that,’ because their limiting belief is filtered by or colored by the way that they had their meetings before, which were nonproductive. But we have such a good agenda and such a great meeting pulse that there's just no way that you're not going to accomplish things.” (6:28—6:54)

“I like to have fun at meetings, and I like to talk about barbeque and football too. And there's actually time for that in the agenda. That's how we start all of our meetings, is with, ‘Let's talk about a little celebration,’ or a segue about, ‘What did you do this weekend?’ Because it’s not all cold, and it’s not all by the book. We do have to get to know each other too, so we do leave space for that and there is budgeted time in the agenda for that.” (6:55—7:23)

“In our system, we talk about scheduling a two-hour block once a week for your team. Now, you can use some of that time for your huddle. So, think that the minimum would be an hour and 45 minutes to accomplish all the things that need to be accomplished in a week so that you can make sure all the goals you set for yourself are going to be achieved.” (9:09—9:34)

“We look at the team meeting as a time for people to get together, to connect, to really sit down and work on the practice, on the things that show up that are priorities that we need to make sure we have a fully functioning practice, and that we’re moving forward. Progress is the name of the game. If you're staying still, then you're losing. So, you need to be progressing every single year.” (9:35—10:03)

“Oftentimes, doctors don't lean into their team for this. They think they have to shoulder this burden all by themselves. But the beauty of our meeting pulse is that there's not really a leader. I mean, you...