Want to be in the top 1%?

by Michael Kesner, DDS

Why is it that some dental practices enjoy extraordinary success while so many others seem to barely get by? What are these practices doing that yours is not?

What would happen if you found out what these top 1% of the practices are doing, and then you do the same things they do? Would you not get the same results?

So, what does the top 1% know that you do not?

1. Know What You Want. I have talked with hundreds of dentists about changing their level of success. These dentists say that they want to grow their practices and be more successful. Then when we start talking about the changes necessary to achieve this, these dentists sometimes come to the realization that they want something else more than their success.

Be honest with yourself and determine what you want more than extraordinary success. Some dentists do not want to work that hard. Some dentists do not want to change the way they present dental treatment to their patients. Some do not want to take any risks. Some do not want to trust their teams to run the practice. Some do not want to learn better leadership skills. Some do not want to fire toxic staff members.

What do you want more than success? Whatever you want more will always win. Make the decision to go "all in," and do whatever it takes.

2. Understand Marketing. Every successful practice must have a steady influx of new patients each month. Learning how to generate more than 100 new patients per month requires an understanding of internal and external marketing.

You must become a great marketer by knowing what makes marketing work and why. Does it grab the reader's attention? Does it answer in that reader's mind "What's in it for me?" Does it answer why the reader should come to your office instead of the dentist across the street?

The top 1% of dentists understands that marketing is an investment, not an expense. I get a 4:1 return on my marketing in the first month alone. That's not an expense, but an investment.

Where else can I get that kind of return on my money today?

3. Case Presentation. Patients want to be involved in their diagnoses. They want to be able to see what the problems are and discover this along with you. Case presentation should not be a process where you diagnose and formulate a treatment plan without involving the patient in the process.

Understanding the psychology behind why patients say "yes" to the dental treatment you recommend is the key to case acceptance. It is not patient education.

People make buying decisions based upon emotion, not intellect. Understanding this is the difference between a case acceptance rate of 23%, for the average dentist, and the 70% that the top dentists get.

4. Team-Driven Office. A great team is the key to low stress and high revenue. When the team is incentivized to run the practice, then you only have to focus on the dentistry. With the right bonus system, the team is transformed from employees to business partners.

Your case acceptance goes up because now it is also the team's responsibility to inspire the patients to want the treatment they need. When you have the team "firing on all cylinders," then a synergy occurs that can double and triple the practice's revenue.

5. Consumerism. How convenient is it for patients to come see you? Does a new patient have to wait two to three weeks to get an appointment? Can patients get their treatment done today, or do they have to make an appointment to get it done later?

Patents want convenience. They want you to accommodate their needs and their schedules, not the other way around. If patients have to wait too long to get appointments on your schedule, then they will often call another office that will accommodate their schedules.

If new patients have to wait more than two weeks to get an appointment, then you will probably see many new patient appointments fall off your schedule. This is a capacity blockage caused by not enough treatment rooms and/or not enough staff or inefficiency. The top 1% is not afraid to spend money to fix capacity blockages. This will pay for itself many, many times over.

Make the decision today to master the business of dentistry and achieve extraordinary success.

Dr. Mike Kesner's practice ranks on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest growing companies in America. He is author of the book "Multi-Million Dollar Dental Practice" and CEO of Quantum Leap Success in Dentistry. They teach more production, higher profits, and less stress. Contact him at [email protected].