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