The Best Practices Show with Kirk Behrendt

Up in Smoke: Will Cannabis Replace Analgesics in Dental Pain Management?

Episode #332 with Dr. Tom Viola, R.Ph., C.C.P.

You might know that one person who really loves their mints. But it turns out, those could be edible cannabis, not Altoids or Tic Tacs! And because so many different forms are available today, it’s almost impossible to know who could be using cannabis. So, why is this important to dentistry? To answer that question, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Tom Viola to explain some of the direct and indirect impacts, as well as some of the ethical dilemmas of cannabis. To learn what dental school didn't teach you about cannabis, listen to Episode 332 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Cannabis is still an unknown, and its use has an impact on dentistry.

There are many myths and misconceptions about cannabis.

Cannabis actually raises your blood pressure and heart rate.

In high enough doses, cannabis can increase anxiety.

Cannabis can cause immunosuppression and increased risk of infection.

Patients who use cannabis are more resistant to the effects of anesthetics.

Because cannabis isn't standardized, we don't know how much a patient may be taking.

Cannabis can span any age group. It’s not just younger people taking it.  

Always ask patients about their cannabis use.

Quotes:

“Cannabis is an unknown. I didn't learn about it in school, you didn't learn about it in school, because at the time, cannabis was still a Schedule I substance under the federal law, which meant it was illegal, like heroin, like LSD. So, we didn't learn much about it, and we really didn't anticipate that cannabis was going to get such widespread political and social acceptance — and medical acceptance — as it has now. Honestly, it’s still a quagmire. It’s still illegal, Schedule I, at the federal level, but approved in, if you want to call it that, or legalized or decriminalized in 35 states throughout the country. So, it leaves everybody in a quandary because, again, your patients have never had such widespread access to a drug that we, in our education, never really learned much about.” (07:50—08:37)

“The first thing you need to know as a dental professional is that what your patient is smoking, consuming as a gummy, vaping, is probably not one of the three original strains but some hybrid of those three strains that specializes in a specific THC or CBD content that the patient is demanding or the patient expects.” (14:57—15:17)

“The next thing to realize is that many people believe that cannabis, marijuana, mellows you out. And therefore, by logical extension of “mellows you out,” that means it must lower your blood pressure, lower your heart rate, make you calm and less anxious. Actually, that's not true. Actually, cannabis raises blood pressure and raises heart rate, and in high enough doses can actually cause paradoxical effects of dysphoria, anxiety, agitation.” (15:21—15:54)

“From our perspective as dental professionals, it’s like, ‘Yeah, you're right. If you can use cannabis, why do we need to prescribe an opioid? I'm good with that too.’ But if you look at the legislation in all these states where opioid education is mandatory, what's one of the primary things that’s central to all of those education programs? Did you educate the patient? Did you ask an at-risk patient one question: do you have, or have you had, an issue with substances in your past? And guess what? Cannabis is a substance. Your patient may not agree with it. Heck, you may not agree with it. But at the end of the day, it is. So, all of a sudden, it’s easy for the patient to say, ‘Hey, don't worry about it, doc. I had a gummy an hour ago. I'm good.’ But is that substance abuse?” (18:39—19:28)

“The big question is about how to take a good medical history. The fourth...

How to Manage the “Karens” in Your Practice

Episode #331 with Xaña Winans

Sometimes, it’s better to let people believe they're right — whether they are or not! But what do you do when the crazies get out of control? To help you manage the “Karens” who storm into your practice, Kirk Behrendt brings back Xaña Winans, owner and founder of Golden Proportions Marketing, to talk about the three types of crazy people you may deal with in your practice. To learn when to take the air out of the fire and when not to engage at all, listen to Episode 331 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Don't feed the crazies. They thrive off of your energy!

Be proactive. Prevention is better than the cure when dealing with these people.

“Karens” are looking for attention and a fight. Don't engage.

The “easily offended” are looking for validation. Give them some power.

Prepare answers to questions from “vaccination hall monitors”. Show them you care.

Take caution with how you respond to “Karens”. They can take down your business.

Quotes:

“I think we have gotten way more sensitive to pretty much everything in this society. But people are definitely crazier, and we’re more aware of the crazy. So, it multiplies. You see someone acting completely bananas, and it’s funny to you, so you're going to throw it up on social media, on Twitter, Facebook, wherever, share it with all your friends. It goes viral, and all of a sudden, you got this massive problem on your hands. So, these “Karens” have an outsized impact for the thing that they're doing. Like, they're getting way more attention than they deserve, in my opinion.” (06:18—06:54)

“There are a couple of really distinct type of personalities that we have to be prepared for, and they each have a different strategy that goes with them. So, there are “Karens,” which are basically the, ‘I'm going to do what I think is best, and I'm going to tell everybody else that they're wrong.’ There's what I'm calling “vaccination hall monitors,” the people who are calling your practice and asking if everyone in the office is vaccinated. And then, ultimately, this is the group that we can't control, it’s the people who are easily offended. You could do anything that seems slightly controversial, but you didn't mean it to be, and they will go off and make it their personal mission to destroy your business.” (09:48—10:28)

“It is really common for a patient to call a practice and ask, ‘Before I come in, is everybody in your practice vaccinated?’ And well-meaning front office managers are literally just answering the question. They're saying, ‘Well, most of our team is vaccinated,’ or, ‘Our doctors decided that they're going to wait a couple of months to get vaccinated,’ or they just say, ‘Oh, it’s really none of your business. I can't share it.’ And because they haven't done it in a well-scripted way, what happens is these hall monitors — and this is why I'm calling them hall monitors — they feel it is their responsibility to now tell the entire community that nobody should go to your practice because your inability to have your entire team vaccinated is putting everyone at risk, like you're going to personally be killing people when they come into your practice. So, you've got to be careful.” (11:58—12:51)

“In advance of getting these kinds of questions [from “hall monitors”], put together a video that shows your patients and prospective patients all the things that you are doing to keep patients extra safe. So, you can do fun stuff. You can show the doctor and the hygienist holding a six-foot long ruler away from each other so they can make sure that they're socially distanced. Or you can show the assistant having 17 layers of masks on. Show everybody what you are doing, seriously and with a little comedy in it, and put

The Life Balance Mindset

Episode #330 with Dr. Tito Norris

No one on their deathbed says to themselves, ‘I really wish I would've worked more.’ In fact, most people regret working too much, not cultivating relationships, and not letting themselves be happier. And to help you avoid some of these potential regrets, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Tito Norris to share how he achieved his work-life balance mindset. If you want to know how you can have a life and still have a thriving business, listen to Episode 330 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Before caring for others, you've got to care for yourself.

Care for yourself physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Being a workaholic is not sustainable for your health or well-being.

You can actually become more efficient while working less!

Take that vacation — your team needs a break from you!

Plan your vacations in advance and set it in stone.

Have systems in place. It could save you thousands of future hours!

Overvalue your time. Find the balance between work, family, and yourself.

Quotes:

“When you're lying in your deathbed, no one has ever said, ‘Gosh, I wish I would've worked more.’ Right? It’s quite the opposite. What people say is, ‘I wish I would've taken time to cultivate that relationship with my children and my spouse,’ whoever it might be. When I look at achievements in my life, those are the things I'm most proud of, is the fact that I've got a healthy relationship with my wife and children.” (04:35—05:07)

“Before I can take care of anyone else, I've really got to take care of myself. So, what does that mean? That means that I've got to put the right kind of fuel in my body. I've got to eat mindfully, eat nutritious things. And that's different things for different people, but we all know what we should and shouldn't be eating, and should and shouldn't be drinking, for that matter. And you've just got to start there, with fuel for your body.” (07:55—08:23)

“Find something that you love and take care of yourself physically, as well as emotionally and mentally, whether that's yoga, or meditation, counseling for mental health. All those factors are part of life balance.” (09:19—09:37)

“We just can't be workaholics these days. We've got to find that balance between being efficient at work, creating excellence at work, and finding that family time and taking that time off to take those vacations.” (09:39—09:57)

“I started my practice from scratch. I hung my own shingle in 1998. And probably for the first five years, I had two really young children, and I was trying desperately to grow my practice, and I was just burning the candle at both ends, just working my patootie off day in, day out, late nights, early mornings. And I had not taken time for myself. I was starting to get out of shape. And it wasn't doing well for my marriage, and there was a lot more stress there than there should've been. And I can't think of the actual cathartic moment or watershed moment where things changed, but I knew that I had to do something differently.” (10:59—11:50)

“I started prioritizing time off and scheduling that time off. And simply visualizing that time off and actually scheduling that time off in advance, like a year in advance, that actually forced me to take it off and actually forced me to close down the practice for those periods of time. And “close the practice,” those are like, three dirty words. But amazing things happen when you close the practice.” (12:05—12:35)

“We became so much more efficient when I started working less. When we started working fewer days, we actually skyrocketed. It’s so counterintuitive, but it’s so true.” (12:59—13:13)

“The key is to hire amazing people and to empower them to make great decisions, and to coach them.”...

The Secret of Scheduling Success

Episode #329 with Dr. Pat Lillis

Time is one thing that dentists give away the most. And if you don’t learn to run your schedule, it will run you! So, to help you become a master of your time, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Pat Lillis with tips for managing your practice calendar. His first piece of advice: don't let your patients run your schedule! Categorize and pre-block procedures to better organize your time. If you're tired of working crazy hours and want to know more secrets of scheduling success, listen to Episode 329 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

One of the best parts of dentistry is being able to choose your hours.  

Time is the most valuable commodity we have.

Master your scheduling early in your career.

Break your schedule into major and minor times.

Know how long procedures take so you can pre-block your schedule.

Don't reschedule patient cancellations right away.

Have a nonrefundable deposit on your time.

Don't let anybody tell you you can't do something — you can!

Quotes:

“The longer you practice, the more you maybe appreciate this, but I think the most valuable commodity we have is time.” (05:28—05:34)

“About two-and-a-half, three years ago, I was talking to Bob Margeas. He said, ‘You know, you should go three-and-a-half days a week.’ I said, ‘I can't do it!’ And he’s like, ‘What do you mean you can't do it?’ I said, ‘Agh! I can't do it! I've got to be there four days a week because I've got to get all the cases in.’ He’s like, ‘Listen, you won't miss a beat if you go three-and-a-half days a week.’ I said, ‘I don't know.’ So, I took the leap of faith about two-and-a-half years ago. I met with the team. I brought them all in. I said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do. I'm going to leave Thursday at noon.’ And, of course, everybody freaks out. They say, ‘Well, you can't do it because we’ve got to see our patients,’ and this and that. And it’s totally not true. So, I work three-and-a-half days a week. And I've got to tell you, one of the best things I've ever done.” (06:22—07:05)

“My grandfather was a dentist. I grew up four houses from him. And every day, on the nose at 5:00, he'd be honking his horn driving home from work. And my dad was an attorney, and he didn't get home until like 9:00, 9:30. So, people always say, ‘How'd you get into dentistry?’ I say, ‘Well, I saw my grandpa. He was home every day at 5:00. I thought that was the coolest thing ever.’ I learned early on how he scheduled. He was a master of scheduling. Even 35, 40 years ago, he was doing this stuff.” (09:36—10:06)

“We break our day up into halves, and we bisect it by lunch. So, we have major and minor times in our schedule. I've got to be honest with you, by the time the afternoon comes around, I get tired. I'm just not that sharp as I was in the morning. I'm a better morning person. Some people are different. Some people can go in the afternoon. Whatever it is that fits you, you can schedule however you want.” (11:08—11:34)

“What we do is, we do all the major stuff in the morning. So, we call it major and minor time. So, majors would be all the major procedures: crowns, bridges, implants, All-On-4s, dental reconstructions, you name it. That's what we do in the morning. And we want to be pretty well finished up with all the major time by about 1:00. So, then 1:00 comes, and then we switch over to consultations, new patient exams, crown and cementations, denture adjustments, denture deliveries, all the stuff that you can do without concentrating all that hard. So, that's how our days are broken up.”  (11:35—12:16)

“What you just said happens where, ‘Dr. Lillis says these procedures are at 8:00 in the morning.’ ‘I can't come in at 8:00.’ ‘Okay. Well, he has a 10:00.’ ‘I can't. Give me

A New Way to Look at the Comprehensive Exam

Episode #328 with Dr. Kevin Groth

You might get by cramming five-minute exams at the end of your appointments. But it isn’t the best way to learn about your patients. It’ll also get you quickly overwhelmed. To show you a better way, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Kevin Groth to share his protocol process so you can help diagnose and solve your patients’ issues. His first step is to start slow to build relationships with your patients. For more tips you can merge into your practice, listen to Episode 328 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Five minutes is not enough time to discover anything about your patients.

Structure your office based on relationships and care. 

Slow things down and get to know your patients. Build rapport.

Don't get sucked into the capital aspects of dentistry.

Believe that what you're doing is beneficial for your patients.

Co-discover issues with your patients.

Don't assume that patients can't afford a service.

Don't take offense if patients refuse the exam. It may not be the best time for them.

Quotes:

“It’s so easy to get bogged down into the doldrums of general dental life. And I was working 220 days in 2018 and running around with my head cut off, type of feeling, and doing examinations at the last five minutes of each appointment. And new patients would come in for a hygiene appointment, and then they'd see me for five minutes. And I just felt very overwhelmed and drowning in what we consider general dentistry. And you start really becoming resentful of the profession — and it’s an amazing profession. There could be a better way.” (04:48—05:24)

“My comprehensive exam comes from my current patient pool. I do a comprehensive examination on new patients as well, and we oftentimes discover a lot more. But a lot of times, these things come from the practice within. Like you've said time and time again, you can form a practice within a practice.” (06:44—07:04)

“Five, seven years ago, I would have new patients coming to my dad’s practice, and we’d see them. Right off the bat, they get their teeth cleaned. I would meet them after their cleaning and I would see them for about five minutes, 10 minutes, or whatever it may be. And it’s really difficult to really discover anything with the patient and build a rapport and trust with them, let alone say, ‘Hey, you need all this work done.’ So, you kind of get in that grind like you would in dental school where you're just looking for caries, looking for periodontal disease, looking for oral cancer — the things that you were trained upon. But, quite frankly, like they say in Dawson Academy, about 70% to 80% of the patient population all have some type of functional disease or issue going on.” (08:01—08:42)

“Unfortunately, you have a lot of people in the industry preaching that if you do this technique, or you do this procedure, or if you buy this technology, it’s going to make you productive and you're going to have a more fulfilled life, and you're going to have a better practice, and your patients are going to be better off. And you get sucked into that. And I think I was a product of that right out of dental school because I heard placing implants would do a lot of those things. So, I spent the $20,000 and did an implant course. And I don't place implants, to this day. And I think it’s just because I didn't really have a clear understanding of why I was doing something, and it’s because I didn't know who I was to begin with. And that's really what it’s all about in anything in life, is that you need to know who you are, which then flows into why you do something.” (10:38—11:26)

“I want to impact people. I want to change their lives. And from a dental aspect, I want to have a relationship with every single patient I have. So,...

Bridging the Gap Between Material Selection & Clinical Application

Episode #329 with Dr. Taiseer Sulaiman

Imagine a dentist who doesn't know what they're putting into your mouth. They don't know the name or even the basic components of what they're using. Would you really want them restoring your teeth? To help you not be that clinician, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Taiseer Sulaiman to teach you the importance of understanding the materials you work with. Close your gap between material selection and clinical application! If you want to optimize your restorative treatment, listen to Episode 329 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Dental students are suffering from the gap between material selection and clinical application.

Students are graduating from dental school with minimal knowledge about materials.

No matter how talented you are, if you select the wrong material, it will not support your work.

Not knowing how to select and apply the right material can ruin your practice!

New materials have a lack of clinical trials and data.

Finding trusted sources of information for dental materials can be a challenge.

Offer gold restorations to patients before new materials. You know gold works!

Quotes:

“One of the challenges that we’re facing in dental education, before we get into the clinical world, is that if you look at the area of dental materials, usually, it is taught by material scientists — and I have the utmost respect for them. Without them, we wouldn't be able to do the things that we’re doing for our patients in our clinical practice. But many of the material scientists did not have the opportunity to try the things that they were researching and discovering on patients. And so, they were missing that link.” (05:15—05:50)

“To be in an area where you can understand the research world, where you can understand the development and be up to speed with the materials that are introduced into our profession, and to be able to evaluate that, to research that, and then take what's useful and apply it in the patient’s mouth or in a specific clinical scenario, that's when you really complete the circle. And so, that's where I think most of the dental schools are missing out on.” (05:51—06:18)

“Our students are really suffering, because if you think about dental materials that were taught in the ‘70s and ‘80s, there were about five or six materials that were out there, and that was it. And so, now, if you look at dental cements alone, there's like eight, nine different types of dental cements. I mean, you talk about the adhesive systems, you talk about ceramics, you talk about composites, impression, etc., you can go on and on, how do you teach this to dental students and when do you teach it to the dental students? So, that's been a challenge in the dental curriculum, which I hope — and I'm certain — that a lot of dental schools are focusing and looking at.” (07:21—08:01)

“You can be a talented, god-gifted clinician with hand skills and dexterity, but if you select the wrong material and you apply it incorrectly, does it really matter how talented you are or how well you prepared that tooth? That material is not going to support your work. Patients look for final outcomes, and they don't know how you isolated the tooth, how you prepared it, how wonderful your line angles and convergence and all that. They don't really care about that. They want a final restorative outcome that lasts for a long time.” (08:04—08:42)

“Something as simple as not knowing how to select the right material and not knowing how to apply it is a big problem because it will ruin your practice.” (08:44—08:54)

“The current curriculum right now, dental materials, is taught in the first year. [Students] don't even know what a cavity is. How can...

The Fuel of Your Practice: Collections = Profits + Expenses

Episode #326 with Dr. Ann Marie Gorczyca

If your collections were a bathtub, how much of it are you letting down the drain every month? You may be surprised once you find out! And to help you minimize your expenses and maximize your profits, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Ann Marie Gorczyca with tricks and advice for collecting payments and getting your accounts receivables to zero. It’s possible with just a few changes to your practice! For more, listen to Episode 328 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Collections are the engine of your office. Collect what is owed to you!

Don't keep a financial coordinator who doesn't have the ability to collect.  

Minimize your expenses, but don't skimp on value or quality. Cut expenses by cutting waste!

Look through your own mail. You may find errors on invoices.

Use the “magic pink stickers” from SmartPractice.

Don't wait 30 days until your patients’ payments are past due. Call them at 21 days.

Send an invoice to overdue patients every week until it is paid.

Have the doctor sign the invoice. It works like magic!

Electronic fund transfers are the best things you can do.

Don't get carried away with giving discounts. Keep track of them each month.

A weekly meeting is the best investment you can make with your team.

Quotes:

“I realized having a weekly meeting, one hour every week, is really the best investment you can make with your team, because you can go over all the scores, all your numbers, everyone can report their KPIs. You can say, ‘What are we working on? What's our top priority?’ And you have the ability to change things on a very fast pace, like that day.” (08:31—09:01)

“Collections equals profits plus expenses. Now, you might say, ‘Dr. Gorczyca, why are you so focused on collections?’ Well, because that's your bottom line. That's the fuel of the engine of your office. You'll hear a lot of dentists talk about production, production, production, production. But that's not really your fuel. Your fuel is your cash. And if you're only thinking about production, maximizing production and not focusing on your collections, you might be wasting time doing things that you're not profitable in, or maybe you're not getting paid for.” (11:31—12:20)

“I think the first 10 years of my practice life, I was very focused on production. But then, the older you get, the more you realize to be profitable and to truly work in the most efficient, smart way that you can, I think it’s a more direct focus for you to look at your collections and understand that collections equals profit, which is your salary. And I include my team salary in there as well, because if my team is getting a raise, I'm getting a raise. We’re in it together.” (12:51—13:41)

“Your profits are determined by how high your expenses are, so it is your goal to minimize your expenses as much as possible. Now, I'm not talking about skimping on value, if there are certain materials that you need that are the highest quality materials. I'm not talking about cutting expenses by cutting quality. I'm talking about cutting expenses by cutting waste, by cutting shelf life, by cutting things sitting on the shelf that you're not using or may never use, and also price checking. If you can get the same product from a different vendor and it’s exactly the same thing, why would you pay more money for it?” (13:43—14:34)

“Think of your collections as a bathtub, and your patient payments go in the bathtub and your insurance payments go in the bathtub. But there is that drain — your write-offs and discounts, or courtesies — that's letting the money out of the drain. So, the more you let out, the less collections there are there.” (15:19—15:51)

“When I...

What Most Dentists Are Missing in Their Practices

Episode #325 with Dr. Leonard Hess

Dental school taught you to pass an exam. You can do basic procedures and run a practice, but there's a lot more left to learn. And to teach you about the things your practice may be missing, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Leonard Hess from The Dawson Academy. If you want to create a practice that's profitable and special in the marketplace, listen to Episode 325 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Knowledge is empowering. Start continuing education right away.  

You don't need to conform to the insurance-dictated model of care.

Look at insurance for the source of positivity that it is.

Treat people in dentistry ethically and responsibly, and the money will come to you.

To be financially successful, learn to solve problems that others aren't solving.

Learn the principles and foundations to make dentistry predictable and profitable.

Quotes:

“Most of our patients are actually, over their lifetime, being grossly undertreated. And a lot of times there's criticism in the press out there, or Reader’s Digest articles, or there’ll be one of those gotcha pieces in the media where they try to villainize dentists and act like we’re overtreating people or trying to do things unethically. But I'm going to be honest with you, what I find in my practice is that most people have been undertreated over their lifetime, which is why they get to be 50 or 60 years old, and they're really frustrated with the level of health that they’ve attained. And it’s simply because of the standard of care, which is being dictated by insurance and a $1,500-a-year minimum or maximum and all that good stuff.” (07:51—08:32)

“The trap that I see a lot of dentists fall into is that they think that they have got to immediately conform into this insurance-dictated model. And I want to qualify what I'm going to say with a little pre-statement. Number one is, we like to badmouth insurance. And what I don’t want to do is say that insurance is a bad thing. Because insurance, in a lot of ways, is a great thing. It’s one of those things that a lot of patients have which helps them to pay for their care. And it’s not going to go away. But what we need to do is instead of complaining and making insurance a source of negativity, is look at it for the source of positivity that it is.” (12:23—13:07)

“It doesn't mean that we just fall into line with insurance and let them control our practice, let them control our fees, let them treatment plan for us, and to allow the insurance company to create that wedge or barrier between the patient and us. And insurance companies love to do that. They love to create that wedge of deniability, ‘Well, this is now denied. This procedure wasn't necessary. Your fees are outside of customary and usual. You're not in network,’ all these different rules that they have in place where they try to keep us boxed into a corner. But we don't necessarily have to play that game.” (13:08—13:47)

“I get the problem that a lot of young dentists have, is they come out of school, they're coming out of school with more debt than ever, and everybody’s anxious. Most young dentists are not ready to own their own practice, so a lot of times, what does that mean? They’ve got to look for an associateship. So, a lot of times, practices that are looking for associateships, they're insurance-based practices. And these dentists dive in, and they just become indoctrinated into that model of care. And the reality is, yes, a lot of our patients have insurance, and they want to maximize it. But where we really box ourselves into the corner is that we stop giving patients the ability to choose to do what's best for them, and we start to recommend treatment based on what insurance will pay for. And...

Reality vs. Social Media

Episode #324 with Dr. Nate Lawson

Social media can be a great tool for dentists. It’s a growing resource for clinical examples, and an effective way to market your practice. But it can also have its downsides. To share some of his personal learnings on these platforms, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Nate Lawson for his insights into social media dentistry. What you see online isn't always reality! For tips on avoiding social media comparison, listen to Episode 324 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Social media is a great place to find visuals of clinical examples.

One disadvantage of social media dentistry is the perpetual comparison.

Constantly seeing unattainably beautiful dental work can skew your perception.

What's highlighted on social media is people’s best work — not their everyday work.   

Strive to be better, not perfect. Perfection is unattainable.

Invest in yourself with continuing education. It will give you knowledge and confidence.

Quotes:

“There are parts of [social media dentistry] that are really great. I remember I graduated dental school in 2011, and I used to search on the internet to try to find examples of how to do stuff clinically, like how to do better crown preps, or veneer preps, or whatever I wanted to learn how to do. And there was very few information out there.” (08:02—08:22)

“One of the things that hit me, the only reason I was thinking about talking about this today was, I was looking at a post of a buddy of mine, and he posted this case that now I look back and I think it’s really nice. When I first saw it, the rubber dam was a little bit torn, and not every edge was perfect, and maybe there was a little bit of old composite left in the prep. And I thought to myself, ‘Well, look at that piece of crap.’ And then, I thought to myself later, ‘No, that's not a piece of crap. That's actually very beautiful dentistry.’ Like, if I did that on any given day, I would go home and feel great about it. I just maybe didn't get to look at it blown up to 10 times size. And it’s also, it didn't come after I had just looked at three different things that looked like they were the smoothest — I mean, they looked nicer than regular teeth. So, I do think that that's one of the disadvantages of social media and social media dentistry.” (14:35—15:34)

“I was doing a crown prep. And I was sitting there, and I was on my third, final impression, and I was looking at it. And I'm staring at the final impression, like looking at one part of the margin. And [the patient is] like, ‘What's wrong? Is it not good?’ I was like, ‘I don't know. I just don't know if it’s perfect, and I don't know if it’s great.’ And he said to me, ‘You know, the enemy of good is great,’ or something like that, basically meaning you get 95% of the way, and then to get the extra 5%, sometimes you kill yourself, and you sometimes even make it worse.” (18:24—19:01)

“A lot of times, where I run into trouble where my dentistry doesn't come out quite as perfect is sometimes when I'm pressed with time and I'm fighting this thing that's like, do I want to spend five minutes going around and finding this extra material, or this one special wedge that I think might work, or do I want to switch out three more wedges just to see if this one’s going to get in there perfectly, where I have to make some compromises in the quality. I think I have a base level of where I want to get, and then I try to get to that level, and then try to exceed it as often as I can.” (19:43—20:26)

“The stuff I see on social media, I don't think that anybody should use that — I mean, it’s great to aspire to that. And I feel guilty saying this because I don't think that any . . . You know, is it bad for me to sit here and say, ‘Don't aspire to making...

The Art of Failure: The Top 10 Reasons Your Dental Marketing Flopped

Episode #323 with Xaña Winans

Every failure is an opportunity to learn. But if you don't know where and how to improve, you can end up making the same mistakes! To help you avoid another flop, Kirk Behrendt brings in Xaña Winans of Golden Proportions Marketing to explain why your dental marketing failed, and where to focus your improvement. If you’re ready to learn from your mistakes, listen to Episode 323 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

“Fail forward” by using failure as an opportunity to get better.

10) Choose the best marketing medium for your target audience.

9) Understand the difference between strategy and tactic.

8) Think about your target market and the problem you're trying to solve.

7) Go where your competition is not.

6) Inspire action with your call to action. Be intentional with your language.

5) Is your product or service great? Be self-aware — know your online reputation.

4) Have an adequate budget. Marketing costs money!

3) Measure every piece of marketing you're doing.

2) Be more patient. ROIs don't happen overnight.

1) Make it easy for people to buy from you.

Quotes:

“Failure is always an opportunity to learn . . . Fail forward. Everything that you do that didn't work out exactly the way that you wanted is an opportunity to get better.” (05:37—05:50)

“The number-one reason why your marketing failed is you're choosing entirely the wrong medium for the audience that you are trying to reach. So, let's say, for example, you are trying to reach families and you decide you want to do a lot of Facebook advertising. I'll tell you what, the young families, they're over on Instagram right now. So, if you are not on the right medium where your audience actually lives and is engaging with your message, it’s going to be a flop. You're going to be wasting a ton of reach with people that just aren't your right target.” (07:23—07:57)

“People aren't putting the strategy before the tactic. They're just picking the shiny object, the, ‘I want to do social media marketing funnels,’ or, ‘I want to do an infomercial that comes out,’ because they're excited by the tactic. So, if they are not actually thinking strategy . . . You've got to have a long-term goal. You've got to have a plan; the tactic fulfils the strategy. The strategy is the goal and the plan of what you're trying to accomplish. So, if you don't know what that stuff is, you're throwing darts at the wall.” (09:51—10:25)

“Do you know their age? Do you know the income of the person you're going after? You're going to have a very different target for income if you're going after families than if you're trying to target people who need implants. You've got to think about what problem it is you are trying to solve for the person. That is also part of your target marketing. So, am I trying to solve a problem of dark teeth, or missing teeth, or the fact that somebody just has a really tight schedule and can only be seen in the mornings or late evenings? Figure out what that problem is. And then, the last part of defining that target market is really thinking about what is the want of the person you are trying to reach.” (11:41—12:20)

“The best place to start is by looking at your own practice demographic. Just dig into your practice management software. Pull up, by zip code, how many patients are coming from a particular zip code. And you should also be able to see the total revenue that is coming from that zip code. So, you can see, are these people that are high dollars that have money to spend and are willing to spend it with you. It’s easy to want to say, ‘Okay, my target audience is the super-wealthy community that's 20 miles away from me.’ That's a target, sure. But that's a...