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Episode 4-39
Being Productive with THE Productive Dentist Dr. Bruce Baird
Dr. Bruce Baird needs no introduction! The man has been a legend for many years and has held the belt for THE most productive dentist for quite some time. Dr. Baird sheds knowledge on how one can have less stress and be more productive by putting the ownership back on the patient and having them understand WHY their dentistry has been failing which leads to greater case acceptance!
For our younger dentist's, Dr. Baird even shares his 5 year plan if he was fresh out of school and how he would navigate his early career.
We will all be a little more productive after this week's episode!
Bio
Dr. Bruce B. Baird, DDS is a well respected cosmetic and family dentist in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. His practice is located in Granbury, Texas. Dr. Baird's expertise as an implant dentist has afforded him the skill to perform dental implant surgery and restorations since the mid-1980s. In 1990, he established the Texas Centers for Implant Dentistry, a mobile practice that allowed him to work with more than 25 doctors in the region. Recognizing his ability to help other dentists to achieve the same success he has experienced in his practice, Dr. Baird partnered with Vicki McManus, RDH to create Productive Dentist Academy. The Academy has been an invaluable resource to dentists nationwide.
Show Notes
Productive Dentist Academy
Compassionate Finance
Abella AR
Episode 4-38
What Ethical Sales with Ashley Latter
Shared Practices goes international and brings on a infectious accent to talk about how your dental office should be thinking about sales. We are proud to have Ashley Latter of international fame on the show. Ashley has prior experience with the Dale Carnegie organization and now runs his own dental sales training business.
Ever had the tough patient that can't seem to ever get over how expensive dentistry is? You start feeling sorry for yourself because maybe that patient is right, dentistry is too expensive. Ashley comes on the show to whip you into shape! Make you see the value that you are adding into people's lives! Repairing function, treating them well, and showing them the right journey that they should travel along to a healthier mouth.
Ashley believes that the team needs to be shown that they are in sales -- ethical sales -- and making those sales is HELPING patients. You'll be able to find the patient's that are in the right point in their journey by asking three simple questions.
Ashley leaves us with how dentist's can learn so much from visiting high end restaurants and made me realize I have to take my wife to Ruth Chris!
Bio
Ashley Latter started his business coaching career working for the legendary Dale Carnegie Training Organization. He was a four-course instructor and an International Master Trainer. He traveled extensively worldwide, coaching delegates to become trainers. This is the highest position that can be bestowed on a Dale Carnegie careerist.
In 1997 two dentists took part on Ashley's Two Day Ethical Sales and Communication Program in Manchester. Since then, tens of thousands of delegates, comprising of dentists, orthodontists, treatment coordinators, specialists, and other team members have now taken this program in fourteen countries worldwide. Ashley has soon delivered over 26,000 hours of business coaching to the dental industry all over the world. He is simply the best at empowering dentists, orthodontists, and their teams to communicate with their patients.
Ashley has a unique process which includes sharing proven strategies and coaching delegates in a fun and positive way, allowing them to develop new skills, behaviors, and increased levels of self-confidence. This process allows for improved performance in practice and improved results.
Ashley has written three books including, 'Don't Wait for the Tooth Fairy,' and 'You Are Worth it' He has also contributed to the Dental Masters Series
Show Resources
Dr. Ashley Latter Dental Practice Management
Dr. Latter's courses
Contact Dr. Latter
Episode 4-37
Dr. Erin Elliott Talks Case Acceptance and Sleep Dentistry
Continuation of last weeks episode!
Dr Elliott shares her realization of how understanding what the patient's objective was the key to overcoming barriers and getting the patient to say yes. She simplifies the process down to three essential questions that need to be answered and the patient will be asking for treatment. This episode is full of phenomenal pearls and exactly what we need to hear in this case acceptance season.
Bio
Dr. Elliott grew up south of Boise (in Orange County, CA…. shhh… Don't tell anybody). After playing college soccer and graduating summa cum laude from Houghton College in Houghton, NY, Dr. Elliott graduated top 5 from Creighton University Dental School in Omaha, NE. She moved to North Idaho as soon as she could. Dr. Elliott loves helping her patients not only smile but sleep better too! When she is not working (which is a lot just ask her family), she loves to spend time with her family of 3 boys (her husband Tom included!), playing soccer, golfing, and reading.
Show Resources
Hire Dr. Elliott, DDS
3D Dentists
Post Falls Family Dentistry on Facebook
Post Falls Family Dentistry on YouTube
Post Falls Family Dentistry on Instagram
Episode 4-36
Dr. Erin Elliott
Dr Erin Elliot from 3D Dentists makes her debut on the Shared Practices show. We are more than excited to finally have this rockstar in the dental world tell us about her journey. This is one of those interviews where we get a real, candid view into the life of trying to juggle being a dentist, a mom, and a practice owner. Dr Elliot gives a vulnerable perspective on how juggling all those things is not easy and how she makes it all work. We hope that everyone listening can gain some insights in this great episode!
Bio
Dr. Elliott grew up south of Boise (in Orange County, CA…. shhh… Don't tell anybody). After playing college soccer and graduating summa cum laude from Houghton College in Houghton, NY, Dr. Elliott graduated top 5 from Creighton University Dental School in Omaha, NE. She moved to North Idaho as soon as she could. Dr. Elliott loves helping her patients not only smile but sleep better too! When she is not working (which is a lot just ask her family), she loves to spend time with her family of 3 boys (her husband Tom included!), playing soccer, golfing, and reading.
Show Resources
3D Dentists Sleep Apnea 101
Invite Dr. Elliott to come speak
Dr. Erin Elliott on Facebook
Post Falls Family Dentistry on Facebook
Post Falls Family Dentistry on YouTube
Post Falls Family Dentistry on Instagram
Episode 4-35
Dr. Zak Allmand and Apex Payment Solutions
Dr. Erin Elliot introduced me to Dr. Zak Allmand and said "You have to interview Zak. We switched to his company and it's helped our case acceptance." So I interviewed him and had a blast.
We talk about how Zak made the spontaneous decision to buy a practice with a friend over a case of Miller Light. Zak's runs his overhead between 37% to 42%, blowing industry averages out of the water. When Zak bought his practice it had rainbow confetti carpet and paper charts. The entire office ran on two computers. Dr. Zak's recommendation is to look at the philosophy of the dental practice just as carefully as you look at the numbers.
We dive into the details of how Apex Payment Solutions came to be and what a weird industry merchant services is. We look at how and when to set up payment plans and some simple rules to make it easy for your team.
Bio
Dr. Allmand attended Wabash College, where he graduated magna cum laude and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society. He earned his dental degree in 2005 from the Indiana University School of Dentistry. Dr. Allmand was awarded a three-year Health Professions scholarship from the United States Air Force and graduated at the top of his class in the Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH. Dr. Allmand is a member of the American Dental Association, the Indiana Dental Association, and the Indianapolis District Dental Society. Dr. Allmand is passionate about Continuing Education that focuses on Sleep Apnea, Invisalign orthodontics, and Digital Dentistry.
Show Resources
Apex Payment Solutions
Monon Family Dental
Monon Family Dental on Facebook
Dr. Allmand on Twitter
Episode 4-34
Interview with Dr. David Bender
David Bender opened his first practice in 2008 and made $144,000 in his first year in practice. In order to keep his practice, his parents lent him money and he maxed out his credit cards. His wife had their first child the following year, with no income from his practice. In mid 2009, his practice picked up by word-of-mouth from his patients. In 2011, he hired his first associate for his practice and added one more associate each year ever since.
Dr. Bender's current practice is Village Dental at Saxony. His office is a large,18000 square foot, multi-practice office in Fishers, Indiana. David has 28 operatories, with five open bay concepts, three surgical and dental suites. His dental teams work in teams of six with one doctor per 6 chairs. He has split schedules with his teams and our work schedule is 32 hours per team member with rotating schedules, with each team having their own schedule.
We take a trip down memory lane and discuss the infamous Practice on Fire and how the relationships formed during that time laid the roots for what is now DSN.
Don't forget about the PDA event in Indy on June 14-15. Hope to see you at the SP social after!
Bio
Dr. Bender grew up and obtained his dental degree in Indiana Dr. David Bender is a Hoosier native. Dr. Bender attended Indiana University in Bloomington where he received his Bachelor of Science in Biology and continued his education at Indiana University School of Dentistry in Indianapolis where he received his DDS degree in 2002 and worked in Heartland for five years in his early career.
Dr Bender, his wife Amanda, and their two kids, Dean and Rebekah, really enjoy being a part of his community. Dr Bender is a big IU and Indianapolis Colts sports fan. He enjoys golfing, even though he is most commonly found right of the hole with his impressive dog leg slice.
Show Resources
PDA Workshop
Dr. Bender's Dental Team
Village Dental at Saxony
Download the Roadmap to Ownership Practice
Matt took his residency in New York and found this was an effective use of his time. Matt focused on dental implants and completed over 30 implants during his residency in New York. Matt enjoyed living in New York and shortly after his residency, purchased his first practice. After sending out about 300 letters, 12 were interested and three were good prospects.
Matt talks about the process from school to his first practice purchase and his biggest challenge to find a practice with the right collection evaluation numbers. From financing, to finding a broker and his future landlords concerns, which held him up to purchase the practice for three months, Matt gives timelines, details and what went smoothly for him during this transition. He stresses the importance of good, consistent marketing strategy for growing your business. His next phase for growth is getting new patients, filling up on capacity and reducing office workdays from five days a week to four and purchasing a 3-D printer.
Bio
Dr. Matt Guarino is a born and bred Bostonian and 2016 graduate from Tufts Dental School. Dr. Guarino has owned his solo practice in Westchester county, New York since 2018. In hist first year of ownership, Dr. Guarino has grown the practice to $1.7 million collections at 45% overhead. He will pay off his remaining $400,000 of student loans in 2019. Dr. Guarino is a trained life and leadership coach through Accomplishment Coaching, an elite coach training program. He is passionate about facilitating young dentists in realizing their potential and fast tracking their results. Dr. Guarino is excited to announce his partnership with Shared Practices detailed on this episode!
Quotes
"I think a lot of what I did was the mindset I brought into it. It's very easy to get in there and just be complacent and kind of take what it gives you, but I was looking for certain things and I went hard for them. That kind of made the whole difference."
Matt Guarino
"The best thing about a GDPR is you can have the ability to really get outside your comfort zone, while being in an environment that allows for that. You don't have to worry about malpractice and you're learning from trained specialists. It's a very safe environment to do that."
Matt Guarino
"When looking at purchasing a practice, Matt comments: "Being direct, if you are a match, and asking for numbers is not something you should be afraid of, you know, you've got to put your intentions out there, or you're going to waste a lot of time."
Matt Guarino
"When things aren't clear at the get go [when you are looking to purchase a practice], you have to think, 'This is your career, if this is your life, no one's going to be looking out for you except yourself.' You need to be super intentional about all the steps you take."
Matt Guarino
"That's the biggest lesson is just you put yourself out there, you got to get the team to trust you. If they're not willing, then you need to move on. And they need to move on."
Matt Guarino
"And in all the dark times was, I was just not in my essence. I wasn't my best self, I was operating out of fear based mindset; I wasn't in a growth mindset. I just kind of realized how important seeing the gap of where I was and where I'm trying to get and then all the stuff that's in the way. Dealing with all that stuff is the only way you're going to actually get there. It's not the hows, it's the whys and it's being true to your being that really gets you to these different heights."
Matt Guarino
"But at the end of the day, it matters that you're laughing in your practice, it matters that you're able to show up and be present and be able to care about other people and turn your whole attention to them."
Richard Lowe
Questions
Biggest Takeaways
Dr. Richard Low is a huge fan of Vanessa Van Edwards' work on the science of unlocking human behavior and we are delighted to have her on the show. In this episode Vanessa shares specific strategies from her experiences teaching dentists how to build trust and help patients feel comfortable within the first moments of your interaction. Another secret we uncovered is that you might accidentally be making people feel judged and distant by the way you smile and the best way to get sincere expressions for your profile pictures, websites and more.
Bio:
Vanessa Van Edwards is Lead Investigator at Science of People — where she unlocks the formulas and patterns behind human behavior for hundreds of thousands of students in over 200 countries. She is the national bestselling author of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding With People, available in 14 languages around the world. Her work has been featured on CNN, NPR, BBC, and Fast Company and dozens more.
Biggest Takeaways:
Show Questions:
Resources:
Quotes:
"And it's very, very clear that what people want is authentic emotions." - Vanessa Van Edwards
"And most of all, we love, love, love getting any kind of physical touch because it produces oxytocin. You know, it's a very interesting chemical, but one of the things that it does is it builds trust. So the moment someone shakes hands with us, we get this burst of this chemical that makes us feel belonging, which is so powerful." - Vanessa Van Edwards
"However, especially if you are in the first 20 seconds to a minute of interaction, that is the single most important time to have your hands visible." - Vanessa Van Edwards
How did George become the #1 rated dentist in his corner of the valley? Swell CX. That's how. They have perfected the art of asking for patient reviews so your team doesn't have to. Swell CX is a third the price of competitors that rhyme with Rhodium but still gets all the reviews you need to attract YouTubers who trust Google Reviews from across Phoenix Valley. Don't know what I'm talking about? Listen to this episode and then just go to Swell. $99 startup fee? Nope. Not for Shared Practices Listeners. And we got you a lower monthly fee too. You're welcome. Now go sign up: https://demo.swellcx.com/sharedpractices/
Show Summary
Scheduling, production, metrics, growth trajectory and the multiplier effect. In only 8 months of practice Dr. George Hariri has learned both what to do and what not to do. Ownership is messy, but when you run your own practice, how can you predict your production next month based on this month's numbers? George shares how he uses Practice by Numbers to see what's coming and adjust his strategy months before a dip in collections. We then talk about how to pick up new patients, how to hand off and outsource marketing and the service we use which provided George's practice with the most Google reviews in a 50 mile radius of his office in Phoenix.
Show Guest | Dr. George Hariri
Dr. George Hariri is the long missed co-host of the Shared Practices Podcast and we loved having him back after some podcasting paternity leave. Dr. Hariri graduated in 2018 from Midwestern University-AZ and immediately jumped feet first into practice ownership. He likes big practices and acquisitions and a good round of March Madness. He has been helping other doctors evaluate practices for purchase since D2 year of dental school and loves to contribute. But whatever you do, don't go do a startup after he gives you acquisition advice. He might take it personally... just sayin.
Biggest Takeaways
Show Questions
Links Mentioned in the Show
Blue Sky Bio - Download the revolutionary free implant planning software
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Dan Johnson - Lucent Spot
Jayme Amos - Ideal Practices
Tiger Safarov - Zen Supplies
Vivek Kinra - Unlock the PPO
Show Quotes
"At first it was kind of like this fairy tale, all of my recall exams were super productive, my seller's productive, we're riding this whole wave. Now you just have to think about Okay, well, how am I going to build sustainability to it so that we're built to last?"
George
"For me confidence is kind of a theme in all these episodes, for me it is super important. I need to feel confident and without it, I'm kinda a wreck. I mean, I hate to say it, but I really rely on my confidence a lot. So for me, the way I get confidence is understanding what's going on with metrics, numbers, and just a thorough understanding of why things are happening and what's going to happen in the future."
George
Richard: "I don't think everyone has a strong sense of what is going to happen in their practice next month."
George: "I'm so used to knowing what's going to happen next month, that's why I'm not nervous; because I've seen the trends."
"I know about how much [work] we do same-day, so we can just throw that on top...and then I know about how much we scheduled for the rest of the month during the month. At the beginning of the month, I'm pretty much certain [of what we're going to produce] within five to ten percent, I know what we're going to do."
George
"Based on how many exams do, how much are you like, look at all those metrics. And then you can start seeing trends.
"Picking up your new patient flow is something that takes quite a while, I'm going to get 80 new patients next month. I'm going to create a plan and follow through with it over the next six months, where in six months, we'll see 80 new patients. So I think for me, I thought it was a little bit more automatic, the new patient flow."
George
"I always feel like there's this artificial period 'new ownership honeymoon', where you're diagnosing all these things differently than the seller. Your numbers should reflect that if you're having the ability and the confidence to convert it. Then, during that time, you need to be working on how are you going to make it built to last with a marketing plan, to get in a sustainable level of new patient flow that's going to sustain you."
George
"Marketing and growing [your practice] is an inevitable thing that you can't just rely on the existing patient base."
Richard
"You have revenue from two different areas, patient flow and your hygiene revenue. Your production and diagnosis very much fuels that two thirds to 75% of your production."
George
"February was actually a really good new patient month for us, but that just hasn't rolled into [the current metrics] so I had a couple months of a head start on fixing the problem because I saw a very early [trend] and that is directly due to my ability to understand the metrics."
George
"I wanted Google reviews to be automated, I don't want to worry about them. I want to get a great reputation. I don't want to go over the top to treat people well in our office to get reviews and create that fee for service experience."
George
"I think our team our culture is very fun and sometimes an uptight customer service attitude doesn't allow for fun. In our office, we're always laughing, we're always having fun and that's really big. That's super important for us."
George
"It's all of those things are extra thing that everybody has to do, right? I don't want to buy all these towels and give them to all these patients and do this whole thing that everyone talks about. I just want to be a dentist."
George
"With Swell, we've been able to get the online reviews and reputation, have an office that does all of those things without doing any of those things nice. For me, that was the big thing. I want to have the reputation that we're the best. We have the most Google reviews in our area."
George
"She came all the way to our office, because she said we had the most written reviews. That's not just five stars with our name, it's about 75 to 80 percent of our reviews have a little paragraph about us and that just makes you feel nice as a dentist."
George
"I draw a line somewhere [with self-marketing] and what I'm willing to do, and right now we don't need to do that - I just don't want to, I just want to give somebody money and get patients"
George
"[Marketing is] a whole process which needs to be synergistic. And I think that's where you really get the results when five or six different things you're doing in marketing all work together, and you do it for a sustainable period of time. It takes a while, you need to build momentum."
George
"I'm not losing money, that's for sure. I'm not maximizing profits right now, I feel like you maximize profits when you're done growing and we're not done growing."
George
"The multiplier is a very impactful thing, that when you have a group practice, you have the ability to make small changes and see large effects."
George
"You've got to have multiple providers come in and associate, maybe one day get another specialist or somebody come in and do other procedures. You kind of have to, that's what I want."
George
"I genuinely feel like we're building something that is sustainable and [the practice] will be successful, because of the way it's built, not because of me; that's just our style. That's just going to take a little bit more fixed costs up front and growing past that."
George
"I think you need to think of things in your career, especially early on when there's a lot of change here in residency, you have an associateship, you're an owner, it's a lot of change for a three year span. Maybe your dental student, immediate owner, that's a big change. As a new owner, you're not going to make as much because there's just all kinds of things happening to you."
George
"That's what I feel like metrics really provide me is the ability to objectively look at it and figure out what are the maybe six most important things that we need to be doing, and rank them in order. I feel like that is a very valuable thing that most dentists don't have."
George
"You always feel things two to three months later, is when you start feeling the positives and negatives."
George
"You have to be willing to do what it takes to build what you want and for us, it's the trial and error. Like, yeah, I know that other people do things and some things work for other people."
George
"And you just have to try stuff and if it works, it works; and if it doesn't, that's fine. You're going to make mistakes. I've made so many mistakes and I'm talking about them."
George
"I feel like my biggest advice to people is to really take a hard look at your practice and realize what are my five biggest problems and prioritize them one through five and tackle them in that order and that'll get you so far."
George
"Everybody is on their own journey and if you're doing a startup and you're not seeing the level of new patients that you want your journey is just a little bit slower than somebody else's, that doesn't mean you're doing poorly."
George
"Have confidence that you're doing a good job and put your head down, focus on your own stuff and figure out what you need to do next and do it."
George
"We are about half of a hygienist overstaffed right now because of our openings. We can add a half hygienist without hiring any more hygienists: it's a multifactorial thing. You don't get the production from the hygiene appointment, you get the added expense. You also don't get the doctor production. Let's just say 20% of our hygiene capacity is not being used and that's 20% of restorative capacity that we're not getting. It's a very proportional relationship."
George
"What is a sustainable? I think we're looking for sustainability now. What is something that can be repeated? Our seller was not sustainable."
George
"I think the fastest way to grow is to get yourself in a super uncomfortable situation. Discomfort leads to growth and so I think a great thing to do is look at yourself, what makes me uncomfortable and do that thing, and then you'll grow."
George
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—————
This week on Shared Practices Richard and George meet to record in person for the first time at the Dental Success Summit. The guys meet up with friend of the show Kiera Dent, host of the Dental A Team Podcast, to do a deep dive on how to actually use route slips. Even though we've talked about this before, we get specific and into the details here in a way we haven't before!
Kiera is the owner and founder of Dental Placement Pros and Kiera's Dental Consulting. She is partner in Zen Dental Supplies, consults in 50 client offices nationwide, recruits for over 60 dental offices nationwide and owns multiple dental offices.
First Richard talks about Swell, the customer feedback and reviews specialists. The company has helped Kiera, George and many others with their SEO rankings and offer a system for turning your existing customers into a marketing resource. The majority of the show is an in depth look at route slips. The guys go over how to implement them, best practices for their use and a whole host of techniques for using them efficiently and to their full potential.
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Swell customer feedback and reviews - https://demo.swellcx.com/sharedpractices/
Blue Sky Bio - Download the revolutionary free implant planning software
Design Ergonomics - Optimize your office layout for productivity and future growth.
Go to https://desergo.com/g2mp/ and use promo code "Shared Practices" to get the $230 'Guide to Maximizing Productivity' for free
::Topic Timecodes::
00:00 – 01:10 Episode intro with Richard.
02:55 – 06:24 Kiera, George and Richard reminisce about dental school and talk podcasts.
06:25 – 11:32 Discussing Swell, remembering the name and how they helped George and others.
11:33 – 15:53 How positive reinforcement helps your outlook and why Swell focus on Google reviews, not other digital marketing strategies.
15:54 – 21:14 Kiera talks about route slips, what are they? and how do you use them?
23:05 – 24:00 Re-care versus unscheduled treatment with in a route slip framework.
24:01 – 26:40 Methods for implementing route slips.
26:41 – 29:27 How George uses route slips for scheduling re-care and pre-checkout.
29:28 – 31:33 Using route slips to create opportunities.
31:34 – 35:36 when do you review route slips and how to use them in creating team synergy.
35:37 – 38:03 colour coding your schedule and converting same day dentistry.
38:04 – 38:58 Conclusion to the interview.
38:59 – 39:42 Episode outro with Richard.
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