Thriving Under Any Circumstance
Transforming Anxiety and Uncertainty into Opportunity
This Summer little league, softball and professional teams take the field playing to win. Batters sit and wait for the “meatball” pitch: the one where you are so locked in, and it comes right in your wheelhouse, that you know without a doubt it will be a home run every time. Then there are pitches that sink, curve, and drop so much that you are lucky to get a piece of the ball. You must adjust. You must know the pitcher and anticipate his/her strategies and strengths. With good understanding of your opposition you can make the necessary modifications. No matter what is thrown at you, you will do more than miss or foul the ball off: you will get back to hitting home runs.
This is the adjusting that forward thinking practitioners are doing right now. They are not putting their practice and their life on hold and just waiting the storm out. They are taking the biggest gale force economic winds since The Depression, and using them as wind in their sails moving them faster and farther in their personal and professional lives right now.
Working with practices in NY and NJ during the 911 tragedy was great training for me to help successfully maneuver practices through crisis. When we are living in non crisis times running a practice is more like hitting a baseball pitched slower and straighter, like the pitches you see during batting practice. What do we do with the knuckleball we are currently experiencing?
We are beyond recession proofing practices at this stage. We must future proof. With The Future Proof Practice no matter what happens in the economy or any other circumstance, you will be in total control of the things that you can control.
Here are several Focuses of a Future Proof Dental Practice that will give you clear direction, increased certainty, confidence, and capability in your business and personal life for you, your team, your patients and your family.
1. Focus on what is working versus what is wrong.
I call this the Ding in Your Door Principal. You have this beautiful car (big picture) and you can’t see or experience its beauty because you are myopically focused on a one centimeter dent (problem). This limited sight view of the big picture prevents you from seeing the myriad of opportunities that abundantly flow through your practice every day.
2. Focus on outcomes versus activity
Most team members are focused on being busy rather than being productive. It is not their fault – it is just the way business in America is set up. We pay the team for their time and they fill it. By now you have noticed we fill time to meet the deadline set, just as you may have noticed that your expenses rise to meet your income. Now you know what happens when you make more money but have the same amount. If 20% of your actions make up 80% of your results then locate where you and your team are successful and do more of these things. More importantly, stop doing things over and over that are not producing results. With regard to your team stop trying to implement laundry lists of job descriptions, and have them focus on what we call DPOs or Daily Primary Outcomes by position. Then reward them daily, by position. (All the details on how to do this are in my book, Million Dollar Dentistry).
3. Focus on what patients want versus what they need
I cannot motivate you. Only you can motivate you. I can speak to what motivates you and then you might take action. The same is true with your patients. Locate what is emotionally relevant to the patient, then show them how your solution enhances their life, and you will have higher patient retention and case acceptance.
4. Focus on your team as an asset versus a cost or liability
You exchange money for time with your team. Your challenge is that you want them to think entrepreneurially like you do, and they do not have the same risk/reward as you do. Transform your biggest expense into a profit center by establishing each position as an interdependent business with return on investment baselines for each. (Details for this concept are found in Million Dollar Dentistry).
5. Focus on highlighting problems rather than offering just solutions
When was the last time you bought something that you didn’t think you needed, was going to cost you thousands of dollars, would hurt you and take time out of your precious schedule? Right! Consulting for your practice (well, maybe for some of you). Seriously, this is what we are offering to our patients every day. Remember, we only buy solutions to problems we KNOW we have. The problem here is that most care givers do not want to be bearers of bad news. So here is a way to overcome this challenge. Share this when presenting, “I have some bad news and some good news…..”.
6. Focus on your purpose versus trying to manipulate, persuade and sell
I had a hygienist who said I will never, ever sell anything so do not even ask! I said, “Great, I agree.” The root word of sales means “to assist” and sales has become associated to many negative connotations. Not many care givers like to sell but everyone loves to buy. Working with this sales resistant hygienist I asked her why she became a hygienist. She said, “because I love to help people be healthy and look and feel their absolute best.” At that moment, I could see her make the paradigm shift in her relationship to presenting treatment. She got to see that when she comes from a place of purpose, combined with the trust her patients have for her, the results are huge. In her first week with her new eyes she educated four patients who bought the gifts of health, function and beauty that Invisalign offers.
7. Focus on bringing 5 things to completion versus moving 1000 things 5 inches
At any one time there are hundreds of “door dings” in your practice that you can fix. Consider that these nasty distracters of your time and attention, and are symptoms of a deeper root cause. Most people spend their time fixing these challenges on the surface just to have them return when the adhesive on the band aid gets a little wet. Make a list of the “door dings”, and prioritize the top 5 most likely to make the most dramatic direct impact in the most areas. Drill down from “the surface” to find where the distraction originates; And fix the “bleeding point” at its root using a structured system, accountability, or agreement.
8. Focus on Return On Investment versus the Cost
It is not what you pay for salary, equipment, third party financing, consulting, and merchandise, it is the return you get from your investment. I see this very often with practitioners who do not like spending money on the cost of money when it comes to third party financing. I would rather have the boatload of treatment closed at 91% because you offered a monthly solution rather than 100% of nada. Only 20% of people like to make large purchases in full and 80% like to pay over time. I learned this from the automotive industry, where they do not ask how much you want to pay for your car but how much you want to pay per month and then work the car into the payment.
9. Focus on serving the whole person rather than just fixing hard and soft tissue
In the new economy, it is no longer enough to have an even exchange for products and services, but to offer layers beyond the widget you offer. In dentistry the layers we offer start at the lowest and go to the highest: eliminating pain, fixing problems, oral systemic health, aesthetics, emotional well-being , enhancing your community’s health and well being and giving back on a global scale.
10. Focus on the accountability and systems that support technology versus buying toys
The world has changed and we must change with it. We are on the clock with the amount of time we have left to take advantage of the gift of the downturn when it comes to buying. It is a buyer’s world, and the universe is on sale! Right now is the best time to expand while most are shrinking. The key to expanding with technology is to prepare your team with training, developing the systems, and letting them know “why it is we need it and how it will benefit us.” This is the difference between dust collection and collections from production using the equipment.
11. Focus on thriving versus surviving
When taking the test for their license, motorcyclists are immediately taught not to look at the pavement because they will end up kissing it “someday.” Race car drivers are taught not to look at the wall because they will smack into it when they go into a turn. This is true in business right now. From CEOs in major companies to dental entrepreneurs everywhere I receive calls asking for help in surviving the current situation. I let them know that I cannot help them survive but if they want to thrive I can assist. In every area of your life the more you focus on something the more you get of the thing you are focusing on. Usually this thing is rooted in some variation of “not enough”. Not enough money, time, love, patients, good team members, collection, production, yada, yada. Currently, the scope of most practitioners’ sightline is minimized. Consider the loupes you look through regarding your business are inside out, just take them off and turn them around.
Baseball and apple pie are strong American traditions. So is the privilege of thriving in our free democracy. Winning in today’s world may be more challenging, because we are playing in unchartered territories. Doing nothing, delaying, and denying come from the fear of the unknown. It’s just because you temporarily bought into what the media is feeding you. If you take your eyes and ears off the negative news you are seeing and hearing, you can focus on the limitless opportunities that are before you right now. Remember this is only a BAD economy if you do not know what to do with what is happening. It is the NEW economy for those who are willing to adapt. This is a time not about not enough money but about an exposing and cleansing of all the areas of greed, selfishness, cheating and stealing that were going on. Therefore, those who know how to build trust are those who are thriving. Swing for the fences, you deserve it.
Tags: dental, dental education, dental news, Dental Practice Management, dental team, dentist, news, office management, office staff, oral health, oral health business, success, team building, wellness
